Comparison
How MailClean compares
Most inbox cleaners are cloud services: they connect to your mailbox from their servers, and some free ones pay for themselves with data from your email. MailClean runs on your own computer, is free and open source, and never saves your subject lines.
| MailClean | Clean Email | Unroll.Me | Cleanfox | SaneBox | Mailstrom | Chuck | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | From ₹732/month | Free | Free | From $2.04/month (billed every 2 years) | From $9/month ($59.95/year) | Free tier; Pro $5.99/month |
| Free to use | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | Free tier (1 account) |
| Email stays on your device | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Doesn't sell or research your email data | ✓ | ✓ | No — “we use your data to fuel our market research business, NielsenIQ” | No — “to keep Cleanfox free, we sell data for statistical purposes” | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Open source | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| What it reads | Sender, date, size and flags — subject lines never saved | Headers, incl. subject lines | Your inbox, for NielsenIQ research | Newsletters and transactional emails, for statistics | Headers (some optional features read bodies, not stored) | Stores subject lines and metadata | Processed on your phone |
| Bulk delete by sender | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | Newsletters | Deep Clean | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unsubscribe | ✓ | ✓ | Block senders | ✓ | SaneBlackHole | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic rules | ✓ | ✓ | Daily digest (Rollup) | Auto-delete a newsletter | ✓ | Block senders and subjects | Pro: filters and blocking |
| Apps | macOS, Windows, Linux | iPhone, Android, Mac, web | Web + app | Web, iPhone, Android | Web, iPhone, Android (works with any mail app) | Web | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Outlook / Hotmail | Coming soon | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Facts about other services are taken from their own websites in October 2026 and may have changed; quotes are from those sites. “—” means we found no statement about it on their website. Product names are trademarks of their owners; MailClean is not affiliated with them.
Sources: Clean Email · Unroll.Me · Cleanfox · SaneBox · Mailstrom · Chuck
Free, without selling your data
Unroll.Me and Cleanfox are free because they use what's in your inbox for NielsenIQ's market research. MailClean is free because it's open source — it never sees your email on a server.
Nothing to upload
Clean Email, SaneBox and Mailstrom scan your mailbox from their servers. MailClean talks to Gmail, Yahoo or iCloud straight from your computer.
Desktop, not just phone
Chuck also keeps mail on your device, but it's iPhone, iPad and Mac only. MailClean runs on macOS, Windows and Linux.
Try MailClean free
No account, no subscription. Download the app, or try the web demo with sample data first.