Best Email Client software

Smart Inbox automatically sorts newsletters and notifications into separate inboxes the moment they arrive, so important mail is what you see first — no manual filter rules to build

Gatekeeper screens emails from unknown or unwanted senders before they reach your main inbox, letting you review or block them entirely

The free plan's AI Assistant only reads one month of email history and includes just 5 lifetime AI meeting notes, so meaningful AI use effectively requires a paid tier

Plus and Pro draw drafting, summaries, and meeting notes from a monthly AI quota — Pro's 'unlimited meeting notes' is still capped by that quota, and heavy users must buy one-time add-ons

Search is outstanding: finding a years-old message by sender, keyword, or attachment takes seconds using Gmail's search operators.

Spam and phishing filtering runs on Google's servers, keeping promotional and malicious mail out of the primary inbox on every device.

The free tier is ad-supported, so sponsored promotions appear alongside inbox tabs.

Using Gmail with a custom business domain requires a paid Google Workspace subscription rather than a one-time setup.

End-to-end and zero-access encryption applies to every plan, including the free tier, so not even Proton can read your messages — and it runs in the background with no technical configuration.

Easy Switch imports messages, contacts, and calendars from Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo in one click, and Gmail users can keep syncing new mail and send from their old Gmail address inside Proton.

The advertised rates require a 12-month commitment — Mail Plus bills $47.88 yearly and Proton Unlimited $119.88 yearly, which won't suit month-to-month budgets.

The free plan caps you at 1 GB of storage (500 MB to start) and a single email address, so heavy attachment users and anyone needing custom domains must upgrade.

Encryption works out of the box: SecureCompose lets you send protected mail to anyone, while full PGP/GPG support covers users who need standards-based end-to-end encryption

The AI Copilot drafts replies and summarizes long threads directly inside the client, cutting time spent on routine correspondence and post-vacation catch-up

The most differentiating features, including Copilot, sit behind paid tiers, so the free plan functions more as a trial of the core client than a complete package

AI drafting and summarization involve cloud processing of your email content, which strict-privacy users should weigh even though Canary states customer mail is not used to train models

Completely free and open-source, funded by donations.

Strong privacy focus with no data collection or ads.

Recent updates have caused significant email sync and authentication issues.

Mobile app can be buggy and unreliable, especially with subfolder sync.