Betterbird
A Thunderbird fork that ships extra fixes and features, and can run side by side on the same profile.
These buttons open the developer's own site, repository or store listing in a new tab. wares.gg does not host downloads.
3 more ways to get Betterbird
Other download sites
Run by third parties, not by The Betterbird Team. Prefer the official page above when it works.
Package managers
- Chocolatey
choco install betterbird - Flathub
flatpak install flathub eu.betterbird.Betterbird
About Betterbird
Betterbird is a fine-tuned build of Mozilla Thunderbird. It carries features that are exclusive to the fork, bug fixes that Thunderbird has not taken, and fixes that Thunderbird may ship at a later stage. The project publishes a feature table comparing the two.
You can install it alongside Thunderbird and point it at the same profile, so trying it costs nothing and going back is easy. Builds follow the Thunderbird ESR series, with versions such as 153.3.0esr-bb9, and localisations are available for a dozen or so languages.
Strengths
- Fixes and features Thunderbird has not shipped, listed openly in a comparison table
- Installs next to Thunderbird and runs on the same profile, so switching back is trivial
- Tracks the Thunderbird ESR series, so it inherits upstream security fixes
- A portable Windows build is available
Limitations
- A small volunteer project riding on someone else’s release train
- The Mac build ships in English only and needs a language pack for anything else
- Old series reach end of life on their own schedule, sometimes earlier than Thunderbird’s
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source, funded by donations.
- License
- MPL-2.0
- Developer
- The Betterbird Team
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Thunderbird users who keep hitting the same unfixed annoyances
- Categories
- Email clients
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Email); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 5 sources on file.
Alternatives to Betterbird
Compare allSoftware that can replace Betterbird for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Thunderbird
Mozilla’s desktop mail client, with calendar, contacts and a unified inbox, funded by donations rather than ads.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Betterbird as an alternative
Listings that name Betterbird as an alternative.
Geary
GNOME email client built around conversation threads.
Betterbird is a Thunderbird fork for Windows, macOS and Linux with calendar and extra fixes, run by a small volunteer project.
Mailbird
Desktop email client for Windows and macOS with a unified inbox.
Betterbird is a free open-source Thunderbird fork for Windows, macOS and Linux with extra fixes, maintained by a small volunteer project.
Wino Mail
Native Windows mail and calendar client for Outlook, Gmail and IMAP accounts.
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 necessarily a direct replacement.
Proton Mail Bridge
Local gateway that lets standard mail clients read a Proton Mail account.
K-9 Mail
Open-source Android email client built for handling large volumes of mail.
MailStore Home
Free Windows email archiver for IMAP, Exchange and PST files.
