Comparison between POP email and IMAP email

This article provides a comparison between POP and IMAP email connectivity, as well as the differences, advantages and disadvantages in using either method.

	POP	IMAP
What does it stand for?	POP is an acronym for Post Office Protocol	IMAP is an acronym for Internet Message Access Protocol
How does it work?	Email is stored on a mail server until an email client (like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail) transfers the contents of the mailbox onto your computer. Once messages have been downloaded they are removed from the mail server	Email is stored on a mail server and an email client (like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail) is used to view the contents of that mailbox from your computer Email remains on the mail server providing a centralised source for all connected email clients/devices to synchronise with
Advantages of using this mail protocol	Ideal if you only access email from one computer/device The limit of your mailbox is restricted only by the size of your computer's hard drive For servers, POP can be used for redundancy to download email from a backup mail server	Ideal if you access email from one or more computers/devices because all devices will show the same sent/received emails Provides email redundancy in case something happens to your computer/device (for example hard drive failure, theft or fire) because all emails are stored on the mail server
Disadvantages of using this mail protocol	If something happened to your computer (for example hard drive failure, theft or fire) all of your emails would be lost (unless you had a backup contingency in place)	Your mailbox limit is defined by the mail server and not by the size of your computer's hard drive
How does this affect the web mail facility?	Only emails which have not been downloaded by your computer will be visible within the web mail facility	All emails sent and received by all devices will be visible within the web mail facility