7 Best Mailstrom Alternatives to Use in 2024

Introduction

You may have just discovered Mailstrom or you have been using it for a long time, but you are investigating what are the best Mailstrom alternatives out there. Below we will look at the main alternatives for unsusbcribing from emails.

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

Why should You Opt for a Mailstrom Alternative?

If you have reached this point then it means you want to know about what other Mailstrom alternatives are out there, and why you should choose a different solution for your email cleaning needs.

We tried to look for customer opinions related to this service but there is very little information to look for since Mailstrom is not present on public review platforms like Trustpilot. Regardless, we tried to piece together what reviews we were able to find online like this one from The New York Times:

Lack of transparency related to how they communicate the way they use the data.

Older reviews point to certain features and buttons not functioning correctly.

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.

Sustainability: we looked if using the application has any benefit to the environment and fighting climate change.

Customer support: A good measure of an application's success is how well it manages to listen to its customers and resolve their issues.

Mailstrom and alternatives

Mailstrom has been around for a while as an email management and clean-up tool, but as the years went by, the looks of the application kind of remained stuck in the past. Although it performs on the basic functionalities it was designed for, you still get that feeling that the UI is stuck in the last decade, compared to the other Mailstrom alternatives on the market.

1. AgainstData

AgainstData is by far the best Mailstrom alternative since it was designed with both email management and long-term data privacy in mind. It seamlessly integrates all the functionalities related to email clean up and unsubscribe, while also allowing users to discover which companies hold their data. Once the user is informed on where their personal data is, they can choose to delete their personal data from companies they no longer need.

AgainstData works on all Gmail hosted email accounts, with a simple and fast login process.

Why AgainstData is a better alternative to Mailstrom

The main differentiators between AgainstData and Mailstrom are the much leaner and fresh-looking crafted UI of AgainstData and the privacy related features like company list and data deletion request management.

Look & Feel

• AgainstData has a much fresher look than Mailstrom and a very intuitive user interface. The colour scheme is very actual, and the interface elements are very well crafted. Overall the application seems streamlined and responsive on any type of device.

Onboarding experience

• AgainstData offers a free, time unlimited trial where you can explore all of the app’s functionalities. The login is done trough a Gmail API integration, so it takes just a few clicks to get onboarded on the tool.

• The same login method is also used by Mailstrom, but here the trial has a 14-day expiration, so you need to move fast and explore the various functionalities before time runs out.

Features

• Some of the defining features of AgainstData that make it stand out when compared to Mailstrom are the reveal of the list of companies that hold your data coupled with the ability to send data deletion requests to them. You can then monitor the conversations with the companies directly in the app.

• Unsubscribing from emails and bulk delete are features that are common between the two applications, together with splitting emails into normal and promotional.

Security and privacy

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

• Both Mailstrom and AgainstData are using secure login trough OAuth 2.0

Sustainability

AgainstData is the best in class option for monitoring your email carbon footprint since you can see exactly how much you carbon you save as you go through your emails and delete the ones you no longer need.

Customer support

You can get in touch with AgainstData either by email or in the app via a ticketing system. The response time is quite good, often much faster than the communicated maximum time of 24h.

AgainstData pricing compared to Mailstrom

• The simple and straightforward pricing of AgainstData makes it very easy to spot that the best cost value option is the yearly subscription. With variable pricing based on the number of accounts, Mailstrom can reach up to 200$ for the yearly option, making this quite an expensive purchase.

AgainstData vs Mailstrom summary

• The major differentiators between Mailstrom and AgainstData are related to the pricing model, coupled with the extra features of AgainstData related to privacy and deletion requests, as well as the beautifully crafted design and UI.

• Overall AgainstData seems to be the best alternative to Mailstrom.

2. SaneBox

Sanebox packs a feature list that includes unsubscribe, bulk delete and folder options to distribute incoming emails. All of these are similar to the list of features that Mailstrom has.

SaneBox as Mailstrom alternative

• Sanebox has a focus on folder structure, with quite a lot of different folders that the user has to choose from to direct email messages. This can be confusing at times, requiring many decisions on how these need to be distributed.

• Compared to Mailstrom that allows the user to select various email selection and perform bulk actions, the user experience is different with SaneBox that works more on rules and folders.

• Unfortunately neither applications have the data deletion request option as well as the company list option.

🔖Learn more about the SaneBox alternatives.

Look & Feel

• Both Mailstrom and SaneBox has been developed quite some time ago, the interface is lagging behind on the latest UI trends and you can really tell that. Both colour schemes of Mailstrom and Sanebox are straightforward with a white background and blue accents for the menus and navigation.

Onboarding experience

• SaneBox takes some time to set up because users need to discover and understand what each folder does. Depending on this selection future emails will be directed to them, so it is important not to end up losing some of the incoming correspondence.

• Mailstrom directs the user to apply a selection to Inbox emails following different criteria and then to perform bulk actions on them like delete or move.

Features

• Sanebox has a focus on folders and sorting emails into buckets called “SaneLater” and “SaneNews”. Even so, the emails need to be moved manually and especially for large Inboxes, this may take some time.

• Mailstrom offers the same set of features like bulk delete, unsubscribe and various folder structure to attempt to declutter a user’s Inbox.

Security and privacy

• Both Mailstrom and SaneBox are charging fees for user subscription and is not monetising user data

• Both Mailstrom and SaneBox are using OAuth 2.0 for secure login

Sustainability

SaneBox does not offer any features related to sustainability

Customer support

The application offers decent response times and a user can get in touch with them via email or using the in-app ticketing system.

SaneBox pricing compared to Mailstrom

SaneBox is significantly more expensive across the board, compared to Mailstrom, also depending on the number of email addresses that are onboarded onto the tool.

SaneBox vs Mailstrom summary

1. Both applications offer the same core functionalities of unsubscribe from emails, sorting incoming correspondence in folders as well as bulk actions like email deletion. Sanebox focuses more on directing user emails into folders and putting rules in place for the future. On the other hand Mailstrom seems to be a bit faster at deleting a large number of emails.

2. Neither of them provide the option to send deletion requests to companies that hold user personal data.

3. LeaveMeAlone

LeaveMeAlone lets users apply filters to incoming email as well as allowing them to unsubscribe or bulk delete from email addresses that have written to them in the past.

LeaveMeAlone as Mailstrom alternative

• Both LeaveMeAlone and Mailstrom share the core functionalities of unsubscribe and bulk delete, but the similatities end there.

• LeaveMeAlone has a different filtering system than Mailstrom that applies susccesive criteria to narrow down the email selection. This allows for a good slice and dice but can be at times confusing and hard to master.

🔖Learn more about the LeaveMeAlone alternatives.

Look & Feel

• LeaveMeAlone has some newer looking graphics than Mailstrom, but it is hard to take it seriously with the very pink-ish colour theme and emoticons.

• Mailstrom on the other hand looks like a more serious platform, but has a utilitarian look and feel, so it may not be to everybody’s liking.

Onboarding experience

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

• LeaveMeAlone has a very complicated onboarding journey and requires the user to create manually an application password withing Gmail itself so that it has permanent access to the user data. This may be intimidating to non-technical users and the process could be abandoned along the way.

Features

• The functionalities of Mailstrom and LeaveMeAlone are quite similar although differently arranged in the user interface. These revolve around the unsubscribe from emails feature, bulk delete and various folder options for incoming emails.
• Neither tool has the ability to send deletion requests to companies that hold user data.

Security and privacy

• Mailstrom 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 Mailstrom or LeaveMeAlone.

Sustainability

LeaveMeAlone is not offering such sustainability functionalities presently and has not communicated any future release to include this.

Customer support

There are some reviews stating that the user experience may not be so good in some cases, but overall the response time of either email or in-app ticketing is acceptable.

LeaveMeAlone pricing compared to Mailstrom

• Mailstrom plans are even more expensive than LeaveMeAlone, even if it offers fewer options.

LeaveMeAlone vs Mailstrom summary

1. LeaveMeAlone has more or less the same functionalities as Mailstrom, but both of them still miss some of the major privacy levers like deletion requests and the ability to correctly identify what companies hold your data.

2. In terms of user interface, the two applications are opposites with Mailstrom having an old-school utility look and LeaveMeAlone a very playfull colour scheme and feel.

4. Clean Email

Clean Email offers filtering and search capabilities, enabling users to set custom rules for organising incoming emails into specific folders.

Clean Email as Mailstrom alternative

• Clean Email has a slightly different approach to the cluttered Inbox problem as it generates a large set of folders that the users can select from to direct emails. The issue is that this list is so large with many possibilities, that it is challenging deciding in what bucket to place emails.

• On the other hand Mailstrom does not offer such options and it rather focuses on applying bulk actions on all of the emails grouped in your Inbox.

🔖Learn more about the Clean Email alternatives.

Look & Feel

• 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. Mailstrom has fewer options and an old-school interface that focuses on the core features of the application to apply bulk actions to your Inbox.

Onboarding experience

• Clean Email has a long onboarding journey, with users needing to familiarise themselves with how the application works and the various buttons and the large number of predefined folders. This folder structure seems overwhelming, and it seems difficult to make decisions.

• Mailstrom doesn’t go into that direction and just has a straightforward way of directing the user to make bulk actions on the messages that are in the Inbox

Features

• Clean Email offers elaborate folder options and different means to organise your existing and incoming emails, but they take a significantly longer time to set-up and use.

• Mailstrom has a simplistic approach and tries rather to resolve the accumulated clutter by bulk actions rather than thinking too much on how to resolve incoming future emails.

• Only a few features are available in the trial version of Clean Email and the trial version of Mailstrom expires after a while.

Security and privacy

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

• Both Mailstrom and Clean.Email uses OAuth 2.0 for secure login

Sustainability

Clean Email did not include sustainability as one of their focus points in terms of features.

Customer support

Although there are several accounts of bad customer experience of non-responsive support, customers can get in touch with the company via email or using the in-app functionality.

Clean Email pricing compared to Mailstrom

• The price variances come from the number of email addresses you want to include, with the bottom range accounting for 1 email address and the top tier for multiple email addresses.

Pro Tip: Clean Email will try to give you a discount if you are already signed up to a competitor.

Clean Email vs Mailstrom summary

1. Clean Email focuses more on folders and what happens to emails in the future and Mailstrom focuses on resolving the existing clutter trough bulk actions. Both applications offer unsubscribe features.

2. Notably neither of them provide the option to send deletion requests to companies that hold user personal data or show you what are the companies that hold your data.

5. 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.

Trimbox as Mailstrom alternative

• Trimbox when compared to Mailstrom does not have the complex folder structure features or bulk actions, but makes up in the very short time that the users needs to familiarize themselves with the main Trimbox functionalities.

🔖Learn more about the Trimbox alternatives.

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.

• Mailstrom on the other hand has the folder structures and the bulk actions that you can apply on your Inbox emails, if you are looking to get rid of old emails.

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.

• Mailstrom offers some extra-features and is overall a slightly more complex application.

Features

• Trimbox focused around bulk email management, unsubscribe and email deletion and not much else

• Mailstrom behaves to a large extent like File Explorer in Windows where you are able to make certain selections and then group or delete files.

Security and privacy

• Both CleanEmail and Trimbox use Login with Gmail through Oauth 2.0

• The user data is not monetised either by Mailstrom or Trimbox.

Sustainability

Trimbox did not focus on offering any features related to sustainability

Customer support

There is a minimalistic customer support infrastructure offered by Trimbox as well as some online documentation on how the application works.

Trimbox pricing compared to Mailstrom

• Trimbox seems to be pricey considering the features it offers, or rather the lack of. On the other hand it seems like the top pricing of Mailstrom, especially for multiple email accounts, seems quite pricey, reaching nearly 200 $.

Trimbox vs Mailstrom 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.

2. Compared to Trimbox, Mailstrom offers the extra bulk actions, but sadly, neither application has any features related to data privacy or the ability to send data deletion requests.

6. CleanFox

Cleanfox.com is a tool that promises cleaning emails from unwanted correspondence. It is however offered for free. The reason why this application is free is that it monetizes user data that it obtains from their email account, like past purchases, prices and subscriptions.

CleanFox as Mailstrom alternative

• Compared to Mailstrom, CleanFox offers even less functionalities, focusing on unsubscribe.

🔖Learn more about the CleanFox alternatives.

Look & Feel

• CleanFox feels quite simplistic and lacking any more advanced features focusing on simple unsubscribe and bulk delete email options.

• Mailstrom has quite an aged look, with a blue themed menu bar on a simple white background.

Onboarding experience

• Mailstrom 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

• Out of the two Mailstrom clearly has a broader scope and some extra features, since CleanFox is just focusing on unsubscribe and delete.

• Neither tools have the option to send data deletion requests or to show the user the list of companies that hold personal information.

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.

• There is no sure way to understand what happens to your data and to whom it is sold afterwards. In this respect a paid option like AgainstData or Mailstrom is preferred.

Sustainability

There is no such functionality in the tool or mention that it will be included in the short term future.

Customer support

The application has a support system that can be accessed via the in-application links.

CleanFox pricing compared to Mailstrom

• Mailstrom charges a subscription for their service, while users pay with their personal data for the CleanFox application access.

CleanFox vs Mailstrom 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 Mailstrom, rather than having your data sold by applications like CleanFox.

7. UnrollMe

UnrollMe is a free unsubscribe tool that relies on the sale of user data related to past purchases. The company was part of a class-action lawsuit in the United States where users complained about the fact that the company is selling their personal data.

UnrollMe as Mailstrom alternative

• As mentioned, we would not recommend UnrollMe as an alternative to Mailstrom since it relies on the sale of user data for monetisation.

🔖Learn more about the UnrollMe alternatives.

Look & Feel

• UnrollMe has a very simple user interfaces, with a few buttons and not much in the way of complex features or beautifully crafted experiences.

• Mailstrom focuses on its core functionalities of unsubscribe and the bulk actions the user can make on the messages that exist in the Inbox.

Onboarding experience

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

• UnrollMe, like CleanFox, requires the user to manually create a password application within the user Gmail Account itself. This is a serious security concern, coupled with the fact that the business model of Unroll Me is to sell user data.

Features

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

• On the other hand Mailstrom has most of the basic functionalities required to clean an Inbox from a large number of messages that have accumulated over time.

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).

Sustainability

UnrollMe does not offer sustainability functionalities or features in their application.

Customer support

The application has a support system that can be accessed via the in-application links.

UnrollMe pricing compared to Mailstrom

• UnrollMe, although apparently free is actually monetised trough the sale of user data.

UnrollMe vs Mailstrom summary

• We caution you not to go with UnrollMe as a Mailstrom alternative, 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 Mailstrom, a safer choice for your email management needs.

Takeaway:

After an exhaustive comparison you can see that AgainstData is the most suitable tool and the best Mailstrom alternative due to their differentiated approach to personal data privacy. The ability to see what companies hold your data and to able to send them deletion requests is certainly a game-changer and a good step in the direction of a more private Internet experience.

FAQs

Which tools is best Mailstrom alternative?

The best Mailstrom alternative is AgainstData due to their differentiators like the ability to show the user instantly his digital footprint and the ability to send data deletion request to the respective companies that make up the footprint.

Which is easier to set up: Trimbox, AgainstData, UnrollMe or SaneBox?

From the applications considered the easiest to set up is AgainstData. You can check out all of the features in a free trial, without the need to put in a credit card. Also the onboarding journey is quite straightforward with great documentation.

Mailstrom and others like Sane Box or Clean Email require more effort on behalf of the user to get to know all of the different manual actions that can be performed on the email messages to correctly set up the way they should be directed from your Inbox.

Which email cleaning service offers the best value for money?

If users are serious about cleaning their digital footprint and keeping it that way, purchasing yearly plans make sense, and the best deal so far in terms of value for money is the yearly plan from AgainstData. Compared to the others it also bundles data deletion requests and all of the other standard functionalities in a beautifully crafted and well-engineered user interface.