First, the disclosure: I make Orbit, one of the apps discussed below. Read everything here knowing that. Second, the reason this post exists: on January 1, 2026, Kiwi for Gmail retired its legacy and lifetime licenses and moved to subscription-only. If you paid once for Kiwi expecting to own your tool, you have probably already discovered this the hard way, and you are shopping again. This post is the shopping trip, done honestly.
What actually happened
Kiwi for Gmail spent years as one of the few ways to get each Gmail account running as the real Gmail, in its own desktop app, for a one-time price. That combination is why people bought it, and why the licensing change stings: the product did not get worse, the deal did. Kiwi's own legacy switch page puts it plainly: it is "retiring our older, legacy plans effective January 1, 2026." Holders who did not pick a new plan by December 31, 2025 were, again in Kiwi's words, automatically transitioned to "a comparable plan within our current structure," with a 30% one-time discount offered for making the switch. Nothing was seized and the app did not stop opening. But a thing you bought once now lives inside a plan you keep paying for, and a discount on a subscription is not the same as the license you thought you owned.
I am not going to dunk on the company. Software businesses have real costs, and subscription revenue is easier to run a company on; that is exactly why almost everyone converts eventually. But "almost everyone converts eventually" is also a thing you are allowed to weigh when you choose the replacement.
What you were actually paying for
Before comparing apps, it is worth naming what Kiwi got right, because your replacement should keep it:
The real Gmail, per account. Not a rebuilt inbox, the actual Gmail web app, with your filters, labels, snoozes, keyboard shortcuts, and layout exactly where you left them. Zero relearning.
Each account in its own space. Work and personal accounts that do not share a sign-in, so one security re-check does not log everything out at once.
Out of the browser. Mail as an app in your Dock with its own window and notifications, not tab number forty-one.
Paid for once. The part that just broke.
The candidates, honestly
Mimestream ($49.99/year) is the best rebuilt Gmail client on the Mac, full stop. It uses the Gmail API to recreate Gmail as a true native app, with a unified inbox. Two things to know: it is a new interface to learn rather than the Gmail you know, and it is subscription-only; the app deactivates if you stop paying. If you left Kiwi because of the subscription itself, this does not solve your problem, but if you left looking for the best native mail experience, it might.
Shift ($149+/year) has pivoted from an email workspace into a full browser with Spaces and AI features. It handles many accounts, but you are adopting a browser, not a mail app, and it is the most expensive option here.
Wavebox (from ~$50/year) is the power-user workspace: excellent multi-account sign-in handling, very configurable, Chromium-based, subscription-only.
Chrome profiles (free) deserve an honest mention. One profile per account gives you real session isolation at zero cost. The price is paid in windows: each account is a full Chrome window to manage, mail lives inside the browser again, and there is no single quiet app that is just your mail.
Orbit for Mac ($89 one-time) is mine, so judge accordingly. It is the Kiwi idea, kept: each Google account runs as the real Gmail web app in its own sealed session, side by side in one native Mac window, switched with Cmd-1 through 9. Each account brings its Calendar, Drive, and Meet. It is native Swift on Apple's WebKit, a 4 MB download with no bundled Chromium. And it is a one-time purchase.
About that "one-time" claim
You have been burned by exactly this promise, so here is why Orbit's version of it is hard to walk back. It is not just a pricing decision; it is written into the terms (the license is perpetual) and, more importantly, into the architecture. Orbit has no server your app depends on. Your Google sign-ins live in your Mac's own WebKit storage, not in anyone's cloud. If Dearnode disappeared tomorrow, the copy of Orbit on your Mac would keep working, because there is nothing to switch off.
What you buy is this major version forever, a year of updates, and up to three Macs. A future major version with genuinely new work in it may cost money again someday; the version you bought does not stop working, and it never quietly becomes a subscription. That is the distinction Kiwi owners care about, and it is the one I am putting in writing.
Switching takes about five minutes
There is no import step, because there is nothing to import. Install Orbit, sign in to each Google account once through Google's own login page, and your mail is simply there: filters, labels, layout, everything, because it is your real Gmail, not a copy of it. The trial is 14 days with no card, so you can run it next to whatever you are using now and decide with your own accounts.
A last honest note. If a unified inbox is the feature you dream about, Orbit is not your app — Mimestream is, subscription and all. Orbit keeps inboxes deliberately separate and gives you a search that fans out across every account instead. But if what you wanted was what Kiwi originally sold — the real Gmail, one room per account, paid for once — that deal is still available. It just moved.