Best email tracking software in 2026: 7 tools for Gmail and Outlook

Email tracking software tells you when someone opens an email you sent and, in most tools, when they click a link in it. The seven tools below do that in Gmail, Outlook or Apple Mail. Some have a free plan, and the cheapest paid plan costs between EUR 1.99 and USD 49 per user a month, depending on the tool. They differ mostly in what they record besides the open and how they charge. If the email carries a proposal, you will also want to know whether the client read it, and the open alone does not tell you that.

How email tracking software works

Most tools add a tiny invisible image, a tracking pixel, to every email you send. When the recipient's email client loads it, the tool records an open with the time and sometimes the device. Links in the email are rewritten so that a click passes through the tool's server first. Some tools also send attachments as links, which lets them see when a file was viewed.

Opens are the weakest of these signals. If the recipient's email client blocks images, no open is recorded. If they read mail in Apple Mail with Mail Privacy Protection on, Apple prevents senders from seeing whether the message was opened. Security filters and link previews can load images and follow links before a person does, so some opens and clicks come from software. Replies and clicks on a link sent to one person are harder to fake. We explain how to read these signals in how to tell if someone read your email.

What Gmail and Outlook do without extra software

Both offer read receipts, with limits. According to Gmail Help, read receipts work only for work or school accounts, not for personal @gmail.com addresses, and the administrator decides who can use them. In Outlook you can request a receipt, but Microsoft notes that the recipient can decline to send it. The details for Outlook are in read receipts in Outlook. If you want to check opens on every email, you need one of the tools below.

7 email tracking tools compared

Prices are taken from each vendor's pricing page on November 8, 2026, for the billing period shown there.

1. Mailtrack by Mailsuite: free open tracking in Gmail

Mailtrack marks opened emails in Gmail with a double check mark and alerts you when an email is opened. The free plan tracks unlimited emails, but it logs only the first open and adds a Mailtrack signature to your messages. On Mailsuite's pricing page, with yearly billing selected, the Mailtrack plan costs EUR 1.99 per user a month: no signature and a 7-day tracking history. The Mailsuite plan, at EUR 3.99, keeps the full history, shows who opened a group email, tracks link clicks and lets you send tracked PDFs with time spent per page. There is also a Mailsuite add-in for Outlook, which needs the Mailsuite Chrome extension. We compare Mailtrack with Sellizer in Mailtrack alternatives.

Best for: one person on Gmail who wants to know whether an email was opened, without paying.

2. Streak: free tracking in Gmail, with a CRM if you need one

Email and link tracking is part of Streak's free Gmail tools, installed as a Chrome extension. You see when an email was opened, how many times, on what kind of device and, when the data is available, where the recipient was. An eye icon in each draft turns tracking on or off, and notifications arrive in the browser or by email. The paid plans add a CRM inside Gmail: Pro costs USD 49, Pro+ USD 69 and Enterprise USD 129 per user a month, billed annually (Streak pricing).

Best for: teams that work in Gmail and may want their pipeline there later.

3. HubSpot Sales Hub: opens and clicks saved on the contact

HubSpot's email tracking is free in Sales Hub and works with Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook and Office 365. It notifies you when a contact opens an email, clicks a link or downloads a document, and it saves these events on the contact record in the CRM. HubSpot says free and premium features are available and gives no separate price for tracking.

Best for: teams that already use HubSpot or want their tracking data in a CRM.

4. Yesware: Gmail and Outlook, with attachment views

Yesware works in Outlook and Gmail. It records opens, link clicks and attachment views, keeps them in an activity feed and shows weekly open and reply rates on a dashboard. The free plan tracks only emails sent in the last 24 hours. With yearly billing on the pricing page, Pro costs USD 15 per seat a month, Premium USD 35, and Enterprise, which adds Salesforce, USD 65 (USD 19, 45 and 85 billed monthly). If Yesware does not fit, see Yesware alternatives.

Best for: salespeople on Outlook who also want to know whether attachments were opened.

5. Mixmax: tracking that comes with outreach

In Mixmax, tracking of opens, clicks and replies comes with every paid plan, together with sequences of emails, calls, tasks and LinkedIn steps, scheduling links and CRM sync. The price depends on how many recipients you reach a month: free for 50 recipients with limited features, then USD 29 for 100, USD 89 for 1,500 and USD 129 for 3,000, per user a month billed yearly. Mixmax works inside Gmail. Other options are compared in Mixmax alternatives.

Best for: Gmail teams that send sequences and want tracking in the same tool.

6. Mailbutler: Apple Mail, Gmail and Outlook

Mailbutler works in Apple Mail as well as in Gmail and Outlook. Basic email tracking and real-time notifications come with every plan, while engagement data and device and location details start with the Smart plan. With yearly billing selected, Mailbutler's plans cost USD 4 (Starter), USD 7 (Professional), USD 11 (Smart) and USD 24 (Business) per user a month, after a 14-day trial with no card.

Best for: Mac users who write from Apple Mail.

7. Sellizer: when the email carries a proposal

Sellizer tracks the proposal itself. You send it as a link instead of an attachment, in one of three ways: from Sellizer with your own address as the sender (Gmail connects automatically, other mailboxes over SMTP/IMAP), from the Outlook add-in (Outlook 2013 and later) or from your CRM through the browser extension. Then you see when the client opened it, how long they spent on each page, which pages they skipped and whether they downloaded, printed or forwarded it (proposal analytics).

You get an SMS the first time the client opens the proposal and an email on every open (notifications). Email opens are recorded only for emails sent through Sellizer, separately from proposal opens, so you can tell an opened email from a read proposal. For everyday mail without a document, one of the tools above fits better. Solo costs USD 17.60 net per user a month billed annually (USD 22.00 monthly) and Team USD 28.00 (USD 35.00 monthly), with 14 days free (pricing).

Best for: sales teams whose important emails carry a proposal or a quote.

Email tracking software at a glance

How to choose email tracking software

• Where you write. Apple Mail narrows the list to Mailbutler. In Outlook you can use Yesware, HubSpot, Mailbutler or the Mailsuite add-in (more in email trackers for Outlook). Every tool here works in Gmail.

• What you need to know. For most follow-ups an open and a click are enough. If you send files, check what the tool records about them: Yesware shows attachment views, HubSpot document downloads, Mailsuite and Sellizer time per page.

• Where the data should go. If the team works in HubSpot, tracking there saves copying activity by hand. Streak keeps everything in Gmail.

• How you pay. Most tools charge per user. Mixmax charges by the number of recipients, and the free plans have limits: Mailtrack logs the first open only, Yesware shows the last 24 hours.

When an email open is not enough

With a proposal, the email open tells you very little. The client may open the email, read two lines and never open the attached PDF. Or they may forward it to the person who decides. A tracked link to the proposal shows who opened the document, when, and how long they spent on each page. It also works for readers on Apple Mail, because Apple says Mail Privacy Protection does not cover links. That is what proposal tracking software is for, and with PDF tracking you can turn any PDF into such a link.