In term of email client, Microsoft Outlook is the most popular one around. It is widely used in both home and office because of its deep integration with Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft Windows and of course, Microsoft Exchange. However, being popular doesn’t mean it is the best. There are several alternative email clients that have the same, or even better, functionality than Outlook. Let’s take a look.
1. Mozilla Thunderbird
The first and the most popular alternative is Thunderbird, the open-source email client from Mozilla. It is the best when it comes to speed and flexibility. It can expand its usability through plugins and add-ons like Firefox. That’s why most Firefox user will feel easier to work with Thunderbird.
Thunderbird supports all popular protocols including POP, IMAP and SMTP. Another advantage of Thunderbird is that it is available in all platforms while Microsoft Outlook is only available for Windows (and now on Mac OS X too).
One advantage of Thunderbird over Microsoft Outlook which I have personally seen is the use of IMAP. While Microsoft has done some work in this area in Microsoft Outlook 2010, Outlook still tends to hang and become unresponsive if using an IMAP account connection, Thunderbird prospers in this area and works very fast even with IMAP. If you prefer IMAP to access your email, Thunderbird is the best alternative with lots of other features and extensions.
Latest version of Thunderbird can be downloaded from Mozilla Messaging.
2. Zimbra Desktop
Zimbra Desktop is my personal favorite and I have, as a consultant, recommended and implemented it in many offices. Zimbra collaboration suite is an Open-Source competitor to Microsoft Exchange and Zimbra Desktop is an email client just like Microsoft Outlook. The strongest features of Zimbra Desktop is its ease of use and an elegant user interface. I usually work with IMAP when I’m not using Microsoft Exchange and Zimbra Desktop works like I’m working locally with email, such is the speed of Zimbra Desktop even with IMAP which no one can beat until now.
Zimbra Desktop has an auto-configure feature for Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Hotmail and AOL which makes it a snap to configure an account on Zimbra Desktop if you’re using one of these email services. It also includes a work offline feature which will automatically cache all your email locally so that you will be able to access your email even when you’re offline. This feature works with IMAP protocol which makes Zimbra Desktop the winner in the IMAP usage race.
Another feature of Zimbra Desktop that I like and use a lot is the conversation view. You can view all the email in a single email view like in Yahoo or Hotmail or you can combine the email in a single conversation view which makes it very easy to track and see the conversation going on previously with the same person. This feature is available in Gmail by default.
The new version of Zimbra Desktop also combines the social element with email by providing access to all your social accounts in one place. The supported social platforms include Twitter, Facebook, Digg etc.
Zimbra Desktop can be downloaded from Zimbra website.
3. IncrediMail
IncrediMail is rather a fun alternative to Microsoft Outlook. It provides a fun way of sending and checking email by providing a colorful experience. It provides all the features of a standard email client including POP, IMAP and SMTP but in addition to this, provides features like colorful and photo backgrounds while composing emails, email notifiers which are animated characters notifying you about a newly received email, incredibly high quality emotions making your email more attractive and fun.
IncrediMail also includes a feature called PhotoMail Maker which will allow you to add your personal photos as email backgrounds.
One disadvantage of IncrediMail is that it will force you to change your browser homepage and search provider to IncrediMail’s one. If you’re using Internet Explorer 9, it will warn you that some software wants to change your search provider. Just click on “Don’t Change” which will be fine if you don’t want to change your search provider in Internet Explorer.
4. Opera Mail
If you’re using Opera as your default browser, Opera Mail provides a very good alternative to any email client as it integrates the mail client right inside the Opera Browser. You can configure Opera Mail easily and there’s no need to open a separate email client. Your email will arrive and show up in Opera browser.
Opera also gives access to offline mail access feature so that you can browse your email even when you’re not connected to the Internet. It also uses a low bandwidth mode which comes in very handy when you’re using a slow Internet connection and especially while travelling. Opera Mail fetches only necessary information on low bandwidth mode.
Opera Mail also integrates a smart spam filter which will block all the spam email. It works in background and doesn’t bother you.
I especially like the organization features of Opera Mail. We can sort the mail the way we want. Getting only unread mail is easier than ever in Opera Mail. While Gmail introduced labels instead of folders, Opera Mail goes a step further by auto-learning feature. Now labels can learn how you interact with them.
Opera browser can be downloaded from Opera website. You can configure mail by going to the menu and selecting Mail and Chat accounts.
5. emClient
emClient is another great email client and a competitor to Microsoft Outlook. The new version of emClient has been specifically designed for running on Windows Vista and Windows 7. It is free for home use while you’ll have to pay for the service if you’re a business user. It supports all the popular free email services like Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail. It can also import settings and email from other email clients like Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird.
I especially like its search feature. It’s very quick and finds anything within the inbox instantly. Other standard features are also included that are by default in Outlook like tagging for messages, signatures and templates, email rules. It even includes translation service directly inside the inbox which makes it very easy to read the mails if you’re getting mails in different languages.
Besides email, emClient supports other collaboration and organization features like Calendaring, Instant messaging, Contacts organization etc. emClient can be downloaded here.
While there are many other alternatives, I have only discussed best five of them in my opinion. You can share your top choices through comments below.
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Outlook is a lot more than email and most of those (except Thunderbird + Sunbird) can’t do all of that seamlessly.
Gmail or Zoho are probably closer than any of the ones that you mentioned. Email, Contacts, Calendar, plus To-Do’s.
Are you clinically insane? What kind of an idiot would use IncrediMail?
Just because you don’t use it doesn’t mean others shouldn’t try it and find out for themselves what it’s like. Your opinion isn’t the be all and end all.
True. But a lot of people like to be warned about these types of things. I don’t think this guy just woke up and said “I gotta smear someone! …INCREDIMAIL!”
Probably he’s upset because there really are problems with the service.
Sorry I wouldn’t be defensive except every time I’ve posted a negative review on a tech website of any sort some other guy has come on and belittled me and suggested that I’m somehow so stupid that I just used it wrong.
Probably true some of the time but I don’t believe that I was too stupid to use Facebook or Google+, I just think they suck and serve no function except time wasting. (Good luck to everyone who’s trying to social network their way to a job! I’ll stick with the Master’s degrees and PhDs!)
But I digress.
To all angry consumers: keep criticizing! I want to know what not to use or buy!
I agree. As an IT professional I have had to deal with the frustrations caused by IncrediMail many times. It has brought well performing PCs to a crawl. It is incredibly (pun intended) difficult to uninstall and getting your data exported from it is a PITA. This article lost all credibility to me when I saw his app as a recommendation.
@VitaminCM:disqus You’re right but I have listed the alternatives with respect to the primary function of outlook, email handling. Not everyone can afford Outlook though.
@vancedecker:disqus I have seen people using IncrediMail. If it’s not your choice, just leave it but don’t get annoyed over its listing.
I’m not a fan of Microsoft, but none of listed email clients is alternative for Microsoft Oulook. They are alternatives for Outlook Express.
why not actually look at the products mentioned before you criticise. I have used EM client for 12 months now and the latest release is every bit as good as Outlook without all the clutter.
Totally agreed. Some of my clients are using EM Client and they don’t want to go back to Outlook now!
Ferrum is correct. None of the above reviews suggest support for Exchange, which is the whole point of MS Outlook. And no, IMAP does not count.
Ferrum is NOT correct, just because the review doesn’t suggest support for Exchange doesn’t mean it doesn’t support Exchange. People should get their facts right before making statements. Oh, and Zimbra DOES support Exchange, rather well I might add.
Zimbra Server has a connector for Outlook. Zimbra Desktop doesn’t have a connector for Exchange. If you find the way to connect Zimbra Desktop with Exchange in order to sync Calendar and Contacts, please, share it with us
Yes these are alternatives to Outlook as an email client offering different features whether less or more than Outlook features. Zimbra Desktop, by the way, can be used to connect with Exchange Server.
Exactly ,not a microsoft lover but those are alternatives to outlook express ( good ones)
Yeah but I paid £84 for Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student version and Outlook kept insulting me with “Unlicensed Copy”. I kept putting in the enabling code but it was still the same! Eventually I studied the retail box very carefully only to discover that Outlook is little more than a demo version! To make it fully fledged they want another £100, NO WAY! If I’d known that this was what I was getting I would not have bought it. I only really needed the wordpro and Abiword will do that. Oh yes I almost forgot, Windows 7 sixty four bit sucks.
Dude, Thunderbird is best when “it comes to speed”? You must’ve been seriously smokin’…
WTF? Incredimail? R U nuts?
Start sharing your outlook emails to mobile with outlookreflex app.
Agree, Zimbra is fantastic. Switched from Outlook about 2 years and never looked back. Everyone I know that has given it a try really like it.
Switching from any program is always an adjustment. Having used Outlook for so many years, I was a little concerned, but the user experience is just so much better in my opinion than anything else out there.
Um, anyone else having trouble with the latest Thunderbird with Gmail accounts? I’ve got 2 gmail accounts which I logged in on webmail and changed the password, de-install then re-install Tb, but still Tb refuses to cooperate (doesn’t want to acknowledge the passwords). I’ve also got 2 more personal emails from my own domain and they work fine.
You need to authenticate Thunderbird in Gmail under account settings. It will not work directly with the original password ..
Downloaded emClient and after setting my preferences and using it I am quite impressed. I suspect that Outlook with be a thing of the past on my computers very soon. One feature I liked in particular was how you can set to have 5 days of weather forecasts show as an icon on your calendar. Nifty! I use Gmail and setup involved no more than entering my e-mail address and password. With IMAP enabled in Gmail, even my contacts downloaded into emClient. So far I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this software.
The best thing about Outlook is the way I can assign different categories to contact names. I have over 1200 contact names and I need to keep them is specific groups, some actually ion multiple groups. This allows me to sort and extract mail lists anyway I want. Will any of these email clients allow me to do that? Since I don’t follow this thread, can you email me your response at andy@browneweb.com .
I used and paid for incredimail It really sucks now The old one was great but since they added all the junk it really messes up the computer
OMG you recommend incredimail ???
You give such nice alternatives (the other 4)…
plz replace it… thx :-)