Web-based email is fine, but nothing quite comes close to the power of a native email client. It’s the best way to manage multiple accounts, access messages offline, and make use of powerful tools that can help quickly triage your inbox. And there’s no shortage of Windows email clients that can boost your email productivity.
These desktop applications remove your browser from the equation and allow you to monitor multiple email addresses from one place. Some take unique approaches to managing email, while others are built with specific services in mind.
After evaluating over 30 Windows mail clients, I’m confident there’s one out there that will meet your needs. Based on my testing, here are my seven picks for the best Windows email app.
The 7 best email apps for Windows
What makes the best email client for Windows?
How we evaluate and test apps
Our best apps roundups are written by humans who’ve spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. Unless explicitly stated, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it’s intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We’re never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog.
I started my research by defining the category and clarifying what criteria I was basing my reviews on. Here’s what was most important as I tested each desktop email client.
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Compatibility with most email service providers. This was the starting point for my search and evaluation. The best mail apps for Windows support multiple email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo!, iCloud, etc). The only exception here is Gmail, which is popular enough to have apps designed to cater to it specifically.
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Ease of use. People of all technical abilities might want an email app for Windows, so I looked for apps that most users will find easy to set up and use. A smooth setup process that doesn’t require having to input server names and port numbers is important, and for features that aren’t self-explanatory, help documentation or an active community should be able to fill in the gaps.
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Customization. For folks who want more control, I looked for clients that provide a degree of user flexibility for look and feel. This includes changing how basic functions like notifications and swipes work or toggling between inbox views and email grouping.
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Productivity and integrations. Additional features and compatibility with external integrations can vastly speed up your workflow. I looked for apps that enhance or transform the email experience and provide the means to expand what your email client is capable of and how it fits into the rest of your digital life.
With the criteria identified, I then searched far and wide for mail clients for Windows that have a relatively broad customer base. I poked around on each vendor’s website to review features and the support offered. For support, I wanted to know if there were recent responses to forum questions (having good support dialogue showed an active community of users and a better chance you’ll get your questions answered). From there, I downloaded each of the clients that fit the criteria and had active support communities.
I made notes on ease of setup and use for each client. For example, some clients fetched the wrong configuration when setting up an email account, resulting in an inbox that wouldn’t sync without manual intervention. This is arguably worse than a client that insists on a fully manual setup since it requires more work and head-scratching to solve.
For customization, I set and tested various elements like themes, inbox look and feel, notification options, and rules handling mail, such as filtering and quick actions. I tested and noted the productivity tools that made some clients stand out over others and whether or not they were limited to only certain types of accounts (like Gmail). For clients that have integration capabilities, I connected it and used it with a popular app like Dropbox or Zoom.
With the rise in popularity of AI assistants, I also paid close attention to AI features like text generation, proofreading, rephrasing, and thread summaries. If this sort of functionality is most important to you, Zapier’s list of the best AI email assistants is a good place to look.
After all that testing, these are the seven apps I’d recommend.
The best Windows email clients at a glance
|
Best for |
Stand-out feature |
Pricing |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
eM Client |
Customization |
Highly customizable interface and handling of emails |
Free license available for 2 accounts; $59.95 one-time per-device payment for the Personal version |
|
Thunderbird |
Free email client |
Massive expandability through add-ons |
Free |
|
Microsoft Outlook |
A robust business platform |
Advanced features and Microsoft 365 integration |
New Outlook for Windows is free; Microsoft 365 plans starting at $1.99/month or $19.99/year |
|
Mailspring |
People who miss Windows Mail |
A good blend of usability and useful features like mail rules, in an open-source package |
Free to use; optional $8/month paid tier to access advanced features and support development |
|
Mailbird |
People who live in their inbox |
Numerous integrations with other apps, including ChatGPT |
Free plan available, Standard plans from $3.25/user/month (paid annually) or a one-time $99 |
|
Twobird |
Turning your inbox into a to-do list |
Focused email management |
Free (premium plans may be offered in the future) |
|
WunderMail |
Gmail power users |
An offline Gmail experience with support for multiple accounts |
Free (ad-supported); optional $9.99/year paid tier to remove ads and support development |
Best Windows email client for customization
eM Client
eM Client pros:
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Highly customizable, from the interface to the way email is handled
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Integrates with video chat, ChatGPT, cloud storage, and more
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Packed with productivity features like templates, contact overviews (with message history), and shortcuts
eM Client cons:
eM Client’s intuitive, modern interface makes it a pleasure to use, but it may not be to everyone’s liking. Fortunately, you get several dozen themes and the ability to customize nearly every aspect to make it your very own.
To start, pick your layout: messages on bottom, to the right, or turn them off. Common actions, such as reply, forward, archive, and others are conveniently located at the top of your inbox, but you can add, delete, and rearrange what’s shown here by right-clicking on any of the actions. Spinning wheels, progress bars, links, and other elements can be changed with a few clicks too.
The handy sidebar shows contact details, past conversations, your agenda, your calendar, and any invitations you may have. These items can also be rearranged and removed. If you need to add a task to your agenda, click the checkmark icon in the sidebar, type in a task note, and select a due date with reminders. eM Client also supports video meeting integrations with Webex, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other providers, chat integration with XMPP/Jabber, and hosting attachments in the cloud using providers like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and others.
If you send a lot of emails with the same message, the Quick Text feature lets you create templates to populate the email body with a click. eM Client has been updated to include generative AI tools (powered by ChatGPT) to generate, rephrase, and proofread your emails using a dedicated AI button in the message composer. These tools are available even in the free version, are only engaged with your explicit permission, and can be disabled if you’d prefer.
Perhaps eM Client’s Achilles heel is the absence of a mobile app. But if you use a different mobile app, eM can automatically sync to that app so that your emails are always up to date. In addition to the Windows version, eM Client is also available for macOS.
eM Client price: Free license available for 2 accounts; $99.95 one-time payment for 3 devices for the Personal version that includes 1 year of VIP support, support for AI features, unlimited accounts, and commercial use. Option to increase this payment to $249.90 to add lifetime upgrades.
Best free Windows email client
Thunderbird
Thunderbird pros:
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Massively expandable thanks to a well-stocked add-ons library
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A mature, completely free and open source email client
Thunderbird cons:
With Thunderbird, you can specify where your email is stored locally, schedule backups, and connect virtually any email account. It also provides some security features like native OpenPGP encryption that aren’t found in other clients. Thunderbird is fully open source and has a thriving catalog of add-ons by various developers to help enhance the user experience. And it’s all free.
For a mail app in the age of Windows 11, Thunderbird doesn’t have the most modern interface. The app is modeled after Mozilla’s browser, Firefox, and uses a tab system. You wouldn’t choose Thunderbird for its style points, but the client has options. To see them, click on the hamburger menu at the top-right. From there, you’ll be able to customize the look of the app, select privacy settings, and access basic functions like email composition options. Themes such as Suave, Dark Fox, and Two Little Birds provide different looks for your inbox.
In testing, Thunderbird was a mixed bag for sending and receiving speeds. Outbound emails were received almost instantly from my web-based Gmail account. But receiving emails in the Thunderbird client took anywhere from 10 seconds to several minutes. IMAP fared better, and overall speeds were far from unacceptable considering what Thunderbird is capable of when fully decked-out.
There are a huge number of extensions available to get more out of Thunderbird. Smart templates ($5/year) and Quicktext let you create email templates for quick responses, while ThunderAI adds a ChatGPT integration for free. Send Later lets you schedule future times to send emails or send messages repeatedly using rules such as “every two days.” Thunderbird is a solid foundation, but with the right add-ons, it can be whatever you want it to be.
Thunderbird price: Free
Betterbird is a finely-tuned fork of Thunderbird with a focus on bug fixes and new features. These improvements are often passed along to the main Thunderbird project eventually. If you’d rather be at the forefront of open source email development, Betterbird might be worth a shot. Like Thunderbird, it’s free.
Best Windows email client with a robust business platform
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook pros:
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A highly customizable email and organizational platform designed for power users
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Suitable for a range of requirements and budgets, for both home and business users
Microsoft Outlook cons:
Since the ’90s, Microsoft Outlook has been the go-to mail app for Windows for businesses large and small. It’s a sophisticated platform with many advanced features, but it’s still relatively easy to use. And when bundled with Microsoft 365—a suite of several dozen productivity apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint, among others—it makes for a powerful platform. For any business that wants to buy one email client and never look back, Outlook is that platform.
There’s now another way of using Outlook on the desktop with the arrival of Microsoft’s New Outlook for Windows (pictured above). This free app is destined to replace Windows Mail, and it offers a simplified design, while still retaining many of the features that make Outlook so appealing. That includes the Focused Inbox, which highlights important messages, the My Day view, and Outlook’s signature calendar and contact management features.
New Outlook for Windows has some limitations not present in the Microsoft 365 subscription. Though modern web add-ins are supported, Outlook’s traditional library of COM add-ins is not. Offline mode was rolling out during my latest round of testing in July 2024, but still absent on my accounts.
Microsoft has finally extended support for most email providers, including native support for Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and iCloud inboxes, plus IMAP and POP support for everyone else. Since it’s free, you’ll see some promoted messages appearing at the top of your inbox. For the full range of Outlook features, you can take on a paid Microsoft 365 subscription, which is something you should consider if the free version comes up short.
You can customize both versions of Outlook with a handful of themes and seemingly limitless options for organizing all of the functions within the interface. That includes customizing the horizontal top menu (the Ribbon), which contains all of your commands for performing tasks.
Also within the email client are pre-made templates, built-in dictation, read-aloud text, and rules for managing emails with keywords, flags, sender name, to/from field, and more. Paid Outlook customers have access to hundreds of third-party integrations to customize your experience.
New Outlook for Windows offers a big step up in terms of productivity compared to Windows Mail, and a paid Outlook plan offers yet another step up over that. And the transition from Windows Mail shouldn’t be too confusing thanks to the clean and tidy modern design.
You can do even more with Outlook when you connect it to Zapier, automating processes like keeping your Outlook events in sync with Google Calendar or turning incoming email into Microsoft To Do tasks. Learn more about how to automate your Outlook email.
Microsoft Outlook price: New Outlook for Windows can be downloaded for free right now. You need a Microsoft 365 Basic subscription to use the fully-featured version of Outlook (after a free trial), starting at $1.99/month or $19.99/year. Business users will need a Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan at $12.50/user/month to get the desktop version of Outlook.
Postbox ($49) is a solid email client that may appeal to those yearning for the simplicity of Windows Mail but who don’t want to move to Outlook. It’s polished, easy to use, and gives me “Apple Mail for Windows” vibes, so take the free trial for a spin if you’re curious.
Best Windows email client for people who miss Windows Mail
Mailspring
Mailspring pros:
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Free, easy to use, and under active (open source) development
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Includes features like unified inbox, mail rules, downloadable themes, and customizable keyboard shortcuts
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Optional premium subscription for those who want email tracking and more advanced features
Mailspring cons:
Mailspring is an excellent, simple free email client for Windows (with Mac and Linux versions available too). It’s a solid choice for Windows Mail users who don’t want to move to New Outlook, or anyone who likes the approach taken by Apple Mail on macOS and wants to recreate the experience in Windows.
Setup is breezy, with support for most email providers, including Microsoft 365, iCloud, and manual setup for IMAP accounts. The app will take you on a guided tour after setup, highlighting some of the features in the interface, and even sends a test outgoing message to ensure your account is configured correctly.
Despite its simplicity, the app is packed with useful features like a unified inbox, Gmail-style searches that use parameters like “since” and “from” to filter messages, and the unique ability to share an email thread by creating a URL that you can pass along to friends, colleagues, or family. Mailspring also features in-line translation when composing, the ability to set a reminder right from the compose window to follow up on your message, and the option to switch themes (including to ones you and others create). And you can create complex sorting rules and customize dozens of keyboard shortcuts.
There’s an optional $8/month premium subscription that provides additional features like email tracking and link tracking, an expanded contact view that gathers information about who you’re talking to, custom templates, and mail insights, among other things. Registering for a free Mailspring account gives you limited use of premium features “a few times a week.” As an open source project, subscribing helps to support Mailspring development.
Alternatively, you can just use Mailspring in its default state as a simple, three-pane email client that’ll never show you advertisements in your inbox or overwhelm you with clutter.
Mailspring price: Free to use, optional $8/month Premium subscription to access advanced features like email tracking and support development.
Best Windows email client for people who live in their inbox
Mailbird
Mailbird pros:
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A huge number of integrations makes Mailbird an excellent center of operations for more than just email
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Attractive and modern interface with plenty of options for changing layout styles, themes, colors, and more
Mailbird cons:
One of the more modern and user-friendly email clients I tested, Mailbird’s array of third-party integrations makes managing both email and your most-used apps easy. When connected, the integrations share the interface with your inbox, which makes Mailbird attractive for users who don’t want to leave. Slack, Trello, Google Drive, Dropbox, and ChatGPT are just some of the apps with native integrations.
To get started, download the client, add your email (or connect to an existing client), and you’re ready to go. As your emails sync, you’ll be asked to select a layout and connect third-party apps. To connect, click on your app, sign in, and you’re ready to go without leaving your inbox. Each app you add appears as an icon in the sidebar for one-click access. With my Slack account connected, I just had to glance at the sidebar to see activity and quickly respond to messages.
Mailbird claims it will increase your email productivity using the speed reading feature, which allows you to quickly absorb sentences all at once rather than identifying individual words. Select the speed read option from the dropdown menu while reading a message, and the message will begin to play back. You can choose how fast (from 100 to 1,000 words per minute) you want the email to be displayed.
The app features a large number of background images, the ability to pick a color, and the option of matching your system’s light or dark theme depending on the time of day. On top of this, you can set up a custom schedule for the Snooze feature, apply rules to incoming mail with Filters, and customize identities and signatures on a per-account basis. And with the unified mailbox feature, you can add multiple email accounts and manage all emails and folders from your one inbox.
Mailbird price: Free tier available (limited to a single account). Standard plans start at $3.25/user/month for Mailbird Standard (paid annually) or a one-time $99. The Premium plan ($5.75/user/month paid annually) adds VIP support, Exchange compatibility, and unlimited email tracking.
The best Windows email client for turning your inbox into a to-do list
Twobird
Twobird pros:
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A unique to-do list approach to email that you can tailor to your preferences
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Useful features like a featured inbox, calendar and note-taking functionality, and a mailing list unsubscriber to cut down on unwanted junk mail
Twobird cons:
Twobird is a purpose-built email client that takes a slightly different approach to email management than the other clients on this list. The app turns your inbox into a to-do list so that messages, notes, and calendar events appear alongside one another as an agenda. The service currently works with Google and Microsoft accounts, though there are plans to expand support for more services in the future.
The app gives you two choices when it comes to getting through your inbox. You can choose whether marking an email as read counts as completing an item, or whether archiving an email should check it off the list instead. You effectively have to go all-in on one of these approaches in order to effectively use the app, and it’s an approach that will likely appeal to adherents of an “inbox zero” philosophy.
Incoming mail is organized by Twobird, with items the app deems important appearing directly in your inbox as to-do items. Everything else goes in “Low Priority,” where you can move it to your main inbox if you desire. Though the interface is sparse, the essentials are there: buttons for composing mail or creating new notes, a tidy list of functions and labels (or folders) in the sidebar, and a search field for quickly finding threads.
Twobird isn’t the most customizable email client, though there are options for customizing a schedule for the app’s Remind function, setting up personalized keyboard shortcuts, and toggling a few simple options like dark mode and notification preferences. It would be nice to see more options, but it’s not a reason to dismiss Twobird if you’re looking for this type of email client.
This isn’t the first time an app has taken this type of approach to email, but it is one of the more effective attempts, especially on the Windows platform. At its most efficient, the simple act of reading an email gets rid of it and lets you move on to the next. Just be aware that you aren’t necessarily moving things around on the server (though those options are available to you via the context menu if you need them).
Twobird price: Free to use for now, though the website states “in the future, we intend to offer premium plans” while retaining a free option.
Best Gmail client for Windows
WunderMail
WunderMail for Gmail pros:
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Brings Gmail to the Windows desktop as a free native app
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Offline support for up to 30 days of messages
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Proper support for Gmail features like labels and inbox categories
WunderMail for Gmail cons:
While many desktop clients support Google’s email service, none of them are built entirely around it quite like WunderMail. This client is built on the Gmail API, which means it only works with Google accounts (including Workspace accounts). It’s worth noting that this is strictly a Gmail app: there’s no support for Google Calendar, Drive, or the rest of Google’s apps.
The simple act of breaking Gmail out of the browser might be enough for you to get on board, but WunderMail goes a little further than that. You can sync 30 days of messages to your Windows PC, so you can access your email when offline. The app also lets you add multiple Gmail accounts, then set an accent color for each one so you always know which account you’re using or replying from.
Building an email client on Google’s API means that WunderMail speaks Google’s language, with native support for labels that work as you expect them to and support for inbox categories like Social and Promotions. The interface will feel familiar to anyone who’s used to Gmail’s web version, with a three-pane view, and Google’s familiar icons for managing your inbox.
On first startup, you’ll be invited to pin the app to your taskbar, add a system tray icon, install a Start menu tile, and add a lock screen widget. There’s not a ton of customization available, though you can toggle Dark Mode if you’re partial. The app uses keyboard shortcuts, but unfortunately, they aren’t a direct mirror for Gmail’s own shortcuts (and you can’t customize them).
WunderMail is completely free to use with banner ads appearing in your inbox and beneath messages. You can pay a monthly or one-time fee to get rid of these and unlock additional privacy features that allow you to lock the app with a passcode and authenticate using Windows Hello.
Price: Free to use with ads; Premium available for a $9.99 annual fee or $19.99 one-off payment to remove ads, add privacy features, and support app development.
What happened to Windows Mail?
Windows Mail will be retired by Microsoft (alongside the native Windows 11 Calendar and People apps) at some point in 2024 according to Microsoft—and after December 31, 2024, it will no longer be officially supported. The app will be replaced by the free Outlook for Windows client, a light version of Outlook that’s supported by ads.
The current best alternatives are the incoming version of Outlook for Windows and Mailspring, both of which are lightweight, relatively easy to use, and support a wide range of email providers.
What’s the best Windows mail app?
The best email app for Windows is the one that works for you. Not everyone uses email in the same way, and not everyone finds value in the same features. The clients listed above take a variety of approaches, from highly customizable and feature-laden apps like eM Client to the simplicity of Mailspring, or the to-do-list-like approach of Twobird.
The best way to find the elusive “best” email app is to download a few and try them out. All of the apps above either have free plans or free trials—just make sure you put them through their paces properly before you pick a winner.
Related reading:
This article was originally published in March 2019 by Joseph Yaker and has also had contributions from Chris Hawkins. The most recent update was in August 2024.
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