5 best open-source email clients for Linux (and why Geary is my go-to)

I might be a dinosaur, but email is still my jam. I prefer communicating via email to any other means of interaction (other than face-to-face).

Email is efficient, used globally, isn’t OS-dependent, and allows me to catalog and organize my inbox as I see fit, even retaining years of searchable communications. In a nutshell, I depend on email.

Also: Five reasons why email will never die

On Linux, there are many routes you can take to make the most of email. There are closed-source applications, like Proton Mail and BlueMail. There are even terminal-based email clients, such as Mutt. But I tend to prefer my email clients open.

I’ve used every open-source email client available and have determined the following five to be the best. Let’s dig in.

1. Geary

Geary‘s my go-to client because it’s simple, easy to use, and doesn’t get bogged down trying to be more than it is. You won’t find a ton of features on Geary, but the features it has are highly polished. Most importantly, Geary makes reading email a breeze. The client keeps everything clean and neat, so there’s no muss or fuss. What I like most about Geary is that it doesn’t get in your way. It serves one purpose and one purpose alone — email. 

Also: 6 ways to protect yourself from getting scammed online, by phone, or IRL

There’s no calendar, to-dos, or anything else to get in your way of reading and responding to emails. Geary supports Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, POP, and IMAP. The client also makes it fairly simple to add new accounts. I only have two complaints. First, Geary doesn’t allow you to create folders for IMAP accounts. Second, if you find an email account giving you problems, you might discover that it’s challenging to delete the account and then re-add it. Other than those two issues, I’ve been using Geary for years and have always found it to be a reliable and straightforward email client that also happens to look good. 

Geary is free to install and use and can be found in your distribution’s default repositories.

2. Thunderbird

Thunderbird was my default email client for years. I started using Thunderbird in its 1.x release period and have always found it an outstanding option. This open-source email client is often considered great because it can do so much (without the burden of trying to do too much). 

Also: How to encrypt your email (and why you should)

Want to theme your email client? Thunderbird has you covered. Need encryption? Yep. What about support for Gmail (and Google Calendar)? Indeed. Want to customize the UI? You can do that. Tags, sortable folders, card views, address book, built-in calendar? You name it and Thunderbird can do it, so long as we’re talking email (with a dash of calendar and contacts sprinkled in). For those who don’t know, Thunderbird comes from Mozilla, the organization responsible for the Firefox web browser.

Thunderbird is free to install and use and can be found in the default repositories of all Linux distributions.

3. Evolution

Evolution is to Linux what Outlook is to Windows. Evolution is a groupware suite and includes several tools, such as email, calendars, contacts, tasks, and memos. Evolution can pretty much do anything you need. Just right-click any email in Evolution and you see what this client can do. You can edit a new message, print, copy, archive, mark, assign color, add notes, ignore, and label. 

If there’s a feature you need for an email client, you can bet Evolution has it. Evolution supports most email providers, and encryption, and has a plugin system to extend the feature set further. The client has a handy Alternative Reply feature that allows you to select from reply to sender, reply to list, reply to all, set the reply style (such as attachment, inline, quote), select message formatting, and even apply a template. Think of Evolution as the Swiss Army Knife of Linux email clients.

Also: Less typing, fewer mistakes: How Gmail Snippets can save you time and effort

Evolution is free to install and can be found in your distribution’s default repositories.

4. KMail

Do you remember the golden days of personal information managers (PIMs)? Well, KMail is Plasma Desktop’s email client, which is part of the Kontact PIM. KMail does an outstanding job of integrating into various Plasma desktop utilities, supports PGP & S/MIME encryption (as well as end-to-end encryption), includes powerful spam detection, and offers a user-friendly interface. If you have big email accounts, KMail will be right at home. 

You’ll also find support for multiple email protocols (such as POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange, and more). One oddity with KMail is that it’s not always included with every Plasma Desktop installation. For example, with KDE Neon, you must install KMail through Discover. But if you’re a fan of the Plasma Desktop, you should consider KMail as your go-to email client.

KMail is available to install and use for free and can be found in the default repository of your favorite Linux distribution.

5. Claws Mail

About 15 years ago, Claws Mail was my default email client. What I loved about Claws Mail was how highly configurable it was. I could make Claws Mail do just about anything I needed. I could spend hours customizing Claws Mail only to barely scratch the surface of what it can do. However, Claws Mail is not for beginners. If you don’t like having to tinker with things to get them to work, steer clear of Claws Mail. However, if you like tinkering, then Claws Mail should be near the top of your list. Claws Mail is lightweight and offers tons of flexibility and configuration. 

One thing to consider is that you get a UI with Claws Mail that looks like it’s from the late 1990s or early 2000s. It’s old school. At the same time, you get more features than you’ll find in most email clients. Claws Mail includes actions, templates, reply finder, fast message caching, per-folder processing, customizable toolbars, dynamic signatures, font configurations, themes, message scoring, return-receipt handling, anti-phishing URL checks, user-defined quotation characters, log window, and much more. 

Claws Mail can be installed and used for free, and can be found in your distribution’s default repository.

Also: After I learned this easy email trick, the clutter vanished from my inbox

I’m confident that you will find your next favorite email client in my list. If none of these clients meet your needs, fear not, I’ll cover the best proprietary email clients soon.