Fastmail vs. Gmail: Make an informed choice

Gmail is the most widely used email provider, and while its basic service is free, an increasing number of users are considering alternatives due to the need for powerful productivity-driven workflow solutions. One of the available options is Fastmail, an ad-free email service provider that focuses on providing a clean and productive email experience, albeit for a monthly fee. 

Considering the importance of email productivity, especially for modern businesses, you should choose the most optimal solution with advanced features that positively impact workflow. This extensive Fastmail vs. Gmail comparison will help you make the right decision by analyzing the features, prices, and workflow enhancement functions of the platforms. 

You’ll learn answers to questions like:

• How are Fastmail and Gmail different? 

• How do the platforms’ productivity features compare?

• Is there an alternative worth exploring? 

We’ll explore the primary differences between the two email platforms by comparing their:

1. User interfaces (UI)

2. Pricing 

3. Storage options

4. Workflow enhancement functions

Gmail’s main selling point is its easy-to-use, modern UI. It helps you organize your emails efficiently with categories and labels. 

All incoming emails are sorted into one of these five categories:

1. Primary: Personal emails and conversations that don’t belong to any other category

2. Social: Updates, messages, and other notifications from social media platforms 

3. Promotions: Marketing emails related to offers, sales, and promotional material

4. Updates: Non-personal content like statements, receipts, bills, and confirmations

5. Forums: Emails related to discussion boards, mailing lists, and similar online groups

Gmail’s algorithm automatically filters your emails into categories, but you can manually move messages between tabs and set special rules regarding which senders will appear in specific categories. 

Labels are another way to organize your emails. They’re customizable tags that you can add to any email or nest into other labels, creating a folder-like hierarchy. Unlike categories, emails can have more than one label. 

You can freely edit or remove the labels with one notable exception—the Inbox label. All incoming emails are tagged with the Inbox label, which you can only remove from messages after reading them.

Keep reading: Discover how to find unread emails in Gmail and tidy your inbox with filters.

Fastmail’s interface is similarly minimalist and easy to use, but it provides fewer organizational options. There are no distinct categories, resulting in a default “Inbox” view containing all incoming emails in one place.

The platform has a tag system almost identical to Gmail’s label and a folder system similar to categories. Still, you can’t nest tags in Fastmail and must set up folders manually—no algorithm automatically filters incoming messages. 

Fastmail’s user interface also makes one questionable design choice—it doesn’t let you see tags and folders simultaneously. You have to go into the platform’s settings and toggle which of the two email organizational structures will be visible on the main screen. It is a lengthy process compared to quickly choosing from Gmail’s elegant sidebar with labels and topbar with categories. 

Unlike Fastmail, you can’t pay for Gmail separately—it’s only available as a part of Google’s G-Suite productivity software package, now rebranded as Google Workspace. Besides Gmail, this package contains:

• Google Drive

• Google Docs

• Google Sheets

• Google Slides

• Google Forms

• Google Calendar

• Google Meet

• Google Chat

• Google Keep

• Google Sites

• Google Tasks

It’s a decent package, and the integration between every program and Gmail makes Google’s offer particularly attractive. All these programs are also available for free, including Gmail. 

The paid tiers of Google Workspace offer more storage space, enhanced security, and priority customer support. You can choose between four premium packages, each available as a two-week free trial. Check out the details in the following table:

The first noticeable difference between Google Workspace’s price tiers is the amount of storage space you get per user. Each tier also brings more complex video conferencing options than the previous one. Business Plus and Enterprise provide significantly better cybersecurity and data privacy. 

Fastmail doesn’t have a free tier but is more affordable, primarily due to the absence of additional productivity tools. This email service is available at the following prices:

The main benefits of the Standard plan are:

• Scheduled emails

• Custom domains

• Third-party app compatibility (Apple Mail and Outlook)

In addition to more storage, Fastmail’s final tier also gives you access to tamper-proof records of your email correspondence. The email retention archive is useful for business users, but whether this is enough to warrant paying the highest price for Fastmail depends on personal priorities. 

While Fastmail is more affordable than Google Workspace, you should consider these two points:

1. Fastmail is only an email app, while Google Workspace is an entire productivity package

2. Gmail has a basic free version, while Fastmail only has a free trial

Both providers offer different amounts of storage per user, depending on your subscription. Here’s a comparison of how much space you get with each platform:

Google easily outdoes Fastmail with its cloud infrastructure. You get more storage space with a free Google account than you would with the most affordable subscription to Fastmail. 

So far, our comparison has shown that Gmail provides a better interface and more storage than Fastmail. However, their limitations regarding advanced workflow enhancement functions are similar. 

Gmail uses AI to provide some basic features like Smart Compose and Smart Reply to assist with email composition. You can create rules to sort and label incoming emails automatically, but these require complex and time-consuming manual setup. Gmail also offers strong integration with the Google Workspace suite to make collaborations easier. 

Fastmail, on the other hand, doesn’t offer AI integrations but relies on labels and folders for manual organization. The service provides powerful search features to quickly find emails, a minimally customizable interface, and manual email color coding to help identify information. Fastmail also supports integration with third-party services but offers fewer native integrations than Gmail. 

While the above features are sufficient for average users, they’re vastly limited in delivering the hands-off automation and deep customization required for businesses and larger enterprises:

• Neither platform offers advanced automation features found in AI-first email solutions, such as task extraction, auto-sorting, and auto-labeling

• They both lack the ability to create highly personalized dashboards that surface relevant emails according to your preferred categories 

• You need to set up complex rules and filters manually instead of relying on automation for repetitive tasks 

If you’re looking for an email service that offers top-notch productivity enhancement functions and takes time-consuming manual email labor out of the equation, Notion Mail is an excellent option. 

Unlike Fastmail and Gmail, Notion Mail is an AI-powered email solution that transforms how you manage your inbox and work processes. 

It is a standalone Gmail client that offers powerful organization, scheduling, and project management capabilities through AI prompts. In addition, it seamlessly integrates with the Notion ecosystem to connect your email with projects, tasks, and knowledge bases and avoid app fatigue. 

Notion Mail offers productivity tools to help you automate your organization. For instance:

• With its AI autopilot feature, you can use simple prompts to automatically sort and filter your emails according to your preferred categories

• Its intuitive AI-powered writing tools assist with email composition, reducing the time you spend drafting and responding to emails

• It also offers customizable views—highly focused ”inboxes within an inbox” that you can tailor to specific workflows and projects

Notion Mail has a built-in Notion Calendar to help you avoid meeting scheduling drama and calendar clashes. You can use a slash command like “/schedule” or insert a scheduling button like Calendly into your email, allowing recipients to select a convenient meeting time directly from your email. 

In addition to Notion Mail’s key productivity features, you can also enjoy:

• Auto-reply suggestions powered by AI

• Quick-access keyboard shortcuts to carry out emailing activities like Mark as Read, Trash, and Archive faster

• AI-powered email summarization for long threads

• Productivity-first tools like snippets—pre-written email templates for single-click responding to frequent inquiries

Notion Mail is free, with default AI features that you can access at no cost. If you’re ready to begin, all you need to do is connect your Gmail or Google account, and you’re in! 

Once your account is linked, you can immediately access Notion Mail’s extensive features. However, if you need even more advanced AI features than Notion Mail’s free offering, you can get the powerful Notion AI add-on. 

Full integration into Notion’s productivity suite is a significant perk of signing up for Notion Mail. You can consider integrating with the complete Notion ecosystem to create a more cohesive work environment. 

Bonus read: Find out how Gmail stacks up against other email services in our comprehensive comparisons: 

• Ymail vs. Gmail

• Gmail vs. Apple Mail

• Proton Mail vs. Gmail

• Zoho Mail vs. Gmail

• Gmail vs. Outlook for business

• Gmail vs. Office 365

• Apple Mail vs. Outlook