=== CURRENT ARTICLE (slug: hunter-vs-mailtag) ===
Hunter vs MailTag: One Works, One Might Be Dead
You installed MailTag from some listicle you bookmarked two years ago. It stopped working. The extension icon grayed out, support emails bounced into the void, and now you're here wondering what happened. In the Hunter vs MailTag matchup, there's barely a contest - one tool is free and maintained, the other is likely a ghost.
Let's sort this out fast.
30-Second Verdict
Use Hunter MailTracker if you need free, reliable email open tracking for Gmail and you care about privacy. Hunter MailTracker doesn't require permission to read and manage your emails, and Hunter says it never accesses or stores your emails' subject, recipients, location, or content.
Skip MailTag. G2 flags the profile as inactive for over a year, and reviews mention the extension breaking with support nowhere to be found. Paying $10-13/mo for a tool that might not exist next month is a bad bet.
Feature Comparison at a Glance
| Feature | Hunter MailTracker | MailTag |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan: 20 tracked emails/month (no signature) | $9.99/mo (annual) or $12.99/mo (monthly) |
| Tracking method | 1x1 invisible pixel | 1x1 invisible pixel |
| Gmail permissions | Doesn't require permission to read/manage emails; doesn't access or store subject, recipients, location, or content | Needs access to view email messages/settings, manage drafts & send emails, send email on your behalf, and view contacts |
| Key features | Open tracking, open count, device type, alerts/notifications | Tracking, scheduling, follow-up sequences ("Pings"), link-click tracking |
| Capterra rating | - | 3.7/5 (20 reviews) |
| G2 rating | - | 3.9/5 (11 reviews) |
| Product status | Active, maintained | Likely abandoned (G2 profile inactive 1+ year; reviews cite breakage) |
| Data retention | - | 3 years post-closure |
Email tracking only matters when you're reaching real inboxes. Prospeo's 5-step verification delivers 98% email accuracy across 300M+ profiles - refreshed every 7 days, not every 6 weeks. Snyk dropped their bounce rate from 35% to under 5%.
Stop tracking opens on addresses that don't exist.
Hunter MailTracker: What You Get
Hunter MailTracker is a Chrome extension that does one thing well: tells you when someone opens your email. It inserts an 1x1 invisible pixel into outgoing Gmail messages and reports back with open times and device type. It also shows how many times an email was opened, which is surprisingly useful when you're trying to gauge whether a prospect is actually interested or just happened to scroll past your subject line in a preview pane.
The free plan tracks up to 20 emails per month with no added signatures, and includes tracking history, email alerts, and Chrome notifications.
The privacy angle separates it from a lot of trackers. Hunter says it never accesses or stores your emails' subject, recipients, location, or content, and MailTracker doesn't require permission to read and manage your emails in Gmail. If you outgrow basic tracking, Hunter's broader platform starts at $34-49/mo for the Starter plan.
MailTag - What's Left of It
On paper, MailTag offered more than Hunter: unlimited tracking, email scheduling, automated follow-up sequences called "Pings," and link-click tracking. The Pro plan runs $9.99/mo annually or $12.99/mo monthly with a 14-day free trial.
None of that matters if the product is abandoned.
A Capterra reviewer in late 2022 wrote bluntly that the extension stopped working and they couldn't contact anyone - "I think they are out of business." G2 flags the profile as inactive for over a year. MailTag's privacy policy was last updated in mid-2021. Reddit users have described occasional false positive open notifications on emails sent 3+ days earlier, which is the kind of bug that erodes trust in your data fast.
Even when operational, MailTag required broad Gmail access for its scheduling and sequence features. Its privacy policy states that when you connect a Google account, MailTag may access Google account data including email, Contacts, and Calendar, storing a subset of it. It also collects recipient name, recipient email address, and email subject line for dashboard display and debugging. The EU addendum says it retains personal data for as long as you have an open account and for 3 years after you close it. If you want your data deleted, you're instructed to email Delete@MailTag.io - good luck getting a response from a company that appears to have gone dark.
Here's the thing: granting that level of Gmail access to a company that isn't answering support tickets is a risk with zero upside.
Fix the Upstream Problem
Most teams agonizing over email tracking are solving the wrong problem. We've worked with outbound teams bouncing at 35%+ who thought they had a messaging problem - they had a data problem. Open-rate data is meaningless when your list is full of dead addresses. If you're rebuilding your outbound motion, start with sales prospecting techniques that prioritize list quality and targeting.
Pair Hunter MailTracker for open visibility with Prospeo for data quality, and you've got a stack that costs $0/month on the free tiers while actually working. Prospeo's 5-step verification process - including catch-all handling, spam-trap removal, and honeypot filtering - means the emails you track are real inboxes belonging to real people. Data refreshes every 7 days compared to the 6-week industry average, so contacts don't go stale between campaigns. One of our customers, Snyk, dropped their bounce rate from 35-40% to under 5% after switching - that's the difference between tracking noise and tracking signal.
If you're seeing bounces climb, use a proper email bounce rate diagnostic before you blame copy or timing. And if you're sending at scale, keep an eye on email deliverability fundamentals so tracking data stays trustworthy.
MailTag is dead and Hunter tracks opens - but neither fixes bad contact data. Prospeo finds and verifies professional emails at $0.01 each with catch-all handling, spam-trap removal, and honeypot filtering built in. Pair it with any tracker for a stack that actually works.
Fix the data first. Open rates follow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MailTag still working in 2026?
Multiple signals suggest abandonment. G2 flags the profile as inactive for over a year, Capterra reviewers report the extension broke and support vanished, and the privacy policy hasn't been updated since 2021. Migrate to Hunter MailTracker or another actively maintained tracker now.
Is Hunter MailTracker really free?
Yes. It tracks up to 20 emails per month at no cost with no added signatures. Paid plans start at $1.99/month for higher volume. There's no trial period - the free tier is permanent.
What if I need verified emails, not just tracking?
Prospeo verifies professional emails with 98% accuracy across 300M+ profiles, refreshed every 7 days. The free tier covers 75 emails per month - validate contacts before launching any outreach so your open-rate data actually means something.
Can I replace MailTag's scheduling and sequences?
Hunter MailTracker doesn't offer scheduling or automated follow-ups. For those features, look at Mixmax, Mailmeteor, or GMass - all actively maintained Gmail extensions with scheduling built in. Layer verified contact data on top and you won't miss MailTag.