The best Gmail extensions

Gmail has features many people never use, and they may be all you need. They're free and work in Gmail on your computer:

What Gmail can't do is insert a reply when you type a shortcut, or ask you for the details that change in every email. We compare both in Gmail templates vs text expander and walk you through it in How to create text shortcuts in Gmail.

With NexoPad you save the replies you repeat most and insert them by typing a shortcut, like /refund, in a new email or a reply. If the text has details that change, like the order number or the amount, NexoPad opens a form next to it with a preview of the final text, so you can check it before inserting.

When you reply to an email, the {{first_name}} variable fills in the name of the person who wrote to you. On the free plan, this name capture only works in Gmail. With per-site shortcuts you can make a shortcut work only in Gmail, or keep a formal /greeting for email and a friendlier one for WhatsApp Web. And if you need something you jotted down while you're writing, Ctrl+K searches your notes without leaving the email.

Pros: fast, with variables on the free plan too, and your shortcuts work on any website, not just Gmail. Cons: NexoPad doesn't schedule emails, doesn't tell you whether an email was opened and isn't a CRM; the other extensions on this list cover that. To compare it with other text expanders, see the best text expanders.

Grammarly checks your writing as you type: spelling, grammar, punctuation and tone. In Gmail it underlines mistakes and suggests fixes, and its AI helps you rewrite a sentence. It started in English and since 2025 also corrects Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and Italian. It has extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.

Pros: the free plan already fixes mistakes and gives you 100 AI prompts a month. Cons: full-sentence rewrites and tone adjustments are Pro features. For other options, see our Grammarly alternatives.

Boomerang is one of the longest-running Gmail extensions. You can write an email now and schedule it for later, have a message come back to your inbox if nobody replies, send recurring emails and pause your inbox (Inbox Pause) so new mail doesn't distract you while you focus. It includes Respondable, an AI that tells you how likely your email is to get a reply.

Pros: it goes further than Gmail's Schedule send, especially with reminders when nobody answers, and it works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and Opera. Cons: the free plan only gives you 10 message credits a month, so if you use it daily you'll end up paying.

Mailtrack adds a double check mark to Gmail, like messaging apps: one check when the email is delivered and two when it's opened. It alerts you right away and sends you a daily report. It's a Chrome extension and is now part of Mailsuite.

Pros: tracking is free and unlimited. Cons: on the free plan your emails carry a Mailsuite signature and you only see the first open. It's also not 100% accurate, because it depends on the recipient's email app loading images. Use it respectfully: not everyone likes others knowing when they read an email.

Streak turns Gmail into a CRM: you organize clients, deals or candidates in stages (for example, "Contacted", "Proposal" and "Closed") without leaving your inbox, and every email stays linked to its record. It's a great fit for small sales, support or hiring teams that work from Gmail.

Pros: no new tool to learn and no copying emails into a CRM by hand. Cons: the free plan doesn't include the CRM, only email tracking and text snippets. The CRM starts on the Pro plan, at $49 per user per month billed annually.

Simplify Gmail hides what you don't use and makes Gmail cleaner and easier to read. You can group emails with the same label into a single row, save frequent searches, pause your inbox, block email trackers and use dark mode. It has extensions for Chrome and Firefox.

Pros: it really changes how Gmail feels, especially if your inbox stresses you out. Cons: it's only free for the first month; after that you need a paid plan. More ideas in How to organize your inbox.

Checker Plus notifies you of new emails and lets you read, archive or delete them from a small window, without opening Gmail. It works with several accounts at once, can read notifications aloud and also opens in Chrome's side panel.

Pros: very handy if you have several accounts or don't want Gmail open all day. Cons: it's free, but some extra features are unlocked with a contribution to the developer.

If you use your inbox as a to-do list, Todoist helps you clear it: open an email, click the Todoist button and the email is saved as a task, with a link to get back to it when it's time.

Heads up: the old "Todoist for Gmail" extension was retired on June 30, 2026. Now you use the regular Todoist extension for Chrome, which already works in Gmail, or the Google Workspace add-on, which also works in the Gmail mobile app.

Pros: your to-dos leave the inbox and don't get forgotten. Cons: it's only worth it if you already use Todoist or want to start.