Airmail alternatives for Mac: email apps compared
Updated November 2026
Airmail is a flexible Mac mail app with rules, custom actions and room for almost any kind of account. People look elsewhere mostly because of the price: Airmail Pro now costs $49.99 a year on the Mac, and in September 2026 subscribers who had paid $9.99 a year were told it was going up to that. Recent reviews also mention upgrade prompts, bugs and slow support. Apple Mail is free and works with the same accounts, Spark and Canary have free plans, and Mimestream and Lambda Mail are made for Gmail.
What Airmail does well
- Almost any account: Gmail, iCloud, Exchange, Office 365, Outlook, IMAP and POP3, plus local accounts that live only on your Mac.
- Your own workflow: rules, custom actions, swipe and toolbar actions, AppleScript and Shortcuts.
- The everyday tools: a unified inbox, a Smart Inbox, snooze, send later, templates, and a Privacy Mode that blocks tracking pixels.
- Mac and iPhone: settings, signatures and rules sync through iCloud, and the iPhone app averages 4.25 stars from 4,588 US ratings.
Airmail is made by Bloop, an Italian company, and Airmail 3 won an Apple Design Award in 2017. It still gets frequent updates: version 27.0.2 came out on October 19, 2026.
Why people look elsewhere
- The price: Pro now costs $49.99 a year or $7.99 a month on the Mac App Store, with a separate AI Composer at $4.99, or $14.99 a month. Subscribers who had paid $9.99 a year got notice of the new price in September 2026. The free version works with one account.
- Prompts and bugs: of the 50 most recent US reviews of Airmail's iPhone and iPad app, from June 30 to October 26, 2026, 37 gave one or two stars. Most were about the new price, repeated Pro prompts, bugs after updates and slow answers from support. The Mac app has no US ratings yet.
- Servers: Airmail works on your mail on your device, but to send later or snooze a message, it keeps your login on its servers until the job is done, according to its privacy policy. Our guide Which Mac email apps keep your mail on their servers? compares the apps.
The alternatives
| App | Price | Accounts | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Mail | Free with every Mac | Any | Every account in one free app, with rules, send later and undo send built in |
| Spark | Free; Plus $99 a year; Pro $199 a year | Most providers | A Smart Inbox, snooze and send later on Mac, iPhone, Android and Windows, with AI on the paid plans |
| Canary | Free; Growth $36 a year; Pro+ $100 a year | Most providers | A unified inbox, snooze and templates on the free plan, AI and send later on Growth |
| Outlook for Mac | Free | Most providers | People who also use Microsoft accounts; it syncs other accounts through Microsoft's cloud unless you choose otherwise |
| Mimestream | $49.99 a year or $4.99 a month | Gmail and Google Workspace | The most complete native Gmail app, with snooze, undo send and templates |
| MailMate | $10 every three months | IMAP accounts | Keyboard lovers and people who live in rules and searches |
| Thunderbird | Free | Most providers | Free and open source, with many add-ons |
| Lambda Mail | Free during the beta, then $2.99 a month, $24.99 a year or $59.99 once | Gmail and Google Workspace | Making Gmail look and feel your way, with no servers and no AI |
Airmail's prices from its Mac App Store listing, read November 2, 2026; the others from each app's pricing page or Mac App Store listing, read October 29, 2026. Some lists of Airmail alternatives still name Postbox, which shut down in October 2024. For Spark and Mimestream in more depth, see Spark alternatives and Mimestream alternatives.
Before you leave Airmail
- Finish what's waiting. Send Later and Snooze run through Airmail's servers, so send any scheduled emails and bring back snoozed ones before you go.
- Your mail stays put. Mail in Gmail, iCloud, Exchange and IMAP accounts stays with your provider, and your new app downloads it again. Local accounts live only on your Mac, so move their mail first.
- Write down what you built. Rules, signatures and templates don't export to other apps.
- Cancel the subscription. Deleting the app doesn't cancel it. On a Mac, open the App Store, click your name, then Subscriptions, and choose Cancel Subscription.
- Remove your data. Airmail's data removal page takes requests to delete what its services keep.
- Revoke its access. For Gmail, open your Google Account's third-party connections and remove Airmail.
Where Lambda Mail fits
We make Lambda Mail, so take this as our side of the story, kept to facts. It isn't a replacement for everything Airmail does: it works with Gmail and Google Workspace only, it's on the Mac only, and it has no rules, snooze, send later or templates. If you need those, Apple Mail, Canary or MailMate is closer. What it does instead:
- Made your way: seven themes, every color for light and dark, 15 fonts, three densities, text size and a Liquid Glass sidebar.
- A native Mac app: built with Apple's own tools, with the Mac's menus, shortcuts, Quick Look and notifications.
- Gmail as Gmail: labels you can color, archive that works, Gmail's search, and several accounts with All Inboxes.
- Attachments at the bottom, and a library of every file you've sent or received.
- No servers and no AI: your mail goes from Google to your Mac, and your login stays in your Keychain. There's no Lambda account to create.
Lambda Mail works on macOS 14 and later, and the beta is free.
More guides
Sources: Airmail's Mac App Store listing, version history and in-app purchases, read November 2, 2026; reviews of the iPhone and iPad app from Apple's public review feed, read November 2, 2026; airmailapp.com; Airmail's privacy policy (October 3, 2026) and uninstall guide (May 8, 2026); Michael Tsai, Airmail 26.037 (September 21, 2026) and Postbox Discontinued (October 24, 2024); Wikipedia, Airmail (email client); Apple, Cancel a subscription from Apple; pricing pages of Spark, Canary, Mimestream and MailMate, read October 29, 2026; Microsoft, Outlook for Mac and Microsoft Cloud; Thunderbird.