Which one is better? This question is very simple. IMAP4 is the winner. The thing is that most people don’t know the difference. Most E-Mail clients do understand both protocols and you can see the difference by the server’s name or port number. If you have imap.mail.com or pop.mail.com and if you have port 110 or 995 for POP3 and port 143 or 993 for IMAP4 connections.

POP3 – With this protocol you don’t need a permanent connection to the mail server. The only available functions are listing, downloading and deleting of E-Mails. Standard port is 110 or 995 if you use SSL (Secure sockets layer). As described it’s very simple means less functionalities.

IMAP4 is the replacement of POP3, means it has much more functions and the main point is, that it’s synchrosing perfectly with several E-Mail clients.

Of course it depends on your E-Mail provider if you can use IMAP4 or not. I can’t work without IMAP4 and I can’t understand why POP3 is still existing.