# Best Gmail MCP servers, compared > Five ways to give an AI agent access to Gmail over MCP, and the specific failure each one hands you. Web version: https://claw-link.dev/hub/gmail-mcp-servers Every option here works. They fail differently, and that is what actually decides which one you should use. The short version: Google's own server is the most trustworthy operator and cannot send email, self-hosting gives you full control and a token that expires every 7 days until you publish your OAuth app, and hosted options trade a broad permission grant for not having to run anything. Pick by which of those you can live with. ## The options ### Google's official Gmail MCP server (Official) Link: https://developers.google.com/workspace/gmail/api/guides/configure-mcp-server - **Requires:** Enrollment in Google's Developer Preview Program, plus a Google Cloud project and OAuth client. The server itself is remote and hosted by Google at gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1, so there is nothing to run. - **Best for:** Read-heavy assistants where Google being the operator matters, and teams already inside the Workspace developer programs. - **Watch out:** It cannot send email. The published tool list covers searching threads, reading a thread, listing and creating drafts, and adding or removing labels. An agent using it can draft a reply but not deliver it, which is the opposite of what most people mean by inbox automation. ### Community self-hosted Gmail MCP servers (Self-hosted) Link: https://www.pulsemcp.com/servers?q=gmail - **Requires:** Your own Google Cloud project, the Gmail API enabled, an OAuth consent screen, a downloaded client secret, and a process you keep running wherever the agent can reach it. - **Best for:** People who want to own the OAuth client outright, run everything locally, and modify the server's behaviour. - **Watch out:** The consent screen stays in Testing status unless you publish it, and Google expires refresh tokens for Testing apps after 7 days. That is the single most common reason a working setup dies quietly about a week later. ### ClawLink (Hosted) Link: https://claw-link.dev/openclaw/gmail - **Requires:** A browser. Install one skill, click Connect, approve on Google's consent screen. No Google Cloud project, no client secret, nothing running on your side. - **Best for:** Getting an agent reading and sending real mail in a couple of minutes, and for anyone who does not want to operate an OAuth client. - **Watch out:** The OAuth grant covers full mailbox access, the same reach a Gmail app password gives, because sending and labeling require it. It is revocable in one click at myaccount.google.com/permissions, but it is not a narrow scope and we will not describe it as one. ### Composio (Developer platform) Link: https://claw-link.dev/hub/composio-alternatives - **Requires:** An API key and SDK wiring, or their MCP endpoint. Built to be integrated into a product rather than installed by an end user. - **Best for:** Teams shipping an agent product who want one vendor across a very large catalog. Their Gmail toolkit advertises 61 tools and 2 triggers. - **Watch out:** It is developer infrastructure, so the setup assumes you are writing code. If you just want your own assistant reading your own inbox, it is more platform than the job needs. ### PulseMCP directory (Directory) Link: https://www.pulsemcp.com/servers?q=gmail - **Requires:** Nothing. It is a browsable index, not a server. - **Best for:** Seeing what exists right now. The MCP server list turns over quickly and a directory stays current in a way any written comparison cannot. - **Watch out:** Listing is not vetting. Anything you find there still needs the questions in this table asked of it: what does it require, what can it actually do, and how does it fail. ## FAQ ### Does Google have an official Gmail MCP server? Yes. It is a remote server at gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1, offered through Google's Developer Preview Program, and it inherits the same permissions and data governance controls as the signed-in user. Its published tools cover searching threads, reading a thread, listing labels, listing and creating drafts, and adding or removing labels. There is no send tool, so an agent can prepare a reply but not deliver it. ### Which Gmail MCP server can actually send email? The self-hosted community servers and the hosted options can. Google's official preview server currently cannot: it creates drafts. If your goal is an agent that replies to mail rather than one that prepares replies for you to send, that rules the official server out today. ### Why did my Gmail MCP server stop working after a week? Almost always the OAuth consent screen is still in Testing status. Google issues refresh tokens that expire in 7 days for apps in Testing, so a self-hosted server authorized against your own Cloud project stops receiving valid tokens about a week later. Re-authorizing buys another 7 days; publishing the app is the real fix. Hosted options do not have this problem because their OAuth client is already published. ### Do I need a Google Cloud project to use a Gmail MCP server? For Google's official server and for any self-hosted community server, yes: a Cloud project, the Gmail API enabled, an OAuth consent screen, and a client secret. Hosted services run the OAuth client for you, so you approve on Google's consent screen and skip the Console entirely. ### Is it safe to give an MCP server access to my Gmail? Judge it on two things. First, what the grant covers: anything that can send or label mail needs broad access, so treat claims of a narrow scope skeptically and read the consent screen. Second, where the credential lives: an OAuth grant you can revoke from your Google account is easier to contain than a standing app password sitting in a config file on a machine you are not watching. Also remember an agent reading your mail is reading text written by strangers, so keep a human between drafting and sending.