An e-mail program for Microsoft Windows ✓ Free ✓ Updated ✓ Download now. Alternatives to Outlook Express - Software Comparison Chart:.
As awesome as Microsoft Outlook can be, there are good reasons to consider an alternative. Maybe it offers too many features you’ll never use. Perhaps you can’t afford the $110 price tag. Or you simply don’t want to indulge in Microsoft’s confusing mess of email products.
So what are your best options?
There are some who say that all desktop email clients are bad and should be replaced with web apps. Others, myself included, believe that web apps can’t match the power and versatility of desktop email clientsYou Should Ditch Webmail for a Desktop Email Client If...You Should Ditch Webmail for a Desktop Email Client If...A few years ago, webmail was all the rave. Wonder whether it's time to switch back to a desktop email client? Look no further. We show you the merits of a local mail service.Read More. Therefore, in this article, we’ll focus on the latter.
1. EssentialPIM
Like Microsoft Outlook, EssentialPIM is more than just an email client: it’s a personal information manager (hence the name). It aims to be a one-stop shop for handling all of your communications and tasks in one central location. This streamlines and eases your workflow.
The email component of EssentialPIM is exactly what you’d expect: sleek, modern, and functional, with a layout reminiscent of almost every other desktop email client you’ve used before. The free version has all the basic features:
- Unlimited number of email accounts.
- Folders and filters for flexible email organization.
- Import and export formats: XML, CSV, iCal, vCard, and more.
- Synchronization with Android and iOS.
Upgrading to the Pro version can unlock much more:
- Synchronization pack: Google, Outlook, iCloud, and more.
- AES 256-bit encryption for advanced security and privacy.
- Advanced backups so you never lose data.
- Threads that group related emails into conversations.
- Professional and customizable email templates.
To learn more, check out the full comparison of Free vs. Pro. And in addition to email, EssentialPIM has Calendar, Tasks, Notes, Contacts, and Password management features.
For $2 per month or $20 per year, you can get an EssentialPIM Cloud plan that stores and synchronizes all of the non-email features above. It’s securely encrypted, acts as a backup, and allows you to access your data from anywhere with just a web browser.
One final note: EssentialPIM comes in a portable version, which you can load onto a USB flash drive or external hard drive and use on any computer. Great for students and those who travel often.
Download: EssentialPIM for Windows (Free, Pro version for $40) Android (Free) iOS (Free)
2. Thunderbird
Thunderbird is completely free and open source. It suffers a bit in the interface and aesthetics department but excels in terms of features and functionality. If you want an information management solution without any restrictions or cost, this is the one for you.
Thunderbird has a number of features that make it a suitable choice as a Microsoft Outlook replacement:
- Tabbed emails for managing multiple conversations.
- An address book that’s extremely easy to use and manage.
- Smart folders and filters for productive organization.
- Advanced search features to find the exact emails you need.
- PGP encryption to keep your emails safe and private.
- Built-in Lightning extension that grants calendar functionality.
Though Thunderbird development was officially deprioritized in 2012, it still receives updates as of this writing. You can also add additional features through third-party addons.
Download:Thunderbird (Free)
If you want something like Thunderbird but not quite the same, consider SeaMonkey. It shares a history with Thunderbird in that they’re both derived from the Mozilla Application Suite. However, it differs in that SeaMonkey is community-developed instead of Mozilla-driven.
Download:SeaMonkey (Free)
3. Gmail
Wait a minute. Gmail isn’t a desktop email client!
While that’s technically true, you’ll be surprised to know that Gmail can be used in “desktop mode” with a few easy tweaks. In fact, when used in this way, Gmail ends up being better than most other desktop-based solutions (except in complex business environments).
Truth is, Gmail can be set up to replicate many desktop client features and functions. For example:
- Create a desktop shortcut and run in its own window.
- Automatically associate and open email links.
- Switch between multiple email accounts.
- Access and read emails even when offline.
- Organize emails using labels and filters.
- Navigate using keyboard shortcuts.
If you want to give it a shot, check out our guide to setting up Gmail as a desktop email clientHow to Use Gmail Like a Desktop Email Client in 7 Simple StepsHow to Use Gmail Like a Desktop Email Client in 7 Simple StepsWould you ditch your default desktop email client, if Gmail had more desktop-like features? Let us show you how you can set up Gmail to behave more like a desktop email client.Read More. It’s very easy and only takes a few minutes. There’s a chance that it won’t be “desktop enough” for you, but more likely you’ll love it and even prefer it to traditional clients. And by the way, you can forward your Outlook emails to GmailHow to Forward Your Outlook Email to GmailHow to Forward Your Outlook Email to GmailNeed to forward email from Outlook to Gmail? We'll show you how to import Outlook to Gmail and bring everything with you.Read More.
And as a Google user, Gmail makes it easy to stay integrated with Google’s other productivity web apps, including the ever-useful Google Calendar9 Google Calendar Features You Should Be Using9 Google Calendar Features You Should Be UsingGoogle Calendar has more tricks up its sleeve than you may realize. Our tips will help you organize events and reduce the time you spend managing your calendar.Read More, the lightweight Google Keep for tasks10 Creative Ways to Use Google Keep Every Day10 Creative Ways to Use Google Keep Every DayGoogle Keep is a simple note-taking app. But its simplicity hides its usefulness. Here are ten tips and ideas to use Google Keep for the little everyday things in life.Read More, and my personal favorite, the convenient Google Docs suite10 Google Docs Tips That Take Seconds and Save You Time10 Google Docs Tips That Take Seconds and Save You TimeLearn some secrets that'll boost your Google Docs productivity with the help of these quick and simple tips.Read More.
Website:Gmail (Free)
Other Notable Mentions
Windows 10 Mail: Though not as advanced or complex enough to replace a powerhouse like Microsoft Outlook, the Mail app that’s built into Windows 10 can be more than enough for casual users. You might be surprised by all of the Mail app’s nifty features7 Superior Windows 10 Mail Features You Probably Didn't Know About7 Superior Windows 10 Mail Features You Probably Didn't Know AboutThe Windows 10 Mail app has matured into a competitive desktop email client. We show you seven smart features you have to know if you want to be a power user.Read More.
eM Client: A slick and beautiful email client with built-in calendar, tasks, and chat features. But the free version for personal use is limited to 2 email accounts, which will be too restrictive for most users. The Pro version costs $50, which is a bit steep.
Zimbra Desktop: One of the few desktop email clients that’s truly free and open source. Unfortunately, it does feel like an open source app with its outdated interface and sluggish performance. However, it’s packed full of excellent features like synchronization and a calendar, so don’t underestimate it.
Important Email Tips to Keep in Mind
Regardless of which email client you choose, there are a handful of tips that you should heed to make your life easier.
Alternative Program To Microsoft Money
First, email security is crucial7 Important Email Security Tips You Should Know About7 Important Email Security Tips You Should Know AboutInternet security is a topic that we all know to be important, but it often sits way back in the recesses of our minds, fooling ourselves into believing that 'it won’t happen to me'. Whether...Read More. This isn’t just a matter of privacy — a hacked email account can lead to other accounts being hacked, including bank and e-commerce accounts. Second, learn how to be efficient with email7 Email Efficiency Tips To Get More Email Done, Faster7 Email Efficiency Tips To Get More Email Done, FasterLife revolves around communication and literally nothing gets accomplished without it. Email is a communication tool meant to make your life easier. Instead of having to type up a letter or try to catch someone...Read More. Third, don’t let email stress you out6 Simple Tricks to Reduce Email Stress6 Simple Tricks to Reduce Email StressDealing with email is the best part of my day. Said no one ever. You need all the tips you can get to manage your email inbox? We can help you out!Read More.
What don’t you like about Microsoft Outlook? What other email client are you using instead? Are there any good ones that we missed? Share with us in the comments below!
Originally written by Tina Sieber on 3 November 2009.
Explore more about: Desktop Email Client, Email Tips, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird.
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What about Hexamail Flow - it has excellent office doc preview features - we also use ti for email redaction for GDPR now too!
More realistic headline.
'Anything is a better alternative to Outlook'
It sucks.
Unless you are stuck at your job with a system admin/management that force Outlook on you, (probably because they think Exchange is the only mail server out there), then using Outlook is never recommended.I agree that's why I'm now king and I was one of the first 300,000.00 users of Hotmail, but outlook now sucks! I'm dropping it.
Hey Tina, Thanks for the list. You should have a look at Mailbird and add to the list:-) Especially since Windows 10 launched Mailbird is pretty much the best alternative out there.
I downloaded Zimbra to try it. After installing, I couldn't get past it trying to access its servers. After waiting for what seemed like forever, I just closed it and uninstalled it. I'm now using eM Client. It's fabulous for gmail!
People, you forget the purpose of the software is to help any time to get peoples tasks.
Thunderbird has a bug I filled and others for 10 (TEN ) years!
When you move data from one folder to another or to another PC(nevertheless with any software or manually) 25 % chance is Thunderbird LOST LOST MY DATA, my emails, my information. This is disastrous! Even now I am writing, I needed some data 2012, 2014! and what I see nothing!
I opened the same emails I have in outlook file and voila! I can read information important for me not for developers of Mozilla company whatever they say.
No excuse.
I remembered this bug and cloned my email in 2014 with outlook and what I see now , again and again, no-professionalism in doing even their work, not to say about users.We use Thunderbird, but truly, for more than 10 years they do not want to fix the very basic functionality: html formatting. The issue filed numerous times.
Mozilla is also not the best, unfortunately.
After reading all these comments, I figured out that I still need Outlook, not so much for e-mail, but for all the other features, especially those connected with Contacts - Journals, etc.
My problem seems to be that when I transferred the files to the new computer, stuff either gets left out or written over. I'm afraid to use it for anything other than e-mail (I've been using gmail for that). How is stuff backed up; which files get transferred; where is stuff saved? When I open Outlook, it seems to look for backup.pst and can't find it (It's on an external drive). When I want to save something, it seems to back it up in archive.pst (or maybe it's the other way around).
I hope someone can advise me. This is really cutting into my productivity. I can compare everything in Outlook on the old computer to the new computer. This would be time-consuming, but possible. If I did it, would the new computer save it to the proper file?
I went from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 and am using Office 2007.Ruth
Those are all bloatware.
Loving Opera Mail here.
Clawsmail or sylpheed are also great alternatives.Sadly, my company still uses clunky Outlook 2003. At home I had Outloook as part of the Office 2007 suite, so I tried to export the work calendar to home and import it to the 2007 version.
I spent ages changing the dreadful 2003 categories into something more useful to me in 2007. A month later I repeated the process and the 2003 version totally messed-up the 2007 categories!
So give me Thunderbird and tags any day over Outlook and ridiculous colour coding.Hi all
First time I join in this excellent platform of MakeUseOf. Are there any additional comments regarding size of files that Outlook alternatives can handle? What about tools for file management? I have been burdened with the issue of using chkpst tool that Windows offers, yet I find Outlook very fragile to handling large files.
Thanks.I'm really shocked you put Gmail in there! In my opinion it sucks. I don't know about functionality but nothing can make me use such an ugly and user unfriendly web mail client. Zimbra is best of the three. It's sweet and has all the features I need. Gosh, even Yahoo! Mail is better than Gmail...
How can I use any of the above with my own mail address @greatservicematters.co rather than say @gmail.com? As you may have noticed, I am not a techie.
The exact way of using your email address with an alternative email reader will differ for each app, so just check out the documentation that comes with each one and go from there. All of them will provide a configuration or setup option where you enter your email address, the mail server that handles incoming email and the server that handles outgoing email. That info is available from your email provider, or you can check the settings you are using in your current software and copy the same info to the new app. Some email service providers use the same server for both sending and receiving, in which case you simply enter the same server info in both places.
Note that you don't have to stop using one email reader to install and use another one, so you could try one out without uninstalling the one you are using now. However, if you do that you will likely end up with some email in one app's inbox and some in the other.
Again, though Thunderbird may be a great app in its own right, the point here is that it is not a viable alternative to Outlook as the author of this article claimed. Thunderbird may be a great alternative to Outlook Express (almost any alternative is better than Outlook Express), but it is not a viable alternative to Outlook.
Having said that, I must say that the new Lightning Add-on for Thunderbird 3 might be promising. It is only in its infant form, having only just been released, so it is only minimal and still lacks the rich feature set that makes Outlook so valuable for calendaring and task tracking and contact management and journals and memos and office chatter and so on. A lot of Lightning's user interface details are irritating to use because a lot of the keyboard and a few of the mouse features don't behave as expected. A lot of people don't care about such things but for me that's a deal-breaker because it keeps tripping me up and cuts into productivity. But at least they are on the right track and worth keeping an eye on. If the Lightning team were to continue expanding the feature set and if they will refine the user interface so it follows standards under Windows then it could become a great alternative to Outlook someday. I hope that happens.
I dunno what the problem is that people have with Thunderbird. It's a great email client. And it does have a calendar. You just have to download it as an add on. Mine works great.
I used Outlook express until my vision got really bad and the glare of the white background made it impossible for me to read amail.
Thunderbird is fully customizable, and I can change the background to black with any color and size font that I need, and enlarging the font is just a matter of hitting the control and + keys.
I am more satisfied with Thunderbird due to my ability to customize it to my needs rather than having a one size fits all format thrust down my throat by the almighty all knowing MS conglomerate.
I've also enjoyed Incredimail:)
I hate windows mail with a passion.
You'd think with the price you pay for their OS that MS would have updated Outlook Express. But they really want to force people to use their 'Live' junk. And it's about as 'Live' as a 1000 year old mummy. That's why I figure they diodn't upgrade Outlook Express and added a crappy email client to Vista. Yuck! And from what I understand they didn't upgrade Outlook Express in Windows 7 either.
I've got XP on my box, and I'm going to hang onto it as long as I can.
Thunderbird has no mail management: put the incoming in pre-order folder. And also no archive folders.
I use Outlook (at Work) and Thunderbird (for Personal). For me, the biggest selling point for Outlook is the Task Management; I have yet seen other application that lets you assign and track Tasks, using online/offline synchronization method, that integrates with other productivity tools (email, calendar, contacts).
So far I see no comments addressing what in my opinion is the most compelling reason to use Outlook in the first place, namely its integrated calendar, task, reminder and organizer features. A lot of my professional acquaintences over the years use Outlook for those features more than for email.
If you want to compare apples to apples, compare Outlook Express (not Outlook) with other email readers. If you want to compare Outlook with alternatives you need to include a caomparison of the features that distinguish Outlook from a mere email reader and which make it a great productivity tool.
I would love to find an open source alternative to Outlook that truly provides a replacement for its best features, but so far I know of absolutely none. The above-mentioned so-called alternatives are actually only alternatives to Outlook Express, they are not viable alternatives to Outlook.
Although its not as powerful as Outlook, theres an e-mail client called Element Mail, which sure does stand up very well next to it!
If this had appointments and a calender, I think it would make a very good alternative to Outlook.
Its freeware though, not open source which is a shame :(
Web link: http://www.elementsoftware.co.uk/mail
Another 2 good free alternatives are emClient (http://emclient.com/) and Opera Mail.
Hope you will like this.Are you serious? Thunderbird better than Outlook? I'll have whatever you're drinking.
The comparisons all seem slanted against Outlook. Outlook is indeed a very good email client. Because the others are free doesn't make them better. Be more objective in your comparisons please.
Thunderbird? As anything other than an e-mail client? You're joking, right?
Thunderbird still needs to create an address book that isn't worthless and lacks a calendar feature (unless you want to try and integrate the very rough Lightning). It's a solid e-mail client and that's why I use it instead of Outlook's, but let's not pretend that Thunderbird is an all-in-one that's a true alternative to Outlook.
You forgot emClient. Great email client. And it's free.
There are still some fields that are not covered that great with the proposed alternatives.
First of all, synchronization with devices still works best when using Outlook. Google has some nice things going but I still can't synchronize my DECT phone with it.
Second, the spell and grammar check in all alternatives is at best mediocre. Actually it's nothing more than a very cheap dictionary lookup while Office provides a very solid checker.
Third, Outlook is also very extensible and offers some nice automations.Finally, putting only 'price and open source' in a comparison table is not very helpful. Especially as 'open sources' implies 'free as in freedom AND free as in beer' and as such is a bit redundant.
I normally use the Opera browser and this comes with a free email client called M2.
This is a very simple client, nothing special besides the fact that it also can read Newsgroups, but I love having my internet browser and email client integrated in the same interface.
interesting write-up
I'm actually using a combination of the above-
Gmail is set as the everything storage & archive-
that is it is set to go out & retrieve from my other accounts, and I use it's spam filtering. Outlook is on my pc, and is configured to touch gmail only. Works very well, and is it's built in redundancy with my pst file located on a secondary partition and regularly backed up itself.Just a note on 'outlook Express' - this ceased to be Microsoft's free email client with Vista, when it was replaced by 'Mail.' Win 7 lets you find your own.
One thing that outlook does that none of these do is FULLY integrate Microsoft Office into the email client which is really important if you work in a corporate environment. It works flawlessly with SharePoint services as well. That's something that no one else can boast of.
The UI as well.... is familiar to what people are used to working with. By the way, i've used all the email clients above extensively. I'm a huge open source proponent but outlook has its perks.
If you don't care about any of those, I advise you stick to GMAIL.