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Kolab Now review (2026): is it worth paying for?

Swiss-hosted email, calendars, contacts and tasks

Free trialEmailChecked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
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Kolab Now report card

2.2GPA

Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026

Best for hosted Swiss email with calendars

Kolab Now is Swiss-hosted email with calendars, contacts and tasks, starting at CHF 9.90 a month for a group account. The only plan we found is for groups, and its pricing page would not show readable text.

Who Kolab Now is for

  • Fits if you want hosted email and calendars for a group, kept in Switzerland
  • Works for people who'd rather not run a server for a small team

Who Kolab Now is not for

  • Skip it if you want a single-user plan, as only Group Account appeared in the signup data
  • Pricey if you count in dollars, since it's billed in Swiss francs and depends on user count
  • Skip it if you want apps of its own, as none are listed
  • Watch out: the pricing page would not render, so the price comes from the signup page data
See the alternatives

Why Kolab Now gets a 2.2

Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.

  • CValue for moneyCHF 9.90 a month is near the middle of what email services charge, and it's for a group account. We found no cheaper single plan.
  • CFree plan and trialFree for the first 30 days, per the signup page. Whether it wants a card isn't on record.
  • BFeaturesEmail, calendar, tasks, sharing, documents and a video room, with sync over standard protocols. The listing shows no gap in the job.
  • CEase of useNo store rating on record. You set up your own domain and add users, and phones and desktops sync through clients you pick.
  • CPlatforms and integrationsA hosted web service, with sync to Thunderbird, Outlook, eM Client and Apple apps. No apps of its own.

What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Kolab Now's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. The pricing page would not show readable text, so the price rests on the listing. How we review and grade.

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Kolab Now: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA

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Where Kolab Now stands among email apps

Kolab Now's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 29 of the 122 other email apps we grade, and level with 24.

It stands best on features (B, above 79 of 122) and worst on free plan and trial (C, above 9).

Each grade against the category

Every bar is all 123 email apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Kolab Now’s own letter is outlined.

  • CValue for moneyAbove 13 of 122, level with 53
  • CFree plan and trialAbove 9 of 122, level with 59
  • BFeaturesAbove 79 of 122, level with 43
  • CEase of useAbove 20 of 122, level with 73
  • CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 10 of 122, level with 46

Keep Kolab Now, or make your own?

Keep it

To replace Kolab Now you would be making an email client: sending, receiving, threading and searching years of mail. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.

That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 69 of the 122 other email apps grade higher. Kolab Now is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.

What you could make

  • Calendar and tasks: an app builder makes these well.

What you could not

  • An email client: sending, receiving, threading and searching years of mail.
  • Video calls.
  • It plugs into other products, Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook and eM Client among them.
  • Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations.
  • The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

What this rests on. Kolab Now’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.

What is Kolab Now?

Kolab Now is a hosted groupware service from Apheleia IT AG in Switzerland. It combines email, contacts, calendars, tasks and notes, with sync to phones and desktop clients over standard protocols. It is built on free and open-source software, and accounts can use a custom domain and add users from an admin panel.

Worth knowing

  • The pricing page did not render readable text; the price comes from the plan data the signup page loads.
  • Pricing is in Swiss francs, and the page says it depends on user count; other price steps were not found.
  • It is a hosted service only, with no apps of its own listed beyond sync to phones and desktop clients.
  • Only the Group Account plan appeared in the signup data, so no cheaper individual plan was found.

Key features

Email with security features
Aliases and identities, full-text search and tagging, spam and virus filtering, and PGP for end-to-end encryption.
Calendar and tasks
Schedule meetings with internal and external users, create recurring series, assign tasks and track their progress.
Standard-protocol sync
Uses IMAP, SMTP, Sieve, CalDAV, CardDAV and ActiveSync, so Thunderbird, Outlook, eM Client and Apple apps can connect.
Sharing within an account
Share mail folders, calendars and task lists with other users in your account, with granular access control.
Documents and video room
Attach files from online storage, edit office documents together and use a personal video conferencing room.
Swiss hosting
Data is hosted in Switzerland on dedicated hardware, and the company says it is not used for machine learning.

Kolab Now pricing

As of Nov 13, 2026, Kolab Now is a paid product with a free trial, starting at CHF 9.90 per month (Group Account).

Starts at
CHF 9.90 per month (Group Account)
Free plan
None
Free trial
Free for the first 30 days, per the signup page.
Group AccountCHF 9.90per month; the page says pricing is flexible by user countRecommended for 1 to 100 users, with your own domains and an admin area to add users. Billed in Swiss francs.

Read from kolabnow.com on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Kolab Now before you buy.

Pricing in detail

Works with

Kolab Now alternatives

All Kolab Now alternatives comparedAll email apps

Common questions

Does Kolab Now have an Android app?

No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Kolab Now is listed for Web.

Does Kolab Now have an iPhone app?

No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Kolab Now is listed for Web.

Is Kolab Now open source?

Yes. Kolab Now is open source, according to its own site.

Sources for this page

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.