Is username@live.com the same email account as username@hotmail.com?

(back to Send Email from Hotmail.com, Live.com, or Outlook.com)

No, “username@live.com” and “username@hotmail.com” are not the same email account, even though both are part of Microsoft’s email services. Each email address is unique, and the part after the “@” (the domain) differentiates the accounts.

Key Differences:

• “@live.com”: This domain was introduced by Microsoft in 2005 as part of its Windows Live services.
• “@hotmail.com”: This domain was part of Hotmail, one of the first web-based email services, which Microsoft acquired in 1997.

Even though both “@live.com” and “@hotmail.com” accounts are now handled under the same Microsoft Outlook platform, they remain distinct email addresses. Emails sent to “username@live.com” will not be delivered to “username@hotmail.com”, unless you’ve explicitly set up forwarding between the two accounts or both addresses are aliases under the same Microsoft account (a feature where multiple email addresses can point to the same inbox).

Summary:

• “username@live.com” and “username@hotmail.com” are separate and distinct accounts.
• Both are part of the Microsoft ecosystem, so they use the same infrastructure (Outlook.com), but they are not interchangeable unless set up as aliases under the same Microsoft account.