How to manage multiple email accounts: A practical guide

If your email inbox feels cluttered, you're not alone. The average office worker receives on average 304 business emails a week. Now add your personal Gmail accounts, a side-hustle address, and a few shared Outlook inboxes, and you have a recipe for missed messages and constant tab-switching.

But it doesn't have to be that way. The answer isn't just to dump all your emails into one giant Outlook folder. It's about building a smarter, more collaborative system for your whole team. In this guide, we'll walk through common methods for managing inboxes, cover essential features for teams, and explore a few tools to help you succeed.

What does it mean to manage multiple email accounts?

Managing a bunch of email accounts is more than just keeping a dozen tabs open for Gmail and Outlook. It’s about creating a single, intelligent system that helps your team instead of getting in their way.

When done right, you’re really aiming for a few things:

• Consolidation: This is the big one. It means pulling all your messages from different accounts into one unified view. No more jumping between Gmail or Outlook accounts to see what’s new.
• Organization: This is all about keeping things tidy without spending hours on manual sorting. You want smart labels, filters, and automations that organize messages for you, so you can focus on important tasks.
• Efficiency: The main goal here is to cut down on the time wasted checking different channels. A good system brings everything, from emails to social media DMs, into one spot.
• Collaboration: For teams, this is non-negotiable. It’s about handling shared inboxes like support@ or sales@ without the usual chaos. You need to know who’s working on what, prevent duplicate replies, and make sure no customer is ignored.

A good approach turns email from a reactive chore into an organized, proactive part of your team's workflow. This helpful infographic breaks down the four pillars of effective email management.

Common approaches to managing multiple email accounts and their limitations

People have tried a few classic email management methods to solve the multiple-inbox problem. They might seem like a good idea at first, but they often cause new problems, especially for a team.

Manual approach: Forwarding and aliases

This is usually the first email management tactic that people try. You set up a rule in your personal Gmail accounts (or Outlook) to forward everything to your main work inbox. Or maybe you use an alias, so different email addresses all lead to the same place.

While this works for simple cases, it can create organizational challenges.

Limitations:‍

• The main inbox can become cluttered, making it difficult to locate important messages.
• Replying from the correct address can be challenging.
• This method does not provide visibility for shared team inboxes. How do you know if your colleague already replied to that support@ email? You don't.
• You miss out on features a business tool offers, like assigning tasks, leaving private notes, or tracking conversations.

Using built-in client features

Most email providers like Gmail and Outlook let you add other accounts right into their app. It feels like an improvement because you can see everything in one place.

But these features were built for individuals, not for teams trying to collaborate on shared Outlook accounts like sales@ or info@.

Limitations:

• The user experience can be inconsistent across devices. Some features might only work on the desktop app, while others are mobile-only.
• They are built for one thing: email. If your team also handles customer questions through SMS, WhatsApp, or Instagram, you're still stuck switching between a bunch of different apps.
• Collaboration often relies on email forwards and CC chains, which can be inefficient. There’s no clean way to assign an email, ask a teammate a quick question about it, or see who’s working on what.

Adopting a dedicated email client

This is where things get a bit more serious. A dedicated email client is an app built to help you manage multiple accounts in a unified inbox. They’re often faster and have better organizational tools than web interfaces.

It's a definite step up, but not all email clients are the same. Many are still designed for individual users who just want to organize their personal inboxes (think Outlook or Gmail). They often lack the collaborative and automation features that a growing business needs to manage communication across the whole team.

Key features for managing multiple team email accounts

For a business, just seeing all your emails in one list isn't enough. You need a tool that helps your team be more productive, work together smoothly, and keep your data secure. Here’s what to look for.

Unified inbox for all channels

A unified inbox should bring all your messages into a single stream. A great one doesn't stop at email. Today's communication happens everywhere, across multiple accounts, so your tool needs to handle SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, and live chat right alongside your emails.

A platform like Missive can help you centralize every customer conversation, no matter where it started. Your team gets the full context of every interaction without ever needing to switch apps, which can lead to faster replies and happier customers.

In-app collaboration tools

The back-and-forth of forwarding emails for a colleague's input can be slow and inefficient. Your team needs tools that let them work together right where the conversation is happening.

Look for these key features:

• Shared drafts: Let your team write and edit replies together in real-time, just like in a Google Doc.
• Internal comments: Need to ask a question or get a manager's approval? Tag them with an @mention in a chat thread that stays right next to the email, completely hidden from the customer.
• Assignments: Get rid of the "who's handling this?" guesswork. Assign conversations to a specific person or team for clear ownership.

Tools like these are central to platforms like Missive, designed to turn messages into collaborative workspaces.

Powerful automation and AI

Repetitive tasks are a massive time drain. The right tool should let you automate them with powerful, customizable rules that are much smarter than simple filters. Imagine what you could do with:

• Auto-assigning incoming emails to the right person based on keywords, email address, or the sender.
• Using canned responses with dynamic variables to send personalized replies in seconds
• Setting up workload balancing to distribute new conversations evenly across your team, either round-robin style or to whoever has the lightest load.

AI can enhance this further. For example, Missive's AI Rules can analyze an email's content for urgency or sentiment and automatically trigger the right workflow, like assigning a frustrated customer's email directly to a senior support agent.

Business-grade security and access controls

When you're handling all your business communications in one place, especially sensitive customer data, security is a priority.

Make sure any tool you consider has these essentials:

• SOC 2 Type II compliance. This is a third-party audit that proves the company has strong security policies and follows them.
• Single Sign-On (SSO) and two-factor authentication (2FA) to keep your accounts secure.
• IP restrictions and detailed audit trails so you have full control over who can access what, along with a log of every action taken.

Platforms like Missive offer these enterprise-level features, giving you the control and confidence you need to manage your business's most important data.

Comparing popular email management apps

Now that you know what to look for, let's see how a few popular email clients to compare. Here’s a quick breakdown of how they stack up on key features.

Mailbird: A customizable option for Windows and Mac users

Mailbird is a popular email client for Windows and Mac, known for its clean interface and many app integrations. It lets you connect tools like Slack, Asana, and Dropbox, turning your inbox into a central hub for your work apps.

Strengths:‍

• It has a fast, simple, and easy-to-use interface.
• You can connect it with over 30+ tools, which is great for pulling your workflows into one place.
• The premium plans let you add an unlimited number of email accounts and come with handy features like email tracking and an AI writing assistant.

Limitations:‍

• While it integrates with other apps, it has limited built-in team collaboration features like assignments or internal chat. It is primarily a tool for individual productivity.
• Their documentation doesn't mention advanced security certifications like SOC 2, which could be a consideration for businesses handling sensitive customer information.

Pricing:‍

• Free plan: Available, but limited to one email account.
• Premium plan: Starts at $4.03/user/month when billed yearly.

Spark: A sleek choice for individuals and small teams

Spark is a modern email client with a "Smart Inbox" that automatically pushes important emails to the top. It's a favorite among Apple users but is available on all major platforms.

Strengths:‍

• Its interface is clean and intuitive, with great features like snooze, reminders, and a "Gatekeeper" that lets you screen and block new senders.
• It offers some solid team features, including shared inboxes, comments, and collaborative drafts.
• It also includes an AI assistant to help you summarize long threads and write replies faster.

Limitations:‍

• While it has good collaboration tools, it doesn’t offer the same level of advanced workflow automation, like workload balancing or AI-driven rules.
• Its main focus is on email. If you need to manage SMS, WhatsApp, or other channels, you may need different apps.
• According to its privacy policy, data is stored and encrypted via Google Cloud, which is secure but might not meet the specific compliance needs of all businesses.

Pricing:‍

• Free plan: Available with core features.
• Plus plan: Starts at $8.25/user/month.

Missive: A collaborative email client for teams

Missive is a inbox collaboration platform built for teams. It brings together email, SMS, WhatsApp, social media, and internal chat into one shared space where your team can work together.‍

• Comprehensive Collaboration: Missive includes tasks, assignments, an audit trail, and internal chat features built around conversations to provide clarity on team responsibilities.
• Email management for teams: Supports shared inboxes and personal accounts, real-time co-drafting, and shared labels to make your inbox a team sport.
• Multi-Channel Support: Missive is designed to handle various channels beyond email, allowing teams to manage customer conversations from a single platform for better context
• Advanced Automation and AI: The platform offers customizable rules, workload balancing, and AI features to summarize threads, translate messages, and trigger automated workflows.
• Enterprise-Grade Security: It provides security features like SOC 2 Type II compliance, SAML/SSO, and IP restrictions.

Pricing:‍

• Starter: $14/user/month (billed yearly).
• Productive: $24/user/month (billed yearly).
• Business: $36/user/month (billed yearly).

Choosing the right approach for your team

To effectively manage multiple email accounts as a team, you need more than a tool that just puts all your emails in one list. While a unified view can help with organization, it may not address all challenges of team communication.

Key differentiators to look for include multi-channel support, deep collaboration tools that let your team work together, powerful automation to handle repetitive tasks, and strong security to protect your data.

While many tools are designed for individual organization, platforms like Missive are built for team communication. This approach can turn an inbox into a central hub for collaborative work.

For a deeper dive into how you can streamline your email workflows, check out this helpful video on managing multiple accounts directly within Gmail.

This video tutorial explains how to manage multiple email accounts within Gmail to save time.

Ready to stop juggling tabs and start collaborating? Try Missive free and see how a shared inbox can streamline all your team's communication.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to manage multiple email accounts for a team?

An effective method is to use a collaborative platform with a unified inbox, like Missive. This brings all your communication channels (email, SMS, social media) into one place and includes team features like assignments, internal comments, and automation rules, which you can't get with simple forwarding or basic email clients.

Can I use Gmail to manage multiple email accounts effectively?

While Gmail lets you add other accounts, it's designed for individual use. It lacks the collaborative tools needed for a team, like assigning conversations or seeing who is working on what. This can lead to confusion, duplicate replies, and missed messages in a team setting.

What are the key security features to look for in a tool to manage multiple email accounts?

Look for enterprise-grade security. Key features include SOC 2 Type II compliance, Single Sign-On (SSO), two-factor authentication (2FA), and IP restrictions. These ensure your company and customer data are protected.

How does a unified inbox help manage multiple email accounts?

A unified inbox consolidates messages from all your accounts (e.g., support@, sales@, personal) and other channels like SMS or WhatsApp into a single view. This prevents you from constantly switching between apps and gives your team a complete picture of every customer conversation.

Why is it difficult to manage multiple email accounts with email forwarding?

Email forwarding clutters your primary inbox, makes it hard to reply from the correct address, and offers no visibility for team collaboration. You can't tell if a colleague has already responded to a shared email, which can lead to inefficiencies and a poor customer experience.

What kind of automation should I look for to help manage multiple email accounts?

Look for powerful, customizable rules. Good tools let you auto-assign emails to the right person, use canned responses with variables for quick replies, and even use AI to analyze email content and trigger specific workflows, saving your team a ton of time.

Connecting Microsoft Teams with Outlook aims to bridge the gap between your inbox and your chat app. However, users sometimes face challenges like a missing add-in, performance issues, or a workflow that requires switching between tabs.

Modern teams need a reliable way to discuss emails without getting tangled in endless reply-all threads or forwarding chains. The goal is simple: Can you talk about emails in the place where you're drafting the email? Can you merge the functionality of new Outlook with the functionality of new teams, but keep it all in one interface?  

Outlook doesn't support this natively for some reason, but that's why we’ve put together this list. We will walk through five tools that offer alternative Outlook for teams solutions for creating a single, unified workspace for all your team communication.

What the Outlook for Teams integration is supposed to do

The official name is the Microsoft Teams Meeting Add-in for Outlook. Its main job is to let you schedule a Teams meeting right from your Outlook calendar. Instead of opening the Teams app to create an invite and then pasting the link into a calendar event, you can just click a button in Outlook desktop or mobile.

It’s designed to be a small bridge between email scheduling and video collaboration for the millions of people who use the Microsoft 365 suite. According to Microsoft, it's a COM add-in that should show up right in your Outlook ribbon, as long as you have a supported version of Outlook (2013 or later) and a Microsoft 365 subscription. While it saves a few clicks when functioning correctly, some users report issues with its consistency.

Why the standard Outlook for Teams integration often isn't enough

The challenges with the add-in often stem from a few common issues. As this graphic based on Microsoft's own support documents shows, there are a few common problems. 

• It frequently goes missing. Many users open Outlook to find the Teams button has vanished. Outlook might disable it for performance reasons, an administrator's policy could be blocking it, or it might not have been installed correctly in the first place.
• Troubleshooting is sometimes required. Getting it back often means digging into your settings, checking COM Add-ins, running diagnostics, or even reinstalling Teams.
• It’s a single-purpose tool. Even when it’s working perfectly, the add-in only solves one problem: scheduling meetings. It doesn't help your team collaborate on email responses, assign ownership of a customer query, or manage shared inboxes like sales@ or support@.
• It maintains two separate apps for communication. You’re still living in two separate apps. The email lives in Outlook, but the conversation about that email happens in a Teams channel. This splits the context, forcing you to constantly jump back and forth.

Criteria for evaluating Outlook for Teams alternatives

To find Outlook-friendly tools that address these challenges, we evaluated them based on a few core principles. This isn't just about features; it's about how well they support the way modern Outlook teams need to work.

• Unified experience: How well does the tool merge chat, email, and other channels into a single, intuitive view? Do you feel like you’re in one app, or two?
• Collaboration features: Can you comment internally, assign conversations, and work on drafts together right on an email, without turning it into a formal ticket?
• Simplicity and ease of use: Does the tool feel like a natural email client, or is it a complex system that forces your team to learn a whole new workflow?
• Automation and workflow: Can it handle the repetitive stuff for you, like routing messages, assigning conversations to the right person, and sending canned responses?
• Multi-channel support: Can it manage more than just email? What about SMS, WhatsApp, or social media messages?

A comparison of top Outlook for Teams alternatives

Here’s a brief overview of how our top picks stack up against each other based on those criteria.

FeatureMissiveFrontHelp ScoutMicrosoft Teams + Outlook Add-inSlack + Email IntegrationUnified InboxYes, native email and chat in one appYes, for multiple channelsYes, but ticket-focusedNo, two separate appsNo, email is forwarded into SlackInternal CommentsYes, inside the email threadYesYesYes, but in a separate app (Teams)Yes, on forwarded emails in a channelConversation OwnerYesYesYesNoNoMulti-channelEmail, SMS, WhatsApp, social, live chatEmail, SMS, WhatsApp, social, live chatEmail, live chat, social mediaEmail and chat onlyEmail and chat onlyStarting PriceFree plan available; paid from $14/user/mo$25/seat/mo (billed annually)Free plan available; paid from $25/user/moIncluded with Microsoft 365 ($6.00/user/mo+)Free plan available; paid from $7.25/user/moBest ForTeams wanting a collaborative inboxSupport teams needing a multi-channel help deskSupport teams focused on a simple ticketing systemTeams fully invested in the MS ecosystemTeams who live primarily in Slack

5 alternatives to the Outlook for Teams integration

Now, let's dive into the details of each alternative to see which one might be the right fit for your team.

1. Missive

 Missive is a team inbox and chat tool that brings all of your team's communication, both internal and external, into one shared workspace. It is designed to function like a familiar email client while adding collaborative features. This design allows teams to manage shared inboxes, chat with teammates right next to customer emails, assign conversations, and collaborate on replies without ever leaving their inbox.

• Pros: A key feature of Missive is its native, inbox-first design. Collaboration is part of the foundation. It offers full two-way sync with any email provider, including IMAP, which means your actions are always consistent, no matter where you access your email. It also has a powerful mobile app, flexible automation rules, and AI features for drafting replies, summarizing long threads, and translating messages. It’s also SOC 2 Type II compliant, indicating a focus on data security.
• Cons: For very large enterprises that need rigid, ticket-based workflows and complex reporting dashboards, Missive might feel too flexible. It’s intentionally built for teams who want to keep conversations human rather than turning them into formal tickets.
• Pricing:
  • Free: Up to 3 users with a 15-day conversation history.
  • Starter: $14 per user/month for teams of up to 5 users and unlimited history.
  • Productive: $24 per user/month for teams of up to 50 users, including integrations and automations.
  • Business: $36 per user/month with advanced analytics and security features.
• Why we chose it: Missive was included because it integrates email and chat into a single application by design. It offers a range of features aimed at team collaboration.

2. Front

Front is a popular customer operations platform that aims to unify emails, apps, and teammates into a single view. It's well-known for its ability to manage shared inboxes and for its wide range of third-party integrations (over 110 integrations), which makes it a common choice for support and operations teams.

• Pros: Like Missive, Front is excellent at pulling multiple channels like email, SMS, and social media into one place. It has deep integrations with CRMs like Salesforce, and its rules engine is quite powerful for automating workflows. It also offers robust AI features for routing messages and providing analytics.
• Cons: Some teams may find Front's workflow leans towards a "ticketing" system, which may not suit all collaboration styles. The higher starting price and seat minimums can also make it less accessible for smaller teams. Its two-way sync is limited for IMAP accounts (it relies on email forwarding), and its mobile app lacks some of the advanced features found on the desktop version.
• Pricing (billed annually):
  • Starter: $25 per seat/month, for up to 10 seats.
  • Professional: $65 per seat/month, for up to 50 seats.
  • Enterprise: $105 per seat/month.
• Why we chose it: Front is a major player in this space and a common alternative for teams that have outgrown a basic email setup. It represents a more structured, help-desk-oriented approach to solving the communication challenge.

3. Help Scout

 Help Scout is a dedicated customer service platform built specifically for support teams, trusted by over 12,000 companies. It offers a shared inbox, live chat (Beacon), and a knowledge base builder. Its core philosophy is to keep communication human by avoiding things like ticket numbers.

• Pros: Help Scout is widely praised for its simplicity and ease of use. It’s very good at its primary job: helping support teams manage customer conversations efficiently. Its AI chatbot can reportedly resolve up to 70% of routine requests, and its reporting features are solid for measuring team performance.
• Cons: Help Scout is, first and foremost, a support tool. It isn't designed for broader team collaboration on sales, operations, or internal projects. The workflow is fundamentally about resolving "conversations" (which are essentially tickets), and it has a different feel from more email-centric collaboration tools.
• Pricing:
  • Free: For up to 5 users and 1 inbox.
  • Standard: $25 per user/month.
  • Plus: $45 per user/month.
  • Pro: $75 per user/month.
• Why we chose it: It is an example of a tool focused on a specific use case. It is included to show the trade-offs of using a specialized help desk versus a more flexible collaboration platform.

4. The Microsoft Outlook for Teams add-in

 This isn't an alternative in the same way, but it's the default option for anyone using Microsoft 365. The Teams Meeting Add-in lets you create a Teams meeting directly from an Outlook calendar event. When it works, it’s a handy shortcut.

• Pros: It’s included with most Microsoft 365 business subscriptions (which also includes Microsoft office), so there’s no extra cost. For companies that are standardized on Microsoft’s tools, it's a native integration.
• Cons: As detailed in Microsoft’s own documentation, the add-in can be unreliable. Users report it can get disabled, fail to load, or disappear. More importantly, it only addresses a small part of the collaboration workflow. It doesn't help you discuss or manage the emails that lead to the meeting, leaving your context scattered across different apps.
• Pricing:
  • Included with Microsoft 365 Business plans (starting from $6.00 user/month).
• Why we included it: This is the baseline option and is included to show what functionality is available natively within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. 

5. The Slack plus email integration

 Many teams who live in Slack for internal communication try to use its email integration to pull important external messages into their workspace. This typically involves forwarding emails from an inbox to a dedicated Slack channel, where the team can then discuss it.

• Pros: For teams already centered around Slack, this keeps conversations in the tool they use most. It’s fairly simple to set up for teams on a paid plan and uses an interface everyone is already familiar with.
• Cons: This is often a one-way workflow. You can talk about the email in Slack, but you can't reply to the original sender from there. Someone still has to go back into their email client to respond, which can create confusion over who replied and may lead to duplicate work. This can fragment the conversation since replies must be sent from a separate email client.
• Pricing:
  • This feature is available on Slack's paid plans, which start at $7.25 per user/month (billed annually). This doesn't include the cost of your email provider.
• Why we included it: This represents a common workaround and is included to highlight the workflow of integrating email into a chat-first application.

For a more in-depth look at how these tools work in practice, this video provides a helpful overview of integrating email and chat for better team communication.

This video explains how to integrate Outlook and Teams for better communication and collaboration by sending emails to channels and scheduling meetings.

How to choose the right Outlook for Teams alternative

So, how do you pick the right tool from this list? Here are a few practical questions to ask yourself.

• Start with your core workflow. Is your team's day-to-day work centered around an inbox, or is it centered around a chat tool? If it’s the inbox, consider a tool that enhances it.
• Consider all your channels. Don't just solve for email. Make a quick list of all the ways you communicate with customers and partners, whether it’s SMS, social media, or WhatsApp. Look for a tool that can bring them all into one view.
• Consider the benefits of native integration. While add-ins can offer quick fixes, fully integrated solutions often provide more reliability and functionality. A platform where email and chat were built to work together from day one will outperform two apps loosely connected.
• Distinguish between a help desk and a general collaboration tool. If your goal is team-wide collaboration across different departments like sales, operations, and support, a flexible platform may be more suitable than a ticketing system designed specifically for support teams. 

Choosing the right collaboration tool

While the Outlook and Teams integration aims to connect two key tools, some teams find its reliability and narrow focus insufficient for their needs. An alternative is to adopt a platform where collaboration is built directly into the inbox itself.

Tools like those listed above are designed to address this challenge. They aim to combine emails, internal chats, and other messages into a single, organized workspace for team collaboration.

Ready to stop switching between apps and bring your team's communication together? Try Missive for free and see what a truly collaborative inbox feels like.

Running a small business often feels like you're wearing a dozen hats at once. You're the CEO, marketer, customer support lead, and maybe even the janitor. It's a constant juggle to keep up, especially when you see larger companies with what seems like unlimited resources.

This is where artificial intelligence can step in. It is not some futuristic, complex tech anymore. Using AI is more like hiring a practical sidekick that helps level the playing field. Today’s AI technology is affordable, easy to use, and can fit right into your daily work without requiring a computer science degree.

In this post, we'll walk you through a handpicked list of AI tools that can actually help your small business save time, cut costs, and improve your customer communication.

What are AI tools for small businesses?

What do we mean by "AI tools"? For most small businesses, it's software that can handle tasks that normally need a person. Think about writing emails, summarizing long conversation threads, transcribing calls, or setting repetitive workflows to run on their own.

Most of these tools run on what's called Generative AI (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs). This is the technology that allows them to create new content, understand plain English, and provide useful replies.

The advantages are straightforward. Using AI tools can make your team more efficient by handling the tedious work, improve customer service with quick responses, help you get past writer's block, and pull valuable information from your daily business conversations.

How we selected the AI tools for this list

We didn't just pull these names out of a hat. To make this list genuinely useful, we measured each tool against a few criteria that are crucial for small business owners.

• Impact on Efficiency: We looked for AI tools that are great at automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks. The idea is to free up you and your team for the work that actually grows the business.
• Ease of Use: If an AI tool requires a week of implementing just to get going, it’s not a good fit. Everything on this list is intuitive enough for anyone on your team to start using quickly.
• Affordability: We know budgets are tight. We focused on solutions with transparent pricing and a good return on investment.
• Collaboration and Integration: Another app that doesn’t connect with your other software is the last thing you need. We picked AI tools that fit into your current workflow and help your team work together better. 

Quick comparison of top AI tools

Here’s a quick overview of the top AI tools we’ll be covering. Each one targets a different core need for a growing small business, from communication to content creation.

The 6 best AI tools for small business

Alright, let's get into the details. Here’s a closer look at what makes each of these AI tools a great pick for small businesses.

1. Missive

Missive is a collaborative communication platform that brings all your customer and internal messages into one unified inbox view. It’s designed to manage everything from email, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and live chat in a single place. This means your team can work together on replies behind the scenes without messy email forwards or CC chains. The platform is designed for a conversational experience, contrasting with traditional ticketing systems.

Why it's on the list: Missive’s AI features are built right into your team’s daily workflow, which makes them very practical. You can generate instant AI drafts for quick replies, get summaries of long conversation threads in seconds, translate messages on the fly, and even build powerful AI rules. For instance, you can set up a rule that automatically detects an angry customer's email and assigns it to a senior team member for immediate attention.

Pros and Cons: Missive's biggest strength is its all-in-one, multi-channel workspace that prevents important messages from getting lost. The collaboration features, like chatting internally on an email thread or co-authoring a reply in real-time, are a huge help for teams. It's AI-powered rules are incredibly flexible, allowing you to personalize the AI workflows to your specific business. Missive is very powerful for collaboration, but a solo founder might find it has more features than they need right at the start.

Pricing:

• Starter: $14/user/month
• Productive: $24/user/month
• Business: $36/user/month

2. Jasper

Jasper is an AI content automation platform built with marketing teams in mind. It helps you whip up high-quality marketing copy, blog posts, and social media updates. Its standout feature is "Jasper IQ," which learns your brand voice, style guide, and product details to make sure everything it creates sounds consistently like your brand.

Why it's on the list: Jasper has been a leader in the AI writing space for a while, and it's a good fit for small marketing teams trying to produce a lot of content without hiring more writers. Its intelligent Content Pipelines can automate the entire process, from brainstorming an idea to getting it published.

Pros and Cons: Jasper is great for creating first drafts and getting past writer's block. It has a ton of templates for different formats, which is very helpful. The AI's output always needs a human eye for fact-checking and fine-tuning. Plus, while Jasper is useful for creating content, you’ll need a different tool to manage the customer conversations that result from it.

Pricing:

• Pro: Starts at $59/seat/month (billed annually)
• Business: Custom pricing

3. Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot brings AI help directly into the Office apps your business probably already uses, like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It’s powered by an artificial intelligence layer called Work IQ, which gets to know you, your job, and your company to offer up tailored assistance.

Why it's on the list: For any business that relies heavily on the Microsoft suite, this tool is a natural fit. Its deep integration means there's almost no learning curve. You can ask it to draft an email in Outlook, create a presentation from a document in PowerPoint, or analyze data in Excel, all using natural language.

Pros and Cons: The smooth integration is its biggest advantage, making it easy to be more productive in apps you already know. The downside is that it's an add-on, so you first need a qualifying Microsoft 365 Business plan, which pushes the total cost up. Also, its collaboration features are spread out across different apps, which can feel disconnected compared to a single, unified communication hub.

Pricing:

• $30/user/month (as an add-on to a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan)

4. Dialpad

Dialpad is an AI-powered platform for voice communications: calls, messages, and meetings. Its AI features are what make it stand out. It offers real-time voice transcription during calls, creates post-call summaries with clear action items, and even gives agents live coaching with "AI Live Coach Cards" that pop up with helpful tips while they're on a call.

Why it's on the list: Dialpad is a great tool for sales and support teams who spend most of their day on the phone. It gives them live insights to improve their performance on the spot and automates note-taking with post-call summaries, freeing them up to focus on the conversation.

Pros and Cons: The real-time voice intelligence is a huge plus for any team that relies heavily on phone calls, and the AI analytics help managers spot trends without digging through call logs. However, Dialpad's main strengths are in voice and video. If your team also handles a lot of email, SMS, and social media messages, you might find you still need another tool to bring all those text-based channels together.

Pricing:

• Standard: $15/user/month
• Pro: $25/user/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

5. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is customer service software that comes with an AI chatbot named Freddy. The Freddy AI Agent can handle complex and repetitive customer questions on its own, across different channels. Meanwhile, the Freddy AI Copilot acts as a sidekick for human agents, helping with conversation summaries, reply suggestions, and the ability to analyze sentiment.

Why it's on the list: This is a specialized chatbot that can help a small business offer 24/7 support and automate the most common questions. Freshworks states it can resolve up to 80% of queries, which is a big help if you're trying to scale customer service without hiring a lot of people.

Pros and Cons: Freshdesk is excellent for managing support tickets and building out a self-service knowledge base, with it's AI chatbot helping to answer common questions before they even reach an agent. Its ticketing-based system offers a structured approach to customer support, which differs from the conversational model of an inbox-style tool. It's also heavily focused on external customer support rather than broader team collaboration or internal comms.

Pricing:

• Growth: $19/agent/month (billed annually)
• Pro: $55/agent/month (billed annually)
• Enterprise: $89/agent/month (billed annually)

6. Grammarly

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that offers smart suggestions on grammar, clarity, tone, and style to make your writing better. Its newer generative AI features can help you rewrite sentences, and it has specialized AI agents like a "Paraphraser" and "Proofreader" to help with specific writing tasks.

Why it's on the list: It's a simple, essential tool that helps everyone on your team to write more clearly and professionally, whether they're crafting an email, a marketing post, or a project update. It works across thousands of different apps and websites, so it's always there when you need it.

Pros and Cons: Grammarly's main strength is its simplicity and the fact that it can be used almost anywhere. It improves your writing. While its generative AI features are handy for rewriting and brainstorming, it's not built for creating long-form content from scratch. It also doesn't help with managing team communication workflows, like assigning tasks or collaborating on a customer response.

Pricing:

• Free: Basic writing suggestions and 100 AI prompts/month
• Pro: Starts at $12/member/month (billed annually) with 2,000 AI prompts/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

How to choose the right AI tool for your business

When you're starting to use AI, it can be a daunting task. Here are a few simple tips to help you pick the right tool for your business. 

• Start with your biggest headache. Don't just use AI for the sake of it. Figure out what the most time-consuming or frustrating part of your business is. Is it answering every single customer email? Writing social media posts? Find an AI tool that solves that specific problem first.
• Look for tools that integrate. The best tools are the ones that play nicely with the software you already use. If there is no native connection, you could look into AI-powered workflow and automation builders (like Relay.app) that can connect apps together, making it easier for your team to adopt and will keep your data from getting trapped in different siloed places. For example, Missive integrates with over 25 apps like Salesforce, Shopify, and Asana. 
• Prioritize a unified workspace. Juggling a bunch of different apps can create more problems than it solves. Look for platforms that combine a few key functions, like communication and task management, to keep your team on the same page and working from one source of truth.
• Take advantage of free trials. Just about every AI tool on this list offers a free trial or a free version. Give them a spin with your team. See which one feels the most natural and provides the most value before you put any money down.

For a broader look at how different AI tools can impact a business, check out this video. It covers a range of applications and might spark some new ideas for how you can leverage AI in your own operations.

Can I use AI tools without technical expertise?

Adopting any new technology can be intimidating but AI is getting more and more user friendly everyday. With a common dialogue-focused interface and natural language usage, you can often just tell these AI tools what you're trying to do and they can provide insights into how to achieve it. Sometimes, the AI technology can actually optimize the set up work for you. 

The future is collaborative and intelligent

AI is no longer a luxury just for big corporations. For small businesses, it’s a useful partner that can help you improve productivity, put tedious work on autopilot, and deliver the kind of customer experience that builds loyalty.

The right tool can analyze and unlock valuable insights and give your team the breathing room to focus on what really matters: growing the business and building great relationships with your customers.

And the best place to start is by getting the foundation of your business streamlined: your communication.

Ready to see how AI can streamline your team's communication? Try Missive for free and bring all your conversations into one collaborative, intelligent inbox.

Although initially designed to be used as a discussion group, a lot of teams start out using Google Groups to manage shared email addresses like support@yourcompany.com or info@yourcompany.com. It’s a free feature that comes with Google Workspace, so it’s an easy first step to get everyone on the same page.

However, as teams grow, they may encounter limitations. The Google Collaborative Inbox feature lives in a separate interface (and tab), which can make it challenging to track tasks and responsibilities. This can lead to missed emails, unclear ownership, and difficulty in managing workflows.

If this sounds familiar, this article can help. We’ll walk you through the six best alternatives to Google Groups to help you find a tool that grows with your business and makes team collaboration feel simple.

What are Google Groups alternatives?

Google Groups can function as a group email list, a web forum/discussion group, a Q&A spot, and a Collaborative Inbox. While that flexibility is useful, its design may not be ideal for managing a high volume of team emails.

That's where Google Groups alternatives designed for team collaboration comes in. These are platforms built specifically to solve the problems you run into with Google Groups when you are trying to use Collaborative Inbox. They usually focus on one area and do it well, like creating a shared inbox for a customer support team or a project hub for internal collaboration. They offer more capable features centered on accountability and smooth workflows.

This list wouldn't be applicable to you if you're looking for moderation or message board functionality for your discussion forum, but if you have a busy shared inbox, then you're in the right place.

Ultimately, these tools bring much-needed structure to team email, so you can stop wondering if a critical message fell through the cracks. They make it clear who owns what and let you build workflows right where your conversations happen.

Key reasons to look for Google Groups alternatives

While Google Groups is a useful starting point, its features may not scale with the needs of a growing business. As your team gets bigger, you may encounter these common challenges.

• Constant context switching: Jumping between your personal Gmail and the separate Google Groups tab can be inefficient. This context-switching slows everyone down and adds friction to the workday.
• Unclear ownership: There’s no simple way to assign an email to a specific person. This can result in duplicate replies or, conversely, no one replying because everyone assumed someone else had it covered.
• Disorganized conversations: Relying on CCs and forwards to keep the team in the loop creates complex email threads. Important details get buried, and figuring out the history of a customer issue becomes a real chore.
• Limited workflow management: Google Groups lacks basic features for tracking a conversation's status (like Open, Pending, or Closed). You can't set up automations for repetitive tasks, like assigning emails based on keywords or sending automatic follow-ups.
• Lack of performance insights: You can't track key metrics like response times or email volume. Without that data, it's impossible to understand your team's workload, measure performance, or find areas to improve.

How we chose the best Google Groups alternatives for this list

To make sure we were recommending genuinely useful tools, we focused on a few key things when putting this list together.

• Collaboration features: We looked for tools with the essentials, like email assignments, internal notes for team chats, and collision detection to stop two people from replying to the same email at once.
• Workflow automation: The ability to create rules that automate repetitive tasks was a big one. The less manual work your team has to do, the more they can focus on what matters.
• Ease of use: A tool is only good if your team actually uses it. We gave priority to platforms with intuitive interfaces that don't require a month of training.
• Integrations: We picked tools that connect easily with other business software, especially those in the Google Workspace ecosystem.
• Scalability: The alternatives we chose can grow with you, whether you're a small startup or a much larger company.

A quick comparison of the top Google Groups alternatives

‍

The 6 best alternative to Google Groups for team collaboration

Here’s a closer look at each tool to help you find the best fit for your team's needs.

1. Missive

Missive is a collaborative inbox that pulls all your team’s conversations into a single place, no more tab switching. It includes features for managing email, SMS, WhatsApp, social media, and more. It also has built-in tasks, internal chat, and powerful automation, so your team can manage entire workflows without leaving their inbox. It works with all email providers, including Gmail and Outlook.

Pros and cons: A key feature is its multi-channel support, letting your team manage every customer interaction from one place. Its AI-powered features, like drafting replies and spam filters based custom prompts, combined with automation rules for things like workload balancing, can increase team productivity. For solo users or very small teams who just need basic email sharing with a familiar web UI, the feature set might be more than you need.

Pricing:

• Free: For small teams to try out the core features.
• Starter: $14 per user/month (billed yearly). Includes team inboxes, email, SMS, social accounts, and tasks for up to 5 users.
• Productive: $24 per user/month (billed yearly). Adds integrations, rules/automations, and basic analytics for up to 50 users.
• Business: $36 per user/month (billed yearly). Adds advanced analytics, SAML/SSO, and IP restrictions for unlimited users.

2. Help Scout

Help Scout is a customer service platform designed for personalized communication. It's a great Google Groups alternative for managing support emails, offering a clean shared inbox, a knowledge base (Docs), and live chat. Its AI features can automatically resolve up to 70% of routine questions.

Pros and cons: Help Scout is known for its user-friendliness and core help desk features like saved replies, collision detection, and internal notes. Its reporting tools also give you solid insights into your team's performance. On the other hand, it’s very focused on external customer support, so it may be less suitable for internal projects or managing a sales pipeline.

Pricing:

• Free: For up to 5 users, with 1 inbox and 1 Docs site.
• Standard: $25 per user/month. Includes 2 mailboxes, live chat, and basic workflows.
• Plus: $45 per user/month. Adds advanced workflows, unlimited AI drafts, and integrations like Salesforce and Jira.
• Pro: $75 per user/month. Adds unlimited workflows, SSO/SAML, and HIPAA compliance.

3. Hiver

Description: Hiver is an AI-powered customer service platform for teams that primarily use Gmail. It integrates directly into the Gmail interface, turning it into a complete help desk without forcing your team to learn a new platform. It’s a solid choice for managing shared inboxes like support@ or sales@.

Pros and cons: Its seamless integration with Gmail is a main draw, making it easy for your team to get started. Features like collision alerts, email assignment, and detailed analytics are all built right in. The biggest drawback is that it only works with Google Workspace, so it’s not an option if your team uses other email providers.

Pricing:

• Free: Includes email, live chat, and a knowledge base for unlimited users.
• Growth: $25 per user/month. Adds AI Compose, AI Summarizer, and rule-based automations.
• Pro: $65 per user/month. Adds AI Agents, AI Copilot, voice, WhatsApp, and CSAT surveys.
• Elite: $105 per user/month. Adds skill-based routing, HIPAA compliance, and custom roles.

4. Drag

Description: Drag also operates inside Gmail but takes a unique, visual approach. It turns your inbox into a collaborative Kanban board, similar to Trello, letting you drag and drop emails between columns that represent different stages of your workflow.

Pros and cons: This visual workflow is well-suited for teams managing projects, sales pipelines, or support tickets in clear stages. The ability to add tasks, notes, and due dates directly to emails is a significant benefit for organization. However, if your team prefers a traditional list-style inbox, the Kanban-first approach might be less intuitive.

Pricing:

• Starter: $12 per user/month (billed yearly). Includes unlimited workspaces and basic automation.
• Plus: $18 per user/month (billed yearly). Adds AI assistants, email sequences, and file uploads.
• Pro: $24 per user/month (billed yearly). Adds WhatsApp channel support, API access, and custom roles.

5. Groups.io

If you're mainly using Google Groups as a mailing list or discussion forum, Groups.io is a modern replacement. It's designed for communities and offers a cleaner interface and more features than Google Groups, like a shared calendar, file sharing, wikis, and polls.

Pros and cons: Groups.io is privacy-focused (no ads or data mining) and offers great organization with features like hashtags. It is a suitable choice for non-profits, open-source projects, and hobby groups. While it's fantastic as a forum, it doesn't have the collaborative inbox features that business teams need for managing a high volume of customer emails.

Pricing:

• Free: For up to 100 members with core email group features.
• Premium: Starts at $20/month for the entire group, removing member limits and adding features like a calendar, files, and photos.

6. Slack

For many teams, an effective way to handle internal communication issues is to move away from email altogether. Slack is a channel-based messaging platform that organizes conversations by topic, project, or team, creating a searchable archive of all communication.

Pros and cons: Slack is designed for real-time internal collaboration and can dramatically reduce the number of internal emails you send and receive. Its extensive library of integrations makes it a central hub for all your team's work. The main thing to keep in mind is that it isn't built to manage external email from customers, so you'd still need a separate tool for your shared inboxes.

Pricing:

• Free: Limited message history and integrations.
• Pro, Business+, and Enterprise+: Paid plans are available with advanced features like unlimited message history, AI-powered summaries, and enterprise-grade security. You can visit their website for the most current pricing.

Understanding the fundamental differences between Google's own tools, like Google Groups and delegated access, can help clarify why so many teams seek out dedicated alternatives. This video offers a great breakdown of the pros and cons of each native Google option, highlighting the common pain points that the tools on our list are designed to solve.

 This video offers a great breakdown of the pros and cons of each native Google option, highlighting the common pain points that the tools on our list are designed to solve.

How to choose the right Google Groups alternatives for your team

• First, identify your main challenge: What's the main problem you're trying to solve? Are you drowning in support tickets, struggling with forum moderation, or just need a better mailing list? A customer support team has very different needs than a sales team. For instance, if you need a knowledge base, Help Scout is a strong contender. If you love the idea of a visual workflow inside Gmail, Drag is built for you.
• Think about how your team works: Do you want a tool that lives inside Gmail, or would you prefer a standalone app? Do you need to manage other channels like SMS and social media? Missive excels at bringing all channels into one view (no more tab swtiching). Getting your team involved in this decision is key to making sure everyone actually uses the new tool.
• Test the tool: Most tools on this list offer a free trial or plan, which is a good way to evaluate them. Set up a pilot with a few teammates to test out the features in a real-world scenario. See how it feels to assign conversations, collaborate on replies, and organize your work. This is the best way to know for sure if a tool is the right fit.

It's time to upgrade your team's communication

While Google Groups is a functional starting point, it may not meet the needs of a growing business. Adopting a specialized collaboration tool can bring more clarity and accountability, leading to improved communication and customer satisfaction.

For teams looking for a platform that consolidates communication channels, automates tasks, and provides collaborative tools, Missive is one option to consider. You can start a free 30-day trial today, no credit card required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What are the main limitations of Google Groups that lead people to seek out Google Groups alternatives? A1: The main limitations are a lack of accountability (you can't assign emails), a user interface that is separate from Gmail, and no real workflow tools. This often leads to missed messages and confusion as a team grows.

Q2: Are there any free Google Groups alternatives for small teams? A2: Yes, several of the tools on this list, including Missive, Help Scout, Hiver, and Slack, offer free plans. These are great for small teams or for trying out a platform's core features before committing to a paid plan.

Q3: How do I choose the right Google Groups alternatives if my team communicates on more than just email? A3: You should look for a multi-channel inbox. A tool like Missive is built for this, bringing email, SMS, WhatsApp, and social media into one shared space. This prevents your team from having to jump between different apps to talk to customers.

Q4: I like working in Gmail. Are there any Google Groups alternatives that work inside my inbox? A4: Absolutely. Tools like Hiver and Drag are designed to live directly inside the Gmail interface. They add shared inbox and workflow features without forcing your team to learn a completely new application.

Q5: What key features should I look for in Google Groups alternatives for customer support? I don't need forum moderation or message boards. A5: For customer support, look for features like email assignments, internal notes for team collaboration, collision detection (to prevent duplicate replies), saved replies for common questions, and analytics to track response times.

Is your Outlook inbox a total mess? You’re not alone. It’s way too easy for email to become a digital dumping ground, making it a real chore to find what actually matters.

But what if you didn't have to sort through all that chaos by hand? Outlook has a pretty handy built-in feature called "rules" that can act as your personal inbox assistant, automatically filing, flagging, and even deleting messages for you.

This guide will walk you through what Outlook rules are and how to set them up in every version of the app (new, classic, web, and Mac).

More importantly, we’ll get into their features and some key limitations, especially when you’re trying to get work done as a team.

Understanding the basics of Outlook rules

Think of Outlook rules as a set of "if this, then that" instructions for your email. You tell Outlook what to look for in a message, and it automatically does something specific.

The goal is simple: save time, cut down on the mental energy a cluttered inbox drains, and make sure you never miss an important message.

But not all Outlook rules are the same. There’s a big difference between server-side and client-side rules, and it can really affect how your automation works.

• Server-side rules: These run directly on the email server (like Microsoft Exchange). The best part is that they work 24/7, even if your Outlook app is closed. They’re perfect for things like moving an email to a specific folder. The new Outlook for Mac only supports server rules, which keeps things simple but also cuts some functionality.
• Client-side rules: These rules only run when the classic Outlook application is open on your computer. They’re used for actions that need your local app, like playing a sound or showing a desktop alert when a specific email arrives. This is a key consideration for anyone who isn’t at their desktop all day. If Outlook is closed, your client-side rules are taking a break, too.

Rules are also processed in the order they appear in your list, which can sometimes lead to weird conflicts. For example, you might have one rule that moves emails from your boss to a "VIP" folder and another that moves all emails with the word "report" to a "Reports" folder.

What happens when your boss emails you a report? To prevent this, Outlook includes a "Stop processing more rules" option to make sure only the first relevant rule gets applied.

Finally, another limitation to consider is storage space. Exchange Online, the service behind most Outlook accounts, limits the total storage space for all your rules to just 256 KB per mailbox.

Once you hit that ceiling, you cannot create or update any more rules. It sounds like a technical detail, but for power users with lots of workflows, it’s a surprisingly low limit.

How to create rules in Outlook (for every version)

The exact steps for creating a rule can be a little different depending on which version of Outlook you’re using. Here’s a breakdown for each one.

How to create rules in Outlook for the new Windows & Outlook.com versions

The process for the new desktop app and the web version (Outlook.com) is pretty much identical, offering a streamlined experience.

According to Microsoft's official guide, here’s how you do it:

1. Click the Settings gear icon in the top right corner, then go to Mail > Rules.
2. Click + Add new rule.
3. Give your rule a name that makes sense to you.
4. Add a condition. This is the "if" part, like "From" a specific sender or "Subject includes" certain words.
5. Add an action. This is the "then" part, like "Move to" a folder or "Delete."
6. If you have multiple rules, you can check the "Stop processing more rules" box to keep them from clashing.
7. Click Save.

One big limitation to know about: the new Outlook does not support rules for third-party accounts you’ve connected, like Gmail or iCloud. For those, you'll have to set up sorting rules directly with that email provider.

How to create rules in Outlook for the classic desktop app

The classic desktop version of Outlook has the most advanced and detailed options, which are accessible through its Rules Wizard.

It’s also where you’ll most likely have to think about the client-side vs. server-side rule difference.

There are two main ways to get started:

• From a message: This is the fastest method. Just right-click on an email that’s a good example of what you want to automate, then select Rules > Create Rule. Outlook will pre-fill some of the conditions for you, like the sender’s name.
• From a template: For more control, go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts > New Rule. This opens the Rules Wizard, which gives you templates for common tasks like "Move messages from someone to a folder."

The Rules Wizard will walk you through a few steps: choosing a template, setting your conditions (the "if"), picking your actions (the "then"), adding any exceptions, naming the rule, and finally, turning it on.

A really helpful feature here is the option to "Run this rule now on messages already in the current folder." It’s perfect for cleaning up an existing folder right after you create a rule.

Just know that certain actions, like displaying a desktop alert, will trigger a warning that the rule will only run when Outlook is open.

How to create rules in Outlook for Mac

Outlook for Mac recently simplified its approach. To make rules more reliable, it now only supports server-side rules. This means your automation will always work, even when the app is closed.

The trade-off is that you can no longer create rules for client-side actions like playing a custom sound when an important email comes in.

Here’s how to set one up:

1. From the top menu bar, go to Outlook > Settings > Rules.
2. Click New Rule and give it a name.
3. Choose a condition (like "From") and an action (like "Move to Folder").
4. Use the "Stop processing more rules" option if you need to avoid conflicts.
5. Click Save.

Features and limitations of Outlook rules

Now that you know how to build rules, let’s talk about where they really shine and, more importantly, where they fall short, especially for teams trying to work together.

Core capabilities

For managing your own personal inbox, Outlook rules are great. They're particularly good at a few key things:

• Powerful Sorting: You can automatically move messages based on the sender, keywords in the subject line, or whether you’re in the "To" or "Cc" field. This is the quickest way to keep your main inbox focused on what needs your attention right now.
• Prioritization: Set up a rule to flag any message from your manager or with the word "urgent" in the subject. This helps important stuff float to the top so nothing gets missed.
• Inbox Cleaning: Tired of promotional emails and newsletters cluttering up your inbox? A simple rule can automatically send them to a "Read Later" folder or just delete them immediately.
• Custom Alerts: In classic Outlook, you can set up special desktop alerts or sounds for high-priority emails, giving you an immediate heads-up when something important lands.

Limitations for team collaboration

These features were designed primarily for individual use. When applied to a team setting, certain limitations become apparent.

• They aren't collaborative: Rules are tied to a single user's account. You can't create a rule to automatically assign a new customer question to the next available person on your support team. You can't balance the workload for a shared inbox like sales@company.com. This work is manual, which can lead to duplicate replies or missed emails.

• They are email-only: Business communication isn't just email anymore. Your team is probably juggling messages from SMS, WhatsApp, website live chat, and social media. Outlook rules only work on email, requiring other channels to be managed in separate tools. This can create disconnected conversations and increase the risk of missing a customer message.
• They can be device-dependent: The client-side rule limitation can be a challenge for teams needing constant availability. A rule you made to notify you about an urgent lead won't run after hours if your work computer is off. Real automation needs to be on all the time, not just when you’re at your desk.
• Rule management can become complex: As your list of rules grows, they can start to conflict or break. A more significant issue is the 256 KB storage limit. Power users often hit this ceiling and are suddenly unable to create any more rules. Users may need to find workarounds like shortening rule names or cramming multiple conditions into one rule just to save a few bytes.

These limitations show that Outlook rules are primarily for individual productivity. For teams requiring collaborative automation across multiple channels, other tools are available.

For example, platforms like Missive are designed for team collaboration and allow for organizational rules that works across all your channels: email, SMS, WhatsApp, and your whole team. 

Rules in Missive can automatically assign conversations in a round-robin, add internal comments for context, and apply shared tags for easy organization.

Here's a video deep dive into the difference between personal rules and organization rules. 

Outlook pricing

While you can use Outlook for free, the full desktop application and its most advanced features, including the powerful Rules Wizard, are part of Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Rules are available in the free web version, but they are most effective within a paid plan.

Here’s a look at the pricing for the most relevant plans, based on Microsoft's official pricing pages.

For Individuals (Annual Subscription):

• Microsoft 365 Basic: $19.99/year. This gets you an ad-free Outlook on the web and mobile, plus 100 GB of storage.
• Microsoft 365 Personal: $99.99/year. This includes the premium desktop apps for PC and Mac, 1 TB of cloud storage, and access to Copilot AI features.

For Business (Annual Subscription, per user):

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6.00/user/month. Includes web and mobile apps only.
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50/user/month. Includes the full desktop apps.
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: $22.00/user/month. Adds advanced security and includes all apps.

To get the full range of rule-making capabilities, especially the advanced client-side options in the classic app, you’ll need a subscription that includes the desktop apps, like Microsoft 365 Personal or Business Standard.

When to consider alternatives to Outlook rules

Outlook rules are an excellent tool for taming your personal inbox. We’ve covered how to set them up across every version and what they do best: sorting, prioritizing, and cleaning up your own messages to help you focus.

However, when workflows involve multiple people, the limitations of individual-focused rules become apparent. Workflows requiring shared ownership, clear accountability, and a central place for all customer conversations may require a more robust rule system.

Missive's rules can do everything Outlook rules does and more, especially if you're looking for automations that go beyond managing emails in a single email inbox. Let us show you some of our favorite rules. 

Three rule examples

• Service level agreements: Set up SLAs to maintain short response times across your whole team. Specify reminders and escalate to certain users if breached. 
• Escalate urgent emails using AI: Have AI process the context of incoming client emails, if they're urgent or important, escalate and assign it to a pre-selected person.
• Automatic follow ups: Trigger a sequence of follow-up emails based on an email you sent. Automatically stop following up once someone replies. 

Outlook rules are a great way to dip your toe into email automation. If you're ready to level up the inbox automation of your entire team, give Missive a try. 

Most teams start out with a simple shared email address like "info@" or "support@". It’s usually managed through a basic tool like an Outlook Shared Mailbox or a Google Group, and for a while, it works. It's simple, familiar, and gets the job done.

But then your team grows, and so does the email volume. Suddenly, that simple system is a source of chaos. Emails get missed. Two people send different replies to the same customer. No one is quite sure who’s handling what.

This is a common crossroads for growing teams: stick with the shared inbox, or move to a more structured ticketing system? The right answer really depends on how your team works. This guide will break down the practical differences, help you spot the signs that it’s time for a change, and show you how to choose a tool that actually helps your team.

What is a shared inbox?

A shared inbox is exactly what it sounds like: a standard email account that multiple people can use. Think Outlook 365 Shared Mailboxes or Google Groups for Business. They’re a popular starting point because they’re often included with software suites you already pay for.

The good parts:

• It's familiar. The interface is just a regular inbox, so there's no real learning curve. Your team can jump right in.
• It's cheap. They’re usually free with subscriptions like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
• It's fast to set up. You can create a new shared address and grant access in minutes.

The not-so-good parts:

• No one owns anything. One of the biggest challenges is the "bystander effect," where everyone assumes someone else will reply, so no one does. Or, you get "agent collision," where two people reply to the same email with different answers.
• It's missing key features. Basic shared inboxes lack tools for tracking Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or building a knowledge base for common questions.
• You can't measure performance. It's difficult to track metrics like average response time. Managers are left guessing about team performance and can't spot where things could be better.

What is a ticketing system?

A ticketing system is specialized software built to manage customer communication. It turns every incoming message, whether from email, a web form, or social media, into a unique, trackable record called a "ticket." Each ticket gets a number and moves through a workflow from "open" to "resolved."

The good parts:

• Structured workflow. Every request becomes a ticket with a clear owner and status (like open, pending, or closed). This design enforces accountability and makes sure nothing gets lost.
• Built for collaboration. Features like internal notes and @mentions let team members discuss an issue privately within the ticket, keeping all context in one spot.
• Performance reporting. Ticketing systems have automatic dashboards that show clear data on metrics like first response time, ticket volume, and agent performance.

The not-so-good parts:

• Impersonal experience. Customers often feel like they’ve become just another number. The first thing they see is an automated email with a ticket ID, which can feel cold and robotic.
• Steep learning curve. Many help desks are complicated to configure and use, often requiring long training sessions, because they include a wide range of features.
• Rigid workflows. The strict processes in many ticketing systems can feel restrictive and get in the way of the natural conversations needed to solve complex problems.

A practical comparison of a ticketing system vs shared inbox

The real differences between these tools show up in your team's day-to-day work. Here’s how they compare on the things that matter most for collaboration and customer communication.

Ownership and accountability in a ticketing system vs shared inbox

With a shared inbox, ownership is vague. Teams often rely on manual tagging, shouting across the office, or just hoping the right person sees the message. This guesswork leads directly to dropped conversations and frustrated customers.

A ticketing system is built on accountability. Every ticket is assigned to a specific person or team. There’s no doubt about who is responsible for the next reply, which removes the friction of a shared inbox.

Collaboration and context with a ticketing system vs shared inbox

Collaboration in a shared inbox can be challenging. To discuss a customer email, you might forward it, CC a colleague, or switch to a chat tool like Slack. This scatters the conversation history everywhere, making it hard to piece together the full context later.

A ticketing system is designed for teamwork. Private notes and internal discussions happen directly on the ticket. This keeps the entire history of the conversation, both internal and external, in one place.

Tracking and performance: ticketing system vs shared inbox

A shared inbox offers no built-in analytics. If a manager wants to know how fast the team is replying, they have to use manual spreadsheets and guesswork, which is slow and often inaccurate.

In a ticketing system, automatic reporting is a core feature. Dashboards give you instant, clear data on key metrics. This helps teams spot bottlenecks, measure performance, and see trends in customer questions over time.

The customer experience in a ticketing system vs shared inbox

The experience with a shared inbox can feel personal, but it's often inconsistent. A customer might get conflicting answers from different people or have to repeat their issue every time someone new joins the thread.

A ticketing system provides a more consistent experience, since every agent can see the full conversation history. However, the automated responses and ticket numbers can make the interaction feel cold and transactional, as if the goal is to close a ticket rather than help a person.
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7 signs you've outgrown a shared inbox

How do you know when a simple shared inbox is causing more problems than it solves? If your team recognizes several of these signs, it’s a clear signal that it's time for a better tool.

1. Customers are following up on unanswered emails This is the most obvious red flag. If you’re regularly hearing, "Just checking in on this," it means messages are slipping through the cracks.
2. "Agent collision" is a regular occurrence This happens when two teammates reply to the same customer at the same time. It confuses the customer and makes your team look disorganized.
3. You have no idea who’s working on what The team relies on memory or verbal cues to track who is responsible for which conversation. Without clear ownership, important messages get dropped.
4. You spend more time organizing than replying Your team is bogged down creating complex systems of folders and tags just to stay on top of the inbox. This is "shadow work" that can impact revenue and team burnout by focusing on managing the tool instead of helping customers.
5. Urgent issues get buried in the noise In a chaotic inbox, a critical bug report looks the same as a password reset request. This can lead to dangerously slow responses for high-priority problems.
6. You have no data to help you improve You can't answer basic questions like, "How many emails are we getting a day?" Without metrics, you’re making decisions without data and can't make informed decisions.
7. Your internal communication is a mess of forwards and CCs If collaborating means forwarding an email with "FYI" or creating a long reply-all thread, your workflow is inefficient. This is a big red flag for collaboration and a sign you need a tool with built-in teamwork features.

Common drawbacks of ticketing systems

While ticketing systems solve the structural problems of a shared inbox, they often introduce a new set of challenges that can affect your team's workflow and customer relationships.

They turn human conversations into numbers

The ticket-based approach is impersonal. From the first automated reply with a ticket number, customers feel like they're just an entry in a queue. This can encourage agents to focus on metrics like "time to resolution" instead of actually solving the customer's problem.

They can introduce complexity

Many help desks come with a comprehensive set of features. This can make them difficult to implement and learn, requiring serious training time and frustrating new team members who just want to answer an email.

Their rigid workflows can hinder teamwork

Ticketing systems often impose strict, predefined workflows. While structure can be helpful, its rigidity can also stifle the creative discussion needed to solve complex problems. This often forces teams back to external tools like Slack for real collaboration, fragmenting the conversation all over again.

While ticketing systems offer more structure, it's important to understand the full picture. Seeing how others have navigated this transition can provide valuable insights into the benefits and potential pitfalls of moving away from a shared inbox.

Finding a middle ground

So, a shared inbox is too chaotic, but a traditional ticketing system is too rigid and impersonal. This is a common challenge, and it’s why a new category of tools has emerged: the collaborative inbox.

A collaborative inbox is a powered-up shared inbox. It's as fast as an email client and gives you the organization of a ticketing system, without forcing you to treat every customer conversation like a numbered ticket.

Missive is designed for teams that want to work together effectively, not just manage a queue. It keeps communication human while providing powerful, intuitive tools for collaboration.

• It feels like a real inbox, not a help desk. In Missive, conversations stay conversations. There are no ticket numbers, just clear assignments and an internal chat right next to the customer's email. You get all the accountability without the impersonal feel.
• Context is always clear. All your communication channels, including email, SMS, WhatsApp, and social media, live in a single unified inbox. Internal discussions happen right in the thread, so you never have to switch tools to find out what's going on.
• Ownership is simple and visible. You can assign any conversation to a teammate or a team. Everyone can see who is responsible for what at a glance, which eliminates email collision, duplicate work, and missed messages for good.
• Powerful, intuitive automation. You can use rules to automatically route messages, assign conversations, and send canned replies without a complex setup. Missive's AI rules can even analyze email content to detect urgency or sentiment, automating triage so your team can focus on the customer.

Choose a tool that fits how your team works

The choice between a shared inbox and a ticketing system isn't just about features; it's about finding a tool that matches how your support team needs to work.

A basic shared inbox can work for very small teams with low message volume, but it often breaks down as you grow. A traditional ticketing system brings structure and reporting, but often at the cost of complexity and a less personal customer experience.

The best tool enables your team to collaborate efficiently while keeping customer interactions human. It should adapt to your workflow, not force you into a rigid process.

If your team has outgrown the chaos of a shared inbox but doesn't want the impersonal rigidity of a traditional ticketing system, it might be time to see how a collaborative platform like Missive can bring clarity and calm back to your team's communication.

Each year gives us 365 days to make Missive better for you, our users. I'm excited for 2026 and I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished in the last 365 days.

Looking back at 2025, we doubled the size of our team and set out to tackle some of the most requested features from our users. We also shipped a handful of improvements that quietly make everyone’s day‑to‑day work in Missive smoother.

Here are some highlights from our favorite releases this year.

AI Rules

This year we introduced AI-powered rules that let automations understand message content rather than rely on static conditions. We expanded them with multi-channel support, model selection, and practical actions like AI labeling, draft creation, and pre-send checks for outgoing messages, making rules more useful in day-to-day workflows.

Rules also became easier to manage with drag-and-drop editing, support for signatures in rule-generated drafts, and the ability to remove users from conversations automatically.

Tasks

We’ve completely re-imagined how tasks work in Missive. You’ll now find dedicated views that brings together all your tasks into one place.

Search and filter

We added search and filter options to make it easier and more efficient to find the information you need. Filters with a specific date range, domain names, only conversations with attachments, etc.

Files & attachments

See all files and attachments from any conversation in one unified view. Cleaner thumbnails, category-based organization, and Quick Look with keyboard shortcuts make everyday tasks faster.

Out of office status: Auto response

Taking a well-deserved break? You can now set up automatic replies for your personal accounts right from your out of office status, no need for a rule.

Guest Access

No more forwarding long threads or stitching together feedback from different tools. Guest Access lets you bring people outside your organization, like an accountant, contractor, or client—directly into specific Missive conversations.

My drafts & My sent

You can now toggle your Drafts and Sent mailboxes to show only the conversations with messages you personally created or all the ones from your colleagues, making it easier to focus on your own work.

Onboarding: Account and team creation

We redesigned our signup and onboarding flow to better guide new organizations through their first steps, with clearer hand-holding around creating a team and connecting a first shared account.

Teams spaces

A new way to organize your teams. Every team has now a dedicated space in the sidebar, and every member will see the right elements depending on their role in the team. Quickly access your team’s inbox, Tasks, and Chatroom from the same place.

Whatsapp

Native support for WhatsApp Business. No need to add a WhatsApp account via a third-party provider anymore, import directly from Facebook Business Manager.

And many more:

• Unread marker in conversations
• Dialpad call transcription (AI-enabled)
• Relay integration (connect to 200+ apps; automation + AI capabilities)
• Native support for WhatsApp Business
• Coworkers profile card
• Redesigned label menu (favorites + keyboard navigation)
• Natural language detection for snooze / send later
• Recently viewed conversations: in search modal and commandbar.

As always, we'll be regularly shipping improvements and posting them on our changelog. We can't wait to show you what we're cooking up in 2026 already.

Most people start their email journey with one of two email providers, Outlook or Gmail. They are the starter Pokemon of the email world. But your needs for email changes drastically from your teenage years (when you likely got your first email address) to your professional, career working years. In this article, we'll go over a few Gmail alternatives that are more suited for the business world than your iloverainbows52@gmail.com email address.

Before we get into specific Gmail alternatives, we need to talk about what Gmail is.

There are two distinct parts to Gmail: Gmail the email service provider and Gmail the email client. 

Think about this like your faucet vs. your municipal water service. The email service is your municipal water service, it's responsible for: 

• Hosting your mailbox (like the water reservoir)
• Delivering email across the internet (like pipelines)
• Ensuring uptime, spam filtering, and data storage (like pressure and purity controls)

The email client is your faucet, you get to decide whether it's easy it is to use, serves it's function, and is aesthetically pleasing based on your tastes.

You can swap out either independently or you can swap out both at the same time. This is important because we will break down the Gmail alternatives into "water service" and "faucet" options. Most people are typically looking to replace Gmail as the email client (faucet) and keep the Gmail water service exactly as it is, but we'll give you the best email options for both. 

4 Gmail Alternatives: Email Providers

Gmail's email infrastructure stands out amongst other options. Unlike Outlook or other IMAP email providers, Gmail doesn't use IMAP for storage. It has it's own custom-built, cloud-first infrastructure and it's own indexing logic, which are two of the big reasons Gmail's search function is often touted as the fastest.

When we're evaluating email providers, we're looking at these criteria: 

• Reliability and uptime—99.9% uptime is a good standard
• Security and privacy—TLS encryption, multi-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption
• Storage and archiving—information architecture, data location, and search scope will impact how quickly you find what you're looking for
• Cost—prices by user, features, and storage

Bring your email addresses, and let's get into it. 

Protonmail or Tutanota: The security-forward Gmail alternatives

If you're looking for more security and privacy features than Gmail, then you'll want to swap in Protonmail or Tutanota as your email service provider. They both offer true end-to-end encryption which Gmail does not. 

Protonmail allows you to use other third part email clients on top of it, while Tutanota requires you to use the Tutanota specific email client.

Pros:

• Advanced spam filtering and detection
• Lots of privacy-first functionality like end-to-end encryption and password-protected, encrypted emails

Cons:

• Very few third-party integrations
• Free plans aren't super usable with 1 GB of storage. 

Pricing: Both have free plans, with paid plans starting from $3-5/month. 

Summary: To get more secure email infrastructure as an individual user, choose Protonmail or Tutanota. If you want to be able to use a different faucet (aka. bring your own email client), use Protonmail, if you don't care, Tutanota comes with a branded secure email client. 

Outlook: The enterprise Gmail alternative 

If you're looking for an alternative with better compliance controls, Outlook is the gold standard amongst email providers. 

Features like Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Advanced eDiscovery makes Outlook the go-to option for larger enterprises in highly regulated fields like healthcare. Gmail offers strong security but Outlook has finer controls and customizations, including various options around data residency.

Pros:

• Lots of admin controls available on business and enterprise plans
• Deep integration into Microsoft 365's suite of tools
• Some automation with shared rules

Cons:

• Search will likely feel less accurate and slower than Gmail's search

Pricing: For Microsoft 365 (built for businesses), plans start at $6.00/user/month. 

Summary: Gone are the days of Outlook just being a classic hotmail email address. Outlook can be a great option for those who need granular admin controls and want the gold standard in enterprise email security. 

iCloud Mail: The Gmail alternative for Apple users

If you own an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook... and you prefer Apple's privacy-first data handling, iCloud Mail is a great Gmail alternative. 

Pros:

• Works seamlessly on Apple devices
• Mail Privacy Protection and Hide My Email are nice privacy features out of the box

Cons:

• You share your iCloud storage with other Apple apps, so 5 GB get used up fast

Pricing: Free for up to 5 GB of storage. iCloud+ starts at $0.99/month for 50 GB of storage.

Summary: iCloud Mail can be a great Gmail alternative if you're an Apple user through and through, and you're already paying for iCloud storage for your other apps. The out-of-the-box privacy options are also a nice to have.

Spacemail: The simple business Gmail alternative

If you want a clean, modern business email that’s easy to set up and more professional than a free Gmail account, Spacemail is a solid pick. It lets you create a domain-based inbox in minutes with its Unbox™ setup flow and includes a built-in calendar for managing events. Unlike many budget email hosts, it works with any email client through IMAP/SMTP/POP3, and provides robust security and anti-spam features.

Pros:

• Intuitive one-click domain setup via Unbox™
• Works with all major email clients, includes a built-in calendar, and is available on iOS and Android
• Privacy-focused features like password-protected messages, tracker removal, and Jellyfish spam protection

Cons:

• Not a full collaboration suite (no docs or team chat)
• Lower-tier plans come with smaller storage

Pricing: All plans include a 30-day free trial. Starter plan with 3GB of storage, 1 mailbox and 5 aliases starts at $0.61/mo on yearly plans ($7.28.yr).

Summary: Spacemail is a great option for freelancers and small teams that want fast, affordable, domain-based email with essential security and a built-in calendar. It's great if you just need clean, professional email without the bulk of a full workspace.

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4 Gmail Alternatives: Email Clients

If you're reading this section, you probably want to keep Gmail's email service as your email infrastructure. We don't blame you, we recommend it as our email provider of choice. That being said, the Gmail inbox interface and functionality has a lot to be desired. Here are some of our favorite Gmail alternatives for a more seamless inbox. 

Missive: Gmail alternative for teams

If you have dozens of aliases for different email accounts, mixing personal and business, trying to MacGyver it all into the traditional Gmail interface. You already know how that won't work for long—Missive is a way better way to handle email as a team.

Missive allows you to connect all your Gmail email accounts (and any other email accounts), you can see all your emails in one place, while being able to collaborate on emails internally, via comments, as a team. You can even draft emails with someone in real time, send and receive using shared aliases and shared signatures. No more forwarding emails back and forth or wondering if someone is working on responding to a customer.

Missive allows you to bring your own email provider, while giving you a way more team-friendly faucet.

Pros:

• Supports multiple email accounts and any email provider
• Fast, intuitive inbox interface
• Lots of team-oriented features like internal comments
• Flexible automations and deep integration ecosystem (including OpenAI)

Cons:

• No offline mode
• Calendar functionality is basic

Pricing: Free plan up to 3 users and 15-days of history. Paid plans start at $14/user/month. 

Summary: Missive is the best Gmail alternative for teams, it's as intuitive and fast as Gmail but has a lot more functionality under the hood. Users often say, "if Slack and Gmail had a baby, it would be Missive."

Zoho Mail: Gmail alternative for new tool suites

Zoho Mail is one product amongst a large suite of Zoho-branded tools. Zoho Calendar, Zoho Calendar, Zoho ToDo, Zoho Chat (aka. Cliq) and more.

Zoho Mail as an email client isn't particularly innovative or sleek, but it does have an above-average attachment file size at 1GB on their paid plans and it has affordable custom domains.

If you care more about volume of features for your dollar, than the snappiness of the email client, then Zoho Mail might be a good fit. 

Pros:

• Very affordable with plans starting at $1/user/month
• Has advanced admin controls (i.e. eDiscovery) at reasonable prices

Cons: 

• Not a very inspiring or delightful email client
• Suite of tools is less intuitive than Google Suite 

Pricing:  Mail Lite starts at $1/user/month, additional storage sold separately.

Summary: If you care about function over form, and you want a similar enough set of tools that comes easily integrated into your inbox, then Zoho Mail might be a decent Gmail alternative. For us, it would be tough to give up Gmail's speed and native integration with Google Suite (i.e. Google Drive) for a small saving in costs. 

Shortwave: An AI-first Gmail alternative 

Ah, an AI-first email client. Shortwave is the only email client on this list that has taken a new approach to helping you search your inbox. It's AI-forward search mixes in a LLMs and other models to generate it's results. Whether or not it is better than Gmail's search architecture is yet to be seen, but it is different. 

Beyond search, Shortwave has integrate AI into every part of the email experience. AI can help you draft emails, organize your inbox, and more. 

Pros:

• Lots of AI features
• Has read receipts, team collaboration, and automations
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts

Cons:

• Limited third-party integrations
• AI search quantity is limited depending on plan

Pricing: Individual users have a free plan to start, business users start at $24/user/month.

Summary: If you're looking for an AI-forward Gmail alternative that has some team collaboration feature, Shortwave might be a good Gmail alternative.

Apple Mail: Apple-centric Gmail alternative

If you use iCloud Mail as your email service provider, Apple Mail is a no brainer email client alternative to Gmail. 

Especially if you're using Gmail's free personal email service, where you get unsolicited ads in your inbox, Apple Mail has no ads in it's email interface, just a very simple and beautifully designed experience. Like most Apple products. 

Pros:

• Already installed in all Apple products
• Supports multiple email providers

Cons:

• Interface isn't meant to support many email accounts

Pricing: Free

Summary: If you're looking to move away from Gmail because of Google's stance on privacy, and you're already deep in the Apple ecosystem with lots of iCloud storage, then Apple Mail is your best email alternative to Gmail. 

—

If you're looking for more email clients that work with Gmail, notable private email mentions include Fastmail and Mailfence.

Whether you're looking for Gmail alternatives because you're replace your email "faucet" or you're replacing Gmail as email service, we hope you're able to find an option that fits your needs. 

The 6 most secure email clients for teams

There are lots of secure email clients on the market—Tutanota, ProtonMail, StartMail. But many of these fail to have the helpful collaborative features of more modern business email clients. Where you can have internal comments, real-time drafting, powerful automations, all in an intuitive interface. 

Tutanota - Tutanota is a top tier secure email provider. It offers end-to-end encryption, send encrypted emails, but zero collaborative functionality or third-party integrations. 

ProtonMail - ProtonMail is a close competitor to Tutanota. It allows you to send password-protected encrypted emails, open source mobile apps, but no collaborative features.  

StartMail - StartMail is another secure email provider. It offers local storage with ISO 27001 certified data centers and out of the box phishing and spam protection, but like the other two options, it has little collaborative functions. 

If you just need a few shared labels, email aliases, and calendars to make your team more productive, then any of these options would work great. But if you often have multiple team members working on email threads and/or high volumes of emails that need to be coordinated amongst multiple people—you'll want to look into true collaborative email clients. 

If you rely on email for your business and you work with sensitive information, you'll want to know which of these shiny collaborative email clients have robust security and privacy standards underneath the hood.

Note: If you require a very high level of privacy like PGP, you're better off with one of the traditional options (i.e. Tuta) or Mailfence/Posteo/Zoho Mail for small businesses. But if PGP and full end-to-end encryption is not required, then keep reading on...

We looked at 6 of the most popular email clients for teams on the market, and scored them on 6 criteria: 

• Security hygiene: The basics done right: encryption in transit/at rest, hardened cloud, secure SDLC, vulnerability handling. Shared mailboxes or delegated access without handing out the actual password. 
• Auditing & accountability: A paper trail of who accessed, forwarded, or deleted an email—crucial for compliance and insider risk. Security/audit logs, permission-change trails, labeling/IRM options.
• Access, removal, and sign-in controls: Ability to restrict logins by IP address or location. Quick removal of access when an employee leaves, without disrupting others. SAML/SCIM/Okta/Entra/Google SSO, two factor authentication, hardware keys, role granularity.
• Privacy & data handling: What’s stored (email content vs. limited metadata), AI/LLM data use, DPAs/BAAs.
• External verification: Third-party attestations like SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, CASA Tier 2, Google OAuth verification, regular audits. 
• Data residency: Ability to keep data in specific regions (multi-geo, customer-selectable locations).

As a benchmark, we compared each of them to the gold standard of secure email providers and email security—Outlook/Microsoft 365. 

Let's get into it. 

Outlook—the gold standard

Outlook is the most popular email service and email client for enterprises, especially those who deal with sensitive client information over email. Outlook has unmatched configuration options and incredibly detailed auditability.

Auditability is particularly important for professional industries like healthcare, finance, and public sector companies which have recording keeping requirements by law. Here's Outlook's score: 

• Security hygiene (10): Mature encryption choices (S/MIME and Microsoft Purview Message Encryption) for internal and external recipients.
• Auditing (10): Unified Audit Log covers user/admin/mailbox actions with exportable detail. 
• Access/removal (10): IP/country restrictions via Conditional Access, rapid token revocation and account disable for offboarding.
• Privacy (9): Enterprise-grade controls; effectiveness depends on your DLP/labels/retention configuration.
• External verification (10): Broad Microsoft compliance portfolio (SOC/ISO, etc.) and admin docs.
• Data residency (10): Multi-Geo lets you place mailbox data per user.

Bottom line: There's a reason why Outlook is the email service of choice for enterprises. Now, if only they could do collaboration well.

Missive—best secure email for team collaboration

Missive is a collaborative inbox designed for teams that supports all email service providers, including IMAP accounts. While it doesn't offer end-to-end encryption, it does have very high security standards, auditability, and external verification.‍

• Security hygiene (9): All data, including emails, files, and internal comments, is encrypted at rest and in transit. All emails and their attachments are stored on your email provider’s servers. Ongoing hardening and a published Vulnerability Disclosure & Reward program.
• Auditing (8): Practical admin features (roles/permissions, IP restrictions on higher tiers); retains full history of internal chats and comments.
• Access/removal (9): Supports Single Sign-On (SSO) using any SAML-based identity provider (IdP). IP restriction, multiple roles/permissions. When you remove someone from your organization, they immediately stop having access to any conversation shared with them.
• Privacy & data handling (8): GDPR-ready. Credentials for external accounts are encrypted and managed using an industry-standard Hardware Security Module (HSM).
• External verification (9): SOC 2 Type II compliant.
• Data residency (6/10): All customer data is stored in the United States, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Price: Starts at $14/user/month, paid annually. 

Bottom line: Missive checks the boxes that most teams look for (SSO, SOC 2, TLS encryption) and is clear in public docs. Audit depth & residency options aren’t M365-level, hence the gap. 

Superhuman—best secure email with read receipts

Superhuman is a productivity-first email service build for high volume inboxes who loves shortcuts. It offers less collaboration functionality than others on this list, but it shines on it's  access/removal functionality. By default, Superhuman does insert a pixel in all emails for it's read receipt feature, that might be a privacy concern for some. 

• Security hygiene (8): Enterprise posture; Google Advanced Protection supported.
• Auditing (7): Centralized oversight and admin controls; but no audit trail and not nearly as deep as Microsoft’s unified audit coverage. 
• Access/removal (10): SAML + SCIM + MDM, plus SSO via Google/Microsoft/Okta. 
• Privacy (7): Privacy policy describes processing of email-related data to provide features; evaluate scopes. 
• External verification (9): SOC 2 Type II and ISO/CCPA/GDPR compliant. 
• Data residency (6): No self-serve residency picker. 

‍Price: Starts at $25/user/month, paid annually.

‍Bottom line: If you already run Okta/Entra and need fast onboarding/offboarding, Superhuman’s Identity and Access Management system is excellent. Balance that with the privacy policy’s scope.

Hiver—best secure email for Gmail-interface lovers

Hiver started is the Gmail-only option on this list. It has a a lot of the collaborative email functions like Missive but most of their customers use it as an alternative to a help desk. Here's how they rank from a security perspective: 

• Security hygiene (9): Does not store emails (keeps limited metadata); brief encrypted staging for sync.
• Auditing (8): Exposes an activity timeline/reporting and analytics for shared mailboxes (on top of Gmail logs). 
• Access/removal (7): Roles/permissions and instant Hiver offboarding; IP-based login restriction isn’t offered by Hiver (rely on Google security & CA).
• Privacy (9): Hiver emphasizes operating within Gmail; earlier materials highlight minimal extra content storage.
• External verification (9): SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 complaint.
• Data residency 7 — Follows Google Workspace hosting; no independent region picker.

Price: Starts at $19/user/month, paid annually.

Bottom line: If your priority is “don’t duplicate email content in another vendor,” Hiver is attractive for Google Workspace shops.

Shortwave—best secure email with deep AI features

Shortwave is the most AI-forward email service on this list. They don't excel at any security standard compared to the other options, but they're a good middle ground option if you're looking for some thing with a lot of AI functionality and you're not required to have solid audit logs. 

• Security hygiene (9): All data on Google Cloud, encrypted at rest/in transit. Collaboration avoids password sharing (no “delegated inbox,” but team sharing of threads). 
• Auditing (5): No detailed audit trails for individual actions like forwarding/deletion.
• Access/removal (8): Auth via Google OAuth; benefits from Google 2FA/passkeys and Advanced Protection; team owners can remove members from Settings → Members & Billing. 
• Privacy (9) Limited sub-processors, no third-party LLM training claims on site.
• External verification (8): CASA Tier 2, but not SOC 2 Type II compliant.  
• Data residency (6): Hosted on GCP; no customer-selectable residency.

Price: Starts at $24/user/month, paid annually.

Bottom line: Great in Google-first orgs, but if you need audit trails for compliance/forensics for your industry, you'll probably want a different option. 

Spark—best secure email for minimal requirements

Spark is used by individuals and teams. They offer a familiar interface with some collaboration functionality, though they are the lightest security option on this list.  

• ‍Security hygiene (9): Push notifications use encrypted payloads deleted ~4 hours after send; “Send Later” stores messages encrypted until delivery. Hosted on GCP. ‍
• Auditing (6): Audit trails come via Google Admin/Gmail logs rather than inside Spark. So like Shortwave, no audit trail functionality within Spark. ‍
• Access/removal (6): Quick offboarding and strong auth (Google 2FA/passkeys/SSO), but no IP/location login restrictions in Spark today. ‍
• Privacy (7): Clear docs on notification/scheduling storage windows; Spark +AI uses Azure OpenAI with Microsoft’s data protections. ‍
• External verification (5): Not SOC 2 compliant yet (in progress).‍
• Data residency (5): GCP-hosted; no customer region picker published.

Price: Starts at $4.99/month for individuals and $6.99/user/month for teams, paid annually.

Bottom line: Individual teams that want a polished client and understand the implications of server-side features for notifications/scheduling.

Use the scorecard like a buyer, not a auditor

1. Pick your “non-negotiables.”
   If you need in-region storage or multi-geo, Outlook wins today. If your priority is not storing email content in a third-party tool, all of these tools would work.
2. Map IAM to how your team works.
   Already on Okta or Entra? Favor clients with SAML/SCIM so onboarding/offboarding stays tight (Missive, Superhuman). 
3. Decide how much “paper trail” you need.
   If audits and forensic trails matter (e.g., legal/finance), Outlook’s unified audit log is hard to beat, but Missive's auditability is highest amongst the rest. 
4. Understand AI data paths.
   Shortwave publishes a limited sub-processor list and “no 3rd-party LLM training” stance; Spark +AI routes requests per its policy; Missive documents Google OAuth verification. Pick the path you’re comfortable with. 

Tuta, ProtonMail or even Zoho Mail has a lot of the enterprise-grade security features (encrypted mail, PGP, etc) right out of the box, but the collaborative-first email clients we mentioned here might be able to meet your security standards with a little custom development. For example, you can feed all of the data/comms out to a third-party compliance service to make sure you hit the regulatory requirements. 

At the end of the day, it'll depend on what trade offs you're willing or unwilling to make. Most businesses want some level of security but also usability and collaboration. How much of each will depend greatly on your use case.

Email Security FAQ for busy owners

Which of these options offer end-to-end encryption and encrypted emails?

Short answer is none. While most of these options have some form of encryption, the higher scoring ones are encrypted via TLS at rest and in transit, but none of them offer the same level of encryption features as Tuta or ProtonMail. 

Is Outlook “more secure” than these tools?
It’s more controllable out of the box—especially for audit, labeling/IRM, and data residency. That’s why we use it as the baseline. Your best option is the one that fits your constraints and is configured well. 

Do these tools read my emails?
Policies differ. Some tools process email content to power features (e.g., read receipts, scheduling, AI summaries). Some store only metadata. Always confirm what’s stored and for how long. 

Are there other options with different encryption options?

If you're primarily looking for encryption features, but don't want to go with your standard Tuta, then you might want to check out Zoho Mail, Mailfence, or Posteo. The latter options offer OpenPGP end-to-end encryption and the former is basically enterprise level controls that isn't Outlook. 

As AI continues to grow in popularity, email management is one of the most competitive spaces for AI tools. Fyxer AI has gained a lot of attention, promising to save you one hour a day as your AI assistant dedicated to meeting and email management.

This article will break down what Fyxer AI is and some alternatives that exist in the market. 

What is Fyxer AI

Fyxer AI is an AI assistant that connects to your Gmail or Outlook inbox. It does three things well:

1. Triaging and categorizing emails
2. Auto-drafting replies in your voice and tone
3. Being your note taker on meetings (and giving you a scheduling link)

It genuinely feels like a capable assistant that manages your email directly within your existing Gmail/Outlook inbox. There's no new interface to learn, no complex installation. Just an organized "person" who opened your messy inbox and took over, in a way that still granted you control over what's sent out. 

Within 10 minutes of setting up Fyxer AI, all my emails were auto-tagged into one of their default labels (I use Gmail): 

To enable auto-drafting of replies, you have to give Fyxer AI's draft prompter a bit of context related to your tone and business. 

And here's what an auto-drafted reply looked like: 

This is a great experience for anyone who wants to stay in the Gmail or Outlook interface, but really need on-going organization and administrative help because of the high volume of emails that they handle personally. 

Like Superhuman, Fyxer AI is focused on inbox throughput—how much faster can you process your emails. Although that's an important goal, often times, it's the wrong goal. 

Maybe the question is whether you should be replying to most of those emails in the first place, which we'll get into for some of the Fyxer alternatives.

When looking at Fyxer AI alternatives, we included 3 types: 

1. Similar functionality and similar interface (Gmelius, Hiver)
2. More functionality and different interface (Missive, Shortwave)
3. Similar functionality across multiple independent tools (Clean Email/SaneBox + Copilot/Gemini + Granola AI) 

We'll start with similar functionality and interface and work our way down the list. 

Gmelius - Gmail-only Fyxer alternative

Like Fyxer, Gmelius exists on top of your existing Gmail interface so you have a familiar experience with new functionality. 

Gmelius also has an AI-powered assistant that auto-categorizes and can draft replies on your behalf. There are small details between the two options, for example: 

• By default, Fyxer will only draft replies for the emails that are auto-labeled "to respond". Gmelius will try to respond to every email, but for those that they detect as promotional, they will add a note saying they didn't respond because it is a promotional email. It's a small detail, but the execution of Fyxer's approach feels smoother. 

On the other hand, Gmelius is also a collaboration focused tool instead of a purely productivity focused tool like Fyxer, which means Gmelius has more functionality for teams that work together within an inbox. They have the ability to chat internally on emails, assign emails to others, create automations that run based on certain AI tagging, SLA escalation, and more.

Both Gmelius and Fyxer have a closed AI assistant, meaning you're not able to bring your own AI key and select the models that you work with. This is great for those who don't really have a preference on which AI model they prefer.

From a pricing perspective, Gmelius is a little bit more expensive than Fyxer: 

• Starting at $24/user/month billed annually compared to Fyxer's starting at $22.50/user/month billed annually. 

If you're looking for a Fyxer alternative that is a little more oriented to teams but has much of the same functionality and interface, then Gmelius might be the one. 

Hiver - Customer support Fyxer alternative

Similar to Gmelius, Hiver integrates directly into your existing email client, giving you a familiar interface to work with. Unlike Gmelius, Hiver supports Gmail and Outlook accounts. 

Like Fyxer, Hiver has an AI-powered email assistant that can help you auto-draft emails and auto-label emails based on their contents. Though, like Gmelius, it's not quite as simple as Fyxer's default experience since Hiver's core users are customer support teams working out of shared inboxes.

If you're an executive that's just looking to replace Fyxer's lightweight functionality, without any of the team related features like collaboration, automated workflows, analytics, or SLA monitoring, then Hiver might be a little overkill.

Could you get it to work? Absolutely. Will it feel like it was built for your use case? Probably not.  

From a pricing perspective, Hiver's plans that include AI start at $19/user/month billed annually. However, there are limitations on how many AI-drafted replies you can have (20/user/day). 

Missive - Fyxer alternative for teams 

Now we're moving onto tools with more functionality than Fyxer, but will also have a less familiar interface.

Missive is an email client for teams that need to collaborate in their inbox. Like Fyxer, you can create AI-powered email assistants that help you triage, label, and draft replies. Unlike Fyxer, Missive is way more flexible in implementation, which depending on who you are, could be a good or bad thing. 

Missive allows you to bring your own AI key and choose your own model. That means if you want to use a specific model for drafting emails versus triaging, you can fine tune that experience.

Since Missive is a collaborative inbox meant for your whole team, your AI assistant can assign and triage emails to the right people, instead of just sorting it in your own inbox. Imagine an old client emails you because you have a long standing relationship, but it's a question meant for your support team.

The same is true for drafting replies, instead of just drafting replies based on your own personal inbox, Missive's AI automations can help your whole team auto-draft replies to customers. 

That's critical if you're handling hundreds if not thousands of emails every day. You can get the most common questions taken care of by an AI assistant. 

Where Missive lacks compared to Fxyer is it's scheduling and calendar functionality. Missive has a calendar that's good for team visibility but it's lacking any AI assistant features. 

From a pricing perspective, Missive is comparable to Fyxer at $24/user/month for plans that include AI automations. 

Shortwave - Full-featured Fyxer alternative

If you're looking for an AI-powered email client, essentially Fyxer but with more features, then Shortwave might be a good fit. 

Shortwave has all of Fyxer's AI assistant features right out of the box—auto-drafting emails, default AI categorization, calendar scheduling—and they have some team collaboration features as well. 

Since Shortwave is it's own email client, it looks and feels quite different from Gmail and Outlook. It also only supports Gmail accounts. They say there's a workaround for Microsoft 365, Outlook and other email providers, but it's essentially forwarding your email account to a Gmail account, to connect to Shortwave. 

If you don't want or need the level of customization and flexibility that Missive has, you don't care to BYOK (Bring your own keys), and you use Gmail/Google Workspace—Shortwave could be a good Fyxer alternative for you. 

From a pricing perspective, Shortwave is the exact same pricing as Missive at $24/user/month for plans with full fledge AI functionality. 

Spike - Conversational Fyxer alternative

Spike turns email into a conversational tool, making it a powerful Fyxer alternative. It transforms your cluttered inbox into a streamlined, chat-like feed that organizes messages by sender. This intuitive design simplifies lengthy discussions by eliminating repetitive headers and signatures, allowing you to focus on the actual conversation.

Like Fyxer, Spike uses AI to manage your inbox. It's priority inbox functions like Fyxer’s auto-tagging, automatically separating important mail from newsletters and promotional content. Spike’s AI can also summarize entire email threads and suggest replies, mirroring Fyxer’s core productivity features.

Where Spike stands apart is its focus on team collaboration, with features like group chats and notes.

From a pricing perspective, Spike's pro plans start at $5 per month.

Clean Email + Copilot

If you mostly loved Fyxer for it's ability to sort and organize emails, there are AI-powered tools like Clean Email that focus exclusively on that. And for your drafting needs, you can use Copilot or Gemini (depending on if you're a Gmail or Outlook user) as your AI assistant to help draft the occasional email. 

Like Fyxer, Clean Email is a tool that works within your existing email client. It has some predetermined categories that it will suggest and label your emails as, and it can learn your preferences over time. 

Copilot is a general AI-assistant that comes free with the Microsoft suite. You can use simple prompts like: Check for typos and make it more professional.

Or more complex prompts like: 

You're an executive assistant replying to emails on my behalf. Make sure to take into consideration the existing tone of the conversation and match it. If it's a customer or prospective client asking about a specific product question, use https://learn.missiveapp.com/ to find the answer. Do not make up any information. 

From a pricing perspective, Clean Email is $9.99/month/email account and Copilot has a free plan typically included in your Microsoft 365 subscription, with Pro plans starting at $30/user/month. 

SaneBox + Gemini

An alternative to Clean Email and Copilot would be SaneBox and Gemini. Incredibly similar functionality and features, with minor differences around user interface. Gemini would also be a better fit for anyone already in the Gmail/Google Workspace ecosystem. 

Where SaneBox stands out in comparison to both Clean Email and Fyxer is it's third party integrations. By offering connections to other popular tools like ToDoist, SaneBox allows you to create basic automated workflows within your inbox. Something in between Missive's super flexible and powerful automations and Fyxer's one and only integration to HubSpot. 

From a pricing perspective, SaneBox starts at $7/user/month with some usage limits. Google's Gemini has a free option, with paid plans starting at $19.99/month

Which Fyxer AI alternative is right for you?

Fyxer AI offers a compelling solution for tackling email management, seamlessly integrating with your Gmail or Outlook to help you regain valuable time. Its strengths in triaging emails, drafting replies, and note-taking make it a strong contender in today’s crowded AI productivity tool landscape.

However, it’s worth considering various alternatives like Gmelius, Missive, Spike, or Shortwave, each bringing unique features and interfaces that could better align with your specific needs.

As AI productivity tools continue to innovate and redefine how we interact with our inboxes, exploring your options will ensure you find the perfect fit to enhance your productivity.