Email, calendar & tasks
Canary Mail vs Thunderbird
Both replace Mimestream, Spark Premium and Superhuman.
| Fact |  Canary MailAi mail client that still sells a one-time lifetime bundle |  ThunderbirdFree mail, calendar and contacts with no tier above it |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $100 | Free |
| Licence | Lifetime tierA one-time plan of a subscription app | Open sourceNothing to buy; source published |
| The catch | Apple's store sells a $99.99 lifetime bundle; the website's Pro+ lifetime is $300 for the same name | Nothing to pay, but it is a cross-platform app that never quite feels Mac-native |
| Against a subscription | 3 monthsAgainst Shortwave at $360 a year | Replaces Mimestream$50 a year |
| Seats | 5 Macs5 devices per licence, and on an All Platforms licence those 5 are shared with iOS, Windows and Android. | not established |
| Developer account | Required | None needed |
| Works offline | Partly | Partly |
| Apple Silicon | Native | Native |
| Free trial | Yes | does not apply |
| On Setapp | No | No |
| Minimum macOS | macOS 12 | not established |
| Buy direct | Get it |
Both prices read 22 Sep 2026, on the pages these buttons open. App Store rating is not established for either app, so that row is left out.
In their own right
Canary Mail
A cross-platform mail client with end-to-end encryption and an AI assistant, sold as either a yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase covering all four platforms.
Thunderbird
The open-source desktop mail client, with a calendar, an address book and OpenPGP encryption built in. Free forever on the desktop, funded by donations rather than seats.