How to Access Webmail With HostGator

By Jackie Lohrey

HostGator allows for accessing webmail via unencrypted and encrypted connections.
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HostGator includes an unlimited number of web-based email accounts with each of its three hosting plans. Web-based email, or webmail, accounts require an Internet connection and a web browser to access the account and read or compose emails. Although HostGator webmail is a proprietary service, it works much the same as free webmail providers such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

Read-Mail Options

During account setup, you’ll choose one of the three webmail programs HostGator supports for reading and composing messages. Of three choices -- Horde, SquirrelMail and RoundCube -- HostGator recommends SquirrelMail as the most reliable and easy-to-use program. Two main reasons are that the SquirrelMail interface is similar to standard email programs and the program doesn’t use large amounts of graphics, so the page load is faster than either Horde or RoundCube.

HostGator cPanel Option

You can access your email accounts from the Mail section in the HostGator cPanel dashboard or from your web browser. If you use the cPanel option, click the “E-mail Accounts” icon and scroll down to “Current Accounts.” Locate and click the globe icon next to the webmail account you want to open. Enter your password and click the log-in button. Once you’re in, click the icon that corresponds to the read-mail option you selected during account setup to access your webmail account.

Direct Webmail Access

You can access the “E-mail Accounts” section of the HostGator cPanel directly from your browser. Two available methods work either for a primary domain or for any subdomains associated with a webmail account. For the first option, type “www.yourdomain name.com/webmail” in the browser. For the second option, access webmail by going through the cPanel’s default webmail port 2095. Entering “www.yourdomainname.com:2095” establishes an unencrypted connection to your webmail account.

Secure Webmail Access

The advantages to accessing webmail using cPanel’s encrypted webmail port 2096 are that that you won’t have to first access HostGator or the cPanel dashboard and that the connection won’t transmit your username and password in plain text over the Internet. Type either “www.yourdomainname.com:2096/horde/index.php” or “www.yourdomainname.com:2096/3rdparty/squirrelmail or roundcube/index.php” in your web browser to access your webmail account via a secure connection.

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