mailbox vs Mailo (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Mailo grades higher than mailbox: 3.0 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Mailo grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
mailbox
Paid, ad-free email with cloud storage and office tools from Germany
Mailo
French webmail with a free tier, ad-free paid plans and calendar
Which one is for you
Pick mailbox if
- Fits if you want paid, ad-free email with servers in Germany
- Works for families, as up to 10 mailboxes can share calendars, contacts and Drive storage
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free mailbox, because all you get free is a 30-day trial
- Tight if you pick Light, with 2 GB of mail storage, no Drive storage and support for contract questions only
- Not for you if you want the provider's own phone app, as mail runs in the browser or in other mail apps
- Watch out: Light must be paid a year in advance, and prices are in euros
- Pricey if you're a business, as the calculator adds a service package from €25 a month on top of each user
Pick Mailo if
- Fits if you want a free mailbox hosted in France, with IMAP
- Works for people who'll pay for a multi-year term to remove ads
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if banner ads bother you, as free accounts show them
- Watch out: free accounts are deleted after 12 months of inactivity
- Watch out: Premium is sold for 1 to 5 years, and the billing basis of the monthly price isn't stated
- Tight if you stay free: 1GB mailbox and 5 aliases
- Watch out: larger Premium+ mailboxes and Mailo Pro are priced on pages not read, and prices are in euros
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAmailboxGood | 3.0GPAMailoVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ALight is €1 a month, paid as €12 a year, and Standard with 20 GB, custom domains, Drive storage and the office suite is €3 a month paid annually. Against an $8 middle for this category, that's under almost everything here. Prices are in euros, and Light is 2 GB with support for contract questions only. | APremium is €1.50 a month, under 60% of the category's cheaper quarter of $3.99. The page doesn't say how that figure is billed, and Premium is sold for 1 to 5 years. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, since the service carries no advertising. Any plan can be tried free for 30 days, and nothing on record says whether the trial asks for payment details. | BFree with a 1GB mailbox, 500MB of cloud, 5 aliases and IMAP4. One person could live on it, with banner ads. |
| Features | BWebmail over IMAP, POP3 and SMTP, PGP and S/MIME handled inside the webmail, aliases, and calendar, contacts and tasks on every plan, with Drive storage, a browser office suite and video meetings on the higher ones. The mail job is covered. | BMail with aliases, calendar, contacts, cloud storage, standard protocols and hosting in France. The pages show no gap in the core email work. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Webmail opens in any browser, but there's no app to install, so using your own mail app means setting up IMAP yourself, and on Light support only answers contract, credit balance and password questions. | CNo store rating on record. A web mailbox with apps, and you connect your own devices over IMAP. |
| Platforms and integrations | CThe browser is the only place mailbox has an app of its own. It speaks IMAP, POP3, SMTP, CalDAV and CardDAV, so other mail apps can connect, but the integrations on record are just Mailvelope and OX Drive, which is what phones use for files. | BWeb, iOS and Android, with OnlyOffice. No desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | paid, ad-free email hosted in Germany | a French mailbox with a small free plan |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: mailbox and Mailo. How we grade
Price against what you get
mailbox starts at about $1.12 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Mailo starts at about $1.68 a month and scores 2.7.
Mailo scores higher, and starts $0.56 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email apps on the chart, 5 score higher than mailbox for less, and 2 score higher than Mailo for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- mailbox is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- mailbox also covers tasks, documents, video calls and file sync.
- Mailo also covers file sharing.
At a glance
| mailbox | Mailo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | €1 per month, annual payment only (€12 a year, Light) | €1.50 per month, for a 1 to 5 year term |
| Free plan | None | Mailo Free: 1 GB mailbox, 500 MB for documents and photos, 5 aliases, IMAP4, and advertising banners. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of any plan | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Heinlein Hosting GmbH | Mail Object |
| Price read from | mailbox.org | mailo.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
mailbox
- There is no free plan; any plan can be tried free for 30 days.
- The €1 Light plan is paid a year in advance and has 2 GB of mail storage, no Drive storage and support limited to contract questions.
- There are no mailbox apps of its own for mail: it runs in the browser or in other mail apps, and file sync on phones uses the separate OX Drive app.
- Prices are in euros. Private prices include VAT, business prices are net, and the business calculator adds a service package from €25 a month.
Mailo
- Free accounts show banner ads and are deleted after 12 months of inactivity.
- Premium is sold for terms of 1 to 5 years, and the page does not state the billing basis of the €1.50 monthly figure.
- Larger Premium+ mailboxes up to 500 GB and Mailo Pro are priced on pages not shown here.
- Prices are in euros.
Key features
mailbox
- Webmail with IMAP, POP3 and SMTP
- Mail is read in the browser or in any mail app over IMAP, POP3 and SMTP. Standard and Premium add a tabbed inbox, email statistics and collection from external POP3 accounts.
- PGP and S/MIME encryption
- The Guard feature handles PGP and S/MIME inside webmail, and incoming mail can be kept in a PGP-encrypted inbox. Mailvelope and mailbox's own PGP key server are supported on every plan.
- Aliases and custom domains
- Light includes 3 @mailbox.org aliases, Standard and Premium 25. The two higher plans add custom domains with 50 or 250 aliases and 25 or 50 disposable addresses.
- Drive cloud storage
- 10 GB on Standard and 100 GB on Premium, expandable for a fee, with password-protected download links that expire, WebDAV access and optional encryption with your own PGP key.
- Office, calendar and contacts
- Text documents, spreadsheets and presentations are edited in the browser on Standard and Premium. Calendar, contacts and tasks are on every plan and sync over CalDAV and CardDAV.
- Meet video conferencing
- Browser-based video meetings with breakout rooms, screen sharing, chat and surveys. Guests join from an invitation link without an account or an install.
Mailo
- Mail with aliases
- Free accounts get 5 aliases and Premium gets 100, with filters, forwarding and collection of mail from external accounts.
- Calendar, contacts and cloud
- Every account includes a calendar, address book, storage for documents and photo albums, and sharing tools.
- Standard protocols
- Free accounts use IMAP4 and ActiveSync; Premium adds POP3. iOS and Android apps are also offered.
- Hosted in France
- Messages are stored on servers in France, and Mailo says it does not read or sell them.
- Family, school and business offers
- Mailo Junior, Mailo Edu and Mailo Pro are separate offers for children, schools and organizations.
Plans
mailbox
Light€1
per month, annual payment only (€12 a year)
2 GB of mail storage, 3 @mailbox.org aliases, calendar and address book. Support covers contract, credit balance and password reset questions only.
Standard€3
per month, paid annually (€36); €4 paid monthly
20 GB of mail and 10 GB of Drive storage, 25 aliases, custom domains with 50 aliases, online document editing and family accounts.
Premium€9
per month, paid annually (€108); €12 paid monthly
50 GB of mail and 100 GB of Drive storage, custom domains with 250 aliases, replies within 24 hours on business days and a phone callback service.
Business€1 to €12
per user / month, net, plus a service package
Business Light, Standard and Premium accounts at €1, €4 and €12 a user, with a service package: Silver €25, Gold €75 or Platinum €250 a month.
EnterpriseCustom
For large companies with advanced requirements, quoted on request.
Mailo
Mailo Free€0
1 GB mailbox, 500 MB cloud, 5 aliases and ads; account expires after 12 months of inactivity.
Mailo Premium€1.50
per month, activated for 1 to 5 years
20 GB mailbox, 5 GB cloud, 100 aliases, no ads, an address for life, and POP3 and IMAP4.
Ways to pay less
mailbox
- Annual discount
Save 25% when paying annually
Standard costs €3 a month when paid annually (€36) against €4 paid monthly, and Premium €9 a month (€108) against €12. The prices page labels both as a 25% saving.
Mailo
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, mailbox or Mailo?
As of Nov 12, 2026, mailbox is cheaper to start with: about $1.12 a month, against about $1.68 a month for Mailo. mailbox starts at €1 per month, annual payment only (€12 a year, Light), and Mailo starts at €1.50 per month, for a 1 to 5 year term.
Which has a free plan, mailbox or Mailo?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Mailo has a free plan. mailbox does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do mailbox and Mailo run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Mailo lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.