The best Airmail alternatives for Mac

The best Airmail alternative on a Mac is Alrighty if your accounts are iCloud, Gmail and Outlook and you want one inbox, search that finds things, and junk gone with one click. Apple Mail is the free choice. Spark and Canary run on Windows and Android as well. MailMate suits keyboard-driven IMAP users, Mimestream suits Gmail only, and Thunderbird is free and open source.

Most lists of Airmail alternatives come from companies that sell one of the apps on the list, and they skip two things. They don't check what Airmail's own pages say, and they don't say which accounts each replacement can't add. This page starts from Airmail's own App Store listing, website and privacy policy, then holds each alternative to the same questions.

How we checked

We read each app's own pricing, help and privacy pages and its Mac App Store listing on November 3, 2026, and every fact links to its source. For each app we noted the price, the accounts it can't add, where it processes your mail, and what its AI does and when it's on. We did not test the apps or score them. Alrighty is our app, and it's listed first.

Why people look for an Airmail alternative

Airmail is a capable app with a long feature list. People who leave it usually leave for one of four reasons, and each one is on Airmail's own pages.

One account until you pay. Airmail is a free download with in-app purchases. Its Mac App Store listing says "New Users can try Airmail without Multi Account, and limited capabilities." Airmail Pro is $7.99 a month or $49.99 a year, and it renews on its own until you cancel. The website lists no prices at all (Airmail).

AI costs extra on top of Pro. Ai Composer is a separate in-app purchase. The App Store lists "Ai Composer" at $4.99 and "Ai Composer Monthly" at $14.99. Airmail's home page doesn't describe its AI features.

Privacy mode is something you turn on. Airmail's site says "If privacy is paramount then you can enable privacy mode which will process all the data locally on your device." It also says privacy mode "blocks tracking pixels, and prevents images from loading automatically." The site doesn't say what is on by default. Airmail's privacy policy (updated October 3, 2026) says "Airmail primarily processes mailbox content on your device." For Send Later and Snooze on Gmail, Outlook, Office 365, IMAP and Exchange accounts, it says "we store credentials solely to send the message at specified time," and removes them afterward. The Mac App Store privacy label lists Purchases, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data and Diagnostics as data linked to you.

Updates that don't say what changed. Airmail ships often. The Mac App Store lists versions 27.0.0, 27.0.1 and 27.0.2 in October alone. But almost every note in its version history reads "Bugfix" or "Bug fixes." Two stand out: 5.8.17 on August 28, 2025, a "Security Fix" for CVE-2025-54961, and 26.0.20, which added a connection for AI assistants.

To be fair to Airmail, it does things many alternatives here don't. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro. It takes "Exchange, iCloud, Gmail, IMAP, POP3, Google Apps, Yahoo!, AOL, Outlook.com, Live.com" accounts. And since 26.0.20 it connects to AI assistants such as Claude and Codex over MCP, where "The connection runs locally on your Mac." Our email MCP servers list compares other ways to give an AI your mail. If those are why you use Airmail, check that your replacement has them.

The alternatives at a glance

App	Price	Can't add	Where your mail is processed	AI
Alrighty	14-day trial, then Free or Pro	Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, other IMAP	Your Mac; AI sends the emails it needs	Reply drafts when signed in; your own AI off until connected
Apple Mail	Comes with macOS	None listed	Not stated in Apple's Mail guide	Summaries on with Apple Intelligence
Spark	Free; Plus $99/yr, Pro $199/yr	None listed	Spark's servers for some features	Paid plans; free preview
Canary Mail	Free; $36/yr or $100/yr	None listed	Your device, except for push	Growth plan and up
MailMate	$10 every 3 months; Free Mode	Anything that isn't IMAP	Not stated	None listed
Mimestream	$49.99/yr after a 14-day trial	Anything that isn't Google	Your Mac, straight to the Gmail API	Apple's Writing Tools
Thunderbird	Free	Not stated	Your Mac; sends usage telemetry	None listed
Airmail	Free download; Pro $49.99/yr	None listed	Mostly your device; privacy mode is opt-in	Ai Composer, a paid add-on

"None listed" means the vendor names no account it can't add. It doesn't promise that every provider works.

Alrighty: best Airmail alternative for iCloud, Gmail and Outlook

Alrighty is a desktop mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux, built for people whose mail is split across iCloud, Gmail and Outlook. Gmail connects with Sign in with Google or an app password, Outlook and Microsoft 365 with Sign in with Microsoft, and iCloud with an app-specific password. All of them land in one inbox, with one search across every account.

• Stop mail. Airmail's smart inbox filters newsletters out of sight. Alrighty ends them. One click unsubscribes in every way the message offers, archives the sender's mail, and moves their new mail out as it arrives.
• Clean up. It lists the senders you probably don't want, such as scams, cold outreach and newsletters you never open, so you can stop them all at once.
• Search that finds what you remember. Search runs on your Mac and matches what you mean as well as the words you type, so "when is my flight" finds the airline's confirmation. Ask a question and get the answer, with the emails it came from.
• Your own AI works in your mail. Like Airmail, Alrighty has a local MCP server. Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model can read and search your mail, and it comes built in, with no separate download. The AI can also work in a window you watch: open mail, write replies, file messages. Nothing sends until you click Send.
• Suggested replies. A draft in your voice waits under the message, written from what you sent that person before. It's always a draft, and you send it.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with Apple, Google and Microsoft. Alrighty keeps its copy and its search index on your Mac. Your passwords and sign-ins stay on your Mac too, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain, and no Alrighty server holds them. Search and phishing checks run on your Mac.

AI. Connecting your own AI is off until you turn it on with Connect AI. Alrighty's own AI works differently. When you're signed in, opening a reply starts a suggested draft by itself, and Clean up sorts your senders in the background. Those features send the emails they need to Alrighty's server, which passes them to Anthropic and other model companies. Signed out, nothing goes to Alrighty's server. Usage and crash data go to Alrighty by default, never your mail's content, and Share usage data in Settings turns that off.

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro. The Free plan has a small monthly AI allowance. There are no ads on any plan.

What it can't do. It has no iPhone, iPad or Watch app, so it can't replace Airmail on your phone. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, so no Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, POP or other IMAP accounts. It has no calendar. It's a new app with no long track record yet.

Pick it if your mail is iCloud, Gmail and Outlook, and you want it searchable, free of junk, and open to your own AI.

Apple Mail: best free Airmail alternative

Apple Mail comes with macOS and adds "iCloud, Gmail (Google), Exchange, school, work, or other" accounts (Apple). It has no paid tier, so there's no one-account limit and no subscription.

Junk. You can unsubscribe from a list "directly in Mail" and block up to 3,000 senders (Apple). Mail also sorts mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions, though "not available in all countries or regions" (Apple).

Privacy. Mail Privacy Protection "prevents senders from learning your information," and hides your IP address when Protect Mail Activity is on (Apple).

AI. With Apple Intelligence on, "A short summary automatically appears under each unread email in your inbox," and you can turn summaries off (Apple).

The catch. Search depends on your Mac's Spotlight index and can miss mail you can see. Our Apple Mail search guide has the fixes. And Apple Mail has fewer settings to change than Airmail. If you're unsure, our Apple Mail alternatives page covers why people leave it.

Pick it if you mainly used Airmail's free tier, or you want free and built in.

Spark: best for the same inbox on every device

Spark runs on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android. Its free plan lists unlimited email accounts, Smart Inbox and a calendar. Plus is $10 a month or $99 a year, and Pro is $20 a month or $199 a year (pricing). It works with iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Exchange and IMAP accounts (Spark).

Junk. Gatekeeper screens new senders, "giving you the option to either accept or block any future contact from this sender" (Spark).

Where your mail goes. Spark's privacy page says some features "require our server-side email processing to work," and push needs it too. For Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo it stores a token. For AOL, Exchange and custom IMAP accounts it stores your login, and encrypts the password in its database.

AI. Spark +AI is in the paid plans, and free users get "a limited free preview." It runs on the Azure OpenAI Service (Spark).

Pick it if you used Airmail on iPhone and want the same app on an Android phone as well. Our Spark alternatives page explains the server side in full.

Canary Mail: best free plan with many accounts

Canary's free plan is "Free forever" with "Unlimited Mail Accounts" and a unified inbox, which is the thing Airmail's free tier lacks. Growth is $36 a year and Pro+ is $100 a year (pricing). It runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android (Canary).

Where your mail goes. Canary's privacy policy says your data is "stored on your device and is never transferred to our servers." For push, Canary "will temporarily store your email address, credentials, sender, subject line."

What to know. The free plan covers up to 2 devices. There's no monthly billing, only yearly or a lifetime purchase. AI Copilot starts on Growth, and PGP needs Pro+. Our Canary Mail alternatives page covers those limits.

Pick it if you want several accounts in one inbox for free, on a Mac and a phone.

MailMate: best for keyboard-driven IMAP users

MailMate is "an IMAP email client for macOS" with "advanced search and smart mailboxes" (MailMate). It also does "OpenPGP and S/MIME" signing and encryption.

Price. Paid Mode is "$10 every 3 months." A trial "Starts after download with no feature restrictions." After it, Free Mode keeps every feature, but businesses must pay, and "Outgoing emails show 'MailMate Free Mode' as the email client name" (pricing).

What to know. It takes IMAP accounts only, and it's Mac only. Its download page calls the stable version "The more than 4 year old public release," and new work ships as betas (download). Its pages don't say where it processes your mail, and they list no AI features.

Pick it if you want a Mac app built for the keyboard, your accounts are IMAP, and you're fine running a beta.

Mimestream: best if all your mail is Gmail

Mimestream is a native Mac app built on the Gmail API. It "only stores your data and tokens on your device" and shows "all of your inboxes together, as one unified inbox" (Mimestream). It blocks trackers from "75+ common services."

Price. $49.99 a year or $4.99 a month, for up to 5 devices, after a 14-day trial that "doesn't require a credit card" (pricing). There's no free plan.

What it can't do. It takes Google accounts only, so no iCloud, Outlook or Yahoo. Search is "Gmail-backed," so it runs on Google's servers. The iPhone and iPad app is in beta.

Pick it if every account you had in Airmail is Gmail. If one isn't, see our Mimestream alternatives.

Thunderbird: best free, open-source Airmail alternative

Thunderbird is "Free forever," runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, and lets you "Manage all accounts separately or in a unified inbox" (Thunderbird). Its privacy notice says "your email messages, and your account's address book are stored and processed locally on your device."

What to know. "Thunderbird sends telemetry about your interactions with Thunderbird to us," and you can opt out. Its pages list no AI features. Version 159.0 came out on October 27, 2026 (release notes). You may need to add iCloud by hand with its manual setup guide.

Pick it if you want free and open source, and full control over your setup. Our Thunderbird alternatives page compares it further.

How to choose

• iCloud, Gmail and Outlook in one inbox, search that works, less junk, your own AI: Alrighty.
• Free and built in, no subscription: Apple Mail.
• One app on your computer and your phone, iPhone or Android: Spark.
• Several accounts in one inbox on a free plan, on a Mac and a phone: Canary Mail.
• Keyboard-driven IMAP: MailMate.
• Gmail only: Mimestream.
• Free and open source: Thunderbird.
• Yahoo, AOL or POP accounts, or Apple Watch and Vision Pro: stay with Airmail, or look at Spark.

For a wider list by price and features, see our best email apps for Mac. If you are also weighing Edison Mail or Spike, see our Edison Mail alternatives and Spike alternatives. More guides are on the blog.

For a side-by-side of the two apps, see Alrighty vs Airmail.

Questions

Is Airmail free on the Mac?

Airmail is a free download, but its App Store listing says new users "can try Airmail without Multi Account, and limited capabilities." Airmail Pro is $7.99 a month or $49.99 a year. Ai Composer is a separate purchase.

Does Airmail process my mail on its servers?

Airmail's privacy policy says it "primarily processes mailbox content on your device." It also says that for Send Later and Snooze it stores your credentials until the message is sent or returned to your inbox. Its site describes a privacy mode that processes "all the data locally," which you turn on.

Which Airmail alternative takes Yahoo and AOL accounts?

Spark names Yahoo and AOL on its App Store listing, and Canary shows Yahoo on its home page. MailMate takes IMAP accounts. Alrighty takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook only, and Mimestream takes only Gmail, so neither can add Yahoo or AOL.

Which Airmail alternative also has an iPhone app?

Spark and Canary run on iPhone, and the iPhone has its own Mail app. Mimestream's iPhone app is in beta. Alrighty and MailMate have no iPhone app.

Can I connect Claude or ChatGPT to my mail without Airmail?

Yes. Alrighty has a local MCP server built in, so Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex or a local model can read your mail and work in a window you watch. Nothing sends until you click Send. Our guide to the email app for Claude and ChatGPT has the steps.