ForwardThis vs Mailparser
Mailparser and ForwardThis both start with a forwarded email and end somewhere completely different. Mailparser is an extraction engine: you set up an inbox, write parsing rules that pick out the fields that matter, and every matching email that lands is turned into structured data and sent on to a spreadsheet, a CRM, a webhook or Zapier. ForwardThis has no rules to write. You forward one email, write what needs doing in plain English, and the work happens inside a connected app, with a confirmation and an undo. High-volume templated extraction favours Mailparser; varied one-off jobs favour ForwardThis.
ForwardThis and Mailparser, side by side
How it works
What comes out
Setup before it works
Built for
Runs without you
Pricing unit
Free plan
Paid from
Apps
Undo
Mailparser pricing and limits checked 5 September 2026.
Which one fits how you work?
Choose Mailparser if
The same email arrives every day. Order confirmations, lead notifications, shipping updates: once the rules are written, Mailparser runs that feed at a cost per email no per-job tool can match.
Explicit rules are the point. A parsing rule is written down and repeatable, so the same input gives the same output every time and a wrong result traces back to the rule that produced it.
The output belongs in a spreadsheet. Mailparser hands back XLS, CSV, JSON or XML directly, or pushes the fields through Zapier, Power Automate or a webhook.
Several formats have to be kept apart. Different email layouts route to different inboxes, twenty of them on the entry plan, each with its own set of rules.
The data is inside attachments. Mailparser reads text in PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, CSV, TXT and XML files, and pulls tables out of spreadsheet attachments.
Choose ForwardThis if
No two emails look alike. Parsing rules need a recurring format to lock on to, and a forwarded email carries its own instruction, so the next one can be nothing like the last.
The result wanted is a thing done, not a field extracted. Creating the task, filing the attachment, updating the record: Mailparser delivers the data and stops there by design.
The volume is low and the variety is high. Writing rules and standing up an inbox for a job that happens twice a month costs more time than the job does.
Someone needs to see and reverse what happened. ForwardThis replies with a confirmation of the work it did, and reversible work can be undone for 24 hours.
What a single forwarded email does
The trigger is the email you forward. There is no editor and nothing to design in advance. This whole job is one email. In Mailparser it would be an inbox and parsing rules written first.
Priya Raman
Re: Contract, one change and then done
northlight-msa-v4.pdf
Your instructions
Log the change on the Northlight deal in HubSpot, save this version to their folder, and remind me to chase the signature on Friday.
HubSpot
Log the contract change
Northlight Design deal
Google Drive
Save northlight-msa-v4.pdf
Clients / Northlight Design
Todoist
Set the signature chase
Friday
You receive a confirmation email once complete, with an undo button that works for 24 hours.
Setup in 30 seconds.
What is ForwardThis?
ForwardThis is an ops assistant for your inbox. It turns email into action, without the hassle. Compatible with over 145+ of the apps you use every day.
Works with any email
Compatible with any personal or professional email provider. Gmail, Outlook and more.
145+ apps
Works across all the apps you already use every day. With more being added every month.
Setup in seconds
No complex setup, apps to install or workflows to build. Sign up, forward, done.
Secure & private
ForwardThis only acts on the emails you send it, and no data gets retained after actions have been completed.
Try it with a real email.
Forward any work email to the address below and see what ForwardThis can do. No signup required.
Occasional product emails may follow.
FAQs
- Is ForwardThis a Mailparser alternative?
- It depends what the emails look like. For a recurring feed in a fixed format, no: Mailparser was built for exactly that and does it cheaply. For emails that vary, where each one needs a different outcome rather than the same set of fields, yes. Mailparser returns data. ForwardThis returns a finished job inside a connected app.
- Does Mailparser have a free plan?
- Not a permanent one. The pricing page offers a 30 day free trial with 30 credits and no credit card, after which the entry plan is $29.95 a month, or $24.95 a month billed annually, for 250 parsing credits and 20 inboxes. ForwardThis has a free tier that does not expire: 10 actions a month with every feature, then $15 a month for 100 actions.
- Does Mailparser do anything with the data it extracts?
- It moves it. Parsed fields go to Google Sheets, Excel, a CRM such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Pipedrive, a webhook, or onward through Zapier and Power Automate, and can be downloaded as XLS, CSV, JSON or XML. What happens to those fields after they land is the job of whatever receives them. ForwardThis has nothing downstream: the instruction written on the forwarded email is carried out in the connected app, and a confirmation comes back.
- What happens when the email format changes?
- Rules are written against a format, so when the format changes the rules are the thing that gets revisited. Mailparser makes that cheaper with an automatic rule generator that reads a sample email and proposes the rules, and with a library of rule templates for common senders. ForwardThis holds no rules at all: every email is read fresh alongside the instruction written on it, so a change of layout changes nothing.
- Can ForwardThis handle a few thousand emails a month?
- No. One forwarded email is one action, so a recurring feed at that volume is the wrong shape and the wrong price. Mailparser prices exactly that case in credits, from 250 a month upward, and the cost per email falls as the plans get bigger.
- Do emails have to be auto-forwarded to ForwardThis?
- No, and there is no forwarding rule to configure. The trigger is the email a person chooses to forward, so nothing runs unattended and nothing is processed without someone deciding it should be. Mailparser is designed for the opposite: mail arrives at its inbox and is parsed without anyone looking at it, which is the better design when the mail is identical every time.