# What is the per-hour limit of outgoing emails from a basic (free) Yahoo! account? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122 "2008-10-09T04:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/1 "2008-10-09T04:24:31Z")
I need to send out an e-blast alerting my friends and colleagues that I’m in the hunt for a new job. Obviously, I must use my personal account to do this. I need to send my announcement to hundreds of recipients. I have a basic (free) Yahoo! account that I’ve had forever; this is the account I’d like to use. I know that Yahoo! has a quota that limits the number of outgoing emails per hour (or day). If you exceed this quota, your outgoing mail capability will be locked-down for a period of time. This is a spam-preventing measure. I want to maximize my output without triggering the lock-down, but I can’t seem to find out exactly what the quota is. Anybody know? Thanks all, in advance. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/2 "2008-10-09T15:47:29Z")
Morning bump. Boooooing! ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/3 "2008-10-09T16:29:30Z")
There is this…not sure how reliable it is but looks good: > [@](#): > > # Yahoo Mail - Email Send Rate Limits & Other Email Restrictions > > The following restrictions apply when sending emails from a Yahoo Mail account: > > ``` > Yahoo Mail email send limit - no more than 100 emails or recipients per hour > > Yahoo Mail other SMTP limits - max 10Mb per message for the free Yahoo Mail Service, or 20Mb per message for Yahoo! Mail Plus > > Yahoo! Anti-Spam Policy - http://docs.yahoo.com/info/guidelines/spam.html > > Yahoo Mail SMTP restriction expiry method - N/A > > ``` > > [Send email rate limit for webmail providers - Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, AOL](http://www.emailaddressmanager.com/tips/email-address-limit.html) ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/4 "2008-10-09T17:54:16Z")
If you send out a big blast of email some anti-spam companies (like mine) may suspect you of being a spammer and block your messages from reaching their intended recipients. I would recommend you trickle them out over a 24-48 hour period at 10-20 messages per hour. How many friends and colleagues do you have? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/5 "2008-10-09T19:12:23Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > If you send out a big blast of email some anti-spam companies (like mine) may suspect you of being a spammer and block your messages from reaching their intended recipients. > > I would recommend you trickle them out over a 24-48 hour period at 10-20 messages per hour. > > How many friends and colleagues do you have? :dubious: D-boy, like I said, I have hundreds of friends and colleagues. So, are you saying that some e-mail systems will detect that an incoming message has, say, a hundred recipients in the bcc field, then banish that message to the spam/junk folder? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/6 "2008-10-09T19:36:04Z")
I checked with our anti-spam folks and they said that a sudden increase in traffic from a particular sender wouldn’t put you on a blacklist (or greylist) UNLESS some of the receipients complained about getting it. So if your friends and colleagues are okay with receiving your messges, and Yahoo! is okay with you sending them, which it sounds like they should be, you shouldn’t have a problem. I would keep it under 100 messages per hour since more than that may trigger Yahoo! to throttle you. Now if your message “looks spammy” then some spam filters may quarantine it or drop it independent of the number of receipients on the bcc line… ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/7 "2008-10-09T19:39:07Z")
Thanks to everyone who contributed insights and answers to this thread. I really appreciate it! ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-per-hour-limit-of-outgoing-emails-from-a-basic-free-yahoo-account/467122/8 "2008-10-09T20:25:24Z")
Yahoo blacklisted me when I exchanged a couple of dozen rapid (urgent) emails with a friend in France.