Why You Might Be Looking for an Unroll.Me Alternative
When users look for an alternative to Unroll.Me, one of the most prominent reasons is privacy concerns. The statement on Unroll.Me’s main page, “We use your data to fuel our market research business, NielsenIQ,” is a legit reminder that when you use their service, you’re agreeing to let them collect and share data from your emails, like transactional info from receipts, with NielsenIQ for market research. This isn’t just hypothetical—back in 2017, it was revealed that Unroll.Me had sold anonymized data, such as Lyft receipts, to Uber without users knowing, which understandably stirred up privacy concerns.
But it’s not just about privacy. Users might also seek alternatives because:
- Unavailability in the EU: Unroll.Me doesn’t comply with GDPR, so it’s not an option for users in the European Union.
- Data security worries: While Unroll.Me anonymizes the data it collects, many users still feel uneasy about their email activity being used for research, even if it’s anonymized. Read more about it in Is Unroll.Me Safe?
- Limited unsubscribe capabilities: Unroll.Me doesn’t actually unsubscribe you from mailing lists. According to Unroll.Me's support page, when you click the Unsubscribe button, Unroll.Me simply moves emails from that subscription into a designated folder or label in your email account. The emails still arrive, but are filtered out of your main inbox. The problem is that your subscriptions remain active, continuing to take up inbox space. If you stop using Unroll.Me or disconnect it, all those emails can flood back into your inbox, creating a cluttered mess. This is because Unroll.Me doesn't truly cancel the subscriptions—it only hides the emails.
If you’re looking for a legit alternative with more focus on privacy, tools like Clean Email might be a better fit, as they don’t sell or share user data at all.
Why Clean Email is the Safer, Better Choice
Clean Email is a robust email management tool that has been around for over 10 years. During this time, it has cleaned over 5 billion emails, providing users with a reliable, long-standing solution for achieving inbox organization and reducing clutter.
Here’s why Clean Email is a better choice than Unroll.Me:
- Privacy Protection: Unlike Unroll.Me, Clean Email does not sell or share your data for market research. The app only loads your emails in full when you request it, if you choose to use the app as an email client. Otherwise, it only relies on metadata, such as subject lines and timestamps, to intelligently organize and sort your messages.
- Full Unsubscribe Process: When you unsubscribe from emails using Clean Email, it truly unsubscribes you from the mailing list at the source. This means you won’t receive emails from that sender again, even if you stop using the service. This contrasts with Unroll.Me, which only hides the emails without canceling the subscription.
- GDPR Compliance and Global Accessibility: Clean Email complies with international privacy regulations like GDPR, making it available to users globally, including the EU. Unroll.Me is restricted in many regions due to its failure to comply with these privacy standards.
Clean Email Replaces Unroll.Me’s Features
Clean Email offers alternatives to the features you might like in Unroll.Me, including how you manage subscription emails. While Unroll.Me provides a Rollup feature that consolidates your subscriptions into a single daily digest, Clean Email offers a Read Later feature. This allows you to move subscription emails out of your inbox and into a separate folder to review when you have more time, helping reduce inbox clutter without missing out on important emails.
For unsubscribing, Clean Email ensures complete removal from mailing lists, unlike Unroll.Me, which often just hides emails.
Additional Features Clean Email Offers
- Smart Folders: Clean Email automatically groups similar emails (like newsletters, social media notifications, and unread emails) into 33 categories, making it easy to organize and delete emails in bulk.
- Cleaning Suggestions: Clean Email’s Cleaning Suggestions learn from your behavior and help identify unwanted emails, streamlining your inbox management over time.
- The Screener tool offers an extra layer of defense against spam. Once enabled, it intercepts emails from new senders, letting you check them before they land in your inbox. This is really handy in reducing unwanted emails.
- Another useful feature is Auto Clean. It lets you make rules that instantly complete certain tasks to new email messages. For example, it can automatically mark promotional emails as read or move regular, less important updates to a certain folder.
- History of Actions: Clean Email keeps a detailed History of all automated and manual actions performed on emails, providing full transparency and control over what’s been done with your messages. This feature allows users to review or revert any actions taken, offering additional security and convenience.
- Because email privacy and security continue to be growing areas of concern, Clean Email now offers a feature called Privacy Monitor, which allows you to regularly check your email against known data breaches and security incidents. If your account has been compromised, you should take actions like setting up multi-factor authentication, making a new password, and more.
Cross-Device Functionality
Clean Email is fully functional across all devices—desktop, iOS, and Android. Actions taken on one device are synced across all others, offering a smooth and cohesive experience.
Web / MacOS / iOS App / Android App
Free Trial and Paid Subscription
Clean Email operates on a freemium pricing model. With a free account, you can:
- Clean up to 1,000 email messages, enabling actions such as moving or deleting messages, applying labels, and more.
- Try premium features such as Screener, Sender Settings, and Auto Clean for 14 days.
- Apply up to 25 unsubscribe actions for free.
While this app isn't entirely free, it offers value that justifies its cost. Post-trial, you have the choice to upgrade to a premium subscription which unlocks all the features and the freedom to manage more messages. This paid model doesn't involve earning revenue through selling user data or incorporating ads, ensuring a privacy-focused user experience.
Unroll.Me vs Clean Email
Both Unroll.Me and Clean Email aim to help you clean up your inbox, but they take very different approaches when it comes to privacy, features, and overall user experience.
Unroll.Me is a free service, making it appealing for basic email management. However, it only hides unwanted emails instead of fully unsubscribing you from mailing lists. On top of that, Unroll.Me has faced criticism for its privacy practices, including selling user data to third parties, which is a major concern for users who value their privacy.
In contrast, Clean Email offers a more robust solution with a strong focus on privacy. It doesn’t just hide emails—it completely unsubscribes you from mailing lists, ensuring those emails don’t reappear. Clean Email also provides a range of additional features like Auto Clean, Smart Folders, and Cleaning Suggestions, giving you more control over how your inbox is managed. Most importantly, Clean Email never sells or shares your data, giving users peace of mind.
If you're looking for a basic, free tool, Unroll.Me might work for you. But if you value privacy and need more advanced inbox management, Clean Email is the better choice for long-term organization.
Now, let’s dive deeper into a side-by-side comparison of their key features to help you decide which one fits your needs best.
Unroll.Me vs. Clean Email: A Comparison Table
 Clean Email |  Unroll.me | |
|---|---|---|
| Unsubscribe Feature | Unsubscribes from emails | Doesn’t actually unsubscribe, but blocks the sender and moves emails to Trash |
| Bulk Unsubscribe Option | Yes (on the web and mobile apps) | Yes (on mobile apps only) |
| Auto Clean Rules | Yes | No |
| Cleaning Suggestions | Yes | No |
| Pre-defined Filters | Yes (33 Smart Folders, and more) | No |
| Settings to apply to Senders | Block, Mute, Unsubscribe if mailing list; Deliver to, Star, and more rules | Only Unsubscribe (if a mailing list) |
| Digest | Read Later | Daily Rollup |
| Privacy | We only access the envelope and header information associated with your emails. https://clean.email/privacy | We access information from transaction-related emails that you receive to develop and prepare measurement products and datasets. https://unroll.me/legal/privacy/ |
| Email providers supported | Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, AOL, and any IMAP email service (log in directly with your email credentials) | Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, and iCloud (you’ll need to create app-specific passwords) |
| Platforms | Web, macOS, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android |
| Multiple accounts support | Yes | No (on the web) Yes (on mobile) |
| Available in the EU & EEA | Yes | No |
| Sharing data with third parties | No | Yes |
Is Unroll.Me Safe?
Unfortunately, Unroll.Me is not a privacy-oriented email unsubscriber. When you sign up for Unroll.Me, you become part of NielsenIQ’s online shopping panel and give the service permission to automatically recognize commercial emails and extract purchase information from them. That’s right! The app is analyzing the content of its users’ emails and sells the information it finds to make money.
Unfortunately for European users, Unroll.Me still doesn’t comply with all GDPR requirements, which is why users living in the EU can’t use it. EU users who had created an Unroll.Me account in the past are out of luck as well because all EU user accounts were deleted back in 2018.
“Unfortunately, our service is intended to serve users in the U.S. Because it was not designed to comply with all GDPR requirements, Unroll.Me will not be available to EU residents,” stated Unroll.Me. “We are truly sorry that we are unable to offer our service to you.”
It’s likely that Unroll.Me is unable to comply with all GDPR requirements because its parent company, NielsenIQ, shares users’ personal information with any other partners it chooses, as the small print of Unroll.Me’s privacy policy implies. The good news is that there are apps like Unroll.Me that offer the same features and capabilities while complying with all GDPR requirements.
Is Clean Email Safe?
The app’s algorithms analyze the envelope and header information associated with your emails that contain a subject line, sender and recipient information, dates, email size, and similar metadata. All analyzed data is automatically deleted from Clean Email’s servers after 45 days. This makes Clean Email the safest and overall best Unroll.Me alternative.
“They don’t have to sell your personal email data because they charge an honest price for their service,” says John Gruber about the Clean Email service.
When you give Clean Email permission to access your inbox, all access details remain fully encrypted, and you can revoke the permission at any time. Because it is a paid service, it doesn’t have to sell its users’ data just to stay afloat. In fact, its privacy policy clearly states that it never shares, gives away, sells, or otherwise uses user data, including but not limited to email addresses, content, and attachments.
The fact that Clean Email respects the privacy of its users shows when you compare Unroll.Me reviews with Clean Email reviews. Professional reviews and end-users alike choose Clean Email for being trustworthy and safe while bashing Unroll.Me for selling user information.
Their praise is well-earned because Clean Email passed Google’s strict multi-step verification process in May 2019, demonstrating its commitment to meeting the security standards necessary to minimize the risk of email data breach. Moreover, every year the app passes Google’s security assessment and third-party audit. This alone makes it one of the best Unroll.Me alternatives available.
With such an excellent Unroll.Me alternative as Clean Email, there’s really no reason to make serious privacy compromises and blindly trust some profit-seeking corporation to handle your personal information well.
Want to migrate from Unroll.Me to Clean Email? Read this guide on how Clean Email features work compared to Unroll.Me.
How to Delete Unroll.Me Account
If you want to stop using Unroll.Me, you can delete your user account and switch to Clean Email instead.
To delete your Unroll.Me account on the desktop:
- Go to: https://unroll.me/
- Click Log In in the top right corner of the page.
- Log in with your account.
- Click the Settings gear icon in the upper right corner and choose Settings.
- Scroll down until you see the Delete My Account option and click on it.
- Fill out the required information and confirm your decision to delete your Unroll.Me app account.
To delete your Unroll.Me account on the smartphone:
- Open the mobile app.
- Go to settings (click your profile picture on top).
- Select Mailboxes and choose the email address account you want to delete.
- Go to My Account and click Delete Account.
How to Remove Unroll.Me from Gmail
Here’s how to remove Unroll.Me from Gmail, with an extra tip if things don’t work out as expected:
- Log in to the Unroll.Me website or mobile app and delete your account following the steps described above.
- Next, go to your Google Account settings, navigate to Security → Third-party apps with account access, and revoke Unroll.Me’s access to your Gmail.
- If something goes wrong and emails are still being deleted after you’ve removed Unroll.Me, try temporarily disabling IMAP in Gmail. Some users have reported that disabling IMAP for a short time can stop the auto-deleting issue caused by Unroll.Me. You can do this by going to Gmail Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and selecting Disable IMAP.
Other Alternatives to Unroll.Me
When seeking alternatives to Unroll.Me, it's essential to explore all available options to ensure you find the one that fits your needs best. Here are three more Unroll.Me alternatives that have garnered attention for their functionality and user-friendliness:
1. Cleanfox
Type: Email unsubscriber only.
Platform: Web, iOS, Android
Price: Free
Unsubscribe feature: Cleanfox doesn't technically unsubscribe from newsletters. Instead, it automatically deletes incoming unwanted mailings to ensure you don't receive them again. Alongside deleting new emails from the selected senders, it can also move your old messages from those senders to the Trash.
If the sender persists in sending emails, Cleanfox directs those messages straight to your mailbox's trash. You can review and retrieve any blocked newsletters by clicking the Reverse action option at the screen's top right.
Unlike Clean Email, which is highlighted as the top Unroll.Me alternative, if you stop using Cleanfox, those emails will still find their way to your inbox.
Privacy Policy: https://www.cleanfox.io/en-GB/fox/privacy/
For the app to be free, Cleanfox extracts transactional data from user mailboxes to conduct statistical studies that are marketed with various economic operators, including companies, associations, schools, and universities.
Check out our article about why Clean Email is considered the best alternative to Cleanfox.
2. Mailstrom
Type: Email management service.
Platform: Web
Price: Starting from $9/month for 1 email account. Free trial is available: Inbox snapshot
(5,000 emails), managing up to 1,250 emails.
Unsubscribe feature: Mailstrom’s Unsubscribe feature lets you unsubscribe from mailing lists with one click if an unsubscribe address is available. If not, you have to unsubscribe through the sender's website in a new tab, doing the work yourself. Keep in mind that Mailstrom lets you unsubscribe from just one subscription at a time.
You have two choices: ‘Unsubscribe only’ (which keeps existing emails from this sender) and ‘Unsubscribe and delete’ (which removes existing messages from this sender).
Privacy Policy: https://mailstrom.co/privacy
Mailstrom's privacy policy is user-centric, limiting the use of user data solely to enhance or provide available features in Mailstrom, making it a privacy-conscious alternative to Unroll.Me. They steer clear from using user data for ad-serving purposes, including retargeting or interest-based advertising.
Check out our comparison of the most popular email tools: Clean Email vs. Mailstrom
3. Sanebox
Type: Email management service.
Platform: Web, iOS, Android (only for notifications)
Price: Starting from $7/month for 1 email account. 14-day trial
Unsubscribe feature: Sanebox introduces the SaneBlackHole feature, which, rather than unsubscribing, reroutes unwanted emails directly to the trash. When you move an email to the SaneBlackHole folder, future messages from that sender go directly to the trash. If you reconsider, simply retrieve the email from SaneBlackHole to correct it.
The downside of using Sanebox is that it doesn't actually unsubscribe from newsletters. Instead, it sends them to trash while you use the service. When you stop using Sanebox, you'll still receive these emails.
Privacy Policy: https://www.sanebox.com/privacy
Sanebox prioritizes user privacy by making sure emails don't leave your server and keeping all credentials safe. Their clear privacy policy ensures users that their data is kept private and not used for other reasons.
Check out our article about the best alternative to Sanebox.
4. Leave Me Alone
Type: Email unsubscriber
Platform: Web-only
Price: Pay-per-unsubscribe model or 7-day pass with full access to premium features. You can buy credits for unsubscribes (e.g., 50 unsubscribes for $2.50) or purchase a 7-day pass to use unlimited unsubscribes and other features.
Unsubscribe feature: It shows you a list of all your subscriptions, allowing you to unsubscribe from unwanted emails with a single click. You pay only for the unsubscribes you need, making it a flexible option for different inbox sizes.
Unsubscription limitations: While Leave Me Alone efficiently unsubscribes from most mailing lists, some lists may require manual actions if they don’t follow standard unsubscribe protocols.
Limited inbox management: Users can only access their email subscriptions through Leave Me Alone. The service doesn’t allow you to manage or view all your emails, meaning you won’t be able to organize your inbox or deal with other types of emails.
Privacy Policy: https://leavemealone.com/privacy/
Leave Me Alone emphasizes transparency and security. Sensitive data is encrypted, and no email content is stored on their servers.
Read more about why Clean Email is considered the best alternative to Leave Me Alone here.
Conclusion
Facing an overwhelming flood of emails, bulk email unsubscribers are truly indispensable tools that make it much easier to remain organized and productive. However, there are certain privacy and security implications of using an email unsubscriber, which is why you should always choose one that is guaranteed to respect your privacy and keep your personal information secure.
Clean Email is the best Unroll.Me alternative because it actually respects the privacy of its users and offers many extra features that Unroll.Me doesn’t have, such as the ability to completely automate email management and enhance your account’s protection level with the Screener and Privacy Monitor features.
Best Unroll.Me Alternative - FAQs
Does Unroll.Me sell your info?
Yes, Unroll.Me sells your information. When you use Unroll.Me, you consent to them accessing your inbox and collecting data from your emails, such as purchase receipts and subscription information. This data is then anonymized and sold to third parties for market research purposes, including to their parent company, NielsenIQ. This was highlighted in 2017 when it was revealed that Unroll.Me sold data, such as Lyft receipts, to companies like Uber without users’ explicit knowledge. That’s why we recommend all users choose one of the available alternatives to Unroll.Me instead.
Is Unroll Me safe in 2024?
This depends on how much you value your personal information. Unroll.Me will not cause viruses or hack your accounts, but if you prioritize keeping your information private, it may not be the safest choice. Unroll.Me continues to collect users' email data, such as receipts and transactional information, and anonymizes it for use in market research. This data is shared with their parent company, NielsenIQ, and potentially other third parties for business insights and marketing purposes.
Does Unroll Me actually unsubscribe from emails?
No, Unroll.Me does not truly unsubscribe you, instead, it blocks your subscriptions resulting in those emails landing in your Trash folder. On the contrary, Clean Email is one of the best Unroll.Me alternatives diligently ensure your unsubscription. It performs this by sending emails to the sender, employing unsubscribe links found in the email headers, and automating the unsubscribe form completion process.
How do I get rid of Unroll.Me?
To delete Unroll.Me, log in to your account and navigate to Settings. Then, select “Delete my Account.” Remove it from any web browser extensions and delete the app on your mobile devices.
Does Unroll.Me delete emails?
The app will delete any future emails from accounts that you have blacklisted using their service. However, the app will not delete emails you previously received from bulk senders.
Why is Clean Email a good Unroll.Me alternative?
Clean Email is an excellent alternative to Unroll.Me for one simple reason: it does everything Unroll.Me does without selling the personal information of its users to third parties. In fact, this app offers even more features than Unroll.Me, including an intelligent Screener feature and the ability to automate your email cleaning routine.
Is Unroll.Me legit in Europe?
No, Unroll.Me is not available in Europe. It doesn't comply with the region's GDPR regulations.
Is Unroll.Me free?
Yes, Unroll.Me is free to use. However, there’s a trade-off: the service collects and anonymizes your email data for market research purposes, which it sells to third parties like its parent company, NielsenIQ. So while it won’t cost you money, it does come at the expense of your data privacy.
Does Unroll.Me work?
Yes, Unroll.Me works as intended by helping you unsubscribe from unwanted emails and organizing your inbox with features like the Rollup. However, instead of fully unsubscribing, it only hides these emails, so you're still technically subscribed. Privacy concerns are also something to keep in mind if you're considering using this service.
What apps are like Unroll.Me?
If you’re looking for alternatives to Unroll.Me, some popular options include:
• Clean Email: It offers true unsubscribing, advanced email management features, and doesn’t sell your data.
• Leave Me Alone: Known for its privacy-first approach and intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
• Cleanfox: Helps reduce email clutter while promoting environmental initiatives, but has privacy trade-offs.
What does Rollup mean in Unroll.Me?
The Rollup feature in Unroll.Me is a way to group all the subscription emails you still want to receive into a single daily digest. Instead of getting multiple emails throughout the day, you’ll get one Rollup email that consolidates them, making your inbox more manageable.
