Hacker ApprovedDepartments

Outlook.com

Ranked 13 of 17 email services by recommenders

Recommended for a fast web interface with folders, rules, shared mailboxes and calendar. Common caveat: mail to its addresses is often blocked or delayed.

Recommended for a fast web interface with folders, rules, shared mailboxes and calendar. Common caveat: mail to its addresses is often blocked or delayed.

72 people gave an opinion

recommend it
13
criticize it
59
approval share
18%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 7 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: not recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: not recommended
  6. April 2026: recommended
  7. May 2026: not recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Owned for 15 years

Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.

Each square is one year.

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 0.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
  • Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Good web interface that works well

    “I exclusively used the web UI because it always ran faster for me”

    Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

    “It does the job -- indeed I find it better than modern gmail.”

    Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Lotus Notes and the dangers of starting from scratch”

    “The outlook webapp is quite decent.”

    Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “F-Droid Board of Directors nominations 2026”
  • Folders, rules, shared mailboxes, calendar

    “The web mail has folders, rules, shared mailbox support, integrated calendar, etc.”

    Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

    “which can at least sync also calendar/contacts”

    Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “TimeLimit – offline local time limit parental control app without Google”
  • Light and fast in browser

    “I exclusively used the web UI because it always ran faster for me”

    Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

    “the Outlook PWA uses 281kB. You still get notifications”

    Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Why is the Gmail app 700 MB?”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Mail to its addresses gets blocked

    “got so angry at certain messages never appearing that a couple of years ago I reversed the flow of forwarding and swapped to another account as my primary”

    Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

    “I found it maddening that I couldn't whitelist a sender (MS Outlook web, Gmail); well I could, but they still blocked the messages.”

    Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Email is tough: Major European Payment Processor's Emails aren't RFC-Compliant”

    “virtually impossible to run your own mailserver and have the mail delivered, consistently at Gmail and Outlook/Live/Hotmail”

    Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”
  • Browser navigation and clicking glitches

    “The Outlook web app breaks browser navigation, I thought we had that figured out in SPAs like, more than a decade ago.”

    Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

    “I often get the case where I aim for one icon, something will load in, create a new icon, and push my intended target out of the click.”

    Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “App Store web has exposed all its source code”

    “It makes searching on such "feed" pages with the browser's search function an utter pain in the ass”

    Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “The browser's main thread is expensive”
  • Sign-in and access errors

    “The "rate limiting" started two weeks ago, giving us a code that Microsoft's documentation doesn't even list. It remains unresolved.”

    Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

    “In other browsers I regularly get stuck in an auth redirect loop between different Microsoft domains when I open the site.”

    Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

    “rolled out passkeys with no recovery option and no option to sign in using username and password once enrolled”

    Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “I don't like passkeys”
  • Support takes long to resolve

    “The "rate limiting" started two weeks ago, giving us a code that Microsoft's documentation doesn't even list. It remains unresolved.”

    Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

    “Had to supply MS support with proof of ownership of the IP. The whole process took about a week to resolve.”

    Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

Other email services people recommend

The four most recommended other email services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.

Outlook.com compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Fastmail3889580%135 yrs90 ownersApproved
Gmail29579727%1220 yrs58 owners—
Proton Mail19622247%133 yrs29 owners—
Tuta Mail491774%13—Approved
Outlook.comThis page135918%715 yrs4 owners—
See all 17 email services, ranked

What people said

40 of the 79 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“which can at least sync also calendar/contacts”

RecommendsComment from 2 Oct 2026 in “TimeLimit – offline local time limit parental control app without Google”

“rolled out passkeys with no recovery option and no option to sign in using username and password once enrolled”

CriticizesComment from 18 Sep 2026 in “I don't like passkeys”

“I cannot access outlook email (the website one) without setting up and use passkey”

CriticizesComment from 18 Sep 2026 in “I don't like passkeys”

“It does the job -- indeed I find it better than modern gmail.”

RecommendsComment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Lotus Notes and the dangers of starting from scratch”

“Outlook struggles keeping more than 30 in active memory. That's gotta be a joke.”

CriticizesComment from 3 Sep 2026 in “The browser's main thread is expensive”

“It makes searching on such "feed" pages with the browser's search function an utter pain in the ass”

CriticizesComment from 3 Sep 2026 in “The browser's main thread is expensive”

“Outlook.com also seems to routinely ignore DMARC (it will bounce emails with a DMARC that's report only)”

CriticizesComment from 28 Jul 2026 in “DMARC Has Been Public Since 2012. 68.4% of Domains Still Don't Enforce It”

“In other browsers I regularly get stuck in an auth redirect loop between different Microsoft domains when I open the site.”

CriticizesComment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

“The web mail has folders, rules, shared mailbox support, integrated calendar, etc.”

RecommendsComment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

“I exclusively used the web UI because it always ran faster for me”

RecommendsComment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

“Web version works just fine.”

RecommendsComment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

“I have been living inside it for almost 7 years now and actually prefer it to any of the desktop clients”

RecommendsComment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

“The Outlook web app breaks browser navigation, I thought we had that figured out in SPAs like, more than a decade ago.”

MixedComment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”

“virtually impossible to run your own mailserver and have the mail delivered, consistently at Gmail and Outlook/Live/Hotmail”

CriticizesComment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

“does not support email addresses with IPv[46] literals required by self hosted SMTP servers”

CriticizesComment from 2 May 2026 in “How GitHub lost its way”

“their mobile client doesn't even show the Sender email, but the self-disclosed name”

CriticizesComment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Troubleshooting Email Delivery to Microsoft Users”

“Microsoft's "Web Outlook" client, available at outlook.live.com.”

MixedComment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Help Keep Thunderbird Alive”

“Confirmation emails from numerous services have been been unable to get through for me.”

CriticizesComment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“The "rate limiting" started two weeks ago, giving us a code that Microsoft's documentation doesn't even list. It remains unresolved.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Why are incoming emails to outlook.com so large? 15KB minimum for a text email with just a title.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Microsoft has banned an entire netblock, that our server just happens to be sitting in”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Had to supply MS support with proof of ownership of the IP. The whole process took about a week to resolve.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“We are completely unable to make anything happen with Microslop. It is infuriating.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Every other year some part of the system would break, deliverability, authentication or 2FA.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Outlook has a multi-stage set of email servers and the inside ones reject due to the edge (antispam) servers”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Some of them just could not send a response back to me, so I am not using outlook anymore.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“got so angry at certain messages never appearing that a couple of years ago I reversed the flow of forwarding and swapped to another account as my primary”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Hotmail/Live/Outlook/whatever just made the messages disappear, no spam folder, no bounce, just disappear.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“their service is extremely unreliable, my emails are either not delivered at all or end up in junk mail”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“It's only hotmail/outlook that we constantly have this issue with, Google etc. are all fine.”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Outlook.com has always been a bit shitty, if you're trying to deliver email to them”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“Microsoft keeps blocking them. Every two months or so I have to ask them to unblock the IP again”

CriticizesComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Users fume over Outlook.com email 'carnage'”

“The outlook webapp is quite decent.”

RecommendsComment from 27 Feb 2026 in “F-Droid Board of Directors nominations 2026”

“The Quality is also Shit. I get some stupid Errors when trying to Access OWA every other day.”

CriticizesComment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Danish Gov agency to ditch Microsoft software in push for digital independence”

“I found it maddening that I couldn't whitelist a sender (MS Outlook web, Gmail); well I could, but they still blocked the messages.”

CriticizesComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Email is tough: Major European Payment Processor's Emails aren't RFC-Compliant”

“my own email under outlook.com is literally the only one of the MS systems I can't seem to deliver to”

CriticizesComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Email is tough: Major European Payment Processor's Emails aren't RFC-Compliant”

“the Outlook PWA uses 281kB. You still get notifications”

RecommendsComment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Why is the Gmail app 700 MB?”

“support for multiple email addresses on the same account which they made a fully first class feature”

RecommendsComment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Google is 'gradually rolling out' option to change your gmail.com address”

“it just prevents the recipient from downloading it, so there's no indication of anything wrong”

CriticizesComment from 30 Nov 2025 in “NFCGate flagged as malware even after multiple followups saying it isn't”

“I often get the case where I aim for one icon, something will load in, create a new icon, and push my intended target out of the click.”

CriticizesComment from 6 Nov 2025 in “App Store web has exposed all its source code”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.