Type of site Webmail, POP3, IMAP4 Registration Required | Commercial Yes | |
Available in 4 languages
gmx.net: German
gmx.com: English, Spanish and French Owner GMX Internet Services, Inc.
Subsidiary of United Internet Users 11 million active users | ||
GMX Mail is a free advertising-supported email service provided by GMX (Global Mail eXchange, in Germany: Global Message eXchange). Users may access GMX Mail via webmail as well as via POP3 and IMAP4 protocols. Founded in 1997, GMX is a subsidiary of United Internet AG, a stock-listed company in Germany, and a sister company to 1&1 Internet and Fasthosts Internet. In addition to an email address, each GMX account includes a Mail Collector, Address Book, Organizer, and File Storage. Every user can register up to 10 individual GMX email addresses. Premium or not, users are greeted by pop up ads at login. GMX is currently the only big email provider to support popup ads. Currently GMX Mail has more than 11 million active users. The company's U.S. data center is located in Lenexa, Kansas.
Contents
Security
GMX Mail is one of the few major email providers which do not provide users with the option of using 2 factor authentication (2FA) to secure their email accounts which is a form of Multi-factor authentication. This leaves their users accounts open to logins from unauthorized devices if the users password has been obtained. All other major email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook, AOL Mail provide the option to switch on 2FA which means any user who logs into their email account from a new device will require a specific code. This code can be generated by an authenticator app such as Google Authenticator or sent to them via SMS to a previously registered phone number which adds an extra layer of security. A full list of email providers that have this feature available or not can be found at https://twofactorauth.org/>
Features
Features included in the free versions of the GMX Mail account differ between GMX.net and GMX.com:
gmx.com
Additional functionalities:
Email accounts can be registered with a choice of .com, .co.uk and .us, amongst many others. It allows the addition of up to 10 add-on addresses at different GMX domains. Its "mail collector" allows for the collection of email from most free email providers including Yahoo, Live, Hotmail and GMail as well as send mail from these addresses, allowing the management of multiple accounts from one single location. Another feature is its active community participation, where users can suggest features.
GMX developed slightly different clients for their users in Germany and for those internationally. Both remain free for email service, and will direct users to the appropriate login website through geolocation technology, to gmx.net or gmx.com respectively. The GMX Mail service is based on Qooxdoo, an open source ajax web application framework.[1]
Growth
Following the closure of Lycos Europe and its decision to close Caramail, a popular French webmail service, in February 2009 GMX bought the Caramail domain name and transferred older Caramail users to its new service. In 2010, GMX acquired American internet domain Mail.com and its email customers.