How to use multiple Gmail accounts on a Mac

Google lets you add several accounts to one Gmail session, but anyone with more than two quickly finds the limits: the account switcher reloads, notifications get muddled, and a link from one account can quietly open in another. Here are the common approaches, and where each one breaks down. If you want the background on why there is no official Gmail desktop app for Mac, start there.

1. Gmail's built-in account switcher

Add accounts under your avatar in the top right and switch with /u/0, /u/1, and so on. It's free and built in, but every switch is a full reload, it's easy to reply from the wrong account, and there's no at-a-glance view of unread across accounts.

2. Separate browser profiles

Chrome and other browsers let you create a profile per account, each in its own window. This keeps sessions cleanly separate, but you end up with a clutter of browser windows mixed in with the rest of your browsing, and it eats memory fast.

3. A different browser per account

Some people put work in Safari, personal in Chrome, and so on. It works for two accounts and falls apart at three. It's a hack, not a system.

4. A heavy multi-service app

Apps like Shift or Franz/Ferdium hold many web apps in one window, including Gmail. They solve the multi-account problem but bundle a full Chromium engine, so they're large and memory-hungry, and several charge a subscription. Our Shift alternative page goes into that trade-off.

5. A native email client

Apple Mail, Mimestream, and others connect to Gmail and show their own interface. Great if you want a different take on email, but it isn't the Gmail you know, and some Gmail features and the familiar layout aren't there. Mimestream is also a subscription. Kiwi for Gmail sits between the camps, a native shell with Google Workspace apps as separate windows, and the Kiwi for Gmail alternative page covers it.

6. A focused, native Gmail app: Smails

This is the gap Smails fills. It's a tiny native macOS app that keeps every Gmail account in one window, each in its own private, persistent session, showing the real Gmail interface. Switch with a click or ⌘1–9, no reloads. Links open in your default browser, and it can be your default mail app. Built on the WebKit engine already in macOS, so it's a couple of megabytes, not hundreds. Free with one account, a one-time $9.99 for unlimited, no subscription.

Which should you use?

For one or two accounts, Gmail's own switcher or browser profiles are fine. Once you're regularly switching between three or more, a focused app pays for itself in saved clicks and lost-context headaches. If you want the actual Gmail (not a rebuilt client), a light footprint, and a one-time price instead of a subscription, that's exactly what Smails is for. It is the same app on a PC, so the Gmail desktop app for Windows page is the Windows version of this one, the guide to multiple Gmail accounts on Windows covers the PC-specific options, and the comparison table lines Smails up against the named apps.