The Bat!Ritlabs

Secure email·Since 1998

Email that stays

A desktop-native email client with multiple encryption streams, a configurable Sorting Office, and the kind of power-user controls you stopped getting when everything moved to the browser.

Download The Bat!See features
Trusted by 500,000+ professionalsOpenPGP and S/MIME built in
The Bat! desktop client with folder tree, message list, and signed message preview

Features

Four tools you'll reach for every day.

Everything below ships in the box. No 'Pro' feature walls inside the app beyond what's on the Editions page.

01

Calendar

A full calendar built into your mail client — not bolted on. Subscribe to CalDAV, Google Calendar, iCloud, or local iCal. Drag events straight out of messages.

  • Week, day, and month views with colour-coded calendars
  • CalDAV, Google, iCloud, and local iCal out of the box
  • Create events from selected text in a message
The Bat! Calendar week view with multiple color-coded calendars and events
02

Sorting Office

Our rule engine has been refined since 1998 — and it shows. Conditions that chain with AND/OR, per-account and global scopes, full regex support, previewed against real mail before saving.

  • Condition blocks with full boolean logic
  • Actions: move, tag, delete, forward, run script
  • Per-account rule sets, tested against real mail before saving
The Bat! Sorting Office rule editor with conditions and actions
03

MailTicker

A discreet on-screen ticker that surfaces new mail without breaking your flow. Shows sender, subject, size, date — anchored anywhere on your desktop, fully styled by you.

  • Always-on-top strip with sender, subject, size, date
  • Per-folder colour rules — spam is one colour, clients another
  • Click-through to open, right-click to triage
From:Elena Marchetti4 KB
Subject:Re: Q2 infrastructure audit — signed report21.04.2026
From:Marcus Halloway18 KB
Subject:Contract renewal — revised terms for Q321.04.2026
From:release-notes@ritlabs.com12 KB
Subject:The Bat! 12.1 is out — release notes19.04.2026
From:Stefan Tanurkov68 KB
Subject:Preview build for Voyager USB rollout18.04.2026
From:Maria Plesca22 KB
Subject:Design review — MailTicker spacing17.04.2026
From:Andrei Cernei9 KB
Subject:Sorting Office rule: subscriptions16.04.2026
From:OpenPGP Keyserver4 KB
Subject:Key expiration notice15.04.2026
From:Iulia Buzmacova28 KB
Subject:Re: Voyager USB rollout14.04.2026
From:Elena Marchetti4 KB
Subject:Re: Q2 infrastructure audit — signed report21.04.2026
From:Marcus Halloway18 KB
Subject:Contract renewal — revised terms for Q321.04.2026
From:release-notes@ritlabs.com12 KB
Subject:The Bat! 12.1 is out — release notes19.04.2026
From:Stefan Tanurkov68 KB
Subject:Preview build for Voyager USB rollout18.04.2026
From:Maria Plesca22 KB
Subject:Design review — MailTicker spacing17.04.2026
From:Andrei Cernei9 KB
Subject:Sorting Office rule: subscriptions16.04.2026
From:OpenPGP Keyserver4 KB
Subject:Key expiration notice15.04.2026
From:Iulia Buzmacova28 KB
Subject:Re: Voyager USB rollout14.04.2026
04

Quick Templates

Reusable message skeletons with macros, per-recipient substitutions, and hotkey bindings. Built for people who reply for a living.

  • Macros, conditionals, and recipient-aware substitutions
  • Global and per-account template libraries
  • Bind any template to a keystroke, for new mail or replies
The Bat! Quick Templates manager with template tree and editor

Also in the box

OpenPGP and S/MIME

Native end-to-end encryption, smart-card support, SSL/TLS for every protocol.

Virtual Folders

Saved searches that stay live across accounts and years of archives.

Conversation View

Compact threaded view — toggle on when a thread gets deep, off when you want the list.

Message Dispatcher

Preview mail on the server before downloading. Delete spam before it touches your disk.

Inbox Analyzer

Volume per sender, response latency, peak hours. Everything stays on your machine.

Hardened defaults

No HTML scripts, no auto-loading external images, no dangerous attachment previews.

Editions

Region-based pricing for every way to buy The Bat!.

Choose a perpetual license or subscription pack. Prices and checkout provider are selected from your country.

Perpetual licenses

The Bat! Home

$39.99one-time

For personal correspondence on one machine. A perpetual license for individual users.

  • Unlimited email accounts
  • IMAP4, POP3, SMTP, MAPI
  • Sorting Office, MailTicker, Virtual Folders
  • OpenPGP and S/MIME encryption
  • Free updates through the current major version
Buy Home - $39.99
Most popular

The Bat! Professional

$59.99one-time

Everything in Home plus advanced tooling, Voyager, Exchange/MAPI, and priority support.

  • Everything in Home
  • Voyager portable install from USB
  • Exchange / MAPI and LDAP directories
  • Message Dispatcher server-side pre-filter
  • Biometric authentication
  • Priority email support
Buy Professional - $59.99

Or subscribe

Prefer a subscription?

Monthly access with the latest The Bat! version, account-managed licenses, and optional AI tools.

The Bat! Subscription

$59.99per month

A subscription plan for staying current with The Bat! across releases.

  • Current The Bat! desktop client
  • All maintenance updates while active
  • Account and license management
  • Standard email support
Subscribe - $59.99
Best value

The Bat! + AI Pack

$59.99per month

The complete subscription bundle with The Bat! and the AI add-on together.

  • The Bat! subscription included
  • AI add-on included
  • Unified renewal
  • Best subscription bundle value
Get full pack - $59.99

AI Add-on

$9.99per month

AI-assisted mail workflows as an add-on for an existing The Bat! license or subscription.

  • AI writing assistance
  • Message summarization
  • Reply drafting
  • Works alongside The Bat! plans
Add AI - $9.99

Volume licenses from 5 seats · Educational discounts available · Contact sales →

Release notes

We ship, we document, we repeat.

View full changelog
May 18, 2026

The Bat! v12.2

  • Internal PGP engine (gpmInternal): full OpenPGP without GnuPG — Ed25519, ECDSA, ECDH, RSA, AES-256
  • PGP key server support: HKP/HKPS and WKD (Web Key Directory) with auto-fetch on encrypt/verify
  • PGP Subject protection (ProtectSubject) — encrypts Subject inside PGP/MIME and S/MIME messages
  • Theme switching added to Options → Preferences (light/dark/auto/by time)
  • Color groups: configurable background opacity and corner mark indicator
Mar 31, 2026

The Bat! v12.1

  • Automatic spell checking and right-click suggestions in message editor's Subject and other text header fields
  • Manual spell check now checks header fields before the message body
  • Option to check for beta releases alongside regular update checks (DNS TXT + version-info-beta.xml)
  • Updater downloads translated "What's New" changelog for the UI language and shows it in the update dialog
  • Ctrl+right-click on address fields selects the address under the cursor

FAQ

Questions people actually ask.

The Bat! is currently Windows-native. That focus is what allowed the team to keep refining a polished desktop client for decades. In the meantime it runs well inside a Windows VM or under Wine.

Yes. The Bat! supports IMAP4, POP3, SMTP, and Microsoft MAPI, with OAuth 2.0 where providers require it.

You keep the version you already bought indefinitely, and upgrade pricing is reduced when you choose to move to the next major release.

Voyager is the portable edition included with Professional. It runs from a USB stick and carries accounts, keys, and settings with it.

Ready to try The Bat!?

30-day trial, no account required. Your mail stays on your machine from the first download onward.

Download The Bat! 12.1Compare editions