in the search for security, not all tools are equal
when it comes to viewing your sensitive email archives, security is paramount. you've wisely learned to avoid online tools that require you to upload your mbox file to a server, as this poses an unacceptable privacy risk. this search for a secure, private solution will inevitably lead you to "client-side" viewers—applications that run locally in your browser, ensuring your data never leaves your computer. two prominent options in this category are our own mbox viewer chrome extension and the mbox viewer offered by goldfynch.
we want to be transparent: goldfynch offers an excellent, well-made, and secure client-side tool. they correctly identify the importance of client-side processing for user privacy. acknowledging a strong competitor is important because it allows us to highlight the single, critical difference that defines the use case for each tool: a hard file size limit. this one limitation makes all the difference, especially for the vast majority of users dealing with archives from google takeout.
the common ground: a shared commitment to client-side security
first, let's acknowledge what both tools do right. both our viewer and goldfynch are built on a javascript-based, client-side architecture. this means:
- your privacy is protected: your mbox file is never uploaded to a server. all processing happens locally on your machine.
- no installation is required: both tools work directly in your browser, offering instant access without the need for downloads or admin rights.
- they are cross-platform: both work seamlessly on windows, macos, and linux.
on the surface, they seem to be functionally equivalent, providing a safe and convenient way to view your emails. however, the moment you try to use them for their most common and pressing purpose—opening a full gmail archive—a crucial difference emerges.
the achilles' heel: goldfynch's 512mb file size limit
goldfynch is primarily an e-discovery platform, a powerful, paid service for legal professionals. their free mbox viewer is a "lead magnet"—a useful tool designed to attract users to their ecosystem. as part of this model, their free viewer has a significant restriction, which they state on their site: it is only free for mbox files up to 512 mb. for any file larger than that, you are prompted to sign up for their paid service.
why is this 512mb limit so critical? because the number one reason people seek out an mbox viewer is to open their **google takeout archive**. a backup of even a moderately used gmail account spanning several years will almost always be far larger than 512mb. file sizes of 2.5gb, 10gb, or even 20gb are completely normal. this means that for the most common and painful use case, goldfynch's free tool is effectively unusable. it will fail for the very users who need it most, forcing them to either abandon the tool or pay.
goldfynch offers a great, secure viewer. but there's a catch: it's only free for files under 512mb. your google takeout archive is almost certainly too big for it.
our advantage: built for large archives from the ground up
this is where the mbox viewer chrome extension was designed to excel. we recognized that large files are not the exception; they are the rule. we built our viewer on a modern stream-processing architecture, allowing it to handle multi-gigabyte files locally in the browser without crashing. we do not impose an artificial file size limit on our free viewer.
let's compare the scenarios:
- you have a small, 100mb mbox file: both our viewer and goldfynch are excellent, secure choices.
- you have a 5gb google takeout archive: goldfynch's free viewer will reject the file and ask you to pay. our viewer will open it and allow you to browse and search your entire archive, for free.
the clear choice for google takeout users
while goldfynch is a great tool for small files, its 512mb limit makes it the wrong choice for anyone dealing with a comprehensive gmail backup. our mission is to provide a genuinely free, secure, and powerful tool that solves the biggest problems users face. that means handling the massive archives that other tools can't. if your mbox file is larger than 512mb, the choice is clear. we provide the industrial-strength solution without the restrictive limits.