Mailskin

Gmail's layout is one-size-fits-all. Mailskin gives you the controls Google never shipped — where labels sit, how much of a message preview you see, which senders always float to the top, and which threads have gone stale waiting for a reply. Every setting lives in Gmail's own side panel: no new tab, no dashboard, no login screen.

How it works

Mailskin runs as a content script that reads and restyles the Gmail page already open in your browser. It has no backend, uses no Gmail API, and requests no OAuth scopes — your inbox never leaves your machine. The only network call it ever makes is a license check against Polar's API, and only if you've entered a Mailskin Pro key. Settings sync through Chrome's own built-in storage sync, the same mechanism Chrome uses for your bookmarks — never a server we run.

Free — layout and customization

Label placement in 6 positions, snippet display from hidden to 10 lines expanded, compact label badges and attachment chips, label prefix shortening, six hand-tuned accent themes (Petrol, Teal, Jade, Slate, Indigo, Plum) with true light and dark variants, and a one-click "clean inbox" preset.

Pro — focus and privacy, $3.99/mo or $39/yr

A tracking-pixel blocker that recognizes 13+ known tracking services (Mailchimp, SendGrid, HubSpot, Mailtrack, Yesware, and more) and tells you exactly which sender it caught; VIP senders that star and surface messages from people you name; stale-email highlighting for threads still waiting on a reply after a threshold you set; and plain-text auto-label rules for senders Gmail itself never labeled.