Zoho Mail vs. Gmail: Which email service is superior?

Though Google’s Gmail is one of the most recognizable names among email service providers, it’s far from the most secure option. One of the alternatives is Zoho Mail, another popular choice made by the Zoho Corporation—an India-based firm specializing in software development for everything from customer support to business analytics. 

To help you make an informed choice between the two, we’ve composed this detailed Zoho Mail vs. Gmail comparison discussing the following questions: 

• How do you make the right choice between Zoho Mail and Gmail?

• Which platform offers superior productivity tools?

• Is there a better alternative to Google Workspace and Zoho? 

Regardless of the email service you use, a few crucial elements will decide the quality of your overall experience, including:

1. User interface (UI)

2. Range of features

3. Storage and attachment limits

4. Pricing 

5. Productivity optimization 

We’ll stack Zoho Mail against Gmail by comparing them across these critical factors.

While both Zoho Mail and Gmail have updated their interfaces to keep up with modern UI trends, Gmail comes out on top when it comes to intuitive use and simple navigation. 

Zoho Mail is less practical independently but a better option if you use other Zoho Workplace apps. 

Gmail features a left-hand side panel that lets you organize emails into five content-based categories:

1. Primary

2. Promotions

3. Social

4. Updates

5. Forums

The categories make your emails much easier to manage as Gmail’s filters automatically sort incoming messages—though you can still move emails between categories manually. 

Besides categories, you can also organize your emails by labels. These are custom tags that you can create, rename, or delete. You can also apply multiple labels to one email or nest them into a hierarchy, similar to stacking folders in a file system. 

Zoho Mail’s folder system echoes Gmail’s labels, with one key difference—the Inbox, Sent, Trash, and Spam sections are also treated as folders. Similarly to Gmail’s sidebar, you can easily access labels from Zoho’s left-side panel. 

The main advantage of Zoho’s folder system lies in its consistency. Unlike Gmail’s labels, Zoho’s tags are usable across other apps in its ecosystem—like Zoho Tasks and Zoho Calendar. 

The lack of Gmail’s Category tabs is noticeable because this provider does a better job of organizing your emails automatically. You’d have to do a lot of manual work to achieve the same effect with Zoho Mail’s folders. 

Zoho Mail gives you an integrated system for collaboration and task and appointment management, but it has a clunkier, less intuitive interface that requires more work. Whether this trade-off is worthwhile depends on your priorities. 

Generally, Gmail is the more user-friendly option. It has enough quality-of-life features to make it perfect for individuals and businesses already steeped in Google’s ecosystem. 

While Google Workspace is more widely used, its integration with Gmail is less seamless. You can access a miniature version of Google Calendar and Google Tasks from your Gmail screen in the form of a right-hand sidebar.

Zoho Mail focuses more on integration with Zoho apps and business functionalities. Zoho’s counterparts are fully accessible from the Zoho Mail interface and take center stage with their full range of features when opened.

Both email platforms have unique features that the other lacks. Gmail offers:

• Smart Compose: Automatic sentence completion based on machine-learning algorithms, helping you write emails faster

• Advanced Spam Filters: AI-powered spam filters with more accurate predictions compared to Zoho Mail’s and most other competitors’

Zoho Mail’s distinctive features are: 

• Email Policies: Group options for business admins, helping them manage compliance in email correspondence more easily 

• Streams: Comments in the style of social media, allowing you to collaborate on emails without necessarily forwarding them to anyone

Despite the differences, the two email platforms share some common features. These include Gmail’s Confidential Mode and Zoho’s SecurePass messages. You can use both to share sensitive information via more secure emails that can’t be downloaded, forwarded, printed, or copied. 

Each platform also supports detailed search functions, helping you find specific messages by applying numerous filters. 

Gmail may be a better option if you need a free email service with a high attachment limit. Business users who prioritize massive attachments and more storage space, regardless of the price, might find Zoho Mail’s offer superior. 

With the free plan, Gmail limits your attachments to a maximum of 25 MB—anything over that goes through Google Drive. Zoho Mail’s limit for free accounts is 20 MB, but paid users can access up to 1 GB in attachment size. In comparison, Gmail’s paid plans only raise the attachment limit to 500 MB. 

The two platforms have a similar approach to storage space. Gmail gives you more storage with a free account (15 GB) compared to Zoho’s 5 GB, but Zoho Mail’s paid accounts get you a better deal.

Here’s a breakdown of their plans:

Gmail’s pricing structure consists of four tiers, each providing more storage space and higher attachment limits. 

Check out the details in the table below: 

Gmail’s Enterprise tier provides a higher level of email security through data loss prevention (DLP) and S/MIME encryption. Its price isn’t publicly available, and the only way to find it is by contacting Google’s sales team. 

Zoho Mail has two pricing structures, depending on whether you only want the email app or the entire workplace suite. Here’s a breakdown of Zoho’s mail-only prices:

Mail Lite also comes with access to Zoho Calendar, while the higher-priced Mail Premium includes all Mail Lite features, plus email retrieval and S/MIME encryption. 

If you opt for the entire Zoho Workplace package, there are two paid tiers: 

Both packages include access to other Zoho apps, such as:

• Zoho Office Suite

• Zoho Meeting

• Zoho Calendar

• Zoho WorkDrive

• Zoho Cliq

In terms of features, the only difference is that the Professional plan also includes access to Zoho Connect—an intranet workplace platform with social networking features. 

Although their strategies and pricing differ, Zoho Mail and Google Mail offer productivity suites designed to improve your workflow. 

Gmail, integrated with Google Workspace, provides seamless access to tools like Calendar, Drive, and Docs. This tight integration makes it easier to manage tasks and collaborate with teams. 

However, you need a paid subscription to access advanced Google Workspace productivity features, such as admin controls, extra storage, or powerful video conferencing. Even features like AI-powered Smart Reply, which speeds up email composition, require a subscription.

Zoho Mail offers a similar level of integration through its Workplace suite. While the free plan provides basic features like folder organization and inbox task management, its membership and storage restrictions may limit its suitability for professionals. 

Zoho’s paid plan for businesses, however, delivers greater flexibility and powerful workflow tools, including Streams for seamless workplace communication, an in-built bot, and an AI-powered search assistant. Notably, Zoho’s paid plans are more cost-effective than Google Workspace. 

Ultimately, both platforms lock their most powerful productivity features behind paid subscriptions. If you need a productivity-driven email provider that delivers a comprehensive suite of workflow tools plus seamless integrations without cost barriers, Notion Mail is a compelling alternative. 

If you’re tired of juggling multiple tools and hitting paywalls for basic productivity features, Notion Mail presents the perfect solution. It’s an AI-first email service that rises above the limitations of popular email providers to give you a powerful, all-in-one solution that transforms your productivity. 

Notion Mail seamlessly integrates into a unified workspace, providing access to your favorite work tools without switching apps. 

Here’s how Notion Mail empowers you with its advanced AI-powered features: 

• AI autopilot: Let the AI autopilot feature sort your emails into different sections of your inbox or organize mail into separate views, allowing you to focus on more important tasks. 

• Customizable views: Tailor your inbox to fit your unique workflow by creating custom views for different workflows. This helps you eliminate distractions and streamline your focus. 

• Snippets: Save frequently used email responses as templates that can be quickly inserted into your emails. This ensures consistent communication, saving you valuable time on repetitive typing. 

• Summarize: Grasp the key points in lengthy emails with AI-powered summarization so you can take action without wading through endless text. 

• /Schedule command: Effortlessly schedule meetings directly from your emails. Skip the back-and-forth with the /schedule command for smoother calendar management.

• Seamless Notion integration: Connect your emails directly to your Notion workspace to create a more cohesive and efficient workflow. 

The best part? Many of these high-level productivity features, such as quick replies and AI summaries, are available at no cost, giving you the freedom to maximize your productivity. If you want to explore more AI features, such as the writing assistant and AI autopilot, you can access them easily via the AI plan add-on. 

Notion makes it easy to migrate from your email provider to one that supports your needs. To create a Notion Mail account, visit the signup page and connect your Gmail or Google account. That’s it—once you’re in, you can start exploring!

After creating your Notion Mail account, you can integrate other productivity tools from the Notion ecosystem, such as Notion Calendar, which is free to use. 

Bonus read: Curious how other tools stack up? Explore our other in-depth reviews and breakdowns:

• Alternatives to Zoho Mail

• Gmail vs. Apple Mail

• Zoho Mail vs. Office 365

• Proton Mail vs. Gmail

• Fastmail vs. Proton Mail

• Gmail vs. Outlook for business

• Alternatives to Yahoo

• Android Outlook alternatives