Gmail Alternatives: 3 Best Alternatives to Gmail in 2024

Google Mail, mostly known as Gmail is currently the most popular email service provider worldwide. It has now over 1.8 billion active users and holds 29.5% of the global market share for email clients. Its comprehensive features, usability, reliability, and brand identity make Gmail stand out from other platforms.

In this present digital landscape, multiple email service providers are available and advancing rapidly which can give tough competition as an alternative to Gmail. Moreover, these Gmail alternatives have some particular qualities that surpass Gmail’s features in some specific segments.

So, in this blog, we will first look into the reasons why you need to consider Gmail alternatives. Then we will discuss our top picks for Gmail alternatives.

Let’s start reading.

Why do you need to choose a Gmail alternative?

Without a doubt, Gmail has a bundle of top-notch features. You will hardly encounter critical flaws in Gmail. Still, Gmail has a few drawbacks that may not be according to your convenience. Maybe for that reason, you need to migrate from this platform and find your best alternatives to Gmail.

In this section, we will look at some reasons to look for a Gmail alternative. If our below-mentioned points don’t bother you, you may stick to this platform.

Adds and promotions

If you are into the free version, Gmail could clutter your inbox with ads and promotional emails. It will create chaos in your inbox and cause difficulties in finding your important emails. To escape from ads and promotions, you need to go for the premium plans.

If you want your inbox flooded with ads and don’t go for premium subscriptions, you can look for some other email service providers who are providing ad-free email service.

Comparatively less optimized for collaboration

Gmail isn’t a highly optimized platform for collaboration. Typically, it’s widely used for essential email communication but not for comprehensive collaboration. Though Gmail has Google Chat within it, but not that impressive for collaboration compared to some other robust platforms.

If you need to maintain simple collaboration, it’s an excellent choice to be with Gmail. On the other hand, when you need extensive collaboration, real-time document editing, robust chat functionality, more efficient project management, and stellar chat functionality, then move out from Gmail and pick an email service that is entirely focused on team collaboration.

Privacy and security concerns

Honestly saying, Gmail offers decent security for email management. But when you need top-tier security and privacy with your email and data, you need to look for some other platforms that ensure intense security and data protection.

For example, look at Proton Mail. It’s known as the world’s largest secure email service. Its top priority is to keep your data safe rather than other features. We will describe Proton Mail later.

What we are discussing is that if you need to safeguard your communication and personal data to a higher degree, you need to move from Gmail and find an alternative. On the other hand, you may carry on your email management with Gmail. Gmail can provide you with noteworthy privacy and security.

More free Cloud storage

When you are using Gmail, that means you have a Google account. As we know Each account provides free 15 GB of storage shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. To upgrade your storage quota you need to pay for it.

In case, you have more data to store, you want to enjoy the full benefits of email with expanded data and wish to keep expenses at zero on it, you can explore email service providers that match these criteria.

Just look at Yahoo Mail. With a bunch of features, this email service includes 1TB of free cloud storage for the users.

Introducing 3 best Gmail alternatives

So, you have arrived at the most crucial section of the blog. Here, we will introduce to you the best 3 Gmail alternatives of all time considering their feature, usability, brand identity and most importantly suitability to Gmail alternatives.

Scroll down and read.

1. Microsoft Outlook

Let’s start the listing of Gmail alternatives with Microsoft Outlook, a standalone software in the Microsoft Suite.

Nowadays, both individuals and businesses prefer Microsoft Outlook mainly for its robust email and personal information management system. According to Windows Report, it’s the third most popular email service provider and has over 400 million users worldwide.

The application began its journey as Hotmail. In 1996, Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith established Hotmail as the first web-based free email service. After a year, Microsoft acquired it and later rebranded it as MSN Hotmail and then as Outlook.com.

What makes Microsoft Outlook the best alternative to Gmail

• Outlook isn’t limited to just sending, receiving, and organizing emails. The application can also be used as a calendar, task, contact management, and to-do list. Yes, it’s more than an email service helping users to stay organized and efficient.

• Its calendar is versatile and allows you to manage your time, meetings, appointments, events, etc. It also allows you to manage multiple calendars, such as a work calendar or a personal calendar.

• You can enhance your productivity by streamlining your workflow with this application, as it has a deep integration with other Microsoft Office applications.

• With its advanced search box, you can easily find your stuff in your crowded inbox or folder, even in the most cluttered situation.

• Sometimes, you need privacy and security for your emails. Here, Outlook serves you to protect your emails with its email encryption feature. (not for free users)

• You can send file attachments of a maximum of 20 MB per email.

• In addition to this, you can attach files directly from OneDrive and share links to cloud-stored files. See, this reduces the “attachment of maximum file size” issue and facilitates easy collaboration.

• The free version offers 15 GB of storage, which is separate from your Microsoft cloud storage, and 5 GB of OneDrive storage. Again, if you are in a premium subscription you can extend your mail storage to 50 GB and OneDrive storage to 1 TB.

• Most importantly, the interface of Outlook is well-organized and intuitive. So, you can navigate seamlessly whether you’re managing emails, scheduling appointments, or creating tasks.

Pricing

Outlook doesn’t provide a standalone free version. It is bundled with other Microsoft Office applications. To unlock premium features and plans, you will need a Microsoft 365 subscription.

The pricing plan starts at $69.99/year for one person and $99.99/year for six person. You can also get these plans for a single month.

2. Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail is another viable choice to be one of Gmail’s alternatives. It’s a popular choice for many businesses and individuals who are looking for a top-tier security, reliability, and collaborative email solution.

A report of 2024 by 6 Sense shows over 1,33,396 companies started using Zoho Mail as an email management tool. On Zoho Mail’s 15th anniversary, they revealed that they now have over 16 million active users and almost 2 Billion email processes through Zoho Mail every month.

In 2005, Zoho Corporation started working on a suite of online applications. Eventually, the effort led to Zoho Mail’s inception. Then, in 2008, the company officially launched Zoho Mail as part of the Zoho Office Suite.

What makes Zoho Mail the best Gmail alternative

• Zoho Mail is determined to deliver an add-free email service. So, you won’t be bothered by advertisements and can experience a fully focused environment.

• In Zoho Mail, you can manage your inbox more efficiently. Its email filter option keeps you organized with your incoming and outgoing emails. Its advanced search capability assists you in finding emails, even the smallest information you remember about them.

• Along with efficient email management, Zoho Mail includes a calendar, task module, notes, contacts, and bookmarks. All these tools could help you out and your team to be more efficient and productive. Guess what, all these interfaces are in the same interface right within your inbox.

• If you are concerned about error-free emails, you can tap into Zoho Mail. It provides a sharing option to collaborate with your colleagues for reviewing emails and editing them if needed. That way, you can send polished emails and improve your email communication.

• Its end-to-end encryption, two-factor authentication, and advanced filtering option safeguard your sensitive information. So, you will be shielded, and unauthorized access and cyber threats can’t apply their activity.

• This application has tight integration with other Zoho applications such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, Zoho Creator, and Zoho Docs. This empowers you for seamless collaboration and better workflow management.

• You can improve your email communication with its AI assistance feature. Zoho Mail’s Zia, powered by OpenAI will help you out with producing high-quality content and intelligent replies.

• Most importantly, Zoho Mail allows you to create professional domain-based email addresses. Example: [email protected]. Here the company name is Fluent Support. This feature is mainly beneficial for business communication as it establishes a trustworthy presence.

Pricing

Zoho Mail offers a “forever free” plan. This plan allows up to five users and 5 GB of storage for every user. If you are running a small business, that plan could work well for you. In case you need more storage or features from Zoho Mail, you can check out their premium version.

Currently, Zoho Mail has three pricing plans.

1. Mail Lite: $1/user/ month billed annually

2. Mail Premium: $4/user month billed annually.

3. Workplace: starts from $3/user month billed annually. This pricing plan is the most popular for their users. Moreover, there’s a broader version of this plan you may explore.

3. Proton Mail

Here is the third contender of Gmail alternative in the lineup, Proton Mail (previously written as ProtonMail).

Proton Mail is mainly designed for privacy and security protection. The other email features come as the second priority for Proton Mail. 

Proton Mail was launched in 2014 by Andy Yen, the founder and CEO of Proton. Over 70 million users and 10,000 businesses worldwide trust this Gmail alternative with their data.

This email service provider is now the world’s largest encrypted email service and ensures you Swiss bank-level security protections. So, if you are looking for the highest level of security, Proton Mail is the best option for you.

What makes Zoho Mail the best Gmail alternative

• With a single Proton Account, you can seamlessly access and manage your email, storage, and calendar in one place. Consider it as a convenient way to stay organized.

• Once you join Proton Mail, you will get a free ProtonVPN account. The VPN allows you for private and secured internet access. That means you won’t be browsing the web directly and via the IP address from one of their servers.

• Proton Mail has zero access architecture. Even the Proton Mail authority can’t access your emails and also doesn’t keep the technical ability for access. That means only you and your intended receipt can decrypt.

• Proton Mail’s password-protected email is top-notch as it adds a layer of security. Here, the receipt requires a password to open it, even for people who don’t use Proton Mail.

• To strengthen your account security, Proton Mail comes up with two-factor authentication with hardware security keys that support YubiKey and other U2F/FIDO2-compliant keys. As it is physical, cyber attackers can’t get a hold of them.

• Proton Sentinel feature is their cutting-edge security system. It combines AI and human analysis to monitor accounts 24/7. It provides strict challenges for suspicious logins and offers comprehensive insights into account changes.

• Proton Mail allows you to send self-destructing messages. Here, you can set the expiry date and when the expiration comes in, the message will be automatically deleted from the inboxes of both sender and receipt.

• Proton Mail is based in Switzerland. That means your data is protected by leading privacy legislation worldwide.

Pricing

Proton Mail offers a free plan with very limited features like 1 GB mail storage, 150 messages per day, limited customer support, etc. You can explore Proton Mail premium pricing with a feature-reach opportunity. Proton Mail offers different pricing plans both for individuals and businesses.

For individuals, Proton Mail is offering:

Mail Lite: €3.99 /month (for a 12-month plan)

Proton Unlimited: €9.99 /month (for 12-month plan). This plan is their top recommendation for individuals.

Proton Family: €23.99 /month (for a 12-month plan)

For businesses, Proton Mail is offering:

Mail Essentials: $6.99 /user/month (for a 12-month plan)

Mail Professional: €9.99 /user/month (for a 12-month plan)

Proton Business Suite: €12.99 /user/month (for a 12-month plan)

Or, in case you are running an enterprise or large company, you can try out their custom plan.

Wrapping up

In this era of digital connectivity, effective email communication is the lifeblood of every individual and business. In this situation, communicating through email positions you ahead. So, leave no stone unturned to be efficient with your email communication.

Suppose, you rely heavily on Gmail for your email communication. If Gmail fails to provide your specific requirements and needs, you need to immediately step out from it and explore for appropriate one.

To streamline your decision-making, we have presented you three best Gmail alternatives. Now, it’s your time to pick according to your needs and be efficient in this connected world.

Lastly, we appreciate you taking the time to read this blog.