Which Is Better: A Desktop Client or Webmail?

If you’re struggling with the “which is better” question, you’ll find no definitive answers here, mostly because, there is no definitive answer. For some users, a desktop client will run rings around webmail any day of the week. For others, a desktop client is unnecessary and limiting compared to webmail. Which is best depends entirely on you.

Webmail services use ads

Besides bringing more complex design, webmail brought certain limitations as well. Although almost every webmail service is available for free, most of these services display ads. There’s usually an option to switch to a premium version of the service in order to remove ads, but many users don’t like the idea of paying a monthly fee for an ad-free experience. If you’re not too keen on ads, desktop email clients might be just what you need. In fact, finding an ad-free email client for Windows isn’t that hard — you just have to find one that that suits your needs.

Webmail services rely heavily on JavaScript

Most webmail email clients rely heavily on JavaScript, and if you don’t have JavaScript enabled in your browser for some reason, you’ll have to enable it in order to check your email. On the other hand, desktop email clients don’t require JavaScript at all so you won’t have to go through the tedious process of enabling JavaScript every time if you want to read or send an email.

Webmail services usually don’t support custom domains for free

Webmail lacks support for custom domains. If you own your own company and  use a custom domain, you won’t be able to use that domain with most webmail services unless you choose to upgrade to premium. Some webmail services such as Outlook don’t have support for custom domains at all, so you might want to think twice before choosing webmail over a desktop email client.

You can’t manage multiple email accounts from webmail

Desktop email clients are also a better choice if you use two or more email address. If you use both Gmail and Outlook, for example, you’ll have to log in to each of the two services in order to check your email. This isn’t a problem for most regular users but if you rely heavily on email for communication, checking two or more webmail services several times a day and responding to emails might become a tedious process.

Using a desktop email client, you can easily manage two or even more email accounts right from a single application. Accounts don’t even have to be on the same domain: you can basically have an unlimited number of email accounts across multiple domains and check them all with a single click of a button right from your desktop email client.

You can’t access webmail without internet connection

Another benefit of desktop email clients is the ability to access your email offline. When you use a desktop email client, all your emails are downloaded to your computer where you can read them, prepare replies and check attachments even if you’re not online. This is extremely useful if you’re traveling or don’t have a constant internet connection.

What should you choose?

A Desktop Email Client May Be Best For You If:

• You have multiple email addresses with different domains, and enjoy checking, reading, and responding from each one as each address, all in one place.
• You need access to email offline.
• You prefer to back up your mail regularly, or have limited storage with your email provider.
• You use security features like digital signing, public key infrastructure (PKI), or encryption.
• You use advanced mail rules and filtering based on multiple factors (words, senders, subjects, headers, etc.)
• Your email provider’s webmail client sucks, or is non-existent.
• Your email provider uses Microsoft Exchange or another mail solution with special perks for desktop users.
• You enjoy integration with desktop apps like Dropbox, Cloudapp, your calendar, or other tools.

Webmail May Be Best For You If:

• You prefer a single, unified inbox of all of your accounts.
• You only have a few email accounts anyway, and you prefer to forward them all to one inbox.
• You’re a Gmail ninja, are addicted to Gmail Labs, or can’t imagine using anything else for email.
• You prefer webapps and web services to downloadable applications (or you can’t install software on your work or school computer.)
• You enjoy integration with web services or plugins like Google Calendar and Tasks, Boomerang, Smartr or, Rapportive.
• You feel more secure keeping your mail off of your computer and all-online.
• You prefer to keep all of your mail rules and filtering on the mail server, as opposed to running them on your desktop.

What do we use?

We prefer email clients and use thunderbird. Thunderbird is open source and has many features. We will make one new post for all thunderbird has to offer so stay tuned. Subscribe to our email list to get our awesome posts right into your inbox.