Buzz
It's hard not to associate email with Gmail. While Gmail is celebrated as one of the top email platforms globally, Microsoft's Outlook.com has spent recent years shaping itself into a powerful rival. In this comparison, we pit these two email giants against each other.
The Competitors
There are numerous email services, but a few stand out. Following its merger with Hotmail, Outlook.com and Gmail became the two leading email platforms, collectively serving over a billion users. Both offer similar ways to manage your inbox, yet they have several key differences in features.
Gmail: Google revolutionized free email with Gmail, which began as an April Fools' Day joke in 2004 that turned out to be real. With advanced filters, labels, and 15GB of shared space across Google services, Gmail transformed how we use email. By May 2015, it had over 900 million active users.
Outlook.com: Microsoft debuted a new web version of its Outlook email client in 2012, eventually moving all Hotmail users to Outlook.com. The service features unique options like Clutter, email rules, and Outlook calendar integration. Though Microsoft states that Outlook provides just 5GB of storage, it “gradually adjusts or expands based on your needs.” As of now, Outlook has over 400 million active users. For clarity, we will refer to this service as Outlook throughout the article, though Outlook (without the .com) is technically the desktop application. Microsoft's naming conventions are notoriously confusing.
In this comparison, we will focus on the apps themselves rather than the underlying services. While it’s possible to import Gmail messages into Outlook and vice versa, we’re primarily concerned with how these services function in real-world use.
Gmail Set the Organizational Benchmark, But Outlook Has Closed the Gap
We’ve discussed Gmail’s powerful filters and how to use them in great detail, so much so that we often overlook their impact. In Gmail, emails can be automatically sorted based on the sender, keywords in the subject or body, attachments, and size. Once sorted, you can set filters to automatically mark emails as read, apply labels, send automatic replies, delete them, and more. Gmail also uses labels and stars instead of traditional folders (though it does have something similar). Multiple labels can be applied to a single message, giving you the freedom to design a personalized organization system, while stars help you highlight the most important emails for later. Plus, you can enable Smart Labels to have Google automatically categorize emails into labels like Finance and Travel.
Gmail also features a priority inbox that automatically identifies emails it thinks are most important to you. It determines the importance of emails based on your interactions, such as who you email, which emails you open, and other factors. You can also manually mark emails as important to train the system.
Outlook’s organizational approach is a bit more intricate. The platform primarily relies on folders to manage emails. The default layout on the left side displays several standard folders, with the option to create your own custom folders. Emails can be pinned to the top of a folder, a feature somewhat similar to Gmail’s stars but with some differences. Outlook also introduces a feature called Clutter, which detects less important emails and moves them into a separate Clutter folder. This helps you focus on the emails that matter and clear out the junk in one go.
You can also categorize your emails, similar to how labels function. By adding categories, you can use them as conditions for setting up rules (more on that shortly). However, Outlook doesn’t display categories in the navigation pane by default. To view them, you must go to Options > Layout > Categories and manually select which categories to show. This method keeps your inbox from getting cluttered unless you decide to add categories, unlike Gmail, which shows all labels unless you hide them. On the downside, finding the option in Outlook can be a bit of a challenge.
Outlook uses 'Rules' as its equivalent to filters (borrowed from its desktop version). When viewing an email, you can create a rule to filter similar messages. However, rules are buried within Outlook’s Options menu. While they offer similar functionality to Gmail’s filters, they aren't as versatile. For instance, you can’t set up automatic canned responses based on a rule. That said, in most cases, Outlook's Rules and Gmail’s filters are fairly comparable.
Outlook's interface is simplified, while Gmail offers multiple layout options
Google is known for frequently updating Gmail’s interface, offering various layout options. One of the latest changes is the introduction of a tabbed inbox view, which organizes emails into categories like Social for messages from social media, Promotions for ads, and Updates for auto-generated emails such as order confirmations and bills. Some users find this feature extremely useful, while others prefer to disable it immediately. Additionally, Google is testing a third interface called Inbox, which treats emails like tasks in a to-do list, allowing you to mark them as 'Done' rather than simply 'read.' You can snooze messages and group related ones together. Between Inbox, Gmail’s tabbed inbox, and the traditional priority inbox, there are many ways to choose how to manage your emails.
Gmail also offers a range of customizable features in the Labs section of its settings. Here, you can enable various tweaks, such as a dedicated Mark as Read button, a Preview pane to read emails without leaving your message list, and canned responses. While these tweaks are useful for many, not all users may need them, and some of these features should arguably be standard in 2016, rather than hidden in the Labs section.
Outlook, by contrast, follows a simple three-panel layout and remains consistent with it. On the left side, you can navigate through various folders and categories. In the central panel, you’ll find a list of emails from the selected folder. Clicking an email opens it in the third pane on the right. For those familiar with email clients that aren't Gmail, this interface should feel quite intuitive. While Outlook doesn't offer as much flexibility for customizing its interface as Gmail does, that’s not necessarily a drawback. Basic adjustments, such as changing where the display pane appears or altering the order of messages in a conversation, are still available.
Both Outlook and Gmail feature ads, but they display in different formats. In Gmail, ads appear under the Promotions tab, looking like regular emails. You can prevent them from appearing by disabling the promotions tab, turning off the tabbed inbox, or using Inbox. On the other hand, in Outlook, the ads are large banners displayed on the side of the screen. The only way to remove them, aside from using ad blockers, is to subscribe to Ad-free Outlook for $20/year. A plus, though, is that Microsoft assures Outlook won't scan your emails to serve targeted ads.
Gmail Offers Some Extra Features, While Outlook Has a Whole Toolbox
No email service exists in isolation. Both Google and Microsoft have numerous other products integrated into their email clients, making them quite powerful. To keep it simple, we’ll focus on the services available directly within Gmail or Outlook, without needing to leave their tabs. However, both companies offer quick access to a wide array of other services, so the decision might depend on which apps you frequently use on a daily basis.
In Gmail, Hangouts is available as a panel on the right side of the screen. Any chat you open will appear along the bottom of your window. You can minimize these chats while reading your emails and open them again to reply. Additionally, a Tasks window can sit next to your conversations, allowing you to create a simple to-do list throughout the day. You can assign due dates and add descriptions to tasks, but that’s about it. In Gmail’s Labs section, you can enable a mini-calendar widget that provides a very brief view of your agenda for the day. For more features, you'd need to install extensions to add additional services on top of Gmail.
In Outlook, you can use Skype for messaging, much like Hangouts in Gmail. Additionally, there’s a Tasks section accessible through the shortcut menu in the top-left corner of Outlook. Unlike Gmail’s simple Tasks widget, Outlook allows you to add far more details to your tasks, including tracking hours worked, setting task reminders, and attaching files from OneDrive.
Moreover, Outlook offers a wide variety of add-ins that enhance your inbox's capabilities. For instance, the Boomerang add-in lets you set reminders to revisit an email after a certain time. The Evernote add-in allows you to save an email directly to one of your notebooks. There are over 100 more add-ins available in the Office Store, which can add even more features to Outlook.
The Final Word: Gmail Works Best for Power Users, While Outlook Shines for Office Professionals
Gmail once set the standard for managing your email online. While Microsoft’s Outlook has performed well on desktops, it’s only recently that its web-based email offerings have caught up. Today, choosing the better option is a matter of preference, as both platforms have their unique strengths.
If you enjoy constantly experimenting and customizing your email setup, Gmail is the platform for you. Google has embraced bold, sometimes controversial design changes that alter the way email is used. While some of these changes work and some don’t, the flexibility to adapt Gmail’s powerful filters, customizable labels, and automatic sorting provides plenty of room to tailor your inbox to your exact needs.
On the other hand, Outlook is ideal for those who prefer a streamlined workflow or rely heavily on professional productivity tools. It places the most important features right in view and allows power users to dig deeper for additional options when needed. Outlook integrates seamlessly with not just Microsoft Office apps, but also plugins like Boomerang, Evernote, and more. While Google excels in productivity, Microsoft’s Outlook is undoubtedly the best fit for an office environment.
