Alternatives to Evolution
GNOME's mail, calendar, contacts and tasks suite, and the usual answer for Exchange on Linux. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Evolution
GNOME's mail, calendar, contacts and tasks suite, and the usual answer for Exchange on Linux.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Evolution.
Thunderbird
Mozilla’s desktop mail client, with calendar, contacts and a unified inbox, funded by donations rather than ads.
Thunderbird adds Windows, macOS and Android with calendar, tasks and built-in OpenPGP, but has no Exchange Web Services plugin listed.
KMail
KDE's email client with IMAP, filtering and OpenPGP support.
KMail is KDE's client with integrated OpenPGP and S/MIME and Kontact calendar sharing, but depends on the Akonadi storage service.
Geary
GNOME email client built around conversation threads.
Geary is a lighter GNOME client built around conversations with fast search, but has no calendar, rules engine or built-in encryption.
Betterbird
A Thunderbird fork that ships extra fixes and features, and can run side by side on the same profile.
Betterbird is a cross-platform Thunderbird fork with extra fixes and calendar, maintained by a small volunteer project tracking the Thunderbird ESR series.
Claws Mail
A fast, keyboard-driven email client that loads a hundred thousand message folder without thinking about it.
Claws Mail is faster on large archives and fully keyboard driven, but offers only a vCalendar plugin instead of a full calendar and limits HTML sending.
Mailspring
A desktop mail client with a unified inbox, snooze and send later, whose paid tier adds read receipts.
Mailspring offers a modern unified inbox with snooze and send later on Linux, Windows and macOS, but has no built-in calendar and uses Electron.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Evolution as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
eM Client
A polished commercial mail, calendar and contacts client for Windows and Mac, with a free tier capped at two accounts.
Evolution keeps mail, calendar, contacts and tasks together with an Exchange plugin for Microsoft 365, but runs only on Linux.
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft's email, calendar and contacts app for desktop, mobile and the web.
Evolution is a free open-source GNOME suite for Linux with mail, calendar, contacts and tasks, reaching Microsoft 365 through an Exchange Web Services plugin.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Proton Mail Bridge
Local gateway that lets standard mail clients read a Proton Mail account.
