11 Best Outlook Alternatives in 2024 for Windows, Mac and Mobile

Last Updated: October 3, 2024

Summary: Despite being a good emailing platform, Outlook still has its own limitations like limited storage space and no support for cross-platform emailing. Therefore, users are looking for alternatives. So, who are these alternatives that offer better features than Microsoft Outlook? Let’s find out…


Microsoft Outlook is a popular emailing software to send and receive emails. In addition to that, it can do a lot more than just sending and receiving messages. For example, you can schedule meetings with it, attach big data files, create and manage tasks, and much more.

However, Outlook is not the top choice of businesses that need more advanced emailing features! Why? It allows to send files of size up to 25 MB, permits only 500 recipients per message, and only 100 GB storage space. Moreover, it does not support cross-platform emailing.

Here are some of the best Outlook alternatives in 2024 that you can use on Windows, Mac and Mobile.

Compare Free Alternatives to Outlook: Email Client Software

Product Supported Platforms TrialDownload Link
GmailSupports all platforms Free to use up to 15 GB storage space https://www.google.com/intl/en_in/gmail/about/
SparkmacOS, Windows, iOS, and Android7 days https://sparkmailapp.com/
ProtonmailAndroid, iPhone,iPad, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.30 days https://proton.me/
FrontMacOS, Windows, Android, and iOS7 days https://front.com/
ShiftMac and Windows.7 dayshttps://tryshift.com/
ThunderbirdWindows, Mac and LinuxFree to use https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/
PostboxmacOS and windows 30 days https://www.postbox-inc.com/
Apple MailmacOS, iOS, watchOS,iPadOS30 days https://support.apple.com/en-in/mail
BluemailAndroid, Windows, iOS, and LinuxFree to use https://bluemail.me/
MailbirdWindows Available https://www.getmailbird.com/
MailspringMac, Linux, and WindowsFree to use https://getmailspring.com/

11 Best Outlook Alternatives for 2024

  • Gmail: Best for private and secure emailing
  • Spark: Best for cross-platform emailing
  • Protonmail: Best for encrypted emailing
  • Front: Best for communicating with customers
  • Shift: Best for managing multiple mailboxes and applications
  • Thunderbird: Best for free emailing
  • Postbox: Best for professional emailing
  • Apple Mail: Best for professional emailing
  • Bluemail: Best for cross-platform emailing
  • Mailbird: Best for managing multiple email accounts
  • Mailspring: Best for managing multiple client emails
  • Gmail

Gmail is a private and secure emailing service to send and receive emails via encryption. It promotes faster emailing via smart compose functionality. This emailing platform can also help you in creating a professional email domain for your organization, conducting online video conferences, migrating data from other emailing platforms, etc. Further, you can share files up to 25 MB in the mail and share links via drive if it exceeds 25 MB of limit.

  • Spark

This Outlook alternatives for windows lets users systematically prioritize and organize their mailbox along with sending and receiving emails. Spark can easily separate priority mails from non-priority mails and push them into different folders.

Further, you can share mailboxes with other members to collaborate and share information. If you want features like task management, email categorization, or unwanted senders’ blocker, choose Spark. With it, you can upload and share files up to 25 MB in a send mail.

Suggested Read: Best MS Office Apps for Digital Business Transformation

  • Protonmail

Protonmail is secure email service that keeps all your conversation threads secure through end-to-end and zero-access encryption. It is one of the best Outlook alternatives that provides features like inbox customization, mails folder management, account addresses management, domain name customization, etc.

Protonmail lets you use other email desktop clients like Outlook or Gmail via its mail bridge. You can choose this email client to send files up to 25 MB size.

  • Front

Front is a customer communication platform helping businesses to build strong relationships with customers by connecting all communication channels. This Microsoft Outlook alternative can be used to collaborate on customer messages, schedule meetings, create and manage role-based permissions, chat with customers, etc. Front works great if you want to store all the data related to customer conversation threads on a single platform.

  • Shift

Shift is a desktop application to streamline and automate work across multiple applications like ClickUp, Flock, Sane. Further, you can also manage multiple email accounts like Microsoft and Google. It lets users collaborate across applications in real-time to get all the work done from a single account.

This outlook alternative lets you manage all email accounts, search across drives and accounts, access Grammarly, Boomerang, etc., through Chrome extensions, and much more.

  • Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a free emailing software that is easy to use and customize as per the user’s requirements. This free Outlook alternative lets users send big data files in a single email and provides protection against phising attacks. It is a great tool for managing multiple email accounts, archiving emails, filtering emails, etc.

Thunderbird also sends attachment reminders whenever a user forgets to add attachment in the mail. It works great if you need 4 GB of file attachment size as compared to Outlook which is limited to only 25 MB.

  • Postbox

Postbox is a desktop email client, designed for business professionals to send and receive emails. With it, users can work with any POP or IMAP account including Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, Fastmail, and more.

Postbox helps to keep your inbox organized by segregating business and personal accounts and categorizing and filtering emails. This alternative to Outlook is a great option for creating pre-canned email responses, HTML Editor, and templates for email signatures.

  • Apple Mail

Apple Mail is an email client used to send and receive emails through iCloud account. It comes with multiple emailing functionalities like you can unsend emails, schedule emails, set email reminders, organize emails, get reminders for missing recipients, and much more. Further, you can attach large data files of 5 GB than Outlook which allows file sharing size up to 25 MB only.

  • Bluemail

Bluemail is a client emailing service that promotes cross-platform emailing. It lets users manage multiple email accounts of various email clients from a single platform. You can also organize your emails by creating senders list and groups, and plan events through the calendar. Further, you can easily backup and restore all your emails and data across multiple devices with Bluemail.

  • Mailbird

Mailbird is an email client that lets users manage all their email accounts through the integration with Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, etc. This alternative to Outlook helps with contacts management, multiple accounts management, email tracking, emails sync across various devices, etc. You can consider Mailbird if you need to manage unlimited accounts from a single device as compared to Outlook that supports only 20 accounts.

Suggested Read: Take Your Workplace Wherever You Go with Office 365

  • Mailspring

Mailspring is a client emailing service, simplifying the emailing procedure for users by letting them manage multiple accounts, create customize signatures, access all mails from a single account, etc.

This emailing solution for Windows, Mac, and Linux can translate emails in more than 60 languages to easily communicate with non-English speakers. Further, it allows you to snooze messages and schedule reminders with its pro version.

Key Features of Microsoft Outlook

In addition to sending and receiving emails, Outlook offers several other functions like scheduling emails, managing tasks, creating calendars, collaborating in real-time, etc. Here is the list of key features you will find in Microsoft Outlook.

  • Email Scheduling: It enables users to schedule emails and decide the time they want to send emails as per their convenience.
  • File Attachment Reminder: Microsoft Outlook sends reminders whenever the user forgets to add attachments in the mail.
  • Task Management: You can easily create, schedule, and manage all your tasks through the to-do list tool with Microsoft Outlook
  • Bulk Emailing: The solution helps organizations to send emails in bulk to 500 recipients in one go. It helps in sharing all the relevant information to all the relevant people through a single email.
  • Built-in Calendaring: The built-in calendar helps create, track, and manage all the meetings and appointments from a single platform. It further sends reminders for meetings.
  • Data Encryption: It encrypts and protects the data present in the mailbox against data breaches.
  • Real-Time Collaboration: The real-time collaboration functionality lets users collaborate easily with other team members. Users can share the document link with members and work on it in real time.
  • Voice Navigation: The voice navigation functionality makes Outlook more accessible than ever by helping them easily search emails, maintain calendars, schedule emails, etc.
  • Online Video Calls: Easily schedule and conduct video calls in HD quality for meetings and conferences, and much more.
  • Spam Protection: It provides protection again ransomware and malware by easily detecting and notifying users against unauthorized senders. It also ensures security by keeping all the data encrypted.

Suggested Read: Top 8 MS Office 365 Apps to Help Students Bring Out Their Best | What is Microsoft Office 365, And Why Its Important?

Why Choose Free Alternatives for Outlook?

Outlook is an amazing client emailing software to send and receive mails, collaborate on files in real time, schedule meetings and events, etc. However, there are multiple reasons why people are shifting to its free alternatives such as:

  • Limited File Sharing Size: In Outlook, you can attach files of 25 MB only whereas in Thunderbird, you can attach files up to 4GB in a single mail.
  • Only 1k Non-Relationship Recipients Per Message: When you send email in Outlook, you can add only up to 1k non-relationship recipients per mail. However, with Gmail, you can add up to 2000 recipients per email.
  • Only 20 Accounts Per Mailbox: Microsoft Outlook allows users to add 20 different accounts whereas its alternatives like Bluemail allow users to add unlimited accounts in a single mailbox.
  • No Support for Cross-Platform Emailing: It does not support cross-platform emailing like on Twitter, Gmail, ProtonMail unlike its alternatives Postbox and Bluemail.

Related Categories: Instant Messaging Software | Screen Sharing Software | Remote Desktop Software | Collaboration Software

FAQs

  1. What are the alternatives to Outlook?

    There are plenty of options available if you are planning to switch to Outlook alternatives due to limited file size and storage space. Some of the best options include Apple Mail, eM Client, Evolution, Gmail,etc.

  2. What is a good replacement for Outlook?

    You can choose from different software options that offer similar features like Outlook. For example, you can use Gmail if you need to add up to 2K recipients per message. If you want to share a file of more than 25 MB size, consider Apple Mail or Thunderbird.

  3. Can Outlook automatically delete emails?

    Yes, Outlook can automatically delete emails if you have done the settings in your Outlook account. Simply go to the Outlook rule settings and select the option to automatically delete or move messages to the deleted folder.

  4. Can Outlook automatically categorize emails?

    Yes, Outlook can automatically categorize emails by making changes in the Outlook settings. In the mailbox, you can create a specific folder for different email categories. Once you select the folder to receive messages, all the messages in that category will start coming in that folder.

  5. What is the best Outlook alternative for Linux?

    There are several paid and free Outlook alternatives that can easily run-on Linux operating systems. Thunderbird, Evolution, Kontact, Zimbra, and Mailspring are some of the options for you to consider.

  6. When does Outlook auto archive run?

    Outlook auto archive feature runs every 14 days by default to automatically archive emails. However, you can also change the number of days the auto archiving should be done. Moreover, you can also select which emails or files should be archived in the folder.

  7. Where are Outlook emails stored?

    All your Outlook emails are stored in the following location- Windows 10 drive:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.

  8. Where is Outlook archive folder location?

    When Outlook auto archives its mail, all the mails are stored locally in the hard drive in a separate folder named as archive. 

  9. Where are Outlook templates stored?

    By default, all your Outlook templates get saved to this location automatically- C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

  10. Why use Outlook instead of Gmail?

    Outlook lets you customize your mailbox as per the requirements. With it, you can easily set and apply rules for individual email for better email organization. However, Gmail lets you organize the emails in limited ways, thus making it difficult to find older emails.

Published On: January 12, 2023
Varsha

Varsha is an experienced content writer at Techjockey. She has been writing since 2021 and has covered several industries in her writing like fashion, technology, automobile, interior design, etc. Over the span of 1 year, she has written 100+ blogs focusing on security, finance, accounts, inventory, human resources, etc. Her expertise is centered around writing articles on cloud computing, cloud migration, and data security. Being a keen learner, she is constantly improving herself in the field of software and technology.

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