Free email app for macOS, Windows and Linux
Your email.
Yours to keep.
A private email app that keeps your mail on your own computer. No ads, no MailVault account, and nobody reading along.
Free forever: the full email app and unlimited manual backups.
Other platforms and formats →
Privacy
Your inbox is nobody's business.
Not even ours.
Your email goes straight from your provider to your computer. It never passes through MailVault servers, so there is nothing for us to read, sell or train AI on.
Tracker blocking
Read in private.
Senders learn nothing.
Marketing emails hide tiny images that report when and where you open them. MailVault finds them in every message and warns you about links that lie about where they go.
Backups
Free up your mailbox.
Keep every message.
Save the mail you still need, let MailVault check each copy, then make room on the server. Your archive is plain .eml files that open in other mail apps, even if MailVault disappeared tomorrow.
- Unlimited manual backupsEvery account, every folder. No quota from us.
- Checked before anything is deletedEach copy is verified on disk before the server copy goes.
- Backups that run themselves PremiumDaily, weekly or your own schedule, with health checks.
- Time Capsule PremiumBrowse a mailbox as it looked on any earlier date.
Customization
Email that fits the way you work.
Change almost anything.
Threads, chat bubbles or a timeline. Two columns or three. Your shortcuts, your toolbar, your theme. Set it up once, then change your mind whenever you like.
- Pick how mail readsConversations, chat view, Explorer or grouped by sender.
- Arrange your windowResizable 2 and 3 column layouts, light and dark themes.
- Your keys, your actionsRebind shortcuts and choose which actions sit in the toolbar.
- Only the alerts you wantNotification rules per account and per folder.
Coming from Notion Mail
Notion Mail is gone.
Your way of working isn't.
Notion Mail shut down on 22 September 2026. MailVault brings back what made it useful: inboxes built from your own views, fields on every message and rules that sort mail for you. It works with your Gmail account, and your mail stays on your computer.
- Views that act like inboxesFilter by tag, sender, date or folder and group the result. Three views free, unlimited with Premium.
- Fields on any messageOwner, priority, a due date or a tick box, kept on your computer.
- Rules written in plain wordsDescribe what to catch and MailVault tags new mail as it arrives.
- Free AI writing helpDraft, shorten or summarise with a model that runs on your computer.
Free where it counts.
Always.
The email app and your backups will never sit behind a paywall. Premium is there for people who want the routine handled for them, and it pays for everything that stays free.
- Read, write and search all your accounts
- One unified inbox
- Unlimited manual backups
- Tracker, link and sender checks
- Every view, layout and shortcut
- Your mail as open .eml files
No ads. No MailVault account. No trial clock on the free app. See what Premium adds →
Small things.
Every day.
How MailVault compares.
Honestly.
Five email apps side by side. Select a feature to see how it works in MailVault.
| Feature |  MailVault |  Thunderbird |  Apple Mail |  Outlooknew, Windows |  Notion Mailshut down 22 Sep 2026 ↗ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy and ownership | |||||
| Free, no ads | MailVault: Yes | Thunderbird: Yes | Apple Mail: Yes | Outlook: Ads without Microsoft 365 | Notion Mail: Discontinued |
| Mail skips the maker's cloud | MailVault: Yes | Thunderbird: Yes | Apple Mail: Yes, except iCloud | Outlook: No, IMAP mail syncs via Microsoft Cloud | Notion Mail: No |
| Full copy on your computer | MailVault: Yes | Thunderbird: Yes | Apple Mail: Yes | Outlook: Recent mail only | Notion Mail: No |
| Keep mail after deleting it from the server | MailVault: Yes, each copy verified | Thunderbird: Manual, Local Folders | Apple Mail: Manual, On My Mac | Outlook: Limited, PST files | Notion Mail: No |
| Open file format | MailVault: .eml, one file per email | Thunderbird: mbox | Apple Mail: .emlx, Apple only | Outlook: PST, proprietary | Notion Mail: None |
| Maildir folders | MailVault: Yes, readable by other Maildir tools | Thunderbird: Optional, mbox by default | Apple Mail: No | Outlook: No | Notion Mail: No |
| Scheduled local backups | MailVault: Premium | Thunderbird: No | Apple Mail: No, Time Machine only | Outlook: No | Notion Mail: No |
| Safety | |||||
| Tracking pixels | MailVault: Flagged free, removed in Premium | Thunderbird: Remote content blocked | Apple Mail: Mail Privacy Protection | Outlook: Images blocked | Notion Mail: Images proxied |
| Sender verification shown | MailVault: SPF, DKIM, DMARC | Thunderbird: No | Apple Mail: No | Outlook: Unverified label | Notion Mail: Not documented |
| Suspicious link warnings | MailVault: Yes | Thunderbird: Scam banner | Apple Mail: Junk filter only | Outlook: Yes | Notion Mail: Not documented |
| Organize | |||||
| Custom saved views | MailVault: With your own fields. 3 free, unlimited in Premium | Thunderbird: Saved searches | Apple Mail: Smart Mailboxes | Outlook: Search Folders, preset criteria | Notion Mail: Custom views |
| Filter and group the list | MailVault: By sender, date or your own field | Thunderbird: Quick Filter | Apple Mail: Filter bar | Outlook: Filters, sort and group | Notion Mail: Filter and group |
| Tags on any message | MailVault: Any provider, kept on your computer | Thunderbird: Tags | Apple Mail: Coloured flags | Outlook: Categories | Notion Mail: Labels |
| Rules that sort new mail | MailVault: Written in plain words, answered on your computer | Thunderbird: Message filters | Apple Mail: Rules | Outlook: Rules | Notion Mail: AI labels, paid |
| Search a 50,000 message mailbox | MailVault: Under 15 ms, in our test | Thunderbird: Indexing slows, open bug since 2010 ↗ | Apple Mail: Not tested | Outlook: Not tested | Notion Mail: Discontinued |
| Unified inbox | MailVault: Yes | Thunderbird: Yes | Apple Mail: Yes | Outlook: Per account | Notion Mail: No |
| Ways to customize | MailVault: Views, layouts, shortcuts, toolbar | Thunderbird: Themes and add-ons | Apple Mail: Minimal | Outlook: Add-ins | Notion Mail: Custom views |
| AI and writing | |||||
| AI writing help | MailVault: Free | Thunderbird: Add-on only | Apple Mail: Apple Intelligence, newer Macs | Outlook: Copilot, paid | Notion Mail: Notion AI, paid |
| AI thread summaries | MailVault: Free | Thunderbird: Add-on only | Apple Mail: Apple Intelligence, newer Macs | Outlook: Copilot, paid | Notion Mail: Notion AI, paid |
| AI runs on your computer | MailVault: Yes, unless you add your own model | Thunderbird: No built-in AI | Apple Mail: On device, some in Private Cloud Compute | Outlook: Microsoft cloud | Notion Mail: Notion cloud |
| Templates and snippets | MailVault: Templates | Thunderbird: Add-on only | Apple Mail: No | Outlook: My Templates | Notion Mail: Snippets |
| Scheduled send | MailVault: Premium. Delays up to 5 minutes free | Thunderbird: Add-on only | Apple Mail: Yes | Outlook: Yes | Notion Mail: Yes |
| Snooze and reminders | MailVault: Not yet | Thunderbird: Add-on only | Apple Mail: Remind Me | Outlook: Snooze | Notion Mail: Reminders |
| Platforms and support | |||||
| Bug reports | MailVault: Fixed in hours, in public ↗ | Thunderbird: About 4,200 open defects filed over 10 years ago ↗ | Apple Mail: No public tracker | Outlook: No public tracker | Notion Mail: Discontinued |
| Runs on | MailVault: macOS, Windows, Linux | Thunderbird: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android | Apple Mail: Apple devices | Outlook: Windows, macOS, web, mobile | Notion Mail: None |
Checked September 2026 against each maker's documentation. Sources
- Outlook: syncing accounts to the Microsoft Cloud
- Outlook: ads in Outlook
- Thunderbird: open defect reports filed before 24 Sep 2016 (Mozilla Bugzilla, counted 24 Sep 2026)
- Thunderbird: global indexing slows on large mailboxes (Bugzilla 585429)
- MailVault: searching 50,000 emails in milliseconds, test method and numbers
- Thunderbird: Maildir storage
- Thunderbird: remote content in messages
- Thunderbird: scam detection
- Apple Mail: Mail Privacy Protection
- Apple Mail: Smart Mailboxes
- Apple Mail: Apple Intelligence in Mail
- Outlook: Copilot in Outlook
- Outlook: rules
- Thunderbird: saved searches
- Thunderbird: Send Later add-on
- Notion Mail: views, groups and filters
- Notion Mail: Notion AI
- Notion Mail: shutdown notice
Real people.
Real feedback.
- 2 h 45 minfrom a public bug report to the published release that fixed it, 10 Sep 2026
- 3 h 14 minfrom report to published fix for a search bug, 25 Aug 2026
- 13 releasesin 31 days, 21 Aug to 20 Sep 2026
“All the errors have been verified and fixed, and the backup checks are showing 100%, with all the numbers matching.”
bson73On checking a full mailbox backupGitHub DiscussionsRead the original comment ↗“Firstly, thank you so much for writing MailVault.”
jaimetOn setting up MailVault on DebianLinux user · GitHub IssuesRead the original issue ↗“[MailVault] moved all my large data folders as promised.”
artiste212On moving a 43,000 message Gmail archive to an external driveGitHub DiscussionsRead the original comment ↗“The program is actually much better than I expected. A search window for the "Move to Folder" function is something I've been missing for years!”
bson73On searching folders when moving mailGitHub DiscussionsRead the original comment ↗“I like the "test/verify" step option. That actually saves me a step.”
“Upfront: I'm genuinely impressed with how the app is shaping up – really great work!”
bson73While requesting nested folders, shipped in under two daysGitHub DiscussionsRead the original comment ↗“Thank you so much for the super-fast reply. I'm blown away!”
bson73On a same-day support replyGitHub DiscussionsRead the original comment ↗“thank you for the exceptionally good service and support.”
bson73On support after an inbox issueGitHub DiscussionsRead the original comment ↗Selected excerpts. Read the full discussion, including reports and replies ↗
Take your email back.
It's free.
macOS 11+ · Windows 10+ · Ubuntu 22.04+ / Debian 12+