Even with the emergence of mobile messengers and chat apps, email remains at the core of personal and professional communication.
Considering that the average person receives at least 60 emails a day, your choice of an email client can significantly impact your productivity and organization.
With so many options available, it's crucial to select the right email client that suits your specific needs. It could be an email client that helps you implement inbox zero, a great collaboration tool, or just a secure solution.
Follow along as we explore the 10 best email clients for 2023, highlighting their features, benefits, and what sets them apart. Whether you're a business professional, a freelancer, or just a casual email user, this comprehensive list will help you make an informed choice for your email management needs.
Note: Try Tatem today to boost your inbox productivity. Get access to split inboxes, faster speed, shortcuts and more to zip through your emails. Sign up here today.
Here are some basic features to consider when choosing an email client.
Here is a list of 10 of the best email clients for inbox management.
Tatem is a next-generation email client for productivity that builds up on the shortcomings of legacy email apps like Gmail, Outlook, and Apple mail. It has all the features you need to keep your inbox organized and you get an AI assistant to help increase efficiency with minimal effort.
Tatem AI will help you with text editing, automated email responses, smart labeling, and email filtering.
With our email client, you can split your inbox into multiple folders allowing you to sort your emails based on their priority. For instance, you can have a folder for urgent work emails so that you can work on them without getting distracted by unimportant emails like the newsletter you’re subscribed to.
If you’re an Inbox Zero method enthusiast, a split inbox will make work easier since you’re working on individual folders instead of a single inbox with all your emails. You can even create filters so that incoming emails are automatically sorted into their respective folders.
Tatem also boasts of easy-to-use keyboard shortcuts to help speed up Gmail email management. You can customize the shortcuts to your preference. You can save 15 minutes or more every day by simply ditching the mouse and using keyboard shortcuts.
Another thing you’ll notice once you start interacting with our email client is that it’s super smooth. Scrolling, opening messages, and switching between sections is instantaneous. Real-time synchronization means messages arrive in your inbox seconds after they’re sent.
It also takes mere seconds to find past emails using Tatem’s smart search feature – it doesn’t matter if you only remember a fragment of the title, subject, body, or sender.
To close it off, you get unlimited options in terms of UI customization. You can switch between dark and light modes, change wallpapers, add transition effects, and install a custom theme.
If the comprehensive feature list is overwhelming to you as a beginner, Tatem allows you to turn off certain features until you’re ready to use them. You'll be able to follow all the best practices for inbox management much easier.
We don’t store any of your emails, passwords, or payment information in our database.
Regarding email security and privacy, Proton is one of the best solutions. To begin with, Proton doesn’t log your IP address or request any personal data allowing you to create your account anonymously.
Proton has also made its code open source allowing third parties to check it for vulnerabilities.
It uses a combination of independently audited end-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption to ensure only you and the email recipient can see the contents of your message.
The recipient doesn’t need to be a Proton user for you to enjoy end-to-end encryption. Proton mail allows you to send password-protected emails to any email provider. Nobody can open the email without the set password.
There’s also a handy feature called Proton Bridge that lets you use Proton Mail on top of your favorite client. You can set it up on another email client like Tatem to get the best of productivity and security.
Proton Mail has plenty of customization options allowing you to change your email layout, folder colors, and theme.
The email client is only available as a web app and mobile app.
Mailbird is another great email client that has been around for a while now. It supports multiple inboxes which enables you to categorize emails based on their priority. You can also set up filters so that incoming messages are sorted into their specific folders.
The email client also lets you snooze emails for a later time and supports multiple integrations that help extend its functionality. Some popular apps you can connect with Mailbord include Google Calendar, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Dropbox, and Slack.
Mailbird also has email tracking. It will let you know when your email has been received and read.
If you love custom designs for your email, Mailbird lets you change the layout, background, and also install custom themes. Unfortunately, it’s only available for Windows and Mac meaning you’ll have to use a different client for mobile.
Mailbird is also not the cheapest email client around, and a lot of features are not available in the free version.
eM Client is also another great email client that was specifically built as a Gmail alternative. It does a great job of organizing your emails through folders and labels, but unfortunately, it lacks new-generation features like AI-assisted email response and text correction.
On the upside, the eM Client mail app comes with 2FA and encrypted email connection, making it a great choice if you value email privacy and security.
It also has a built-in translator, which will come in handy if you’re receiving emails in a foreign language.
eM Client is compatible with all the popular email providers and integrates seamlessly with cloud storage services like OneDrive and online meeting tools like Google Meet and Skype.
Additional features include live backup, basic image editing capabilities, and plenty of customization options.
Thunderbird is an open-source project created by the Mozilla Foundation and it's completely free to use. The email client lets you choose between a unified inbox or a separate inbox for multiple accounts.
You can also choose to open your emails on different tabs.
Unfortunately, it’s not very flexible in terms of creating email folders. Also, you won’t get any AI assistance with any of the functionalities.
What you get, however, are multiple add-ons to help you extend the functionality of the email client. If you’re not afraid to roll up your sleeve and get technical, you can achieve a lot with Thunderbird. You can even add your own code to add functionalities that are specific to you.
Another great thing about Thunderbird is that it can flag phishing emails and it will warn you when you’re about to click a malicious link. It’s not as powerful as a dedicated email security solution, but it’s better than nothing.
You also get a forgotten attachment feature that will warn you when you’re about to send an email without an attachment.
Spike is an alternative email client that turns your email threads from the standard layout to a chat-like layout. It’ll be as if you’re texting on a social platform like WhatsApp.
The tool is also great for collaboration as it helps you create channels where you can add all your team members to work on tasks together. New team members will have access to previous history.
You can also create groups and add specific people to have meaningful discussions without back-and-forth emails between each other.
Spike is AI-powered and can translate emails into 10 languages. It also comes with a text-to-speech feature that you can use to transcribe emails. The built-in AI helps you with email responses and brainstorming ideas when collaborating with other team members.
The integration between Spike and third-party solutions like Google Meet is not as seamless as most of the other solutions, but Spike has a built-in video and audio chat that you can use when communicating with other Spike users.
Also, Spike doesn’t let you create customizable email folders which can limit how you organize your inbox.
Front is a great solution for environments like customer support where email is a critical part of the workflow. To begin with, you can easily see your teammate's inbox and respond to any email on their behalf. Front also allows you to assign a message to a teammate without CCing them.
And to avoid back-and-forth emails, there’s a comment section where you can chat in real-time.
Front allows you to sync your email with SMS, website live chat, and even social media for a more coordinated communication between platforms.
That said inbox organization through folders is not a major Front strength although it lets you create rules and canned responses to process email more efficiently.
Also, it doesn’t have the benefit of AI so you’ll need to create the automated responses manually and you’ll have no assistance in labeling and sorting incoming emails.
Superhuman is another modern email client that’s quite similar to Tatem. To begin with, it has split inbox capabilities so you can categorize your emails to get a clean inbox. Superhuman also allows you to set up filters to automatically sort new messages as they enter your inbox.
You can also snooze an email to handle at a later time and you will get follow-up reminders on important emails that you’re yet to respond to. The email client also notifies you when the recipient opens your emails and even tells you the device they used.
Superhuman also offers an AI companion to help you with text correction and automated email responses.
You also get access to keyboard shortcuts which speeds up email management than when you’re using a combination of keyboard and mouse. However unlike Tatem, Superhuman doesn’t let you customize your shortcuts to your preference.
Additionally, Superhuman doesn’t provide you with the option to disable some features which may be overwhelming if you’re getting started..
Of course we had to include the Gmail, one of the best free email clients. It may not include new advanced features like AI, but the Gmail desktop email client is better than managing your inbox through your email’s website. Also, if you’re a Google power user Gmail will be a great solution because of how well it integrates with other Google products including Google Meet, Calendar, Chat, and the Google Workspace in general.
The Gmail client comes with a preconfigured split inbox to separate less urgent emails like newsletters and social emails from important emails but, unfortunately, that’s as good as it gets. Gmail does not let you create additional folders to manage your emails at a more granular level.
Your only available alternative is to label the emails into different categories. You can even apply filters so that incoming emails are labeled automatically. However, these features are hidden within Gmail’s settings and you need some level of advanced skills to get the best out of them.
You can read more about Gmail inbox productivity tips here.
On the upside, Gmail has a powerful spam filter that will save you the hassle of going through sales emails and other unnecessary junk.
We cannot talk about Gmail without mentioning Microsoft Outlook which is also one of best free email clients for Windows. Outlook is a great solution for business use especially if a Microsoft account or an Exchange server already hosts your email, calendar, and documents.
The email client is also great if you’re a Microsoft power user since it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft solutions including Skype and One Drive. You even get free storage on One Drive when you sign up. You also get an in-built calendar that you can use to set up reminders for important events.
The email client even comes with voice-controlled navigation if you have trouble using your hands.
Although Outlook is free for personal use, business users need to subscribe to the premium plan to use it for business and access all advanced features.
A lot of options to choose from, I know. But the decision doesn’t have to be that hard.
What is it you’re looking for in your email client. If it’s a simple solution to manage multiple email accounts and organize your inbox for maximum productivity, then Tatem has all the features you need. At the forefront of it all is Tatem AI which eliminates a lot of the hassle of email management. It will help you write better emails, label and categorize your emails more efficiently, and write complete email responses in your own voice.
Our email client is built on top of new cutting-edge technology instead of legacy technology from years ago. Consequently, we can offer you features that just weren't possible when other email clients were built.