What are the best e-mail clients for macOS?

Question

OSXProductivity

What are the best e-mail clients for macOS?

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Jan 16, 2024

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22 Options Considered

Best e-mail clients for macOS	Price	Platforms	Search
65 MailMate	$49.99	MacOS	Yes
60 Airmail	$9.99	MacOS, iOS	Yes
58 Spark	Free	Android, iOS, Mac OS	Yes
52 Mozilla Thunderbird	Free	Windows, macOS, Linux	Yes
52 Mail.app	Free	MacOS	Yes

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score 102 · Answer 1

MailMate

Top Pro

Extremely powerful search features

While most email clients support searching content from their To, From and Cc fields, MailMate lets users search down to the different sections of these fields. For example, you can search for the address only, or the name only, or even any one of the embedded headers. Subjects can be searched by prefixes, or by specific words which may be contained within and so on. See More

Top Con

Hard to master

For occasional users who only write emails to friends and loved ones, MailMate's features may be a bit of an overkill since it's designed for power users who spend a lot of time writing and reading/organizing emails. See More

LogicalWurrukatte's Experience

I love the multiple views which you can switch through using simple kbd shortcuts. Also the smart mailboxes. The rules are more flexible than in Apple Mail and I reproduced my old workflow while simplifying/streamlining it as well. Happy I made the change. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Keyboard focused

MailMate is extremely keyboard-focused. Almost every action can be configured to be achieved through a key combination in the settings. With the help of the keyboard shortcuts you can easily navigate through thousands of messages to find the one you need. See More

Top Con

Not so "native" Gmail support

Because it's more IMAP native, and Gmail uses some non-native IMAP stuff (according to MailMate's documentation). See More

EarnestIlabrat's Experience

Powerful, quick, Markdown, uncluttered ... Can't believe I never found this before! See More

Top Pro

Markdown support

Markdown is a way to format text quickly using only the keyboard. Different text characters create different text: for example, putting asterisks (*) around a word or group of words will italicize them, while double asterisks (**) will bold that text. Markdown is a basic formatting system that can then be adapted to HTML or other formats. See More

Top Con

Ugly!

Seriously dated UI and looks too much like Apple Mail See More

VersatileSors's Experience

If you can accept its limitations, it's great for reading and searching email. I appreciate the non-gimmicky interface. See More

Top Pro

Clean, no-fuss interface

MailMate's UI is very basic. The icons are limited to some default MacOS standard folder images and the interface is very clean and simple, showing only what's needed without any fuss or distracting colours. Instead, opting for a mostly grey interface, with a sprinkle of some other colours here and there. See More

Top Con

No POP or Exchange support

MailMate supports IMAP and IMAP only, there's no POP or Exchange support. See More

CommunicativePrabhasa's Experience

Very stable, very good search capabilities See More

Top Pro

Smart folders on steroids

you can choose out of tenths of mailheaders (several hundreds including virtual headers) "<header> is (not) in <folder> <header>" operator which enables you to do cool filters each smart folder can have smart subfolders by an user definable key See More

Top Con

A little steep price

$50 See More

Top Pro

Reliable

Both MailMate's speed and performance are highly reliable. See More

Top Pro

Great documentation

The official documentation for MailMate is very thorough and helpful. It covers all options and features in a clear and efficient manner. See More

Top Pro

Columns (which have gone missing in Apple Mail in Catalina)

Top Pro

Faster

Faster the Mail.app specially if you have many emails See More

Top Pro

Nice tagging support

One can define tupels of IMAP keywords and tags (which are shown in UI). In case of Gmail one can define triples of IMAP Keywords, Tags, and gmail lables. (in Thunderbird one can only define the tags, whereas the corresponding IMAP keyword is not user-definable.) See More

Top Pro

The only mail app compatible with BusyContact in Catalina

See All

score 123 · Answer 2

Airmail

Top Pro

Clean interface

Airmail has a very clean and modern interface. On the left side of the screen are the folders (inbox, starred, draft, sent, snooze, trash) and on the right side the email threads for the folder currently being viewed. See More

Top Con

Unreliable

There are many issues/bugs with different accounts, including Gmail and iCloud. See More

Gavin Gough's Experience

The iOS app now requires a subscription to enable incoming mail notifications. This makes the iOS app very unattractive and there's little point installing the Mac desktop client for users who want to sync accounts between devices. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Automatically syncs settings between devices

If you are using Airmail in different devices (either MacOS or iOS), you can automatically sync settings through iCloud. See More

Top Con

Serious sync problems

On some IMAP accounts, there are a number of serious sync problems, which otherwise work fine with Apple Mail. See More

LikablePrometheus's Experience

I've tried most of the e-mail clients trying to find something that is perect, airmail isn't perfect it's just best of the bunch. What I don't like about airmail is the search function. But I must say it has improved alot during the last updates. See More

Top Pro

Fast and easy setup process

Even though there's a huge amount of settings available, it's quite easy to get used to each of them and the setup process is very fast and easy. See More

Top Con

Search is buggy and not very powerful

Top Pro

Consistent interface between devices

Airmail is available for both iOS and Mac, for people who use Apple's mobile devices. And the interface between both platforms is quite consistent, making it easy to seamlessly jump between one and another. See More

Top Con

Not free

Paid version only. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with multiple third-party services

Airmail can integrate with multiple Cloud services for syncing, creating backups, adding tasks and more. Some of these services include Dropbox, Box, Fantastical, 2DO, Todoist, Wunderlist etc. See More

Top Con

iOS app requires a subscription to enable incoming mail notifications

The iOS app now requires a subscription to enable incoming mail notifications. This makes the iOS app very unattractive and there's little point installing the Mac desktop client for users who want to sync accounts between devices. See More

Top Pro

Support for VIP folders

VIP folders are for particular senders which you always want to read even when you are ignoring email. The way it works is that you add different senders as VIPs and emails from those senders will always be surfaced on top of everything else. See More

Top Con

Copying/moving mails unreliable

Doesn't work most of the time even though the operation is reported as successful. Even has lost emails when moving. Support was not too much use either. See More

Top Pro

Extremely customizable

Instead of forcing the user to work with their email the way Airmail developers would want, it allows the user to customize and make the email client work the way they want because of the sheer flexibility of the application. There's a lot of settings available in Airmail with which you can customize almost every aspect and functionality of the app. In fact, it's very easy to get lost in them and spend a lot of time tweaking and customizing everything to your liking. See More

Top Con

Rather expensive

Top Pro

Supports Gmail shortcuts

Top Con

Inability to turn off auto-creation of labels

Version 3 does not allow it while version 2 did. See More

Top Pro

Multiple ways of sorting emails

There are multiple ways to sort emails with Airmail. You can sort by unread, starred, attachments, conversations, dates, and many more criteria. You can even combine different criteria together. Using these filters makes it extremely easy to quickly find any email you are looking for. See More

Top Con

UI is a little busy

Top Pro

Always keep the inbox clean

Airmail allows users to snooze an email until a defined moment (a few hours later, tomorrow, next weekend, next week, etc.), allowing you to process every email immediately and to always keep the inbox clean. See More

Top Con

Has the "slow typing" bug

When composing an email, Airmail can respond very slowly to keystrokes. Customer service refuses to acknowledge this problem, responding that it's "not real" - which is a very odd response, to simply refuse to acknowledge the customer's experience. See More

Top Pro

Supports trackpad gestures

Airmail is able to use trackpad gestures for achieving and deleting mail items. See More

See All

score 89 · Answer 3

Spark

Top Pro

Smart Inbox

Be notified only when an email is important. See More

Top Con

Horrible privacy policy

Sends statistical data to several services known for bad privacy policies (Google, Facebook), also there's no way to opt out. Automatically creates an account with the first address entered and subscribes you to their newsletter. Stores credentials for your email accounts on their servers. Stores your emails on their servers to push them to your devices. Server infrastructure seems to be located in the US. See More

FantasticHemithea's Experience

Slow tech support, days even weeks late. Wants you to email troubles, hello, how do you do that if my email doesn't work. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android, iOS, Mac OS

Top Pro

Free

Top Con

Crashes many times a day

ColorfulShurpanakha's Experience

Only got much worse with the recent upgrade See More

Top Pro

List of signatures

Maintainable list of easy to use signatures. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support many services

Many services such as Spam filters, Pocket, and other apps are not supported. See More

Michael's Experience

Spark overall is a huge improvement over mail.app. It beats AirMail in the reliability category and has a more polished UI. Spark also handles many accounts at the same time, without missing a beat. The excellent interface is better than others I've used. See More

Top Pro

Easy zero inbox

Enabled by snoozing mails for minutes, hours or days. See More

Top Con

Doesn't show the counts of emails next to the folders

On the Mac platform will show +999 for the folder that contains more than 1000 emails. On the iPhone, the platform will not show the counts next to the folder unless they are new emails. See More

JokeNeverSoke's Experience

Its service is not available in many countries that block services like google (e.g. China) See More

Top Pro

Free snooze options

Top Con

Lacks Redirect function

You can only forward or Share to a member of a team. There's no Redirect function. See More

CalmMors's Experience

Cross platform See More

Top Pro

Custom quick swipe features

Top Con

Slow on multiple deletes or archive

CleverHeXiangu's Experience

Wonder! See More

Top Pro

Robust customization options

Top Con

Doesn't support modern authentication

Top Pro

Free send later option

Top Pro

Now updated with new labels

Top Pro

Syncs across devices

Top Pro

Allows creating folders in Gmail

Most other gmail clients (other then native) cannot create folder. This client does it natively. See More

Top Pro

Unified inbox

Top Pro

Good with multiple accounts

Handles many accounts at the same time, without missing a beat. See More

Top Pro

Polished UI

Better looking UI than others. Furthermore, the UI enhances the usage of the product, rather than getting in the way. See More

Top Pro

Adding accounts is easy

Smart and clean account creation. Usually takes just a few seconds! See More

See All

score 56 · Answer 4

Mozilla Thunderbird

Top Pro

Free (as in freedom and beer)

Top Con

Development slowed to only focus on stability and security

Mozilla Thunderbird has slowed down its development of features to only focus resources on security and stability. See More

NobleAbassi's Experience

As a long-time user of Thunderbird, I am experiencing seriously bad behavior on my mac - such as: clicking on a subject line brings up the wrong email. See More

Specs

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

Top Pro

Available on Linux, OS X and Windows

Top Con

Outdated interface

Thunderbird's interface is very outdated and unpleasant. It feels more like a Windows XP application than like a modern MacOS one. See More

Rachel Phillips's Experience

love it!!!!! has header columns so i can sort by sender, main reason i use. I use pop to archive my emails then i copy to external harddrive. I also use the imap to just browse. Seamonkey also has email. See More

Top Pro

Very reliable

Version after version, Mozilla Thunderbird works as expected. See More

Top Con

Terrible integration with macOS

Simple things - drag/dropping pictures doesn't work, for instance. See More

xji's Experience

Now that the new versions have been out for a while, plugin support is coming back, which makes it unbeatable. See More

Top Pro

Good filtering system

Mozilla Thunderbird offers a flexible filtering system with the ability to set flags and read/unread, as well as sort/assign to new mail directories. There are also numerous plugins available to assist in the filtering. See More

Top Con

Subject lines can (temporarily) disappear from the list

This is sporadic behavior. See More

ConsiderateAbora's Experience

Thunderbird shouldn't be on ANYONE's "best" list. See More

Top Pro

Large assortment of plugins available

Mozilla Thunderbird offers a huge amount of extensions to expand the usability and options of the client. See More

Top Con

Serious bugs

Clicking on a subject line can bring up the wrong email. See More

Top Pro

Great flexibility

More options and extended settings than most power users could dream of. Get it working how YOU want. See More

Top Pro

Tabs for navigation

Top Pro

Lightning Calendar and Address Book integration

Top Pro

Consistent and involving a moderate learning curve

The app design of Mozilla Thunderbird has not changed significantly since its beginning, making its learning curve almost non-existent. See More

Top Pro

Send large files easy

Install pCloud plugin for Thunderbird and your files (upto 20 GB free storage included) will be received as download links See More

See All

score 67 · Answer 5

Mail.app

Top Pro

Integration (with other Apps/Hardware)

One thing Apple does well is to integrate its apps and hardware. The mail app is no exception. If you must be in the hermit kingdom, at least take advantage of the (often excellent) features provided. See More

Top Con

No option to snooze emails

You can not snooze emails to view later. This makes it hard to keep the inbox clean at all times since you have to read every email and choose to delete or keep them the moment they arrive to do so. See More

Kevin Black's Experience

I was using the Gmail web app (I had it wrapped up using fluid so it looked like a simple app). This was fine. I've tried most of the other clients and always came back. Recently I was invaded by one or more Russians (I assume Russian, addressees of svetlana and ivan and cyrillic alphabet) using my gmail address to relay a gazillion emails. I don't think they 'got in', but they were certainly piggy backing of my email address. It was a PITA. A colleague said just use the mail app, it works and is secure (by comparison) AND your mail is local, available on iPhone and iPad and plays well with Apple hardware. I changed and it's good. Some may think it's ugly, that is purely a personal preference and subjective, I don't. I'm not a Tim Cook fan, I think Apple succeeds despite him not because of him, I am not a fanboy, BUT it's hard to go past the ...it just works... in this case. AND the searching is excellent. So from my experience, if you are in Tim Cook's hermit kingdom, just use their products if available. You can have a gmail account, but use their app(s). See More

Specs

Top Pro

Will probably be enough for a sizable chunk of users

Since it's the built-in Mac email client and is quite complete feature-wise, most users will not really need any other third-party applications out there. Mail.app should be enough for their needs. See More

Top Con

Missing lots of advanced features

Out of the box, Mail.app may not have as many features as some other options. This can be mitigated with plugins though. But that is not a perfect solution since third-party plugins may not be very reliable in the long run. See More

CompassionateOchopintre's Experience

Well supported, and tightly integrated into the MacOS ecosystem. See More

Top Pro

Easily annotate pictures or sign documents inside the client itself

Mail.app has powerful markup tools which let users add annotations to images or even sign documents they got through email without ever leaving the client. See More

Top Con

Really bad reliability

Database engine gets stuck consuming 100% of one core; crashes; a 40GB log file has been spotted. See More

TallIdyia's Experience

Ugly... See More

Top Pro

Smart folders on steroids

You can choose out of tenths of mailheaders (several hundreds including virtual headers) "<header> is (not) in <folder> <header>" operator which enables you to do cool filters Each smart folder can have smart subfolders by an user definable key See More

Top Con

Updates may break plugins

Apple is known to make API changes to Mail.app when updating which break a lot of plugins. This can be very annoying for users whose workflow heavily relies on plugins, since they have to wait for plugin developers to make the changes needed to fix any issues brought by the update. See More

Top Pro

Shows threaded view with snippets in middle panel

Top Con

Poor performance for some users on El Capitan

Top Pro

Can be easily extended

If the basic features inside Mail.app are not enough, it can easily be extended through plugins to add new features. See More

Top Con

Ugly

Top Con

Poor calendar integration in exchange mode

See All

score 25 · Answer 6

GyazMail

Top Pro

Long term support and development

Goichi Hirakawa, the main developer of GyazMail, has been committed to his project since 2003 and delivers updates regularly. See More

Top Con

Looks old and outdated

SensibleChibchacum's Experience

Fantastic mail rule support, for inbound and outgoing. Extremely reliable, literally has NEVER crashed in 15 years of use! See More

Specs

Top Pro

Mail sorting rules

The user can define complex mail sorting rules for incoming and outgoing mail. See More

Top Con

If connection drops or times out, Gyazmail just sits there until you click OK button

Top Pro

64-bit support

As of v1.6 See More

Top Con

Cannot remove attachments to save space

Top Pro

Native Cocoa API based

GyazMail is a native macOS application, based on the Cocoa API. See More

Top Con

Still a 32-Bit app

Top Pro

customizable fonts & colors

the mailbox view is very comfortable See More

Top Pro

Very good support for Asian languages

GyazMail is a Japanese product, so it has very good support for Asian languages. See More

Top Pro

Supports older versions of macOS

GyazMail is available for all versions of Mac OS X / macOS starting with version 10.1 See More

Top Pro

Freely selectable hard line wrap

In GyazMail you can set a maximum number of characters per line. The program will wrap the lines using hard wrapping on sending. This feature is very useful for newsgroups that require a hard break after 72 characters. See More

Top Pro

Supports a big variety of character encodings

Uses Oniguruma regular expression library, which is a very elaborate regular expression engine that supports a big variety of character encodings. This makes very much sense with e-mail, as in an e-mail theoretically any character encoding could be used. Because it is free software (BSD), written in C, very elaborate, stable and still actively maintained it is also used in Atom, Take Command Console, Tera Term, TextMate, Sublime Text, SubEthaEdit, and jq. See More

See All

score 41 · Answer 7

Canary Mail

Top Pro

Multiple Signatures for Multiple Accounts including ALIASES

You can assign your default signature to an ALIAS for the same account or create an altogether new one. See More

Top Con

Missing mainstream features

No functionality for user-defined Gmail message-tagging, or moving/copying to IMAP folders. Might be acceptable in a free app, but not in one with premium pricing. See More

LifeUnleashed's Experience

I've been using PostBox for years. Slow, boring and cumbersome, I still put up with it because of the templated snippets or "Responses", as they are called within PostBox, that allowed for repeated use. Even have placeholders that are customizable on the fly. That said, everyday use with six email accounts (multiple lines of business) became as I said earlier slow, boring, cumbersome and I'll even add on, seriously problematic. Lastly, it's expensive as hell. $40!!! I opted for Canary for a few reasons. It's been around for a bit, development is continuous and it freaking WORKS! Further, if you buy the iOS version for a measly $4.99, there is no setup!!!! Literally! No tweaking individual accounts, settings or signatures! The app pulls all that in from iCloud!!! While I don't see the super necessary feature of templated snippets, I have submitted the feature request and am hopeful it will be implemented soon. Otherwise, it's simply wonderful to have an aesthetically pleasing, smartly designed and responsive email client that does all of it VERY well! See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, iOS

Search:Yes

Exchange Support:IMAP only

Push Notifications:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

No personal data stored on servers

No access tokens, passwords, attachments or email itself is stored on Canary servers. See More

Top Con

Buggy

It adds random pins to old emails which then stay on top of the inbox list See More

ConsiderateAbora's Experience

Canary works very well. It's fast and stable. Unfortunately it requires separate subscription fees for each platform. If you want to use one methodology across Apple's ecosystem, Canary gets expensive. See More

Top Pro

Seamlessly integrates with iOS verion

Gone are the days of manual setup of phone email clients! Canary Mail syncs not just your accounts but all of your settings and even signatures on iCloud. See More

Top Con

Poor handling of new emails

You sometimes need to wait very long before your email actually gets delivered. See More

Top Pro

Local email database is encrypted on disk

Canary stores your local email database encrypted. See More

Top Con

Windows moves randomly

When you create a new email, the new windows is often misplaced so that you have to move it to reach the "Send" button. See More

Top Pro

Gorgeous and intuitive

Top Con

Poor text editing capabilities

The cursor is laggy so you're better off using keyboard shortcuts. See More

Top Pro

Pretty Good Privacy or PGP built-in

Top Con

Show NO show

It'll show a new email on a counter, but you're not able to view them. See More

See All

score 25 · Answer 8

Postbox

Top Pro

Powerful filtering options

Top Con

Too slow

It's a bit slow and bulky. See More

LoyalUrania's Experience

Not at all buggy, easy to customize how I see, organize, and receive emails. It's refreshingly easy to delete a bunch of junk at once. You can filter by topic, date, an individual on the "favorite contacts" list, and a few other attributes like "has attachment." Speaking of attachments - if you even think the word "attach," Postbox opens up a window below your message for you to drop an attachment in, and won't let you send the email without confirming that you really don't want to attach something. I love this feature. You can set up your accounts with certificates for signing or encrypting emails, which I like, although it confuses everyone I know. Finally - I think it says something about a company when they offer a 30 day trial, which their competitors don't. What am I saying? Postbox knows they have nothing to hide about their product. See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, Windows

Top Pro

Solid code

Built on Thunderbird. See More

Top Con

No mobile app

ResponsiveAtargatis's Experience

Horribly slow...grinds to a near halt with my large IMAP. Support is surly...stay away. See More

Top Pro

Compose using pre-prepared responses

There aren't a lot of programs that offer this handy feature, that greatly improves the user experience. Sending out emails is much faster and easier, when you have a variety of pre-made templates for different situations. See More

Top Con

The text is difficult to read.

WittySelene's Experience

More features than Apple Mail See More

Top Pro

One Inbox for all accounts

All messages in one place. But you can select to show only messages from each account either. See More

Top Con

The only options for "default search engine" are Google, Yahoo, AOL, and Bing. No support even for a custom one

Rarerely needed to use a search engine within Postbox though. See More

Top Pro

Support for secure certificates to sign or encrypt mail

Top Con

Old skool UX

No bells or whistles (if you're into that kinda thing). For example no fancy animations or swipe actions. See More

Top Pro

Clear interface

Top Pro

Helps you prevent sending an email without an attachment by accident

It of course only does this if you meant to attach something. See More

Top Pro

Quick Bar for macros

Quick bar allows you to add a variety of content to your message. It will let you reuse URLS in your Sent folder, and autocompletes against canned responses, signatures, and topics. See More

Top Pro

Blocks tracking gifs

Has the ability to block tracking gifs commonly used for read receipts. See More

Top Pro

Quickly add snippets to messages

Quick bar allows you to add a variety of content to your message. It will let you reuse URLS in your Sent folder, and autocompletes against canned responses, signatures, and topics. See More

See All

score 18 · Answer 9

Mailspring

Top Pro

Unified inbox

Using a single inbox for all of your email accounts helps you get more done in less time. Mailspring supports every major mail provider—Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, Outlook.com, Yahoo!, and IMAP/SMTP—so you have a single, streamlined command center for all your messages. See More

Top Con

Mailspring ID mandatory

The very first thing on running the app is a mandatory signup for a Mailspring ID. This would be needed for some of the fancier sync features, but there is no way to ditch them. See More

Top Pro

Great integration with Gmail

Mailspring has great integration with gmail features and tags. See More

Top Con

Pro subscription model

To use some features, like contact profiles and link tracking more than a few times a month, you need to pay for a Pro subscription. See More

Top Pro

Unlimited number of accounts

Only in the paid version though. See More

Top Con

Slow updates and bug fixes

It takes months to fix some simple bugs. See More

Top Pro

Neat UI

The UI is very well designed and neat. See More

Top Con

Does not support POP

Just IMAP. See More

Top Pro

Read receipts and link tracking

Activity tracking is built into Mailspring so you get notified as soon as contacts read your messages and can follow up appropriately. See More

Top Con

Very limited user interface

No way to see the messages as a list, no way to rearrange views. See More

Top Pro

CPU / battery efficient

Mailspring uses a C++ sync engine designed to be as efficient as possible, so you can leave the app running and not see your laptop battery life drain away. See More

Top Con

Can't use without creating a Mailspring ID

There is no need to create a third party ID for an email client. What if the Mailspring closes in the future - can't install a previously downloaded Mailspring software any more to continue using it or access your stored emails? See More

Top Pro

Snoozing support

You can swipe to archive / snooze messages and specify when you'd like them to resurface in your inbox. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support Exchange accounts

Top Con

No address book

See All

score 7 · Answer 10

Edison Mail

Top Pro

Stable

Top Con

Sluggish

Every message has as very slight delay before loading, compared to other clients. See More

ConsiderateAbora's Experience

Edison is fast, stable, and free. It handles multiple accounts/services seamlessly. My only complaint is the inability to automatically sort mail into folders (or Gmail tags) based on user-defined rules. See More

Top Pro

Frequent updates

Top Con

Lack of advanced features

Top Pro

Free, as in beer

Top Pro

Fast

See All

score 10 · Answer 11

Opera Mail

Top Pro

Opera Mail CAN BE set as default email client in Windows 8 & 10

Top Con

Very limited feature set

Compared to Thunderbird. See More

Rachel Phillips's Experience

crashes continually and very slow See More

Specs

Top Pro

Automagic smart filtering

After a bit of use, Opera learns what email belongs in what folder, simply from previous usage. This makes for a convenient way to filter emails without having to manually manage every email. See More

Top Con

Does not support 4K monitors

Top Pro

Intuitive user interface

The design of the UI in Opera Mail is clean and intuitive, making for an easy-to-use client. See More

Top Con

Sync is slow

Opera tends to be quite slow when it comes to email sync in comparison to other popular clients. See More

Top Pro

Free and based on Mozilla code

Opera Mail is completely free to download and use and it is based on Mozilla's code, which is what makes it a bit similar to Thunderbird in looks and function. See More

See All

score 12 · Answer 12

Kiwi for Gmail

Top Pro

Integrated with multiple Google services

Kiwi is integrated with several Google services out-of-the-box. You can use Hangouts, Calendar and even access Google Drive inside Kiwi. See More

Top Con

Only works with Gmail accounts

As the name implies, Kiwi only works with Gmail accounts. See More

GenerousAbhean's Experience

I've been using Kiwi for about a year now managing 4 gmail accounts. It does most of what I want, but ultimately has some unforgivable bugs (accounts sometimes silently fail to load, which requires a restart - obviously no email notifications for these during this time), some random crashes here and there. Being a wrapper around Gmail, you need to constantly re-authenticate, which isn't kiwi's fault- but it's still pretty painful. Kiwi also insist in opening calendar links in the kiwi Gcal app, and there's no way to opt out of this, which is very bothersome. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Handles multiple Gmail accounts

Kiwi is capable of handling multiple Gmail accounts without the need for logging in and out of each. See More

Top Con

No option to opt out of their "Suite" applications

When clicking a calendar link, always opens in the Kiwi app version, which is bothersome if you're using calendar inside chrome itself. There's no option to disable this. See More

ConsiderateAbora's Experience

Gmail-only apps are nothing more than a different way to access webmail. Most people use multiple email providers - so what's the point using a service-specific email app? See More

Top Pro

Makes Google Drive work seamlessly across accounts

Top Con

Lots of bugs

Accounts sometimes silently fail to load. Notifications often fail to come through. Crashes quite a lot, restarting multiple times a day is a common occurrence See More

Top Pro

Integration with Google Suite apps like Docs, Sheets and Slides

Top Con

Doesn't yet support Gmail plug-ins

Top Pro

Multiple gmail accounts without having to log in and out

Top Con

Some features open in a browser window

Some of the features are not integrated with the native app and instead open in a browser windows. See More

Top Pro

Extremely easy to use

There's practically no learning curve at all with Kiwi since it's basically Gmail's interface inside a native application. If the user has used Gmail's web client before, the transition to Kiwi will be painless. See More

Top Pro

Has a "Do not distrub" mode which helps with productivity

In those cases when you want to get things done and emails are a distraction, Kiwi has a "Do not disturb" mode which turns off all notifications for new emails. This feature allows the user to avoid switching off all Mac notifications. See More

Top Pro

Very fast

Doesn't store enormous archives locally and spend time trying index everything (instead relies on Google for that). (I'm looking at you Mail.app) See More

See All

score 8 · Answer 13

eM Client

Top Con

Not many options to manage IMAP folders

For example, all emails from Gmail will unnecessary synchronize. See More

Top Pro

Searchable PDF documents

Searchable PDF documents See More

DeliberateVeles's Experience

This morning I look at my work iMac and the program crashed. After 11 days, the program breaks off after about 400,000 emails. My other iMac in the bedroom no longer responds, due to the high memory consumption in 11 days, I have to stop here too. Around 650,000 e-mails were sent in 11 days. Form your own picture. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, MacOS

Top Con

Missing support for shared IMAP folders

Using eM Client with an email servers that supports shared folders, doesnt show them. See More

Top Pro

Calendar inclusive

ThriftyTezcatlipoca's Experience

ZERO Mac support. Boo! See More

Top Con

Zero Mac support

Promised Mac support for years and STILL hasn't implemented it. See More

Top Pro

It's simple to add new accounts

Top Con

Import aborts

Import aborts after 11 days, would have needed another 8 days to import all emails. The program is so slow! See More

Top Pro

Still actively developed

They've been developing and improving it consistently for years. See More

Top Con

Long time for the database to be checked

In the event of a crash, the database must first be checked; this process sometimes takes several hours, depending on the size of the database. See More

Top Pro

Chat included

eM Client includes integrated chat, so you don't need another application for chatting with your friends. All common chat services supported (Google chat, Jabber and others). See More

Top Con

Very slow import speed

Top Pro

Excellent search

Speedy search through large quantities of mail. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful interface, customisable to your needs

Top Pro

Doesn't replace your attachments with "winmail.dat" files

eM Client sends straight .pdf files for fax messages flawlessly. See More

Top Pro

Includes Quick Text

eM Client seamlessly integrated the Quick Text extension that was available on Thunderbird. This makes it easy to quickly auto-insert dynamic text, based on many variables, saving time and the need to tediously repeat manual text replies. See More

Top Pro

The only email client which synchronizes Gmail contacts properly

Top Pro

Many useful options

Such as sorting through categories, etc. See More

Top Pro

It doesn't store all emails on the disc

It saves space, unlike Thunderbird. See More

Top Pro

Free and paid version

It is free for 2 accounts and as long as you don't use it commercially. Paid version comes with support and can handle more than 2 accounts. See More

See All

score 19 · Answer 14

Newton

Top Con

Subscription based

Newton costs $49.99 per year after the 14 day free trial. See More

Top Pro

Know who's emailing you

Newton grabs information from LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts linked to the sender's email address. It then displays information which can help you figure out who the emailer is, such as their job title and where they work. See More

Ronald Epstein's Experience

Before this company charges $50 a year for a subscription perhaps they should really get their act together. While there are some really great "Pro" features for the price, the basics just aren't there. In fact, this email client looks too plain/basic. First, there is only single pane viewing. Most all email clients provide dual pane. Second, there is a total absence of "Rules" to guide your emails to specific folders. Third, there is no gravatar support in the message list that allows you to instantly see who the message is from before you even look at the incoming text. There is no spam filter to speak of either. At the very least, Newton could have worked with SpamSieve, the most popular filtering app on Mac. I would gladly pay the $50 yearly fee if this mail client was really worth that price. However, Newton is charging a high yearly fee for absent features that other email clients already have. See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, iOS, Android

Top Con

It's "stupid expensive"

$49.99/year? Really? And it doesn't cook, clean, or serve beer. There are better email apps for far less money. See More

Top Pro

Snooze incoming emails

You can snooze emails to come back at a convenient time - whether it be in 2 hours, or next Wednesday. See More

TallIdyia's Experience

Simply the best multiplatform email ever. It is so weird that the best code disappears from the market. The pricing was really poorly executed. See More

Top Pro

Works across multiple platforms

While there is no Windows app, Newton is available on iOS, Android, and macOS, including Android Wear and Apple Watch. See More

ImmaculatePeklenc's Experience

Newton no longer exists. See More

Top Pro

Logs messages to Salesforce

Top Pro

Had everything you can dream of

See All

score 9 · Answer 15

Microsoft Outlook

Top Con

No CalDAV or WebDAV support

Makes it useless for G Suite users. See More

Top Pro

Good built-in calendar

The calendar includes agenda, day and three-day views. See More

ReliableMalakbel's Experience

It's come a long way since this review was written. Now integrates with google much better, including calendar sync See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, Windows, Android

Top Con

Inconsistent knowledgebase

Many articles written by Microsoft employees appear to be cross-platform statements, when in fact the explanations only apply to Windows versions. This is most visible in the areas of the steps needed to perform tasks; how to access some settings; and troubleshooting steps. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with cloud storage services

Microsoft Outlook comes with built-in cloud storage browser allowing you to attach files directly from services such as Dropbox, Box, Google Drive or OneDrive to emails and directly open attached files without the need for the main cloud storage app. See More

ConsiderateAbora's Experience

Typical Microsoft Bloatware. See More

Top Con

Inconsistent cross-platform implementations

Microsoft makes the appearance consistent across macOS, Windows, iOS, iPadOS. However, a number of features available on Windows, are unavailable on macOS. See More

Top Pro

Helps prioritize email

The app will automatically attempt to figure out which emails are important to you and surface those. The priority emails will show up in your inbox in a tab called Focused, with other emails in a tab called Other. It aims to separate spam and promotional emails from the important emails. See More

Rachel Phillips's Experience

not available for mac See More

Top Con

The UI is outdated

Top Pro

Good built-in contacts

In addition to showing contact information, the People section of Outlook can show all conversations you've had with a person. Moreover, if you're looking for someone that's not in your contact's list, but is in your company's or school's directory, Outlook can pull that information through integration with Global Address List (GAL). See More

Top Con

No unique Inbox / global folders

Top Pro

Quick swipe features

Microsoft Outlook comes with quick swipe features where users can quickly swipe the thread either from left (to schedule) or right (to delete or archive). Additionally, users can also customize the swipe actions to, for example, set swipe from left to archive or swipe from right to delete. See More

Top Con

Categorize email IMAP not good

Top Con

Rather buggy

Top Con

Missing Shared folder support for IMAP

On some platforms with Shared email folders using IMAP. See More

Top Con

Doesn't follow security guidelines

The app stores user information and credentials on outside servers which is a violation of ActiveSync password requirement policies. These security concerns have been enough of an issue that European Parliament has banned its members from using the app out of fear that it might lead to leaking sensitive information. See More

See All

score 10 · Answer 16

Polymail

Top Con

Ridiculous price

$10 per month for a mail client See More

Top Pro

Set notification if you don't get a response

If you send an email you need a response on you can set up a notification if you don't get a reply in x number of days. See More

roberthenderson423's Experience

Been using this email app for almost a year, it's great. Easy to use, slick, always reliable. See More

Top Con

Polymail account

You need to create a polymail account, you can't just install the client and use it with your existing email address without sending data to polymail servers. See More

Top Pro

Read receipts

Top Con

Not as many extensions as some other apps

Top Pro

Clean design

Top Con

No indent option in text formatting, pretty basic stuff really

Top Pro

"Send later" functionality

Top Pro

One-click unsubscribe

Top Pro

Responsive dev team

See All

score 9 · Answer 17

Air Mail

Top Pro

Native support across the Apple ecosystem

Top Con

Inconsistent Unified accounts functionality

Empty Trash, or Empty SPAM folders do not function properly on multiple IMAP accounts. See More

ConsiderateAbora's Experience

Looks good, has a generous feature set, with native support on macOS, iOS, iPadOS. Supports unlimited accounts from all mainstream services and technologies. See More

Top Pro

Reasonably priced

Annual subscription fees at a reasonable rate. See More

Top Con

Recent stability issues

Sometime during 1st half 2020, Airmail.app became less stable. It doesn't crash, but becomes unresponsive. After several updates, the issues weren't fixed. See More

Top Pro

Generous feature set

Rules-based automatic sorting. Decent SPAM identification. Unified views. See More

Top Pro

No signups for the site necessary

Air mail does not require any kind of signups to use the service. See More

See All

score 4 · Answer 18

Mailplane 3

Top Pro

Can work with mutiple Gmail accounts simultaneously

The tabbed interface included in Mailplane 3 lets users work with as many Gmail accounts simultaneously as they want. See More

Top Con

Written for those who drink Google's Kool-Aid

It's a thinly-veiled skin over the browser interface. Why bother? See More

ConsiderateAbora's Experience

Why would ANYONE want a Gmail-only client? Far too limited. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Fast and light

Top Con

Can freeze very often

Top Pro

Doubles as a calendar

Mailplane 3 combines Google Calendar and Gmail within a single app. See More

Top Con

Gmail only

Mailplane 3 is a Gmail-only client. It does not support other email providers. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Mailplane 3 looks just like Gmail's web UI and even imports Gmail shortcuts. If Gmail shortcuts aren't ideal for the user, those of Mac can be used instead. See More

Top Pro

Supports many plugins

Functionality and features can be extended by using plugins. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 19

Superhuman

score 2 · Answer 20

Mail Pilot

Top Con

Makes a huge mess of IMAP mailboxes

Builds many new categories and basically uses IMAP as a database. Makes it difficult to work alongside other mail clients or webmail. See More

Top Pro

Good security features

There are options to display URLs you get in emails, or to disable pictures by default if you are afraid of getting malicious data from suspicious emails. See More

Specs

Top Con

Not reliable

Mail Pilot seems to be riddled with bugs and glitches. See More

Top Pro

Doubles as a to-do application

Mail Pilot turns emails into tasks. It has a built-in system of setting reminders and collecting emails into groups as to-dos. See More

Top Con

Not for everyone

Since it's mainly focused to turning emails to tasks and a strong believer of "inbox zero", it may not be suitable for everyone's workflows. See More

See All

22 Options Considered

My Recommendation for MailMate

My Recommendation for MailMate

Extremely powerful search features

Hard to master

Keyboard focused

Not so "native" Gmail support

Markdown support

Ugly!

Clean, no-fuss interface

No POP or Exchange support

Smart folders on steroids

A little steep price

Reliable

Great documentation

Columns (which have gone missing in Apple Mail in Catalina)

Faster

Nice tagging support

The only mail app compatible with BusyContact in Catalina

My Recommendation for Airmail

My Recommendation for Airmail

Clean interface

Unreliable

Automatically syncs settings between devices

Serious sync problems

Fast and easy setup process

Search is buggy and not very powerful

Consistent interface between devices

Not free

Integrates with multiple third-party services

iOS app requires a subscription to enable incoming mail notifications

Support for VIP folders

Copying/moving mails unreliable

Extremely customizable

Rather expensive

Supports Gmail shortcuts

Inability to turn off auto-creation of labels

Multiple ways of sorting emails

UI is a little busy

Always keep the inbox clean

Has the "slow typing" bug

Supports trackpad gestures

My Recommendation for Spark

My Recommendation for Spark

Smart Inbox

Horrible privacy policy

Free

Crashes many times a day

List of signatures

Doesn't support many services

Easy zero inbox

Doesn't show the counts of emails next to the folders

Free snooze options

Lacks Redirect function

Custom quick swipe features

Slow on multiple deletes or archive

Robust customization options

Doesn't support modern authentication

Free send later option

Now updated with new labels

Syncs across devices

Allows creating folders in Gmail

Unified inbox

Good with multiple accounts

Polished UI

Adding accounts is easy

My Recommendation for Mozilla Thunderbird

My Recommendation for Mozilla Thunderbird

Free (as in freedom and beer)

Development slowed to only focus on stability and security

Available on Linux, OS X and Windows

Outdated interface

Very reliable

Terrible integration with macOS

Good filtering system

Subject lines can (temporarily) disappear from the list

Large assortment of plugins available

Serious bugs

Great flexibility

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