Every Mac comes with a free email application, appropriately named Mail. Using the native Mail application is fine for most people, especially for those who only use iCloud, but things get trickier when you’re dealing with multiple email accounts.
For Gmail users in particular, more thorough solutions are available, many which are free. Here’s a look at five Mail alternatives and why they might work for you.
This mail client only recently arrived on OS X after finding success on iOS and Android Task-Oriented Email App Mail Pilot Arrives On Mac OS X Task-Oriented Email App Mail Pilot Arrives On Mac OS X Like the mobile version of the app, Mail Pilot for Mac is very useful for managing important email like a to-do list. Some clients are Mac specific though and you will need to find the best Windows alternative of your Mac email client. We decided to put together a list of our favorite Windows alternatives to OS X email clients. Newton, one of the best email clients for the Mac, is now available for Windows 10. Newton (previously CloudMagic) is a cross-platform email client that’s also available on Android and iPhone. Today, the company is launching its official Windows 10 app on the Windows Store, and it’s really good.
AirMail ($10)
Marketed as being a “lighting-fast email client for Mac,” AirMail is also the most beautiful application on the list. Offering Split Screen support for OS X El Capitan, the application looks and feels like it’s an Apple creation. It also features some options not available on the native Mac application, which consistently makes AirMail one of the best overall apps for OS XThe Best Mac Apps to Install on Your MacBook or iMacThe Best Mac Apps to Install on Your MacBook or iMacLooking for the best apps for your MacBook or iMac? Here's our comprehensive list of the best apps for macOS.Read More.
Chief among this is the ability to compose in Markdown or HTML. As you type on the left, the result is shown on the right side of the screen. Being able to view the formats side-by-side means you can make sure to remove broken links or weird-looking text before sending.
In AirMail, received messages may be organized by task. You can mark each email as To Do, Memo, or Done. The first are for items that require some action or a follow-up. A Memo is for items you need to memorize or store for later, and you can mark completed emails as Done. You can also Snooze messages, allowing you to move them to the side for viewing at a later time or date.
The application offers support for Google, iCloud, Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL, IMAP, and POP. It also works with many third-party integrations, including Dropbox, Google Drive, OmniFocus, Things, and many more.
AirMail is available in the Mac App Store. You can also download a beta version for free from the developer’s website. An AirMail for iPhone app is coming soon.
Mail Pilot 2 ($20)
Like AirMail, Mail Pilot 2 turns mail into a to-do list, allowing you to focus on what’s most important. Unique to Mail Pilot 2 is a relatively new feature called Dash.
With Dash, your daily life is summarized on a dashboard to help you become more productive. It includes the number of messages that you have received in the past 24 hours, plus those that are completed, set aside, due, and late. Dash also summarizes the average time it takes for you to reply to emails and more. Another handy feature provides links to files that you’ve recently sent or received, which is very nice.
The application supports all standard IMAP accounts, including Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, Rackspace, Outlook.com, and Google Apps. Mail Pilot 2 is available in the Mac App Store. A $9.99 iOS version is available from the App Store.
Do you want to learn more about Mail Pilot? Be sure to take a look at our original reviewTask-Oriented Email App Mail Pilot Arrives On Mac OS XTask-Oriented Email App Mail Pilot Arrives On Mac OS XLike the mobile version of the app, Mail Pilot for Mac is very useful for managing important email like a to-do list.Read More.
Postbox ($10)
Postbox is one of the oldest email clientsPostbox: An Alternative Email Client For MacPostbox: An Alternative Email Client For MacPostbox is an email management application for Windows and Mac powered by the Mozilla platform.Read More on our list, but it’s also a very stable product. Postbox’s goal is to remove some of the chaos associated with mail, by offering robust tools to make the process more efficient.
One of Postbox’s nicest features is the ability to group messages by topic. This allows you to break work into smaller, more manageable chunks. Grouping by subject is particularly useful when you have more than one email account. Postbox also enables you to create Pre-Made Responses, which you can reuse as often as needed.
Postbox works with most email providers including Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and iCloud. It also supports POP3, IMAP, and SMTP protocols. It is available from the Postbox website. A 30-day free trial is also available, so you can try before you buy.
Best Free Email Clients For Macbook
CloudMagic (free)
This mail client only recently arrived on OS X after finding success on iOS and AndroidTask-Oriented Email App Mail Pilot Arrives On Mac OS XTask-Oriented Email App Mail Pilot Arrives On Mac OS XLike the mobile version of the app, Mail Pilot for Mac is very useful for managing important email like a to-do list.Read More. Dubbed “simple, beautiful & blazing fast” by its creators, the application features a transparent user interface, free of fancy buttons or slides.
This approach works well, especially if you have to go through a lot of emails each day or have multiple accounts. We especially like the application’s shortcut buttons, which allow you to move quickly to the next or previous email.
CloudMagic offers support for Gmail, Exchange, Google Apps, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud, and all IMAP accounts. It’s available in the Mac App Store. CloudMagic for iOS and CloudMagic for Android are also available. Both are free.
Nylas N1 (free)
Two of most popular third-party mail clients in recent years were Sparrow and Mailbox. After each was purchased by Google and Dropbox respectively, both were eventually shutdown, leaving millions of users in the lurch. By contrast, Nylas N1 is open-source and published on GitHub, meaning it will never be bought and axed.
Nylas N1 is the closest thing you’ll see to a next-generation mail program. It features a clean user interface, supports Gmail keyboard shortcuts, and best of all, because it is open-source, has a community to back it up. However, because it’s so new, you may run into some problems, at least in the short-run. For example, N1 doesn’t currently offer a unified inbox and the formatting isn’t quite right.
Why is N1 on our list? Because it’s been designed for easy modification. Best of all, it can run on multiple platforms including OS X, Windows, and Linux. Better still — it’s free. N1 is compatible with many providers, including Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, and more. Currently, there is no N1 app for iOS.
You’ve Got Mail Options
If you’re happy with Apple’s default email client, keep it. For those looking for different ways to organize your mail or rather use something that plays nicer with Gmail, consider one of our alternatives. The most feature-rich solutions on the list are AirMail and Mail Pilot 2. The ones most likely to push mail into new areas in the next year are CloudMagic and Nylas N1. Looking for a reliable, stable solution? Consider Postmate.
Best Email Clients For Mac 2018
Are you looking for more ways to customize your email experience on a Mac? Check out these hidden El Capitan features you probably don’t know about11 Hidden OS X El Capitan Features You Might Not Know About11 Hidden OS X El Capitan Features You Might Not Know AboutThink you've found all the new features in El Capitan? Think again! There is a bounty of handy features that haven't gotten a lot of press.Read More, or take your email writing to the next level with these tools5 Tools That Can Help You Write Better Emails5 Tools That Can Help You Write Better EmailsEveryone is still trying to solve the email problem. So, let's also talk about the most basic habit of all – the art of writing better emails. With the help of some cool tools.Read More.
Which email client for Mac do you use? Let us know in the comments below.
Explore more about: Apple Mail, Desktop Email Client, OS X El Capitan.
Hi! The article's great, although I think you should have put free email clients first.
I would also like to suggest Hiri (www.hiri.com), an email client that helps you master the art of email. It's an innovation like no other client, and as a standalone app for Windows, OS X, and Linux, Hiri works perfectly!
It's also free for personal use!
Nylas N1 is not free anymore despite marketing shit they spread
CloudMagic costs $19.99 to download. What do you people think 'free' means?
The answer is not 'approximately twenty dollars,' despite what you may have heard.
I really like Spark but for the love of god I wish they would go ahead and release a mac version already!!! Their iPhone and iPad version is good but I'm struggling to find an email client for the mac until further notice....
Jessica, I hope you may have found out that there is now a Mac version for Spark. It only supports IMAP though. I'm using Spark for iCloud since Apple Mail has become a complete hot mess on the computer (still works on iOS) and Apple Mail for my POP email accounts.
Does Pegasus Mail work on a Mac?
I might be wrong about this but CloudMagic keeps your user credentials in the cloud on their servers.
Can anyone confirm this either way please?
Yes they do.
Airmail is a disaster as of March 2016. Unstable and unfit for purpose.
Whats wrong with Airmail as of March 2016?
I agree. It seems to be more and more unstable. I had really high hopes for AirMail, but I'm out!
Airmail works perfectly fine. Still the best OSX email client. I wonder what issues you had with it.
The search is awful... and doesn´t have an undo send option.
No MailMate mentioned? Really?
I second this, it is quite good...
Thunderbird ain't bad but its getting old. Anyone know which other client supports multiple identities (besides Postbox that is)?
For those using gmail with one of these native apps, what are you finding that missing compared to the gmail website client? I've tried various real clients over the years but gmails's search is awesome as is and haven't really found something lacking from the web client.
Have you tried http://mailplaneapp.com? Its a wrapper but pretty good if you're running OSX.
Came to say the same thing as Peter, above. Cloudmagic is twenty dollars!
What about Mozilla Thunderbird. It's also free and good.
+1
+1
Airmail is absolutely the best OS X mail client out there. I am also beta testing Airmail's iOS app and that is going to beat the pants off everything else.
Cloudmagic is nice, bit it's not free.