As of 2026, Gmail schedules sends on its own for free, so the real reason to add Boomerang is everything Gmail still won’t do: boomerang a message back to your inbox, read receipts, recurring sends, and an inbox pause. I installed Boomerang for Gmail and tested every button in the compose window, and here is exactly how to use Boomerang for Gmail without burning through the free plan’s 10 monthly credits in a day.
What Boomerang Is in 2026
Boomerang is a browser extension and mobile app that adds scheduling, follow-up reminders, read tracking, and inbox controls to Gmail. Its signature feature is “boomeranging” a message: archiving it now and returning it to your inbox at a time you pick.
Boomerang bolts onto Gmail rather than replacing it. Per the Boomerang homepage, it ships Send Later, Boomerang (return-to-inbox), follow-up reminders, Respondable AI, and Inbox Pause, with read receipts and click tracking layered on top.
The thing worth understanding before you install anything: Gmail now does some of this natively. Built-in Schedule send has been free for years, which means Boomerang’s free tier is competing against a feature Google already gives you. So the question isn’t really “should I schedule emails” — it’s “do I want the follow-up loop, tracking, and inbox controls that Gmail leaves out.” That framing decides whether the install is worth it.
Install Boomerang and Grant Access
Open boomeranggmail.com in a supported browser, click Add to Gmail, install the extension, reload Gmail, and approve the access it requests. The Send Later and Boomerang buttons then appear in Gmail’s compose window and on individual messages.
Boomerang on desktop is a browser extension, so step one is being on a browser it supports. The homepage lists Firefox 38+, Chrome 5.0+, Safari 5.1+, Opera 15+, and Edge — in practice any current version of those is fine.
- Go to boomeranggmail.com and click Add to Gmail.
- Install the extension from your browser’s store when prompted.
- Reload Gmail. The buttons don’t show up until you do.
- Open a compose window once and grant the Google access Boomerang asks for — it needs permission to send and modify mail on your behalf to schedule and return messages.
That last step is the one people skip and then wonder why nothing works. If you’d rather scheduling stay inside Google with no third-party access at all, Gmail’s own native schedule-send feature is the zero-extension route. Boomerang’s value starts where that feature stops.
Schedule a Send with Send Later
Write your email, click Send Later in the compose window, choose a preset like “Tomorrow morning” or a custom date and time, and confirm. Boomerang holds the message and delivers it at that moment, even if your computer is off.
Send Later is the gateway feature and the one most people install Boomerang for. Compose as normal, then instead of hitting Send, click Send Later. You get quick presets (in two hours, tomorrow morning, Monday morning) plus a custom picker for an exact date and time in your timezone.
Because the send runs on Boomerang’s servers, it fires whether or not your laptop is awake — handy for landing a 7 a.m. email without setting an alarm. One caveat from testing: each scheduled send spends one message credit, and the free plan only gives you 10 a month, so don’t schedule trivially if you’re on Basic.
If you’ve ever fired an email a beat too early, pair scheduling with Gmail’s Undo Send window — they solve the two halves of “I didn’t mean to send that yet.”
Boomerang for Gmail — add it to Gmail free and test Send Later before you ever pay.
Boomerang a Message Back to Your Inbox
Click Boomerang on a message, choose when it should return (a set date, or a condition like “if no reply”), and Boomerang archives it now and brings it back to the top of your inbox at that time. This is the feature Gmail has no native equivalent for.
This is the one that gives the product its name, and it’s genuinely the reason to keep Boomerang past the novelty of scheduling. “Boomeranging” a message means: get it out of your face now, but have it come back exactly when it’s actionable.
Two ways I use it:
- On a sent email — set it to boomerang back only if nobody replies within, say, three days. If they reply, it stays gone. If they ghost you, it resurfaces at the top of your inbox as a built-in nudge to follow up. No spreadsheet, no manual reminder.
- On a received email — something you can’t deal with until next week? Boomerang it forward to Monday and it leaves your inbox until then. It’s snooze, but with conditions Gmail’s snooze doesn’t offer.
The conditional return (“if no reply”) is the part native Gmail simply doesn’t do, and it’s why sales and recruiting folks tolerate the credit model. Each boomerang also costs one credit, so on the free plan you’re budgeting these against your 10.
Read Receipts and Click Tracking
Tick the tracking checkbox in the compose window before sending. Boomerang then notifies you when the recipient opens the email, and with click tracking, when they click a link inside it. Both are paid-only features, not on the free Basic plan.
Before you send, the compose window offers a checkbox to track opens and, separately, clicks. Turn it on and Boomerang pings you when the message is opened and when a link is clicked — useful for knowing whether your follow-up even landed before you chase a reply.
Two honest caveats. First, read receipts rely on a tracking pixel, so a recipient who blocks remote images won’t register an open — treat it as a signal, not proof. Second, this is paid-only: tracking lives on Personal and above, not the free tier. If open-tracking is the only thing you want, weigh whether $4.98/month is worth it versus a free workflow.
Recurring Messages, Inbox Pause, and Respondable
Recurring messages resend the same email on a schedule, Inbox Pause holds incoming mail so nothing distracts you while you work, and Respondable is an AI that scores your draft’s reply-likelihood as you write. All three are paid features.
The paid tiers stack three more tools on top:
- Recurring messages — compose once, set it to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly, and Boomerang resends on schedule. Good for weekly status emails or a monthly invoice nudge you’d otherwise forget.
- Inbox Pause — click it and new mail collects in a separate folder instead of hitting your inbox, so a focus block isn’t shredded by notifications. Release the pause and everything arrives at once. It pairs well with learning a few Gmail keyboard shortcuts to clear the backlog fast.
- Respondable — Boomerang’s AI. Per the Respondable page, it analyzes your draft in real time against patterns from millions of messages and predicts how likely you are to get a reply, nudging tone and structure. It’s analytical, not a generative writer — it scores what you wrote, it doesn’t write it for you.
I tested all three on the trial. Inbox Pause was the one I’d actually pay for; recurring and Respondable felt nice-to-have rather than essential.
Alexis Dollé, email expert for 10+ years. Founder of Email Tools. I test every email client and utility myself, then write about them the way I’d explain them to a friend — no marketing fluff, no sponsored rankings, every claim sourced.
LinkedInFree vs Paid: Where the 10 Credits Run Out
The free Basic plan gives 10 message credits per month, used by scheduling, boomeranging, or reminding. Read receipts, click tracking, recurring messages, Inbox Pause, and Respondable are paid (Personal $4.98/month, billed annually). Paid plans remove the credit cap.
Here’s the line that decides it for most people. From boomeranggmail.com/subscriptions.html, the free Basic plan includes Send Later, Boomerang reminders, and the mobile apps, but caps you at 10 message credits per month. One credit is spent each time you schedule, boomerang, or set a reminder.
Ten credits goes fast. Two scheduled sends and three follow-up boomerangs a week and you’ve blown the monthly budget by Thursday. Every new account does start with a 30-day free trial of the Professional features (no card required), so you can try the paid tools first.
The upgrade math:
- Basic — free, 10 credits/month, Send Later + boomerang + apps only.
- Personal — $4.98/month billed annually. Unlimited credits, plus read receipts, click tracking, response tracking, Respondable, Inbox Pause, and recurring messages.
If you want a desktop client that handles follow-up and unified inboxes without a per-message credit model, Mailbird is the route I’d compare against before subscribing.
Verdict
Best for: people who need conditional follow-up (boomerang “if no reply”), read receipts, or an inbox pause — things native Gmail lacks. Skip Boomerang if all you want is scheduled send, because Gmail now does that for free.
Boomerang is still the cleanest way to add a follow-up loop to Gmail, and the conditional boomerang remains its killer feature with no native equivalent. The friction is the credit model: the free plan’s 10 monthly credits are too thin for daily use, so realistically you’re either a light, occasional user on Basic or a paying Personal subscriber.
Best for: anyone who follows up for a living — sales, recruiting, founders — and wants tracking and conditional reminders. Skip Boomerang if: you only need scheduled send (use Gmail’s built-in feature), or you refuse to install a browser extension.
If you’d rather pick a desktop app that bundles these workflows, start with our best email clients for Windows roundup. And if your real problem is inbox volume, not timing, see the best unsubscribe tools instead.
Sources & references
- Boomerang for Gmail homepage. Feature list — Send Later, Boomerang return-to-inbox, Respondable, Inbox Pause — and supported browsers (Firefox 38+, Chrome 5.0+, Safari 5.1+, Opera 15+, Edge). Accessed 2026-06-04. boomeranggmail.com
- Boomerang for Gmail subscriptions. Plans and prices (Basic free with 10 credits/month, Personal $4.98/month, Pro $14.98/month, Premium $49.98/month billed annually), 30-day Professional trial, paid-only features. Accessed 2026-06-04. boomeranggmail.com/subscriptions.html
- Respondable, Boomerang. AI scoring of reply-likelihood based on patterns from millions of messages. Accessed 2026-06-04. boomeranggmail.com/respondable.html
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Boomerang for Gmail free?
Boomerang has a free Basic plan that includes Send Later, Boomerang reminders, and the mobile apps, capped at 10 message credits per month. A credit is used each time you schedule, boomerang, or set a reminder on an email. Read receipts, click tracking, response tracking, Respondable, Inbox Pause, and recurring messages need a paid plan (Personal at $4.98/month and up, billed annually). Every new account also starts with a 30-day free trial of the Professional features, no card required. Prices confirmed on boomeranggmail.com/subscriptions.html as of June 2026.
How do I install Boomerang for Gmail?
Go to boomeranggmail.com in a supported browser (Chrome 5+, Firefox 38+, Safari 5.1+, Opera 15+, or Edge), click Add to Gmail, and install the browser extension. Reload Gmail and approve the access it asks for. The Send Later and Boomerang buttons then appear inside Gmail’s compose window and on individual messages.
What does it mean to boomerang a message?
Boomeranging a message archives it out of your inbox now and brings it back to the top at a time you choose, or when a condition is met (for example, if nobody replies). It is a reminder built into the email itself, so a follow-up you can’t act on today resurfaces exactly when you can instead of getting buried.
Does Boomerang work without a browser extension?
On desktop, Boomerang for Gmail runs as a browser extension, so you need one of the supported browsers and the add-on installed. There are Boomerang mobile apps for iPhone and Android that bring scheduling and reminders to your phone. There is no way to use the full Gmail feature set from webmail with no extension and no app.
What is Respondable in Boomerang?
Respondable is Boomerang’s AI assistant that scores your draft as you write and predicts how likely it is to get a reply, based on patterns from millions of messages. It flags things like tone and structure so you can adjust before sending. It is analytical, not a generative writer like Smart Compose, and it is available on the paid Personal, Pro, and Premium plans.
Do I still need Boomerang now that Gmail schedules sends natively?
Gmail’s built-in Schedule send covers basic deferred sending for free, so if that is all you want, you may not need Boomerang. Boomerang earns its keep when you also want to boomerang messages back, get read receipts and click tracking, run recurring sends, pause your inbox, or use Respondable. Those go beyond what native Gmail offers.
Related: Gmail schedule send, Gmail Undo Send, and the best unsubscribe tools for the rest of your inbox.