A thorough comparison of email tracking software
While many email trackers out there may seem to have the exact same offering, the amount of functionality they offer and how likely they are to cause your emails to go to spam can be quite different.
The result of choosing the wrong (cheap or free) email tracking software can be a disappointing and even painful experience. 😖
We tested some of the most popular email trackers and scored them across different dimensions, so you can easily find the right one for you.
Now, before we explore which ones came out on top, let’s dig into the scoring system. 🤓
How can you decide what the best email tracker is for you?
We systematically scored the email trackers across three important dimensions:
- Email tracking features: how solid is the email tracker’s functionality?
- Email deliverability: do your tracked emails still land in the inbox… or in spam? ⚠️
- User reviews: how do real users score the email tracker?
Plus we indicated whether they work with Gmail and/or Outlook… and their starting price.
Here’s some more detail about our scoring 👇 (or feel free to just skip this! 👈)
Email tracking features
In terms of email tracking features, we went looking for this essential functionality: 🔍
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails)
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team)
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app
This results in a score of x/7.
Email deliverability
To determine how each tool works on email deliverability, we looked how vulnerable each tool is for misuse by bad actors (which can affect whether your emails go to spam too):
- Uses multiple tracking domains
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...)
… and we put each tool through a rigorous email deliverability test using MailReach. 💌
This results in a score of x/3 and y/10, of which we take the average.
User reviews
To define how satisfied real users are with the email tracker, we simply looked up the x/5 score on the Chrome Webstore. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Final score
In the end, the final score is calculated by taking the average of the three scores above. 🥇
Additional considerations
For each email tracker, we’ve also indicated: ✅
- Whether they work with Gmail and/or Outlook (Spoiler: only the top 3 work with Outlook!)
- What the starting price is per tracker (Spoiler: only Snovio (nr. 5) is really free… but it’s noticeable in its deliverability results)
The 7 Best Email Trackers ranked
Don’t want to read the whole comparison? 🤓
Here’s a quick overview of how each email tracker performs:
- Salesflare CRM: 9.9/10 🏆
- HubSpot Sales Hub: 8.4/10
- Mailbutler: 7.4/10
- Mailtrack: 6.9/10
- Snovio Email Tracker: 6.9/10
- Streak CRM: 6.4/10
- MailTracker by Hunter: 6.1/10
Important if you’re using Outlook: the top 3 email trackers work with both Gmail and Outlook, while the 4 lower ranked trackers work with Gmail only.
Want to dig into the details? Read on! 👀
1. Salesflare CRM [9.9/10]
Salesflare is not just email tracking software. ✨
It is the most advanced and automated email-integrated CRM for small and medium-sized businesses who sell B2B.
It can track emails, extract email signatures, insert email templates, send automated email sequences, remind you to follow up on emails, compile timelines, find business email addresses, enrich contacts based on an email address, … and much more. 🤩
If you spend a good part of your day in your email inbox (and LinkedIn perhaps?), then Salesflare may be able to make (that part of) your life 10x easier.
The email tracker itself is also the most advanced one in this list, especially when it comes to email deliverability, i.e. how well it keeps your emails out of the spam folder.
It also offers the most advanced system to exclude your own email opens, does not require an extra subscription on top of your CRM, integrates website tracking, integrates your email notifications with all the other notifications about your leads, and works in both Gmail and Outlook.
Works with (2/2):
- Gmail: Yes
- Outlook: Yes
Email tracking features Salesflare can offer (7/7):
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails): Yes
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens: Yes
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team): Yes, on all devices and networks where you or your team members use Salesflare
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click: Yes
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop: Yes
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely: Yes
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app: Yes, on all three
Deliverability features to ensure your emails land in the inbox (3/3):
- Uses multiple tracking domains: Yes
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer: Yes
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...): Yes
Deliverability test results: 9.4/10 in an automated test using MailReach
Review score on the Chrome Webstore: 5/5
Final result:
- Email tracking features: 7/7
- Deliverability score: 3/3 + Deliverability test score: 9.4/10
- Chrome Webstore review score: 5/5
- FINAL SCORE: 9.9/10 🏆
Pricing:
- Everything is included in the CRM (plans starting from $29/month)
Want to see it all in action? You can try Salesflare for free. 👈
It only takes a few minutes to start a trial, connect your email inbox (it’ll be the first thing Salesflare asks you to do) and install the Gmail or Outlook plugin (you can find those in Settings > Applications & Integrations).
We guarantee you won’t find a more robust email tracker and CRM! 👌
2. HubSpot Sales Hub [8.5/10]
Just like Salesflare, HubSpot is much more than an email tracker.
While HubSpot started off as a marketing automation platform, it now offers a broad platform including a CRM, a sales tracking platform, a marketing platform, a service platform, … all aimed at small and medium-sized businesses.
HubSpot’s email tracking software has a limited free version, but it tracks only email opens and, as the only tracker in this list, limits the amount of tracking notifications you can receive (200/month, which means about 6-7 per day). And as always, upgrading comes at a relatively high price which is only recommended if you have deep pockets - it can even become more expensive than Salesforce as exemplified in this comparison. 💸
Together with Mailbutler and Salesflare, HubSpot’s CRM platform is one of the few that integrates its email tracking with both Gmail and Outlook. Unfortunately, its website tracking is not integrated with its email tracking system for sales emails.
Works with (2/2):
- Gmail: Yes
- Outlook: Yes
Email tracking features HubSpot can offer (6/7):
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails): Yes, but only on a paid plan (otherwise the limit is 200 notifications per month)
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens: Yes, but only on paid plans
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team): Yes, on all devices and networks where you or your team members use HubSpot (setup is partially manual)
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click: No, not for individual emails, only for marketing emails
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop: Yes
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely: Yes
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app: Yes
Deliverability features to ensure your emails land in the inbox (2/3):
- Uses multiple tracking domains: Yes
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer: No
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...): Yes
Deliverability test results: 9.4/10 in an automated test using MailReach
Review score on the Chrome Webstore: 4.5/5
Final result:
- Email tracking features: 6/7
- Deliverability score: 2/3 + Deliverability test score: 9.4/10
- Chrome Webstore review score: 4.5/5
- FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10
Pricing:
- Everything is included in the Sales Hub (plans start from $18/user/month, but they quickly become much more expensive at $90/user/month with minimum 5 users)
- Only the open tracking is available for free (max. 200 notifications per month)
3. Mailbutler [7.4/10]
While Mailbutler doesn’t position itself as a cloud-based CRM, it can certainly be considered a lightweight CRM due to its inclusion of contacts, tasks, notes, and some other handy tools.
Mailbutler offers all this functionality straight from your inbox. All you need to do is install the right plugin.
What worries us a little about Mailbutler is that all its tracking works off the same domain, which makes it quite sensitive to the negative effects of abuse… and which may make your emails land in your prospect’s or customer’s spam folder. ⚠️
If you’re not looking to use a sales CRM (you may be using an Excel sheet) or already have one that doesn’t offer email tracking, then Mailbutler may be your best available choice.
Works with (2/2):
- Gmail: Yes
- Outlook: Yes
Email tracking features Mailbutler can offer (5/7):
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails): Yes
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens: Yes
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team): Yes, on your devices and networks
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click: No
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop: Yes
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely: No
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app: Yes
Deliverability features to ensure your emails land in the inbox (1/3):
- Uses multiple tracking domains: No
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer: No
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...): Yes
Deliverability test results: 9.0/10 in an automated test using MailReach
Review score on the Chrome Webstore: 4.5/5
Final result:
- Email tracking features: 5/7
- Deliverability score: 1/3 + Deliverability test score: 9.0/10
- Chrome Webstore review score: 4.5/5
- FINAL SCORE: 7.4/10
Pricing:
- Starts from around $4/user/month without notification history and $13/user/month with notification history
4. Mailtrack [7.4/10]
When you think about tracking emails, it’s hard not to think about Mailtrack.
Mailtrack is one of the most popular options out there, most probably because of its catchy name, promotional signatures, low price and free entry plan.
This free plan only includes email opens and it inserts the above mentioned promotional signature below each one of your emails.
Like with Mailbutler, we’re a little worried about the use of only one tracking domain and its potential/inevitable effects on your email deliverability, but if you’re looking for a good email tracker for Gmail and don’t want to use it as part of a CRM, its price-quality ratio is unmatched.
Works with (1/2):
- Gmail: Yes
- Outlook: No
Email tracking features Mailtrack can offer (5/7):
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails): Yes
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens: Yes, only on paid plans
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team): Yes
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click: No
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop: Yes
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely: No
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app: Yes, but only on paid plans it notifies beyond the first open
Deliverability features to ensure your emails land in the inbox (1/3):
- Uses multiple tracking domains: No
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer: No
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...): Yes
Deliverability test results: 9.0/10 in an automated test using MailReach
Review score on the Chrome Webstore: 4.5/5
Final result:
- Email tracking features: 5/7
- Deliverability score: 1/3 + Deliverability test score: 9.0/10
- Chrome Webstore review score: 4.4/5
- FINAL SCORE: 7.4/10
Pricing:
- Starts from around $3/user/month
- Free plan available that shows a promotional signature below every email, does not include the click tracking, and does not notify beyond the first open
5. Snovio Email Tracker [6.9/10]
Snovio, aka Snov.io, offers a complete range of simple B2B lead generation tools (and lead management now too), many of which are linked somehow to your email inbox. 💌
Its email tracker is the only fully free one on this list. However, based on our tests, this comes at a price: our test emails with Snovio tracking went to spam in all professional mailboxes (Google Workspace as well as Microsoft Office 365) and in Yahoo mailboxes, which was by far the worst result of all the tools in this list.
On the other hand, their 4.9 review score on the Chrome WebStore is the second highest in this list, so if you really want a free email tracker, you may as well take your chances.
Works with (1/2):
- Gmail: Yes
- Outlook: No
Email tracking features Snovio can offer (5/7):
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails): Yes
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens: Yes
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team): Yes, but only in your Chrome browser
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click: No
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop: No
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely: Yes
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app: Yes
Deliverability features to ensure your emails land in the inbox (1/3):
- Uses multiple tracking domains: Yes
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer: No
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...): No
Deliverability test results: 3.9/10 in an automated test using MailReach
Review score on the Chrome Webstore: 4.9/5
Final result:
- Email tracking features: 5/7
- Deliverability score: 1/3 + Deliverability test score: 3.9/10
- Chrome Webstore review score: 4.9/5
- FINAL SCORE: 6.9/10
Pricing:
- Fully free (but, based on our tests, your emails will often end up in spam)
6. Streak CRM [6.4/10]
Streak is already the third (or fourth?) CRM in this list of email trackers, because, well, it’s handy to have your email tracking fully integrated into your CRM system. 👌
Streak was one of the first Google integrated CRMs and still focuses exclusively on this area.
Its email tracker comes as a sort of teaser for its CRM. This free teaser version however only includes email open tracking; not click tracking.
The most notable thing to mention about Streak is that the full application is built into Gmail in Chrome, even its sales pipelines and dashboards. While the CRM has been around for a long time, its mobile app is extremely limited and definitely does not include email tracking nor email tracking notifications. 📵
Works with (1/2):
- Gmail: Yes
- Outlook: No
Email tracking features Streak can offer (4/7):
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails): Yes
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens: Yes, only on paid plans
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team): Yes, but only in your Chrome browser
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click: No
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop: No
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely: No
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app: Yes, but there is no notification center
Deliverability features to ensure your emails land in the inbox (0/3):
- Uses multiple tracking domains: No
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer: No
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...): No
Deliverability test results: 9.0/10 in an automated test using MailReach
Review score on the Chrome Webstore: 4.5/5
Final result:
- Email tracking features: 4/7
- Deliverability score: 0/3 + Deliverability test score: 9.0/10
- Chrome Webstore review score: 4.5/5
- FINAL SCORE: 6.4/10
Pricing:
- Everything is included in the CRM (plans start from $15/user/month)
- Free plan available that does not include click tracking
7. MailTracker by Hunter [6.1/10]
Finally, we tested MailTracker, a side-tool of Hunter.io, the known email finder tool that also offers email sequences nowadays.
Like its similarly named competitor, Mailtrack, it has a free plan that adds a (similarly looking) promotional signature to all emails and only offers open tracking.
Its paid plan is however more expensive than Mailtrack’s. We also didn’t feel great about the way it’s built in terms of email deliverability.
Still, it’s a good tool at an okay price, and if you’re looking to roll out a standalone email tracker in your company, they offer the only tracker we saw with volume-based pricing.
Works with (1/2):
- Gmail: Yes
- Outlook: No
Email tracking features MailTracker can offer (3/7):
- Unlimited email tracking (no limitations on amount of tracked emails): Yes
- Tracks email clicks, not only email opens: No, not for now (may be coming soon)
- Automatically filters out your own opens and clicks (and those of your team): Yes, but only in your Chrome browser
- Integrated website tracking, so you can follow your leads beyond the click: No
- Available through a mobile app as well, not just on your desktop: No
- Removes & replaces tracking from previous emails in a thread to track emails uniquely: No
- Sends live notifications within the browser, Outlook and/or mobile app: Yes
Deliverability features to ensure your emails land in the inbox (0/3):
- Uses multiple tracking domains: No
- Uses a personalized tracking subdomain per customer: No
- Uses the same subdomain for all links in the email (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, ...): No
Deliverability test results: 9.0/10 in an automated test using MailReach
(this test is however not comparable with the others, as no click tracking was used in the emails)
Review score on the Chrome Webstore: 4.5/5
Final result:
- Email tracking features: 4/7
- Deliverability score: 0/3 + Deliverability test score: 9.0/10
- Chrome Webstore review score: 4.7/5
- FINAL SCORE: 6.1/10
Pricing:
- Starts from around $7.5/user/month
- Free plan available that shows a promotional signature below every email, does not include the click tracking (not available at all for now), and does not show notifications
Other email trackers we researched
We also researched the below email trackers, but unfortunately they didn’t make the cut:
- Pipedrive Email Tracking Software: it only tracked emails sent from the CRM, not from Gmail nor Outlook itself
- Gmelius for Gmail: did not offer email tracking anymore
- Apollo.io Email Open Tracker: we could not get it work while researching tools + the support team didn’t respond to our queries
Frequently asked questions
How can I track an email?
Just install one of the email trackers above and start emailing. Whenever you send an email, the software will insert a tracking pixel in your email that tracks an open whenever the email is viewed by a recipient, plus it will replace each link in the email with a link that forwards towards the original one.
Is it illegal to track emails?
While this obviously can depend on your jurisdiction, email tracking is not deemed illegal or at least not clearly illegal in most places. It only tracks how your recipients interact with your own email and does nothing beyond that.
How do I add an email tracker?
An email tracker software can add trackers to emails automatically for you. Just install their plugin to Gmail or Outlook, enable tracking if needed, and start emailing. You can find some great tools for this in the list above.
Can you tell if someone has an email tracker?
There are two easy giveaways:
- When you hover on a link in an email and it seems to be a link wrapped in another link with some hashed ids lined up behind it, then you’re looking at a tracked link.
- When you see a little image that is loading or hasn’t loaded at the exact end of an email, that is probably an email open tracking pixel. You can always verify this by inspecting the original message or code of the email. That way you can also find out what tracker they’re using.
Want to dig deeper into the differences? Just ask our team using the chat on salesflare.com. We’re here to help 😁
We hope you liked this post. If you did, spread the word!
👉 You can follow @salesflare on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.