Best Clean Email Alternatives

Introduction

If you are on the lookout for a good email management app to handle your mountain of emails that have piled up over the years, you may have stumbled across Clean Email as a possible solution.

But is this the right application for you?

In this article we will compare some of the best Clean Email alternatives, looking at their pro’s and con’s, as well as a detailed analysis of their core features:

1. AgainstData
2. Sanebox
3. LeaveMeAlone
4. Trimbox
5. Mailstrom
6. CleanFox
7. UnrollMe

We looked at several key aspects to identify the best email management application for your use case

Look & Feel: how an application looks matters, so we tried to look at how the applications look on different screen sizes and how fast it takes them to load

Onboarding experience: how complicated is it to set up the application and correctly adjust the different features

Features: we started to by listing and analysing the main features, such as email folder sorting, bulk delete options, unsubscribe and data deletion

Security and privacy: are the applications protecting user data or does their business model require the monetisation of user data

Trial options and Pricing: we included details about whether they include trial versions and how much do the different subscription plans cost.

Clean Email and alternatives

Clean Email is an application to help manage your email, focusing on offering email cleaning suggestions, unsubscribing as well as organizing emails into folders and putting in place filters to sort incoming correspondence.

1. AgainstData

AgainstData is a powerful privacy application that supports its users increase productivity and lower their digital footprint by allowing them to delete data from companies that hold it and be less distracted by unwanted emails.

This is done through a beautiful crafted user interface that guides the user to the main features as one-click unsubscribe as well as the various filters and data deletion options.

AgainstData requires a Gmail address for login and takes just a couple of clicks to be onboarded.

Why AgainstData is a better alternative to Clean Email

We analysed below why whe believe that AgainstData looks like a better alternative to Clean Email, due primarily to its great UI and privacy focus.

Look & Feel

• Clean Email has a more conservative look and feels and seems quite dated compared to AgainstData’s visual interface.

• From the colour schemes to the shape and action of the buttons, AgainstData seems like an overall more crafted product.

Onboarding experience

• AgainstData does not require much setup to work. You just login, the mailing lists and company list is loaded and you can start cleaning.

• Clean Email has a similar onboarding time altogether but the learning curve in long to be able to utilise some of the more advanced email folder and filtering options. In the end this translates to a longer time needed by the user to be able to use some of the more advanced features of Clean Email.

Features

• Clean Email offers a wide pool of predefined folders and different means to organise your emails, but they take a significantly longer time to set-up and use. Also the very long list of available folders makes navigation in the side menu a bit challenging on certain resolutions.

• While both Clean Email and its alternative AgainstData offer unsubscribe and bulk delete features, one key differentiator in favor of AgainstData is the ability to send Deletion requests to selected companies, ensuring that your data is deleted from their systems.

Security and privacy

• Both Clean Email and AgainstData are charging fees for subscriptions and are not monetising user data

• Both Clean Email and AgainstData are using secure login trough OAuth 2.0

AgainstData pricing compared to Clean Email

Pricing for both platforms is quite affordable given the benefit. In terms of best value, it seems that the yearly plan from AgainstData offers the most in terms of features, including the powerfull data deletion options, at a balanced bundle price compared to Clean Email.

The Yearly plan form AgainstData seems to be the most balanced option by far, and it makes sense to buy this yearly option if you are serious about cleaning your digital footprint.

Deletion requests take time to process, and companies may take as long as 30 days to reply to such a request.

AgainstData vs Clean Email summary

1. Overall, AgainstData is easy and quick to set up, featuring a sleek and clean design. It effectively addresses key challenges such as managing email storage, reducing unwanted or spam emails, and cleaning up your digital footprint, all while looking absolutely gorgeous.

2. The major differentiator is the quick setup time and the ability to send deletion requests.

3. Clean Email takes a longer time to set-up and looks a bit more dated, but offers a lot of predefined folder options, if you are into that sort of thing.

2. SaneBox

SaneBox is an email management platform that aims to help users be more productive and focus better by filtering or deleting unwanted emails.

SaneBox’s user interface is clean but seems a bit dated compared to other alternatives. Onboarding time is quite long and the user needs to make a lot of selections and adjustments before you actually get to see the tool.

SaneBox as Clean Email alternative

Both Clean Email and SaneBox have their main features focused on cleaning your Inbox, organising your existing emails, managing incoming messages and unsubscribing from mailing lists.

Look & Feel

• You can tell that SaneBox has been around for a couple of years, since the interface looks a bit old compared to newer websites.
• Clean Email interface seems a bit loaded, with loads of buttons, and it is kind of difficult to understand what all of them do at the beginning. The documentation is quite good, but it takes some time to go through it.

Onboarding experience

• Once you log into SaneBox it will take some time to learn what all the buttons and functionalities do, so the most advanced features are at the end of a timely learning curve.
• It does not take long to the into SaneBox or Clean Email, but figuring out what all of the different functionalities do is a bit overwhelming.
• This may prove challenging for users without a good technical understanding of how advanced email features work.

Features

• Sanebox tends to focus more on the smart folder aspect of email management offering a folder structure with some particularities like “SaneLater” and “SaneNews”, whereas SaneBox just has an overwhelming amount of categories that the users choses from.
• Both Clean Email and SaneBox cover similar features like unsubscribe and bulk delete with the notable exception of data deletion requests and listing companies that hold user data. Unfortunately, most of these are only available in the paid version, so a trial user does not get the chance to see them.

Security and privacy

• Both Clean Email and SaneBox are charging fees for user subscription and is not monetising user data
• Both Clean Email and SaneBox are using OAuth 2.0 for secure login

SaneBox pricing compared to Clean Email

There are some notable differences in pricing, with a cheaper monthly plan for SaneBox and a more expensive Yearly option. Both applications offer very little in the trial version, with the most powerful features behind a paywall.

SaneBox vs Clean Email summary

1. Clean Email and SaneBox are quite similar in their offering, and have the same core functionalities and options, with a slightly different approach on how they want to solve the problem. It comes down to preference of the UI as well as the user preference for “smart folders” versus “categories” and, of course, the pricing model, to decide between the two.
2. Neither of them provide the option to send deletion requests to companies that hold user personal data.

5. LeaveMeAlone

LeaveMeAlone helps users by sorting the incoming email and senders into different categories.

This way the user can apply different email management levers within the app to help get his correspondence more organized by selecting who they want to receive emails from and what kind of emails can get through the different filtering options.

LeaveMeAlone as Clean Email alternative

Both LeaveMeAlone and Clean Email organise your emails, manage incoming messages and help you unsubscribe from mailing lists.

Look & Feel

• LeaveMeAlone has a very cartoonish feel to it, and it seems I am browsing rather a children’s cartoon website, than an email management tool. This is mostly due to the colour scheme and the multitude of doodles sprinkled throughout the app.

• Compared to Clean Email it feels a bit more focused on non-technical users. Beneath the happy interface of LeaveMeAlone lie the same interesting filtering options, similar to the ones offered by Clean Email.

Onboarding experience

• Clean Email uses the Gmail OAuth 2.0 protocol that makes the onboarding straightforward and easy.

• LeaveMeAlone has one of the most complicated onboarding of all the applications tested and it requires the user to manually change several settings in their native Gmail Settings.

• LeaveMeAlone needs the user to create manually an application password withing Gmail itself so that it has permanent access to the user data. This can make a lot of people abandon the setup since it is very technical and requires several back-and-forward trips to the Google Account Settings.

Features

• Both LeaveMeAlone and Clean Email have the major functionalities covered, such as bulk email delete, unsubscribe and email folders.

• It is notable that LeaveMeAlone has an interesting way to select the emails that you want to do something about, by letting the user select multiple criteria at the same time such as certain keywords or the time of receival.

• Neither tool has the ability to send deletion requests to companies that hold user data.

Security and privacy

• SaneBox uses Login with Gmail through Oauth 2.0 while LeaveMeAlone requires the user to create an application password directly in the Google Gmail Account.

• The user data is not monetised either by SaneBox or LeaveMeAlone.

LeaveMeAlone pricing compared to Clean Email

Although Clean Email has slightly higher monthly costs compared to LeaveMeAlone, it does offer significantly higher discounts for the Yearly plan, making it the better option between the two.

LeaveMeAlone vs Clean Email summary

1. If you preffer pink and playfull interfaces while at the same time have a burning edge to clean your email than choose LeaveMeAlone.

2. Opt for Clean Email if you want to organize your inbox with your custom set priorities, as well as filter out all the noise, while using a more traditional user interface.

4. Trimbox

Trimbox allows their users to sort some of their emails as well as perform some other bulk actions on their emails. They have few, but well structured functionalities and are one of the simpler tools to get the job done.

Compared to Clean Email it does not have the complex folder structure features, but makes up in the very short time that the users needs to familiarize themselves with the main Trimbox functionalities.

Trimbox as Clean Email alternative

With its minimalistic approach Trimbox may be an alternative for people searching for a quick and easy fix to an immediate problem, while Clean Email may appeal to users more focused on the long-term fix for the clutter problem.

Look & Feel

• Trimbox feels that it has very few options to choose from and kind of looks like a work in progress or an unfinished application.
• Compared to Clean Email it lacks some of the core functionalities like elaborate folder structures and customization of the inbound email flow, but to the large extend gets the job done, if you are looking only to clean some of your old email messages.

Onboarding experience

• Since Trimbox has a lot less features, it takes very little time to set it up and figure out what each of the few buttons do. So if you do not want any of the customization and extra-features that Clean Email offers, this is the fast route.

Features

• Trimbox focused around bulk email management, unsubscribe and email deletion and little in the way of anything else.
• Clean Email allows users to personalize in detail different settings allowing them to change the way emails are handled once they reach the user Inbox. This, as you can imagine is time consuming and requires some fiddling around until it is complete.

Security and privacy

• Both Clean Email and Trimbox use Login with Gmail through Oauth 2.0
• The user data is not monetised either by Clean Email or Trimbox.

Trimbox pricing compared to Clean Email

The Yearly plan for Trimbox is priced the same as Clean Email, but I would say you are buying “less” product with fewer features, compared to Clean Email. This would make Clean Email a better value proposition compared to Trimbox.

Trimbox vs Clean Email summary

1. The minimalist Trimbox can be an option for users who seek to very quickly delete some of their old emails and prevent incoming emails from certain mailing lists. Regardless which one you choose between the two, keep in mind you will be paying almost just as much since the two applications are very similar in terms of pricing.

2. Compared to Clean Email, Trimbox lacks some of the key email folder options, and both applications lack the ability to send data deletion requests.

5. Mailstrom

Mailstrom is an email sorting and cleaning utility that allows users to select and then act on groups of emails depending on preselected criteria. This enables the user to filter and sort emails, perform quick unsubscribe options, and enjoy several other tools to prioritise important emails.

The first impression of the UI is that the application has fallen behind in terms of visual appearance since they debuted, compared to what modern interfaces have to offer. Although to some extens Clean Email feels also a bit dated, I would say Mailstrom is even worst at this aspect.

Mailstrom as Clean Email alternative

Mailstrom feels very utilitarian and manual, but gets the job done in the end, while Clean Email offers a wider pool of options for a custom experience.

Look & Feel

• Clean Email seems to offer a better overall user experience compared to Mailstrom, since it has more features arranged in a more user friendly and modern package. Mailstrom has a very utility vibe to it and looks rather like an older desktop application, than a modern web application, but gets the job done in the end, if you are looking to take bulk actions on a selection of emails.

Onboarding experience

• It does not take long to get into Mailstrom and is similar in terms of time to the Clean Email loading experience. The Mailstrom dashboard you are directed to seems to remind me a bit of Windows Explorer, as you will present you with the different old school filtering options for your emails.

Features

• Mailstrom directs the user to make a series of selections on their inbox, either by the type of email, sender or size, and then to select from one of the available actions to be done on the email selections. The actions available are ranging from bulk delete to movement into existing folders.

• It does however not have the same focus that Clean Email has, on creating and maintaining a custom folder structure that the user then leverages to sort incoming new emails.

Security & Privacy

• Both Mailstrom and Clean Email are charging fees for user subscription and are not monetising user data

• Mailstrom uses OAuth 2.0 for secure login, same as Clean Email

Mailstrom pricing compared to Clean Email

Both services offer subscription models for multiple email addresses but with different starting points. For multi-email address Clean Email’s monthly plan has a higher price point, but makes up in the yearly option, where they offer more discounts compared to Mailstrom.

Mailstrom vs Clean Email summary

1. Mailtrom as mentioned before has the feeling it was built as an utility aimed to offer some core functionalities that handle large amounts of emails at the sime time, in a web environment.

2. At the end of the day the choice has to do with what type of user you are. If you want to move around or delete large amounts of emails at the same time and nothing else, than Mailstrom seems like a good choice for you. On the other had if you are looking to a more long-term solution with a high degree of customization another option would be recommended.

6. CleanFox

Cleanfox.com is a free tool that promises users to help them clear out marketing emails and prevent them from receiving similar unwanted correspondence in the future. It is useful in those instances where the user receives a lot of marketing and spam on their Inbox. The reason why this application is free is that it monetizes user data that it obtains from their email account, such as the user’s past purchase data (what you have bought in the past, from where and at what prices).

CleanFox as Clean Email alternative

Compared to Clean Email, CleanFox offers surprisingly little in terms of functionalities.

Look & Feel

• CleanFox looks well structured without a lot of options available and has a playful colour scheme and user interface but feels kind of minimalistic.
• By contrast Clean Email has a heavier looking interface with loads of options and features to choose from.

Onboarding experience

• Clean Email uses the Gmail OAuth 2.0 protocol that makes the onboarding straightforward and easy.

• CleanFox on the other hand requires the user to manually create a password application within the user Gmail Account itself. Besides the extra effort involved, this method also does not properly explain to the user the security and privacy risks involved in providing this type of password based access to a third party application like this.

Features

• CleanFox is a light application with a few functionalities centered around unsubscribing from marketing emails and the option to also bulk delete emails.

• Clean Email has a significant number of extra features and customization options.

Security and privacy

• A serious security concern is raised for CleanFox due to their intrusive login method, of creating a Gmail application password for itself and the fact that it is also offered for free, since the monetization comes from the user data.
• It is not clear the extent of data that the application accesses, and in what form this is being monetised

CleanFox pricing compared to Clean Email

Unlike the normal subscription method of Clean Email, CleanFox is offered for free since it monetizes uses data. This poses a serious concern for privacy-minded users that want to keep their data private.

CleanFox vs Clean Email summary

1. We strongly suggest that you choose a paid subscription with one of the applications that do not sell user data like AgainstData or Clean Email, rather than opting for the apparently free CleanFox option, where you actually pay with your personal data.

7. UnrollMe

Unroll me, like CleanFox is a free mail management application that helps users get rid of spam, unwanted marketing emails and other types of junk correspondence that land in their Inbox. Both companies are owned by the industry specializing in accurate measurements of what people listen to and watch. The biggest downside to this free tool is that its business model relies on the company monetising user purchase data.

Like CleanFox the reason why this application is free is that it monetizes user data that it obtains from their email account, such as the user’s past purchase data (what you have bought in the past, from where and at what prices).

UnrollMe as Clean Email alternative

Similar to Cleanfox, UnrollMe has very little functionalities compared to paid options like Clean Email.

Look & Feel

• UnrollMe has a very simple structure in comparison to Clean Email, and is just focused on its main functionalities of unsubscribe and bulk email deletion. Clean Email on the other hand has a much more detailed user interface with multiple customization and selection options offered to users.

Onboarding experience

• Clean Email uses the Gmail OAuth 2.0 protocol that makes the onboarding straightforward and easy.

• Unroll me, like CleanFox, requires the user to manually create a password application within the user Gmail Account itself. That set of actions poses a serious security concern as it does not properly explain to the user the privacy risks that the email account is exposed to. It is also a laborious process that requires the user to change multiple settings within the Gmail account itself.

Features

• Unrollme offers basic functionalities like unsubscribing from emails and bulk email deletion or archiving.

• By contrast, Clean Email has a significant more broad palette of options that it offers its users, making this a better alternative than most of the free services out there, like Unrollme.

Security and privacy

• Unrollme is offered for free and it creates a password for itself in the user’s Gmail account while monetising user data to third parties such as purchase data, prices and webstores used by the user.

• UnrollMe is not available in the European Union since it contravenes with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

UnrollMe pricing compared to SaneBox

Unlike Clean Email, Unrollme is offered for free mainly because the business model of the company is to monetise user data to third parties. The true price of Unrollme is paid in personal data by the users, since this data is then used for other purposes than to provide value to the application’s user.

UnrollMe vs Clean Email summary

Like in the case of CleanFox, we strongly suggest you DO NOT select a seemingly free application as UnrollMe, because of the associated privacy and security concerns that go along with a choice like this. This would make any paid options such as AgainstData or Clean Email, or the other alternatives out there, a much better and safer choice for your email management needs.

Takeaway:

If you are looking to change the way you handle incoming emails as well as resolving some of that past clutter accumulated along the years you need to choose between one of these applications.

After carefully looking at all of the functionalities and design of these we can conclude that the best all-round contender is AgainstData, mainly due to the differentiated privacy approach that transparently shows all companies holding user data, and the ability to ask for data deletion with a single click.

On the other hand if you are just looking for a utilitarian approach to this task, and you really like the look of old-school windows applications than a solution like Trimbox or Mailstrom. Keep in mind that this will mostly deprive you of the privacy advantages of other solutions.

FAQs

Which tools is best Clean Email alternative?

Comparing all options it appears that AgainstData has the best UI and quickest onboarding time, while offering a balanced mix of functionalities that cover the user’s requirements, with the notable differentiator of offering data deletion requests to companies that hold user data. Yearly pricing is the best value option for AgainstData compared to the rest of the options evaluated.

Which is easier to set up: Clean Email, Mailstrom, AgainstData or SaneBox?

From the applications considered the easiest to set up is AgainstData, with a very fast onboarding experience and with all of the features available for testing in the trial free version.

Clean Email, Sanebox and Mailstrom require more user effort for the initial setup or more energy for the learning experience, as they offer more manual controls and customization options for how to handle your incoming email correspondence.

Which email cleaning service offers the best value for money?

While looking at the main features packed within each offering, as well as the different price plans offered by the applications evaluated, it seems that the Yearly Package from AgainstData offers the best value for money, mainly due to the fact that in the same pricing as competitors they have managed to pack the privacy focused functionalities of showing users the companies that hold their data, as well as being able to send data deletion requests to them. All of this while having a smashing UI to go along with it.