What is Spark?
Spark is a powerful email client designed to streamline email management and collaboration. It offers features like smart inbox, customizable notifications, email scheduling, and team collaboration tools. Spark’s intuitive interface, advanced search capabilities, and integrations with productivity apps make it an ideal choice for individuals and teams aiming for efficient email communication. It helps you filter out the noise and reduce inbox overwhelm.
💡 Many users choose Spark because of its focus on email productivity and organization. It offers modern features like a smart inbox that automatically categorizes emails and an AI email assistant that helps users write emails in less time.
Still, as with any other email client, Spark Mail has some flaws that make users want to look for a more suitable alternative. If that’s you, this article will help you find a suitable Spark alternative. We’ll review the 10 best alternatives to Spark Mail with their features, pros, and cons.
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Why Do You Need a Spark Alternative?
(Hint: User Experience 🤝)
Spark Mail is an email client application founded by Readdle in 2015. It’s a collaborative email app that can help you streamline your inbox and achieve the coveted “inbox zero.” With Spark, you can organize your emails based on priority, set reminders, and even collaborate with others on email threads.
Many users choose Spark for its intuitive user experience (UX) and modern email productivity features. However, recent changes, including a pricing increase and a shift to a subscription model, have led to dissatisfaction among users.
Many users have expressed confusion and frustration over the new pricing structure and criticized Spark’s recent interface changes.
Here are a few reasons why you may need an alternative to Spark:
- Spark’s user experience is poor: Although Spark offers an extensive feature suite, the user experience isn’t very intuitive and can be frustrating for many users.
- Spark can be clunky: Some Spark users have experienced frequent bugs in the app functionality after the latest update, which slowed down its performance.
- Spark may not be suitable for personal use: Although Spark offers a free plan tailored for individuals, its main strengths lie in its team collaboration features.
🛠️ Spark Features
Spark’s core feature is its smart inbox that automatically places new emails into personal, newsletter, and notification categories. Here are some of Spark’s main features for easy email management:
- Smart inbox
- AI-powered email assistant
- A unified inbox for multiple email accounts
- Smart search
- Accept or block incoming email accounts
- Group by sender
- Done marker for completed emails
- Mute threads
- Snooze emails
- Follow-up reminders
👍🏻 Pros:
- Easy to use and intuitive interface
- Handy features for email organization and management
- Integrates with task management tools like Asana and Slack
- Includes features for team collaboration, such as shared drafts and comments
👎🏻 Cons:
- Slow loading at times
- The app may be confusing to navigate
- May not be suitable for individual use
💰 Spark Pricing
Spark is free for personal use with limited features. Its paid plans start at $4.99 per month (billed annually).
💬 Spark Reviews
Capterra Rating: 5/5
G2 Rating: N/A
Top 10 User-Friendly Spark Alternatives
If you’re using Spark Mail as your primary email client, you might have chosen it because of its focus on email productivity and the ability to help you achieve “inbox zero,” which can be truly challenging for many people.
But even though Spark Mail offers a robust suite of features focused on email organization and team collaboration, you may find it too slow, clunky, and confusing to navigate.
Here are the top 10 Spark alternatives for a more user-friendly and seamless email experience. If you don’t want to or don’t have the time to read it all, skip ahead to the comparative table at the bottom of the article.
1. Canary Mail – Best Spark Mail Alternative Overall
Canary Mail is the most advanced and secure email client on the market, which focuses on streamlining the email management process with modern features like an AI email writer, read receipts, and an email snooze option.
Aside from that, Canary Mail is known for its robust security features, including end-to-end encryption, which ensures that your emails remain private and secure.
Although Spark offers a similar feature suite focused on email productivity, Canary Mail is more advanced and offers a more intuitive and easy-to-navigate user experience, making it the best AI email assistant.
🛠️ Canary Mail Features
All in all, Canary Mail, as an app for all email accounts, helps you stay organized and productive while ensuring that no critical updates go unseen, thanks to the list of its unique features, such as:
- AI-based features, including an AI email writer
- One-click unsubscribes
- Push notifications for important emails
- Email snooze option
- Read receipts
- Compatible with all major email services
- Impersonation detection
- Biometric app lock
👍🏻 Pros:
- AI-based features for writing and managing emails
- Robust security features, like PGP and end-to-end encryption
- Modern and intuitive interface
- 28-day free trial
👎🏻 Cons:
- It may take time to learn
- Some might find the AI suggestions either too intrusive or unnecessary
💰 Canary Mail Pricing
Canary Mail offers a free forever plan for personal use. Our paid plans start at $49 per year.
💬 Canary Mail Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.7/5
G2 Rating: 4.4/5
2. Airmail – Best for Sleek Interface & Design
Airmail is an email client designed specifically for iOS, macOS, and watchOS and can be used on all Apple devices. Its interface is indeed reminiscent of Apple’s aesthetics through its sleek design and fast speed.
Unlike Apple Mail, Airmail offers extensive customization options, allowing users greater control over their email experience.
What’s more, Airmail allows users to add and manage multiple email accounts, like Gmail, iCloud Mail, Exchange, Microsoft Outlook, IMAP, and POP3, and it integrates with various productivity and task management apps.
🛠️Airmail Features
Airmail boasts a range of powerful features, including:
- A unified inbox
- Smart folders for efficient organization
- Customizable swipe actions
- Integrations with popular productivity apps
- Undo send function
- Email snooze function
- A built-in calendar
- Automatic newsletter filtering
- Privacy mode
👍🏻 Pros:
- Works with all primary email providers
- Security with Face and Touch ID
- Syncs with iCloud across all Apple devices
- Uses Siri shortcuts to send emails
- Integrates with apps like Todoist, OmniFocus, Fantastical, Calendar 5,Dropbox, and OneDrive
👎🏻 Cons:
- Can only be used by Apple users
- Interface may not be very intuitive for some users
💰 Airmail Pricing
Airmail is generally free to use on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, but it has limited features. If you want access to more advanced features, Airmail Pro subscription for $9.99 monthly or $29.99 yearly. Prices may vary based on your region.
💬 Airmail Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.6/5
G2 Rating: 3.6/5
3. Edison Mail – Best Multi-Email Spark Alternative
Edison Mail is a multi-email app that lets you combine all of your inboxes in one place, whether it’s Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and more.
Aside from email productivity, Edison Mail focuses on providing its users with a lightning-fast and uninterrupted user experience.
Unlike Spark, Edison Mail promises no outages, crashes, or delays in email delivery. What’s more, it’s completely free to download on either one of your devices and isn’t supported by ads.
🛠️ Edison Mail Features
Edison Mail focuses on creating a smart and efficient email experience for users who are looking to combine all their inboxes in one place. Here are some of Edison Mail’s core features:
- Unified inbox for multiple email accounts
- Fast email fetching
- Email tracking pixel blocking
- Customizable swipe options
- Easy unsubscribe feature
- Focused inbox and pinned messages
- Undo send option
- Custom snooze times for emails
- Contact management
- Sender blocking
- Customizable widgets for the home screen
- AI-based email concierge service
👍🏻 Pros:
- Can support up to 20 different email accounts
- Tools to reduce email overload
- Comes with AI capabilities
- Completely free to use
👎🏻 Cons:
- Not available for Windows
- No web app
💰 Edison Mail Pricing
Edison Mail is free to download and use on macOS, iOS, and Android.
💬 Edison Mail Reviews
Capterra Rating: N/A
G2 Rating: N/A
4. Mimestream – Best macOS Email Client for Gmail
Mimestream is a native macOS email client for Gmail that allows users to connect multiple Gmail accounts in one place. It uses the Gmail API to provide Gmail users with a lightning-fast email experience and streamline their email-related tasks.
If you’re relying on multiple Gmail accounts for your email communication and using a Mac, Mimestream may be a great option for you. Still, it’s important to note that its feature suite is pretty basic, and if you don’t use a Mac or Gmail, you won’t be able to benefit from Mimestream.
🛠️ Mimestream Features
Mimestream focuses on making your Gmail experience smarter and more efficient with features like:
- A unified inbox for multiple Gmail accounts
- Integration with Gmail’s API
- Inbox categorization
- Full support for Gmail labels
- Gmail aliases
- Email templates
- Calendar invitations responses
- Gmail-backed search capabilities
- Email tracker prevention
- Email snooze option
- Vacation responses
- Focus filters
- Customizable notification schedules
👍🏻 Pros:
- Full feature suite for a smart Gmail experience
- Support unlimited Gmail accounts
- Direct connection through Gmail’s API
- Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
👎🏻 Cons:
- Only for Gmail users
- Only for macOS users
- Pretty basic in its functionality
- No free plan
💰 Mimestream Pricing
Mimestream offers a subscription plan for individuals either at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. It also offers a group plan for teams and organizations with pricing adjusted to the number of users.
💬 Mimestream Reviews
Capterra Rating: N/A
G2 Rating: N/A
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5. Microsoft Outlook – Best for Microsoft Office 365 Users
Outlook is a free email provider by Microsoft that seamlessly integrates with other apps from the Microsoft Office 365 suite. Microsoft Outlook is more than an inbox. It brings together email, calendar, contacts, attachments, and more.
If you’re already using tools from the Microsoft Office 365 suite or plan on doing so, Outlook will be a great Spark alternative. However, Spark and Microsoft Outlook offer a very different experience, with Spark focusing on email productivity and Outlook providing a full tool suite to go with your email.
🛠️ Outlook Features
Outlook supports multiple accounts, and its built-in analytic engine automatically prioritizes important emails based on your communication patterns. Aside from that, it offers other handy features like:
- Scheduling emails
- Do Not Disturb settings
- A focused inbox to prioritize important emails
- Quick swipe controls
- Smart folders
👍🏻 Pros:
- Seamless integration with the Office 365 suite
- Email and calendar apps are completely free
- Available for Windows, Mac, web and mobile
- Enterprise-grade security
👎🏻 Cons:
- Some users may find the interface less intuitive compared to other email apps
- The search function could be improved, as some users report difficulties in finding specific emails
💰 Outlook Pricing
Outlook is free to use. However, it has multiple plans for the Microsoft 365 subscription, starting at $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year.
💬 Outlook Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.5/5
G2 Rating: 4.5/5
6. Missive – Best Spark Alternative for Teams
Missive is a collaborative email platform designed specifically for teams who need to work together on email communications. Unlike traditional email clients that focus on individual productivity, Missive transforms email into a shared workspace where team members can collaborate, assign conversations, and manage customer communications collectively.
Built with modern teams in mind, Missive combines email management with powerful automations and real-time collaboration features, making it an excellent Spark alternative for businesses that need teamwork and transparency in their workflows.
Missive supports all email providers and is available across all platforms including web, desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux), and mobile (iOS, Android).
🛠️ Missive Features
Missive offers deep email collaboration features, including:
- Shared inboxes for team email management
- Internal chat on emails and collaborative drafting
- Powerful automation system, supercharged with AI
- Unified inbox that support email, WhatsApp, SMS, live chat, etc
- Task management built-in, and integrations with Asana and ClickUp
- Calendar management
👍🏻 Pros:
- Excellent for team collaboration with shared inboxes and internal chat
- Powerful and flexible automations that can leverage AI
- Clean, modern interface that’s still familiar
- Many integrations available, including access to their own API
- Available across all platforms including mobile and web
- Snooze functionality supports natural language (i.e. Next Thursday)
👎🏻 Cons:
- May be overkill for individual users
- Learning curve for teams transitioning from traditional email clients
- Some advanced features (i.e. Analytics) require higher-tier plans
💰 Missive Pricing
Missive offers a free plan for up to 3 users. Paid plans start at $14 per user per month (billed annually) for the Starter plan, with a Productive plan at $24 per user per month.
💬 Thunderbird Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.9/5
G2 Rating: 4.7/5
7. Mailbird – Best Spark Alternative for Windows
Mailbird is a desktop-based email client designed specifically for Windows that integrates with a multitude of other apps, including social media platforms, task management apps, and messaging services.
Mailbird’s main strength is that it offers a unified inbox to manage all your email accounts in one place. Aside from that, it also comes with a set of features focused on email productivity, as well as AI capabilities and speed reading technology.
🛠️ Mailbird Features
Mailbird stands out with its elegant design and support for various email providers. Aside from that, the app offers a range of handy features, such as:
- Customizable email workspaces & templates
- Native calendar app
- AI-powered email authoring
- Centralized email management
- Message snoozing
- Speed reading technology
- Attachment search
- Multilanguage support
👍🏻 Pros:
- Seamless integration with a wide range of apps, including WhatsApp, Twitter, Dropbox, and more.
- Customizable layout and appearance to suit your personal preferences.
- Supports multiple accounts and offers a unified inbox.
- Integrates with various email providers, such as Gmail and Outlook.
👎🏻 Cons:
- It’s a desktop client, so there’s no mobile app available.
- Some advanced features are only available in the paid version.
- Works only on Windows
💰 Mailbird Pricing
Mailbird is free to download and use. It has two paid plans: the Standard Pay Once plan at $99 and the Premium Pay Once plan at $399. Both plans give you lifetime access to Mailbird’s premium features.
💬 Mailbird Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.4/5
G2 Rating: 3.8/5
8. Thunderbird – Best Open-Source Email Client
Thunderbird is a free, open-source email client developed by Mozilla. Although its interface looks a bit outdated, Thunderbird can be a great alternative to Spark Mail if you’re looking for a highly customizable, open-source, and free email client.
Developed by a community of volunteers, Thunderbird provides a range of add-ons and customization options to adapt to your specific email management requirements.
Thunderbird is available for download in multiple languages on all operating systems, including macOS, Windows, and Linux.
🛠️ Thunderbird Features
Thunderbird offers a range of features, such as:
- An integrated calendar
- Task management options
- A large library of add-ons for additional functionality
- Tag feature for easy organization
- A unified inbox to manage multiple email accounts
👍🏻 Pros:
- Open-source and fully customizable with a wide range of add-ons
- Integrated calendar and task management features
- Strong privacy and security features, including automatic encryption
- It supports POP and IMAP protocols
- Available to download for Windows, Mac, and Linux
👎🏻 Cons:
- The interface can feel outdated compared to other modern email clients
- Some users report that it can be slow and resource-intensive
- No mobile app
- Can’t be used as a web app
💰 Thunderbird Pricing
Thunderbird is free to download and use, being an open-source project. While the app is free forever, users can donate a desired amount to its creators.
💬 Thunderbird Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.5/5
G2 Rating: 4.3/5
9. Spike – Best for a Chat-Like Email Experience
Spike isn’t an email client, per se. Rather, it’s a team communication app that brings together various communication channels into one platform, creating an instant messaging-like experience.
Spike’s email app focuses on transforming your email experience from long and messy email threads into organized chat conversations. The email app is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and the web.
🛠️ Spike Features
Spike’s email app offers a conversational, chat-like email with management features like calendars, notes, and tasks. Here are some of Spike’s main features:
- Unified inbox
- Video and audio calls
- Search history
- Spike Magic AI feature
- Message read indicator
- Voice messages
- Available on mobile, desktop & web
👍🏻 Pros:
- Conversational, instant-messaging-like format
- Built-in notes and tasks within the inbox
- Supports video and audio calls
- AI features
👎🏻 Cons:
- Slow syncing and occasional glitches
- User interface may be confusing
- Limitations in search functionality
💰 Spike Pricing
Spike offers a free version with limited features. Its paid plans for email users start at $5 per user per month (billed annually).
💬 Spike Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.7/5
G2 Rating: 4.6/5
10. BlueMail – Best All-in-One Messaging Platform
BlueMail is a cross-platform email client that offers a unified inbox experience across various email services and accounts, making it an excellent alternative for users who juggle multiple email addresses.
With BlueMail, users can connect unlimited email accounts in one place, making it easier to stay organized and improve productivity. What’s more, BlueMail comes with an AI email assistant (GemAI) to help users write and summarize emails faster.
BlueMail is compatible and available for download on any operating system, including macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and Huawei.
🛠️BlueMail Features
BlueMail focuses on helping users improve their productivity and efficiency when managing their inboxes. Here are some of its core features:
- GemAI email assistant
- Integrated calendar
- Smart push notifications
- Unified folders
- Smart email clusters
- Unified inbox for unlimited accounts
- MagicSync (backup, restore, and transfer accounts between devices)
- Task board for your emails
- One-click unsubscribe
👍🏻 Pros:
- Ad-free, even on the free plan
- Support any protocol, including IMAP, SMTP, Exchange ActiveSync, EWS, and POP3
- Solid privacy and security features
- Compatible with Android Wear and Apple Watch
👎🏻 Cons:
- Third-party integrations available only on paid plans
- Priority support available only on paid plans
- AI-driven features available only on paid plans
💰 BlueMail Pricing
Bluemail offers a free forever plan. Its paid plans start at $5 per user per month or $49 per user per year.
💬 BlueMail Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.4/5
G2 Rating: 4.3/5
11. Aqua Mail – Best for Inbox Customization
Aqua Mail is a highly customizable email app for Android and iOS that focuses on creating a smart, customizable, and secure email experience for mobile devices. Essentially, Aqua Mail allows you to connect and manage all your email accounts from any provider in one universal mobile email app.
With its privacy-first approach, Aqua Mail doesn’t collect or store your personal data, email content, or passwords. If privacy is your major concern, Aqua Mail can be a great Spark alternative for you.
🛠️ Aqua Mail Features
AquaMail’s main focus lies on the security and privacy of your emails. But aside from its excellent security features, it also comes with other benefits, such as:
- Multiple email accounts
- Sync contacts and calendar
- Push mail
- Open and save EML files
- Rich-text editor
- Intuitive home screen widgets
- Priority notifications
- Save as PDF
- Custom file picker
- Access control
👍🏻 Pros:
- Automatic setup for Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, FastMail, Apple, GMX, EWS, and AOL
- Customizable with over 300 settings
- Available in 20 languages
- Strong email privacy and security features
👎🏻 Cons:
- Only one signature per account
- Some users report bugs
💰 Aqua Mail Pricing
Aqua Mail is free to download and use on Android and iOS. If you want to unlock premium features, you can purchase Aqua Mail Pro for a one-time fee of $19.99.
💬 Aqua Mail Reviews
Capterra Rating: N/A
G2 Rating: N/A
Best Alternatives to Spark Mail, a Comparative Table
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Alternative to Spark Mail, the Bottom Line
Spark Mail is a great email client for those looking to optimize their email workflows with smart email organization features and AI capabilities. It’s also a great option for teams looking to collaborate over emails.
However, many Spark users begin to search for alternatives because of Spark’s poor user experience, slow interface, and frequent bugs and crashes. Luckily, there are many options to choose from if you’re looking for a Spark alternative.
Whether you’re searching for a modern email client with AI capabilities like Canary Mail or something more specific to your needs like Mimestream, there’s an email client out there that’s perfect for you.
Spark Alternative, the FAQs
What should I prioritize when evaluating replacements?
Focus on unified inbox and fast search, rules by account, Undo Send + scheduled send, and privacy controls. If you manage many inboxes, start with the best email app for multiple accounts.
Can I really “unsend” emails after I switch?
You typically get a brief Undo Send window (10–30s). After delivery, true “unsend” is rare. Learn safer workflows in Can you delete an email you sent?
Are read receipts a reliable way to measure engagement?
Not really. Privacy features and blocked images make “opens” noisy. Measure click-through and replies instead. See Read receipts on Mac and our email read receipts guide.
Will my setup work well on iPhone too?
Aim for feature parity: Undo Send, scheduled send, and notification controls should match your Mac setup so mobile replies don’t regress. For iOS-specific limits, see Can you delete an email you sent?
Is Outlook a good replacement?
Yes—robust rules, calendar/tasks, and cross-platform apps. Compare it alongside others using the checklist above, and consult desktop comparisons like Apple Mail vs iCloud Mail and Apple Mail vs Thunderbird.