Gmail API

  • Gmail API — Full Profile ( 2026-09)

    Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Google LLC is a publicly traded entity under Alphabet Inc., listed on NASDAQ under tickers GOOGL and GOOG. First launched in 2004, Gmail ushered in its official general availability API in 2014, superseding the legacy Gmail Atom and IMAP-proxy interfaces. Classified as a public-traded platform primitive, Gmail belongs to the same ecosystem bucket as Google Sheets AI and Facebook Ads API. As a core internal API surface of a public tech conglomerate, it is not a standalone independent company, non-VC-backed, non-acquired, and non-bootstrapped. Google rolled out the first-party preview MCP server for Gmail, accessible at gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1 as part of the Google Workspace Developer Preview program. The implementation features a limited toolset of 10 core capabilities with draft-only functionality and no message-sending permissions, adopting strict OAuth-only authentication with no support for service accounts. Ecosystem-wise, Gmail’s MCP offering clusters with Google Sheets AI under the first-party preview cohort. It is clearly differentiated from fully stable dual-GA vendors such as n8n, GA-qualified first-party server providers including Klaviyo, Databox, Feedly and Slack, beta-stage first-party tools like Typeform, Composio-exclusive vendors such as Nanonets, and zero-first-party MCP platforms represented by Documenso.

    Website

    Field Value
    Official Website https://developers.google.com/gmail/api · MCP preview: developers.google.com/gmail/api/guides/mcp · quota: developers.google.com/gmail/api/v1/reference/quota · REST ref: gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1 · MCP host: gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1 (EU mirror via googleapis.com/eu endpoint family)
    Company Google LLC, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL); Gmail 2004, Gmail API 2014; public-traded platform-primitive; covers 3B+ mailboxes (personal + Workspace); SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / GDPR / HIPAA-BAA on Workspace Enterprise; Cloud-only, no on-prem
    Status REST API GA since 2014; MCP server Developer Preview since 2026​ (Workspace MCP program, not GA); quota model shifting to billable-over-threshold late 2026
    Category ai-productivity-data
    Pipeline Stage none

    Title

    Field Value
    Product Gmail API (REST) + Gmail MCP server (preview)
    Descriptive Title
    Google Gmail (Alphabet/GOOGL) is a public platform-primitive REST mailbox service for 3B+ Workspace accounts, GA since 2014, featuring full OAuth 2.0 auth, comprehensive mailbox object control, polling-free Pub/Sub push, batching and tiered quota metering with 80M daily free units and late-2026 Cloud overage billing. Its 2026 first-party preview MCP server at gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1 provides 10 draft-only label/thread/draft tools with OAuth-only access, clustering with Google Sheets AI preview MCP and differentiated from stable GA, beta, Composio-only and zero-MCP vendor stacks.
    One-line Positioning App requests Gmail scope (gmail.readonly / gmail.modify / gmail.send) → user OAuth-consents → REST calls read/send/label/sync mailbox or Pub/Sub fires on change → Claude/Cursor mount gmailmcp.googleapis.com preview to search+drafft but cannot send (human must send draft); REST free under 80M quota-units/day/project, over-threshold bills to Cloud account late-2026 (reverse Nanonets block-run, reverse Databox AI-credit, reverse Motion per-seat); ownership GOOGL public (same as Sheets AI / FB Ads API primitive bucket).

    Features

    Field Value
    REST Surface messages (get/insert/import/send/delete/batchDelete/modify/attachments), threads (get/list/trash/modify), drafts (get/list/create/update/send), labels (CRUD), history.list (incremental sync via historyId), settings.* (filters, forwarding, send-as, delegates, vacation, IMAP/POP), users.watch (Pub/Sub push, 7-day renew), profiles ; batch HTTP up to 100 req ; nextPageToken opaque 500/page
    Auth OAuth 2.0 Auth Code (user-present), Service Account + Domain-Wide Delegation (Workspace admin), JWT Bearer (headless), scopes gmail.readonly / gmail.modify / gmail.compose / gmail.send / gmail.insert / gmail.labels ; CASA Tier-2 assessment for sensitive scopes in production ; no API-key auth for mailbox
    Push / Sync users.watch → Cloud Pub/Sub topic, no IDLE/polling, historyId checkpoint resume; 429 exponential backoff (max 64s)
    MCP (first-party preview) https://gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1 — Workspace Developer Preview, streamable HTTP, OAuth-only (gmail.readonly+gmail.compose), 10 tools: search_threads(10) / get_thread(40) / list_labels(1) / create_draft(10) / list_drafts(5) / label_message(10) / unlabel_message(10) / label_thread(10) / unlabel_thread(10) / create_label(5) — NO messages.send, NO trash/delete, NO settings, NO attachments, NO history sync, NO service-account; query-cost quota 1.2M/min/project, 6K/min/user/project
    Quota Model Per-method quota units (messages.get 20, send 100, drafts.send 100, threads.get 40, watch 100); 1.2M units/min/project, 6K/min/user/project, 80M units/day/project free threshold, over-threshold → Google Cloud billing late-2026 (90-day notice)
    Security OAuth scope最小权限, CASA Tier-2, Workspace admin audits, SAML/Context-Aware Access on Workspace, BAA on Enterprise

    Pricing (2026-09, free under 80M quota-units/day/project, then Cloud-billed)

    Field Value
    Standard Use $0​ — all Gmail API methods free under 80,000,000 quota-units/day per Cloud project; typical SaaS (1K users × 50 reads/day) uses ~5M units, well under threshold
    Over-Threshold (late 2026) Google Workspace standardized API model: exceeding daily threshold charges Google Cloud billing account, per quota-unit tiered (details 90-day-notice before effective); quota-increase requests require billing enabled
    MCP Server Preview Same 80M-unit/day pool but measured in “query cost” (search_threads=10, get_thread=40, create_draft=10…); preview currently no separate charge but counts toward project quota
    Workspace Seat (not API fee) Gmail API itself free; underlying mailbox needs Workspace seat (14 Standard / $22 Plus) or free consumer Gmail — API does not add per-call fee today
    Type free-under-daily-threshold-then-cloud-metered; reverse Nanonets block-run, reverse Databox AI-credit, reverse Motion per-seat, reverse Qualtrics per-interaction; no per-envelope, no per-seat-on-API
    Note 2026 quota adjustments (May 1) tightened new-project defaults; existing projects grandfathered 60 days; production apps with sensitive scopes need Google app verification (3+ wks) + CASA

    Reviews

    Field Value
    G2 No standalone “Gmail API” G2 row​ — G2 rates Gmail consumer product 4.6/~47K (Feb 2026 seek4.io aggregate), not the developer API; print no-rated-b2b-profile-api-surface (same rule as Facebook Ads API / Sheets AI primitive / MonkeyLearn-standalone / FFmpeg)
    Capterra Gmail consumer 4.8/~13K aux; no Gmail API developer profile​ → no-rated-b2b-profile-api-surface
    Trustpilot Gmail consumer 1.7/~1.5K (support/bans anger), B2C not API → no-rated-consumer-profile-excluded (aligns FB-Ads-API/Sheets-API/Documenso)
    Dev / API indices API Evangelist Kin 53.3/100 (Gmail) “developing”, agent-readiness 31 “agent-aware”, MCP Server artifact 0/12 satisfied (pre-MCP-era score, predates 2026 preview); Scalekit Jun 2026 “MCP preview draft-only no send is hard ceiling”; Nylas Jul 2026 “REST + Pub/Sub still only production-grade path”; Unipile “250 list/get per sec/user, 1B units/day legacy framing updated to 80M 2026”
    Editorial Stack Overflow 14K+ tagged Qs, high dev mindshare; gripes OAuth verification friction, CASA cost, quota-unit opacity, MCP preview too thin for agents-that-send
    Praise Labels+threads+history sync+Pub/Sub push unmatched for Gmail-only stacks, free under 80M units/day, service-account+DWD for Workspace headless, scope granularity better than IMAP full-mail scope
    Gripes Gmail-only lock-in (no Outlook/IMAP), OAuth app verification 3wk+CASA Tier-2 for sensitive scopes, MCP preview cannot send (dealbreaker for autonomous agents), quota-unit math opaque, 2026 threshold→billable shift erodes “free” assumption, no SLA on free tier

    Review Sources Breakdown

    Field Value
    G2.com 4.6/5 ~47K is Gmail consumer product, NOT Gmail API → no-rated-b2b-profile-api-surface
    Capterra 4.8/5 ~13K Gmail consumer, no API row → no-rated-b2b-profile-api-surface
    Trustpilot 1.7/5 ~1.5K Gmail consumer support, excluded
    API Evangelist / Scalekit / Nylas / Unipile / Stack Overflow dev-sentiment only, not star; Kin 53.3 “developing” directional
    Conclusion​ Prints “no G2/Capterra/TP API-surface star, Gmail consumer 4.6/4.8/1.7 not attributable, dev consensus REST production-grade MCP-preview draft-only-thin” — aligns FB-Ads-API / Sheets-AI / MonkeyLearn-standalone rule (platform primitive / young-OSS-infra not bought-SaaS G2-rated)

    Access

    Field Value
    REST Endpoint https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/{userId}/messages... Bearer OAuth token; batch via batch/gmail/v1 multipart ; Cloud Console project + enable gmail.googleapis.com
    SDKs Google API Client (Node/Python/Java/Go/C#/PHP/Ruby), gapi (browser), @googleapis/gmail (TS), Postman collection
    MCP First-party preview​ gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1, enable gmail.googleapis.com + gmailmcp.googleapis.com in Cloud project, OAuth consent screen, mount in Claude/Cursor/Antigravity; 10 tools draft-only
    Webhooks users.watch → Cloud Pub/Sub topic topics/gmail fires historyId not payload, client must messages.list since historyId
    Service Account Workspace only, Domain-Wide Delegation admin-granted, impersonate user; MCP preview does NOT support service account​ (user-present OAuth only)
    Self-host None​ — Google-managed only, no on-prem/air-gap variant

    Best For

    Field Value
    Audience 1 SaaS apps needing authenticated read/send/label on user Gmail (consumer + Workspace) with incremental history sync
    Audience 2 Workspace-orgs building internal tools with service-account+DWD (headless mailbox ops, no user-present)
    Audience 3 Backup/index/migration tools leveraging threads+labels+historyId (better than IMAP X-GM-THRID)
    Audience 4 Agent builders in preview phase who only need Claude to search+draft (human sends) — MCP preview sufficient
    Audience 5 CRM/helpdesk ingesting Gmail with Pub/Sub push (no poll loop)

    Not For

    Field Value
    Exclude 1 Autonomous agents that must send/trash/modify without human review — MCP preview draft-only, REST needs orchestration+verification overhead; use RESend/Postmark for pure send
    Exclude 2 Multi-provider email (Gmail+Outlook+IMAP) — Gmail API is Google-locked; use Nylas/Unipile/IMAP abstraction
    Exclude 3 Zero-OAuth embedded devices — no API-key path, must OAuth or use SMTP/IMAP instead
    Exclude 4 Buyers needing MCP GA with send+settings+service-account — 2026 preview not there yet (distinct from n8n/Databox GA)
    Exclude 5 On-prem/air-gap mail processing (Cloud-only)
    Exclude 6 Teams unwilling to pass Google app verification + CASA Tier-2 for sensitive scopes (production blocker 3+ wks)

    Competitors

    Field Value
    Microsoft Graph (Outlook/M365) Parity read/send/delta-sync/change-notifications; Azure AD auth, no Gmail coverage, OData $search, 10K/10min tenant default; enterprise B2B stronger, consumer weaker
    IMAP (RFC 9051) + SMTP Universal provider coverage, no vendor lock, but no labels/threads/history/push (IDLE only), MIME parsing yours, Gmail needs OAuth2 + app password
    Nylas / Unipile / EmailEngine Unified API abstracting Gmail+Outlook+IMAP behind one OAuth; Nylas CLI nylas email list/send; cost per-platform markup, less raw control than native Gmail API
    Postmark / Resend / SendGrid Send-only transactional, not mailbox-read; pair with Gmail API if you only need outbound at scale
    Gmail MCP (official preview) Not competitor — subset of Gmail API for agents, draft-only

     

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