My thanks to SmallCubed for sponsoring MacSparky this week.
When Apple pulled the rug out from under third-party Mail plugins, a lot of power users lost tools they depended on. SmallCubed’s MailSuite (MailTags, Mail Act-On) was one of the big ones. Rather than walk away, the SmallCubed team did something ambitious. They built their own email client from scratch.
MailMaven is that client, and it’s built specifically for Mac users who want more control over their email without handing their messages to someone else’s servers. Your mail stays on your provider and your computer. Nothing gets routed through a third party. If you care about privacy, MailMaven also supports end-to-end encryption via PGP.
The feature set reads like a wish list for anyone who’s ever outgrown Apple Mail. There’s a powerful tagging system that goes well beyond labels. You can attach dates, notes, and colors to messages. The rules engine is extensive, giving you fine-grained control over how incoming and outgoing messages get sorted. Smart mailboxes and fast search make it easy to find anything in your archive.
If you’re coming from Apple Mail, migration is seamless. And if you want to go deep, Joe Kissell wrote two books on the app, “Get To Know MailMaven” and “Take Control of MailMaven,” both included free with your purchase.
A couple of things worth noting on the roadmap: version 1.1 is coming at the end of the month and will add POP support. AppleScript support is in the works for version 1.2 later this year. MailMaven will also be featured on ScreencastsOnline in upcoming episodes.
MailMaven is a one-time purchase that includes the first year of updates and data syncing. You can keep using the app indefinitely, and extended maintenance plans are available if you want continued feature updates down the road. No subscription required.
MacSparky readers can get 20% off their purchase with coupon code MACSPARKY2026 at checkout. That includes the first year of updates and data syncing. The offer runs through the end of March.