# Evolution review (2026): is it any good? > GNOME's free mail, calendar and address book app Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Evolution is the GNOME project's personal information manager, combining email, a calendar and an address book in one desktop application. It is free and open source, and is usually installed from a Linux distribution's packages or from Flathub. An optional add-on connects it to Microsoft Exchange servers. - **Category:** Email Apps - **Made by:** GNOME Project - **Website:** https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution - **Runs on:** Linux - **Who should skip it:** Not for you if you use Windows, macOS or a phone, as only Linux is listed. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Evolution is free to use. - **Pricing model:** Free - **Free plan:** The whole application is free software with no paid edition. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Evolution | $0 | Free and open source; install from your distribution, Flathub or the source tarballs. | Read from https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Evolution before buying. ## Key features - **Mail, calendar and contacts together:** One application covers email, calendaring and an address book, rather than a mail client alone. - **Exchange support:** The optional evolution-ews package connects to Microsoft Exchange servers through Exchange Web Services. - **Flatpak builds:** Flathub carries the latest stable version, and Evolution can also be built and run in Flatpak on older distributions. - **Source and manual:** Source code is published as tarballs and in GNOME's GitLab, and a user manual is available online. ## Good for - Linux desktop users who want mail and calendar in one app - People who need to reach an Exchange mailbox from Linux ## Worth knowing - The pages read list Linux distributions and Flatpak only; no Windows or macOS builds are mentioned. - Support is by mailing list, GNOME Discourse and IRC, not a vendor help desk. - Exchange access needs the separate, optional evolution-ews package. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.8 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Evolution is a free, open-source GNOME app that puts mail, calendar and contacts together, with Exchange support. It runs on Linux only, and Exchange needs a separate optional package. Support is by mailing list, Discourse and IRC. - **Value for money: A.** Free and open source with no paid edition. A program anyone can download and run counts as free and substantial. - **Free plan and trial: A.** Free outright: the whole app, with no paid edition and no trial. - **Features: B.** Mail, calendar and contacts together, Exchange support and Flatpak builds. Nothing on the pages shows a gap in the core email work. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You install from a distro or Flathub and connect your own accounts. - **Platforms and integrations: D.** The pages list Linux distributions and Flatpak only. No Windows, macOS, phone or web version. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Evolution's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among email apps - Evolution's GPA of 2.8 is higher than 48 of the 70 other email apps we grade, and level with 6. - It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 55 of 70) and worst on platforms and integrations (D, above 0). - Evolution has no paid plan. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/email ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** Evolution is free, so making your own would save you nothing. And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.8 is higher than 48 of the 70 other email apps we grade. - You could make: Calendar: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: An email client: sending, receiving, threading and searching years of mail. - You could not: A real app for Linux. Something home-made would be a web page. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Microsoft Exchange **Tags:** Email client, Calendar, Open source ## Alternatives - [Thunderbird](https://toolgpa.com/tools/thunderbird): Free, open-source email app for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/evolution-vs-thunderbird) - [Claws Mail](https://toolgpa.com/tools/claws-mail): Lightweight GTK email and news client, free under the GPL. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/claws-mail-vs-evolution) - [Betterbird](https://toolgpa.com/tools/betterbird): A fork of Thunderbird with extra features and bug fixes. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/betterbird-vs-evolution) - [Mailspring](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailspring): Open-source desktop email client for Mac, Windows and Linux. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/evolution-vs-mailspring) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/evolution Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).