Outlook on Windows is finally fixed — and it’s not from Microsoft

It’s a well-known fact that the free Outlook mail client for Windows is not good. We’ve talked about this before. There are tons of reasons not to want to use Outlook on Windows. It’s clunky, it has ads, and there are better alternatives.

Put a pin in that last one. Because the last time we talked about Outlook alternatives, frankly, there weren’t many. We want an alternative that’s fast, looks good, and is free. Really free. And, well, what do you put in your search bar when you want software that’s seriously free? Let me guess: open-source.

Not long ago, I came across Mailspring. It looked great, it was free, and it was open-source. I thought Mailspring would be the one to finally end my hunt for the perfect email client, but, surprise, it didn’t last. One morning I booted my computer, saw a weird error from Mailspring, and it just stopped working. When I reinstalled it, all my profiles and settings were gone, so I didn’t bother setting it up again. There went my open-source alternative.

Well, I’ve now come across another interesting open-source alternative, and this one has a pretty clear philosophy.

Meet Wino Mail

Bring back old Windows Mail

Wino Mail is a “free” and “open-source” mail client that doesn’t try to make Outlook better by adding something to it. No. Wino Mail instead takes us back in time rather than forward. In fact, Wino Mail is a clone of our beloved native Windows Mail app.

After all, there was a time when the free mail experience on Windows was good for what it was. Back in the day, Windows computers would come with Windows Mail, and Outlook was part of the Microsoft Office bundle for enterprise users. The problems started when Microsoft phased out Windows Mail and forced everyone to move to Outlook. It got worse when Microsoft built a “new” Outlook and started, again, forcing everyone to switch to the “new” Outlook. One of the “new” features in the “new” Outlook client was ads. How wonderful.

Back to the topic. Wino Mail is a clone of Windows Mail. It’s written in C# and is a native Windows app. It’s not another Electron or Node.js container (much unlike the Windows Start menu).

The philosophy and purpose of Wino Mail are simple. Outlook bad, Windows Mail good. We all agree on that. So, Wino Mail brings back Windows Mail in its peak form: a clean interface, the customization settings you wanted, and a snappy, fast experience.

Wino Mail is light and optimized for privacy, works offline, and lets you customize the look too (as far as you could with Windows Mail, anyway). Overall, Wino Mail does what it’s supposed to do brilliantly. It brings back a Microsoft app that we actually liked (how rare is that nowadays), and it doesn’t try to bloat it with extra features. Even if you’ve never used the original Windows Mail, Wino Mail is a fantastic, clean, fast mail client for Windows.

I wanted to review Wino Mail here, but realized I’d basically be reviewing Windows Mail, and we’re all already familiar with that. So, let’s move on to another aspect of Wino Mail.

Wino Mail comes with one odd limit

It’s free, it’s open-source, but...

There's a reason why I put the words “open-source” and “free” in quote marks earlier. Winomail has a big caveat: it has a premium tier that doesn’t add anything to the app. It simply removes a limit. Let’s bring out the star of the show now: Wino Mail doesn’t let you add more than three email accounts. Unless you pay.

Yes, Wino Mail has an “Unlimited Accounts” upgrade that costs $10. The optimist’s perspective is that at least it’s not a subscription and is a one-time payment. So, if you pay up and the developer drops the app, your upgrade remains. This does bind the app to your Microsoft account, because the purchase is made through the Microsoft Store. The Microsoft Store is also the only place you can install Wino Mail.

So how is this free and open-source?

The source is literally open — that’s the point

This is mostly a digression, but it's a great oppurtinity to examine the state of free software in 2026, so I'll have it. When I wrote my ode to Mailspring, a lot of people bashed the app because it offered a premium subscription. I believe that’s unfair, but I understand that we’ve become cynical about “free” apps that have subscriptions. Because, as it stands right now, a subscription tier usually means the free tier is limited. With Mailspring, that wasn’t the case. The free app was indeed complete. The subscription just added more features. That’s how subscriptions should be.

Wino Mail is in a tighter spot than Mailspring, as the free tier is actually limited, but hear me out. First, let’s understand the limit. Three accounts is by no means a limit for most people. You’ve got one as your primary, a second for work, and then a third for... what? Something else. Most people won’t actively be checking more than three inboxes. So, for what it does, Wino Mail is a great mail client for a lot of people as it is.

But let’s say you are one of those email goblins who lives across multiple inboxes and replies from a different address every ten minutes. In that case, yes, you can still use Wino Mail. You just have to pay roughly the price of a Big Mac for the privilege.

Fair enough, but the app says it’s “free” and “open-source.” We can’t let it get away with that if it’s charging people, right? Well, no. The app is indeed “free” and it is indeed “open-source” — the source is open and you can access it on GitHub. In fact, you can download the source code, remove the account limit, and then build the app yourself. In fact, I downloaded Visual Studio with the exact intention of doing this. Unfortunately, my C# proficiency is terrible, but maybe you can do it.

What the developer is actually charging for is not the source code itself. They are charging for the effort of building the app, packaging it, publishing it through the Microsoft Store, and maintaining the convenience of automatic updates through that channel. The $10 fee is for people who are going to seriously use Wino Mail, and if you’re going to seriously use a free tool, wouldn’t you at least donate to the developer? In a way, it’s a donation that also happens to unlock a feature.

eM Client is another mail app that only allows two accounts unless you pay. Mailbird and Airmail only allow one free account. Wino Mail’s three-account limit is a good, fair limit to get you to donate. And yes, there’s Thunderbird, which is completely free and relies only on donations, but that comes from a much bigger company (Mozilla) and is not a one-man effort. Wikipedia wouldn’t be bringing up all those pop-ups if we were fair enough to give a penny to the free tools we use daily.

Wino Mail is great, and you should try it

Back to the topic, my main point is that Wino Mail is a great app. I know that the account-limit sounds like a deal-breaker, and decided to talk about it. The three-account limit, unfortunately, is the first thing you notice when you install it. And it has a psychological effect that might make you want to dismiss the app, because it turns out not to be entirely free.

But don’t let that get to you. If you’re tired of the path Microsoft is taking with Outlook, give Wino Mail a shot. Who knows, you might like it enough to pay the $10 fee for a lifetime of unlimited access.