gmail has dominated the email market thanks to its intuitive interface, generous free storage (15gb shared with other google tools like google drive and photos), and a wide range of free productivity tools that add to the usual ones. gmail account however, there are serious concerns about how google uses your emails, and not everyone loves the gmail interface, so you may want to explore some gmail alternatives.
If you’ve been using gmail for the past decade because of its ease of use, you may be surprised at how much competitors have improved their services. for example, many email providers offer a similar browser-based experience and modern design these days. some even offer end-to-end encryption and take extra steps to ensure the privacy of all your messages.
Finally, the best gmail alternatives have mobile apps, desktop clients, features that help your social media accounts, and even doc sets to replace common gmail integrations like google drive and google docs.
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In this article, we’ll take a look at our six best gmail alternatives that are free and secure for your IP address (some of which prioritize privacy above all else). let’s dive!
best gmail alternatives
These are the six gmail alternatives we’ll be evaluating today:
- zoho mail
- mail.com
- tutanota
- outlook
- mailfence
- protonmail
each offers generous free plans and secure experiences, so the best option for you will depend on the storage you need and the integrations you’d like to use.
1. zoho mail
Our first recommendation is Zoho Mail, a feature-rich email service for small businesses and personal use. It includes a full suite of organizational tools, like a calendar, storage drive, tasks, contacts, and bookmarks, making it the closest alternative to Gmail you can find.
zoho mail comes with a clean interface, which you can neatly organize with the flows feature: flows allow you to add comments to your email threads, exchange files, and assign tasks, which can be useful if you want to use the platform . professionally.
Businesses and individual users alike will appreciate zoho mail’s calendar, contacts, and tasks, which help keep your inbox more manageable and ease the transition from gmail to zoho. Those concerned about gmail privacy issues can also rest easy as zoho mail offers secure email hosting and end-to-end encryption on all messages.
On top of all that, Zoho Mail makes it very easy to set up a custom business email, making it a great option if you want to establish a more professional presence. however, please note that you will only be able to access your custom email address via webmail or dedicated zoho mail mobile apps, unless you upgrade to a premium plan.
⚙️ features:
- 99.9% uptime guaranteed
- integrations with other zoho products such as zoho docs, notebook and workdrive
- access to 24/7 customer support hours, 7 days a week via email, phone or chat
- group accounts with user permissions
- s/mime and end-to-end encryption
- mobile app
- migration tool
- mail retention and backup
- email recovery
- out mode line
- quick actions and email snippets
- email filters, search and advanced management with zoho streams
- spam settings as a list blocks, a trust list, and language-based spam filters
- automated mail forwarding, labels, and folders
- email notifications and follow-ups
Price 💵: The “Always Free” plan is suitable for up to five users with 5GB of storage per user, a 25MB attachment limit, and single domain email hosting . if you want access to more storage and productivity tools, pricing starts at just $1 per user per month.
2. mail.com
Next we have mail.com, a free gmail alternative that lets you choose from over 200 domains to fit your niche or personality. is a great option for freelancers who want a more professional look without spending money on a custom domain.
For example, you can set up an email like yourname@account.com which is completely free. You can also choose something informal, like yourname@catlover.com, if you prefer to use it for personal communication.
mail.com also includes powerful antivirus tools to protect you from email-based threats. this provider ensures that your system only checks for viruses and your email privacy is secure. Other security features include 2FA (2-factor authentication), spam filters, and the use of secure US servers. uu.
In addition, mail.com offers a tool called a mail collector, which allows you to access and manage multiple accounts from one inbox. This way, you can set up a central mail.com account and coordinate all incoming communications, whether from your business or personal email address.
In addition to all that, mail.com allows you to keep your inbox tidy, thanks to its intuitive dashboard. It also comes with an organization tool, an online calendar, and an office suite, making it a solid alternative to Gmail.
⚙️ features:
- mobile web access
- dedicated android, iphone and ipad apps
- email widgets for mobile apps
- limit attachments of 30 mb</li
- spam filter, virus protection and us server storage. uu.
- generous and free cloud storage (2gb for general storage and 65gb for email)
- chrome email notification extension
- additional security with two-factor authentication (2fa)
- search and filter function
- 200+ custom domain options
- mozilla firefox integration with bookmarks , password manager and plugins
- browser notifications and verification of multiple accounts with the mail verification tool
- mail collection tool to manage all email inboxes in an
- online calendar with reminders
- address book with digital contacts and synchronization
- office suite for documents, presentations and spreadsheets
💵 pricing: You can use mail.com for free, which gives you up to 10 alias addresses, 65gb of email storage, and 2gb of general cloud storage for documents and Photos. There’s also a premium option if you want to remove ads, increase storage, and receive your emails via third-party email apps. they sell premium plans as extended packages (no monthly plans), from $9.99 for three months of service to $47.87 for a full year.
3. tutanota
tutanota (Latin for “secure message”) is a great alternative to gmail, especially for those concerned about privacy. The email provider offers a free account, affordable upgrades, and an end-to-end open source email platform from its headquarters in Germany.
tutanota excludes advertising from its business model, so it only generates revenue through premium subscriptions and donations. Fortunately, the developers also provide a simplified free plan, along with access to email on any device, a beautiful online interface, and built-in calendars and contacts. another notable part of tutanota is its own desktop clients for windows, linux and macos.
You can send anonymous emails, manage encrypted calendars, and send messages out of the office. tutanota definitely doesn’t have the online office suite you’d find in gmail alternatives like zoho mail and mail.com, but you can still open and edit documents in their respective programs. Combine that with alias addresses, white label potential, and secure servers in Europe for a pretty impressive turnaround from Gmail.
⚙️ features:
- encrypted emails, storage, contacts, and calendars
- encrypted email content such as subject lines, email bodies, and attachments
- android apps, ios apps and desktop clients for mac, windows, and linux
- two-factor authentication for added security
- no third-party captcha, advertising, and data logging policies
- support for custom domains
- auto responders
- email exports
- advanced text search
- white label customizations for the brand
- multi-user support
- options for alias email addresses
- 1gb of free storage (considerably more as they compress emails)
- potential for custom domains
💵 pricing: tutanota offers a free plan for personal use that supports one user and provides 1gb of storage, a tutanota domain, some search features, and an encrypted calendar.
premium plans for personal use start at €1 per month and allow you to add users, custom domains and multiple calendars. premium plans also allow for aliases, inbox rules, and increased storage. commercial packages start at €2 per month and add advanced features such as email templates, event invitations, autoresponders and custom branding.
4. perspective
If you already use Microsoft products, you might like our next recommendation. the free version of outlook is a new and revamped version of hotmail, which integrates seamlessly with other microsoft services.
In terms of integrations with other productivity and storage apps, this email service provider is one of the best alternatives to gmail. For example, you get extended storage space through OneDrive, a robust color-coded calendar, contact management, and a task organizer. it also allows you to assign emails to categories, like gmail.
The interface is modern and easy to use, which gmail users should adapt to almost immediately. On top of that, Outlook supports a generous attachment limit of up to 34MB. you can also use onedrive to send larger files, up to 2gb.
outlook also prides itself on providing advanced security, which it claims is the same in outlook as it is in its enterprise-grade services.
⚙️ features:
- contact sync options
- integrated email and calendar
- free access to web versions of office 365 (word, excel and powerpoint)
- real-time chat via skype
- accessibility tools (voice-controlled navigation, support for assistive devices)
- spam and malware filter
- apps for android and ios
- email access via web browsers
- 34mb limit for email attachments and 2gb for onedrive attachments
- 5gb total onedrive storage
- 15gb mailbox storage
💵 Price: You can use Outlook for free, which gives you 15GB of mailbox storage, an additional 5GB of OneDrive storage, and free web versions of Office 365 apps.
You can also upgrade for $69.99 per year, which gives you an ad-free experience, premium office apps, advanced security options, more generous storage, data encryption, and the ability to set up a custom domain. the family plan sells for $99.99 per year and gives you six user inboxes.
5. near mail
our next recommendation is mailfence, a private email provider based in belgium. They heavily base their services on online security, so it’s a great option if you’re concerned about gmail’s practices.
According to Belgian privacy protection laws, only local jurisdictions can request access to your mail, which happens in extremely rare circumstances. therefore, this particular free email service provider can guarantee that they will not monitor or sell your data to third parties, which is not a promise that most other providers make.
mailfence also uses encryption, which happens in the browser and works with all openpgp services. you can also set a password and even an expiration date for messages. this way, no one but you will read your communications, not even mailfence.
In addition to advanced security and privacy features, Mailfence gives you access to other essential tools. for example, you can manage your appointments in an easy-to-use calendar or store and edit documents in the cloud.
⚙️ features:
- easy contact imports
- groups for secure data sharing
- email encryption
- mobile access
- pops, imaps, and smtps support
- openpgp key manager
- digital signatures to minimize email spoofing
- no ads or email trackers
- calendars, documents and contacts
- up to 500 mb of storage for email and 500 mb for documents
💵 prices: you can use the webmail version of mailfence for free. Includes 500MB of storage, document limit up to 500MB, email customer support, and two-factor authentication. If you need more storage and support for mobile apps and email clients, you can upgrade for €2.50 per month. higher storage plans are sold for €7.50 and €25.00 per month.
6. proton mail
Our latest gmail alternative is protonmail, another company that prides itself on its security practices. they initially promoted protonmail as “the only email system the nsa can’t hack”, so you can rest assured that your data is in safe hands.
just like mailfence, protonmail can guarantee your privacy, which is protected by strict European laws. To protect your mail, the provider uses end-to-end, zero-access encryption, which means even the company can’t read your messages.
protonmail values your privacy so much that you can open an email account without giving out your personal information. all you need is a username and password, and an optional recovery email.
On top of all that, you get a modern inbox design and productivity tools that resemble those of Gmail. for example, you can assign color-coded labels to organize emails and highlight important messages. protonmail also offers calendars and storage units with all email accounts, making it one of the best alternatives to gmail.
⚙️ features:
- android and ios apps, along with a web-based inbox
- encrypted drive and calendar
- open source code
- biometric – secure data centers
- end-to-end email encryption
- general data protection regulation (gdpr) compliance
- messages self-destructing
- ssl certificates
- anonymous email address options
💵price: you can use protonmail for free, which includes 500 mb of storage and 150 messages per day; support is not a priority. You can also upgrade for €4 per month to access more storage, premium customer support, and the ability to set up a custom domain. additional plans include the visionary plan for €24 per month and the professional plan for €6.25 per month.
try one of these gmail alternatives today
You can choose from several gmail alternatives that provide similar experiences without compromising privacy laws.
Have questions about any of these gmail alternatives? Let us know in the comments section below!
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