The Thunderbird developers plan to compete with Gmail and other email clients by offering paid “pro” services, including @thundermail.com addresses and new services such as a meeting planner, file sharing tools, and some artificial intelligence features called Thunderbird Assist. You can join the beta waiting list by going to thundermail.com, which is the domain for email addresses as well as @tb.pro.
Thunderbird managing director Ryan Sipes announced that the services were in development in a post on the Thunderbird Planning discussion group last Friday. However, it appears that the development is at a fairly early stage, and there are no announced tiers or prices yet, although Sipes said there will be both free and paid tiers. “Our goal is to eventually have a similar offering so that an alternative open source ecosystem that respects freedom is available to those who want it,” said Sipes.
Thunderbird is an open source email client that was launched in 2003 and developed in parallel with Mozilla’s Firefox browser. It lost ground with the emergence of Gmail and other web-based email services, but retained a loyal user base.
Mozilla stopped developing the original Thunderbird client in 2012 and handed it over to a community group. In 2020, after renewed interest and donations, the development was transferred to the Mozilla Foundation’s subsidiary MZLA Technology Corporation, which is engaged in modernizing the code base and developing mobile clients.
Thunderbird Pro services, including Thundermail, are late in coming and with very few details. Unlike Gmail and Outlook, Thunderbird has never offered an email service with its email client. In his post, Sipes said: “I’m convinced that all of this should have been part of the Thunderbird universe a decade ago. But better late than never.” It will also face off against popular Gmail alternatives such as ProtonMail and FastMail, but given the general rise in distrust of big tech and privacy concerns, it may not hurt to have more options.
