Gmail app for Mac? 3 ways + comparison chart

No, Google does not make a Gmail app for Mac. Google's own Gmail page links to Gmail apps for Android and iPhone only, and the Gmail app on the App Store lists iPhone and iPad under compatibility, not Mac. There are 3 ways to get Gmail on a Mac: save Gmail as a web app, add it to Apple Mail, or use a Mac mail app built to work with Gmail.

Quick picks: what do you want?

• Gmail plus iCloud or Outlook in one inbox, with less junk: Alrighty
• A native app, and every account you have is Gmail: Mimestream
• Free, with nothing to install: Apple Mail
• Gmail exactly as it looks in the browser, in its own window: the Gmail web app
• The same app on your phone too: Spark or Canary
• Gmail at home, Microsoft 365 at work: Outlook for Mac

The best Gmail apps for Mac at a glance

App	Tag	Price	Other accounts it takes	Where your mail and Google sign-in are kept
Alrighty	All-in-one	14-day trial, then Free or Pro	iCloud, Outlook	Your Mac
Mimestream	Gmail-only	$49.99/yr	None, Gmail only	Your Mac
Apple Mail	Built-in	Comes with macOS	iCloud, Exchange, others	Your Mac
Gmail web app	Web	Free	None	Google's servers
Spark	Cross-platform	Free; Plus $99/yr	iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP	Spark's servers for some features
Canary Mail	Free	Free; $36/yr or $100/yr	iCloud, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, IMAP	Your device, except push on phones
Outlook for Mac	Work	Free with ads	Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, iCloud, Yahoo, IMAP	Not stated
Superhuman	Teams	From $25/mo, billed yearly	Microsoft 365 only	Not clear

We read each app's own pricing, help and privacy pages on November 3 and 4, 2026, and every fact about another app links to the page it came from. Alrighty is our app, and it's listed first.

3 ways to get Gmail on a Mac

1. Save Gmail as a web app. In Safari, open mail.google.com, click the Share button, choose Add to Dock, then click Add (Apple). In Chrome, open mail.google.com, then choose More > Cast, save, and share > Install page as app (Google). You get a Gmail icon in your Dock. It's still the Gmail website.
2. Add Gmail to Apple Mail. Open Mail, choose Mail > Add Account, enter your Gmail address, click Continue, and follow the steps to sign in (Apple). Your Gmail sits next to any iCloud account in the app that came with your Mac.
3. Use a Mac mail app built for Gmail. Apps such as Alrighty and Mimestream sign in with your Google account and talk to Gmail directly. This is the only way to get a native Mac app with features Apple Mail doesn't have.

Alrighty: best Gmail app for Mac when Gmail isn't your only account

Tag: All-in-one. Best for: anyone with an iCloud or Outlook account next to Gmail who wants one inbox, sign-ins kept on the Mac, and more done about junk than Gmail's filters.

Alrighty is a mail app that puts Gmail, iCloud and Outlook accounts in one inbox. It runs on Mac, and on Windows and Linux too. Gmail signs in with Google and connects through the Gmail API, the same way Mimestream does. iCloud uses an app-specific password, and Outlook signs in with Microsoft.

• Search that finds what you remember. Type it in your own words. "When is my flight" finds the airline's confirmation even though it never says "flight". Search runs on your Mac, across every account at once. You can also ask a question and get the answer with the emails it came from.
• Stop mail. One click ends a sender's mail. Alrighty unsubscribes in every way the message offers, moves their mail out of your inbox, and keeps their new mail out. It works the same on a Gmail sender as on an iCloud one. See how Stop mail works.
• 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.
• Phishing checks. A message that is sure to be phishing goes to Junk. A likely one stays in your inbox with a warning.
• Your AI works in your mail. Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model can read and search your mail. It can also work in a window you watch, and nothing sends until you click Send. Our guide on letting Claude read your email shows the setup, and our Gmail MCP servers list compares other ways to connect.
• Suggested replies. A draft in your voice, written from what you sent that person before. It's always a draft. You send it.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with Google. Alrighty keeps its copy and its search index on your Mac, and your Google sign-in stays on your Mac, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain. No Alrighty server holds it. Your own AI is off until you turn it on with Connect AI. When you're signed in, opening a reply starts a suggested draft, and Clean up sorts senders in the background. AI features send only the emails they need to Alrighty's server, which passes them to an AI model (OpenAI's for answers and replies).

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro.

What it can't do. There's no iPhone or web app. It adds Gmail, iCloud and Outlook accounts only, so Yahoo, Fastmail and other IMAP accounts are out. It's a new app, without a long track record.

Mimestream: best Mac app if all your mail is Gmail

Tag: Gmail-only. Best for: people who only use Gmail, are fine with a subscription, and want the app that feels most like Gmail on a Mac.

Mimestream is a native Mac app built only for Gmail. It "only stores your data and tokens on your device" and makes "direct connections to the Gmail API" (Mimestream). Search uses "the full power of Gmail-backed search," so it runs on Google's side, and it takes several Gmail accounts, in a unified inbox or kept apart.

• Price. $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, for up to five devices, after "a fully functional 14-day free trial that doesn't require a credit card" (pricing). There's no free plan.
• AI. Its 1.5.0 release added Apple Intelligence Writing Tools (releases).
• Unwanted mail. "Tracking Prevention" blocks trackers from "75+ common services" (Mimestream).
• Platforms. It needs macOS 12 Monterey or newer. The iPhone and iPad version is in beta.

What it can't do. Add an iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo or any other non-Google account. If one of those shows up later, see our Mimestream alternatives.

Apple Mail: best free Gmail app for Mac

Tag: Built-in. Best for: anyone who wants free and built in, and already uses Mail for iCloud.

Apple Mail comes with your Mac and adds "iCloud, Gmail (Google), Exchange, school, work, or other" accounts (Apple). With Protect Mail Activity on, "your IP address is hidden from senders" (Apple).

On macOS 27 it does more than it used to:

• Categories. It sorts mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions, though "not available in all countries or regions" (Apple).
• Unwanted mail. You can unsubscribe from a list "directly in Mail" and block up to 3,000 senders (Apple).
• Search. "Mail can provide search results based on what you mean, not just the words you type" (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 Intelligence "is not available in all languages or regions" (Apple).

What it can't do. Apple Mail isn't built around Gmail the way Mimestream is. Its search relies on the Spotlight index on your Mac, and when that index breaks, Mail misses messages you can see. Our Apple Mail search guide has the fixes. Its block list caps at 3,000 senders.

The Gmail web app: best if you only want Gmail in its own window

Tag: Web. Best for: people who like Gmail on the web and only want it out of their browser tabs.

The web app is the Gmail website with its own Dock icon, so every Gmail feature works, including Gemini in Gmail where your plan and country have it (Google). If you'd rather not have Gemini, see our Gemini in Gmail alternatives. The steps to make one are in 3 ways to get Gmail on a Mac.

• In Safari, Apple says "an icon for the web app is added to the Dock and Spotlight Applications," the web app "has a simplified toolbar," and "you can receive notifications from the web app just like you would from any app" (Apple).
• Offline works only in Chrome. Google says "you can only use Gmail offline in a Chrome browser window that isn't in Incognito mode" (Google).

What it can't do. Show an iCloud or Outlook account next to Gmail. Your mail is processed on Google's servers, as it is in the browser. For apps that put the Gmail site in a desktop window, see our Kiwi for Gmail alternatives and Wavebox alternatives.

Spark: best Gmail app for Mac and Windows

Tag: Cross-platform. Best for: people who need the same Gmail app on a Windows PC or an Android phone.

Spark runs on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android, and takes IMAP, iCloud, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo and Google accounts (Spark). The free plan includes unlimited accounts. Plus is $99 a year and Pro is $199 a year, and the AI features sit in those paid plans, with a "limited free preview" on Free (pricing). Gatekeeper screens new senders so you can accept or block them (Spark).

Where your Gmail goes. For Gmail, Spark says "we store an application-specific token. This means that we don't have your actual password." It also says some features "require our server-side email processing to work," including push notifications (Spark). Spark AI runs on "the Azure OpenAI Service" (Spark).

What it can't do. Keep everything on your Mac. Some features need Spark's servers. Our Spark alternatives page covers apps that don't.

Canary Mail: best free Gmail app across devices

Tag: Free. Best for: a free unified inbox for Gmail and other accounts on more than one kind of device.

Canary runs on "Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows, and Android" (Canary) and works with "Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Exchange, and IMAP accounts" (Canary). The free plan lists "Unlimited Mail Accounts" and a unified inbox. Growth is $36 a year and adds AI Copilot. Pro+ is $100 a year (pricing). Canary also offers 1-Click Unsubscribe.

Where your Gmail goes. Canary says your data is "stored on your device and is never transferred to our servers." For push notifications on iPhone and Android, it "will temporarily store your email address, credentials, sender, subject line" on its server (privacy policy).

What it can't do. Bill you monthly. Paid plans are yearly or lifetime. AI and the security features need a paid plan.

Outlook for Mac: best Gmail app with a Microsoft 365 work account

Tag: Work. Best for: Gmail at home and Microsoft 365 at work, with mail and calendar in one app.

Outlook is free on the Mac App Store and is "compatible with Microsoft 365, Outlook.com (including Hotmail and MSN), Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, iCloud, IMAP, and POP accounts" (Mac App Store). Microsoft says Outlook "is free to use with your personal Outlook.com, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, and IMAP accounts" (Microsoft). It needs macOS 14 or later.

The catch. The free app shows ads. The App Store listing says "Add a premium subscription to go ad-free." In its privacy labels, Microsoft lists "User Content (emails or text messages)" among data used for "Developer's Advertising or Marketing," as data not linked to your identity (Mac App Store). Work and school accounts need "a license assigned by your IT administrator." Copilot features are for "Microsoft 365 Copilot–licensed users" (Microsoft). For a full comparison, see our Outlook alternatives for Mac.

Superhuman: best Gmail app for teams that pay for speed

Tag: Teams. Best for: people on Gmail or Microsoft 365 for work who send a lot of mail, when the company pays.

Superhuman is "built for teams that use Gmail or Outlook" (Superhuman). It has native apps for Mac and Windows, apps for iPhone and Android, and a Chrome extension (Superhuman). Starter is $25 per member a month and Business is $33, billed yearly (plans). Starter includes Superhuman AI for writing, replies and summaries.

What it can't do. Add iCloud, Yahoo or other IMAP accounts. Its privacy pages don't make it clear whether your mail stays on your Mac: a blog post says "your inbox is never stored on our servers," while the privacy policy says "we receive the content you upload or enable our products to access, such as emails and drafts." For other options, see our Superhuman alternatives.

Which Gmail app should you use on a Mac?

The right app depends on what else is in your life besides Gmail:

• Gmail plus iCloud or Outlook, kept on your Mac, with less junk: Alrighty.
• Only Gmail, in a native app: Mimestream.
• Free and built in: Apple Mail.
• Only Gmail, exactly as it looks on the web: the Gmail web app.
• The same app on your phone too: Spark or Canary.
• Gmail plus Microsoft 365 at work, with a calendar: Outlook for Mac.
• A team on Gmail that pays for speed: Superhuman.

If you juggle several accounts, our guide to the best email app for multiple accounts goes deeper. For every kind of Mac mail app, not only Gmail ones, see the best email app for Mac.

Questions

Is there a separate Gmail app for Mac?

No. Google's Gmail page links to apps for Android and iPhone only, and the Gmail listing on the App Store lists iPhone and iPad, with no Mac entry. On a Mac, you use Gmail in a browser, as a web app, in Apple Mail, or in a Mac mail app such as Alrighty or Mimestream.

Why is there no Gmail app for Mac?

Google doesn't say why. Its pages say Gmail runs on "your computer, phone, watch or tablet" (Google Workspace), with the browser as the computer version, and that Gmail "works great with desktop clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird" (Google). So Google's answer for the Mac is the browser, or someone else's mail app.

How do I get the Gmail icon on my Mac?

Save Gmail as a web app. In Safari, open mail.google.com and choose Share > Add to Dock. In Chrome, choose More > Cast, save, and share > Install page as app. Either way, a Gmail icon appears in your Dock. A Mac mail app such as Mimestream or Alrighty also gives you a Dock icon for your Gmail.

Is there a free Gmail app for Mac?

Yes. Apple Mail comes with macOS and adds Gmail accounts. Spark and Canary have free plans, and Outlook for Mac is free for personal Gmail accounts, with ads. The Gmail web app is free too. Alrighty has a Free plan after its 14-day trial.