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Mailbird Blog

10 Thunderbird Alternatives You Must Try in 2024

10 Thunderbird Alternatives You Must Try in 2024
10 Thunderbird Alternatives You Must Try in 2024

Thunderbird steadily became a popular free email client with a loyal following over the years. Yet, many users look for an alternative to Thunderbird, and the reasons are plenty.

Thunderbird steadily became a popular free email client with a loyal following over the years. Yet, many users look for an alternative to Thunderbird, and the reasons are plenty.

When its commercial development was halted, users started to complain about multiple software glitches and a lack of regular product updates. You can still enjoy the great functions of Thunderbird - adding unlimited email accounts, a unified inbox and calendar at no cost. But should you really put up with several email sending issues in thunderbird, outdated interface, lack of intuitiveness, and regular bugs?

Over the past few years, other email clients such as Mailbird have built features that outperform Thunderbird's. They have started offering a unified workspace with various integrations - not only email management - where you can do literally all your work in one tab.

In this article, we are going to review these email clients and services that can become your best Thunderbird alternative.

The 10 Best Mozilla Thunderbird Alternatives

We have prepared reviews of 10 email clients that are strong Mozilla Thunderbird alternatives:

  • Mailbird for a clean interface and ongoing support
  • Postbox for sorting accounts into personal and work
  • Outlook for a seamless Office 365 experience
  • Mailspring for easy-to-find core features
  • Spark for mobile integration
  • Airmail for an Apple alternative
  • Spike for a chat-like team email
  • MailMate for extensive keyboard control options
  • Shift for an integrated workspace
  • Front for customer support options

The software was ranked based on key features, security options, integrations, pricing, and reviews posted by users online.

To save you time, after testing the software, we put down all the core pros and cons of each tool together with our unbiased verdict.

Mailbird

Mailbird's sleek interface
Mailbird's sleek interface

Mailbird is an email client that can fully substitute for Thunderbird and let you do even more - it's been built to give a boost to your productivity and help manage almost all your work from one unified dashboard. Imagine having your emails, calendars, apps, and tools accessible from one place.

Having a clean interface in front of you, coupled with an interaction that makes managing your online communication easier, is a sweet deal.

Mailbird is super easy - you can master it within a few minutes. A great email experience is what you should strive for, and Mailbird gives you exactly that.

Unlike Thunderbird, Mailbird is a commercial tool with a predictable product roadmap - you can expect regular feature updates and fixes introduced on time.

Key Features

In Mailbird, you can find the same core features offered by Thunderbird, such as a unified inbox, calendars, task lists, tags, and fast searches. Mailbird also offers some unique features that Thunderbird doesn't, such as a speed reader and snooze email function.

Unified inbox

You can connect unlimited accounts from various providers - Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, and many more. Like Thunderbird, Mailbird offers POP3 and IMAP protocols, making connecting an account from any provider easy.

Mailbird's unified mailbox lets you do more with your emails than Thunderbird - for example, you can apply different actions, such as adding tags to different accounts.

Unified calendar

Mailbird offers a native unified calendar, and similarly to Thunderbird, you can connect multiple calendars from different account providers, create and manage events, and invite participants.

With Mailbird, you can also easily access your calendars from a sidebar for a quick overview of your agenda and plans.

You can customize your calendar settings for easier work. For example, you can use a drag-and-drop option to move calendars and set some as defaults for future events.

Speed reader

Mailbird's speed reader helps you read more text in less time by highlighting chunks in quick succession. This is one of the features that can help you spend less time on email management and save it for more important tasks - and you won't find it in Thunderbird.

Snooze email

The email snooze feature helps you remove the distraction of certain emails until a more appropriate time. Setting up email snooze in Mailbird is a fast process, as you only need to click the button that looks like a clock and choose a time and date.

Undo send

Most email clients give users just a few seconds to unsend an email, while others don't even offer this feature. With Mailbird, you can extend the time for unsending emails, and it will work with the email providers that don't support undoing a send. Thunderbird doesn't allow you to unsend messages at all.

Contact management

You can perform the same actions you would normally do in Thunderbird - you can add new contacts and edit contact details. But with Mailbird, you can also import records from other providers and merge existing contacts to remove duplicates.

Email tracking

By setting up email tracking in Mailbird, you can learn whether your recipients have received and opened the emails you sent. You can also preview who among a group message has opened it and at what time of the day. Thunderbird doesn't have a feature like this, just an old add-on that's no longer supported by developers.

Integrations

There are dozens of useful integrations with other applications, such as Asana and Dropbox, that you can use right from Mailbird's dashboard, without switching between tabs. In Thunderbird, you can't integrate your account with your favorite productivity apps; you can only use the system add-ons that community developers add to the repository.

Security

Mailbird offers security options similar to those you can find in Thunderbird. When using Mailbird, you are the only person able to access your account information. All emails you send to third-party recipients are encrypted and properly secured.

Pricing

There are both home and business plans available in Mailbird.

  • For Personal Use - $27.36/Year or Pay Once for a lifetime subscription at $49.50.
  • For Businesses Use - $48.36/Year or Pay Once for a lifetime subscription at $99.75.
User reviews
  • ProductHunt - 4.7/5
  • G2 - 4/5
Pros
  • Regularly updated with new features that users request
  • High uptime and performance without slowing down your computer
  • Minimalistic and intuitive dashboard
  • Various customization options
  • Easy onboarding
  • More powerful unified calendar features
  • Dozens of integrations
Cons
  • Currently not available for Mac and smartphone users but coming soon
Verdict

Mailbird is an awesome Thunderbird alternative because it lets you do everything you would normally do with the email client in question. It also offers a handful of features that Thunderbird doesn't have. The in-built Mailbird features - such as a speed reader, snooze email function, and unified dashboard with dozens of apps - help reduce distractions to a minimum and ensure you can do more work in less time.

Mailbird is better than Thunderbird in terms of its contact management, onboarding, user experience, and user interface. What's more, you can use all these features without experiencing the typical glitches and bugs that Thunderbird users keep complaining about.

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Mailbird vs. Thunderbird
Mailbird Thunderbird
Unified accounts 5/5 5/5
Unified calendar 5/5 4/5
Customization options 3/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 4/5 2/5
UX & UI 5/5 3/5
Security 4/5 5/5
Integrations 5/5 1/5
Performance 5/5 3/5
Pricing $2.28/month per user free

Postbox

Postbox is one of the easiest-to-use Thunderbird alternatives for Windows on this list. It works with any POP/IMAP account, including Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and more. Once you've added your accounts, you can sort them into “personal” and “work” groups, for example, to keep your emails organized.

The application's filtering and tagging features allow you to get even more organized - all on a beautifully designed interface. You even have business emoji support, 25 email signature templates, and 70 professionally written email response templates at your disposal.

Key Features
Unified email accounts

You can connect unlimited accounts with Postbox using IMAP or POP - Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, Outlook, and more. After you connect the accounts, you can group messages and accounts into folders.

Search options

Postbox helps you find anything in your emails - you can customize your search options to quickly view the searched messages, images, or attachments.

Message editing

Postbox offers a number of canned responses with placeholders when creating a new message. Choose among 25 professional-looking signatures and a variety of pre-formatted clips to add some interesting styling without using any code.

Quick bar

You can use different keyboard shortcuts to perform quick actions, such as switching to a different folder, quick copy, assigning labels, and more.

Custom email responses

There are over 70 pre-written email responses you can customize when composing a message. They are divided by topics, so you can easily locate them.

Integrations

Postbox integrates with various third-party tools. You can connect your Zapier, Mailchimp, Box, Asana, or Slack accounts. However, some email clients offer a much longer list of integrations.

Security

Postbox uses OpenPGP encryption, which doesn't allow you to fully transform the text into an unreadable format, as end-to-end encryption would.

Price

You can purchase your Postbox license for $79 yearly. There are no monthly plans.

User reviews
  • G2 - 3.5/5 (30 reviews - June 2022)
Pros
  • Unified inbox
  • Supports IMAP, POP, SMTP, Microsoft Exchange
  • Clean user interface
  • HTML templates
  • A range of useful email features
Cons
  • Customization options need improvement
  • Some bugs, lags in performance
  • Slow feature development process
  • Paid support
Verdict

Postbox is a great alternative to Thunderbird because it helps you connect an unlimited number of accounts the way you would in the latter. It offers a lot of interesting in-built functions you wouldn't find in Thunderbird. However, not all the features work as promised.

Just head over to some review sites to find out that there are complaints about bugs, glitches, and slow functions. There is also a major disadvantage a lot of users spot - paid support and a lagging development process.

Postbox vs. Thunderbird
Postbox Thunderbird
Unified accounts 5/5 5/5
Unified calendar 3/5 4/5
Customization options 4/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 4/5 2/5
UX & UI 4/5 3/5
Security 3/5 5/5
Integrations 4/5 1/5
Performance 3/5 3/5
Pricing $6.39/month per user $6/month per user

Outlook

Windows, Mac, and Android users can access Microsoft Outlook which makes it a valid Thunderbird Alternative. Microsoft offers a wide range of productivity tools called Microsoft 365, among which is an Outlook desktop email client. You can also buy Outlook as a standalone program for PC or Mac.

Outlook's free webmail version, unlike a business subscription, doesn't let you manage multiple accounts from different providers (only Outlook and Hotmail).

Key Features
Email account management

In the case of the free web version, you can add a lot of Outlook accounts, but you can't add accounts from other email providers, such as Hotmail or Gmail. Thunderbird has a huge advantage here by letting you connect an unlimited number of accounts from different providers.

Tasks

Task management is easy in Outlook - it's available as a to-do list feature in this email client.

Smart alerts

Smart alerts let you view all notifications on top of open tabs on your computer. This feature might be useful if you want to respond to customers quickly, but it can also be extremely distracting.

Calendar

In Outlook, you can select and deselect the calendars you want to view on one dashboard. The calendar interface in Outlook is a bit more user-friendly and attractive than in Thunderbird, but Outlook's calendars won't let you do much more than what Thunderbird already offers.

Integrations

You can add more functionalities and integrate with other apps by accessing Outlook's integrations center - Add-ins. You can use extensions with popular apps like Zoom and Asana.

Security

Outlook offers strong protection against viruses, malware, and spam messages. It scans attachments to identify malicious software and checks email links.

Pricing
  • The personal home plan costs $59.99/year or $5.99 a month.
  • The business plans start at $6 per user monthly.
User reviews
  • G2 - 4.4/5 (1867 reviews - May 2022)
Pros
  • Robust calendar options
  • Good search options
  • Strong security features, spam filtering
  • A lot of add-ons and integrations
Cons
  • Clunky interface
  • Doesn't connect accounts other than Outlook
  • Doesn't offer a unified workspace dashboard
  • Technical issues, lags
Verdict

Microsoft Outlook lets you manage multiple Outlook email accounts and calendars, but you won't be able to connect accounts of other providers the way you would in Thunderbird.

However, this Outlook vs. Thunderbird email review also shows there are positive aspects of using Outlook - it has fewer bugs and lags compared to Thunderbird, and it's equally secure.

Outlook vs. Thunderbird
Outlook Thunderbird
Unified accounts 1/5 5/5
Unified calendar 1/5 4/5
Customization options 3/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 3/5 2/5
UX & UI 3/5 3/5
Security 5/5 5/5
Integrations 4/5 1/5
Performance 4/5 3/5
Pricing $6/month per user free

Mailspring

Mailspring is an email client supported on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Similarly to Thunderbird, it helps unify unlimited accounts from different email providers. Users can easily find the core features without digging through the settings.

Apart from the same features Thunderbird offers, Mailspring also supports message scheduling, email snoozing, and localization, which all make it a good alternative to Thunderbird.

Key features
Unified accounts

You can connect as many accounts as you need with Mailspring. However, unlimited accounts are only available for paying users. It's worth noting that Mailspring doesn't support all email providers - you won't be able to use Microsoft Exchange and POP protocols.

Message scheduling

With this feature, you can schedule messages to be sent later, instead of sending them right away. If you want your client based in a different time zone to read your email first thing in the morning, you can set up sending for the early hours of that time zone. This way, your email is fresh on top of the client's mailbox.

Email snoozing

You can choose the time and day when certain emails should be snoozed. Email snoozing in Mailspring is only available to paying users.

Easy contact management

Like Thunderbird, Mailspring lets you search your contacts with ease. By selecting a contact you want to view, you can see its previous communication history, preview its details, or edit it right from the sidebar.

Localization and translations

Malspring's interface has been translated into 60 different languages. You can also translate messages you send or receive into nine languages with Mailspring. The translation feature is in-built, so you don't have to search for additional plugins or add-ons, as you would with Thunderbird.

Read receipts and link tracking

You receive notifications when your recipient opens your email, so you can easily adjust your follow-up strategy. If you add any links to promotional resources that you want your leads to access, you can check their relevance by tracking email link clicks.

Integrations

Mailspring doesn't support any integrations with third-party tools. This means you can't manage your favorite applications from a unified dashboard - something other email clients already offer.

Security

We couldn't find any mention of security protocols used by Mailspring on their website except for GDPR compliance.

Price

Free - limited options

Pro - $8/month

User reviews

G2 - 4.1/5 (14 reviews - June 2022)

Pros
  • Easy to use and customizable
  • Clean and user-friendly
  • A lot of useful in-built features that are easy to find
  • Multilingual tools offering translations in many languages
Cons
  • Lacks integrations
  • POP and Microsoft Exchange are not supported
  • Can be slow at times
Verdict

Mailspring with a great alternative to Thunderbird because it's easier to get started with. Mailspring's interface is clean and easy to grasp. You can also customize the look of your accounts - there are many more customization options than in Thunderbird.

While Mailspring supports IMAP and Office 365, you won't be able to connect all your accounts because of the lacking POP and Exchange protocols.

This email client can also slow down your computer, and some random glitches can pop up. If you can't accept lags in performance, you should be looking for a more reliable email client.

Mailspring vs. Thunderbird
Mailspring Thunderbird
Unified accounts 4/5 5/5
Unified calendar 4/5 4/5
Customization options 5/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 4/5 2/5
UX & UI 4/5 3/5
Security 2/5 5/5
Integrations 1/5 1/5
Performance 3/5 3/5
Pricing $8/month per user free

Spark

Spark is an email client dedicated exclusively to iOS users, and it can be downloaded only from the App Store. It's very modern and intuitive, which is a big contrast to the cluttered Thunderbird user interface.It's also a fair alternative to Thunderbird because the latter doesn't have a mobile version.

With Spark, you can connect multiple email accounts and use all of them as one. There are a lot of functions to help boost your productivity that are not currently available in Thunderbird.

Key Features

Connecting all your email accounts is easy with Spark. Just like in Thunderbird, you can add as many accounts as you need. However, Spark's unified inbox offers more useful functions. It allows you to assign tasks to team members, set up deadlines, and manage your calendar all from one email dashboard.

Unified inbox

Spark offers a unified inbox that makes it easy to connect all your email accounts. You can also assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and manage your calendar.

Unified calendar

You can import all your calendars and preview them all at once or individually. Spark supports Google, iCloud, and Exchange calendars, making event creation convenient and quick.

Private emails

Spark allows you to leave private notes on emails that only your team can view. This is a feature that is not supported by Thunderbird.

Pre-made templates

You can create email templates to use with specific groups of recipients, ideal for outreach activities.

Integrations

Spark offers numerous useful integrations with productivity tools like Evernote, Trello, and Zoom, among others.

Security

Spark's server is secure, and they are transparent about their security policy. However, some users have raised concerns about data collection and processing.

Pricing

Spark offers both a free and a paid version. The free version does not include a unified inbox.

  • Monthly Plans - Start at $6.39, available only with annual billing.
User reviews
  • App Store - 4.8/5 (33,948 reviews - June 2022)
Pros
  • Unlimited accounts from different email providers
  • Intuitive and modern interface
  • A number of useful integrations
Cons
  • NLP-powered search tool often malfunctions
  • Doesn't support POP
  • Only available for Mac users
Verdict

Spark offers a clean interface and modern design, improving work productivity by making features easy to find. It offers a number of in-built features not found in Thunderbird. However, there are occasional performance lags and bugs.

Unfortunately, it is currently only available for Mac users, with no announcements for other operating systems.

Spark vs. Thunderbird
Spark Thunderbird
Unified accounts 4/5 5/5
Unified calendar 4/5 4/5
Customization options 5/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 4/5 2/5
UX & UI 4/5 3/5
Security 2/5 5/5
Integrations 2/5 1/5
Performance 3/5 3/5
Pricing $6.39/month per user free

Airmail

Introduction

Airmail is an email client for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It's currently not available for Windows users. In Airmail, you can find a lot of useful in-built functions that Thunderbird lacks - interactive notifications, today view, share sheet, and more.

Key features
Unified inbox

You can add unlimited accounts and view all your messages in the unified folder. Gmail, iCloud Mail, Exchange, Outlook, and more email providers are supported. You can select or deselect chosen accounts in your unified folder to view whichever messages you want.

Email snoozing

You can snooze some emails for a specific amount of time in Airmail, so you are left with just the most crucial messages you have to deal with today.

Send later

To keep your email on top of your recipients' inboxes, you can use the “send later” feature in Airmail, which lets you schedule the date and time when your message should be sent. This way, your clients, partners, or colleagues can receive emails when they start their working day.

Smart inbox

Airmail filters irrelevant emails, such as newsletters and promotions, so you are left with a view of only the most crucial messages.

Bulk actions

You can apply bulk actions to multiple messages to save time. You can choose among dozens of presets that help you spend less time on repetitive tasks.

Integrations

In Airmail, there is an app-share feature that works as a sort of integration. You can enable the apps you want to use and then share the information from your Airmail account to a selected app.

Security

Airmail processes your data locally on any device, protecting it from being accessed by third parties. You can also switch on TouchID and FaceID in Airmail.

Price
  • Monthly plan - $2.99
  • Yearly plan - $9.99
  • Business plan - $49.99
User reviews
  • G2 - 3.6/5 (18 reviews - June 2022)
Pros
  • Unlimited accounts and unified inbox
  • Supports Gmail, iCloud Mail, Exchange, Microsoft Outlook, IMAP, and POP3
  • Extensive customizations
  • A lot of integrations with third-party tools
Cons
  • Only available for iOS users
  • Slows down a processor
  • Various bugs and glitches
Verdict

This Airmail vs. Thunderbird mail review shows that the former offers a much cleaner and more intuitive interface than Thunderbird. You can also find a lot of useful functions that can help you save a lot of time and boost your productivity. However, it doesn't offer the unified calendar option that Thunderbird has.

This alternative to Thunderbird is only available for Apple users; Windows is not supported. Users often complain about bugs and problems with performance.

Airmail vs. Thunderbird
Airmail Thunderbird
Unified accounts 4/5 5/5
Unified calendar 1/5 4/5
Customization options 4/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 4/5 2/5
UX & UI 4/5 3/5
Security 4/5 5/5
Integrations 4/5 1/5
Performance 3/5 3/5
Pricing $2.99/month per user free

Spike

Spike is an email client that stands out from the rest with its interface resembling a social media chat. It's been designed to fit the needs of mobile users who juggle emails and tasks on the go.

With Spike, you can connect multiple email accounts and manage them all from one unified inbox.

This Thunderbird alternative is available for both Android and iPhone users. You can also use it on Mac, Windows, or as a web app.

Key features
Unified inbox

Connecting email accounts from multiple providers is a piece of cake with Spike. After adding the accounts, you can manage all your messages from one inbox or, alternatively, switch between separate accounts.

Unified calendar

Similarly to Thunderbird, you can integrate all your calendars and view them from one dashboard. Creating events and adding participants is quick and easy. One of the downsides of the calendar feature, however, is its lack of integration with major telecommunication tools.

Email snoozing

Email snoozing in Spike is easily accessible on its dashboard. Whenever you view your email list, you can set up chosen emails on snooze, so you don't receive notifications on incoming messages at certain times of the day.

Groups

Spike is also useful for teams. It has built a group feature that lets you invite participants and discuss topic details in the form of a chat.

Contact management

Contact communication history is at your fingertips with Spike - you can preview email threads and contact information in one dashboard. The message thread with recipients is presented in the form of a chat.

Integrations

Spike doesn't support integrations with major productivity tools.

Security

Spike uses AES-256 encryption to protect its users' accounts.

Pricing
  • Free - up to two accounts
  • Paid subscriptions start at $8/month.
User reviews
  • G2 - 4.6/5 (150 reviews - June 2022)
Pros
  • A more informal chat-like interface
  • Possible to add unlimited accounts
  • Unified calendars
  • A group feature useful for teams
Cons
  • Only in-built video conferencing
  • Lack of integrations
Verdict

Spike can be a great Mozilla Thunderbird alternative if you manage most of your emails with a smartphone. Its chat-like interface lets you communicate similarly to typing a message on Facebook.

When using Spike, you will experience fewer performance issues. However, this email client doesn't offer many integrations with the tools that would boost your performance when used from one unified dashboard.

Spike vs. Thunderbird
Spike Thunderbird
Unified accounts 4/5 5/5
Unified calendar 4/5 4/5
Customization options 3/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 4/5 2/5
UX & UI 4/5 3/5
Security 4/5 5/5
Integrations 1/5 1/5
Performance 5/5 3/5
Pricing $8/month per user free

MailMate

MailMate is an IMAP email client that lets you connect unlimited accounts, dedicated for macOS users. It offers extensive keyboard control options, helping you perform the most important email actions with easy shortcuts.

An advanced search feature powered by Natural Language Processing (NLP) helps you locate your emails easier by typing queries in a conversational form.

Key features
Universal inbox

You can connect all your IMAP accounts. However, if you can't use IMAP for certain accounts, you won't be able to use other protocols, because they are not supported in MailMate.

Email tagging

Segmenting emails by tags is easy with MailMate. Applying tags helps you organize emails better and locate them faster.

Extensive search

MailMate offers stronger search features that go beyond filters, such as the To and From fields. You can perform searches by many different parameters.

Keyboard shortcuts

You can use a number of shortcuts to perform email actions. There is no need to switch between the tabs, as you can use just one combination of characters to perform an action.

Markdown

You can format text using markdown in MailMate. Introduced in 2004, this simple editing language is now widely used in blogging and instant messaging. A lot of users like the ease of formatting in a plain-text editor, but it also can be complicated and not useful if you are new to the topic.

Integrations

MailMate doesn't offer integrations.

Security

MailMate supports both S/MIME and OpenPGP, and it uses SpamSieve for image blocking.

Price

The cost of a license is $49.99.

User reviews
  • MacUpdate - 4.4/5 (75 reviews - June 2022)
Pros
  • Offers many keyboard shortcuts for faster email handling
  • Robust search tool
  • Widescreen layout
Cons
  • Very outdated
  • Only basic email formatting, markdown
  • No POP or Exchange support
Verdict

MailMate is an email tool that can be an alternative to Thunderbird for advanced users who like using keyboard shortcuts for faster work. It can also be helpful if you are using a lot of IMAP accounts and manage dozens of emails every day. With a powerful search feature, finding any email is not a problem in MailMate.

However, most users complain about MailMate's lack of intuitiveness and clunky interface. It also lacks a lot of basic features that Thunderbird offers, including a unified calendar.

MailMate vs. Thunderbird
MailMate Thunderbird
Unified accounts 3/5 5/5
Unified calendar 1/5 4/5
Customization options 2/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 4/5 2/5
UX & UI 4/5 3/5
Security 4/5 5/5
Integrations 1/5 1/5
Performance 4/5 3/5
Pricing $49.99/license free

Shift

Shift email interface
Shift email interface

With Shift's email client, you can connect Gmail and Microsoft Outlook accounts. Unfortunately, at this point, connecting other email accounts is not possible.

However, even with all its limitations, Shift has a significant advantage over Thunderbird - you can integrate various productivity tools and use them as one unified workspace.

Key Features
Accounts workspace

You can connect Gmail and Microsoft Outlook email accounts in Shift. Once you add all your accounts, you can start using them from one dashboard. The email service doesn't support POP or IMAP protocols.

Chrome extensions

You can access various Chrome extensions right from Shift's dashboard. Instead of switching tabs to find the extension you need, you can do it faster with Shift.

Unified search

Shift makes it easy for you to find events, messages, or attachments across all your accounts. It's enough to type a couple of words to get thorough search results.

Focused web tabs

With focused web tabs, you shouldn't leave the email client to search the web. The search tab of your browser is available right from Shift's interface.

Workspaces

Shift offers an interesting workspace feature that helps you create a dedicated and personalized space for special purposes. You can adjust a workspace by adding apps, tabs, and bookmarks and then share it with your team.

Integrations

With Shift, you can connect a lot of third-party tools to use together with your email accounts and calendars from one unified workspace.

Security

Shift uses an OAuth authorization protocol to protect users' accounts.

Pricing

The free version covers only two email accounts. Paid plans start at $99/year for one user.

User reviews
  • G2 - 3.7/5 (56 reviews - June 2022)
Shift workspace user review
Shift workspace user review
Pros
  • Unified email accounts
  • Supports multiple email providers
  • Offers wide integration options
  • Useful team features
Cons
  • Doesn't integrate with POP or IMAP
  • Not compliant with HIPAA, SOC2, or ISO 270001
  • Only annual billing
  • System bugs
Verdict

Shift is a good Thunderbird alternative because it allows you to connect multiple email accounts, calendars, apps, and extensions and use them from one dashboard. With Thunderbird, most of these elements can't work together - think of limited choices in add-ons, a lack of integrations, and no unified workspace.

Shift brings all your work elements together to boost your productivity and remove distractions. Even with so many advantages, this email client doesn't let you connect all your accounts because POP and IMAP protocols are not supported. You can also face some technical problems, as users complain about bugs and system lags.

Shift vs. Thunderbird
Shift Thunderbird
Unified accounts 4/5 5/5
Unified calendar 4/5 4/5
Customization options 4/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 5/5 2/5
UX & UI 4/5 3/5
Security 5/5 5/5
Integrations 4/5 1/5
Performance 3/5 3/5
Pricing $99/year per user free

Front

Front is a tool that helps integrate multiple email mailboxes and organize conversations. It's mostly suited for customer support teams that handle a lot of conversations with customers and have to convert them into customer support tickets.

This email service offers a much cleaner interface than Thunderbird and lets you do more work in less time with some useful in-built functions.

Key features
Unified inbox

Front lets you connect an unlimited number of email accounts and manage them in a unified inbox. If anyone from your team assigns an email to you, you can view it from a separate folder.

Event scheduling

You can create and edit events and invite participants in a similar way to Thunderbird. You can also select the calendars you want to view from one dashboard or preview events from all calendars at once.

Custom email templates

Creating custom email templates is possible with just a few clicks in Front. This feature is useful if you are managing a lot of repetitive conversations with customers and want to save time on writing similar emails. You can also create custom message templates in Thunderbird, but the process is more tedious and time-consuming.

Email snoozing

In Front, you can snooze certain emails by choosing preset snooze options. You can also adjust the snooze options from the settings.

Contact management

Communication history with clients is easily accessible in Front. While you can perform similar actions for contact creation and editing in Thunderbird, you can't easily locate attachments in Front.

Integrations

Front offers a lot of integrations with the apps you use daily. You can find Dropbox, Zapier, Slack, and more on the list. However, you can't always use all the integrations, as they are included in more expensive plans and are not available for all users.

Security

Front uses TLS 1.2 encryption and AES 256-bit encryption to protect user accounts. There are also other levels of protection available, such as multi-factor authentication and IP address access restrictions.

Pricing

Front offers only annual billing plans. The plans start at $19/month per user.

User reviews
  • G2 - 4.7/5 (1,379 reviews - June 2022)
User review of the Front email app
User review of the Front email app
Pros
  • All mailboxes in one place
  • Features useful for teams
  • Lots of integrations
  • Easy meeting scheduling
Cons
  • Can be expensive for small companies
  • Cluttered interface
Verdict

Front is a good alternative to Thunderbird for bigger teams that handle a lot of client tickets. This email client has worked out the features that help increase the productivity of customer support departments. While the product is mostly targeted at teams, individual users can find some of the features irrelevant or not well-suited to their needs.

Front offers similar features to Thunderbird and other email clients, but it charges a much higher price. Some users can find the tool overpriced.

Front vs. Thunderbird
Front Thunderbird
Unified accounts 4/5 5/5
Unified calendar 4/5 4/5
Customization options 4/5 2/5
Ease of onboarding 5/5 2/5
UX & UI 3/5 3/5
Security 5/5 5/5
Integrations 5/5 1/5
Performance 4/5 3/5
Pricing $19/month per user free

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What Is the Best Alternative to Thunderbird?

For years, Thunderbird was a top choice for many users, because it let you manage all your email accounts and calendars in one app, totally for free.

Once commercial development of the tool was stopped, its community of developers still working on the project couldn't keep up with the number of user requests for bug fixes and new features.

The email clients we have compared offer a lot of features similar to Thunderbird and even go a step further, offering more intuitive interfaces and a range of unique productivity features.

You can ask yourself - which one should I pick in the end? Once you go through a full comparison, you can easily figure out that Mailbird can be a successful alternative to Thunderbird. To test Mailbird, sign up for a free trial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which email client is better than Thunderbird?

Mailbird offers features similar to Thunderbird and much more - you can connect all your email accounts and calendars and even integrate with popular productivity apps.

In Mailbird, you can access all your work tools from one unified inbox without switching tabs. This is the functionality Thunderbird doesn't offer.

Mailbird stands out as an alternative to Thunderbird with its clean interface and intuitiveness. You can understand the functioning of the tool very quickly.

Is Mozilla Thunderbird still supported?

The commercial development of Thunderbird has been halted, but you can still access and use the tool. Current developments and new product updates are introduced by a group of community developers. However, this process is no longer as speedy as it was when Thunderbird was commercially developed by Mozilla.

Is Thunderbird better than Microsoft Outlook?

Microsoft Outlook can be considered an alternative to Thunderbird, as it offers strong security options and unified calendars. However, you can't connect all your accounts in Outlook as you would with Thunderbird, and the tool is not free of charge.

Is Thunderbird mail safe to use?

Thunderbird is safe to use because it applies end-to-end encryption that helps transfer a readable message into an unreadable format, making it impossible for third parties to fetch your emails on their way to a recipient. Thunderbird has strong filtering options that help reduce spam messages and dangerous links to a minimum.