Email apps without AI, and how to turn AI off
Email clients that don't use AI, and the Mac mail apps where you can turn AI off. What AI each one has, what it sends, and where the switch is.
By Emmett Miller
If you want an email app without AI, Thunderbird, Mailspring and MailMate are the Mac email clients that don't use AI: none lists an AI feature. Apple Mail and Mimestream have Apple Intelligence, and Apple Mail lets you turn its mail summaries and smart replies off. Spark ships with its AI turned off, and eM Client and Outlook have a switch that turns theirs off. Alrighty is not an AI-free app, but it shows you exactly what goes to an AI and when.
Plenty of people don't want an AI reading their mail. Some don't trust the company behind the model. Some don't want summaries in place of the real message. Some just want an inbox that stays the same. All of these are fair reasons.
Most pages on this topic either sell an AI app or say "turn it off in settings" without saying where. This page names, for each app, the AI it has, whether that AI is on when you install it, what the AI sends, and the exact menu that turns it off.
How we checked
We read each vendor's own home, help, pricing and privacy pages on November 3, 2026, and every fact links to its source. For Alrighty, we read our own code. "Lists no AI" means the vendor's pages we read describe no AI feature. It is not a promise about future versions, so check the release notes when you update. We did not test the apps. Alrighty is our app, and it's listed first.
Email apps and their AI at a glance
| App | AI it has | On when you install it | How to turn it off | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alrighty | Your own AI, reply drafts, answers, Clean up | Your own AI: no. Reply drafts and Clean up: yes, once signed in | Your own AI has a switch; the rest have none | 14-day trial, then Free or Pro |
| Thunderbird | None listed | No AI to turn on | Nothing to turn off | Free |
| Mailspring | None listed | No AI to turn on | Nothing to turn off | Free; Pro $8/mo or $85/yr |
| MailMate | None listed | No AI to turn on | Nothing to turn off | $10 every 3 months |
| Apple Mail | Apple Intelligence summaries, smart replies | Summaries show once Apple Intelligence is on | Mail > Settings > Viewing and Composing | Comes with macOS |
| Mimestream | Apple Intelligence Writing Tools | Comes from macOS | Through Apple Intelligence, in macOS | $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr |
| Spark | Spark +AI | No, "turned off" by default | Spark Settings > Spark +AI | Free; AI on Plus, $99/yr |
| eM Client | AI writing, summaries, search | Not stated | Settings > Artificial Intelligence > General | Free; $49.95/yr |
| Outlook | Copilot, with Microsoft 365 | Not stated | Quick Settings > Copilot | Free app; Copilot from $9.99/mo |
Alrighty: best if you want to see exactly what goes to an AI
Alrighty is a mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook in one inbox. It has AI, and it would be wrong to list it as an app without AI. What it gives a careful reader is a plain account of every AI feature, what each one sends, and what never leaves your computer.
What stays on your computer. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy and its search index on your computer. Search uses a model that runs on your computer, so your searches go to no AI company. Passwords and sign-in tokens stay on your computer, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain. Phishing checks run on your computer too.
What goes to an AI, and when.
- Your own AI. The link that lets Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model read your mail is off until you turn it on. With a local model, nothing leaves your computer. With a cloud assistant, it reads what it opens.
- Reply drafts. Once you're signed in to Alrighty, opening a reply starts a draft in your voice. Alrighty sends the conversation and some of what you sent that person before to its server, which asks OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Terra to write the draft. It is always a draft. You send it.
- Answers. When you ask a question, the emails it needs go to Alrighty's server and OpenAI. A smaller model, DeepSeek at Together AI, names the chat from your question.
- Sorting into groups. Only for groups you make. It sends the sender, subject and start of the body to Alrighty's server, which asks Jev, a model from TypeSafe.
- Clean up. While you're signed in, Clean up sorts your senders in the background to find scams, cold outreach and newsletters you never open. It sends each sender's address, three facts the receiving server found, and up to 3 of their newest emails (2,000 characters each) to Alrighty's server, which asks Jev to sort them. There is no setting that turns this off.
- Stop mail. When the only way out of a list is its web page, Alrighty finishes the unsubscribe in a browser on its server, and Jev picks the steps on that page. It sends the page's link and your address, not your mail. One-click and email unsubscribes need no AI.
Nothing goes to Alrighty's server while you're signed out of Alrighty.
What it can't do. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, and has no iPhone app, no web app and no calendar. It's a new app with no long track record.
Pick it if you're fine with some AI and want to know exactly what it reads. If you want no AI at all, pick Thunderbird, Mailspring or MailMate instead.
Thunderbird: best free email client with no AI
Thunderbird is free and open source, for Mac, Windows and Linux, with a unified inbox and filters (Thunderbird).
What AI it has. None on its home page or in its latest release notes (159.0). The home page says: "We don't collect personal data, sell ads in your inbox, or secretly train AI with your private conversations."
Where your mail goes. Thunderbird says "your email messages, and your account's address book are stored and processed locally on your device" (privacy).
What to know. Telemetry is on unless you turn it off: "Thunderbird sends telemetry about your interactions with Thunderbird to us." During setup, "your email domain may be sent to Mozilla's configuration database" (same page). Thunderbird's home page doesn't list which mail providers it takes, so check yours before you switch.
Pick it if you want a free app with no AI and don't mind a less Mac-like look. Our Thunderbird alternatives page compares it with other Mac apps.
Mailspring: best fast email app with no AI on Mac, Windows and Linux
Mailspring is "free forever for Mac, Windows, and Linux," with a Pro plan at $8 a month or $85 a year for read receipts, send later, reminders and templates (Mailspring). It takes Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, FastMail, Outlook.com, Yahoo and IMAP (Mailspring).
What AI it has. None on its home page or FAQ.
Where your mail goes. "your email goes straight from your mail provider to your machine, not through our servers" (Mailspring). Pro features do send metadata: messages are "identified by hashed headers," and "the stored metadata may contain encoded recipient email addresses."
What it can't do. "Mailspring supports IMAP only; POP3 support is not planned," and Exchange Web Services and ActiveSync aren't supported (FAQ).
Pick it if you want a free, fast app with no AI and accounts from many providers.
MailMate: best no-AI email app for keyboard users on Mac
MailMate is "an IMAP email client for macOS," with advanced search, smart mailboxes, and OpenPGP and S/MIME (MailMate).
What AI it has. None on its site.
What it costs. "$10 every 3 months" in Paid Mode. A Free Mode keeps every feature, but "Outgoing emails show 'MailMate Free Mode' as the email client name," and businesses must pay (pricing).
What to know. It takes IMAP accounts only. Its download page calls the stable version "The more than 4 year old public release," and newer builds ship as betas (download).
Pick it if you want a plain, powerful IMAP app with no AI and you work from the keyboard.
Apple Mail: best built-in app, with Apple Intelligence turned off
Apple Mail comes with macOS and takes iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, school, work and other accounts (Apple).
What AI it has. With Apple Intelligence, "A short summary automatically appears under each unread email in your inbox," and "Apple Intelligence can suggest replies to emails you receive" (Apple). Writing Tools can rewrite and summarize text.
Where the AI runs. Apple. Some tasks run on the Mac, and others go to Private Cloud Compute, which "uses larger, server-based models." Apple says that data "is not stored or made accessible to Apple" (Apple).
How to turn it off. Apple's guide for macOS 27 turns off each feature on its own:
- In Mail, choose Mail > Settings, click Viewing, then turn off Summarize Message Previews. You see the first lines of the newest message instead.
- In Mail > Settings, click Composing, then turn off Personalize Smart Replies.
The same guide has a section on restricting Apple Intelligence features in Screen Time. It does not describe one switch that turns off all Apple Intelligence on macOS 27. Our Apple Intelligence in Mail alternatives page has more on what it does and how to turn it off.
What to know. Apple's other sorting, such as mail categories, is separate from these switches. Mail search depends on Spotlight; see our Apple Mail search guide.
Pick it if you want the free built-in app and are happy to switch its AI off by hand.
Mimestream: best Gmail app with only Apple's AI
Mimestream is a native Mac app for Gmail at $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with a 14-day trial that "doesn't require a credit card" (pricing). It "only stores your data and tokens on your device" (Mimestream).
What AI it has. Mimestream added Apple Intelligence Writing Tools in version 1.5.0: "Mimestream's first integration with Apple Intelligence is here!" (releases). Its home page lists no AI of its own.
How to turn it off. Writing Tools come from macOS, not from Mimestream, so you control them through Apple Intelligence on your Mac. See Apple's guide.
What it can't do. It takes Gmail accounts only. Search runs on Gmail's servers. Our Mimestream alternatives page covers other options.
Pick it if all your mail is Gmail and you want no AI company beyond Apple.
Spark: best AI email app that starts with AI off
Spark runs on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android and takes iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and IMAP (Spark).
What AI it has. Spark +AI writes, translates and summarizes mail, and drafts replies. It runs on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI (Spark).
How to turn it off. "By default, Spark +AI is turned off." If you turned it on, open Spark Settings, go to Spark +AI, and turn off the toggle (Spark).
What to know. AI is off, but Spark still runs some features on its servers: they "require our server-side email processing to work" (Spark). Our Spark alternatives page has the details.
Pick it if you want a mail app on every device and want the AI to stay off until you choose.
eM Client: best for one switch that turns all AI off
eM Client runs on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, with mail, calendar, contacts and tasks. The free plan is for home use on one device with two accounts, and Personal is $49.95 a year (pricing).
What AI it has. AI writing, replies, summaries, natural-language search and AI rule creation. "The current Provider of AI for eM Client is OpenAI" (eM Client).
What it sends. Writing features send text when you click them. Quick replies and task and event detection send a message's content when you open it. eM Client says it does not scan your mailbox in the background (same page).
How to turn it off. Go to Settings > Artificial Intelligence > General and turn AI off. That hides the AI buttons and stops data going to the provider. To keep some features, turn off single ones under Settings > Artificial Intelligence > Features (same page).
Pick it if you want a full mail and calendar app and one place to switch every AI feature off.
Outlook: best if you pay for Microsoft 365 and want Copilot off
Outlook for Mac is free in the Mac App Store and takes Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, IMAP and POP accounts (App Store).
What AI it has. Copilot "drafts emails and summarizes lengthy email threads" for Microsoft 365 subscribers (Microsoft).
How to turn it off. With a personal Microsoft account, open Quick Settings > Copilot in Outlook for Mac and turn off Turn on Copilot. You need version 16.95.3 or later. Microsoft says these settings aren't available with a work or school account (Microsoft).
What to know. The free app shows ads: "Add a premium subscription to go ad-free" (App Store).
Pick it if you need Outlook for work and want it without Copilot.
How to choose
- Some AI, with every send and every model named: Alrighty.
- No AI, free, open source: Thunderbird.
- No AI, free, fast, many providers: Mailspring.
- No AI, IMAP, keyboard-first: MailMate.
- The built-in app with AI switched off: Apple Mail.
- Gmail only, no AI beyond Apple's: Mimestream.
- A cross-device app whose AI starts off: Spark.
- One switch for all AI, plus calendar: eM Client.
- Outlook without Copilot: Outlook.
If you want an app that leaves out more than AI, see the best minimal email apps. If you change your mind and want AI in your mail, our list of the best AI email clients compares what each one sends and to whom.
Questions
Is there an email client with no AI at all?
Yes. Thunderbird, Mailspring and MailMate list no AI features on their own pages. Thunderbird's home page says it doesn't "secretly train AI with your private conversations." Check each release note when you update, since apps add features over time.
How do I turn off AI in Apple Mail?
In Mail, choose Mail > Settings. Under Viewing, turn off Summarize Message Previews. Under Composing, turn off Personalize Smart Replies. Apple's macOS 27 guide turns off each feature on its own.
Does turning off AI stop my email going to a company's servers?
Not always. Spark still uses its servers for some features with its AI off, and Mailspring Pro sends message metadata. Your mail provider (Google, Microsoft or Apple) always holds your mail. The apps that say they keep mail on your device are named in each section above.
Does Alrighty work without AI?
Partly. Your own AI stays off until you turn it on, and search runs on your computer. While you're signed in, reply drafts and Clean up send mail to Alrighty's server, which asks OpenAI or TypeSafe's Jev, and there's no setting to turn that off. If you want no AI at all, Alrighty is not the right app.
Which email services don't use AI on my mail?
The app and the service are two things. An app like Thunderbird adds no AI, but your provider can still run its own. Gmail has Gemini, for example, and our Gemini in Gmail alternatives show how to turn it off. To keep AI off end to end, check your provider's settings as well as your app's. Our email cleaner guide shows which cleanup tools read your mail on their servers.