IMAP, POP3, And SMTP Settings For All Major Email Service Providers

When configuring email clients like Outlook and Thunderbird, you need to set up the email accessing and managing protocols to be used. Most email service providers support Internet Messaging Access Protocol (IMAP) and Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) which can be used for this purpose. However, each handles email access and management differently.

With these protocols, even if the service provider does not have a proprietary email client to access the emails, you can configure third-party email clients to access them.

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a protocol that catches and carries emails to and from mail servers. When configuring an email client, you need to configure either IMAP or POP3 to receive the emails. However, SMTP is used to send messages, which are carried to the mail server.

With this information, additional elements are also required to configure email clients, such as the email server used by the Email Service Provider (ESP), and the port they are using.

In this post, I have listed the configurations that are required to configure email clients by the major ESPs for both ingress and egress emails. Simply click on your Email Service Provider in the content list below and you shall find the IMAP, POP3, and SMTP configurations needed.

What are IMAP, POP3, and SMTP protocols?

IMAP, POP3, and SMTP protocols all have to deal with emails. IMAP and POP3 protocols access and manage emails on the mail server, while the SMTP protocol transports them.

Here is a brief description of how each protocol works:

• IMAP: This protocol accesses and retrieves emails from the email server to the client. The original emails are still stored on the mail server, and you need internet access to get to them.
• POP3: This protocol also accesses and retrieves emails from the email server, but deletes the original email from the server once it has been received by the client. Since the emails are now stored on your device, they can be accessed offline.
• SMTP: This protocol is responsible for transporting emails. They do not receive or send out emails.

Client configurations for email service providers

Gmail/Google Workspace

Gmail supports both IMAP and POP3 email protocols. These are the settings that you must use within an email client to connect to the email server:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.gmail.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.gmail.com	995	Requires SSL & TLS
SMTP	smtp.gmail.com	465 (SSL), 587 (TLS)	TLS

To access Gmail emails through a client, simply configuring the client is not enough. YOu must also enable the POP3 or IMAP protocol from your Gmail account. Here is how to do it:

1. Log into your Gmail account using a browser.

2. Click on the Settings (gear) icon and click “See all settings“.

3. Switch to the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.

4. Enable the IMAP or POP3 protocol, whichever you wish to use, configure the available settings, and then click “Save changes“.

   

Outlook/Hotmail

If you have an Outlook or Hotmail account, then you need to use the following client configuration settings to access and manage emails from the server. Note that even Microsoft’s proprietary emailing client, Outlook, needs to be configured to access the emails.

That said, Outlook does have the ability to auto-detect the settings, which usually works with Outlook or Hotmail email accounts.

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	outlook.office365.com	993	Requires TLS
POP3	outlook.office365.com	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp-mail.outlook.com	587	STARTTLS

Unlike Gmail, you do not need to enable IMAP for a Hotmail/Outlook account. However, you do still need to activate the POP. Here is how to do it:

1. Log into your Hotmail account and click the Settings (Gear) icon in the top-right corner.

2. Switch to the “Sync email” tab.

3. Toggle the slider below “POP and IMAP” into the On position.

   

After performing these steps, if you decide to use POP3 instead of IMAP, you can block devices from deleting emails from the server by selecting the “Don’t allow devices and apps to delete messages from Outlook” option.

Yahoo!

For Yahoo email accounts, you can use the following IMAP, POP3, and SMPT configurations:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.mail.yahoo.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.mail.yahoo.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtp.mail.yahoo.com	465 (SSL), 587 (TLS)	Requires SSL or TLS

Unlike Gmail and Outlook accounts, you do not need to enable IMAP or POP settings in your Yahoo email account.

ProtonMail

ProtonMail is considered one of the most secure email service providers. If you have a paid ProtonMail account, you can use their proprietary email client “Proton Mail Bridge“. This client application is only available for Windows, macOS, and Linux devices.

ProtonMail does not provide server or mail transfer protocol information, so it cannot be configured using third-party email clients. You can also download the ProtonMail app on Android and iOS devices.

That said, ProtonMail does not support POP3 protocol. Therefore, all emails can be accessed using IMAP. However, you can download and export your emails using ProtonMail’s proprietary email client.

Zoho

If you use Zoho Mail as your email service provider, then you can use the following details to configure email clients and access your emails.

Note that the configurations for the incoming servers for both IMAP and POP3 will be different depending if you are a personal user with an email address (user@zoho.com), or an enterprise user with a domain-based email address (user@domain.com).

For personal users

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.zoho.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.zoho.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtp.zoho.com	465	Requires SSL or TLS

For organizational users with domain email

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imappro.zoho.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	poppro.zoho.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtppro.zoho.com	465 (SSL), 587 (TLS)	Requires SSL or TLS

Enable IMAP & POP3 for Zoho Mail

To be able to use third-party email clients for Zoho Mail, you will need to enable IMAP and POP protocols from your email account first. Here is how:

1. Log into Zoho Mail using a web browser and click Settings.

2. Go to “Mail Accounts“.

3. To enable IMAP, check the “IMAP Access” box.

   

4. To enable POP, go to “POP Access“, and then select either of the following modes:

   • All Emails – To enable POP access for all emails in the account – All the emails will be downloaded by the POP client you configure.
   • Emails that arrive from now – Enables POP access for emails that arrive from the time the user enables POP access (only the newer emails will be downloaded to the POP client you configure).

AOL

Configuring an email client for an AOL email account is a pretty straightforward process. Here are the SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 details you’ll need to configure it:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.aol.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.aol.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtp.aol.com	465	Requires SSL or TLS

GMX

The GMX email service provider uses the following email protocol configurations:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.gmx.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.gmx.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	mail.gmx.com	465 (SSL/TLS) or 587 (STARTTLS)	Requires SSL or TLS

GMX also provides dedicated apps for Android and iOS devices.

That said, you still need to enable IMAP and POP3 access to your GMX account. Here is how to do it:

1. Log into your GMX email account and switch to the Email tab.

2. Click Settings, and then click “POP3 & IMAP“.

3. Select “Enable access to this account via POP3 and IMAP” and save the changes.

   

Neo Mailbox

With Neo Mailbox, you can use the following settings to set up an email client using the IMAP, POP3, and SMTP protocols:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap0001.neo.space	993	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	pop0001.neo.space	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp0001.neo.space	465	Requires SSL or TLS

Fastmail

Fastmail uses the following configuration to set up an email client. However, if you are working behind a firewall, then you may also need some additional configuration, as discussed below.

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.fastmail.com	993	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	pop.fastmail.com	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp.fastmail.com	465	Requires SSL or TLS

As mentioned earlier, if you are working behind a firewall, you might need to perform additional configurations on the firewall to allow IMAP and POP3 communication. You’ll need to allow communication to the following servers:

IMAP	imaps-proxy.fastmail.com
POP3	pops-proxy.fastmail.com
SMTP	smtps-proxy.fastmail.com

With these servers, you can use several ports for communication, which include 80, 21, 25, and 443.

Tuta

Tuta is another one of the most secure email providers out there. It is so secure that it does not support the IMAP and POP protocols. Instead, it provides its own email client for a variety of different platforms.

Since the emails are encrypted, and Tuta is focused on security and privacy, it is not compatible with third-party email clients.

However, Tuta does provide email clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices.

iCloud

iCloud is Apple’s solution for an emailing service. Although designed for their own platforms, an iCloud account can be linked with third-party clients using IMAP and SMTP. Note that iCloud does not support POP3.

You can use the following information to configure email clients to access and manage iCloud emails:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.mail.me.com	993	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp.mail.me.com	587	Requires SSL, TLS, or STARTTLS

Yandex

To configure an email client to access Yandex emails, use these configurations:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.yandex.com	993	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	pop.yandex.com	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp.yandex.com	465	Requires SSL or TLS

You will also need to enable IMAP or POP3 from your Yandex account to be able to access and manage emails from third-party clients. Here is how:

1. Log into your Yandex account, go to Settings, and then click “Email clients“.

2. For POP, enable the “From pop.yandex.ru server via POP3” option. For IMAP, go to “Use a mail client to retrieve your Yandex mail” and select both “From the imap.yandex.com server via IMAP” and “App passwords and OAuth tokens“.

3. Once done, save the changes.

Titan

For a Titan email account, use this information:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.titan.email	993	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	pop.titan.email	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp.titan.email	465	Requires SSL or TLS

GoDaddy Workspace Email

GoDaddy hosts emails under the Workspace category, which can be accessed using third-party email clients like Outlook and Thunderbird.

Here are the settings needed to configure an email client with a GoDaddy Workspace email account:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.secureserver.net	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.secureserver.net	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtpout.secureserver.net	465 or 587	Requires SSL or TLS

Bluehost

Bluehost is another domain and email service provider like GoDaddy. If you have an account with Bluehost, you can use IMAP and POP3 protocols to access and manage them.

Note that Bluehost provides 2 kinds of email accounts: A professional cloud-based email account, and a cPanel email account linked with your domain. Both of these account types have different IMAP and POP servers. Use the setting provided below depending on your type of account.

Cloud email account

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.oxcs.bluehost.com	993	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp.oxcs.bluehost.com	587	Requires SSL or TLS

cPanel email account

Note: “domain.com” implies that you must use your own domain name server as the incoming email server. For example, if your email address is “subhan@itechtics.com”, then your domain is “itechtics.com”.

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	domain.com	993	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	domain.com	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtpout.secureserver.net	465	Requires SSL or TLS

In case you do not want to use SSL or TLS, you may use these configurations:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	mail.domain.com	143	Not required
POP3	mail.domain.com	110	Not required
SMTP	smtpout.secureserver.net	26	Not required

IONOS Email

For the IONOS email account, you can use the following configurations for a third-party email client:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.ionos.com	993	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	pop.ionos.com	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	smtp.ionos.com	465	Requires SSL or TLS

Note that the email client and the operating system must support TLS 1.2 or higher. Otherwise, the IMAP and POP3 configurations would not work.

HostGator

HostGator does not have its own incoming or outgoing email servers. Instead, it uses your domain servers for this purpose. Therefore, you need your server name before you can start configuring IMAP, POP3, or SMTP protocols in your email client.

Follow these steps to find your server name:

1. Log into your HostGator account.

2. In the customer portal, click Hosting in the left sidebar.

3. If you only have one hosting package, click “Quick Links“. If you have multiple hosting packages, select the corresponding package and then click Manage.

4. In the “Quick Links” section, click Cpanel.

5. Click “General Information” on the right.

6. Now click “Server Information“.

You will find the name of your server here.

Once you have that, you need to concatenate “hostgator.com” with it, and you will have the complete address of the mail server. For example, if your server name is “abcd”, then the email server address needed for IMP, POP3, and SMTP configuration will be “abcd.hostgator.com”.

Note: This server name has been referred to as “YourServerName” in the table given below.

Now use this table to configure your email client to access and manage your HostGator email account if SSL or TLS is required:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	YourServerName	993	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	YourServerName	995	Requires SSL or TLS
SMTP	<em>YourServerName</em>	465	Requires SSL or TLS

Use the following configuration if SSL or TLS is not required:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	YourServerName	143	Not required
POP3	YourServerName	110	Not required
SMTP	<em>YourServerName</em>	25, 26	Not required

Hostinger

If you use Honstinger as your email service provider, then you can use the following parameters to configure a third-party email client to go with it:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.hostinger.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.hostinger.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtp.hostinger.com	465 (SSL), 587 (TLS)	Requires SSL or TLS

DreamHost

For DreamHost, use the following mail servers and ports for email client configuration with SSL or TLS enabled:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.dreamhost.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	pop.dreamhost.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtp.dreamhost.com	465	Requires SSL or TLS

If you want to configure the client without SSL or TLS requirements, use these parameters instead:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.dreamhost.com	143	Not required
POP3	pop.dreamhost.com	110	Not required
SMTP	smtp.dreamhost.com	587	Not required

Of course, using the secure medium with SSL or TLS is always preferred. However, if you encounter issues with the encryption, you can opt to use the parameters without TLS or SSL.

SiteGround

SiteGround uses your domain server as its email server. The nomenclature for the naming of both the incoming and outgoing mail is “mail.yourdomainname.com“. You can thus use the following information to configure third-party email clients with a SiteGround email account:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	mail.domainname.com	993	Requires SSL
POP3	mail.domainname.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	mail.domainname.com	465	Requires SSL or TLS

If you do not wish to use the secured encryption then you must use the following parameters instead:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	mail.domainname.com	143	Not required
POP3	mail.domainname.com	110	Not required
SMTP	mail.domainname.com	25, 2525	Not required

NameCheap Private Email

NameCheap has a division named “Private Email”, which is an email service provider. If you want to configure a NameCheap email account on a third-party email client, use this configuration:

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	mail.privateemail.com	993 (SSL), 143 (TLS)	Requires SSL or TLS
POP3	mail.privateemail.com	995	Requires SSL
SMTP	mail.privateemail.com	465 (SSL), 587 (TLS)	Requires SSL or TLS

Amazon Workmail

Amazon Workmail is a big player in the email service provider industry. If you have an account with them, you can use the following parameters to configure a third-party email client to access and manage emails. Note that Amazon Workmail does not currently support the POP3 protocol.

Note: Do not confuse Amazon Workmail with Amazon SES. Amazon SES is an email marketing platform and does not have its own IMAP and POP servers.

Protocol	Server	Port	Requires SSL/TLS
IMAP	imap.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com (West US) imap.mail.us-east-1.awsapps.com (East US) imap.mail.eu-west-1.awsapps.com (Europe)	993	Requires SSL
SMTP	smtp.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com (West US) smtp.mail.us-east-1.awsapps.com (East US) smtp.mail.eu-west-1.awsapps.com (Europe)	465	Requires SSL

Ending words

While you can find the information for POP, IMAP, and SMTP configuration for different service providers online, I have compiled the information for their ports and servers in one location.

Sysadmins and email support providers can use this collection of information to configure all sorts of email clients that support these protocols, regardless of the service provider, or the platform/OS they are configuring it on.

Note that some email service providers mentioned in this post do not support these protocols, but instead, provide their own email clients for different platforms.