If you’re looking for a way to boost your work efficiency, email productivity tools are a great option. In this article, I’ve handpicked the top 10 tools and explained their features and ideal users. By the end, you’ll find the perfect email productivity tool for you.
List of 10 best email productivity tools
- ProofHub: Best for email task management
- Sane Box: Best for email organization
- Boomerang: Best for scheduling meetings from inbox
- Spike: Best for converting email threads into chats
- Mailbird: Best for managing multiple accounts
- Clean Email: Best for cleaning email inbox
- Hiver: Best communication and Gmail collaboration hub
- Todoist: Best for inbox task organization
- Email Analytics: Best for tracking inbox email activity
- Active Inbox: Best for task tracking from email inbox
Tired of email taking over your work life?
We’ve all been there.
Let’s face it, email was never meant to be a productivity powerhouse for managing tasks and communicating with your team. It’s time to break free from the email struggle and make your work life easier.
That’s where Gmail productivity tools come in!
Imagine spending hours searching for that one crucial file attachment or important message buried in a never-ending sea of emails. It’s a productivity nightmare.
And the numbers don’t lie. On average, workers spend a whopping 2.6 hours every day dealing with emails. According to McKinsey, employees get distracted from their work every 10 minutes (that’s 56 times a day!), and it takes a staggering 25 minutes to regain full concentration on the task at hand.
On the contrary, Gmail productivity tools are designed to make email easier to use, more organized, and more efficient. They can help you find what you’re looking for faster, stay focused on your tasks, and collaborate with others more effectively.
In this post, I have shared the top 10 email productivity apps that will help you boost your productivity in work management and team communication. I have categorized them into specific categories in which the shortlisted tool is the best.
What are email productivity tools?
Email productivity tools are software that enhances the capabilities of the inbox to simplify the way you use emails to improve productivity.
These tools help you organize email inboxes better, manage work efficiently, make it easy to collaborate with a team, and reduce your reliance solely on the original features of email inboxes.
The results are improved productivity, less frustration, enhanced control, efficient working, and more time for important things.
10 Best email productivity tools for managers in 2024
I have shortlisted the best 10 Gmail productivity tools based on my comprehensive research, real user reviews, and critics’ insights from industry-leading websites.
This comprehensive list offers solutions that cover everything from optimizing your email workflows to efficiently managing email clutter and streamlining team communication.
So, without further ado, let’s dive right in and explore these amazing tools!
1. ProofHub: Best for email task management
Starts from $45 per month for unlimited users (billed annually), 14-day free trial
If you want to manage teamwork and team communication, ProofHub is the ultimate productivity tool. It integrates with emails to help you create, manage, track, and update tasks from your inbox.
With ProofHub, you can improve productivity, stay on top of your work management, and bring projects, teamwork, and team communication to one centralized place.
The best thing about ProofHub is it gradually reduces pressure on the email inbox for work management and team collaboration. It provides you with a dedicated centralized interface separate from the inbox to manage all the teamwork and team communication in one place.
You use email only for what it is originally designed for — one-to-one crucial communication and staying updated on important changes.
Having first-hand experience using ProofHub for over the last 13 years, I can explain how ProofHub can help you boost overall work productivity:
Key features
1. Stay on top of your tasks from the inbox: ProofHub seamlessly integrates with emails. You get a notification of every task update in your inbox to ensure no information slips through the cracks.
You can create tasks from an email inbox, add comments to the tasks, and attach files to the tasks. This real-time sync with your email inbox ensures you are in control of your task management.
You can also see daily, weekly, or monthly project reports in your inbox to stay on top of your work management.
2. Save time on assigning tasks (using a separate dashboard): If you do not want to spend time on writing emails, adding task requirements, and attaching files to create and delegate tasks, ProofHub provides you with an easy-to-use centralized task dashboard.
It helps you save time and make it easy to create and assign tasks to team members in no time within a few clicks. The real-time sync with email inbox ensures that all the team members get notifications instantly.
3. Reduce email inbox overload (with a dedicated communication channel): Email overload is the major reason for frustration and confusion. ProofHub reduces inbox overload by providing your team with dedicated channels for team communication.
Your team can chat with each other using built-in chat to discuss ideas and clear queries, use task comments to request updates and participate in project discussions for project-related group conversations. This eliminates the need to navigate through productivity-killing long email threads.
4. Find information with ease (without wasting time): Finding files from the email inbox is a major productivity killer as email lacks a centralized storage and organization system.
ProofHub makes it easy to find files by allowing users to directly attach them to tasks. You do not have to search for files through email inbox anymore.
5. Become a pro project manager with advanced PM capabilities:
ProofHub provides you with most of the advanced project management features to help you take complete control of your project management. You can also easily import all the existing projects to ProofHub.
What do users like about ProofHub?
- Intuitive user interface
- Easy to use
- Simple learning curve
- Wide range of features that help replace multiple apps
- Flat pricing. Unlimited users
“The Most Intuitive, Easy-to-use PM Software with Great Task Management Capabilities” – Jessica R.
What users don’t like about ProofHub?
- Overwhelming notifications
- Limited integrations
“There’s nothing that I could find fault with but I’d love to see more integrations than currently available.” – Jana F.
Pricing
The best thing about ProofHub pricing is the flat pricing structure. You do not have to pay a fee per user which makes it highly suitable for small businesses.
ProofHub offers two plans: Essential and Ultimate Control.
- Essential Plan costs $45 per month billed annually for unlimited users, up to 40 projects.
- Ultimate Control costs $89 per month billed annually for unlimited users, and unlimited projects.
ProofHub Ratings
G2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.6
2. SaneBox – Best for organizing email inbox
Starts from $3.49 per month for 1 email account
SaneBox is one of the best email inbox organization tools out there. It has folders for sorting almost every type of email: promotions, newsletters, and important, to name a few.
It focuses on enhancing your email productivity by organizing your email inbox. You can regain control over your inbox by decluttering the email inbox and automatically sorting emails.
If you receive too many email messages and use email folders, this Gmail productivity tool is for you to reach inbox zero.
Key Features
- SaneBox’s powerful AI filters automatically analyze email content to place it in the right folder
- SaneLater for promotional and distraction emails, SaneNews folder is for newsletters, SaneBlackHole for trash
- Train, Snooze, Move, Trash, Mark as Read, or Archive emails
- Organize all of your attachments in one place
- Schedule breaks from email notifications with the Do Not Disturb folder
- Email deep clean to declutter the inbox
What do users like about SaneBox?
- Extremely easy to use
- Ability to organize emails in folders
- Custom folders for important emails like @SaneReceipts, @SaneBills, or @SaneFamily
“SaneBox makes it possible to get through my day.” – Joseph M.
What users don’t like about SaneBox?
- Pricing structure. It offers limited functions in a basic paid plan
- Lapses in email spam filtering. Accidental flagging of legitimate emails
- Lack of technical support
“I want the ability to use SaneBox on more than one mailbox without incurring extra cost.” – Verified user
Pricing
SaneBox offers three subscription plans: Snack plan, Lunch plan, and Dinner plan. The Snack plan costs $3.49 per month and includes 1 email account and two features. To use multiple email accounts and all features you need to upgrade to a premium plan.
SaneBox Review Ratings
3. Boomerang: Best for scheduling meetings from email inbox
Starts from $4.98/month when billed annually
Do you want to schedule meetings without leaving the inbox? Boomerang is a great email productivity app for you. It is an online calendar scheduling tool that helps you schedule meetings from your inbox.
You can save hours by eliminating back-and-forth emails.
Apart from this, Boomerang helps you with email management. You can schedule emails, track the emails, set follow-up reminders, create emails with AI, block distractions, and more to improve your productivity.
I like the way Boomerang makes its tool available as a web browser extension. It makes it super easy for users to install and use it.
Key Features
- Magic Live Calendar to schedule meetings using emails
- AI to write perfect emails
- Boomerang emails to take out of the inbox and recover when you need them
- Inbox Pause to stop new emails from coming into your Inbox
- Schedule emails to send later
- Automatic follow-up reminders if you don’t hear back
What do users like about Boomerang?
- Easy to set and simple to use
- Seamless integration with web and mobile devices
“Makes scheduling and email tracking a breeze!” – Lindsey C.
What users don’t like about Boomerang?
- Bugs and errors cause issues
- The ‘pause’ button feature does not work well
- Calendar integration does not seem to hold all the time
Once you pause an email from a recipient, I have struggled to unpause the odd email. – Christopher E.
Pricing
Boomerang offers a free plan that provides basic features. To get advanced features, you need to upgrade to the paid plan that starts from $4.98/month (billed annually).
Ratings
G2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.7
4. Spike: Best for converting email threads into chats
Starts $6 per member/per month when billed annually
Spike is a one-of-a-kind tool that turns your emails into a chat-like experience. The purpose is to improve productivity by converting clunky and confusing threads and messy inboxes into genuine chat-like conversations.
You can also place video calls from emails using Spike. This tool brings team chat, video calling, and emails all under one roof to create a centralized hub for communication.
I find the Super Search bar of Spike useful. It helps you find things in less time.
Key features
- Conversation emails for chat-like conversations
- Channels for team discussions and groups for private discussions
- Video calling for video conversations
- Search bar to find files
- Collaborative docs to work together
What do users like about Spike?
- Simple to set up and easy to use
- User-friendly interface
- Excellent customer support
“eMail made modern, simple and transparent. The ease of use – everything is in one place.” – Michael H.
What users don’t like about Spike?
- Problematic with multiple accounts
- Glitches with calendar integration
“The problems start with multiple accounts. I tried with my one, my company one, and one I use from a client of mine. The organization got very confusing.” – Capterra Reviewer
Pricing
Spike is free for up to 5 members, but the free plan comes with limited functions. The Team plan costs you $ 6 per member/month billed annually.
Spike ratings
G2: 4.7
Capterra: 4.7
5. Mailbird: Best for managing multiple accounts
Starts $5.10 per user per month when billed annually
Mailbird is a great app to manage all your emails and contacts from multiple accounts easily in one Inbox.
It integrates with apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Dropbox, and Google Calendar to create a centralized hub for team communication.
You can easily snooze emails for later to focus only on the emails you need to at the moment.
I like the AI-powered email writing of Mailbird provided by ChatGPT.
Key Features
- Sync all your email accounts in one place
- Customizable background to tailor your email interface to suit your preferences
- Attachment search to easily find specific attachments within your emails
- Generate high-quality emails with AI
- Customize notification sound suggestions and Dark or Lite theme
What do users like about Mailbird?
- Intuitive and user-friendly UI
- Interactive features to improve user experience
“I love how I can access all my different inboxes and organize them”- Maryse G.
What users don’t like about Mailbird?
- Bugs out with my Outlook email accounts
- Poor customer support
They have terrible support that fails to seemingly even read your request, let alone address your concerns and help you work through them. – Getapp Reviewer
Pricing
Mailbird offers a Free plan but with limited functionality. You need to upgrade to a paid plan to get email tracking and advanced features.
Ratings
G2: 3.9
Capterra: 4.4
6. Clean Email: Best for cleaning email inbox
Starts $9.99 per month for one account
Clean Email is one of the best inbox cleaner apps out there to remove unwanted emails.
It keeps your inbox sane by combining the emails you are likely to clean into “Cleaning Suggestions” and “Smart Folders”.
It helps you manage your mailbox by combining emails into groups using filters and rules to quickly review hundreds of emails. You can reduce the mailbox overload by unsubscribing from emails you do not want.
Clean Email is a great tool to save time, reduce mailbox stress, and create a zen email inbox. But, I am not sure small businesses or entrepreneurs would be eager to use paid services.
Key features
- Automatically sort emails using filters and rules
- Clean unwanted emails by organizing them into easy-to-review bundles
- Email filters like “Status” (Read or Unread), “Age” (how long ago was an email sent or received), people, mailing lists, or search by keywords
- Block the sender and unsubscribe
- Auto-clean email based on set rules
What do users like about Clean Email?
- Powerful filters to find and sort emails
- Works with all the email service providers like Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL
- Easy to use
I like clearing my email inbox regularly and having CleanEmail filters in place to help me accomplish this. – Frances A.
What users don’t like about Clean Email?
- The user interface is not intuitive
- Poor customer support
Customer support took about 2 days to get back to me on questions but they did get back to me with the answers. – Richard R.
Pricing
Clean Email plans start from $9.99 per month for one account. However, it costs you $29.99 yearly for one account.
Clean Email Ratings
G2: 4.4
Capterra: 4.1
7. Hiver – Best for managing client communication using Gmail
Starts $15 per user per month
If your business depends a lot on Gmail for handling client queries, Hiver is the tool for you to transform Gmail into a multi-channel helpdesk.
It helps you assign business query emails to the right person in your team and associate resolution status to track email. It ensures end-to-end accountability for all incoming emails.
You can collaborate with team members using @mention comments and write them a note.
I like the way Hiver brings email, live chat, knowledge base, and voice communication inside Gmail, but it is a costly tool.
Key Features
- Bring all communication channels to Gmail: email, chat, WhatsApp, and phone support
- Assign status to track business queries
- Collaborate with teams using @mentions and notes
- Automation to automate repetitive tasks
- In-depth reports and key metrics to analyze team performance
What do users like about Hiver?
- Effortless to set up.
- Outstanding customer support with prompt responses and regular check-ins.
- Enhanced transparency in handling support emails.
What users don’t like about Hiver?
- Do not have the ability to sort emails.
- Analytics can be hard to follow.
- It can be hard to understand.
Pricing
Hiver offers three pricing plans to cater to different user needs. The Lite plan is priced at $15.00 per user per month, the Pro plan is priced at $39.00 per month, and the Elite plan is priced at $59.00 per month.
Ratings
G2: 4.6
Capterra: 4.7
Read More: Tired of the same old email? Try one of these 12 email alternatives for better business communication!
8. Todoist – Best for organizing tasks in email inbox
Todoist is an amazing organization tool that allows you to convert emails into tasks and organize them. It sorts your tasks into ‘Today’, ‘Upcoming’, and ‘Custom Filter’ views to help you prioritize your most important work.
You can create a shared folder in the inbox for your team to collaborate on tasks. It integrates seamlessly with emails to improve your email productivity.
Key Features
- Turn emails into tasks and automatically sort tasks
- Set priority levels to highlight the day’s most important tasks
- Labels, filters, and board view to easily navigate through email inbox
- Integrate with the calendar to help you with task scheduling
- Reminder to notify about time-sensitive tasks
What do users like about Todoist?
- Neat and clean interface and is easy to use
- Built-in templates
- Seamless integration with email
“Excellent for organizing your tasks. Super easy interface, that is intuitively split per project and per category.” – Julian L.
What users don’t like about Todoist?
- Limited features in the free plan
- Lack of basic project management features
Some important features such as reminders and automatic backups are unavailable for the free plan. – Forbes review
Pricing
Todoist offers a Free plan but with limited features. You need to upgrade to a Business plan for teams which costs $6 per user per month, billed annually.
Todoist Ratings
G2: 4.4
Capterra: 4.6
Read More: Learn how to implement email task management in your workflow and get more done.
9. Email Analytics: Best for tracking inbox email activity
Starts from $15 per inbox per month
Email Analytics is an inbox email activity tracking tool that helps you improve your productivity by providing you with insights.
It tells you about the top senders & recipients, the busiest days and hours, the number of emails you send and receive every day, your average email response times, and more.
The insights help you prioritize email responses, identify areas that need improvement, and make the most of your time.
You can also add your team’s email accounts and compare email activity.
Key features
- Track emails sent & received
- Track top senders & recipients
- Track email response time
- Track email traffic by day, hour, and label
- Dashboard to visualize team email activity
What do users like about Email Analytics?
- Easy to use and setup
- Accurate tracking
- Visually appealing dashboard
It’s very practical to use and easy to send the emails I need. – G2 Reviewer
What users don’t like about Email Analytics?
- Expensive plans
- User experience can be improved
I believe the design could be a little better for its users. – Murilo F.
Pricing
Email Analytics pro plan costs you $15 per inbox per month.
Email Analytics Ratings
G2: 4
10. Active Inbox – Best for task tracking from email inbox
Starts from $5.37 per account per month when billed annually
ActiveInbox is another great tool to take control of your task management from your email inbox. It helps you create tasks from emails and track the progress with real-time updates.
You can sort emails by sender or priority, track emails with due dates, get replies by following up, and add notes to emails for efficient email task management.
It turns your email inbox into a task manager. With ActiveInbox, you can stay organized and improve productivity.
Key features
- Turn emails into tasks
- Sort your projects into email folders
- Track emails with due dates and send reminders to keep on track
- Automated follow-up if you do not reply to emails
What do users like about Active Inbox?
- Easily integrate with Chrome
- Enhanced email control.
- Affordable pricing
What users don’t like about Active Inbox?
- Change email interface
- Does not offer advanced organizational capabilities
Pricing
Active Inbox Professional plan costs you $5.37 per account/month when billed annually.
Active Inbox Ratings
G2: 4.1
Final verdict
Saving time even by a small fraction could have magnificent effects on productivity in the long run. Just for example, saving a few crucial minutes in finding files every day due to improved organization or spending less time on requesting task updates due to a centralized work platform can collectively contribute big time to your overall productivity over a period.
Email productivity tools help you improve productivity bit by bit every day.
SaneBox and Clean Email are the tools for you if you have to deal with hundreds of emails every day. These email productivity software makes it easy to sort and navigate through emails.
ProofHub, Todoist, and Active Inbox are the tools for you if you rely on emails to manage tasks and team collaboration. They provide you with a range of powerful features to manage work efficiently with ease and facilitate seamless team collaboration.
Mailbird, Spike, and Hiver are the tools if you depend on emails for client communication. They make it easy for you to manage client communication with unique features.
Boomerang and Email Analytics are the tools you need if your team relies a lot on emails for internal communication.
I hope this insight will provide you with some guidance to make the right decision.
How I picked the top email productivity tools?
I picked the email productivity apps in the list based on my research, real user reviews, and critics’ insights. I took the following factors into account while shortlisting tools in the list:
1. Features
Features are crucial in my selection process, as they provide enhanced functionality to users. The tools I chose offer practical features like automated email sorting, scheduling, snooze and reminders, collaboration features, calendar integration, and advanced file search in the email inbox.
2. Pricing
Pricing plays a key role. I checked the pricing structure of each tool. I listed the tools that have a transparent pricing structure, provide value for money, and have plans suitable for small businesses.
3. Compatibility and integration
I also took compatibility and integration into consideration when selecting email productivity apps. The reason was to ensure that the tool I chose would seamlessly integrate with your existing email provider so that you can continue working with the existing workflow.
4. Customer support
Believe me, customer support plays the most important role when you experience any issues or have questions about the tool. I chose the tool that provides decent customer support service so that you get the support when needed.
Get started with ProofHub
ProofHub is an ultimate productivity tool that focuses on improving your productivity by streamlining workflows, keeping everything organized, and making it easy for people to work at the workplace.
We all know emails are not originally designed for project collaboration and team communication. ProofHub helps you overcome the shortcomings of emails with its comprehensive range of useful features. You will be at ease, improve operational efficiency, and the team become productive.
Trusted by teams around the globe to get their work done. Try ProofHub free for 14-days. (No credit card required)
Email productivity tools FAQs
Is email a productivity tool?
Yes, email is considered a productivity tool as it enables communication, organization, and collaboration in professional settings. But for complex projects, it does not work well.
What productivity tools will replace email?
Various productivity tools like project management software, instant messaging platforms, and document collaboration tools can replace emails. Top productivity tools include ProofHub, Todoist, and SaneBox.
What is the best SaaS tool for email productivity?
The choice of the best SaaS tool depends on individual needs. ProofHub is a good choice considering it provides you with an all-in-one platform for project management and team collaboration.
