Thunderbird speaks IMAP. Dodosend speaks Gmail.

Thunderbird is the free, open-source email app that has run on every desktop for over twenty years, with any provider. Dodosend is narrower on purpose: made for Gmail itself, run from the keyboard, and free for one mailbox too. Here’s how they compare, and when Thunderbird is the better pick.

Get the desktop appDownload

Free for one Gmail mailbox, on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

At a glance

Thunderbird’s details come from its own site, checked in October 2026.

	Dodosend	Thunderbird
Price	Free for one Gmail mailbox; the Multi-mailbox plan, monthly or yearly, adds more	Free and open source, funded by donations
Free plan	Yes: one Gmail mailbox, with every feature	Yes: the whole app is free
Desktop apps	macOS 12+, Windows 10+, Linux (AppImage, .deb, .rpm)	Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+, Linux (64-bit: a tarball, Flatpak, Snap or your distribution’s package)
Phone and web	Not yet: desktop only	Android; an iPhone app is in development; no web app
Email accounts	Gmail and Google Workspace	Gmail and other IMAP or POP accounts, Exchange and Microsoft 365
With Gmail	Made for Gmail: labels stay labels, and search reads Gmail’s common operators	Over IMAP: labels show up as folders
Keyboard	A key for every action, and a ⌘K / Ctrl+K palette that reads “remind me fri 10”	Keyboard shortcuts and a quick filter bar; changing a key takes an add-on
AI	Only to help you search: finding a mail from what you remember of it, and reading a search typed as a sentence. No AI keeps your mail or learns from it, and none writes for you	None built in

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Search every folder at once

One search covers every folder at once, and one you run every day can stay as a tab. Try it on sample mail, before you install anything.

Interactive demo. A hands-on look at how it works: use your keyboard or mouse, and the guide shows you what to do. The mail is made up.

Dodosend

Inbox

3 unread

Maya Chen

10 threads

Step 1 of 3

Press / to search your mail.Tap “Show me” to search your mail.

Search every folder at once. Keep a search you use as a tab in the sidebar.

Which one is for you

Pick Dodosend if…

Your mail is all Gmail
Thunderbird reaches Gmail over IMAP, so labels show up as folders, archiving removes the Inbox label, and Mozilla suggests hiding All Mail so messages don’t show up twice. Dodosend works with Gmail itself: labels stay labels, and from: or has:attachment work as they do in Gmail.
You’d rather not touch the mouse
Thunderbird has shortcuts, but no command palette, and changing them takes an add-on. In Dodosend every action has a key, ! shows the ones for the screen you’re on, and ⌘K (Ctrl+K) reaches the rest.
You want mail to come back when it matters
H brings a thread back at the time you type, and ⌘⇧H brings it back only if nobody replies. Scheduled send goes out on time even with the app closed.

Pick Thunderbird if…

You have more than Gmail
Thunderbird takes any IMAP or POP account, plus Exchange and Microsoft 365. Dodosend is Gmail and Google Workspace only, for now.
You want open source
Thunderbird’s code is open, under the Mozilla Public License, and donations fund it. Dodosend is free for one mailbox, but its code isn’t open.
You want no AI at all
Thunderbird has no AI built in. In Dodosend, Closest mail sends your mail to an AI to be turned into vectors, and a search typed as a sentence goes to an AI to be read.
You want a settled app
Thunderbird has been around for over twenty years, with monthly releases and a yearly extended-support version. Dodosend is still in beta, and you may hit a rough edge.

Switching from Thunderbird

Nothing moves: your mail stays in Gmail, so your threads, labels and drafts are there once you sign in to Dodosend with Google. What lives only in Thunderbird stays there: messages in its Local Folders, and the filters it runs on your computer. Gmail’s own filters keep working, since Gmail runs them.

Questions

Is Thunderbird good for Gmail?

It works: Thunderbird connects to Gmail over IMAP, with Google sign-in. Gmail’s labels show up as folders, archiving removes the Inbox label, and Mozilla suggests unsubscribing from the All Mail folder so messages don’t show up twice. If you want Gmail to behave like Gmail, an app made for it fits better.

Is Dodosend free?

Yes, for one Gmail mailbox, with every feature: the command palette, reminders, scheduled send, the calendar. The Multi-mailbox plan, billed monthly or yearly, is only for connecting more mailboxes.

Is Dodosend open source?

No. Dodosend is free for one Gmail mailbox, but its code isn’t open. If open source matters to you, Thunderbird is the better pick.

Can I use Thunderbird and Dodosend side by side?

Yes. Both work with your Gmail account, so what you archive or send in one shows up in the other.

Try it on your own inbox

Your Gmail, your keys, no card. Your mail stays on your computer, and Google lets you revoke access anytime.