Differentiate POP and IMAP

If you have ever set up an email application, you probably know two terms POP and IMAP. But do you understand the difference between these two protocols and how the impact of each protocol on your email account? The article will explain the difference as well as the mode of operation of each protocol to help users choose the best protocol for their needs.

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol while POP stands for Post Office Protocol. In other words, both protocols are email protocols. They allow users to read local emails with an intermediate application like Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora GNUMail or Mail (Mac).

The first appeared protocol is POP. This protocol was created in 1984 as a means of downloading email from a remote server. IMAP was designed in 1986 to allow remote access to emails stored on a remote server. Basically, the biggest difference between the two protocols is that POP downloads email from the server to the local memory fixed while IMAP places mail on the server and only keeps caching (temporary storage) email locally. In other words, IMAP is a form of cloud storage.

Compare POP and IMAP

The two protocols are compared to each other on how basic operations work.

POP

1. Connect to the server.
2. Get all mail.
3. Save locally as new mail.
4. Delete mail in server.
5. Disconnect.

The default behavior of POP is to delete mail from the server. However, most POP clients also provide an option to allow a mail copy to be downloaded on the server.

IMAP

1. Connect to the server.
2. Get the required content from users and save local buffers, such as new mailing lists, summarizing messages or the content of carefully selected emails.
3. Handle edits from users, such as marking email as mail to read or delete .
4. Disconnect.

As you can see, the IMAP workflow is a bit more complicated than POP. Basically, the folder structure and email are stored on the server and only the copies are stored locally, ie they are temporarily saved. However, users can also save mail fixed.

Advantages of POP

As the first protocol, POP follows a simple idea that only one client requests mail access on the server and local mail storage is best. This leads to the following advantages:
Mail is saved locally, which is always accessible even without an Internet connection.

1. Internet connection is only used for sending and receiving mail.
2. Save storage space on the server.
3. Selected to leave a copy of the mail on the server.
4. Merge multiple email and multiple server accounts into one inbox.

Advantages of IMAP

As introduced, IMAP was created to allow remote access of email saved on a remote server. The idea is to allow multiple clients or users to manage the same inbox. So whether you are logged in from a home computer or a corporate computer, you will always see the same email and directory structure as they are stored on the server and all the changes you make to local copies The set is immediately synchronized with the server.

As a result, IMAP has the following advantages:

1. Mail is stored on the remote server, which is accessible from many different locations.
2. Internet connection required to access mail.
3. View faster when only the mail headers are downloaded until the content is clearly requested.
4. Mail is automatically backed up on the server.
5. Save local storage space.
6. Still allow to save local mail.

Where is the best protocol?

Obviously, it depends on the needs of users to decide what is the most suitable mail protocol. Here are tips to help make the final decision.

Choose POP if:

1. You want to access mail only from one device.
2. You need to access your email regularly whether you have an Internet connection or not.
3. Storage space on the server is limited.

Select IMAP if:

1. You want to access email from many different devices.
2. You have a regular and reliable Internet connection.
3. You want to quickly see new emails or emails on the server.
4. Limited local storage space.
5. You worry about data redundancy.

IMAP is a more modern protocol, providing flexibility. And user email is also automatically backed up on the server while the server's available storage space is usually no longer a problem now and you can still save important emails locally.