This review came about because I, like many other Mac users, downloaded Mail when I set up my Mac, thought it did a great job, sat…
And he started losing mail.
Not much, I didn’t even know I was losing anything until I lost a huge chunk of business because I didn’t reply to an email on time. This sent me running to my webmail to discover that Mail had left the offending email, plus two other messages, sitting comfortably inside a warm server. It’s a good product for sure, but I lost faith in Mail overnight (I’m that kind of person), and that led me to look for a different email client. One free, since I like to save as much money as I can for food and beer.
I also thought that if you were looking for a new email client, others might be too. I hope this saves you some time and effort that you could profitably spend elsewhere. Here they are, in no particular order of importance or effectiveness.
gyazmail
New and built from the ground up for Mac OSX, it’s beautiful and fast for retrieving email. It’s fully featured to the nth degree, offering POP/IMAP and SMTP support, message templates, and much more. Except spam filtering. He uses Spamsieve for this, and while this is probably the best spam filter out there, it’s free to try, but it will cost you thirty bucks if you want the real deal. So for me, I’ll pass, which is a shame because otherwise it ticks all the boxes.
express mailbox
The free little sister to the amazing Postbox, this is a new kid on the block with real promise. Blazing-fast search and retrieval, actionable search results, intuitive conversation views, tabbed email browsing, lightning-fast archiving, and easy tagging for all of her messages. Integrates address book, ical and iphoto exchange. All in all, a very worthy newcomer.
Opera
Not just an email client, but also a lightning-fast web browser, all in one package. Its email feature is well supported with a slick user interface, with a nice “quick reply” feature that lets you reply without opening a full compose window. POP/IMAP and RSS are supported, but secure message encryption is unfortunately not supported. However, it’s still a powerful all-round package.
thunder bird
One of the largest beasts in the jungle that stands out for its ability to communicate between platforms. Fully featured, TB has hands down the easiest setup wizard and account wizard out there. Developed by the Mozilla team and originally intended to be included in the Firefox browser (to rival Opera), it proved to be too feature-rich for a mere add-on. Its Windows ancestry doesn’t help its user interface, which isn’t all that pretty.
mailman
It used to be a paid app, but now it’s free. Pretty basic in what it offers, and again you need Spamsieve to ensure a spam-free life. A nice and fast interface, but it seems that the developer is shying away from iIMAP support.
marmono
Like Opera, SM is a combined web browser and email client, and while the browser is great, the email client suffers because it doesn’t offer an index-based search feature, and trust me, the mail filter doesn’t. desired when it is running it takes your ram. and grabs it tight. Otherwise it looks good and would be fine for a non-advanced user.
gnummail
If it came to looks, this app would win hands down, definitely best UI out there by a country mile, and the functionality is fine if you only manage one or two accounts at home. He is not hungry for a ram and has all the security he needs. However, look elsewhere if you have multiple accounts receiving hundreds of emails every day. At best, sitting at home or at the laptop waiting to receive the mail from the postman. Gmail Browser If you use Gmail, it’s a real ‘must’. A standalone barebones browser that does nothing more than give you access to all your Gmail accounts in one area. Just open it and leave it. Very cool app.
The honorable mention goes to…
Growl and GrowlMail plugins
If you haven’t downloaded Growl yet, you should. Once installed, you’ll be informed when your browser download has finished, you’ve received new mail, a new instant message, iTunes has just started playing a tune, and even if your laptop’s battery is running low. Really comforting to know that it is running quietly in the background.
You’ll love the way notifications appear and disappear silently. If you decide to stick with Apple Mail, these two are a must.
Ok, so there you have it, they are all free to download and use, and the perfect way to pass the time while you make up your mind. I hope this short review will help you choose the right one for you.