As far as default apps go, Apple Mail is fine for most people.
But you’re not most people – that’s why you’re here, after all.
You’re probably a Mac power user running one of the latest M-series chips, like the new M3 that launched in November 2023.
And that’s good because it means I’m speaking to someone like me.
I could write an SEO fluff piece listing out the 9 best Apple Mail alterntives, but I won’t waste your time with that.
I have one recommendation. One email client is truly the best Apple Mail alternative.
And it’s Superhuman.
No other Mac email client comes close. I know because I’ve paid for and used all of them.
You can get a month free of Superhuman by cicking below.
Why Superhuman?
I wrote a much longer Superhuman review with more details, but I’ll cover the highlights here.
I’ve been a paying Superhuman user for over three years and over that time I’m also primarily a Mac user (it’s both my personal and work machines).
I’ve had a Mac since I saved up to buy one after graduating from high school, working a $7.25/hr job at a local grocery store.
I love Apple products and software but y’all, Apple Mail ain’t it.
It’s fine for the average Mac user who only browsers the intenet and checks their email occassionally.
If you have more than one email address, or you juggle multiple emails between work, personal, and side projects, then you need something else.
And Superhuman is designed exactly for busy people like you who do not have time to waste.
Where Apple Mail Falls Short
Apple Mail falls short in three main categories:
- Shortcuts
- UI
- AI features
I’ll cover each one.
Shortcuts
Apple Mail’s shortcuts are similar to Superhuman’s but frankly not as good.
I had to lookup Apple’s shortcuts online because they’re not easily listed anywhere (in Superhuman you can find with with Cmd+K)
Here’s a quick comparison using common commands:
| Superhuman | Apple Mail | |
|---|---|---|
| Create Email | C | ⌘+N |
| New Tab | ⌘+T | Option-Shift-Command-N |
| Attach File | Shift-Command-A | Shift-Command-A |
| Archive Email | E | Control-Command-A |
| Search | / | n/a |
And here’s a screenhot of some of Superhuman’s shortcuts.
UI
Superhuman objectively has the better UI.
Not just because of the beautiful inbox zero backgrounds, but with how simple and easy it is to navigate.
Apple Mail in contrast is cluttered and has a pretty terrible default setup.
Look at that screenshot from my setup, why did Apple Mail flag 391 of my emails? I checked and they’re normal emails with people that I’ve responded to.
Apple does a lot of things right, but they did the Apple Mail UI wrong.
AI Features
To say Apple has been slow at adopting AI is an understatement.
They’re purposely slow rolling anything AI-related so much that they don’t even use the words AI at all in their marketing materials.
It’s a very Apple thing and I’m honestly ok with it.
But it means Apple Mail instantly lags behind tools like Superhuman that have adopted AI features quickly.
On July 20th 2023 Superhuman launched their AI features on Product Hunt, making them generally available to all customers.
What is Superhuman AI? With Superhuman AI you can:
- 🗯️ Turn an idea into an email
- ⚡ Reply in an instant
- 💎 Polish your writing
- 📖 Summarize long conversations
And on November 15th 2023 they launched Auto Summarize which is probably my favorite AI feature so far.
Like the name suggests, it automatically summarizes the email thead you have open in a short sentence.
If you want more context then just hit M on your keyboard and it displays a list of bullet points in chronological order.
I use this all the time in my freelance work to make sure I didn’t miss anything from my clients.
Wrapping Up
Superhuman is the best Apple Mail alternative for power users.
You can get a month free by clicking my link below.
And please take them up on their offer for a free onboarding session.
It’s a free 30 minute class on how to do email right.
It’ll completely change your email workflow for the better, and you probably need it.