Outlook vs Gmail: Which Is Better For Cold Email? (2024)

Both Outlook (Microsoft 365) and Gmail (Google Workspace) are great options for cold email.

You can even use both; you don’t need to limit yourself to just one option.

In this article, I will share the pros and cons of both email service providers:

• What is Outlook and Gmail?
• Is Outlook better than Gmail for cold emails?
• Should you use Gmail for cold email?
• Pros and cons of Gmail vs Outlook

Important Note: Do NOT use Zoho as your email service provider. Zoho has terrible deliverability, meaning that your emails will go to spam. You can learn more about why you shouldn’t use Zoho in my article Is Zoho Good For Cold Emailing?

What is Outlook and Gmail?

Outlook and Gmail are the two biggest email service providers.

When you send cold emails, you need to create an email account to send from.

It is very important that you create a professional email account that is associated with a domain (not a personal account).

I recommend that you create your professional email account(s) with either Outlook (Microsoft 365) or Gmail (Google Workspace) - or both.

A professional email address looks like [email protected]. This is not the same as using a personal email address (@gmail.com or @outlook.com).

You can learn how to set up a professional email account with your domain in my article How To Set Up A Domain & Mailbox For Cold Email.

Is Outlook better than Gmail for cold emails?

Outlook (Microsoft 365) is equally as good for sending cold emails as Gmail (Google Workspace).

You will have good deliverability with both Outlook and Gmail, meaning that both services will help your emails land in the primary inbox (not spam).

I usually use Gmail (Google Workspace) since Gmail is the largest email service provider in the world.

Your cold emails are more likely to go to the primary inbox (not spam) if the recipient is using the same email service provider as you.

This is because email service providers trust emails that are sent from their own email servers more than emails that were sent from external servers that they don’t control.

Since Gmail is the largest email service provider, most people in the world are using Gmail, so your deliverability will be slightly better if using Gmail as you are more likely to email people who also use Gmail.

I recommend that you use Emailchaser to send your cold emails because Emailchaser will automatically match your sender email accounts to those of your recipients.

When you create a campaign in Emailchaser, it will automatically ensure that all of your leads that have Gmail accounts will be emailed by your Gmail sender accounts. It will also match Outlook to Outlook.

Emailchaser allows you to connect as many sender email accounts as you want to a single campaign, allowing you to connect both Gmail and Outlook accounts, ensuring that you email your leads with the same email service provider that they use. This improves your deliverability.

Should you use Gmail for cold email?

Yes, you definitely should use Gmail (Google Workspace) for cold email.

Gmail is the largest email service provider in the world, making it the most trusted. Gmail has the best deliverability, meaning that your emails are more likely to go to the primary inbox.

I recommend that you do not use Zoho, since they have bad deliverability. You can learn more about this in my article Is Zoho Good For Cold Emailing?

Pros and cons of Gmail vs Outlook

There aren’t too many differences between Gmail and Outlook in the context of cold email.

Both services offer great deliverability, and are reasonably priced and easy to use.

In my opinion, the main con related to Outlook is that it has a more difficult user interface, making it harder to use. Also, Outlook is a little less popular (compared to Gmail), so Outlook’s deliverability might be slightly worse.

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

Both Gmail (Google Workspace) and Outlook (Microsoft 365) are great email service providers for cold email.

I recommend that you use both.

You can learn how to set up your email accounts in my article How To Set Up A Domain & Mailbox For Cold Email.

Once you have set up your professional email accounts (using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365), it’s important to send your cold emails with a specialized cold email software. You can find out which software to use in my article Best Cold Email Software: 40 Top Tools Compared.