Obsidian email plugins compared

The short answer

The right plugin comes down to two questions. Where does your mail travel on its way to the vault? And who decides what gets captured: you, one email at a time, or a rule that grabs a whole folder?

If you want to hand-pick emails from your phone or any email app, look at the forwarding plugins. If you want a folder mirrored and you'd rather no third party touch your mail, look at the IMAP ones.

Two kinds of email plugins

Forwarding address

You send or forward specific emails to an address. A service receives them and holds them until the plugin fetches them into your vault. Your mailbox is never connected, and you can send from any device with email. The trade-off is that your email passes through that service on the way.

IMAP

The plugin connects to your mailbox with your login details and pulls messages, usually by folder or unread status. No relay is involved. The trade-off is that the plugin holds credentials that open your mailbox, and these plugins are usually desktop only.

We go much deeper on the security side in forwarding address vs IMAP plugin.

The plugins, one by one

Everything below is based on each plugin's listing at the time of writing (November 2026). Listings change, so open the source link before you install.

Email to Vault

Email to Vault gives you a generated email address. In its Mail.tm mode, mail routes through the third-party mail.tm service, may be kept there for up to 7 days, and the listing itself advises against sending sensitive data. It also has an IMAP mode that connects to your own server, desktop only.

Best for: quick, free testing with mail that isn't sensitive.

Avoid if: privacy matters to you. In Mail.tm mode your email passes through a public disposable-mail service, and the plugin's own listing warns against sending anything sensitive.

Source, at the time of writing (November 2026): community listing and ObsidianStats.

mail-to-note

mail-to-note imports email you forward to a mail2note address. You connect it with an API key from the mail2note dashboard, notes go to a mail2note/ folder by default, and the plugin polls for new mail on an interval. The listing says it works on desktop and mobile and contacts only mail2note.com. We couldn't confirm its pricing, limits or retention, so check the mail2note site for those.

Best for: people who want a forwarding address with a setup much like ours. Compare pricing on their site.

Avoid if: you'd rather not depend on a young service without a proven track record. We couldn't find published pricing, limits or a retention policy to judge it by.

Source, at the time of writing (November 2026): community listing and ObsidianStats.

TaskRobin (Sync Emails)

TaskRobin's plugin saves forwarded emails and their attachments as dated Markdown files. You sync manually from a sidebar icon, and you'll need a TaskRobin account. The listing describes 7 days free, then a subscription. We couldn't confirm the price.

Best for: people already using TaskRobin for tasks.

Avoid if: you only want email in your vault. You'd be taking on a TaskRobin account and subscription for it, and syncing is manual from the sidebar.

Source, at the time of writing (November 2026): community listing and ObsidianStats.

Email Importer (IMAP)

Email Importer fetches unread mail from your IMAP mailbox and converts it to Markdown. It runs on desktop only because it needs Node.js. The listing is upfront that the IMAP password is stored in plaintext in the plugin's data.json file, and it recommends using an app-specific password.

Best for: desktop users who want mail to stay on their own server and are comfortable managing credentials.

Avoid if: you capture on your phone, or you don't want your mailbox password stored in plaintext in your vault's plugin settings.

Source, at the time of writing (November 2026): community listing and ObsidianStats.

Mailstone and MailDump (IMAP)

Mailstone imports the messages you move into a designated IMAP folder, and it keeps your password in Obsidian's secret storage. MailDump exports IMAP folders to Markdown and can ask for your app password each time instead of saving it.

Best for: folder-based archiving, where filing an email is how you say "keep this."

Avoid if: you'd rather not give a plugin access to your whole mailbox, or your workplace or university turns off IMAP access.

Sources, at the time of writing (November 2026): Mailstone listing, Mailstone on ObsidianStats and MailDump listing.

Send Email into Vault (Email2Obsidian)

This one is ours. You get a private ingest address, and we accept mail there only from your authorized senders: your account email plus up to 3 more, each verified. Attachments come through both as files and as embeds in the note, up to 25 MB. #tags at the end of the subject become note tags, and on Pro, @@VaultName routes the note to a specific vault. You choose the folder and template in the plugin settings.

The plugin fetches manually, on a schedule, or when your vault opens. We keep email content for up to 72 hours, on servers at Hetzner in Germany, then delete it. It's a hosted service with pricing from $0.

Best for: picking emails one at a time from any device and any email client, with tags and attachments handled for you.

Avoid if: you want every email from a Gmail filter to arrive automatically (Gmail auto-forwarding isn't supported), or your mail must never leave your own server, even for 72 hours.

View the plugin listing

A word on longevity

Hosted services can disappear. Email From Note, a hosted email-to-vault service announced on the Obsidian forum, was cancelled in 2025 before launch. It's a fair thing to weigh with any hosted option, including ours. One thing in every forwarding plugin's favor: the notes are plain Markdown files in your vault, so they stay put if you cancel or a service goes away.

For our part, Email2Obsidian is run as a company set up for the long haul, by an active, independent solo developer. Bug reports are routinely resolved within two to three days.

Comparison table

Which one should you choose?

Four questions get most people to an answer.

1. Do you want to choose each email yourself? Yes: look at forwarding plugins. No, you want a whole folder: look at IMAP.
2. Is the mail sensitive (client work, health, research)? Avoid disposable third-party mailboxes, and check each option's retention and sender rules.
3. Do you capture from your phone? A forwarding address works from any phone mail app, since sending an email is all it takes.
4. Do you want tags, attachments and multiple vaults out of the box? That's what Send Email into Vault is built for. See tags and vault routing from the subject.

What to check before you install any email plugin

Whatever you choose, run through this list first. It takes five minutes on the plugin's listing.

• Where does mail route? Your own server, the developer's service, or a third party?
  • Email2Obsidian: Mail arrives through our email provider, Resend, using its European region, and is stored on our own servers at Hetzner in Germany.
• How long is it kept before and after the plugin fetches it?
  • Email2Obsidian: At most 72 hours, long enough for your plugin to fetch it, then it's deleted.
• Who can send to the address? Anyone who learns it, or only you?
  • Email2Obsidian: Only your authorized senders: your account email plus up to 3 more, each verified. Everything else is ignored.
• Where are credentials stored? Plaintext in the vault, secret storage, or asked for each time?
  • Email2Obsidian: There's no mailbox password. The plugin uses an API key that expires after 3, 5 or 12 months.
• Desktop, mobile or both?
  • Email2Obsidian: Both. The plugin works on desktop and mobile, and you can send from any email client.
• Are attachments supported, and how big can they be?
  • Email2Obsidian: Yes, both as attachments and as embeds in the note, up to 25 MB.
• What does it cost after any free period?
  • Email2Obsidian: Free for 10 emails with no credit card, then Starter at $2.49/month or Pro at $4.49/month ($48.49/year).
• When was it last updated?
  • Email2Obsidian: Actively maintained. Bug reports are routinely resolved within two to three days.

For our own answers to those questions, see how Email2Obsidian handles your email. Weighing a non-plugin route? We've also got Zapier and Make compared.

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