If you are surprised by the sudden appearance of a “Free Mode” button in the upper right corner of the main MailMate window then you probably missed this blog post. In short, a new pricing model was announced. This model has been enforced by the beta released the same day, December 22, 2024 (r6067+), and by all of the following beta (and test) releases. The change did not affect any of the many older releases of MailMate.

The new pricing model also affects existing regular license keys (sold since 2010). These license keys are still valid license keys, but MailMate would switch to its “Free Mode” if such a license key was more than 2 years old. This change was postponed such that it would not come into effect until after July 1, 2025, which happens to be today. In other words, most of the existing regular license keys have switched to “Free Mode” today.

Based on some of the feedback I’ve gotten today I’d like to answer some common questions:

  • How do I get rid of the “Free Mode” button?

You do this by starting a subscription, but make sure you read the boxed note. It’ll be easier for you if you “link” the subscription to your existing license key. Alternatively, see the final question on this page.

  • I thought I had a lifetime license key?

I believe this is a misunderstanding based on the fact that there has never been a paid upgrade of MailMate. It just felt like a lifetime license key. (It might also be because some other email clients offered lifetime license keys.)

  • Didn’t you promise that MailMate 2.0 would be a free upgrade?

Yes, I did do that a long time ago. Given an average version update schedule, MailMate would be far beyond version 2 by now. I don’t think it’s fair to assume that this promise would include more than a decade of MailMate development, but if you feel strongly about this then write me via “Help ▸ Send Feedback” and I’ll provide you with a license key that’ll work in “Paid Mode” until I’ve bumped MailMate to version 3.0. Update: I realized that technically I cannot actually do that, but let me know what you would feel is a fair compromise with respect to extending the lifetime of the license key.

Also note that the “Free Mode” doesn’t really limit your use of MailMate. Your license key has essentially become a lifetime license key, but I do of course try to encourage users to support continued development. The “Free Mode” button is part of that and I might do more in the future.

  • I already have a subscription (or I was a patron in the old support system), but MailMate switched to “Free Mode” anyways?

Write me a feedback email via “Help ▸ Send Feedback” in MailMate and I’ll help resolve the issue. It’s most likely because you have multiple license keys for MailMate.

  • I cannot or do not want to have a subscription, do you have an alternative?

You can configure and buy a time-limited license key if you like via this page, but the pricing is the same. Also, you’ll need to replace the license key in MailMate every time you do this. I expect to change/improve that in the future (at least for site license keys).

  • How do I get rid of the “Free Mode” button without paying you?

Right now, you can downgrade to the last test release of MailMate which did not include the new pricing model. You do this by manually downloading MailMate r6065 and replacing your current (newer) install of MailMate. Make sure you also disable downloading new beta releases in the Software Update settings pane.

I’ll be looking into how to handle it when MailMate (some day in the future) goes out of its current public beta state.