POP vs. IMAP: What Are the Differences?

POP vs. IMAP: Full Comparison

POP and IMAP may bring to mind two completely different concepts: one relating to music and the other to maps. But the reality is that they’re both protocols that allow you to check your emails. 

While some may be unfamiliar with these terms—normally, people will talk about email clients rather than protocols—there is the occasional situation in which you need to deal with more advanced issues with your email.

If you’re in a situation where you need to choose between POP and IMAP, and you are looking to determine the key differences between the two, then keep reading.

POP vs. IMAP: A Side-by-Side Comparison

POP vs. IMAP: What’s the Difference?

POP and IMAP are not the same protocols—they allow you to access your email storage in completely different ways.

POP, or rather POP3, which is now the commonly used, most recent version of the software, stores all emails on one computer. This version was mainly created for dial-up connections rather than the modern constantly ‘on’ modems. For this reason, all of the emails that would come through a POP email would be stored in the local computer for the user to access at their earliest convenience.

In contrast, IMAP connections allow emails to be stored on an online server. This allows users to access their emails from any device so long as they can sign into their email. For emails to be read and accessed in this system, there needs to be an active internet connection, and the emails need to be synchronized. Another important benefit of IMAP is that you are able to make changes to your mailbox—this can include deleting, creating, and renaming emails. This extra freedom allows one to better handle email communications. 

POP vs. IMAP: 12 Must-Know Facts

• IMAP was designed to work for remote access to an online mailbox.
• POP was designed to retrieve all the content from a mailbox.
• POP only works on a single device as the content of your mailbox is downloaded and stored there.
• With IMAP, content is stored on an online server and can be retrieved and accessed from multiple devices.
• IMAP is a more advanced protocol, as it doesn’t only deal with one local device.
• With IMAP, emails can be accessed without their content being downloaded. 
• POP requires emails first to be downloaded onto a device. 
• POP does not allow the user to create or delete emails on the server; Changes on the computer cannot affect the server.
• POP is faster than IMAP. 
• IMAP keeps more copies of the emails, which allows for retrievals in cases of data loss.
• POP is older than IMAP, as it was created in 1984.
• IMAP was designed in 1986. 
• Synchronization is an important process with IMAP that allows all of the emails to be accessed by different devices.

POP Summary

POP, which was released in the mid-80s, was designed to accommodate the specs of dial-up connections. This meant email downloads that would take up storage on the PC but would still allow users access to their telephone line. This system was a better solution for many households and businesses. One argument that can be made in favor of POP3, the latest version of this system, is that it is potentially safer.

With IMAP mail communication is kept on a server that is not owned by the individual. As such, the content of the emails may be breached, intercepted, be used for data gathering or other data-related services. Some believe that POP3 is safer for that reason, as your email will be downloaded into your local computer. This is not a flawless argument, but there are points to be made about how POP3 with encryption could lead to safer email communications and storage.

IMAP Summary

IMAP was originally designed by Mark Crispin in 1986 as a way of accessing a mailbox remotely. This protocol allowed users to directly change things about their mailbox instead of forcing them to download its content in their local computer storage. This was a big innovation at the time. However, due to the nature of dial-up connections, which did not allow for both the phone and internet to be used simultaneously, this did not become as popular as a POP at first.

Modern modems no longer have this limitation, and the ability to access one’s mailbox from any device has largely made IMAP much more popular than POP3, which was designed to accommodate a different era. Outside of accessibility, IMAP also allows users to delete and modify emails in their mailbox, which can be instrumental as the number of emails received daily has increased exponentially. Finally, by way of email security, you can still access your emails even if your local device is broken or lost with IMAP. This means you can change passwords, lock people out, and have greater control at all times.

POP vs. IMAP: Which One is Better?

While IMAP and POP both deal with emails, the two protocols were created to fulfill completely different purposes. As such, the capabilities and features offered by each of these are different.

While POP might be faster, IMAP is more diverse and allows for connections through multiple devices. As most people will want to access their email from their phone, laptop, PC, and tablet, the IMAP protocol has quickly become the more commonly used of the two protocols.

More importantly, while POP emails can be deleted, created, or renamed in their local computer file, the file in the mailbox associated with them will remain unaffected. This could be a problem, as email communications are a lot more frequent and can often require more storage space.

Still, the safety that POP3 can bring through encryption and locally-stored data is often considered unparalleled.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to choosing the right protocol to use for your email communications, there are a lot of similarities and differences between POP and IMAP.

To make the right choice for yourself, you will need to decide how important speed is to you and whether your local server’s specs can support the large number of email downloads that would be required by POP3.

If you are interested in having access to your mailbox from anywhere and on any device, then the choice is simple: IMAP is the uncontested winner.

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