Comparison

The best Gmail apps for the Mac

We make one of the apps in this list, so read it with that in mind. What follows is what each option is actually good at, including the cases where you should pick something else.

First decide the category: a mail client rebuilds your mail, a wrapper shows the real Gmail, a browser does neither well.
Want a combined inbox and offline reading? Choose a mail client and accept a different interface.
Want Gmail exactly as it is, with several accounts side by side? Choose a wrapper.
Almost nobody needs the third category, a workspace tool, for mail alone.

Start with the category, not the app

Every app on this page falls into one of three groups, and the group decides more than the brand does.

A mail client asks Google for access to your mailbox and rebuilds your mail in an interface of its own. You get a combined inbox across accounts and you can read offline. What you lose is Gmail: labels behave like folders, filters live elsewhere, and Chat, Meet and snooze either differ or are missing.

A wrapper shows the genuine Gmail website inside a native window. Everything in Gmail works exactly as it does in a browser, and the app adds what a browser tab lacks: a Dock icon with an unread count, native notifications, shortcuts, isolated sessions per account. What you lose is offline access, because it is still the web.

A workspace tool is a wrapper with a library of other web apps around it, meant to be the one window for your whole working day.

Mail clients

Apple Mail

Free, already installed, excellent battery behaviour, works offline, and it is the app macOS trusts for email links. Fine for one or two accounts you mostly read.

Gmail's labels, filters and search syntax do not survive the translation, and Chat and Meet are absent.

Mimestream

A native Mac client built specifically on Gmail's own API, so labels, categories and multiple accounts behave the way Gmail users expect. The strongest choice if you want a real Mac app and a combined inbox.

Still its own interface, so Gmail add-ons, Chat and Meet stay outside it. Paid.

Thunderbird

Free, open source, endlessly configurable, and it will outlive most of this list. Good if you want your mail stored locally and under your control.

Looks and feels like a cross-platform application, and setup takes real effort.

Gmail in a browser

It is worth being fair to the option most people start with. Gmail in a browser is the complete, up to date Gmail, it costs nothing, and with one browser profile per account the accounts stay properly separate. Chrome can also install Gmail as a windowed app, which gives it a Dock icon.

Where it falls down is everything around the mail: your inbox competes with every other tab, notifications stop when the browser closes, there is no count across accounts, and Google's account switcher sends links to the wrong inbox. Each account also needs its own window.

Wrappers and workspace tools

Nuncio

Ours. All your Gmail and Workspace accounts side by side in one native window, each in its own isolated session, in the real Gmail interface, with notifications and an unread badge per account and the Google tools as tabs next to each inbox.

Mac only, Apple silicon only, no combined inbox, no offline mode, and a yearly subscription.

Shift, Wavebox, Ferdium

Workspace tools. Gmail is one of hundreds of web apps you can put in a workspace, alongside Slack, Notion and the rest. Worth it if you genuinely want one window for everything.

Heavier than a mail app, and you are configuring a workspace when you only wanted mail.

Kiwi for Gmail

The closest thing to a direct comparison with us: a long-standing Mac and Windows wrapper around Gmail and the Google tools, with paid tiers that add document handling.

Feature set is broader and busier than a mail-first app.

Mailplane

For years the answer to this question on the Mac. Worth naming because people still search for it.

No longer sold since 2021, so it is a migration question rather than a choice.

Side by side

	Apple Mail	Mimestream	Browser	Nuncio
The real Gmail interface	No	No	Yes	Yes
Combined inbox	Yes	Yes	No	No
Works offline	Yes	Yes	Limited	No
Unread count per account	No	Yes	No	Yes
Notifications without a browser	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Accounts fully isolated	Yes	Yes	Per profile	Yes
Google tools per account	No	No	Yes	Yes
Price	Free	Paid	Free	Paid

When not to choose Nuncio

Four cases, plainly. If you need one combined inbox across your accounts, a mail client is the right answer and we are the wrong one. If you read mail on planes and trains without a connection, the same applies: Gmail's offline mode works only in Chrome, so no wrapper can offer it.

If your addresses are not Google addresses, Nuncio has nothing to offer you; it only does Gmail and Google Workspace. And if you want one window for Slack, Notion, Trello and mail together, a workspace tool fits better than an app that deliberately does mail only.

What is left is the case we built for: several Gmail accounts, all day, in the real Gmail, without the browser around it.

Questions people ask

What is the best free Gmail app for the Mac?

Apple Mail if you want a real app and can live without the Gmail interface, or Gmail installed as an app from Chrome if you want Gmail exactly as it is. Both are free. The paid options exist for people who need several accounts side by side or a Gmail-native client.

Is there an official Gmail app for macOS?

No. Google makes Gmail apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, but on desktop Gmail is a website. Every Mac app in this list is either a third-party mail client using Google's API or a third-party app that displays the Gmail website.

Which app is best for several Gmail accounts?

For the real Gmail interface with each account isolated, a wrapper such as Nuncio or Kiwi. For a combined inbox across accounts, Mimestream or Apple Mail. Browser profiles work too, at the cost of a window per account.

Do these apps read my mail?

It depends on the category. A mail client is granted access to your mailbox and processes your messages, on your Mac and sometimes on its servers, so their privacy policy matters. A wrapper displays Gmail's own website and requests no access at all. Nuncio has no servers and no accounts of its own.

If the last category is yours

Nuncio puts every Gmail account side by side in one native window, in the real Gmail interface. Seven days free, then a yearly subscription.