Alternatives to Betterbird

A Thunderbird fork that ships extra fixes and features, and can run side by side on the same profile. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Betterbird.

  • Thunderbird

    Mozilla’s desktop mail client, with calendar, contacts and a unified inbox, funded by donations rather than ads.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroid

    Thunderbird is the upstream project from Mozilla, adding an Android app, without Betterbird's extra fixes, and it can use the same profile if you switch back.

  • Claws Mail

    A fast, keyboard-driven email client that loads a hundred thousand message folder without thinking about it.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Claws Mail is a lighter GPL client that handles huge folders quickly and is keyboard driven, but composes plain text by default and has only a vCalendar plugin.

  • Mailspring

    A desktop mail client with a unified inbox, snooze and send later, whose paid tier adds read receipts.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Mailspring offers a modern Electron interface with snooze and send later on Windows, macOS and Linux, but has no built-in calendar and puts read receipts on a paid tier.

  • Evolution

    GNOME's mail, calendar, contacts and tasks suite, and the usual answer for Exchange on Linux.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Evolution provides mail, calendar, contacts and tasks with an Exchange Web Services plugin, but runs only on Linux and follows GNOME design decisions.

  • eM Client

    A polished commercial mail, calendar and contacts client for Windows and Mac, with a free tier capped at two accounts.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOSAndroidiOS

    eM Client is a closed-source commercial client for Windows and Mac with calendar and PGP included, but no Linux version and a free tier capped at two accounts.

  • KMail

    KDE's email client with IMAP, filtering and OpenPGP support.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    KMail integrates OpenPGP and S/MIME and shares calendar with the Kontact suite, but is Linux only in practice and depends on the Akonadi storage service.

  • BlueMail

    Cross-platform email and calendar client with a unified inbox.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinux

    BlueMail is a closed-source freemium client for Windows, macOS and Linux with a unified inbox and calendar, though its credential handling has drawn criticism.

Also worth comparing

These listings name Betterbird as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • Balsa

    A lightweight GTK email client for the GNOME desktop.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Betterbird is a Thunderbird fork with extra fixes and features, bringing a much larger feature set than Balsa on Windows, macOS and Linux.

  • Geary

    GNOME email client built around conversation threads.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Betterbird is a Thunderbird fork for Windows, macOS and Linux with calendar and extra fixes, run by a small volunteer project.

  • Kontact

    KDE's personal information manager that combines mail, calendar, contacts and news in one window.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Betterbird is a Thunderbird fork with extra fixes, bringing mail, calendar and contacts across Windows, macOS and Linux without the Akonadi dependency.

  • Mailbird

    Desktop email client for Windows and macOS with a unified inbox.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOS

    Betterbird is a free open-source Thunderbird fork for Windows, macOS and Linux with extra fixes, maintained by a small volunteer project.

  • Pegasus Mail

    A long-running free desktop email client for Windows, maintained alongside the Mercury mail server.

    FreeProprietaryWindows

    Betterbird is a free, open source Thunderbird fork for Windows, macOS and Linux with extra fixes and a portable Windows build.

  • The Bat!

    A Windows desktop email client that keeps mail locally, with on-disk encryption and end-to-end encryption.

    PaidProprietaryWindows

    Betterbird is a free open-source Thunderbird fork with extra fixes, a portable Windows build, and versions for macOS and Linux.

  • Wino Mail

    Native Windows mail and calendar client for Outlook, Gmail and IMAP accounts.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    Betterbird is an open-source Thunderbird fork with extra fixes, a portable Windows build and support for macOS and Linux, run by a small volunteer team.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.