Juan Carlos MoraOne of the best things about Gmail is that extensions can add a range of email tracking features without requiring an expensive subscription to an enterprise-level product. In fact, you can get many of these features for free. Today, we’ll cover the best free email trackers that turn Gmail into a formidable email marketing platform.
1. Best free email tracking software: Mailtrack
The free Mailtrack extension is easy-to-use and it provides everything you’d need for hassle-free email tracking. Whether you’re sending an important message to your future employer or updating a client on a new feature your company offers, Mailtrack is the best option for knowing when your email is read and when to send follow-ups.
Mailtrack features
Mailtrack sends you an email notification when a tracked email is opened. It uses tracking pixels instead of requesting an outdated read receipt such as the ones used by Outlook in the 1990s, which make conversations unnatural and read confirmations little reliable. After you have the extension, you can simply send your emails normally. You’ll see two green check marks showing you that Mailtrack is turned on when you compose a new email. Clicking on those check marks gives you the option to not track a particular email if you want.
After you send the email, you’ll see one green check mark and one gray check mark next to the outgoing message. Both of the check marks will light up green when the recipient opens your message. You’ll also get an email notification when they open your message.
To summarize, Mailrack’s basic features include:
- Track opens with check marks in threads
- Receive email notifications when your email is opened
- Find out how many times an email was opened
- Track emails with attachments up to 3MB
How free is it?
Free trial plans are nice, but you still have to worry about canceling the trial if you don’t want to purchase the product. Mailtrack’s free plan isn’t a free trial. The plan is free forever. It also doesn’t put a limit on the number of emails you can track in a given period.
Is it safe?
If data protection is important to you, then Mailtrack is one of the best email tracking software options available to you. Mailtrack follows all digital privacy laws to keep your information safe. Mailtrack doesn’t access, store, or share the content of your emails, and it encrypts all communications.
The tracking pixel Maitrack uses is a common feature in the industry and is legal under privacy laws.
What do you get for the paid version?
Mailtrack’s Pro version adds a wide range of features for $9.99 per month (quarterly and annual billing discounts available). It includes:
- Real-time desktop notifications for opens
- Link click tracking with email and desktop notifications
- A daily report of sent, read, and unread emails
- Email activity dashboard
- Click report
- No Mailtrack signature
- Reminders when emails haven’t been opened in 24 hours
- Monitor reply function
- Mailtrack Campaigns individually tracks up to 200 emails from a bulk message
- Revival notifications and hot conversation notifications
The range of options in the Pro version make Mailtrack the best option for email tracking in Gmail. Simply put, Mailtrack Pro will turn your Gmail account into a professional email marketing program. The email tracking software is simple to use for a wide variety of tasks. With access to this kind of data, you’ll get more out of your emails and know when to check in again with your prospects.
2. Best email tracking software runner-up: Saleshandy
Saleshandy offers a no-cost email tracking plan, though the company’s offering is more geared toward companies that want to run large campaigns and add auto follow-up sequences.
Saleshandy features
The Saleshandy free email tracking plan comes with the following features:
- Open tracking and real-time notifications
- Email open history
- Email scheduling
- Available in Gmail/Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)
- Activity dashboard (only 15 recent actions)
- 5 email templates
How free is it?
Saleshandy’s free plan is free forever. However, it starts by giving users a free trial of the Plus plan, which includes features like custom domain tracking and up to 1,600 emails sent per day. After that, Saleshandy downgrades the account to the free plan.
3. MixMax
MixMax is a Gmail extension that is geared toward sales professionals. Higher levels of its product include Salesforce integration, email sequences, and custom landing pages.
MixMax features
Here’s what you get with a free plan from MixMax:
- Meeting scheduling and public calendar
- Open tracking up to 100 emails per month
- Sales templates
- Interactive email features like embedding polls, SMS widgets, and CTA button
How free is it?
MixMax’s free plan is free forever. That limit of 100 tracked emails per month is a pretty big downside. To remove the watermark and go up to the first paid plan, you’ll pay $12 per month.
4. Streak
Streak is another sales-oriented email tracking program. It’s actually more of a hybrid between an email tracker and a CRM. Each plan, including the free plan, comes with some level of Streak’s CRM. If you’re looking for a single program to fill the role of each tool, this is the best option.
Streak features
Here’s what you get with Streak’s free plan:
- Private pipelines with up to 500 rows of data
- Mail merge up to 50 contacts
- Email tracking
- Email templates
- Core CRM
Email tracking with Streak just tracks when the email has been read, whether you have a free or paid plan.
How free is it?
Streak’s starter plan has no cost for the life of the plan. If you want more data in your pipeline, you can go up to the first paid level for $15 per month.
5. Gmelius
Gmelius offers email tracking in combination with other tools that help teams collaborate. Team members can share email inboxes, use Kanban boards, add notes to emails, and more. Gmelius is the best option for team organization.
Gmelius features
Here’s what Gmelius offers for email tracking at no cost:
- Unlimited open tracking
- Real-time notifications
- Activity dashboard
There are also about 20 other features in the starter plan that have to do with collaboration and automation.
How free is it?
The base-level plan from Gmelius free forever, though the 7-day trial starts you off on the $19/month Growth plan.
6. Snov.io
Snov.io offers a rich set of features for outreach and sales professionals. You can compose drip campaigns, manage prospects, and find and verify emails from around the web.
Snov.io features
Snov.io’s email tracker includes:
- Open and click tracking
- Real-time desktop notifications
- Activity log
- Reminders
- Scheduling
Other main feature areas include:
- 7-tier verification method
- Prospect management
- Search and find emails
- Quality prospect profiles
- Email funnel builder
- Campaigns with segmentation and triggers
- Analytics
How free is it?
The no-cost plan is free forever. However, Snov.io is a unique case. The company doesn’t limit features by type of plan. Instead, the one free plan and four paid plans have access to all features. Each plan has a set number of credits that you can spend on different features and a set number of campaign recipients. The free option includes 50 credits and 100 recipients per month. Email tracking is unlimited for any type of account, and it doesn’t use up credits or recipients.
7. Mailalert
Mailalert is a simple email tracker for Gmail. Instead of being a multi-use tool, it’s all about email tracking, which makes things easy.
Mailalert features
Here’s what’s included with Mailalert:
- Unlimited email tracking
- No branding
- Click tracking feature
- Real-time notifications
How free is it?
Mailalert has one plan and it is free to use. All of the features above are included in the plan. That said, there isn’t anywhere else to go. If you want more functionality like reports and reminders, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
8. Hunter MailTracker
Hunter is best known for its email lookup and verification tool. It also offers an email tracking tool that is fairly basic but gets the job done.
Hunter MailTracker features
Like most other email tracking programs in Gmail, Hunter’s MailTracker is a Chrome extension. Here’s the list of features that come with MailTracker:
- Track opens
- View opens inside conversations and threads
As far as features go, that’s pretty much it. Hunter MailTracker doesn’t send you an email when your message has been opened, nor does it send desktop notifications. You also don’t get a dashboard of information. It just shows that an email has been opened when you’re already in your Gmail account looking at the conversation or thread.
How free is it?
Hunter MailTracker is a no-cost program for all time. There is no option to upgrade. It can get the job done, but as with Mailalert, you might want to upgrade with another email tracking program if you yearn for more features.
Track your emails without breaking the bank
Finding the best email tracking software can definitely help boost your results, whether you are looking for more leads or for your team members to stay on the same page. Once you know if an email was opened or not, you can follow up in the right way and at the right time.
It pays to do your research since the best email tracker for one person might not be the best email tracker for another. It’s all about what you want to do. Mailtrack’s basic plan makes your emails more effective, and its professional plans are more affordable than many of the other upgraded plans on this list.
