Key: Y = Yes, N = No, ? = unsure. | |||||
Numbers may depend on the units in the left-hand column (look closely at units, e.g., in general = one time, or per month). | |||||
Comparison conducted 6/20/2006-7/19/2006 | 8:14am PST | ||||
Features ↓ | Mail Svc→ | fastmail.fm | tuffmail.com | runbox.com | dreamhost.com | viaverio.com |
Plan Name | Enhanced | Single-User 2048 | One Plan | Code Monster | Signature Pr |
Space | 2000MB | 2048MB | 10GB (10240MB) | 3000msgs / 60000GB | 20000MB |
Monthly Transfer Allowance | 1000MB | 4096MB (soft) | 10000MB/mo (2.5GB/wk) | 1.5TB | |
Extra transfer | $8/GB(?); can buy in chunks of .1,.25,.5,1,2,4gb | never needed before; ~$4-6/GB | No | ? | ? |
Price/year | $39.95 | $38 | $49.95 | $15.95/mo(no WEB SSL) | $25/mo |
IMAP/SSL WITH CA-SIGNED MATCHING CERT | mail.messagingengine.com,or www.fastmail.fm (discouraged) (IMAP/TLS port 144) | mail.mxes.net | secure.runbox.com | SSL CERTIFICATE ERROR mail.domain.com | |
SMTP/SSL WITH CA-SIGNED MATCHING CERT | mail.messagingengine.com | smtp.mxes.net | secure.runbox.com | SSL CERTIFICATE ERROR mail.domain.com | |
SMTP AUTH | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Send using SMTP, with any From address in e-mail | Y | Y (except for ebay, paypal, and certain bank domains) ;-) | y (but they do not want to advertise) | Y | |
Webmail: context-sensitive From e-mail | Y: can shoose e-mail addr to send from when in particular folder | N | Y: can choose any From address in any folder | ? | |
CRAM-MD5 or similar | ? | N (would require plaintext password storage) | N | N | |
Option to require SSL login | N | Planned | N | N | |
IMAP ACLs | Y, but have to contact support for enablement. Requires multiple accts | Planned | N | N | |
IMAP IDLE | Y | Y | N (apparently) | Y (apparently) | |
Mail Program | Cyrus IMAP | Cyrus IMAP | Courier IMAP (DBMail IMAP in beta) | Courier IMAP 3.0.3 | UW IMAP |
alt SMTP ports | 26, 587; all ports under *.proxy.messagingengine.com (but!! Cert mismatch) | 443, 465, 587 | 26, 587 | 587 | |
Webmail app | perl/custom (no ext. IMAP support, but this is planned) | SquirrelMail, Horde/IMP | RMM (Runbox Mail Manager) | SquirrelMail | |
NFS-FREE (does not use NFS for underlying storage) | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
Server location | New York, NY, USA (NYI) | North Miami, FL (Miami Data Valut) | Oslo, Norway (EUnet) | Los Angeles(?), CA, USA | |
Redundancy | Yes, lots (Signup.htm# SignupExpensive) | Yes, lots | Yes, lots (RAID, backup, MX, app server, network) | Probably (see backups & restores) | |
Browser Support | Many; no js req'd | Any stds-compliant browser (IE, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape, Firefox) | Yes [many?] | Many | |
Cell phone (WAP) and PDA support | Y, WAP, send to cellphone via SMS | by fwd mail (strip nontext) | Y, WAP, graphics-free mobile webmail, notification filter suitable for SMS | N | |
Remote IMAP poll (snarf another mbx to yours, not necessarily view) | Y (but only one-time manual transfer), 20 min, +migration (reports of 3 min ok) | Y, 5 min | N | N? | |
Remote POP3 poll (snarf) | Y, |
Y, 5 min | Y | N? | |
Catchall Address | Y | Y | Y | ? | |
Log Logins | Y (see Options > Login Log) | Planned | N | N | |
Antivirus | Y, "Advanced" | ClamAV free; Sophos for +$.50/mailbox/month | ClamAV | NEW | |
Antispam | SpamAssassin | SpamAssassin, Tuffmail, Bayesian Filter, 13 options | SpamAssassin; Dspam | NEW (SpamAssassin) | SpamAssassin |
Antispam: Blocklists | Y, not yet user conf'able | Y | Y | ~Y (by procmail) | |
Antispam: Greylisting | Planned | Y | N (intentionally = no plans) | N | |
Antispam: Whitelisting | Y | Y, incl. IP addr, IP CIDR ranges, e-mail addrs, and domains; can bypass SpamAssassin; NOT by Address Book | Y | Y | |
# of domains hosted (I just want ~10 maybe) | 50; (consider purchasing new acct, ~.8/domain) | unlimited | 1 | unlimited | |
Extra per domain | ? | $0 | $4.95/yr | $0 | |
# of subdomains hosted | 10 | unlimited | 0 | unlimited? Or 0 (N/A) | |
Extra per subdomain | ? | $0 | N/A | $0 | |
Max mail size (send/recv) | 50MB | 100MB | 40MB | 8MB | |
Use any From address | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Plus Addressing (use user+pattern@) | Y, to folder | Y, to folder | Y | N (requested) | |
Minus Addressing (qmail-style, user-pattern@) | N (but can simulate with rules?) | Y, to folder but have to SWITCH from Plus-addr, per-domain setting | N (Plus Addressing only) | N | |
Subdomain addressing (pattern@ user.service.com) |
Y | N | N | N | |
# of user mailboxes hosted | 1 | 1 | 1 | unlimited | |
Extra per user | Buy and use shared accounts under virtual domain (same price as Member+ service) | ~$10 | $19.95/yr | $0 | |
Number of aliases | 200 "personalities in web interface" (hosted doms.); unlimited aliases | unlimited ("forwarding e-mail addresses," no aliases per-se) | 10 | unlimited | |
Extra per alias | $0 (for aliases) | $0 | $0.95/yr | $0 | |
Auto Bcc from SMTP (auto save copy to inbox) | N | Y | N | N | |
Backup frequency | Y, daily incremental | 20 § replication; daily snapshot | Y, daily | Y (exact method unclear) | |
Backup policy | Y, daily incremental. All e-mail?? | once a day | All e-mail; file storage backup planned | once a day, but not junk mail or trash | |
Restore policy (cost and ease) | within the week: $25, within 24 hrs | manual process, ≥ 5min. Depending on how many folders and how much mail | $25 (not currently enforced), as soon as possible; $50 for account restore | ? | |
[Daily?] Delivery reports | N | Y, daily (opt.) | N, but see Forwarding > Rules?? | N | |
mailing lists (simple distribution lists, or listserv/mailman/ Yahoo! Groups style) | N | N, "Planned" (bulk mail is against AUP; distribution lists ok) | N | Y | |
Status website/info | status.fastmail.fm | status.tuffmail.com | 1520.runbox.com/blahblah | 2 ext. status pages | |
LDAP Address Book | Planned (distant future; 10000 Address Book available now) | Y (LDAP with special LDAP pw, also SyncML--beta) | Planned (distant future) (Address book, csv only) | N | |
WebDAV | Y, secure (https://dav. messagingengine.com) | N | N (suggested feature) | Y | |
File Storage (secure?) | 1GB (FTP-unsecure,WebDav-secure) | N (apparently) | 1GB (secure over HTTPS) | Y, SFTP access | |
Extra File Storage (default: one-time-charge) | from $3.95/<10MB to $24.95/100MB to $199.95/2GB | N/A | N | Yes (price uncertain) | |
Subjective Speed Impressions (from other users) | extremely fast | pretty fast/extremely fast | fast | sloooow (esp. with many msgs) | |
Subjective Downtime Impressions | "Good, but not exceptional," perhaps #1 planned priority | ? | ? | ? | |
Subjective Quality and Completeness of Online Support (FAQ, Wiki…) | ? Not bad? | ? Not bad? | ? Not bad? | Poor; wiki disorganized | |
Subjective Quality and Speed of Live Support | THEY DON'T RESPOND TO MY INQUIRIES. "Recent deterioration [sic], 3-4 days" | Extremely fast and detailed | not very fast, but their responses were very detailed. At least 1 user reports differently (i.e., fast response) | Within a couple of days; "they try" | |
Web Hosting Provider | Y, static HTML only | N | Planned | Y | Y |
Notes | Compare fastmail with DreamHost (forum post) |