New check

Comparison

Thunderbird vs Betterbird

Thunderbird lands on Worth it, and Betterbird lands on Depends.

Thunderbird

thunderbird.net

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you want a free, open-source desktop client that unifies several email accounts.

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Betterbird

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Betterbird is a free Thunderbird fork worth trying if specific Thunderbird bugs ruin your workflow.

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Thunderbird versus Betterbird
Compare	Thunderbird	Betterbird
Verdict	Worth it	Depends
Best for	Multi-account power users	Frustrated Thunderbird power users
Who it's not for	Webmail-first Gmail/Outlook users . redundant layer	Anyone needing setup or configuration support
Privacy	Actively maintained: regular Mozilla advisories and 2026 CVE fixes, including an emergency zero-day patch.^⁹	Soft fork of Thunderbird; no breaches reported, but the project itself acknowledges fork-related patch-lag risk.¹⁵
Support quality	Community forums and Mozilla docs, no SLA	Bugs only; no setup or config help
Public sentiment	Opinions split: G2 users consistently praise it while Reddit threads and Trustpilot reviews grumble about early friction.^²	Users praise the bug fixes and easy Thunderbird switching, but some report performance problems and distrust the project's tone.
Biggest gotcha	Critical zero-days affecting Thunderbird have required emergency patches^⁹	No setup, profile, or configuration support . bug reports only; budget time for self-service¹⁶

Pick Thunderbird when

Multi-account power users
Open-source and privacy-minded desktop users
Anyone wanting a free Outlook replacement
Small teams avoiding paid email apps

When Thunderbird is not a fit

Webmail-first Gmail/Outlook users . redundant layer
Teams needing SLA-backed vendor support
Mobile-first users; it's desktop-centric
Buyers wanting a hosted inbox out of the box

Pick Betterbird when

Frustrated Thunderbird power users
Linux desktop users
Privacy-conscious, donation-tolerant users

When Betterbird is not a fit

Anyone needing setup or configuration support
Teams wanting managed, vendor-backed email
Buyers who need SLAs or vendor accountability
Happy Thunderbird users without specific pain points

Sources

Thunderbird . Free Your Inbox (official)thunderbird.net
official
Thunderbird Reviews . G2g2.com
review
Thunderbird Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.com
review
Does anybody like Thunderbird who started using it less? . Redditreddit.com
review
Thunderbird 2025 Review . Thunderbird Blogblog.thunderbird.net
official
Thunderbird Pro $9/month . Redditreddit.com
news
Thundermail Email Hosting . tb.protb.pro
official
Security Advisories for Thunderbird . Mozillamozilla.org
security
Critical zero-day . Quorum Cyberquorumcyber.com
security
CVE-2026-57963 . SentinelOnesentinelone.com
security
Betterbird . Simply betterbetterbird.eu
official
Best Thunderbird Alternatives . Mailbirdgetmailbird.com
review
Mozilla Thunderbird . Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
official
Thunderbird . UPenn ISCisc.upenn.edu
official
Betterbird: FAQbetterbird.eu
official
Betterbird: Supportbetterbird.eu
official