The best Ugly Email alternative
Ugly Email has 50,000+ users and a 4.5-star rating, and for years it was the default way to spot trackers in Gmail. The reasons people now look for an alternative are concrete: it is Gmail-only, it marks trackers with an eye icon but does not block them — so the 1x1 pixel still fires and the open still leaks — and it has been largely unmaintained since 2022. Mailshade is built to close exactly those gaps. It cancels requests to known tracker-pixel domains at the network layer via Chrome's declarativeNetRequest, so those requests send no open signal, and it does this across six web clients: Gmail, Outlook, Office 365, Superhuman, Yahoo Mail and ProtonMail. It also detects known click-tracking redirect patterns locally, offers a direct-or-original choice, and keeps a per-sender detection dashboard in local IndexedDB. Like Ugly Email it is open source — published under AGPL-3.0 — but it is actively maintained and blocks rather than warns.
Why people leave Ugly Email
- Warning, not blocking: the eye icon marks a tracker, but the pixel still loads and the open is logged.
- Gmail only: no help in Outlook, Office 365, Superhuman, Yahoo or ProtonMail.
- Stale: little maintenance since 2022, and no click-tracker handling.
What Mailshade does differently
Mailshade uses declarativeNetRequest to cancel requests to known tracker-pixel domains before they fire, so the sender gets no open signal from those requests. It covers six clients, detects known click-tracking redirects and lets you choose the direct destination or original URL, and records detected tracker occurrences in IndexedDB to chart which senders track you most.
What Ugly Email still does well
Ugly Email is open source, simple, and free, with a long track record in Gmail. If you only use Gmail, never click tracked links, and are content with a warning indicator, it remains usable.
Moving over
Mailshade is a separate extension; there is no migration step. Install it, opt into the mail clients you use, and its known-domain blocking activates there. Source and pricing are at mailshade.org and mailshade.org/source/.
FAQ
Why is Mailshade a better Ugly Email alternative?
Ugly Email flags trackers but the pixel still loads, and it only works in Gmail. Across six opt-in clients, Mailshade uses declarativeNetRequest to cancel requests to known tracker-pixel domains, so those requests send no open signal.
Is Mailshade open source like Ugly Email?
Yes. Both are open source. Mailshade is under AGPL-3.0 at mailshade.org/source/ and is actively maintained, where Ugly Email has had little maintenance since 2022.
Does Mailshade work in Outlook and Superhuman?
Yes. Mailshade covers Gmail, Outlook, Office 365, Superhuman, Yahoo Mail and ProtonMail. Ugly Email is Gmail-only, which is the most common reason people switch.
Is Mailshade free like Ugly Email?
Mailshade keeps core blocking, detection, link warnings, seven days of history and a top-10 sender view free after a 14-day Pro trial. Paid Pro starts at $3.99 per month or $19 one-time for Founders Lifetime. Ugly Email is free.
Does switching require exporting anything from Ugly Email?
No. The two are independent extensions with no shared data. Install Mailshade, opt into the mail clients you use, and its known-domain DNR rules apply there.