Gmail Alternatives – Free, Paid, and Open-source Alternatives to Gmail
Ever wonder what would the best alternative to Gmail?
There must be tens or even hundreds of email service providers on the internet, but only a few can be the great Gmail replacements.
Google’s services like Docs, Drive, Hangouts, Calendar, Keep, etc. all the synced with your Gmail ID, which is really great.
But, Google scans each and every email that you send or receive in order to show highly targeted ads.
So, if your main focus is privacy then you must consider some of Gmail’s alternatives.
In this blog post, I have included the top 15 free, paid, and open-source Gmail alternatives.
Here we go…
Top 5 Free Gmail Alternatives
Gmail is totally free, no doubts about that.
But there are a few other great free email service providers that you should consider using.
There are a lot of free email providers out there but only a few email services provide Gmail like features and security, which are:
1. Outlook.com
If you’re on Windows OS then must have heard about or used the Outlook email service. Microsoft’s Outlook also has an email client which is well integrated with the Windows OS.
With a free account, it offers 5 GB storage for emails and other files in the Onedrive which is enough if you’re an average email user.
Outlook has almost all the advanced features that Gmail offers like Calendar, Contacts, Cloud Storage (Onedrive), Audio and Video Calls (Skype), etc.
The Outlook is supported by all the major browsers and, also, has apps for Android, Windows, iOS.
Positives
- Free and easy to use
- Integrates well with the Windows devices
- Doesn’t show targeted ads
- More privacy-focused than Gmail
Negatives
- Per attachment, the limit is only 5 MB
- The free account offers 5 GB storage
- Crashes sometimes
2. Rediffmail
Rediffmail is one of the oldest email service providers which is based in India and offering its services since 1996.
The email service is offered by Rediff.com which is known for its security and user-friendliness. It has an estimated of more than 95 million registered users.
Creating an account with Rediffmail is also very easy and doesn’t require a lot of personal information.
It is also supported by all modern browsers and has also apps for Android and iOS.
Positives
- Completely free to use
- Offers address book and calendar
- Fairly easy to set up
- Offers business email solutions (paid)
Negatives
- Interface looks old
3. Yahoo Mail
Yahoo Mail is also a free and highly organized email service which offers seamless emailing experience almost like Gmail.
The interface of Yahoo mail looks modern and it has multiple themes and colour schemes which you can set up as per your convenience. It supports attachments up to the size of 100 MB.
It does support GIFs and has a function to search among all the photos and documents that you have ever sent.
Again, it is supported by all the major browsers and has apps for Android as well as iOS.
Positives
- Completely free to use
- Highly customizable
- Features like calendar, contacts and note-taking
- 1 TB storage space
Negatives
- Nothing I could find
4. Yandex Mail
Yandex is basically a search engine which also has a great email service. You don’t even need the mobile number to create an account with.
With the free account, Yandex mail offers 10 GB of storage and supports the attachment of a maximum of 30 MB.
With the built-in translator and RSS feed reader, it becomes one of the best free replacements of Gmail.
And, it also supports all modern browsers and has apps for Android as well as iOS.
Positives
- Completely free and feature-rich
- Emails can be scheduled to send later
- Supports keyboard shortcuts
- Documents can be opened inside the email
Negatives
- The interface doesn’t look great
- A few websites don’t support Yandex emails
5. GMX
GMX emailing service is probably the only one which offers unlimited storage for all your email needs.
With its clean intuitive interface, great spam filters and nested folders support, it becomes unmatchable for its competitors.
GMX also has software to collect emails from different accounts at one place which comes in handy for the people who deal with a lot of emails.
It also supports all major browsers and has apps for Android and iOS.
Positives
- Offers unlimited storage for emails
- Supports large file attachments up to 50 MB
- Online calendar to manage things
Negatives
- Doesn’t support encrypted emails
- The free version doesn’t support POP and IMAP
Top 5 Open Source Gmail Alternatives
I personally love using open source applications because they are free and without ads.
But, some people do not like using open-source apps because the interface doesn’t look good and lack some key features.
Anyways, here are the top 5 alternative email services of Gmail which are open-source projects and most of these are completely free to use too.
1. Tutanota
With the end-to-end encryption feature, Tutanota becomes one of the best free, open-source and most secure alternatives to Google’s Gmail.
It encrypts important information like email subjects, bodies, attachments and even contacts while sending an email.
The free version has some very limited features, but if you are not a very frequent email user then it does the job.
Again, it supports all major browsers and has Android and iOS apps too.
2. ProtonMail
When it comes to the security then like Tutanota, ProtonMail also doesn’t compromise the user’s privacy. It encrypts every single piece of information that propagates while sending an email.
ProtonMail also offers 2-factor authentication for your account in order to prevent any kind of security threats.
Sending an email to a non-ProtonMail user will ask you to encrypt the message but if you send an email to a Proton Mail user then it automatically encrypts the message.
ProtonMail has free as well as paid plans. Sadly, the free version doesn’t let you remove the ProtonMail branding from the emails you send.
3. Roundcube
Roundcube is a modern webmail email client which has features like canned responses, spell checking, translation, templating system, tight address book integration, and many more.
However, this is a self-hosted solution for all your webmail needs. It can be installed on a standard LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack.
And, Roundcube is also an open-source project and is completely free to use.
4. Zimbra
Unlike Roundcube, Zimbra has both the email client as well as the email server – it is like an all-in-one open source replacement for Gmail.
In 2016, Zimbra got acquired by Synacore. It has almost all the features that a modern email service should have.
Zimbra is one of the few open-source apps which supports pluggable extensions and has pretty snappy & clean interface.
5. OpenMailBox
OpenMailBox is also an open-source freemium email service provider which specializes in providing privacy-focused service.
The free account provides storage of 5 GB for all your email service needs and private storage space.
All the information you send through OpenMailBox and all the private data that you store is 100% encrypted.
Top 5 Paid Gmail Alternatives
If your main focus is to use email services for your business with all the premium and advanced features then these top 5 premium Gmail alternatives might help.
Otherwise, you can also use some of these for personal purposes.
1. ProtonMail
As mentioned earlier, ProtonMail also offers a free account which has very limited features but if you want features like adding a custom domain, multiple user support and VPN then you’ll have to pay for it.
Premium version has some of the great features like autoresponder, priority support, unlimited messages, unlimited folders, etc.
According to me, the pro version of the ProtonMail is the second-best replacement for Gmail after Zoho Mail.
2. RackSpace
What makes RackSpace special is their 24×7 customer support and 100% uptime guarantee (Gmail’s uptime is 99.9%). And, their pricing plan is also very affordable.
RackSpace is not the best suitable for a personal email account but great for a custom domain business email account.
High-quality spam and virus filters keep your inbox clean and secure. Along with the web and desktop email client, they do have the smartphone app for the same so that you never miss an update.
3. Zoho Mail
Zoho is another name for excellence.
The amount of features that they offer at such a low price is quite unmatchable. From hosting custom domain emails to email forwarding, domain aliases, tasks, notes, bookmarks, scheduling, backup, etc. – everything is quite professional and of high quality.
They also offer POP/IMAP access and has free mobile apps for iOS and Android. The syncing of notes, tasks, and calendars among devices is pretty instant and amazing.
4. Posteo
Posteo is a German open-source email service provider which provides premium email marketing features for €1 per month.
Isn’t it affordable?
It doesn’t have any trial of the free version. Posteo has some features like email forwarding, autoresponder, external email account migration, encryption, data protection, cross-device and cross-platform compatibility, etc.
5. FastMail
FastMail is one of the most minimalistic and reliable email clients. It is based in Melbourne and doesn’t show any ads. It has a feature-rich yet very simple and easy to use interface.
In order to keep the inbox spam-free, it has a custom spam filtering feature which can be customized as per your needs.
In FastMail, email management becomes very easy with the help of folders and labels. One of the most overlooked features of this tool is time-zones support – which ensures your emails to be delivered on the spot.
Final Words
So, this has come to an end.
I have included many paid, free and open-source email service providers which can be the best alternative to Gmail; but I prefer,
- Yahoo Mail – when it comes to the free Gmail alternatives
- ProtonMail – when it comes to the open-source Gmail alternatives, and
- Zoho Mail – when it comes to the paid Gmail alternatives
Now, it’s your turn.
Which email service do you like the most? Or, maybe you have a related query?
Either way, let me know in the comments right now.
Also, share this article with the people who you think might be interested in reading it.
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