Alternatives to Evolution
GNOME's full groupware client
Evolution ranks #8 of 22 in Email clients, with an Alt Score of 84. It is licensed under LGPL-2.1, free and available on Linux. 11 of 11 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Evolution is for GNOME desktop users, and small-to-medium organizations, including those on Microsoft Exchange, who want a single application to manage email, calendar, contacts, and tasks instead of separate tools.
Evolution combines email, calendaring, an address book, task lists, and memos in one integrated application. It supports multiple accounts across providers, including IMAP, POP, and Exchange (via evolution-ews), and stores data through the Evolution-Data-Server backend so information stays consistent across the app. It supports extensions and plugins for added functionality, and integrates with the broader GNOME desktop.
Users add one or more mail and calendar accounts, and Evolution's Data-Server backend syncs and stores messages, events, and contacts locally. From a unified interface, users switch between mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks views to read and organize their information.
Why people leave Evolution
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Email clients checklist (15 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Email clients checklist | Evolution | eM Client | BlueMail | Canary Mail | The Bat! | Apple Mail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Protocols (IMAP / POP3 / JMAP / Exchange) | ||||||
| Unified inbox | ||||||
| Snooze & send later | ||||||
| Tracking pixel blocking | ||||||
| PGP / encryption support | ||||||
| Conversation view | ||||||
| Offline mode | ||||||
| Rules & filters (local) | ||||||
| Calendar integrated | ||||||
| Multiple identities/aliases | ||||||
| Keyboard-first shortcuts |
Every fact and feature listed for Evolution is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Pricing model Free verified 2026-07-12
Free
https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.gnome.Evolution -
Platforms Linux verified 2026-07-12
Available for Linux (Desktop only)
https://apps.gnome.org/en/Evolution/ -
License LGPL-2.1 verified 2026-07-12
In the absence of that code is available under the LGPLv2 or (at your choice) LGPLv3.
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/raw/master/COPYING -
Status active verified 2026-07-12
3.61.1
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/tags -
Protocols (IMAP / POP3 / JMAP / Exchange) Yes verified 2026-07-12
Exchange Web Services (EWS) Account Settings
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-account-manage-microsoft-exchange-evo-ews.html.en -
Unified inbox Partial verified 2026-07-12
While a conventional folder actually contains messages, a search folder is a view of messages that might be in several different folders.
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-search-folders.html.en -
Snooze & send later No verified 2026-07-12
Schedule sending an email to a later date and time
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/issues/411 -
Tracking pixel blocking Yes verified 2026-07-12
This is because remotely hosted images can be slow to load and display, and can even be used by spammers to track who reads the email.
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-displaying-images-in-html.html.en -
PGP / encryption support Yes verified 2026-07-12
Evolution offers GPG Encryption and S/MIME Encryption for signing and encrypting email messages.
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-encryption.html.en -
Conversation view Yes verified 2026-07-12
This feature, when enabled, groups replies with the original email and allows you to follow the flow of the conversation from one message to the next.
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-sorting-message-list.html.en -
Offline mode Yes verified 2026-07-12
Evolution can keep a local copy of folders located on remote mail systems like IMAP or Exchange, to allow you to read messages.
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-working-offline.html.en -
Rules & filters (local) Yes verified 2026-07-12
Message filters apply actions on messages based on conditions that you have defined.
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-filters.html.en -
Calendar integrated Yes verified 2026-07-12
Evolution is a personal information management application that provides integrated mail, calendaring and address book functionality.
https://apps.gnome.org/en/Evolution/ -
Multiple identities/aliases Yes verified 2026-07-12
optional reply-to, organization, signature, and email alias settings
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/mail-account-manage-microsoft-exchange-evo-ews.html.en -
Keyboard-first shortcuts Partial verified 2026-07-12
This page provides an overview of keyboard shortcuts that can help you use Evolution more efficiently.
https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/intro-keyboard-shortcuts.html.en
FAQ
Yes. eM Client, BlueMail and Canary Mail have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
FairEmail, Mailspring and Thunderbird — every license claim links its source.