Check out our top picks for the best desktop email clients available for Windows and Mac OS X. Picks for the best alternative email clients. Of the software. The client touts all the. Hiri is the best email client for Managers on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Apple Mail is a free, native email application that ships with every Mac, making it a solid default choice for most Mac users, especially those using iCloud only. Despite steady developments from the Apple stable, its email client hasn’t had a major design upgrade in years; it’s the same old-school design.

Although it’s a good, full-featured and trouble-`

free app, it may lose out to third-party alternatives for Mac because it doesn’t do anything further to help you rethink email.

If you are looking to switch to a better email client, here are the best free and paid Apple Mail alternatives for Mac users.

Related: 7 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Your Email Inbox

1. Spark

Email Client Software For Windows

Spark is a free and impressive desktop email client for Mac that not only allows you to organize inboxes automatically, but also postpone emails and send one-click replies to your contacts.

Its Smart Inbox sorting feature uses buckets like Personal, Newsletters, and Notifications to bubble important messages at the top.

You can also schedule your emails like you would in Gmail at select times such as later today, in the evening, tomorrow, and more. Similarly, if you sent an email and didn’t receive a response for it, Spark nudges you with follow-up reminders just so you don’t forget.

The built-in Calendar tool comes in handy to help you organize your life.

For organizations, Spark for Teams is available as a collaborative email platform with unique features like collaborative composing and private commenting in small chat boxes. You can also invite teammates to collaborate and proofread your emails like in Google Sheets or Docs.

It also supports Yahoo, Google, iCloud, Outlook, Exchange, and IMAP accounts.

Why we like it

• Simple, clean, and modern interface
• Smart inbox is useful for organizing emails
• Supports multiple email accounts

What we don’t like

• Lacks support for many services
• Privacy policy is wanting
• Tech support may be slow

2. Mozilla Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a full-featured, open-source email client substitute for Apple Mail.

Besides letting you handle mail efficiently and filtering away spam or junk mail, Thunderbird is secure and functional, though it seems to be getting old. The application does get security updates, but other than that, it’s no longer in active development.

However, its email management service is secure, being a Mozilla project, but you may not get fancy features like those in other email client apps on this list. Either way, its still a simple, non-cluttered way of managing your email.

If all you want is a free email client to use with your Mac, Thunderbird is a good alternative. You may miss out on some cool features, but will still save on cost.

Thunderbird is highly extensible and has the feel of the classic Outlook with useful features like sending large attachments through cloud storage, tabbed email, and the ability to change its look and feel.

Why we like it

• Simple
• Open source
• Secure
• Easy configuration
• Flexible filtering
• Plenty of plugins available

What we don’t like

• No unified interface
• Not user friendly
• Rudimentary design
• Lacks modern email features
• Lacks in constant improvement and development

3. CloudMagic (Newton)

CloudMagic is a free app you can use with Mac, though it came on the platform after a successful go on Android and iOS platforms.

It’s simple, fast, and has a transparent, clutter-free interface, which is actually good if you have a consistent stream of emails from multiple accounts every day.

It supports Yahoo, Google Apps, iCloud, Gmail, Exchange and IMAP accounts, and you can get it from the Mac App Store.

Why we like it

• Free
• Supports multiple accounts
• Simple
• Fast
• Clutter-free

What we don’t like

• Lacks many modern email management features

Related: Eight Alternatives to Mailbox Email App on iOS

4. AirMail

AirMail is a paid app that isn’t just pretty to look at but is also “lightning-fast” and doesn’t bog you down with lots of features.

Unlike Apple Mail, this app has Split Screen support for OS X El Capitan and the ability to compose in HTML or Markdown.

You can also organize your tasks into To-Do, which require action or follow-up, Memo, which are for a later date, or Done, which are marked as completed. Like Gmail, you can also Snooze your emails and view them later.

AirMail is available for about $10 in Mac App Store and supports iCloud, Yahoo, Google, Outlook, IMAP, AOL, POP, and Exchange. It also integrates with third-party apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, Things, OmniFocus and more.

Why we like it

• Easy email management
• Intuitive interface
• Customizable
• Integrates with third-party apps

What we don’t like

• Lacks smart inbox feature

5. Postbox

Postbox offers robust tools for more efficient email management and looks a lot better than Apple Mail.

Postbox lets you group your emails by topic, which is great with multiple email accounts. You can also divide your tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks for better organization.

Features like the pre-made responses make for easier and faster communication, though it lacks essential features like Send Later and Snooze.

The most unique feature is the Account Groups, which lets you combine your accounts into a unified box and separates or blends your work in an organized manner. There’s also a Focus Pane from which you can filter emails quickly to find what you want.

A nifty time tracker, which shows the length of time you took composing emails, and word count is included. And when you’re ready to hit send, domain fencing checks that you send emails to the appropriate recipients.

Postbox has a 30-day free trial and supports most popular email service providers and protocols like SMTP, POP3 and IMAP.

Why we like it

• Regular and consistent updates from developers
• Feature-rich
• Free trial available
• 60-day money back guarantee
• Integrated account management
• Simple interface

What we don’t like

• Pricey compared to other alternatives
• Interface may be cluttered
• Navigation is wanting

Wrapping Up

If you’re content and satisfied with Apple Mail, you can continue using it. However, if you want more from an email client, something more reliable, stable, and modern, then consider one of these five alternatives.

Do you use a third-party email client for Mac? Tell us about it in a comment below.

Email as a technology has been around for decades, and thanks to wide spread adoption and popularity, it isn't in danger of disappearing. Check out the five most popular email clients to help you wrangle your email.

Earlier this week we asked your to share your favorite email client. We didn't restrict the voting to only stand-alone email applications or web-based email clients, but we did specify that if you voted for a web-based tool it had to have distinctly client-like features—such as Gmail's ability to fetch and sort email from other sources. The email Call for Contenders was one of the most popular we've ever had, with over 1,000 votes logged. Here are the five most popular clients used by Lifehacker readers:

Best Email Client?

Although email is well into middle age, it shows no sign it's going anywhere any time soon.…

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Outlook (Windows, $399 for Office Standard Suite)

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Outlook has been around since the 1990s, and by virtue of being part of the Microsoft Office suite and having been entrenched in the business environment, it enjoys an enormous popularity. Even if many people use Outlook because it's the email client provided—and often required!—by their place of employment, that doesn't mean it can't stand on its own merits. Integration with Windows Desktop Search gives you the ability to quickly search through your entire Outlook workflow, and Outlook can handle everything from your email to your calendar and easily transfer tasks, contacts, and more between the two.

Apple Mail (Mac, Free)

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Apple's Mail application, also known as Mail.app or simply Mail, unsurprisingly continues the tradition of Apple applications following the 'it just works' method of design. Mail allows you to collect all your email from across the web and various email servers in one place, and it actively engages your email as you read it. For example, if you get an email with an invitation to a meeting next Thursday, Mail will detect it and make it simple to kick that appointment right over to iCal. Like the integration between Windows Desktop Search and Outlook, Mail is integrated with Spotlight to make deep massaging your messages easy.

Thunderbird (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free)

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Thunderbird is an open-source offering from Mozilla—the company behind the beloved open-source browser Firefox. Thunderbird is a solid email application that sports the same extensibility of its code-sibling Firefox. Many readers voted for not just Thunderbird but Thunderbird with the addition of Lightning, a Thunderbird extension that adds scheduling and task management functionality to Thunderbird. If you're interested in using Thunderbird you'll definitely want to check out our guide to making Thunderbird your ultimate online/offline messaging hub, and you may also want to consider packing Thunderbird Portable away on your thumb drive for anywhere-access to your email.

Make Thunderbird 3 Your Ultimate Online/Offline Message Hub

You may be a diehard Gmail user, prone to declaring desktop email clients dead. That's fine.…

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Gmail (Web-based, Free)

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Google has had quite a hit on their hands with Gmail, their extremely popular web-based email client. Not only do you get a feature-packed email account when you sign up for Gmail—you also get an email client that's is very adept at pulling in email from other services and organizing it with a robust system of filters and tags. You can check out how to manage multiple inboxes here if you'd like to use Gmail as a central hub for managing all your email. Many of the features in Gmail aren't necessarily revolutionary—like the ability to filter messages, flag, or label them—but the features are implemented in such a way that makes them effortless to use. And, surprising as it may seem, its much-loved threaded conversations are still relatively unique to Gmail.

Use Gmail's Multiple Inboxes Feature to Manage Multiple Addresses

Stacking together a handful of separate features in Gmail gives you a unified inbox for managing…

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Postbox (Windows/Mac, $39.95)

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Postbox is stand-alone email client for Windows and Mac operating systems. Postbox is based on Mozilla-code, so the Postbox team has been able to tweak quite a few Thunderbird extensions, including Lightning, to work with Postbox. In addition to its extensibility, Postbox's default interface is powerful. The app includes features like the ability to search and compose simultaneously. You can look up an email address, search for a previous attachment, and check an old email for information all in the sidebar while working on your current email. Postbox also provides email summaries as you read through and search your email, showing you not just the sender and subject line but the attachments and any important information inside the email like addresses, appointments, and URLs.

Now that you've had a chance to look over the five most popular candidates it's time to cast your vote:

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Free Email Client Software For Windows 7

Which Email Client Is Best?(survey software)

Have a tip or trick for your favorite email client? Can't believe your favorite didn't make the cut? Let's hear about it in the comments.

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Email Client Software For Mac

If you have an idea for a future Hive Five, make sure to send an email to tips at lifehacker.com with 'Hive Five' in the email address.