Best email search app to search all your accounts

The best email search app on a Mac is Alrighty if your accounts are iCloud, Gmail and Outlook: one search covers all of them, it finds an email by what it means as well as the words in it, and the search runs on your Mac. Apple Mail is the free pick and searches any account you add to it. Spark searches all your accounts by default, on more devices. Superhuman and Shortwave answer questions about your mail with AI, for Gmail and work accounts. Mimestream and eM Client suit people who want Gmail's own search, or a plain sentence turned into a search.

Most pages for this search are lists of email apps for many accounts, with search as one line in a feature list. They skip the three questions that decide whether you find the email. Does one search cover every account, or do you search each one in turn? Does it match only the words you type, or also what you mean? And where does the search run: on your Mac, on your provider's servers, or on the app maker's servers? This page answers all three for each app.

How we checked

We read each app's own help, feature, pricing and privacy pages on November 4, 2026, and every fact about another app links to its source. Where a page didn't say something, such as where a search runs, we say so instead of guessing. We didn't run search tests of our own. Alrighty is our app, and it is listed first.

Email search apps at a glance

App	Price	Accounts	One search for all accounts	Finds by meaning	Where the search runs	Ask a question
Alrighty	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook	Yes	Yes	Your Mac; answers on Alrighty's server	Yes, with the emails it used
Apple Mail	Comes with macOS	iCloud, Gmail, Exchange and others	Yes, with Search all mailboxes	Yes, "based on what you mean"	Your Mac, with the Spotlight index	Not described
Spark	Free; Plus $99 a year	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP	Yes, by default	Natural language, such as "last month"	Not stated	AI Assistant, paid plans
Superhuman	$25 a member a month, billed yearly	Gmail and Microsoft 365	Not stated	Ask AI, on Business	Not stated	Ask AI, $33 a member a month
Shortwave	From $30 a seat a month	Gmail and Google Workspace	No unified inbox	Natural language or Gmail filters	Shortwave's servers, in Google Cloud	Yes
Mimestream	$49.99 a year	Gmail only	Unified inbox	Not described	Google's servers ("Gmail-backed")	No
eM Client	Free for 2 accounts; Personal $49.95 a year	Google Workspace, Office 365, Exchange, more	Not stated	Turns a sentence into search terms	Your Mac; the sentence goes to OpenAI	AI Assistant
HoudahSpot	Paid, with a free trial	No mail search since macOS Sonoma	No	No	Your Mac, with Spotlight	No

Does one search cover all my email accounts?

In most of these apps, yes, but each one has a catch worth knowing before you rely on it.

• Alrighty searches every connected account in one search. There's nothing to turn on.
• Apple Mail searches the mailbox you have selected. To search everything, click Search all mailboxes below the search field (Apple). This is the most common reason Apple Mail "can't find" an email, and our guide to Apple Mail search not working walks through the fix.
• Spark says "By default, Spark searches through all your accounts." For non-Gmail accounts, though, "Spark looks for emails in the Inbox and Archive unless you specify the folder name in your search query" (Spark). Mail you filed in another folder needs the folder name.
• Shortwave works with several Gmail accounts, but says "there is no default option to view a unified inbox in Shortwave" (Shortwave).

If you have mail in three providers, the first question is whether the app takes all three. Only Alrighty, Apple Mail and Spark in this list take iCloud, Gmail and Outlook together. For more apps that hold many accounts, see the best email app for multiple accounts.

Keyword search vs search by meaning

A keyword search finds the emails that contain the words you typed. A search by meaning also finds the emails that are about what you typed, in other words. The difference matters when you remember the topic but not the wording.

Search for "flight" and a keyword search misses an airline confirmation that says "itinerary" and "boarding pass" but never "flight." A search by meaning finds it. Apple puts it this way: "Mail can provide search results based on what you mean, not just the words you type" (Apple).

Three kinds of "smart" search appear in this list, and they aren't the same thing:

• Meaning search matches what an email is about. Alrighty and Apple Mail say they do this.
• Natural language to filters turns a sentence like "attachment from David" into the search terms the app already knew. Spark and eM Client work this way. It saves you learning the syntax, but it still matches words.
• Ask a question has an AI model read the emails it finds and write an answer. Alrighty, Superhuman, Shortwave and Spark's AI Assistant do this. It's the most useful when the answer is spread across several emails, and it's the one that sends your mail to an AI company.

Alrighty: best email search app for iCloud, Gmail and Outlook on a Mac

Alrighty is a desktop mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox, with one search across all of them.

• Search by meaning. Type what you remember, in your own words. "When is my flight" finds the airline's confirmation even though it never says "flight." The words you type still match too.
• One search, every account. Search covers every account you connect, with no account to pick first.
• Ask a question. Ask in plain words and get the answer, with the emails it came from, so you can check it.
• Your own AI. Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model can search and read your mail through Alrighty's local MCP server, once you turn it on with Connect AI. Our email app for Claude and ChatGPT page explains the setup.

Where the search runs. On your Mac. Alrighty keeps its copy of your mail and its search index on the Mac, and the search model runs there too. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft. Asking a question is different: Alrighty sends the emails the answer needs to its server, which asks an OpenAI model for the answer.

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

What it can't do. On a Mac, it needs Apple silicon. It downloads about 350 MB for the search model on first launch. There's no iPhone or web app, so the search doesn't come with you to your phone. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, not Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail or other IMAP. It has no calendar. It's a new app, with no long track record.

Pick it if you have mail in more than one of iCloud, Gmail and Outlook, and you want one search that finds an email by what it was about.

Apple Mail: best free email search on a Mac

Apple Mail comes with macOS and adds iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, school, work and other accounts (Apple). On macOS 27 its search matches meaning as well as words: Apple's example is "NYC business trip," which "brings up emails about your itinerary, travel details, event locations, and other relevant messages" (Apple).

Search tools. You can type a header and a value, such as "from: Ashley Rico," search a date range, and combine words with AND, OR and NOT in capitals. Each suggestion you pick becomes a filter in the search field, and Mail shows only messages that match all of them. "Top Results is listed first in the results," based on messages you've read and replied to recently, your VIPs and other factors.

Where the search runs. On your Mac. Mail search depends on Spotlight, the index macOS keeps of your files (Apple), so a Spotlight index that hasn't finished leaves holes in the results.

What it can't do. It searches the selected mailbox until you click Search all mailboxes. Apple's page doesn't describe asking a question and getting an answer. When search misses mail, the fix can take hours of re-indexing, as our Apple Mail search guide explains.

Pick it if you want free search across any account, in the app that came with your Mac.

Spark: best email search across Mac, iPhone and Windows

Spark runs on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android and works with iCloud, Google, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo and IMAP accounts (Spark). Its Smart Search reads plain phrases: "Type as you'd think, and Spark will find the email you're looking for." Its example is "attachment from David," and it can search "for a link or file name within the mail itself" (Spark).

How it searches. "Spark understands natural language; you can type, 'from: Amazon last month' to see how it works." You can pick one account after you search, but "By default, Spark searches through all your accounts." You can save a search, or make it a Smart Folder (Spark help).

Where the search runs. The search page doesn't say. Spark's privacy page says some of its features need server-side processing of your mail to work (Spark).

What it can't do. In non-Gmail accounts, search looks only in the Inbox and Archive unless you name the folder. Spark's own glossary says that "on desktop, full natural language parsing currently lives in Spark's AI assistant rather than Smart Search itself" (Spark). The AI Assistant is on paid plans, which are $99 or $199 a year (pricing).

Pick it if you want one search over many kinds of accounts, on your phone as well as your computer.

Superhuman: best for asking questions of Gmail and Microsoft 365 mail

Superhuman is "Built for teams that use Gmail or Outlook" (Superhuman). Its search answer is Ask AI. Superhuman says it gives "rapid answers without having to remember senders, guess keywords, or comb through messages." Its examples include "where is the q2 offsite" and "when is my flight," and you can ask follow-up questions (Superhuman).

Price. Starter is $25 a member a month, billed yearly. Ask AI is on Business, at $33 a member a month, billed yearly (plans). Each plan also includes Grammarly, Docs and Go.

Where the search runs. Its pages don't say where Ask AI runs. Superhuman's privacy policy says the company receives the content you let its products access, such as emails and drafts (privacy).

What it can't do. It takes Gmail and Microsoft 365 accounts, not iCloud or other IMAP. Ask AI isn't on the Starter plan.

Pick it if your mail is Gmail or Microsoft 365, your team pays, and you want to ask questions more than you want to search.

Shortwave: best AI search for Gmail

Shortwave is built on Gmail. Its home page says "Use AI-powered search to find emails fast, or to analyze your entire team's emails & attachments for the answers you need," and you can "Write complex queries using Gmail-style filters or natural language" (Shortwave).

Where the search runs. On Shortwave's servers. "All Shortwave data is stored in Google Cloud's highly secure & compliant data centers," and "besides Google Cloud, we only use OpenAI, Anthropic, and Pinecone" (security).

Price. Business is $30 a seat a month, Premier $45 and Max $120. Higher plans read more threads per AI search (pricing).

What it can't do. It's for Gmail and Google Workspace. Microsoft 365 and Exchange are "not supported at this time," and other providers come in by forwarding into Gmail (Shortwave). There is no unified inbox across accounts.

Pick it if all your mail is Gmail and you want AI answers across your team's mail.

Mimestream: best for Gmail's own search in a Mac app

Mimestream is a Mac app for Gmail only. It promises: "Find what you're looking for every time with the full power of Gmail-backed search" (Mimestream). That means the search runs on Google's servers, with the same results and the same operators as Gmail on the web. It shows several Gmail accounts "together, as one unified inbox."

Price. $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, after a 14-day trial with no card (pricing).

What it can't do. It takes Gmail accounts only, so iCloud and Outlook mail can't be in the same search. Its pages don't describe search by meaning or asking a question.

Pick it if all your mail is Gmail and Gmail's search already finds what you need. Our Gmail app for Mac page compares it with other Gmail apps.

eM Client: best for typing a sentence instead of search syntax

eM Client runs on Windows and macOS, with mail, calendar, contacts and tasks. Its natural language search lets you "Describe what you're looking for in a normal sentence and eM Client turns it into the right search terms for you" (eM Client). Open it with Tools > Natural language query (AI features).

Where the search runs. Its normal search runs in the app. "The current Provider of AI for eM Client is OpenAI," and running a natural language search is one of the actions that sends data to it. eM Client says it "will never collect and send content of your messages anywhere on its own for these features."

Price. Free is "Home use on 1 device" with 2 email accounts. Personal is $49.95 a year, with the AI Add-on included, or $74.95 once without it (pricing).

What it can't do. The sentence becomes search terms, so it still finds words, not meaning. Its pages don't say whether one search covers every account. They don't say which Macs it supports.

Pick it if you want a mail app with a calendar, on Mac and Windows, and you don't want to learn search operators.

HoudahSpot: no longer an email search app

HoudahSpot is a file search app for the Mac, built on Spotlight. It used to search Apple Mail messages, and many older lists still name it for that. Its own page now says "Apple Mail search is no longer available since macOS Sonoma" (Houdah). It "is fully compatible with macOS 27 Golden Gate" for files. Its buy page lists single-user and family licenses, and our fetch of it showed only the upgrade prices.

Pick it if you need to find files on your Mac. For email, use one of the apps above.

How to choose

• iCloud, Gmail and Outlook together, one search that finds by meaning, on your Mac: Alrighty.
• Free, in the app that came with your Mac: Apple Mail. Click Search all mailboxes.
• One search over many account types, on your phone too: Spark.
• Ask questions of Gmail or Microsoft 365 mail, on a team plan: Superhuman.
• AI search across a team's Gmail: Shortwave.
• Gmail's own search in a Mac app: Mimestream.
• A sentence instead of search syntax, with a calendar: eM Client.
• Apple Mail search misses messages: fix it first with our Apple Mail search guide.
• Let the AI you already use search your mail: see how to let Claude read your email.

Questions

How do I search all my email accounts at once?

Use one app that holds all your accounts and searches them together. In Alrighty, every search covers every connected account. In Apple Mail, click Search all mailboxes below the search field. Spark searches all accounts by default. Web Gmail and Outlook.com search only their own mailbox.

What is the difference between search by meaning and keyword search?

A keyword search finds emails that contain the words you typed. A search by meaning also finds emails that are about the same thing in other words, so "flight" finds a confirmation that says "itinerary." It helps most when you remember the topic but not the wording.

Does an AI email search send my mail to an AI company?

A search that runs on your Mac doesn't. Asking a question usually does, because a model must read the emails to write the answer. Alrighty's answers go through its server to OpenAI, eM Client's natural language search goes to OpenAI, and Shortwave names OpenAI and Anthropic.

Why can't my email app find an email I know is there?

The app may be searching only the selected mailbox, a filter may be narrowing the results, or the email may be in a folder the search skips, such as Junk or Trash. In Apple Mail, Spotlight may still be indexing. Our Apple Mail search guide lists each fix in order.

Can I search Gmail and iCloud mail together?

Yes, in an app that takes both. Alrighty, Apple Mail and Spark add Gmail and iCloud accounts and search them in one place. Gmail-only apps such as Mimestream and Shortwave can't add iCloud directly.