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What are the best cross-platform email clients?

14

Options
Considered

350

User
Recs.

Aug 5, 2022

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

12 Options Considered

Best cross-platform email clients	Price	Platforms	IMAP
88 Claws Mail	-	BSD, Linux, Mac OS, Solaris, Unix, Windows	Yes
86 Mozilla Thunderbird	Free	Windows, macOS, Linux	Yes
77 Mailspring	-	-	-
-- Sylpheed	-	-	-
-- Blue Mail	Free/Paid	Windows 10/macOS/Linux/Android/iOS/Amazon FireOS	Yes

Claws Mail

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Top Con

No portable Windows bundle available

Only installers for Windows. See More

Top Pro

Low resource client

Claws Mail is a low resource e-mail client that is often default in low resource Linux distributions. See More

ConscientiousTohil's Experience

light and fast! See More

Specs

Platforms:BSD, Linux, Mac OS, Solaris, Unix, Windows

Top Con

Rare Windows version updates

Windows version is not updated frequently. See More

Top Pro

Fast, even on older machines

Andrew Mutavdzija's Experience

For 99% of users, installing this email client on macOS is far too complicated to even waste the time reading the rest of this review. Only try this if the following, from the Claws website, makes sense to you: Installing Claws Mail will require X.org, GTK+ 2.6, and a working POSIX building environment (including the gcc/make toolchain). Let's consider using Fink to install the software requirements on your Mac OS X system. Install Fink (http://www.finkproject.org/). Download and unpack the Claws Mail sources. Run ./configure --prefix=/sw to quickly see what packages are missing, and install them using Fink (fink or FinkCommander). Some of the required packages are available in unstable only, so you might need to enable unstable packages in the Fink prefs, then do fink selfupdate scanpackages. You'll need a complete gcc/make toolchain as well as few extra requirements See More

Top Con

Buggy

Top Pro

Open Source

Top Con

Requires "Enter" to be pressed to read a message

Selecting it is not sufficient. See More

Top Pro

Has many plugins for extra functionality

Top Con

Doesn't optionally display HTML emails

But always converts them to text. See More

Top Pro

Saves emails in uncompressed readable format

Allows one to read archived emails with a text editor. See More

Top Pro

Clean interface with 5 layout variants

Top Pro

Quite usable filtering capabilities

E.g. move mail to folder or delete it, if it comes from a certain sender or contains a certain pattern in the subject. See More

Mozilla Thunderbird

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Top Pro

Supports multiple accounts and identities

Top Con

Can't minimise it to tray

It doesn't send any sort of notifications of any email while the Thunderbird is closed. We can't even minimise Thunderbird to tray in order to get notifications. Getting real-time notifications is very important for any email client. See More

StrongSeker's Experience

Calendar, Mail, Invitations, Twitter integration, hundreds of add-ons... just the most versatile email client out there See More

Specs

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

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

PracticalAnput's Experience

Very solid and configurable email client. For a couple years I had been using Mailspring, but there were a few key annoyances that were severe enough I finally left (see my review of that software for the details). Short summary: 1) The "unread" folder kept desyncing and showing read emails. 2) When I connected more than 3 accounts, it would have syncing errors. 3) The HTML/WYSIWYG editor was glitchy. Since it's been so long without those core issues being fixed, I finally decided to try switching to Thunderbird. So far I'm liking it a lot: 1) It's pretty readable/compact. 2) It's highly configurable. 3) It has addons. 4) And best of all, it actually syncs my multiple email addresses without erroring! If Mailspring fixes those issues, I may do a closer comparison. But for now, reliability wins out! See More

Top Pro

Available for Windows, Mac and Linux

Top Con

Serious bugs

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

SharpKayra's Experience

On Linux, slow & lags. See More

Top Pro

Very reliable

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

Top Con

Quite sluggish

Triggering commands usually is delayed for a noticeable moment. See More

nicwow's Experience

Cannot go wrong with Thunderbird. See More

Top Pro

Can be extended to be very restrictive

E.g. show HTML messages only on demand. See More

Top Con

Subject lines can (temporarily) disappear from the list

This is sporadic behavior. See More

ReliablePirwa's Experience

Can not get notifications when the client is closed. Can't minimize it to tray anymore. 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

Often the UI hangs for multiple seconds

With large email folders. 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

Fetching mails often collides with compacting

Especially if Thunderbird detects that a folder could be compressed and suggests to do that (while fetching fails), it often reports problems in doing this because the 2 tasks could not work on the same folder at the same time. See More

Top Pro

Lightning Calendar and Address Book integration

Top Con

Hard to debug filter rules

If you have a lot of filter rules, it is hard to find the reason why messages got filtered incorrectly (unexpectedly). See More

Top Pro

Tabs for navigation

Top Con

Interface is old-fashioned

But a new interface is coming soon. And it looks stunning. See More

Top Pro

Powerful filtering options

Top Pro

Large file attachments accepted

Install pCoud plugin for thunderbird and send up to 20 GB for free. Simple, drag and drop, converted into download link. Anyone can download the link. See More

Top Pro

Portable version available

Top Pro

Available on Linux, OS X and Windows

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

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

Mailspring

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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

Great integration with Gmail

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

FantasticMarzyana's Experience

I use linux (Ubuntu 16.0) and Mailspring is the best app for mailing, it has some useful features like notifications when someone read my email and so one. See More

Top Con

Slow updates and bug fixes

It takes months to fix some simple bugs. For example, they can't fix bug with notifications on mac OS from April 2019! Upd: they fixed it after 6-7 months See More

Top Pro

Neat UI

The UI is very well designed and neat. See More

DetailedApep's Experience

Very good! I run it on manjaro without a problem! Very clean et efficient, even the free version! See More

Top Con

Unstable, have to keep fixing passwords

You have to keep "updating the password" because it continuously finds it hard to sync with multiple Outlook accounts. 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

meikl's Experience

Might be an option for hobby usage, but for professional use too sluggish and too inefficient interface. 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

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

SensibleBodbDerg's Experience

Very clean design. Just hate that have to create some account to use it. See More

Top Con

No addressbook

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

Venryx's Experience

For a couple years I have been using Mailspring, but there are a few key annoyances that have been severe enough that I've finally switched (as of today) to Mozilla Thunderbird. The main issues: 1) The "unread" status of emails gets desynced frequently; thus, the "unread" section keeps getting cluttered with tons of messages that have in fact been read! 2) Keeps having issues syncing mail for two of my Gmail accounts! (even after attempted re-sign-in) I suspect the Mailspring client just cannot handle more than 3 accounts without getting unstable. (the two that have issues are the two most recently added) 3) The HTML/WYSIWYG editor is not completely reliable; sometimes when I press enter, the editor shows two line-breaks (ie. one empty line in between paragraphs), but then, only after sending, I see that the double-line-breaks has been simplified to a single line-break! (which means the paragraphs have no space between them anymore, disrupting readability!) For over a year, I had been holding out hope that the tickets/entries raised for these issues would get fixed (the first one at least, since that was the most annoying). But there has been no movement by the developers on any of them, as far as I can tell. And I think I partly know why: there used to be several core/frequent developers, but now there is only one or two, and they seem to have other features on their minds. (I guess new features are more important than bug fixes) If the three issues above end up getting fixed someday, I will consider going back to Mailspring (for its better aesthetics, easier development on Github and Electron, etc.). But for now, reliability wins out! See More

Top Con

No way to see messages as plain text

And HTML is only optional. 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

ResponsiveAuxesia's Experience

Much better than that thunderbird See More

Top Con

Does not support Microsoft Exchange

Top Pro

Unlimited number of accounts

Only in the paid version though. See More

Lynette Chia's Experience

One of the best email clients on Windows. See More

Top Con

Very limited user interface

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

WorthyStilbon's Experience

The mailspring ID is a show stopper. See More

Top Con

No portable windows (.zip) bundle available

DreamerShaushka's Experience

I personally use this See More

Top Con

Does not support POP

Just IMAP. See More

Hamza's Experience

Good app, but suffering from not working notifications. It was helpful for me when I was searching for a job, 'read receipts function' helped to sort companies, move on, or wait for a letter from employer for 1 or 2 days more. UI is ok and hope they will add auto theme change. At this moment, the application looks abandoned, but they watching comments on GitHub, even if they are slow in developing, they promise to fix bugs! See More

Top Con

Does not support multi-user installation (Windows)

But instead installs to the user's home directory. See More

CromulentRundas's Experience

Love the functionality / clean interface. Exactly what I was hoping for. See More

Top Con

UI is sluggish (Windows)

Click and only after a tiny delay (~half second) something happens. See More

Postbox

Top Con

Only available for Windows and Mac

Not Linux. See More

Top Pro

A great email app!

Postbox has a ton of features, is easy to use, and has a really beautiful UI. See More

Ιωαννης Αλεξιου's Experience

MY EXPERIENCE WAS FAULTLESS (29-5-2018) See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, Windows

Top Con

No support forum

Support for paid product has no online forums. 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

One Inbox for all accounts

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

Opera Mail

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Top Con

End-of-life state

It will not be continued to develop. See More

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

Specs

Top Con

Being discontinued

Opera Mail will be end of lifed per Opera website See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and fast

Top Con

Does not support 4K monitors

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

Top Pro

Automagic smart filtering

After a bit of use, Opera learns what e-mail belongs in what folder just by the previous usage. This makes for a convenient way to have e-mails filtered without having to manually manage every e-mail. See More

Columba

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Top Con

Last release >10 years old

Hiri

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Top Pro

Office 365 integration

Top Con

No longer supported by developer (they still ask high cost for software)

They are still actively pushing for payment, yet are not fixing issues/implementing anything new (or anything at all). See More

meikl's Experience

Can't use because it does not support POP accounts. See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, Windows, Mac

Top Pro

Simple and modern UI/UX design

Top Con

No IMAP support, only for Microsoft Exchange

VigorousAnaideia's Experience

The app is superb, but it is no longer being supported by the developer. See More

Top Con

No POP3 support

Top Con

Only can use Outlook/Hotmail/Live/MSN accounts

Does not support IMAP or POP. See More

Spike

Nylas Mail

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