Franz vs Mailspring
Franz
meetfranz.comMailspring
getmailspring.comSide by side
| Figure | Franz | Mailspring |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $5/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 7 | 4 |
| Spec score · Email clients | 8.8 (#18) | 9.0 (#9) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Headquarters | Vienna, Austria | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Integrations | Franz lists 75+ supported services, including WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail, Signal, Discord, and Telegram, and lets users add any website as a custom service. | Mailspring syncs directly with mail providers using IMAP and with calendars and contacts using CalDAV and CardDAV. |
| Supported platforms | macOS,Windows,Linux | Downloads are offered for Windows, macOS, and Linux, including Windows ARM64, Apple Silicon, and Linux ARM packages. |
| Product | Franz combines messaging services, email, and Signal in one desktop workspace. | Mailspring is a native desktop email client for people who take email seriously. |
| Security | Franz says external-service credentials are not stored on its servers, native-service tokens and message caches are encrypted locally, and traffic to Google APIs and Franz services uses TLS 1.2 or higher. | Email credentials are stored in the system keychain, and Mailspring says it does not transmit, store, or process email in the cloud. |
Plans
Franz
- Pro$60 a year
- Max$120 a year
- Franz Lifetime$239 a month
- StarterFree
- Pro$60 a year
- Max$120 a year
- Franz Lifetime$199, paid once
Mailspring
- BasicPrice not published
- Mailspring Pro$8 a month
- FreeFree
- Mailspring Pro$8 a month
In their own words
Mailspring
Mailspring is a desktop email client for Linux, macOS, and Windows, with support for multiple accounts in one inbox. It connects to Gmail, iCloud, Office 365, Fastmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo!, and IMAP/SMTP providers, and indexes email for advanced Gmail-style searches across connected accounts. The client works offline and supports scheduled sending. Its free features include undo send, spell and grammar checking, custom themes, dark mode, and localization. Pro adds read receipts, link tracking, send later, follow-up reminders, templates, contact profiles, snoozing, and mailbox insights. Mailspring connects to mail providers through IMAP and to calendars and contacts through CalDAV and CardDAV, though calendar tools are not included in the app. It can translate drafts into Spanish, Russian, simplified Chinese, French, and German, and offer to translate incoming messages. Mailspring says credentials are kept in the system keychain and email is not processed in the cloud. The free plan is available; Pro costs $8 a month, billed monthly.