Mailbird alternatives for Mac

The best Mailbird alternative on a Mac is Alrighty if you use iCloud, Gmail or Outlook and want them in one inbox with tools that stop unwanted mail. Apple Mail is the free choice that comes with your Mac. Spark and Canary are the picks if you also want the app on your phone. eM Client is the closest match to Mailbird's paid features, Thunderbird and Mailspring are free and connect straight to your provider, and Outlook is free for Microsoft accounts.

Mailbird changed this year, and most lists for this search still describe the old one. Mailbird used to be a Windows app. Now it has a rebuilt app, Mailbird Next, for Windows and Mac, and its site says "Mailbird is now free." So the useful question isn't whether Mailbird runs on a Mac. It's what the free plan includes, which accounts Mailbird Next can add, and where your mail and your AI requests go. This page answers those questions for Mailbird and for each alternative.

How we checked

We read each app's own pricing, help and privacy pages on November 3, 2026, and every fact about another product links to its source. Where a vendor's page didn't say something, we say so instead of guessing. We compared price, the accounts each app takes, where it keeps your mail, and what its AI sends and to whom. Alrighty is our app, and it is listed first.

What changed at Mailbird

Mailbird is free to download, and its paid plan is called Premium. These facts come from Mailbird's home page, pricing page and download page.

• Mac app. Mailbird Next is a .dmg download for Mac from Mailbird's site. It "requires macOS Ventura or later." Mailbird also lists Windows builds of Next, plus the older Mailbird 3 (Classic) and Mailbird 2 (Legacy) for Windows, and apps for Android and iPhone.
• Free plan. "The free version has no time limit and works with one email account." Each new account gets Premium free for the first 7 days.
• Premium. $5.75 a user a month paid yearly, or $99.75 once, at the sale prices on the page on November 4, 2026. On the Mac, the pricing table puts unlimited accounts, advanced search, block sender, filters and rules, snooze, send later, undo send, Exchange support and email tracking in Premium. A license covers 3 devices and works "on Windows and Mac."
• Accounts. "Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft 365, iCloud, Yahoo, and any IMAP account." The pricing FAQ says "connecting a POP3 account to Mailbird Next is not supported," and the Mac column lists IMAP only.
• Where your mail is kept. "Your mail is stored on your computer, never on Mailbird's servers."
• AI. Mailbird has a local MCP server that lets Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app work with your mail. "It's off until you turn it on." Its built-in assistant, Wingman, is listed as "Closed beta planned for Q4" (AI privacy).
• Leave Me Alone. Premium offers "Leave Me Alone features" for $59 more. That's a lifetime unsubscribe tool plus one year of Leave Me Alone's other tools. Leave Me Alone is a separate company's service, which you turn on from Mailbird's apps list (Mailbird).

If you came from Windows and liked Mailbird, Mailbird Next on the Mac may be all you need. The free plan's one account, the missing POP3 support, and where the AI and the add-on send your mail are the reasons to look further.

Mailbird alternatives at a glance

App	Price	Accounts	Where your mail is kept	AI
Alrighty	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook	Your Mac	Your own AI: off until you connect it. Reply drafts and Clean up: on when signed in
Apple Mail	Comes with macOS	iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, others	Your Mac	Apple Intelligence summaries, on when Apple Intelligence is on
Spark	Free; Plus $99/yr, Pro $199/yr	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP	Spark's servers for some features	Paid plans; limited preview on Free
Canary Mail	Free; $36/yr or $100/yr	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, IMAP	Your device, except push on phones	AI Copilot on paid plans
eM Client	Free (2 accounts); $49.95/yr or $74.95 once	Google, Microsoft, iCloud, Exchange	Your device, except push and sync	AI Add-on on subscriptions
Thunderbird	Free	Any account, unified inbox	Your Mac	None stated
Mailspring	Free; Pro $8/mo or $85/yr	Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, Yahoo, IMAP	Your Mac, except Pro metadata	None stated
Outlook	Free with ads; Microsoft 365 removes them	Microsoft, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, IMAP, POP	Not stated on a Microsoft page read	Copilot, with a Copilot license
Mailbird	Free (1 account); Premium $5.75/mo yearly	Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, IMAP; no POP3	Your computer	Off until you turn it on

Alrighty, Spark, Canary, eM Client, Thunderbird, Mailspring and Outlook also run on Windows. Apple Mail is Mac only.

Alrighty: best Mailbird alternative for iCloud, Gmail and Outlook

Alrighty is a mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox. Mailbird gives you more mail tools. Alrighty is built around two jobs: ending the mail you don't want, and letting your own AI work in your mail while you watch.

• Stop mail. One action ends a sender's mail. It unsubscribes in every way the message offers (one-click, an email to the list, or the list's page), archives their mail, and moves new mail from them out as it arrives. That's built in, not an add-on from another company.
• 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 mean. It runs on your Mac and matches meaning as well as words: "when is my flight" finds the airline's confirmation. One search covers every account, and you can ask a question and get the answer with the emails it came from.
• Your own AI, with Send in your hands. Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model can read and search your mail. The AI works in a window of its own that you watch, and nothing sends until you click Send. Our guide to the email app for Claude and ChatGPT explains the setup.

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro. Pro adds sorting into groups and more AI use.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy and search index on your Mac. Passwords and tokens stay on your Mac, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain. Alrighty's own AI features send only the emails they need to its server, which asks a model from OpenAI or another AI company. Connecting your own AI is off until you turn it on. While you're signed in, opening a reply starts a suggested draft, and Clean up sorts senders in the background. To sort them, it sends each sender's address and up to 3 of their newest emails to Alrighty's server.

What it can't do. There's no iPhone or web app, so it can't replace Mailbird's phone apps. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, not Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, other IMAP or POP. It has no calendar and no side panel for other apps. It's new, with no long track record.

Pick it if your mail is iCloud, Gmail or Outlook, you're on a Mac, and you want junk ended and your AI working in your mail with nothing sent behind your back.

Apple Mail: best free alternative on a Mac

Apple Mail comes with macOS and adds "iCloud, Gmail (Google), Exchange, school, work, or other" accounts (Apple). It lets you "unsubscribe from the list directly in Mail," and you "can block up to 3,000 senders" (Apple). Mailbird's free plan takes one account. Apple Mail takes all your accounts at no extra cost.

AI. With Apple Intelligence on, "A short summary automatically appears under each unread email in your inbox," and you can turn summaries off (Apple). Apple says Apple Intelligence "is not available in all languages or regions."

What it can't do. It runs only on Apple devices, with no Windows version. Search depends on your Mac's Spotlight index and can miss mail you can see; our Apple Mail search guide has the fixes. It has no side panel for other apps and no read tracking.

Pick it if you want free, built in, and every account in one place.

Spark: best for the same app on Mac, phone and Windows

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

Unwanted mail. Gatekeeper screens new senders: "The first time someone emails you, Spark screens the sender," and you accept or block them (Spark). It's "a paid plans feature" (help).

Where your mail goes. Spark says some features "require our server-side email processing to work." For AOL, Exchange and custom IMAP accounts, Spark stores your login and password, encrypted (privacy). Its AI runs on "the Azure OpenAI Service" (Spark).

What it can't do. AI is a paid feature, with a "limited free preview" on Free. Mail for some features passes through Spark's servers. Our Spark alternatives page covers this in full.

Pick it if you want one app with unlimited free accounts on your Mac, your phone and a Windows PC.

Canary Mail: best free plan with unlimited accounts across devices

Canary runs on "Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows, and Android" (Canary). Its free plan lists "Unlimited Mail Accounts" and a unified inbox, on up to 2 devices. Paid plans are $36 or $100 a year, and Canary has "no monthly subscriptions" (pricing). It works with Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Exchange and IMAP accounts, and the free plan has 1-Click Unsubscribe.

Where your mail goes. Canary's privacy policy says your account details and mail are "stored on your device and is never transferred to our servers." For push on phones, "Canary will temporarily store your email address, credentials, sender, subject line." Its AI Copilot, on paid plans, uses "top-tier providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Google and others."

What it can't do. AI and phishing protection sit on paid plans. The free plan covers 2 devices.

Pick it if you need more than one account for free and want the app on Windows and your phone too.

eM Client: closest to Mailbird Premium on Mac and Windows

eM Client runs on "Windows, macOS, Android and iOS" and has calendar, contacts and tasks built in (pricing). Its free plan is "Home use on 1 device" with 2 email accounts. The Personal subscription is $49.95 a year for up to 3 devices with unlimited accounts and the AI Add-on included. A one-time Personal license is $74.95, without the AI Add-on.

Where your mail goes. eM Client says it "never retrieves and has no access to the content of your emails," and cached data stays on your device. Push notifications use "encrypted login and password or a special authorization token" (privacy policy).

AI. Reply with AI, summaries and natural language search come through eM Client's add-on, which uses OpenAI, "or connect your own custom AI provider" (eM Client). Its page explains how to turn them off in Settings, Artificial Intelligence.

What it can't do. The free plan allows 2 accounts on 1 device, for home use only. AI isn't in the one-time license. Its Mac requirements and Apple silicon support aren't on the pages we read.

Pick it if you liked Mailbird's calendar and paid tools and want a one-time license that also covers Windows. Our eM Client alternatives compare it further.

Thunderbird: best free, open-source alternative

Thunderbird is free and open source on Windows, macOS and Linux, and lets you "Manage all accounts separately or in a unified inbox" (Thunderbird). Its privacy notice says your messages "are stored and processed locally on your device." Its home page describes no AI features. Version 159.0 was released on October 27, 2026 (release notes).

What it can't do. It "sends telemetry about your interactions with Thunderbird to us." Its home page doesn't describe an unsubscribe or sender-blocking tool. Our Thunderbird alternatives page compares it with the other free apps.

Pick it if you want free and open source, with no paid plan and no AI.

Mailspring: best free app for IMAP accounts

Mailspring supports "Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, FastMail, Outlook.com, Yahoo!, and IMAP/SMTP," and "your email goes straight from your mail provider to your machine, not through our servers" (Mailspring). It's free on Mac, Windows and Linux. Pro is $8 a month or $85 a year and adds read receipts, link tracking, send later, follow-up reminders and templates (pricing). It needs macOS 13 (Ventura) or later (releases).

What it can't do. Like Mailbird Next, it takes no POP3: "Mailspring supports IMAP only; POP3 support is not planned." Exchange Web Services and ActiveSync aren't supported, though Microsoft 365 is (FAQ). Pro features send message metadata to Mailspring's servers (data collection).

Pick it if you have IMAP accounts beyond iCloud, Gmail and Outlook, and want a free app that skips the vendor's servers, with read receipts and send later on Pro. See our Mailspring alternatives for more.

Outlook: best free alternative for Microsoft accounts

Outlook for Mac 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). It needs macOS 14.0 or later. Of the Mac apps on this page, its listing is the one that names POP accounts. Microsoft also makes a new Outlook for Windows.

Ads and price. A Microsoft 365 subscription gives "an ad-free experience, more storage, and advanced email security." Personal is $9.99 a month in the App Store. Copilot features "are available to Microsoft 365 Copilot–licensed users" (release notes).

What it can't do. The free app shows ads. Its App Store privacy label, which Microsoft declares, lists "User Content (emails or text messages)" among data used for "Developer's Advertising or Marketing." Our Outlook alternatives for Mac page covers the rest.

Pick it if your mail is Outlook.com or Microsoft 365, or you need a POP account on your Mac.

Mailbird Next: if you only need what changed

Mailbird Next is worth a look before you switch, since it's free and now runs on the Mac. Its home page says it works with "Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft 365, iCloud, Yahoo, and any IMAP account," with "45+ integrations" such as WhatsApp, Google Calendar and Asana in a side panel (Mailbird).

AI and sending. Mailbird's local AI runs through Ollama, which you install. You can also add your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic or OpenRouter, or connect Claude or ChatGPT through its MCP server. On sending through MCP, Mailbird says: "Mailbird does not display a separate confirmation dialog; any prompt before sending depends on that client" (AI privacy). Choosing "Always Allow" for an action in Wingman chat "also grants connected external clients write access, including sending."

What to check. The free plan takes one account. Block sender and filters are Premium on the Mac. Mailbird's privacy policy says it "was last updated on May 25, 2018," before Mailbird Next. The Leave Me Alone add-on is a separate web service, and its security page says it asks Gmail for access to "View and modify but not delete your email."

Pick it if you have one account, or you'll pay for Premium, and you want the app you know from Windows. If the integrations panel is what you use most, our Wavebox alternatives compare app browsers that keep your web apps beside your mail.

How to choose

• iCloud, Gmail and Outlook on a Mac, with junk ended and your own AI that waits for you to click Send: Alrighty.
• Free and built in, with more than one account: Apple Mail.
• One app on Mac, phone and Windows, with unlimited free accounts: Spark or Canary.
• Mailbird's calendar and paid tools, with a one-time license: eM Client.
• Free and open source: Thunderbird.
• Free, direct to your provider, with tracking and send later on Pro: Mailspring.
• Outlook.com, Microsoft 365 or a POP account: Outlook.
• One account, and you liked Mailbird on Windows: Mailbird Next.

For more free options, see the best free email apps for Mac, or browse the blog.

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

Questions

Is Mailbird available for Mac?

Yes. Mailbird Next runs on macOS Ventura or later, as a download from Mailbird's site. The same license works on Windows and Mac, and Mailbird also has apps for iPhone and Android.

Is Mailbird free now?

Yes, with limits. The free version has no time limit and works with one email account. Premium adds unlimited accounts and tools such as block sender, filters, snooze and send later, for $5.75 a month paid yearly or $99.75 once at the prices shown on November 4, 2026.

Does Mailbird support POP3 on Mac?

No. Mailbird's FAQ says "connecting a POP3 account to Mailbird Next is not supported." On a Mac, Outlook takes POP accounts. Mailspring and Alrighty don't.

Which Mailbird alternatives run on Windows?

Alrighty, Spark, Canary, eM Client, Thunderbird, Mailspring and Outlook all have Windows versions. Apple Mail runs only on the Mac.

Where does Mailbird keep my email?

Mailbird says your mail "is stored on your computer, never on Mailbird's servers." If you connect a cloud AI provider or a hosted AI app, the mail needed for each request goes to that provider. The Leave Me Alone add-on connects to your mailbox from its own service.

What are the Leave Me Alone features in Mailbird?

They're a $59 add-on to Premium from Leave Me Alone, a separate company. You get lifetime access to its unsubscribe tool, plus one year of Inbox Shield, Rollups, Shielded Emails and Spam Blocker. Mailbird sends technical questions about the tools to Leave Me Alone, and handles orders and refunds itself.