Every Gmail address you own, in one list
Email Client for Gmail: A Gmail Mail Client for Multiple Accounts
Google gives you one Gmail account per window and is switching off the feature that pulled outside mail in. Connect every address you have, Gmail and otherwise, and read them as one stream in your browser.
Up to 120 Gmail accounts · Nothing to install · Sorted on arrival
The short answer
An email client for Gmail is any program that reads your Gmail mailbox from outside the Gmail web interface. Google itself ships only the Gmail website and the Gmail mobile apps, so there is no Google made desktop client, and every other option is third party. Most of them connect through Google sign in and install on one machine: Thunderbird, eM Client and Mailbird on Windows, Mimestream and Apple Mail on macOS. The reason people go looking for one has changed, though. It used to be speed or keyboard shortcuts. In 2026 it is mostly that Gmail is retiring Check mail from other accounts and Gmailify, the settings that let you pull a second mailbox into one Gmail inbox. Google stopped accepting new users for it after the first quarter of 2026 and existing users lose it in January 2027, and the replacement Google suggests is plain forwarding. Inboxes takes the other route: connect every Gmail address and every non Gmail mailbox over IMAP, read them as one time ordered list in a browser with no install, and have a model tag each message Important, Newsletter, Notification, Spam, or Other as it lands. One flat plan, no per mailbox pricing.
Last updated August 2026
The job description changed this year
What a Gmail email client actually has to do in 2026
Every roundup of the best email clients for Gmail is still written as though the question were about interface speed. The thing that pushed most people into this search is a Google settings page that is going away, and almost none of the lists mention it.
It has to read Gmail, which is the easy part. Gmail exposes IMAP at imap.gmail.com on port 993 and SMTP at smtp.gmail.com on port 465, and it also publishes the Gmail API. Between the two, essentially every client on the market can open a Gmail mailbox. Nobody is really shopping on this criterion, because nothing fails it.
It has to hold more than one Gmail address. Google's account switcher is not consolidation. It swaps which account the page is showing, one at a time, in its own window, with its own unread count. Anyone running a personal address and a business address, or one per venture, is checking two or three separate places all day. The client has to merge them into a single list or it has not solved anything.
It has to hold the mailboxes that are not Gmail, and this is where the shutdown bites. Gmail's own answer to that was Settings, Accounts and Import, Check mail from other accounts, which fetched a Yahoo or company domain mailbox over POP and dropped it into your Gmail inbox. Google is retiring it along with Gmailify. Per Google's own help page, the feature stopped supporting new users after the first quarter of 2026, and existing users keep it only until January 2027. If you set this up years ago it still works today and it has an end date.
Forwarding, the official replacement, is not the same thing. Google's recommendation is to set up automatic forwarding at the other provider. That does get the messages to you, and it loses most of what made the feature useful. Forwarded mail arrives with your own address on it rather than the mailbox it was sent to, so you cannot tell which of your addresses a message came in on, replies go out from the wrong identity unless you configure send as separately, and everything lands in a single undifferentiated pile. A client that connects to each mailbox directly keeps the boundary intact.
And it should not require an install if you move between machines. Most good Gmail clients are desktop programs, which is fine if you work on one computer. If you use a work laptop, a home desktop and someone else's machine occasionally, a browser client is the only version of this that follows you, which is the whole design of a web based email client.
Ten Gmail clients, compared
What each one runs on, how it connects, and whether it holds anything besides Gmail
The two columns that decide this are the last two. Plenty of clients read Gmail beautifully and read nothing else, which is only a problem if some of your mail lives somewhere other than Google.
Swipe to see all columns →
| Gmail client | Runs on | How it connects | Gmail accounts | Non-Gmail mailboxes | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inboxes | Any browser, any OS | IMAP with an app password | 5 to 120 by plan, merged into one list | Any IMAP provider | $29 a month flat |
| Gmail web | Any browser | Native, it is Google | One at a time, account switcher | POP fetching retired, ends January 2027 | No charge |
| Thunderbird | Windows, macOS, Linux install | Google sign in | Unlimited, Unified Folders view | Any IMAP provider | Open source, no license fee |
| eM Client | Windows, macOS install | Google sign in | 2 on the free tier, more on paid | Any IMAP provider | Personal 39.95 EUR a year |
| Mimestream | macOS only | Gmail API, not IMAP | Several, unified view | No, Gmail and Workspace only | $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year |
| Superhuman | Browser, Mac, Windows, mobile | Google sign in | Several | Microsoft 365 only, no generic IMAP | $30 a month, $25 on annual |
| Shortwave | Browser and mobile | Google sign in | Several | No, Gmail and Workspace only | Business $30 a seat, 14-day trial |
| Spark | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android | Google sign in | Unlimited on the free tier | Any IMAP provider | Free tier; Plus 8.25 EUR a user a month yearly |
| Mailbird | Windows, macOS install | Google sign in | 1 on the free tier, more on Premium | Any IMAP provider | Premium 4.03 EUR a user a month yearly |
| Apple Mail | Apple devices only | Google sign in | Several, All Inboxes view | Any IMAP provider | Included with the device |
| Outlook, new | Windows, macOS, web | Google sign in | Several | Google and Microsoft yes, manual IMAP settings not exposed | No charge, shows ads |
Prices and account limits checked against each vendor pricing page in August 2026, in the currency the vendor publishes. Note the third column carefully, because it is the one place we are the odd one out: almost everything here signs in through Google, and we connect over IMAP with an app password instead. The trade is explained in full further down. If you want the wider comparison that is not restricted to Gmail, it is in the roundup of the best apps for multiple email accounts, and the protocol side is covered on the IMAP email client page.
The six things Gmail will not do for you
Where the Gmail web interface runs out, even though it is a good one
This is not a case against Gmail. For one address it is among the best webmail interfaces ever built and costs nothing. These are the specific walls people hit that send them looking for a client.
One account per window
The account switcher opens each Gmail address separately. Three addresses means three tabs, three unread counts and three places to check, and no view anywhere that shows today's mail across all of them in arrival order.
The outside mailbox route is closing
Check mail from other accounts and Gmailify are being retired. New users were cut off after the first quarter of 2026 and existing setups run only until January 2027, so anything built on it now has a shutdown date attached.
Forwarding loses the address
The suggested replacement pours every mailbox into one pile with your own address on the envelope. You lose the signal of which address a sender used, which for anyone running more than one business is most of the point.
Filters stop at the Google boundary
Gmail filters are excellent and they only run on Gmail. Build the same organizing scheme across four providers and you have written it four times in four different rule builders, then maintained it four times.
The tabs are fixed
Primary, Social, Promotions and Updates are a real improvement over nothing, and they are a fixed taxonomy applied to one mailbox. A receipt and a contract are both simply Primary, which is where the useful sorting would have started.
Search is per account
Trying to find the invoice from a supplier you have emailed from two addresses means searching twice and remembering which one you used. Search across every mailbox at once is a feature you only miss after you have had it.
Connecting a Gmail account, step by step
Four steps from three Gmail tabs to one board
Nothing is migrated and nothing is downloaded. IMAP leaves every message on Google's servers exactly where it is, so this is reversible: disconnect and your Gmail is untouched.
// 01
Turn on 2-Step Verification
Google only issues app passwords to accounts that already have 2-Step Verification switched on. If yours is on, you are ready. If not, it takes about a minute in your Google Account security settings and is worth doing regardless.
// 02
Generate an app password
Google produces a 16 character passcode scoped to one application. It is not your Google password, it does not grant access to Drive, Photos or anything else, and revoking it from the same screen cuts the connection instantly.
// 03
Paste it in, then repeat
Server settings are filled in for you: imap.gmail.com on 993 with SSL. Add the second Gmail address the same way, then the Yahoo one, the iCloud one and the company domain. There is no limit and no per mailbox charge.
// 04
Read one list, reply as the right address
Everything merges into one time ordered stream tagged with the address it arrived on, and a model categorizes each message as it lands. Replies go out from the mailbox that received it, and archiving pushes back over IMAP so Gmail agrees.
Who this is worth paying for
Where a separate Gmail client earns its cost
One Gmail address and forty messages a day does not need any of this. Gmail already does that job better than most paid clients. These are the shapes where the web interface starts costing you time.
Two or three Gmail addresses
Personal, business, and the one for the side project. All three on Google, all three in separate windows, and the switcher makes you pick one to be looking at. Merging them is the single most common reason people end up here.
Gmail plus a company domain
The domain mailbox usually sits on a host with unpleasant webmail, which is exactly why people fetched it into Gmail. With that route closing, connecting both to one client outside Google is the durable version.
Consultants and freelancers
A mailbox per client keeps threads clean for the client and fragments the day for you. They have to stay separate outbound and arrive together inbound, and per mailbox pricing punishes precisely this shape of work.
Anyone whose POP fetch is expiring
If Settings, Accounts and Import currently lists another mailbox, you have a working setup with a January 2027 end date. Moving on your own schedule is easier than moving the week it stops.
People who switch machines
Most strong Gmail clients install on one computer and keep their state there. If you move between a work laptop and a home desktop, an install per machine means configuring the same thing twice and keeping neither in sync.
Ecommerce and marketplace sellers
Orders arrive on one address, suppliers on another, marketplace notifications on a third, and the message that needs answering today is buried under a hundred that never will. Sorting only helps once they are in one list.
Where we lose
Four honest limits, and the first one may rule us out entirely
We would rather you found this out on this page than after paying. It goes near the top of the page instead of the footnotes for that reason.
We connect with an app password over IMAP, not Google sign in, and Google does not give everyone an app password. You need 2-Step Verification on the account, which most people already have. But Google states plainly that the option is unavailable if your account uses security keys as its only second factor, if it is enrolled in Advanced Protection, or in many cases if it is a work, school or other organization account, since that is subject to admin policy. If you are on a managed Google Workspace account and your administrator has locked this down, a client that uses Google sign in, such as Thunderbird or eM Client, will connect where we cannot. That is a real advantage they have over us and it is worth saying out loud.
Microsoft mailboxes are worse than a caveat. Microsoft finished retiring basic authentication for Exchange Online in April 2026, so a managed Microsoft 365 work or school mailbox will not connect over IMAP at all. Microsoft has also said it will fully remove basic authentication from Outlook.com and rely only on OAuth, so personal Outlook.com and Hotmail addresses should be treated as at risk rather than safe. If most of your mail is Microsoft, Outlook itself is the honest answer. Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, iCloud, Zoho, Fastmail and own domain mailboxes all still issue app passwords and connect normally. That list matters more than it used to, because Google is removing the Gmail setting that pulled those mailboxes into Gmail for you: see what replaces check mail from other accounts for the dated timeline.
Gmail specific features do not come along. We speak IMAP, which means folders, flags and threads. Gmail labels arrive as folders, and the Priority Inbox, Smart Compose, the schedule send behavior and the Google Workspace side panel stay in the Gmail interface. If your workflow is genuinely built on Gmail internals, a Gmail API client like Mimestream preserves far more of it than any IMAP client can.
There is no permanent no cost tier and no offline mode. Plans are a flat $29 a month, with 5 mailboxes on the entry plan and up to 120 on the largest. Gmail itself costs nothing and Thunderbird has no license fee, and if one Gmail address is your whole situation, both of those are better answers than paying us. It is also a browser client, so it needs a connection. Buy this when the problem is several mailboxes at once, which is the only problem it is better at.
FAQ
Questions people ask about Gmail email clients
Is Gmail an email client?
Gmail is both, which is what makes the question confusing. Gmail is an email service that hosts your mailbox, and the Gmail web interface is a client for reading it. What Gmail is not is a client for other people's mail servers, so a Yahoo or company domain mailbox cannot be read properly inside Gmail.
Does Google have an email client?
Google ships the Gmail web interface and the Gmail mobile apps, and that is the whole list. There is no Gmail desktop program for Windows, macOS or Linux. Anyone using Gmail in a desktop app is using a third party client such as Thunderbird, eM Client, Outlook or a browser based one.
What is the best email client for Gmail?
It depends on how many mailboxes you have. For one Gmail address on a Mac, Mimestream is excellent and cheap. For several Gmail addresses plus mail on other providers, you want a client that treats them as one list, which is what Inboxes, Thunderbird and Spark do. For a single account the Gmail web interface is already good.
Is there an email client for Gmail?
Yes, dozens. Gmail exposes standard IMAP and SMTP as well as its own API, so almost every email client on the market can read a Gmail account. The real choice is not whether a client supports Gmail, it is whether it supports everything else you use alongside Gmail.
Which type of email client is Gmail?
The Gmail web interface is a webmail client, meaning it runs in a browser and keeps your mail on Google servers rather than downloading it to your machine. That is the opposite of a desktop client like Thunderbird or Outlook, which installs on one computer and stores a local copy.
How do I use Gmail as an email client?
Historically you added other mailboxes under Settings, Accounts and Import, using Check mail from other accounts. Google is retiring that. After the first quarter of 2026 it stopped accepting new users, and existing users keep it only until January 2027, so building a workflow on it now is building on something with a shutdown date.
What email protocol does Gmail use?
Gmail supports IMAP and SMTP for third party clients, plus its own Gmail API. IMAP is at imap.gmail.com on port 993 with SSL, and SMTP is at smtp.gmail.com on port 465. POP is still supported for reading Gmail itself, but Gmail is dropping POP for fetching mail from other accounts.
Can I have two Gmail accounts in one inbox?
Not inside Gmail itself. Google's account switcher keeps each account in its own window, and the feature that pulled outside mail into one Gmail inbox is being retired. Reading two Gmail accounts as a single list needs a client outside Gmail that connects to both, which is what a multi account email client does.
Do I need an app password for Gmail?
You need one for any client that connects over IMAP rather than through Google sign in. App passwords require 2-Step Verification on the account, and Google does not offer them for accounts secured only by a security key, accounts on Advanced Protection, or in many cases work and school accounts.
Does Gmail still support IMAP?
Yes. IMAP access to a Gmail mailbox is unchanged and Google has announced no plan to remove it. What Google is removing is different: Gmail's ability to reach out and fetch mail from other providers over POP. Connecting Gmail to an outside client still works normally.
Is Gmail's check mail from other accounts going away?
Yes. Google confirmed that Gmailify and POP fetching from third party accounts are being retired. The feature stopped taking new users after the first quarter of 2026 and existing users can use it until January 2027. Google's suggested replacement is automatic forwarding from the other provider.
What is the best email client for Gmail and Outlook together?
This got harder in 2026. Microsoft finished retiring basic authentication for Exchange Online in April 2026 and has said it will remove it from Outlook.com too, so a client that connects over IMAP alone can no longer reliably reach a Microsoft mailbox. Today Outlook itself, Thunderbird and Spark handle both sides through Google and Microsoft sign in.
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Keep reading
Every Gmail address, and everything that is not Gmail, in one list
One flat plan, no per mailbox charge, nothing installed. Your mail stays on Google's servers where it already is, and you stop switching accounts to find out what arrived.