Glossary/Email & Lifecycle/Mailbox Provider (MBP)
Email & Lifecycle
Mailbox Provider (MBP)
A company that hosts email inboxes and decides inbox placement, such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or Apple iCloud Mail.
By Brandon Mina·CEO, BrandPilot AI·Updated November 2026
Short answer
A mailbox provider (MBP) is a company that hosts email inboxes and decides inbox placement, such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or Apple iCloud Mail. Each provider uses its own filtering based on authentication, reputation and recipient engagement. Senders must meet each provider's requirements, since rules and filtering behavior differ across providers.