Compare · Free tools
Inbox preview vs. Litmus
Litmus is a full email testing suite. Inbox preview does one job for free: it shows your email in real Gmail and Outlook.com inboxes. Here’s how to tell which one you need.
| Letterhead Inbox preview | Litmus | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Not listed. Litmus’s pricing page sends you to its sales team. |
| Signup | None | An account |
| Inboxes | Gmail and Outlook.com on the web, desktop and phone width | Many more email clients and devices |
| Gmail clipping | Marked on the screenshot | See Litmus |
| Limit | One preview a day | Depends on the plan |
| Best for | A quick check that Gmail and Outlook.com show your newsletter the way you built it | Teams that test across many clients and devices as part of a bigger workflow |
Litmus pricing as shown on litmus.com/pricing, checked November 3, 2026.
Try it
See your email in real inboxes.
Paste your email’s HTML and we’ll photograph it in our own Gmail and Outlook.com test inboxes, on a desktop screen and at phone width, and tell you whether Gmail clipped it. Free, no signup.
Choosing
When the free check is enough
If what you need to catch is Gmail’s clip, broken images or a layout that falls apart in a narrow window, and your readers are mostly on Gmail and Outlook.com, a free preview in those real inboxes covers it.
Pay for a full testing suite when you need to see many clients and devices for every send, or when testing is part of a bigger approval workflow for a team.
Use it with the other free checks
Run your HTML through Preflight for links, readability and weight, and check your sending domain’s DMARC, SPF and DKIM. All free, no signup.
In Letterhead, the weight check runs while you write.
The composer weighs every issue and shows what’s making it heavy, so you can trim before Gmail clips it.
| The old way | In Letterhead |
|---|---|
| Learn that Gmail clipped you from a reader’s reply. | The composer weighs every issue and shows what’s making it heavy, before you send. |
| Trim the HTML by hand to get under the limit. | Letterhead strips redundant styling from what it sends, so it goes out lighter than you wrote it. |
FAQ
Questions about Inbox preview and Litmus
Is Inbox preview really free?
Yes. No signup, one preview a day.
How much does Litmus cost?
Litmus doesn’t list prices on its site; its pricing page sends you to its sales team. Ask Litmus for a quote.
When should I pay for Litmus instead?
When you need to see many email clients and devices for every send, or testing is part of a bigger team workflow.
Which inboxes does Inbox preview cover?
Gmail and Outlook.com on the web, on a desktop screen and at phone width. Not the phone apps, desktop Outlook or Apple Mail.
The Letterhead Brief
You’re on the list.
The Brief lands once a week. Want these checks running on your own newsletter? Book a test drive →