Introduction

We’ve all heard of Gmail. Some of the older ones probably remember Hotmail too. But chances are you don’t use those in a professional setting.

Microsoft Outlook had dominated the scene of business email providers. But no more. Now there are loads of good email clients. To get the skinny on the best email clients, both paid and free, check out this super roundup.

The aforementioned are some of the best email clients for Mac (and alternatives to Apple’s default Mail app) that you can install on your macOS-powered computer to organize your emails. A free email client, Apple Mail, comes installed and ready for use with macOS. If you're interested in what the Mail app can do compared to other alternatives, here are the best free email clients available for macOS. By default, your email account has a few different mailboxes — like Inbox, Sent, Trash, and more. When you open the Mail app, you'll see a list of the email accounts that you have set up on your device. Just tap the email account that you want to view, or tap your account name in the upper-left corner to go back to all your mailboxes. Apple devices are often criticized for their simplicity, and this is exactly why they make such good devices for seniors. Apple's iPad Pro 9.7 is the company's best tablet for seniors thanks to. Mac owners who use Gmail know Apple's Mail app for OS X is less than perfect when it comes to pushing emails from Google's service. AppleInsider weeded through a forest of third party apps to find.

Best email clients comparison chart (top 10 highest rated)

Product	Best for	Pricing (starts at*)	Site
Microsoft Outlook	Best email client for Windows 10	$5 per user per month billed annually with Office 365
Mozilla Thunderbird	Best alternative to Gmail	Free
eM Client	Best email client for Windows & Mac	$49.95 per device
Mailbird	Top email client for multiple accounts	$1.63 per month
Airmail	Top email client for iPhone	$2.99 per month
Spike	Good desktop email client	$4 per account per month billed annually
Hiri	Good email client for Mac	$39 per year
Mailspring	Good free email client	$8 per month
INKY	Top email app to block phishing	Contact vendor
Spark	Good email app for team collaboration	$6.39 per user per month billed annually

^{*Not including free versions}

What is an email client?

An email client is a more robust email app than your average Gmail or Hotmail.

Firstly, an email client lets you host your email data on your own computer, as well as on the cloud sometimes. This is opposed to webmail which hosts everything on a server. That’s why client-based emails are better for business purposes: You have better access and protection over your work emails.

Secondly, email clients let you sync multiple email accounts into one UX. You can bring in your Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo accounts and use them all in one unified inbox.

There are a lot of great features when it comes to the functionality of email clients. These go beyond showing which emails have been read, and which are still unread.

The best email client solutions do the following:

Send later lets you write an email and schedule it to be sent at another time
Smart inboxes in email clients can identify important emails
Read receipts show you when someone has opened your email
Email templates let you save and reuse emails
Attachment management lets you store and retrieve attachments
Snooze buttons help you avoid email distractions for a period of time
Encryption is often more robust with special email clients, using tech like PGP
Phishing or other suspicious emails get flagged by email clients
Calendar tools let you create events directly from an email invitation
Contact tools let you create or edit a contact directly from an email
Collaboration tools let you share emails with colleagues and work as a team

These are just some of the great features you can expect with the best email apps.

What are the best email clients? Here’s our top 15 list:

Now that you’ve learned a thing or two about email solutions, it’s time to explore your options. This list of the best email clients covers both paid and free versions. We highlight their strong suits and list off their best features. Read on to find your perfect email client fit.

Microsoft Outlook (Best email client for Windows 10)

Forget Gmail. When it comes to email servers at the office, Microsoft Outlook is probably the best known name in email services. It first came out with Microsoft Office 97.

Microsoft Outlook combines email and calendar tools in one place. It identifies emails that are “focused.” These are important emails. You can easily create calendar events or tasks directly from the email dashboard. Outlook has good enterprise-end encryption. There’s also ransomware detection. Microsoft Outlook integrates mainly with other Microsoft products like Office and cloud storage app OneDrive. Outlook comes with mobile apps for iOS and Android.

There is a free version of Outlook. Premium versions come with Office 365. Personal plans go for $69.99 for one user, $99.99 for up to 6 users, both per year. Business plans are $5, $12.50 and $20 per user per month billed annually.

Microsoft Outlook is best for:

SMBs
Large businesses
Enterprise
Calendar
Microsoft 365 integrations
Windows users

Mozilla Thunderbird (Best alternative to Gmail)

Thunderbird is the email product of Mozilla. Like all of Mozilla’s apps, Thunderbird is free and open source. Its latest version came out in September 2020.

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free and easy to use email app. Anyone can set it up and use it like a pro in minutes. There are many customization options for the Thunderbird dashboard with add-ons. These include extensions, plugins for more features, and themes for different looks. For security, it offers do-not-track and phishing protection. There’s also an add-on for PGP encryption. You also get calendar and to-do tools. One-click address book makes it easy to add new contacts. Attachment reminders make sure you don’t forget to add mentioned files. Finally if you have multiple email accounts, Thunderbird helps keep them organized with smart folders.

Thunderbird is totally free. So are the many add-ons by Mozilla and other companies.

Thunderbird is best for:

Free users
Startups
SMBs
Customization
Multiple email accounts
Ease of use

eM Client (Best email client for Windows & Mac)

eM Client Inc. is a software company out of the Czech Republic. It got off the ground in 2017. It’s flagship app is the email client of the same name.

eM Client works in over 20 languages. It runs on the operating systems of Microsoft Windows and macOS. It supports the major email technologies. These include POP3, SMTP, IMAP, and more. You can encrypt your messages with PGP for added security. eM Client lets you watch for replies and gets you read receipts. You get access to email templates. There is an attachment manager. You can schedule emails to send later. eM Client includes modules for calendars, task management and contact management. You can also do messaging through eM Client.

There’s a free version of eM Client for 2 email accounts. The pro versions start $49.95 per device.

eM Client is best for:

Startups
SMBs
Tem

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