Mozilla is working on new Thunderbird "Pro" email offerings and Thundermail

"This has been a long time coming," says Managing Director Ryan Sipes

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Something to look forward to: Some significant changes are coming to Thunderbird. Mozilla revived the free and open-source email client a few years ago and now is preparing to launch a new set of "Pro" add-on web services designed enhance the experience of using Thunderbird. One of these additions will be the Thundermail email service.

In 2023, Mozilla developers announced they were "remaking" Thunderbird's software architecture, aiming to modernize its crumbling and unsustainable codebase. The company later confirmed plans to add new paid professional features available to all Thunderbird users.

Mozilla Managing Director Ryan Sipes revealed that the new bundle of services is called "Thunderbird Pro," which includes several features including a new email service called Thundermail (think Gmail).

Initially, Thunderbird Pro will be offered for free to "consistent community contributors." Everyone else will have to pay for the Pro tier. However, once Thunderbird Pro establishes a sustainable user base, Mozilla may introduce limited free tiers.

Thunderbird was losing users regularly to "rich" ecosystems with local clients and remote services. Gmail and Office 365 are the main competitors. While these platforms lock their customers into their ecosystems, Thunderbird Pro will supposedly offer a 100-percent open source, freedom-respective alternative for those seeking and all-in-one experience.

Thunderbird Pro will include the following services:

• Thunderbird Appointment
• Thunderbird Send
• Thunderbird Assist
• Thundermail

Thunderbird Appointment is a scheduling tool that allows users to send a link to someone as an invitation to a calendar event. The service aims to streamline the process of arranging meetings. Sipes noted that he and his team were dissatisfied with the tools currently available.

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Thunderbird Send is a spiritual successor to Firefox Send, the file-sharing service Mozilla shut down in 2020. The development team has rebuilt the project to provide a more direct and efficient way to send files.

Thunderbird Assist is described as an experimental AI service. Sipes offered few details, suggesting it is still in early development. Users will reportedly be able to access some AI features via cloud processing through Flower AI, while more powerful devices may have the option to run models locally.

Finally, Thundermail is a new email service that will be an entirely separate offering from the Thunderbird desktop client. Sipes believes the revamped service can provide a better service than any of its competitors while adhering to Mozilla's core values and that is 100% open source. Thundermail will be built on the open-source software stack Stalwart. The email domain for Thundermail will be Thundermail.com or tb.pro

Correction: Our original story stated the Thunderbird client was being rebranded to Thundermail. This is not the case. We apologize for any confusion.