Alternatives to Mailspring
Open source client with read receipts
Mailspring ranks #9 of 22 in Email clients, with an Alt Score of 84. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, freemium from $8/month and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 11 of 11 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Professionals and power users who manage multiple email accounts (IMAP, Gmail, Office 365, iCloud, Yahoo, Outlook.com, FastMail) and want a fast native desktop client instead of a browser tab.
A unified inbox that syncs multiple accounts via IMAP through a native C++ engine, with Gmail-style search, undo send, custom signatures, spell/grammar checking, and calendar/RSVP support included free. A paid Pro tier ($8/month) adds read receipts, link tracking, send-later/follow-up reminders, quick reply templates, and enriched contact profiles. It's open source (MIT license) and runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux, including ARM64 and Wayland.
You add your existing email accounts by connecting via IMAP/CalDAV/CardDAV, and Mailspring syncs mail and calendar data directly between your machine and your provider. All connected accounts then appear together in one unified inbox where you read, search, and compose across them.
Why people leave Mailspring
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
Sign in to add a reason — new reasons go through moderation before appearing.
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 | Mailspring | 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 Mailspring is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Starts at $8/month verified 2026-07-12
Mailspring Pro — Read receipts, link tracking, and send later. $8/month.
https://www.getmailspring.com/pro -
License GPL-3.0 verified 2026-07-12
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/blob/master/LICENSE.md -
Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-12
Mailspring Pro, which you can unlock with a monthly subscription, adds even more features for people who send a ton of email: link tracking, read receipts, mailbox analytics, contact and company profi
https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/blob/master/README.md -
Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux verified 2026-07-12
You can download compiled versions of Mailspring for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (deb, rpm and snap) from
https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/blob/master/README.md -
Status active verified 2026-07-12
## 1.22.0 (6/13/2026)
https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md -
Protocols (IMAP / POP3 / JMAP / Exchange) Partial verified 2026-07-12
Unfortunately, Mailspring does not support fetching mail via POP / POP3. The POP standard is very old, and most mail providers that support POP3 also support IMAP-check with your email service to see
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/pop3-or-pop-protocol-support/300 -
Unified inbox Yes verified 2026-07-12
Mailspring comes packed with powerful features like Unified Inbox, Snooze, Send Later, Mail Rules, Templates and more.
https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/blob/master/README.md -
Snooze & send later Yes verified 2026-07-12
Click the Send Later icon at the bottom of your message, then choose the time you'd like to send the message. Your message will be in your Drafts folder and available for editing until the send time.
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/schedule-messages-to-send-later/158 -
Tracking pixel blocking Yes verified 2026-07-12
blocking a bunch of tracking pixels by default and without really alerting the user.
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/block-email-tracking-attempts/828 -
PGP / encryption support No verified 2026-07-12
Can I use GPG to encrypt email in Mailspring yet? Couldn't find anything in the KB and I also couldn't use any plugins to add the functionality myself.
https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/issues/25 -
Conversation view Yes verified 2026-07-12
Some users prefer to see each email individually, instead of threading/conversation view.
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/make-threading-conversation-view-optional/291 -
Offline mode Yes verified 2026-07-12
read, compose, and schedule messages as usual while offline
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/offline-account-access/236 -
Rules & filters (local) Yes verified 2026-07-12
Mail rules"."
Yes - if you open Preferences, you'll see a section called
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/mailspring-mail-rules/3591 -
Calendar integrated Yes verified 2026-07-12
Added Calendar menu and keyboard shortcuts. (#2634)
https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md -
Multiple identities/aliases Yes verified 2026-07-12
+" at the bottom of the list of aliases."
To set up an alias in Mailspring, go to Preferences > Accounts, choose the proper account, and click
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/sending-from-aliases/259 -
Keyboard-first shortcuts Partial verified 2026-07-12
Go to Preferences > Shortcuts to change the set it uses.
https://community.getmailspring.com/t/learn-and-customize-keyboard-shortcuts/155
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, Evolution and Thunderbird — every license claim links its source.