Feb 11, 2025 · SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) handles email sending, while POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) manage email retrieval and storage. This guide breaks down what SMTP, POP3, and IMAP do, how they work, and which one is best suited for your needs.

The main protocols are SMTP for sending emails, and POP3 and IMAP for receiving emails. SMTP handles email transmission between servers, while POP3 downloads emails to a device and IMAP synchronizes emails across multiple devices.

Apr 14, 2022 · For secure SSL/TLS connections, IMAP uses port 993. The two ports are the default values for IMAP, but the user can change them. What is POP3? The Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) is the most used version of the POP. It is a simple incoming email protocol that moves the messages stored on an email server to the local email client.

Jan 25, 2024 · Today, we’ll review and compare the three most commonly used email protocols – IMAP vs POP3 vs SMTP – and help you choose the right option for your needs.

Mar 17, 2022 · IMAP and SMTP are protocols used by email clients to send and receive secure emails. POP3 is a legacy standard that is used less and less often these days. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an outgoing email protocol used to send emails from your email client to a mail server. It works as follows: 1.

Jan 30, 2025 · The main difference between these two protocols is that SMTP is a push protocol and POP3 is a pop protocol. POP3 retrieves and downloads mail locally, while SMTP sends the mail from the sender’s device to the recipient’s inbox.

IMAP operates with a distinct approach: When using IMAP, the client connects to the server to check for new messages and saves them in the cache as temporary files. This feature is a critical difference between IMAP and POP3. Initially, only email metadata, such as date, sender, and subject, is downloaded from the server.

Dec 18, 2024 · SMTP is used to send email messages from one server to another, while POP3 is used to retrieve email messages from a remote server to a local client. IMAP, on the other hand, allows users to access their email messages from multiple devices and synchronize changes across all devices.

SMTP is a push protocol, while POP3 is known as a pop protocol. SMTP sends the email from the sender's device to the receiver's mailbox, and POP3 retrieves and organizes emails from the receiver's mail server to the receiver's computer.

Jan 28, 2025 · Just like the first protocol, IMAP helps retrieve emails from the server, but the principal difference between IMAP and POP3 is that it does not download the content to a local disk and leaves all messages on the server until the user does not delete them explicitly.