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Best Free Email Client
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Other Language?
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 Read this article in Spanish |
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In a Hurry?
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 Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide |
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Introduction
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With so many clients now in the cloud, rather than on the desktop, email clients have certainly taken a turn over the past few years. So, to differentiate themselves, the desktop clients have become more advanced and offer more and more features to keep customers interested. For most users finding a good email client can mean the difference between getting on with your work or hitting your head against a desk in frustration. Here's a list of the best email clients reviewed and compiled to save you from heart/headache. For ease of use I've split the review into two different categories, desktop and web-based. |
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Discussion
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Mozilla Thunderbird
Outlook Express users should seriously consider switching. You’ll be rewarded with a more advanced product with these features:
On top of that, the product is more secure than Outlook Express and, unlike the latter, is still being actively developed. Switching is made easier by the fact that Thunderbird looks and works similar to Outlook Express. Tools within Thunderbird also allow you to easily import your Outlook Express account settings and stored email. If you need assistance, there is an excellent guide from Mozilla available for download in the Quick Selection Guide section below. Opera (M2 Mail Client)
DreamMail
The main features are:
Another good feature is the option to create separate accounts for different users, this enables them to have their own email accounts in their profile and the ability to password protect it. Set up is fairly straightforward, you need to copy any POP or IMAP settings across, but this isn't a major problem. Adding web mail accounts is as easy as inputting your web mail address, plus your username and password. The only downside is that it lacks the true portability of a web-based email client, but if that's not something you're worried about then this would be a good option. Foxmail
IncrediMail
The user interface is well polished with basic animations that pop up when you recieve a new email or if you delete one. This is a nice touch but can get in the way, it can however be disabled. Incredimail supports Webmail accounts for GMail, Yahoo, AOL and Windows Live Hotmail.
However, you are required to select the tool-bar integration and have Incredimail as your default search engine before you can proceed. As a basic email client that can handle all of the main accounts, this is a very easy to set up and capable program, but it's limited by the need to upgrade for other main features. eM ClienteM Client is a popular client for Windows (XP - 7) that supports all popular webmails as well as POP3 and IMAP. Upon downloading you get a 30 day free trial, which grants you all the features, but the free license constricts you to only 2 email addresses per user. The user interface for eM Client is certainly very swish (I haven't said that in a while...), and certainly looks and feels premium when using. There are no ads, or gimicks, just a clean interface, not dissimilar to Outlook 2003. Intial setup is very easy, allowing you to import your accounts and settings from the clients already installed on your computer; and even manual setup was very easy, a nice interface to guide you through. eM Client is certainly one of the better looking clients availible for Windows however, the free version is held back by the account restriction to only two email addresses. |
Gmail
Let's get this one done first! Gmail, arguably the most popular webmail client at the moment, intergrating deeply into the Google ecosystem and offering more features than it ever has before. On that note, features wise, it has a lot that you would expect such as:
- works with both POP and IMAP
- arrange emails into folders by adding 'Labels'
- filters
- contacts and tasks can be added and amended.
You'll find you'll get a lot more out of Gmail if you use other Google products. For example, if you use Google+ (which, realistically, you don't, but hypothetically...) you can chat right in the Gmail window, you can also view your circles on the right hand sidebar. Another great feature is Google Labs which is a series of add-ons that you can use to customise your Gmail; it's a very nice feature for more advanced users and it's great to see this amount of customization in a webmail client.
Although Gmail is free, there are ads displayed at the top of the list of emails which is fairly unobtrusive, but can make things look a bit cluttered and at first for me when I tested it, a little confusing as I wasn't expecting it.
You get 10GB of space for free, but if you need more (again, realistically, you won't), Google offer monthly payment plans to get you more space, which can go up to 16TB.
Gmail is at its peak, but there are downsides, the adverts while discrete can annoy some users and the Google+ intergration can seem annoying if you don't use it; however, all that put aside, it's certainly a stylistic, elegant email client and offers a great number of features.
Outlook (The new Hotmail)
Microsoft's really gone all out with it's new metro Modern UI! It's taking all their products by storm, and Hotmail's next on the list. The new user interface is very simple, with the layout of Hotmail remaining largely intact, but with better visuals that newcomers should find more appealing. Setup is fairly simple (or if you have a Microsoft account already, non-existant), like Gmail it provides options to get your old emails forwarded to one email address or access them directly through POP3 support (no IMAP support, I'm afraid).
Some nice features include: being able to delete all emails by a certain sender, or even choosing how many emails from that sender to keep before automatically deleting old ones; automated replies for when you're away from your computer; as well as filters and folder; and all that jazz. Also, being able to import up to 4 POP3 accounts should keep most users satisfied. The built-in contact list 'People' is very modern, as is the calendar, but both put style over fuctionality as it can sometimes be difficult to access the advanced options.
On the down side, if you're not a fan of the UI, it is everywhere and while for the time being you can swap back to Hotmail view, I wouldn't expect that to stick around. Another downside is no IMAP support, but overall Outlook offers a better, cleaner refresh of Hotmail.
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Related Products and Links
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Thunderbird Extensions: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird
Webmail Plugin: http://webmail.mozdev.org/index.html
Guide for Migrating from Outlook to Thunderbird: http://opensourcearticles.com/introduction_to_thunderbird
Opera language files can be downloaded here: http://www.opera.com/download/languagefiles/
The vendors website has now acquired a poor WOT (Web Of Trust) rating. We have no reports of issues with the product itself which remains certified by the major download sites. This situation is currently under review.
The FoxMail English FAQ can be foundhere: http://www.hazeleger.net/psjs_faqs/index.html
Note: If after installing, the program comes up in Chinese, all you have to do is delete the file chinese.lgb in the installation folder.
Developer's website is in Chinese.
Gmail Blog http://gmailblog.blogspot.com
Help and Support http://mail.google.com/support/
Supports the following browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox 3.5+, Internet Explorer 7.0+, Safari 3.0+ (Only Google Chrome supports Desktop Notifications)
Help Centre www.incredimail.com/english/help/support.aspx
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Tags
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email client, thunderbird, webmail, outlook, email manager, gmail, hotmail, yahoo mail, contacts |
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Comments
@Carolyn
Thunderbird is available in a Portable version - I use it on my USB flash Drive and back it up on my disk drive. It works very well - the only hiccup I've found is that the Portable version takes a few days to become available after an update.
-Rhiannon
I have stumbled around with email clients for years, so particular I am. Until last year.
Once I got thru the minimal inconvenience of changing DREAMMAIL to English, I LOVE IT.
Handles absolutely THOUSANDS of emails, never screws up dates like WLM. Imports thousands effortlessly too. Color flags, has attachment and image support.
Multiple identities, exports to EML-TXT-HTML really well! Forget to say, I LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE IT!
I agree Jeannie.............I switched to DreamMail about a year ago, and I have never regretted it. I will not go back to another. I tried many programs over the years, but this one fits my style more than any other Email program out there!
I think you should try Windows Live Mail.
Its really great!!!
New version , Sylpheed 3.1.
http://sylpheed.sraoss.jp/en/
Outlook Express Fans, well we are back in business and for free, windows now has a free Desktop Version of windows live 2010, so head to the Microsoft site to download. It has alot of features including importing all of your email clients, rss feeds and so on and so on, i love it, yes!
I am very, very surprised and annoyed that Thunderbird is included here. It is a HORRIBLE piece of software. I tried upgrading from Outlook Express (yes, I am one of those that still use it) and it did a horrible job of importing the emails (I had over 20,000). It was so bad that I deleted the program and went back to Outlook Express. The only problem I have with Outlook Expres is the 2GB size limit on an email folder, which is why I was looking at going to another client.
Yes, everyone seems to knock MS products but I have learnt that the reason MS products are used is that they work. I do wish they would create a workaround for this 2GB limit though.
One of my BIG beefs about any email program out there (including MS) is that NONE of them (or very few of them) allow you to export the email into other programs or formats. As though they think that theirs is the best or some other BS reason. They have the ability to IMPORT your emails but the other way? Forget it, without a ot of hard work.
I use Thunderbird and all is well until you need to use their help. Help seems to be written by programmers if you get my drift. They sort of drop you into the middle of the answer and think you'll get the beginning. Like walking into a film that's been running a half hour or so. I know, open source etc., but come on fill in the blanks.
I tried Thunderbird but could not figure out method to have just one inbox and one set of folders for my four active accounts. Actually have many e-mail addresses forwarded to my Live.com account which is downloaded into Outlook along with my AOL and Gmail accounts.
Using Outlook I can "send" from any email address or account and does not show "via live.com or via Gmail account. Gmail and Live.com accounts (and my AOL) are excellent if used as webmail but cannot configure to show only identy of another account - they must insert their little advertistment in the address. I only use the Outlook Desktop while at home and on the road unless I wish to send from individual webmail using that webmail address.
If Thunderbird would consolidate all accounts into one inbox and have just one set of folders it would be excellent choice for Outlook replacement.
Opera touts their "no mailboxes" design. they use something like tags or filters. I can't give personal opinion of effectiveness, because when i tried opera's mail in opera9 era, i never get far enough to try this feature.
IIRC, I read of one other mail app that used the same "look ma, no folders" 'architecture'.
OE is THE BEST email client. I'm one of the thousands who is disappointed at meekosof for abandoning it. I like you hated thunderbird but... I've posted a real world use of em Client, paid version. below...
To overcome the 2g in OE, create folders and file them in its relevant folder. If you really cannot do this, then create a folder by year eg 2000, 2001, 2002 son on... Each folder will handle upto 2g.
For Outlook its a little more difficult because silly meesof dumps the whole lot, email/cal/contac/etc in one HUGH database. So to overcome this, create new database and move the emails into them. eg 2000 database will contain all emails in year 2000 including the sent items,, and so on... Now this "archive" database do not need to conform to the 2g limit but be aware if it gets to big and you have a bug email, the whole database gets corrupted.
The current tbird is as close to OE that one can get. It is very much open to user configuration. So I've made mine as close to functionality as it can get to OE.
Yes the OE to tbird import is horrible. BUT one way around this is to download Win Live Mail. Make sure you change the email store location. This will make it easier for the import process to tbird. Let WinMail import all your OE email.
Install tbird. Set up your email account. Also changing the location or take note of the storage location.
Once done, keave tbird open, open windows explorer, browse to your WinMail store. Go to the folder that has your email account. (Winmail store emails as .eml by email acc then by folder (Inbox, sent, etc) Once you see your .eml files just drag and drop them into the relevant folder that you would have created in tbird. Thats it.
I wouldn't mind OE if it wasn't the target for every newbie hacker, spammer, junker etc. out there. I'd like it more if I felt I could trust its security.
Foxmail allows to export to eml (Outlook), msg (Exchange) and txt files. DreamMail lets you export to eml, txt, html and mht, but DreamMail still lacks IMAP. Hopefully DreamMail 5 gets released this year as promised.
Although Thunderbird failed for you, it is included here because the majority of those using it will not wish to import 20,000 emails from Outlook Express :)
pegasus is good but is not working in non-admin accounts. (win xp).
dreammail is not working in non-admin accounts, but the portable i suppose does.
(thunderbird doesn't have server side filters, etc)
[Edit] Reference to commercial software removed
You should seriously take a look at Evolution originally developed for Linux but now ported to Windows is a fantastic Outlook replacement. With Calendars, contacts, tasks, email and much more I think you would find worth a try:
http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution/
It doesn't work on Win 7 64bit.
Why did they bother to leave Linux then ?
With a 105 meg download? What on earth is in that program lol
I'm not sure I understand the relevance of the download size (unless you're on dial-up) if the program does what you want it to.
I always used Thunderbird but when I switched to Linux not every distro I was trialing would support a new mail tray icon that was easy to configure. It was during this journey I discovered Claws Mail which is fast, light and highly configurable. This Windows port is 34MB...
http://www.claws-mail.org/win32/index.php
...or there's still the original Sylpheed-Claws at a fraction under 7MB.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/E-mail-Clients/SylpheedClaw...
Not as "pretty" to look at maybe as some other clients but then it depends on what you expect a program like this to do for you.
I use Eudora 7.1 with 32bit and 64bit windows 7 and it works perfect I have been using eudora for about 20 years since i got my 1st IT job. I have tested eudora 8 and it sucks.
I too have been using Eudora for that long...
Win 7 however, only a couple of days.
When I open Eudora options however, I get the message
unable to uninstall MAPI...
and cant access any settings.
Know anything about this?
I can't believe this article was updated just over two months ago and doesn't include eM Client or Zimbra, both of which are on PC Magazines "Best Free Software of 2010":
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361886,00.asp
Or what about Postbox Express, the free version of Postbox, which is based on Thunderbird code but with better search, etc.
It seems the maintainer of the article is way out of touch with the current offerings.
Also, according to Wikipedia Foxmail violates RFC 822 (and 2822, 5322) by putting 8-bit characters in the subject and address header fields. The error can cause mail to be scored as possible spam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxmail
I'd avoid it if you want to make sure your recipient gets your messages.
Agreed!
^ I agree - I use Zimbra personally - 1.0.4 seems more stable than 2.0, but 2.0 has the Meebo add-on - email, facebook, instant message, calendar, etc. all from one place, the only other thing you need is a web browser, and media player and you're set!
Anyone ever consider Windows Live Mail 2011, I find its pretty good though in some ways like add-ons lacking
I'll make a long story short. I used Carbonite to save my Windows Live Mail contacts and email while I reinstalled Windows 7 64-bit. Both Carbonite and WLM seem to share responsibility for a complete botch. I had to manually recover all my emails - hundreds of them. WLM's Import function doesn't do the job. I'm not the only one having trouble. Have a look at:
http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?postid=CD8866C2-10E0-447C-9A65-7BEEA55B87FD#CD8866C2-10E0-447C-9A65-7BEEA55B87FD
and
http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=852b6828-db8b-4789-89f3-b1cb2cccecbe
My considered opinion: WLM sucks. And unfortunately my ISP, Frontier, doesn't support Thunderbird and very likely other email clients so I'm schweened - stuck with WLM. Thanks Microsoft. You still don't know how to make customers happy.
Yours is the 2nd (yet) comment I've seen here saying an isp "supports" Winmail=Oe, but doesn't "support" Tbird.
They're both conventional email software. As far as the ISP is concerned, email is just smtp and pop (and maybe imap).. with or without 'authentication'.
Yes?
I was using Claws Mail (no spell check) for the past 7 months on Windows 7 64 bit OS. And I switched to Postbox Express for a week now. Postbox Express is the best email client for me with Windows 7 OS. Love the intuitive interface, spell checks, tabbed email browsing, quick message archives, message tagging, anti-phishing, quick search, able to receive HTML mails, ease setups and it is free.
Does nobody use Outlook Express anymore?
I have used it for years and it is OK but I am looking for a new email client which I can run my businesses from.
Needs to be able to support the use of email HTML stationary.
What are you guys all using for your business email applications please?
Thanks
Try IncrediMail...