8 Free Desktop Email Clients and Alternatives to Microsoft Outlook

Almost all of us have one or more email accounts and most of us check our Inbox regularly using either web browser or a dedicated email client.

Now almost all email service providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Rediff etc provide so many advanced features in their web interface which makes the use of email desktop client negligible.

But personally we prefer using an Desktop email client to web interface. Most of the people who use an email client, prefer to use Microsoft Outlook which comes bundled with Microsoft Office suite but Microsoft Office is not free.

So here are some free email clients which can be used as an alternative to Microsoft Outlook:

1. Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Mail is our favorite email client and that's the only email client which we use. It provides all basic and advanced features which you need in an email client. Our favorite feature in this email client is the "2-line vertical view" which is not present in many other free email clients.

Windows Live Mail also comes with calendar, RSS feed and newsgroup support.

If you have a Hotmail, Outlook or any other Windows Live email account, you should definitely use Windows Live Mail email client as its the only free email client which supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) and DeltaSync protocols which are the best protocols to sync email messages between email server and your computer.

Windows Live Mail is a part of Windows Essentials suite which can be downloaded from following link:

Download Windows Live Mail

2. Mozilla Thunderbird

Thunderbird is one of the most popular free email clients. Its developed by Mozilla and can be used in Windows, Mac and Linux. Thunderbird and Firefox both are based on same Gecko engine so you'll find lots of similarities in both applications.

Similar to Firefox, Thunderbird also supports extensions and themes which makes using Thunderbird a fun. It can also be used as a portable app so you can carry it on your USB drive.

Download Thunderbird

3. Opera Mail

Opera Mail is a new email client from popular web browser company "Opera". Initially it was a part of Opera web browser but now the company has launched it as a separate product. Its a neat, simple and light-weight email client which is very easy to use and highly customizable. It also comes with "2-line vertical view" feature similar to Windows Live Mail. It can also be installed in portable version similar to Thunderbird.

Download Opera Mail

4. Zimbra Desktop

Zimbra Desktop is another free email client which allows you to meld the online and offline worlds - storing and syncing your email, calendar, contacts, files and documents in the cloud, yet having them locally accessible when on the road. Zimbra Desktop aggregates information across accounts (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) and social networks (Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.) to help make communicating & sharing information easier than ever.

Download Zimbra Desktop

5. eM Client

eM Client is another free email client which can be installed in Windows XP and later versions. It comes with full support for all email services like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc. It also comes with Calendar and RSS feed support. It can also be used as an instant messenger.

Download eM Client

6. Pegasus Mail

Pegasus Mail is a free email client suitable for use by single or multiple users on single computers or on local area networks. It has served millions of users since it was released in 1990. It is extremely feature-rich and powerful, yet remains small and fast.

Download Pegasus Mail

7. SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey is a web browser, email client, newsgroup reader, RSS feed reader, IRC chat client and much more. Its based on the same Mozilla source code which powers Firefox, Thunderbird and other Mozilla programs.

SeaMonkey can be considered as an all-in-one Internet application suite.

Download SeaMonkey

8. Mailbird

Mailbird is another free email client software which comes with a neat and clean UI. The steps to add email accounts are very easy and new users should not face any problem while using this email client.

Another impressive thing in this software is the built-in "2-line vertical view" feature which is also present in Windows Live Mail program.

Download Mailbird