Gmail has been dominating the email market thanks to its intuitive interface, near unlimited storage, and a wide range of free productivity tools. However, there are some serious concerns about how Google uses your emails and not everyone loves the Gmail interface, which is why you might want to explore some Gmail alternatives.
If you’ve been using Gmail for the past decade due to its user-friendliness, you might be surprised how much competitors have improved their services. For instance, many email providers offer a similar browser-based experience and a modern design these days. More importantly, they offer end-to-end encryption and take extra measures to ensure that all your correspondence is kept private.
In this article, we’ll discuss our top five Gmail alternatives that are free and secure. Let’s dive right in!
Best Gmail alternatives
Here are the five Gmail alternatives that we’ll be considering today. They each offer generous free plans and a secure experience, so the best option for you will depend on the storage you need and the integrations you’d like to use.
1. Zoho Mail
Our first recommendation is Zoho Mail, a feature-rich productivity platform for small businesses. One of its services is ad-free email, which is suitable for personal use, too.
Zoho Mail comes with a clean interface, which you can organize neatly with the streams feature. It enables you to add comments to your email threads, exchange files, and assign tasks, which can be useful if you want to use the platform professionally.
Both businesses and individual users will appreciate Zoho Mail’s calendar, notes, and bookmarks, which help keep your inbox more manageable. Those concerned with Gmail’s privacy issues can also rest assured, as Zoho Mail encrypts your messages.
Besides all that, Zoho Mail makes it super easy to set up a custom business email, so it’s an excellent option if you want to establish a more professional presence. However, note that you’ll only be able to access it through webmail or Zoho Mail’s dedicated mobile apps unless you upgrade.
⚙️ Features:
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Integrations with other Zoho products
- Access to 24/7 customer support
- Group accounts with user permissions
- End-to-end and S/MIME encryption
- Mobile app
- Migration tool
- Mail retention and backup
- Email recall
💵 Pricing: The ‘forever free’ plan is suitable for up to five users with 5 GB of storage per user, a 25 MB attachment limit, and email hosting for a single domain. If you’d like to access more storage and productivity tools, pricing starts from just $1 per user per month.
2. Mail.com
Next, we have Mail.com, a free Gmail alternative that gives you a choice of over 200 domains to suit your niche or personality. It’s an excellent option for freelancers who would like to look more professional without spending money on a custom domain.
For instance, you can set up an email like yourname@accountant.com that’s completely free. You can also choose something casual, such as yourname@catlover.com, if you prefer to use it for personal communication.
Mail.com also comes with powerful anti-virus tools to protect you from email-based threats. This provider ensures that its system scans for viruses only and that your email privacy is safe.
Furthermore, Mail.com offers a mail collecting service, making it easier to manage several accounts. This way, you can set up a central Mail.com account and coordinate all incoming communications, whether they’re from your business or personal email address.
Besides all that, Mail.com enables you to keep your inbox tidy, thanks to its intuitive dashboard. It also comes with an organizer tool and an online calendar to track your bookings and appointments.
⚙️ Features:
- Mobile web access
- Dedicated Android, iPhone, and iPad apps
- Generous attachment limit
- Spam filter
- Free cloud storage
- Chrome email notification
- Added security with 2-factor authentication (2FA)
- Search and filter functionality
💵 Pricing: You can use Mail.com for free, which gives you up to ten alias addresses and 2 GB of storage. There is also a premium option if you’d like to remove ads and send and receive your emails through a desktop client.
3. Outlook
If you’re already using Microsoft products, you might like our next recommendation. The free version of Outlook is a new, revamped incarnation of Hotmail, which integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft services.
In terms of integrations with other productivity and storage apps, Outlook is one of the best Gmail alternatives. For instance, you get extended storage space through OneDrive, a robust calendar with color-coding, and a task organizer. It also enables you to assign emails to categories, much like Gmail.
The interface is modern and easy to use, which Gmail users should adapt to almost immediately. Besides that, Outlook supports a generous attachment limit of up to 500 MB. You can use OneDrive to send larger files, too.
Outlook also prides itself on providing advanced security, which it claims is the same as its enterprise-level services. Therefore, you can rest assured the end-to-end encryption will keep your inbox and your messages private.
⚙️ Features:
- Contact syncing options
- Free access to Office 365 products (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
- Real-time chat via Skype
- Accessibility tools (voice-controlled navigation, support for assistive devices)
- Spam and malware filter
- Android and iOS apps
💵 Pricing: You can use Outlook for free, which gives you 15 GB of mailbox storage, an additional 5 GB of OneDrive storage, and free web versions of Office 365 apps.
You can also upgrade for $69.99 per year, which gives you an ad-free experience, advanced security options, more generous storage, and the ability to set up a custom domain.
4. Mailfence
Our next recommendation is Mailfence, a private email provider based in Belgium. Its services are heavily rooted in online security, so it’s an excellent option if you’re concerned about Gmail’s practices.
According to the Belgian privacy protection laws, only local jurisdiction can request your mail access, which happens under extremely rare circumstances. Therefore, Mailfence can guarantee no surveillance and no selling of your data to third parties, which is not a promise that most other providers can make.
Mailfence also uses OpenPGP encryption, which happens in the browser. You can also set up a password and even an expiry date for your messages. This way, no one but you will be able to read your communications, not even Mailfence.
Besides advanced security and privacy features, Mailfence gives you access to other essential tools. For instance, you can manage your appointments in a user-friendly calendar or store and edit documents in the cloud.
⚙️ Features:
- Easy contact imports
- Groups for secure data sharing
- Mobile access
- POPS, IMAPS, and SMTPS support
- OpenPGP key manager
- Digital signature
- No ads
💵 Pricing: You can use the webmail version of Mailfence for free. It includes 500 MB of storage, up to 500 MB document limit, support for one group, and two-factor authentication. If you need more storage and support for mobile apps and email clients, you can upgrade for €2.50 per month.
5. ProtonMail
Our final Gmail alternative is ProtonMail, another company that prides itself on its security practices. It was initially promoted as “the only email system the NSA can’t hack,” so rest assured your data will be in safe hands.
Similar to Mailfence, ProtonMail can guarantee your privacy, which is protected by strict European law. To secure your mail, the provider uses end-to-end and zero access encryption, which means not even the company can read your messages.
ProtonMail values your privacy so much that you can open an email account without giving out your personal information. All you need is your username and password, and an optional recovery email.
Besides all that, you can enjoy a modern inbox design and productivity tools that resemble the ones in Gmail. For instance, you can assign color-coded labels to organize your emails and star important messages. There is also a calendar in the works, though the beta version is currently only available to paid users.
⚙️ Features:
- Android and iOS apps
- Open-source code
- Biometric-secured data centers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance
- Self-destructing messages
- SSL certificates
💵 Pricing: You can use ProtonMail for free, which includes 500 MB storage and 150 messages a day. You can also upgrade for €4 per month to access more storage, premium customer support, and the ability to set up a custom domain.
Try one of these Gmail alternatives today
With the growing security concerns surrounding Google and its related services, more and more users are starting to move away from Gmail. Fortunately, many email providers have stepped up their game in terms of design and usability.
You can choose from several Gmail alternatives that provide similar experiences without compromising your privacy.
In this article, we’ve discussed five of the best Gmail alternatives. To recap, Zoho Mail and Outlook are excellent options with similar productivity tools and various integrations.
However, if you’re serious about your privacy, Mailfence and ProtonMail might be better choices.
On the other hand, if you want a free personalized email address, give Mail.com a try.
Do you have any questions about any of these Gmail alternatives? Let us know in the comments section below!
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