30 years of mail.com: From dot-com trailblazers to safe, simple email

by Alyssa Schmitt
 

 
If, like me, you've been online since the '90s, you know just how much the internet has changed – and how fast. In 1995, we were still rewinding VHS tapes and fighting over the landline. That was the year that Sony dropped the PlayStation, Microsoft launched Windows 95, and Toy Story blew our minds with its fully computer-animated magic.

I remember setting up my first email address around that time, and I can’t overstate what a game-changer it was for me. I had family across the country and friends on the other side of the world, and suddenly, I could type a message and they would receive it almost instantly.
 
A quick reminder about those early days of email: if you wanted a private email address, your options were tied to your internet provider or a massive portal like AOL or CompuServe (remember them?). That usually meant you ended up with something like “cooldude4597@aol.com”.
 
But mail.com’s founders had a different idea. Instead of limiting users to a single domain, they registered over 500 unique ones, giving people the power to personalize their email in a whole new way, whether fun (e.g., jessie@elvisfan.com) or serious (e.g., michael.smith@accountant.com).
 

Innovation with a dash of nostalgia

Fast forward to 2025, and mail.com is celebrating its 30th anniversary. And here’s a fun fact: Some people are still using the exact same mail.com address they created in the 1990s. That kind of consistency is almost unheard of in the tech world. But it also doesn't mean the company has been standing still.
 
mail.com has celebrated some major milestones over the past 30 years. After building its identity around unique domain names and an email address that was not tied to your internet provider, a big shift came in 2010. That’s when mail.com joined the United Internet Group, a leading European internet company also known for GMX and IONOS. And since then, mail.com has rolled out cloud storage, mobile apps, online office tools, and a Mail Collector that simplifies life for anyone juggling multiple email accounts – which was nobody’s problem in 1995.
 
Throughout all these upgrades, however, the mail.com experience has remained consistent, offering a reliable, simple, secure way to communicate. And it’s that consistency that’s kept our many longtime users coming back, including me! I love the fact that when I log into my mail.com account, it’s refreshingly uncluttered.
 
That, and the domains. True to its roots, mail.com still offers almost 200 email domain options. It’s hard to overstate the fun and practicality of creating an email address customized to your personality, whether you’re into coding or cat memes (guilty as charged).

A legacy worth celebrating

When I think about the tech I’ve used since 1995 – the gadgets, apps, and platforms that have come and gone – the list is long. Some of it I miss (RIP, iPod Nano). Some of it... not so much (I’m looking at you, slow, dial-up internet connection).
 
This makes mail.com’s 30-year legacy all the more worth celebrating.  As then-CEO Jan Oetjen said when mail.com turned 25 in 2020, “Few other email providers today can look back on so many years in the game.”
 
So, whether you’ve been a user since the early days of mail.com or you’re just discovering it, join me in celebrating 30 years of mail.com. Here’s to offering people a consistent, secure, and personalized way to connect with the world – and to having an email address that’s been around longer than some of your coworkers!

Happy birthday, mail.com!

 

Images: 1&1/Getty Images

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