Best Mail Server

Best Free Email Client 2021. This article is all about best free email clients and how they can help you be more productive. We also talk about Clean Email, an easy-to-use email cleaner compatible with virtually all major email services. Jan 04, 2021 iRedMail is a free open-source popular mail server package. It has a great portion of open-source email servers running online. It runs on Linux servers like RedHat, Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, FreeBSD and OpenBSD. IRedMail uses secure connections with full support for POP3, IMAP, SMTP. Emails are encrypted using TLS.

An email service by Startpage.com (one of the best google alternatives) seems to be a deserving choice as one of the best private email services available. It offers a 30-day trial with limited functionalities. If you like the service, you can choose to upgrade.

  1. Apr 28, 2021 The 7 best email apps for Windows. EM Client for customization. Thunderbird for a free email client. Mailbird for people who live in their inbox. Windows Mail for simplicity. Microsoft Outlook for email with a robust business platform. Kiwi for Gmail for Gmail power users. For security and encryption.
  2. Big-name email services put lots of money into security, but they are also large targets and not invulnerable. In March, the big news was the ease with which hackers were able to compromise thousands of Microsoft Exchange email servers. You might well be safer using a smaller, less well-known email service.

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.

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.

Best

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)

Best mail server for mac

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

  • Templates

  • Messaging

  • End encryption

  • Translation

Mailbird (Top email client for multiple accounts)

The folks behind Mailbird call themselves a “A Brilliant Team of Email Innovation Nerds.” That should inspire confidence that they are serious about great email.

Mailbird operates on Windows. It specializes in handling multiple email accounts. You can sync from other email accounts into a unified inbox. The dashboard is clean and pleasing to the eye. Figuring out Mailbird’s features is intuitive. You can customize the look with color themes and layouts. Other Mailbird features include speed reader, snooze buttons, and attachment searching. Mailbird excels at integrating with other useful tools. These include Twitter, Whatsapp, Facebook, Evernote, and more. It also works with Google Drive and Calendar, Dropbox and Slack.

Mailbird Personal is only $1.63 per month, $19.50 per year, or a one-time payment of $39.50. Mailbird Business is $2.88 per month or $34.50 per year.

Mailbird is best for:

  • One person business

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Unified inbox

  • Multiple accounts

  • Integrations

  • Windows users

Airmail (Top email client for iPhone)

Airmail is the email client by the Italian software development Bloop SRL. They design apps for macOS and iOS. Airmail is Bloop’s main product.

Airmail works exclusively within the Apple ecosystem. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac computers. The design is native to each device. Apple has often praised Airmail’s cool look. The platform can respond to Siri. It syncs multiple accounts from the likes of Gmail, iCloud Mail, Office 365, Microsoft Outlook, IMAP and POP3. It lets you manage them all in one unified inbox. A smart inbox sorts out the important emails for you. You get snooze tools and send later tools. Airmail lets you set up workflow rules to automate your email management. There is a privacy mode to work offline. It also prevents pixel tracking. The iOS versions use FaceID and TouchID for extra security. Airmail even works on Apple Watches.

You can download Airmail and use many features for free. Airmail Pro is $2.99 per month or $9.99 per year. Airmail Business is a single purchase of $49.99

Airmail is best for:

  • Single users

  • One person business

  • Small teams

  • iOS devices

  • iPhone users

  • Unified inbox

Spike (Good desktop email client)

Spike is an Israeli company. It got off the ground in 2017.

You can best use Spike on your desktop with a web browser. It also works on other devices. They have apps for iOS, Android, Windows and macOS. The Spike approach is called conversational email. It removes things like subject lines and signatures to make the email thread easier to follow. The inbox highlights important emails. Spike also has a note app that’s good for collaboration. You can also chat in a sidebar in real-time. Group chats with team members work too. There are scheduler and to-do tools. Spike uses email encryption to keep your stuff safe.

Spike offers a free version. The pro plan is $4 and the Business plan is $6, both per account per month billed annually. Contact them for Enterprise prices.

Product name is best for:

  • Freelancers

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Group chat

  • To-dos

Hiri (Good email client for Mac)

Hiri is an Irish email client. It was first released in 2012.

Hiri is an email app for Mac. It puts simplicity first. Aside from email it does calendars, to-do lists and contacts. Hiri also puts a lot of attention to its design details. This includes features to remove clutter. Hiri syncs all calendar events from Office 365 and Exchange. You can share your calendars too. Hiri has an offline mode for added privacy. You also get reminders and snooze tools.

Hiri costs $39 per year or $119 for life.

Hiri is best for:

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Large businesses

  • Shared calendars

  • Mac users

  • Design

Mailspring (Good free email client)

Mailspring forked off from the mail client Nylas Mail. It’s open-source and built with a native C++ sync engine.

Mailspring works with macOS, Windows and Linux. It lets you use multiple IMAP & Office 365 accounts. It’s got a lot of the basic email features. These include undo send and read receipts. There’s also snooze and reminders. The dashboard is customizable with layouts and themes. Mailspring does real-time translation with English, Spanish, Russian, simplified Chinese, French, and German. There’s an RSVP feature that lets you instantly respond to email invites. Your contact list in Mailspring has profiles with Linkedin bios, social media links and company information.

Mailspring has a free version. The pro version is $8 per month.

Mailspring is best for:

  • Freelancers

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Translation

  • Contacts

INKY (Top email app to block phishing)

INKY is an email app that is foremost about protection from phishing and other fraud. It uses AI and machine learning to do this.

INKY blocks malware, spam and phishing. Its detection is more robust than average email clients. Warnings on emails range from safe, unusual and malicious. You get visibility and email tracking into the blocked emails. It also guides you if you want to examine the suspicious email closer. You can report any suspicious email with one click. INKY’s platform is hosted in the cloud. It supports Office365, Exchange and G Suite. This email security app scales up to companies of any size.

You can request a demo from INKY’s website. For prices contact them as well.

INKY is best for:

  • Small businesses

  • Large businesses

  • Enterprise

  • Email security

  • Phishing detection

  • Spam and malware detection

Spark (Good email app for team collaboration)

Spark was made by Ukranian app development company Readdle. They launched Spark back in 2015.

Spark has mobile apps for iPhones and Androids. There’s a desktop version for macOS and one for Windows is on its way. It syncs email accounts from Outlook, iCloud, Google, Yahoo, Exchange and IMAP. The intelligent inbox sorts out important emails. You can also pin important emails. There is a batch email action feature. You can also get notifications when emails come from people you know. You can work with team members with Spark. It lets you write drafts together or add private notes. Team leaders can delegate emails tasks from the email inbox. It lets you set deadlines and track progress. There’s the usual send later, follow-up reminders, snooze and customizable signatures.

Spark has a free version. The best team collaboration tools are in the Premium plan at $6.39 per user per month billed annually. Contact Spark for enterprise plans.

Spark is best for:

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Large businesses

  • Managers

  • Team collaboration

  • Task management

Postbox

Postbox was first released in 2007. The brains behind this desktop email client came out of the Mozilla team. It was originally based on Thunderbird.

Postbox positions itself as a professional email app. The UX is very straightforward and familiar. It syncs accounts from Yahoo, Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, Outlook, and more. The dashboard lets you see your emails in tabs. Email tools let you group your accounts. You can create favorite folders. There is advanced searching and filtering. Postbox also offers file and image management. Pre-canned responses, professional-looking signatures and pre-formatted clips are also available. There’s also an HTML code editor. Postbox uses PGP encryption.

Postbox offers one-year licenses for $29. A lifetime license is $49 (though subject to change).

Postbox is best for:

  • Freelancers

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Desktop email client

  • Tabbed browsing

Superhuman

The reviews are very mixed about Superhuman Email. Some love it, others are underwhelmed. Still this email app is worth mentioning.

Superhuman tries to reinvent a lot of email UX. The design is very streamlined and sleek. Superhuman also puts speed as the top selling point. They claim every action takes less than 100 milliseconds. It uses powerful AI in the email tirage stage. This sorts the important emails from the lesser ones. You get an undo send option. There’s also follow-ups, reminders and send later tools. Read statuses and read receipts are also part of the toolset. Superhuman gathers insights on your contacts from LinkedIn and other social media.

While there is no pricing listed on the website, other reviewers have noted that Superhuman costs $30 per month.

Superhuman is best for:

  • SMBs

  • Large businesses

  • Fast emailing

  • AI triage

ProtonMail

ProtonMail is the creation of Swiss scientists who met while working at CERN. That’s some big brains behind this email client.

ProtonMail is an email platform with full end-to-end encryption email. Security is a big deal with ProtonMail, Swiss-style. New accounts are made without needing to use personal information. It doesn’t store any IP logs. You can use ProtonMail with a web browser, or on iOS and Android devices. ProtonMail is open-source and simple to use. The interface has the look and feel as any normal email app.

ProtonMail offers a free version. The Plus version is good for one person at $5 per month. The Pro version is $8 per user per month, and the Visionary version is $30 per month for 6 users.

ProtonMail is best for:

  • Individuals

  • Freelancers

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • End to end encryption

  • Email privacy

Zimbra

Zimbra was developed by Synacor. That’s a technology company out of Buffalo, NY. Synacor launched Zimbra in 2005.

Zimbra is collaboration software. A big part of it is the email server. The idea is to combine email with other teamwork tools. These include live chatting, 1:1 messaging and group chats. There’s also video conferencing, file sharing and screen sharing. There are tools for real-time collaboration on documents. For emailing, you can sync up Gmail, Yahoo, IMAP and POP. The platform works on Windows, macOS and Linux. You can create tags for emails. Email threads are displayed on multiple tabs. You also get undo send, restore email and scheduled delivery. Calendar and contact management are also available.

For prices contact Zimbra through their website.

Zimbra is best for:

  • Teams

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Collaboration

  • File sharing

Shift

Shift hails from Victoria, Canada. The people behind Shift have a goal to make work both more productive and more fun.

Best

The Shift approach is to help you manage multiple workflows. You can create custom workspaces inside Shift and invite people to collaborate. Shift is a desktop email client that lets you sync up many email accounts into a unified inbox. It integrates G Suite apps, as well as Slack and Facebook Messenger. You can add extensions to Shift. These include things like Grammarly, Dropbox, HubSpot and Zoom. The overall idea is to create Shift Workspaces and add all your web apps to the UX. It can replace basic web browsing.

Best

The basic Shift plan is free. The Advanced and Team plans are $99.99 per year.

Shift is best for:

  • Individuals

  • Freelancers

  • Startups

  • SMBs

  • Extensions

Key takeaways

To sum it all up, you’ve got no more excuses to stick with basic Gmail or Hotmail. Sure Outlook is a decent choice for Windows users. But we hope you’ve discovered some other good email client solutions.

FAQs

What is the difference between webmail and email client?

An email client runs off your own computer, and you can also back up your emails in the cloud. This is opposed to webmail which hosts everything on a server. Email clients are more common for business purposes, while webmail is more for personal use.

What is client-based email?

Client-based email is email software downloaded to your computer. It also stores your email archives on your own computer. You can back up your emails in cloud storage. Client-based emails have more features than simple webmail, and are often premium products.

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If you’re trying to decide on a good free email service with just the right features, you’ll find there are lots of options to choose from.

This is great, as there’s something for everyone, but it can give you a little bit of decision paralysis.

To help you pick the right one for your needs, here’s a breakdown of some of the most popular free email services. We’ll look at how much storage they have, what they let you do, and why they might work for you.

These are the email services we'll be checking out in this article:

  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • ProtonMail
  • AOL
  • Zoho Mail
  • iCloud Mail
  • Yahoo! Mail
  • GMX
  • Hey (as a bonus - not free, but new)

So let's dive on in.

Gmail

Gmail is one of the most well-known and widely-used email services out there. It’s part of Google’s suite of services, and there are a number of reasons it’s so popular.

If you want email with lots of features, and if you love the G-suite, Gmail is likely a great option for you.

Gmail Features

Here are some of its awesome features:

  • You can schedule emails to send at a certain time, snooze them so you don't lose track of them, and customize your notifications
  • You can email large attachments through Google Drive (and save docs there so they don't clutter up your local computer)
  • You can use smart compose (like auto-complete) to help you write your emails faster – and you can even translate your message right in Gmail (under the three dots - 'Translate message')
  • Use the reading pane feature so you can see your inbox and the email you're reading at the same time (just go to Settings - Reading Pane - and choose where you want it).
  • There are advanced search options available (just click the down arrow on the right of the search bar).
  • In addition to regular search functionality (by folder, and so on), you can also find emails by date (type before:date – like 2020/1/1 – and it’ll search in just those messages).
  • Gmail has good security, and you can send/receive money through your email. It also has 'Confidential mode' and you can set expiry times on your messages.
  • Some other cool features? Customize the amount of time you have to undo sent emails, auto-advance through your inbox (under the Advanced tab in Settings), Offline mode, and dragging email between tabs.

Storage: Gmail gives you 15GB of free storage. Now while that sounds like a lot, keep in mind that it's used by Google Photos, Google Drive, and any other Google tools you use as well.

So if you have multiple gigabytes of photos on your computer in Google Photos, you might strain your email storage capabilities.

If you want to create a Gmail account, you can do so here.

Outlook

If you're looking for a powerful email service that offers tons of features plus the ability to integrate with a bunch of business-friendly applications, Outlook is a good option for you.

It's not quite as simple to use as Gmail, for example, but you can do more with it. Many large companies use Outlook for their email, and it offers robust calendar, task manager, and other customizable features.

Outlook Features

Here are some of Outlook’s other best selling points:

  • You can create new meetings/tasks/contacts right from inbox (no switching windows involved).
  • You can also share or assign tasks (like a to-do) with your coworkers, and you can also share your calendar with them.
  • Outlook lets you make your own custom rules (like always send emails from x to this folder, and so on). You can also customize your notifications, as well as how you see your messages (like changing the text color for x sender, and so on).
  • You can also easily create custom email templates if you send messages where the content doesn't often change (save yourself the extra typing!).
  • You can schedule emails to be delivered exactly when you want, and snooze them so you can read them later without losing track of them.
  • You can also set up message alerts (never miss a VIP email again!), and use flags and categories to help you keep track of important mail and organize your inbox.
  • Integrates easily with other Microsoft products (for example if someone sends you a Word doc as an attachment, you can open it right in Outlook).
  • If you want to create a new contact, just drag and drop an email from them into the contacts tab, and voilà – it's created for you.
  • You can use sticky notes as reminders (just type Ctrl+Shift+N from anywhere in Outlook's interface, and there's your note).
  • Outlook also has its own version of auto-complete called quick parts to save you some time.
  • And you can @mention people in mass emails to alert them it pertains to them

Many people describe Outlook as 'feature-rich' email - and now you can see why.

Storage: on the storage front, Outlook offers 15GB for free – same as Gmail.

Wait a minute - are Outlook and Hotmail the same thing?

This is confusing, but here's the long and the short of it:

Microsoft bought Hotmail in 1997 (yes, that long ago). They went through several iterations of rebranding (MSN Hotmail, Windows Live Mail) but eventually settled on Windows Live Hotmail around 2012.

That's also when Microsoft rolled out Outlook.com, the final rebranding of anything Hotmail (name) related.

If you already have an old @hotmail.com email address, you can keep it. But if you're signing up for Outlook today, you have to choose an @outlook.com address. Sorry, nostalgic email hopefuls.

Anyway, if you want to give Outlook a try, you can sign up here.

Protonmail

ProtonMail is a great option for the average user who doesn't want organizations or hackers snooping through their emails. It's not the tightest security on the planet, but it's more than enough for the average user.

ProtonMail is an open-source, encrypted email provider based in Switzerland (brought to you by the famous CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research) and gives you all the benefits of Swiss law and privacy/security.

ProtonMail Features:

It's not the only encrypted email option, but it's one of the most well-known. Let's see why:

  • ProtonMail is famous for its encrypted email service (uses end-to-end and zero-access encryption standards to protect all email)
  • The free plan gets you one email address, 150 messages a day, 3 folders/labels, and limited support
  • You don't have to provide any personal information when signing up for an account.
  • It uses the fairly robust PGP encryption standards
  • The web client, their encryption algorithms, and the iOS code are all open source
  • The IP address is stripped from all your emails
  • The ProtonMail Bridge feature lets you use it with other email clients (meaning it can pull emails from other clients, and lets you import contacts from them)
  • You can send messages which 'self-destruct' after a specified amount of time
  • You can send encrypted emails to people who don't use ProtonMail
  • Address verification lets you save your signed key into a digitally signed contract so that key can't be tampered with once it's verified (which replaced an earlier method of making encryption key management automatic and invisible to the user). This helps prevent Man in the Middle attacks

There is one important security-related thing to note, though: the subject line of your email (and the address info) aren't encrypted. So should ProtonMail need to hand that info over to authorities for any reason, they can and they will.

Storage: ProtonMail offers 'only' 500MB of storage on their free plan. But if you need more, and are willing to pay, there are 3 paid plans available (they have more features, too).

Want to try ProtonMail out? You can create an account here.

While we won't cover it in this article, a good alternative is Germany-based Tutanota.

AOL

Ah, AOL email. If you were a child of the late 80s or 90s, chances are your first email account was with AOL. Who didn't love hearing those three little words – 'You've got mail!'

Since then, the world seems to have moved on – but AOL hasn't been completely left behind. The long-time email provider has kept their straightforward services up-to-date and relevant. It's especially useful if you just want to use your service to send and receive emails.

AOL Features

So here's why you might want to consider AOL:

  • Just have to come out and say it first: AOL mail has unlimited storage space. It's the only one, as far as I know. It also has a pretty generous 25 MB attachment limit.
  • It has all your typical (and to be expected) spam and virus protection, along with other basic features like a spell-checker and filters that let you sort incoming emails.
  • You can also use its panels to stay organized, which have quick links to the To-Do feature, calendar, and a blog
  • It also has reading pane mode (so you can read an email without leaving your inbox - the mail appears to the side)
  • You can create customized folders to further organize messages (although this feature isn't as sophisticated as Gmail's or Outlook's).
  • Email stationary lets you customize your email template with themes, styles, and so on – so you can make your emails extra festive for holidays, birthdays, and more.
  • It supports POP and IMAP protocols (which let you download emails onto your machine so you can access them even without internet)

While AOL mail isn't too fancy, it's great for basic emailing functionality. The unlimited storage feature also makes it standout and helps it remain relevant.

Want that endless storage space? You can get an account here.

Some other free email options

Maybe you want more options – I hear ya. You like to do your research. Well, here are a few more choices for great free email services.

Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail offers 5 GB of storage – not too bad – and offers encrypted email. It's a great option for startups and small businesses.

Here's a quick run-down of some cool Zoho Mail features:

  • You can create up to 25 business addresses (so instead of @zoho.com, you could have @tastytreatsbakery.com, or whatever your business name is).
  • It's easy to manage all your tasks, calendars, notes, and documents (easy Google Drive integration) from your inbox
  • Fully encrypted data and privacy guarantee
  • Easily migrate emails from your previous email service with their build-in tool
  • Social media-style 'Streams' help you communicate and collaborate with teammates
  • Organize your attachments by type

Sounds like your cup of tea? You can sign up for Zoho mail in a blink.

iCloud Mail

If you're all about the Apple ecosystem, then you might want to consider iCloud mail. It offers 5 GB of free storage (you can purchase more starting at just $.99/month) and the interface is pretty enjoyable to use.

Here are some other great iCloud mail features:

  • There are no advertisements - compose your emails in peace
  • Helpful keyboard shortcuts for efficient emailing
  • Spam filtering (auto and manual) – you can also set up rules to block messages you don't want
  • Clean, minimalist interface (think Apple's design aesthetic)
  • You can mark certain senders as 'VIP' and iCloud mail will send their emails to a special folder

If you want to give iCloud mail a try, you can sign up here.

Yahoo! Mail

Can't you just hear the yodeler singing out 'Yahoo!'? Well, I can.

Best email provider

At any rate, Yahoo offers an impressive 1TB of storage (that's 1000GB), second only to AOL's unlimited storage.

Here are some other cool Yahoo! mail features:

  • Customizable inbox theme and layout
  • Easy calendar integration, right from your inbox (you can also use Google Calendar and any other with an iCal address, as well).
  • Integrate your other email services (like Gmail, AOL, Outlook) so you can manage all your inboxes in one place
  • Yahoo organizes your emails into 'Views' in the left panel (like 'Photos', 'Documents', 'Receipts', 'Travel' info, and so on)
  • Customizable out of office responses

You can see more for yourself by trying Yahoo! mail out.

GMX

GMX mail offers a little bit of everything – and with 65 GB of free storage, plus attachments up to 50MB, it's a very reasonable free email option.

Let's see why else you might want to check it out:

  • Encryption options - stay safe (along with built-in antivirus software and spam filter)
  • You can have up to 10 different aliases if you need to receive emails from different addresses all in one place (like support, team, help, and so on)
  • The MailCheck extension for Chrome makes sure you're notified when you get new emails
  • Ability to organize all emails from your other accounts into one place
  • Customizable filter settings (create your own, or use the ones GMX provides)
  • Robust search, online calendar, and easy-to-use contacts feature

Does GMX sound like your ideal email provider? You can sign up for an account here.

Bonus – Hey [it's not free, but it’s new]

You may have heard the hype around the bold new Hey email from Basecamp. It's not free, but it does promise many drastic improvements to the old way of doing email.

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Here are some of Hey.com's top features:

  • You can screen your emails – if you get an email from a pesky sender, just block it right then and there.
  • You can open, and then read through, more than one email at a time. No more open, read, close...open, read, close...and so on.
  • You can add private notes to any email thread (so all your info about that thread is in one place).
  • There's a 'paper trail' folder where you can send all receipts and other transactional messages (easy to find, but not cluttering up your inbox)
  • An 'attachment library' collects all your attachments so you can search directly there (without having to find the email first).
  • Extensive security features like mandatory 2-Factor Authentication and support for hardware security keys and fingerprint readers.
  • 100GB storage included

There are many more cool features, and you can read about them at Hey.com. Plans for individuals are $99/year, and for teams are $12/user per month. They do offer a 2-week free trial if you want to try it out first.

Best Mail Server For Mac

Alright, now you should be well-equipped to chose a free email provider. Good luck finding the one that's right for you!