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The best email clients for everyday use

Do you want to use a new email client that will better assist you in managing your messages? Maybe you are looking for a new way to handle them?
We made a comparison of the 5 best email clients to give you the best solution to process your emails. You will find in this list the main strengths and weaknesses of each solution.

N°1 : UNIPILE, the best email client

our favorite of course!

read messages with your email

Unipile

This application is a fresh new way to manage your messaging. Its innovative features are completely embedded in your daily life.

+ Receive and Send Mails, SMS, WhatsApp, Linkedin, Teams… from 1 single Inbox

+ Organize the answers to be done, your to-do list, your meetings from your email inbox

Available only in English and French

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

Pricing: Free for the Personal plan, 5€ for the Boost plan, 10€ for the Team plan

Unipile is a global messaging client. The approach is very different than a regular email client since the objective of the application is to group all the users’ messages (emails, SMS, chats, etc.) in one place to simplify their treatment.

The application is based on 3 pillars:

1. Centralize:

Simply add your Emails (Gmail, Microsoft, IMAP providers), Mobile (SMS + Call notifications), WhatsApp, Linkedin, Teams, Slack, Facebook Messenger etc. Centralize your messages in a single inbox to better manage them. You won’t have to switch between different tabs or software to view all your messages.

group all your messages

2. Plan:

Connect your calendars (Google calendar, Microsoft, iCal) to synchronize your events. Move an email received in your calendar to do it at the right time for you. Create on-the-fly tasks or actions to do. If your scheduled actions in your calendar are not done, they will reappear in your inbox.

INBOX + calendar

3. Do:

In “Work” mode, all your planned actions will follow each other: answer an email, call someone back, do one of your to-do’s. Answer all your Emails, SMS, WhatsApp… from 1 single inbox. You can choose to be notified if you haven’t received a message after a chosen time. You can comment your received messages, assign them to people in your group…

Collaborate on received messages

Inbox Zero Method = Serenity

The Inbox Zero method or Empty Inbox allows you to organize your mailbox so that there are no more messages in your inbox. Having an empty inbox brings you a certain serenity, you no longer have this feeling of disorganization, of overload as soon as you consult your inbox.

How do I do this? It is very easy, once you have read a message, click on Archive. As soon as you answer a message, it is automatically archived. You can drag and drop your messages into your calendar to reply at the right time for you. Only the items that are pending to be replied to or processed are remaining. You will quickly empty your inbox, organize your day, and be able to focus on what matters.

Advanced features:

– Reply from 1 interface to all incoming messages: reply to Emails, SMS, WhatsApp, or Linkedin messages from a unique application is now possible!

– Multi-device sync: Your data is synchronized between all your devices (Computer, Mobile)

– Echo: You can choose to be notified if no answer to your message has been received. The application helps you not to think about everything, all the time.

– Global search: By consolidating all your messages in one place, you will be able to facilitate your search. Find the history of your communications with your contacts, no matter the channel you use.

Inbox monitoring View the number of messages received or sent, who are the main senders or recipients, your activity periods… You can see what occupies you the most and act if necessary.

Shared Inboxes: Exchange with your group or team members directly on a received message. Stop forwarding messages without knowing if the information has been processed. You can collaborate on a message, an event, a task directly from your inbox.

The integration of SMS in the same inbox is a real innovation. Some users may want to keep their SMS in a dedicated application. You can find an article dedicated to the comparison of best SMS applications on android.

N°2 : OUTLOOK

the most popular email client

Outlook client comparative

Outlook

Outlook is the most popular email client on the market and is widely used in the professional world. It is a complete and powerful application although there was few evolutions in the last few years.

+ Add all existing email providers and protocols
+ The software is available with a Microsoft 365 account

Many options and settings available but difficult to use

Platforms: PC, Mac, Android, iOS

Pricing : Trial version available, Microsoft 365 pack: from 4.2€ to 16.9€

Outlook is the standard application to manage your emails. The application is included when you subscribe to Microsoft 365 (paid subscription).

You will be able to add all your email accounts and have all the information available in one interface. It is also possible to connect your calendars in the application (available in a separate panel). The display is very classical, from left to right: Emails/Folders accounts, then the list of your messages and the content of the selected message.

The user interface changed only a little in the last few years. The strength of Outlook relies mainly on its integration with other Microsoft applications like Teams, Word, Excel, etc. However, Outlook only allows you to consult your emails. It is not possible to merge emails with Teams messages for example.
The application has many options, but unfortunately, they are not always easy to use. When you have to configure your accounts, signatures, rules, etc. you have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to do it. New options such as task and follow-up need the practice to be well understood. Finally, it should be noted that many of the available options will never be used in your everyday usage.

Create task is interesting and allows you to transform a message into an action to be done. The idea is interesting but the ergonomy (sequence of validation and the display) lacks simplicity. We can notice for example that a to-do, still not completed, will be visible only in the tasks panel. So if you don’t open this panel, you won’t see the information. You don’t have any warning in your inbox.

You want to know more about Outlook, we made a comparison between Outlook and Thunderbird.

N°3 : THUNDERBIRD

the free email client

Thunderbird client comparative

THUNDERBIRD

This open source email client is edited by Mozilla (Firefox). It is mostly used by people looking for free and customizable software.

+ Open Source and totally free

+ Many add-ons are available

The search function is not very user-friendly or relevant

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux. There is no mobile version.

Pricing: FREE

This is the free email client most used. Thunderbird is an open-source software, many people buid a community to maintain and develop this email client.

Adding email accounts is very easy, the application has a complete settings library for all email providers. Your account settings will adjust automatically in most cases. You can add your Google Gmail, Microsoft, Zoho, OVH, Yahoo… accounts.

The navigation between messages, calendar, contacts… is displayed by tabs, just like a web browser. It is very easy to switch between open tabs.

You can use add-ons with Thunderbird. They are available from the application or you can download them from the website. You can use themes, add new languages, boost your calendar, sort your folders, secure your account…

The search function on Thunderbird is powerful thanks to an efficient indexing engine. On the other hand, the display of results with sorting or filtering makes it difficult to read the results and therefore to find the relevant information. You may have great difficulty in finding a message at first glance, you must spend some time to understand how to use the function.

In addition, it is one of the rare messaging applications available on Linux, the main email client providers have not privileged this platform.

N°4 : MAILBIRD

an advanced email client

Mailbird client comparative

MAILBIRD

This email client is user-friendly and has some interesting features. It is very classic in its approach to email management while offering its users the possibility of adding other messaging accounts.

+ Efficient and functional email client
+ Possibility to add other messaging accounts but consultable in separate tabs

Available on Windows only

No Free version

Platforms: Windows only

Pricing: 14-day trial version then 29.04€ per year for the Personal version or 45€ per year for the Business version (annual subscription)

Mailbird allows users to add the many email providers with IMAP protocol. All the major providers are supported, which allows you to quickly add your different email accounts.

This application tries to be different by offering the possibility to add other messaging, calendar or to-do list accounts in addition to email accounts. The idea is very interesting, especially because many integrations are available. However, in practice, the navigation and the readability of the information are very complex. The accounts are added in tabs separately from your emails. The difference with your actual use case where you have to switch between all your apps is very marginal.
The benefits of full integration between messaging accounts are not reflected in this email client. The navigation becomes more and more complex as the user adds accounts. Unipile provides a much more efficient and user-friendly approach to merging all your accounts in one single application.

N°5 : BLUEMAIL

a smart email app

Bluemail client comparative

BLUEMAIL

This software is very intuitive to use and runs very well to manage your emails both on Computer and Mobile.

+ Intuitive and customizable interface

+ Available on multiple platforms

The sync between the devices is limited to the settings – without the data

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

Pricing: Free, Business version at 4€ per month, Enterprise version at 6.17€ per month

This application allows you to easily add your main email accounts. Access to each account is available from the menu. You can group all your emails if you want.
The user interface is pleasant and fluid. You can customize it according to your preferences from the application settings.
You can easily add your Google and Microsoft calendars.

It is important to note that the synchronization of your applications does not take into account the data. You can share the list of accounts added on a device or the settings of your interface but all the specific information created on a device will not be synchronized on the other applications (tasks, email to read later, contacts).

What about the other email app?

There are other email applications, such as Spark which is a collaboration-oriented app, or Mailspring which is a simple and very efficient solution.
We leave it up to you to test them out and make your own opinion. We chose, by designing Unipile, to create the best email client.

Please note that these solutions are not dedicated tools for email campaigns. You can send emails to many recipients at the same time but we do not recommend using them for your marketing actions. This software doesn’t have follow-up or unsubscription functionalities which are essential to carry out this type of operation. Also, your email providers can detect this usage and suspend your account. To send email marketing, prefer professional tools like spot-hit or Sendinblue for example.

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