Alternatives to Gmail and Outlook
Email you can take with you, from providers that are not selling your attention.
Ranked by score out of 30, most convivial first.
Thunderbird
A free email, calendar and contacts app that works with any mail provider.
Ferdium
Puts your email and messaging accounts in one desktop app.
Proton Mail
Encrypted email from a Swiss company, with a free plan and paid upgrades.
Tuta
Encrypted email, calendar and contacts from a German company.
For comparison
The big names these tools are measured against. We review them as benchmarks, so they sit outside the directory.
About these tools
Email is the one messaging system nobody owns, and Gmail has quietly turned it into a Google account. Thunderbird is a free app that works with the mail you already have and keeps a copy on your computer, so you can leave a provider without losing your archive. {proton-mail} and Tuta are encrypted mail services from European companies that say they are paid for by subscribers, not advertising.
The first fixes how you read mail and the other two fix where it lives, and you can use both. Ferdium takes a different route and puts your email and chat accounts in one desktop window, which does not replace Gmail or Outlook but makes them easier to live with.
How to choose
Start with whether you can leave: a service that speaks standard mail protocols lets you move your archive, and one that does not locks you in a little. Then look at who pays for the service, and whether you want your own domain, so your address survives any change of provider.
Frequently asked questions
What is a private alternative to Gmail?
{proton-mail} and Tuta are encrypted email services with free plans, and both say they do not use ads.
Can I leave Gmail and keep my emails?
Yes. Use an app like Thunderbird to download your mail over IMAP, then move it to a new provider. A domain of your own makes the next move easy.
Can I read all my email and chat accounts in one place?
Ferdium gathers your email and messaging accounts, including WhatsApp and Slack, in one desktop app, so you manage them side by side.
Is there a free email app that isn't Outlook?
Thunderbird is free, open source and handles mail, calendar and contacts for any provider.