10 Best Email Apps to Fuel Small Businesses Productivity
This article is part of a larger series on Business Email.
Our list of the 10 best email apps for small businesses streamline the management of multiple email accounts and improve your business email experience on mobile and desktop devices. Among our top picks are mail apps that foster security and privacy, automatically sync emails across devices, organize your inbox based on priority, and filter incoming emails to minimize distractions and increase productivity.
Best Email Apps for Small Businesses at a Glance
Email App | Free Plan | Starting Cost of Paid Plans (Month/User) | Available On | Best For |
---|---|---|---|---|
✓ | $14.99 | Android, iOS, macOS | Ultra-fast search with an intelligent email assistant | |
✓ | $3.49 | iOS, Android | Encrypting emails to increase data security | |
✓ | $6 | Android, iOS | Google Workspace users using email on mobile devices | |
✓ | 99 cents | iOS, macOS | Those with iOS devices wanting enhanced privacy | |
✓ | $6 | Windows, Android, macOS, iOS | Microsoft 365 users wanting cross-device email access and syncing | |
✓ | $5.50 | Android, iOS, macOS, Windows | Managing multiple email accounts in a single interface | |
✓ | $5 | Windows, Android, macOS, iOS | Efficient email communication on mobile devices | |
✓ | $2.60* | Android | Storing emails directly in the cloud | |
✓ | $6.39 | macOS, iOS, Android | Collaborative teams | |
✓ | $19 | Android, iOS, macOS, Windows | Teams with shared in-boxes | |
*Converted from €2.49 per month
1. Edison Mail: Best Email App for Fast Search With an AI Assistant
Available for: Android, iOS, macOS
Price: Free, or paid plans from $14.99 monthly (or $99.99 per year)
Fast search with the email interface on the macOS desktop app
Edison Mail allows you to seamlessly manage multiple email accounts in a secure inbox. It also has smart search features that make it easy to find emails and an artificial intelligence, or AI-powered, email assistant. The assistant automatically categorizes your emails, cleans up your inbox, and organizes everything. It’s a top-rated productivity app available for free in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
The paid version, Edison Mail+, enhances what the Edison email app offers by adding advanced security measures. On the premium plan, you can verify senders and avoid phishing, add caller ID based on information present in your inbox, and validate your contacts. Edison Mail+ is available for just $14.99 a month or $99.99 per year (per user) for up to five users.
Edison Mail Pricing
Edison Mail | Edison Mail+ | |
---|---|---|
Cost (Monthly Billing) | Free | $14.99* |
AI Assistant | ✓ | ✓ |
Advanced Security Measures | ✕ | ✓ |
Caller ID | ✕ | ✓ |
*Or pay $99.99 annually (save about 44%)
2. ProtonMail: Best Business Email App for Encrypting Emails
Available for: iOS and Android
Price: Free with 1GB storage, or paid plans from $3.99 per month
ProtonMail is one of the best email apps to use for business as it encrypts emails and protects data through automatic email encryption, making it easy to secure your email messages from any device. It’s a good email security solution for those who deal with potentially sensitive information via email, such as legal and financial services. It’s considered one of the best email security apps, with a high rating on the Google Play Store.
Though ProtonMail has a generous free plan with up to 1GB of storage, it’s capped at 150 messages sent per day. If you need more email capacity, consider upgrading to at least the Plus plan with unlimited communication for $3.99 month to month. Alternatively, purchasing the highest-tier plan gives you access to Proton’s secure cloud server and well-known virtual private network (VPN), which is one of the most secure on the market.
ProtonMail Pricing
Free | Mail Plus | Unlimited | |
---|---|---|---|
Cost (Monthly) | Free | $3.99 | $9.99 |
Email Addresses | 1 | 10 | 15 |
Messages per Day | 150 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Storage | 1GB | 15GB | 500GB |
Proton Cloud & VPN | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
3. Gmail: Best for Accessing Gmail Inboxes On-the-Go
Available for: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Price: Email app is free to use; paid plans for Gmail business email start at $6 per month
Gmail’s interface comes with everything you need to collaborate with your team
Most mobile devices come standard with a basic mail app. However, businesses require more email features than these email apps typically provide. Gmail is one of the best apps for email, and one most popular and highly rated on the Apple App Store. It offers an array of comprehensive email features, from intuitive email sorting to automatic follow-up reminders.
Gmail is completely free to use, but you can upgrade it via Google Workspace to use Gmail for business. Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is Google’s software for business productivity and collaboration. Starting from $6 per user, per month, each plan upgrade gives you and your team more email storage and higher limits on Google Meet, its video conferencing solution.
Gmail Pricing (via Google Workspace)
Free | Starter | Standard | Plus | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cost per User, per Month | Free | $6 | $12 | $18 |
Max Number of Users | 1 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
Storage per User | 15GB | 30GB | 2TB | 5TB |
Google Meet Participants | 100 | 100 | 150 | 500 |
4. Apple Mail: Best App for Apple Users Prioritizing Privacy
Available for: macOS and iOS
Price: Free, or paid plans from $0.99 per month
Apple Mail is the free email app that comes pre-downloaded on all Apple devices. Don’t expect a lot of bells and whistles in terms of business email features—but its interface is clean, and it gets the job done. It even has built-in protection, hiding your IP address and loading remote content in the background to prevent senders from learning information about you.
If you run your business operations on various Apple devices, expect your emails to sync seamlessly across all platforms. Since it’s natively built by Apple, both the mobile and desktop applications look sleek and run smoothly.
Although Apple Mail is technically free, you can upgrade by purchasing an affordable iCloud+ subscription from Apple (only available to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and higher). iCloud+ tiers entitle you to between 50GB and 2TB in storage along with extra email security features like “Hide My Email”—a feature that lets you register on sites and applications using a randomized Apple ID.
Apple Mail Pricing (iCloud)
Free | iCloud+ (50GB) | iCloud+ (200GB) | |
---|---|---|---|
Cost (Monthly) | Free | $0.99 | $2.99 |
Max. Users | 1 | 5 | 5 |
iCloud Storage | 5GB | 50GB* | 200GB* |
Access to iCloud | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Connect Custom Email | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Protect Mail Activity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Hide My Email | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
*Shared storage
5. Microsoft Outlook: Best for Syncing Outlook Email Accounts Across Devices
Available for: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Price: Email app is free to use, but paid plans with the Microsoft 365 Suite start at $6 per month
Easily organize your mail and your schedule with Outlook (Source: Microsoft)
Outlook business email users will find the Microsoft Outlook email app to be a helpful tool for accessing their inbox from anywhere, on any type of device. While it includes all of the features one would expect from a major email provider, it also includes some unique features, such as easy scheduling via mobile and built-in flight notifications for frequent travelers.
On mobile devices (both iOS and Android), Microsoft Outlook comes with a “Play My Emails” feature. This provides an audio run-through of new emails, which you can skip, flag, archive, and delete by voice using the Cortana virtual assistant.
For more storage, upgrade to a Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) business plan, which provides a hefty 1TB of cloud storage per person. Like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 also comes with a suite of productivity and collaboration tools you can access by purchasing one of the plans.
Not sure which is the better choice for your small business? See how Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 compares, or how Gmail vs Outlook stack up against each other specifically.
Microsoft Outlook Pricing (via Microsoft 365)
Free | Basic | Standard | |
---|---|---|---|
Cost per User, per Month | Free | $6 | $12.50 |
Max Number of Users | 1 | 300 | 300 |
Storage | 15GB | 50GB | 50GB |
Cloud Storage | ✕ | 1TB | 1TB |
Office Apps | ✕ | Web | Web and desktop plus advanced features |
Microsoft Teams Participants | 100 | 300 | 300 |
6. BlueMail: Best Email App for Managing Multiple Accounts
Available for: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows
Price: Free, or paid plans from $5.50 per month
BlueMail organizes your accounts in a unified inbox (Source: Huawei.com)
BlueMail is one of the best email apps for businesses needing to manage multiple email accounts within one unified inbox. This makes it a great email client if you want to organize and manage your personal email alongside business communication.
Plus, you can set schedules, reminders, and inbox prioritization. It color-coordinates messages from each account, and puts the most important emails at the top of the inbox. It’s available for free, but it also offers premium plans starting at $5.50 per user, per month for corporate email management.
BlueMail Pricing
Free | Business | Business Pro | |
---|---|---|---|
Cost (Monthly) | Free | $5.50 | $12 |
Unified Inbox & Calendar | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Corporate Management Dashboard | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
App Integration | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Video Conferencing | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
7. Spike: Best for Working On-the-Go
Available for: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows
Price: Free for personal accounts, or paid plans from $5 per user, per month
Turn your emails into chat on the mobile app (Source: SpikeNow)
Spike was designed to be especially user-friendly on mobile devices, allowing you to create emails like you would a text message. This email app turns your interface into a text interface, making it easy to craft conversational email messages from anywhere. Instead of the chunky email interface, Spike makes writing emails on mobile feel more natural to mobile users. This makes Spike one of the best email apps for users working on-the-go.
Spike Pricing
Free | Pro | Business | |
---|---|---|---|
Cost (Monthly) | Free | $5 | $10 |
Unified Inbox | 2 addresses max | 3 addresses max | Unlimited addresses |
Storage | 1GB storage, 30MB file upload limit | 5GB storage, 100MB file upload limit | 20GB storage, 1GB file upload limit |
Groups | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Video Calls | 1:1 | 5 | 10 |
8. Aqua Mail: Best for Backing Up & Restoring Emails
Available for: Android devices
Price: Free, or $2.60 per month paid plan
Aqua Mail is an Android-only email app that’s extremely customizable. It’s highly secure, and stores no email data on its own servers. It’s completely free to use, but you have the option to upgrade to a Pro plan for only $2.60 per month, which supports an unlimited number of email accounts and removes all ads. On both plans, you can easily back up and restore your emails from internal storage or cloud storage solutions like Dropbox through the Aqua Mail app itself.
Aqua Mail Pricing
Free | Pro | |
---|---|---|
Cost (Monthly) | Free | $2.60 |
Email Accounts | 1 | Unlimited |
Backup to & Restore Emails From the Cloud | ✓ | ✓ |
Ad-free; No Aqua Mail Signature | ✕ | ✓ |
9. Spark: Best for Email Productivity & Collaboration
Available for: Android, iOS, macOS
Price: Free, or paid plans from $6.39 per month
Work on emails together with Spark’s email collaboration tools (Source: SparkMailApp)
Spark is one of the most highly rated productivity and collaboration business email apps. It intelligently prioritizes your inbox, putting your most important emails at the top. It decreases distractions by only sending push notifications for incoming emails from senders you know, and integrates easily with third-party apps like Trello and Dropbox. For teams, it offers shared file storage and email collaboration tools where your team can work on an email together.
It’s completely free to use, but you can upgrade your email experience by purchasing a Premium plan for only $6.39 per user, per month. On the premium plan, you get more file storage, unlimited collaborators for emails, and unlimited members for email delegation. You can also create roles with administrative control.
Spark Pricing
Free | Premium | |
---|---|---|
Cost per User, per Month | Free | $6.39 |
Shared Inboxes | ✕ | ✓ |
Team File Storage | 5GB | 10GB per member |
Shared Drafts | 2 active collaborators | Unlimited |
Email Delegation | 10 per team | Unlimited |
Team Roles & Control | ✕ | ✓ |
10. Front: Best Email App for Customer Communication
Available for: macOS, Windows, Android, iOS
Price: Paid plans from $19 per month
Front’s email interface and third-party integrations (Source: Front)
Businesses with team-shared inboxes (e.g., “support@yourbusiness.com”) know they can sometimes be a struggle to manage. Front is an email app for businesses that makes it easy for multiple people to manage a single, centralized inbox, as well as other customer-facing channels like text messaging and social media. It keeps everyone on the same page, and in return, leads to a better experience for customers communicating with your business.
Front also has a variety of productivity features, like the ability to connect third-party integrations and access them straight from your inbox. This includes tools like Asana, so you can manage tasks effectively without having to switch between apps.
With all but the lowest-tier plan, Front integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) tools, like HubSpot and Salesforce. This lets your team work with customer data straight from Front’s interface.
Front Pricing
Starter | Growth | Scale | |
---|---|---|---|
Cost per User, per Month | $19 | $49 | $99 |
Shared Inboxes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Multichannel Messaging | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Team Collaboration on Emails & Messages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Integrate Third-party Tools | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
CRM Integration | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
User Roles & Admin Management | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free email app?
If you’re looking for free apps for emails, you can’t go wrong with Gmail or Microsoft Outlook. These mail apps come with a suite of collaboration tools for both business and personal use. However, if you need faster searches or you are looking for an alternative, try Edison Mail. The free virtual assistant sorts out your inbox without you having to lift a finger—making it one of the best mail apps for staying organized.
How do I get a business email address?
Getting an email to use for business purposes is easy and affordable. There are a few different ways to go about getting business email—from free business email with Zoho Mail or in bundled web hosting plans from Bluehost, to setting up business email using Google Workspace. Follow the step-by-step instructions on how to set up a custom business email address.
Which is the best email app for business: Gmail or Outlook?
Gmail and Outlook are the undisputed champs in the world of corporate email apps. When comparing Gmail vs Outlook, the best business email services come down to what you want to get from a mail app as well as the productivity suites they come with. If your team wants to collaborate seamlessly, go with Gmail via Google Workspace. If you need more advanced tools and email automations, Microsoft Outlook via Microsoft 365 is the way to go.
Bottom Line
The best email apps for small businesses help you run your operations more efficiently and streamline communication, saving you time and money. Most of these email apps are available for free through the Apple App Store and Google Play, so the only investment involved is time to install and familiarize yourself with the app.