this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
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You can do this with IMAP as well, you just need to delete and expunge the emails. Any good email client or library will have an option for this.
POP is literally just downloading all the emails, then deleting them. That's it.
You can't have a script that only downloads emails that match a search (for example emails from a particular sender), since POP doesn't support search. A basic use case is to check for bills/invoices from certain companies and import them into an accounting system, while leaving other emails untouched.
You can't receive emails in real-time and have to instead poll, since POP doesn't support real time notifications. IMAP supports IMAP IDLE.
If you have rules that filter emails into folders, you can't download them via POP, as it doesn't support folders.
For automated systems, if you don't want to store the emails, you can configure the email server to pipe the emails directly to a script. That way they're not stored at all, and your script gets them immediately rather than having to poll.
Yes, as I mentioned, but it's still extra step you need to manage. Not a big one, but extra step anyways.
Which is not always an option. You could have the script running on your laptop which isn't always connected, for example.
I'm well aware of the differences. I'm just saying that there's still use cases where pop3 has it's benefits over imap and discarding it as an 'old technology' isn't always the best route. I'm running my own email server for friends and family and I still have pop3 enabled just in case someone has one of those scenarios where it makes sense to use it.