Which Email Client Is Best For Mac



  1. Best Free Email Client For Macbook
  2. Best Mail App For Mac
  3. Which Email Client Is Best For Mac Operating System
  4. Mac Mail App
  5. Which Email Client Is Best For Macbook Air
Get Canary Mail
Your path to a focused and securely encrypted inbox.

Having an email client installed on your Mac can make a huge difference for your productivity. After all, your web browser is a portal to distraction, and any time you boot up Chrome or Safari to check on your inbox you’re in danger of losing at least 10–15 minutes to reading the news, browsing Facebook, or going down a “wiki-spiral.”

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. Apr 26, 2020 Get the Best Email Client For Mac. Most of these third-party Mac email clients work well with email providers like the native Mac Mail app. However, the third-party email client apps like Airmail and Spark are drawing users’ attention with their amazing features and simple interface. The above listed are the best email client for Mac. Airmail is a popular email client available for macOS that boasts of several features in its satchel. It supports all the popular email service providers including Exchange, as well as accounts with IMAP or POP3 access. Just like in Spark, there’s an Unified Inbox feature that lets you view emails from all your accounts in one place. Email clients come in all shapes and sizes, but when it comes to the options available on the Mac, we feel that Airmail is the best email client for most people. It’s easy to use, supports a.

That said, not every email client is built the same. While macOS comes with the Apple Mail app by default, it might not necessarily be the best fit for your needs.

Get a bundle of best email clients

With Setapp on your Mac, you get access to the list of best email tools. Experiment with all of them flexibly — until you find the one.

Best Email Apps For Mac 2020

So what’s the best email app for Mac then? Depends on what you do. You might be a power user, comfortable with running macros to make the most out of your email experience, or you might just want something that works out of the box without having to fuss with settings. Security could be your top priority if you work with sensitive materials, or you might just need to easily manage multiple accounts.

Whatever the case, there are a few things to keep in mind when evaluating all email clients: How fast is the setup process? How easy is it to use? Is it secure? What are the sorting options for your inbox? Is it nice to look at?

Let’s sift through some top email apps using this questioning framework.

Apple Mail: Best email client for Mac by default

What makes Apple products great is also what limits them: because Apple needs to make apps that are so easy to use that anyone can use them, much of what they produce is quite basic in functionality. Which is fine — just make sure you know what you’re getting with the Apple Mail app.

You definitely get clean, user-friendly design that’s in line with all the other Apple software. In addition, you get outstanding integration with macOS and iOS, including the use of the Notification Center and the ability to send emails via the Share function in other apps.

Although adding multiple email providers, including iCloud and Gmail, is easy — there have been some bug reports around using Microsoft accounts, such as Hotmail or Live. Maybe the old Apple and Microsoft feud is not over yet?

In step with the times, Apple Mail app makes it effortless to add emoji to your emails from the shortcut bar right in the composing email window.

Honestly, for most people, the Apple Mail app will absolutely be enough. However, if you’re the kind of person who has a lot going on in their inbox, there are not too many ways to filter through all the messages quickly and pin down important conversations, or simply delete unwanted mail.

What’s great:

  • Clean design

  • Easy-to-use Mac mail

  • Fantastic Mac and iOS integration

Not so great:

  • A history of bugs with Microsoft accounts

  • Lacking high-powered organizational tools

Mozilla Thunderbird: Best free email client for Mac power users

Perhaps most widely known for their web browser, Firefox, Mozilla’s other major product is their email client, Thunderbird. Hailed as the best free email app on the market at various points throughout its long history, where does Thunderbird stand in 2020?

Unfortunately, Thunderbird’s design shows its age. Blocky and utilitarian, it’s quite a bit uglier than most modern email clients. But look below the surface and you’ll discover some very handy features.

Best Free Email Client For Macbook

For one, you have the option of tagging emails as they come in. Just add tags like Personal, Work, and ToDo and suddenly conversations become much easier to find later on. Even better, create your own tags to make the classification system as specific as you need it to be.

Thunderbird features an integrated calendar and chat client, both of which are indispensable for work, and boasts great privacy features — like not automatically displaying images (hence stopping pixel trackers) when you open emails (can be changed in Preferences).

Which email client is best for mac high sierra

Overall, Thunderbird has some powerful value propositions, but is also a bit ugly and unintuitive. So, if the looks don’t bother you, give it a try. Otherwise, you’re better off using another option.

What’s great:

  • Tagging is powerful and helps you organize your emails quickly

  • Precise search

Not so great:

  • Not the prettiest interface

  • Unintuitive user experience. It takes time to figure out Thunderbird’s best features.

Kiwi for Gmail: Best Gmail app for Mac

If you don’t use Gmail, you can skip this one: Kiwi isn’t for you.

But for all other Gmail for Mac users, Kiwi for Gmail is an excellent Mac mail option. A desktop app with the look and feel of your browser email inbox, Kiwi features the ability to combine multiple accounts and filter your inbox with Focus to organize correspondence by date, importance, attachments, and more.

In many ways, Kiwi is Gmail’s missing ingredient, making the best free email provider online also the premier Gmail app for Mac. What’s even more exciting is that Kiwi lets you run G Suite apps like Google Docs and Sheets outside of your browser. Being able to leave Chrome or Safari behind and get some focused work done alone makes Kiwi worth the install.

What’s great:

  • Kiwi makes Gmail better
  • Combine multiple Gmail accounts
  • Focused work outside the browser with Google Docs

Not so great:

  • Doesn’t support non-Gmail accounts

Spark: Best Mac email client for a clean inbox

A relatively new email client for Mac, Spark is based on an intriguing premise: What if your inbox was able to sort itself out based on your priorities but without your input?

Spark’s Smart Inbox algorithms are able to instantly identify whether an email is personal, work-related, or just a newsletter you signed up for years ago because it gave you a coupon but have since completely forgotten about. This kind of artificial intelligence works so well that Apple gave Spark an Editor’s Choice Award a few years ago.

Mac mail app

In its quest for widespread adoption, Spark doubles down on usability, offering quick, one-click replies with generated text based on how you typically respond to emails and powerful automatic functions to clean up your inbox in seconds. Besides, the app is beautifully designed and very easy to use.

Of course, for Spark to have all of these powerful features, complete access to the content of your emails is required — which might raise some privacy-minded eyebrows. However, a lot of people would be happy to offer that in return for ease of use. So, if this notion doesn’t bother you, Spark might well be the best free email app for Mac.

What’s great:

  • Clean design
  • Smart Inbox organizes your unread emails
  • Could be the most professional email client for Mac

  • The only non-Apple email client with the Apple seal of approval

  • “Send later” feature lets you schedule emails

  • Frequent updates

Not so great:

  • Requires more of your data than other email clients

Canary Mail: Best security in an email client for Mac

New to the Mac email client game, Canary Mail’s outstanding list of features still makes it a worthy contender.

Canary Mail prioritizes security and privacy, providing every email you send with end-to-end encryption, so that if your data is ever intercepted it can’t be read. Even better, you don’t have to change any settings to do this — everything is set up right out of the box.

Add to that a fantastic design and some excellent filtering options, such as natural language search, smart tags, algorithmic bulk cleaner, and intelligent typography enhancements, and Canary Mail might well be the best email app for Mac, period.

What’s great:

  • Great design
  • Smart filters
  • Intelligent typography
  • Automatic end-to-end encryption
  • Available to all email providers
  • Algorithmic bulk cleaner

Unibox: Most innovative email client for Mac

The most exciting thing about Unibox is how it fundamentally changes the way you see your inbox. Instead of organizing everything by date received or subject, Unibox structures every conversation around contacts. That way your inbox resembles your text messages or messaging app, making everything intuitive and easy to navigate.

The developers of Unibox worked hard on making their email client for Mac the easiest to use on the market — and it shows. The design is stunning and you can easily respond to any email in the same window, get previews of attachments right there, and just scroll to remind yourself of all the conversations you’ve had with that person.

What’s great:

  • Email like messages
  • Intuitive and easy-to-use design
  • Works with all major email providers

Best of all, Canary Mail and Unibox are both available for a free seven-day trial through Setapp, a subscription platform with over 150 top Mac apps chosen to make your day more productive and fun. Now can’t you wait to go back to emails already?

Setapp lives on Mac and iOS. Please come back from another device.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

Read on

Sign Up

Setapp uses cookies to personalize your experience on our website. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our cookie policy.

There are several instances when you need a desktop-friendly email client app. One, you may have a self-hosted email account but couldn’t afford to get the Google Business Suite. Or, you may be fed up with the traditional interface offered by Gmail and Outlook. Or, probably you would want to manage your emails; get real-time notifications, and enjoy other details on your computer.

Which email client is best for macbook air

Previously, we have covered the best email clients for Android. This time, however, is for Mac. Fortunately, there is a big number of Mac email clients out there. Every day, we see the rise of something innovative. In this article, we have compiled some of the best and versatile email clients for Mac. Regardless of who you are and the work you do, you’ll find a suitable app here. Shall we begin?

Read: Best Email Apps for Android (2018)

Best Email Client for Mac

#1 Mail (Apple Mail App)

Unlike Windows, macOS ships with an inbuilt email client — named Mail. It’s probably one of the best email clients you can have for Mac too. The best part about Mail is that it keeps you active on the Apple ecosystem. That is, you can use the same app on your iPhone or iPad, syncing every bit of information you have. There are also features like Handoff for those who are in Apple ecosystem.

Handoff basically lets you start working on an email on your iPhone and complete it later on the Mac. It’s one of the exclusive features you’ll find in Mail. Keep that aside, and Mail app is the typical email client you can find. Mail does not offer much scope for customization or experimentation. There are a few add-on stuff, but they are not great.

Being an Apple product, the Mail app integrates well with macOS system. For instance, you can click on an email address and start composing the email in a split-screen window. You also get on-time notifications on the panel. Alongside all these, all your information is synced via iCloud. One thing we noted is that the Mail app may not be that seamless when you connect self-hosted email accounts.

Pros

  • Free to use and built into macOS
  • Continuity features like Handoff

Cons

  • A non-intuitive, rudimentary design
  • Lacks customization
  • Navigation could be better

If you are looking for a simple email client for Mac, Mail is the best option. If you are in the Apple ecosystem, you can benefit from features like Handoff. Otherwise, you have different options too. It must also be noted that you don’t have to pay anything to use Mail.

About Mail by Apple (free)

#2 Canary Mail — Secure Email Client for Mac

Canary Mail is one of the most feature-friendly email clients for Mac. Even when offering a modern UI, it has not made any compromises in terms of security. It’s also one of the very few email clients that offer PGP Encryption. As oxymoronic as it sounds, Canary Mail is a fun & secure email client for Mac. It works with your own email accounts as well as services like Gmail.

There are a few features that we loved in Canary Mail. For instance, it offers two types of inboxes — normal and Focused. Thanks to Natural Language Search and Filters, you can quickly find emails that you are looking for. Email Templates, Snooze Features and Read-Receipt Notifications etc. are also included in the email app by default.

Canary Mail also offers one of the best User Interface designs we’ve seen. You can enjoy the Dark theme on both your Mac and iOS devices. if you ask us, though, we’d say the best thing about Canary Mail is the on-demand nature. You can keep all the super features aside and Canary Mail will still be an awesome way to manage your emails.

Pros

  • A modern, intuitive UI
  • On-demand Encryption, Read Receipt, and Focused Inbox features
  • Seamless integration
  • Multi-device support

Cons

  • AI Cleaner isn’t up to the mark

Canary Mail is undoubtedly one of the most feature-rich email clients for Mac. It offers a state-of-the-art set of security and functionality. The AI features aren’t perfect, but you can get started. We also loved the multi-touch gesture support too.

Check Out Canary Mail ($20)

Best mail app for mac

#3 Boxy — Best macOS Email Client for Gmail

Boxy is the best Mac email client for those who use Inbox by Gmail. Inbox by Gmail, in case you did not know, is a rather focused webmail interface. It also integrates with other Google services like Calendar and To-Dos. Now, Boxy is bringing all those features to a desktop app. You can simply log in using the Gmail account and get all the benefits.

The interface is no different from Inbox by Gmail. That having said, Boxy is easier to manage than the web-based UI. You also get one of the best Email Compose interfaces we’ve seen. In short, Boxy brings all good things about Gmail Inbox to your desktop. There is support for notifications as well as on-time sync as well. Boxy also supports a bunch of common keyboard shortcuts.

If you ask us, we’d recommend Boxy for the sake of the cleaner UI. Everything is available in a clean-packed way. Talking about the UI, Boxy lets you choose between different viewing modes as well as themes. You can, for instance, choose between Dark, Black, White and Crimson themes. Of course, it’s a downside that you cannot use other accounts here.

Pros

  • Cleaner UI
  • Optimized for Inbox by Gmail
  • Easy Mail Management

Cons

  • Doesn’t work with non-Gmail accounts
  • Lacks customization

Boxy is loved for the simple way it presents your Gmail messages. If you are a Gmail + Google user, Boxy is a superb way to keep track of your email world. We’d recommend Boxy if you want a desktop experience for Gmail messages.

Check Out Boxy (Free)

#4 Spark — Smartest Email Client for Mac

Spark is one of the most versatile email clients we’ve seen for Mac. Developers of Spark say it is the future of email, and we may agree with that. The best thing about Spark is that you can use it for personal as well as organization-level needs. This email client has been designed in a clean manner that you can completely focus on creating the best email.

Unlike many of the email apps we’ve covered, Spark comes with a Smart Inbox. This Inbox can identify the type of email and put it to categories like Personal and Social. You can also Pin certain emails for the further look on the go. Plus, Spark lets you manage them quite easily. Or, if you want, you can shift to the Classic Inbox as well.

There are also some awesome features like mail tracking, follow-up reminders, integrated calendar, smart search, Quick replies, and worthwhile integrations. You can also optimize Smart Notifications so that you are alerted in case of important emails. By the way, Spark has a variant named Spark for Teams, which offers a bunch of features for in-team collaboration.

Pros

  • Clean Design
  • Smart Inbox with Categories
  • Rich Email Creation Experience

Cons

  • None worth noting

Spark should be your go-to choice if you need a simple email client with smart features. The developers have succeeded in including the features without making the app so bulky. In case you have a big team, you can go for Spark for Teams as well.

Check Out Spark (Free)

#5 Thunderbird — Best Free Email Client for Mac

Thunderbird is a completely free, open-source email client, available for various platforms. Being a project from Mozilla, you can count on Thunderbird when you want a secure email management experience. You’ll have to miss out some fancy features that we’ve seen in earlier products. Still, you are getting a non-clumsy way to manage email.

Talking about the UI, Thunderbird does not have anything modern to offer. For instance, it does not have a unified interface for showing emails. You can double-click on a message, which would be opened in another tab. On the right side, you can access the Integrated Calendar as well. On the bright side, however, this email client offers one of the best performance levels we’ve seen.

We really believe that Thunderbird can be better with some basic work from the team. For instance, one of the less intuitive things is to configure a new account with Thunderbird. At the same time, we really liked a few features like the Integrated Address Book and better Preferences when it comes to displaying emails. It is a simple tool, but nothing much.

Pros

  • Simple, Clean Design
  • Better Security and Open Source

Cons

  • Rudimentary Design
  • Lacks many features

Thunderbird isn’t for everyone. If you are looking for a completely free and open-source email client for Mac, it’s probably the only choice. By doing so, however, you are missing out some of the cool features. On the brighter side, you don’t have to pay a single penny.

Check Out Thunderbird (Free)

#6 Postbox — Best macOS Email Client for Multiple Accounts

Postbox is yet another email client that deserves a place here. It’s probably the best email client for Mac that comes with a lot of features. If you are someone who manages multiple email accounts and wants a cleaner UI, Postbox makes sense. This app is simple, clear and powerful, to quote the developers themselves. And, after testing it for a while, we thought the same.

Account Management is perhaps the best thing in Postbox. You can manage your multiple accounts as well as corresponding folders from the sidebar. The modern UI lets you view an email message and perform a lot of actions without much navigation. Postbox also offers a Universal Search feature, which is helpful when it comes to finding emails and attachments.

We also loved the Focus Pane in Postbox. If you’re involved in multiple projects, this feature would help you in easy navigation. Pre-canned responses and HTML editing are some nerd-focused features we found in the email app. In short, Postbox does not compromise the number of features, but you still have an intuitive way to do things.

Pros

  • Simple UI and Integration
  • Integrated Account Management

Cons

  • Navigation Could Be Better

Postbox is a wonderful email app for Mac that everyone can use. It packs a number of features we have not seen in other packages. Still, we’d recommend Postbox for professionals, who have to manage multiple mail accounts as well as folders.

Check Out Postbox (Paid, $40)

#7 Airmail — Best Overall Email Client for Mac

Client

We’ve saved the best for the last: Airmail. Airmail is by far the most popular email client for macOS. It is so good that people have been using it for personal, professional and combined needs. Just so you know, it is available for both macOS and iOS. You can enjoy the features as well as the same interface on both devices, thanks to the sync.

Best Mail App For Mac

Navigation is one of the strong points of Airmail. Through a widely customizable design, you can view your emails, folders and other aspects easily. This email client has packed many features without compromising the intuitive nature of the User Interface. Even for someone who hasn’t used an email client before, Airmail is the best place to start.

Better organization of your emails is possible through Airmail, which is a great perk for most people. You can for instance snooze the email messages, star them and manage the whole conversation easily. Because this app is available for both iOS and macOS, you can have benefits of sync as well. Also, you can integrate a lot of services like Dropbox, Calendar and Google Drive with Airmail.

Pros

  • Intuitive Interface
  • Ample scope for Customization and Integration
  • Easy Management

Which Email Client Is Best For Mac Operating System

Cons

  • Lacks smart categorization of emails

Mac Mail App

At the end of the day, Airmail is the best-balanced email client for macOS. You don’t have to worry about an extremely tough set-up or hard-to-understand features. For the price you pay, Airmail offers one of the best email and account management experiences.

Check Out Airmail ($9.99)

Which is the best Email client for Mac?

You have seen some of the best email clients you can have right now for macOS. Some of these apps, Spark and Airmail, have multi-device support as well. You can enjoy the same interface and features on your Mac as well as iPhone. Another thing we loved about Spark is that it categorizes emails based on the type, making it really easy for Quick Look.

Which Email Client Is Best For Macbook Air

However, if you need better continuity support, we’d recommend sticking onto the Apple Mail app. And, for anyone who is looking for the best spot between both, Airmail and Postbox would be our recommendations. In other words, depending on the level of features you need, you can choose one of these seven email clients for macOS. Awesome, huh?

Read: How to Send Encrypted Emails in Gmail and Outlook