MXDeck vs Apple Mail
Apple Mail is free, already on your Mac, and good. If you have two or three mailboxes, keep using it. MXDeck is for the person with twenty contact@ boxes on their own servers who wants them all in one window and wants to know when a domain’s mail breaks.
Facts about Apple Mail are as of November 2026 and link to Apple’s own documentation in the sources. MXDeck is in development; nothing below says it is out.
Pick Apple Mail if
- You have a handful of mailboxes. Adding three accounts takes a few minutes, and All Inboxes shows them together. There is nothing to buy.
- You want mail on your iPhone too. The same app is on iPhone and iPad, set up the same way.
- You rely on rules, POP3 or Exchange. Apple Mail has client rules, supports POP accounts and connects to Exchange. MXDeck does none of these.
- You want built-in extras. Send Later, Remind Me and Undo Send are all there today, plus Apple Intelligence summaries on Macs and in regions that support them.
- You care about tracking pixels. Mail Privacy Protection hides your IP address and loads remote content in the background.
Pick MXDeck if
- You have 10 to 30 mailboxes on your own domains. Put them in a YAML or JSON file and import them in one go. MXDeck checks each mailbox as it adds it and tells you which ones failed and why.
- You need to know which domain a message is for. Every message carries a coloured tag for its mailbox, and a reply always goes out from the mailbox the mail arrived in. No more answering a client from the wrong domain.
- You want to know when a domain’s mail breaks. MXDeck grades each domain A to F on MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, TLS, blacklists and reverse DNS, shows how to fix what is wrong, and sends a notification when a grade drops. Apple Mail does not look at your DNS at all.
- You want a quiet client. Passwords live only in the macOS Keychain. There is no analytics, and the app talks only to your mail servers and to api.mxdeck.com for the DNS checks. The code will be published under the FSL licence.
MXDeck is still being built. Undo send, threads, macOS notifications and a menu bar icon are in. Send later, Remind me and drafts synced to the server’s Drafts folder are coming. There is no iPhone app, no POP3, no Exchange and no rules: spam filtering is left to your server on purpose.
Feature by feature
| Feature | MXDeck | Apple Mail |
|---|---|---|
| Status | In development, beta for the waitlist first | Shipping, built into macOS |
| Price | Free up to 3 domains; paid plans from $6/month (planned) | Free with macOS |
| iPhone and iPad | No | Yes |
| IMAP / SMTP mailboxes | Yes | Yes |
| POP3 | No | Yes |
| Exchange | No | Yes |
| Gmail | Partial with an app password, no Google sign-in yet | Yes |
| All mailboxes in one window | Yes | Yes All Inboxes |
| Conversation threads | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk import of mailboxes from a file | Yes YAML/JSON, each mailbox verified | No |
| Domain mail-health grade (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, TLS, blacklists) | Yes A–F grade, alert when it drops | No |
| Undo send | Yes | Yes |
| Send later | Coming | Yes |
| Remind me | Coming | Yes |
| Rules | No | Yes |
| AI features | No | Yes Apple Intelligence, where available |
| Where your mail goes | Direct to your mail servers; only DNS checks via api.mxdeck.com | Direct to your mail servers; Mail Privacy Protection hides your IP from senders |
“No” means we did not find the feature in the vendor’s official documentation as of November 2026. “Coming” means it is being built for MXDeck and is not in the app yet.
Using both
You do not have to choose. Both apps speak IMAP, so a message you read or file in one shows as read or filed in the other. A common setup: Apple Mail for your personal iCloud and Gmail, MXDeck for the domain mailboxes. Before you start, run your domains through the free mail health checker. It is the same check MXDeck runs, and it works today.
For the bigger picture, read how to manage email for many domains, or see how MXDeck compares with other Mac mail apps.
Questions
Is Apple Mail good enough for many domains?
For two or three mailboxes, yes. It is free, already on your Mac, and handles IMAP, POP, iCloud, Gmail and Exchange. Past ten or so, setup takes long and nothing tells you when a domain’s SPF, DKIM or DMARC breaks.
Can I use Apple Mail and MXDeck side by side?
Yes. Both talk IMAP to the same servers, so read and moved messages stay in sync between them. Many people will keep Apple Mail for iCloud and use MXDeck for the domain mailboxes.
Does MXDeck have rules like Apple Mail?
No. MXDeck leaves filtering and spam to your mail server on purpose, so the same rules apply on every device. Use your server’s Sieve filters or panel rules.
Is MXDeck available now?
Not yet. The Mac app is in development and the waitlist gets the beta first.
Sources
Checked in November 2026.
- Apple: Add email accounts in Mail on Mac (iCloud, Gmail, Exchange and other accounts)
- Apple: Delete emails and manage storage in Mail on Mac (POP account settings)
- Apple: Send email messages in Mail on Mac (Send Later, Undo Send)
- Apple: Use Remind Me in Mail on Mac
- Apple: View email conversations in Mail on Mac
- Apple: Use rules to manage emails in Mail on Mac
- Apple: Use Mail Privacy Protection on Mac
- Apple: Use Apple Intelligence in Mail on Mac
- Apple: Add and remove email accounts on iPhone
One Mac inbox for all your domains. MXDeck is in development. Join the waitlist and get the beta first.
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