Gmail’s built-in mail merge: who has it, its limits and why the button is missing

Updated October 29, 2026

Short answer

Gmail’s mail merge is included with Workspace Individual, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus. It is not on free Gmail accounts or Business Starter. It sends to up to 1,500 mail merge recipients a day, cannot put merge tags in the subject, allows one Cc or Bcc, and has no follow-ups or scheduling.

What Google’s mail merge does

Google replaced the old multi-send mode with a proper mail merge in Gmail (Google: Send personalized emails with mail merge in Gmail). In a new email you turn on mail merge, add recipients from your contacts or a Google Sheet, and insert fields such as @firstname, @lastname, @fullname, @email or a column from the sheet.

Each person gets their own copy, and Google adds an unsubscribe link at the bottom. It needs no add-on and costs nothing beyond the Workspace plan, which makes it the first thing to try if you already have an eligible plan.

How to send a mail merge with Gmail’s built-in tool

Open a new email. Click Compose in Gmail while signed in to an eligible Workspace account.
Turn on mail merge. Use the mail merge option next to the To field in the compose window.
Add recipients. Add people from your contacts, or choose a Google Sheet whose first tab holds the list.
Insert fields. Type @ in the body and pick a field like @firstname or a sheet column.
Preview and send. Use the preview to check a few people, then send. Gmail sends each person their own copy.

Which plans include it

Plan	Mail merge?
Free Gmail (@gmail.com)	No
Workspace Business Starter	No
Workspace Individual	Yes
Business Standard and Business Plus	Yes
Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus	Yes
Education Standard and Education Plus	Yes

From Google: Send personalized emails with mail merge in Gmail. People who bought Starter for this feature were not happy: “What a joke that is! It’s actually all I really wanted GWS for” (r/googleworkspace: bought Business Starter, no mail merge).

Limits you should know

Up to 1,500 mail merge recipients a day. The last 500 of the 2,000 daily messages are kept for your normal email.
Merge fields work in the body only, not in the subject line or inside hyperlinked text.
One Cc or Bcc address per merge, and none when the list comes from a spreadsheet.
Sheet data must be on the first tab, as plain text.
You cannot send from another domain or an alias.
No schedule send, no plain text mode and no confidential mode, and it cannot be used with reply or forward.
Google adds an unsubscribe link, and you cannot export the list of people who unsubscribed.
No follow-ups and no reply tracking.

All from Google: Send personalized emails with mail merge in Gmail and Google Workspace: Gmail sending limits.

Why the mail merge button is missing

This is one of the most common complaints: “the mail merge button does not show up like they say” (r/googleworkspace: mail merge button missing). Work through these causes in order.

Your plan is not eligible. Free Gmail and Business Starter do not have it. Check your plan in the Google Admin console or ask your admin.
You are signed in to the wrong account. If you use a personal and a work account in the same browser, open the compose window from the work account.
You are replying or forwarding. Mail merge only works in a new email.
The plan changed recently. New features can take time to appear after an upgrade.
Your admin turned it off for your group.

When it is enough, and when it is not

Use Google’s tool when you send plain announcements from an eligible plan, you are happy with one subject line for everyone, and you do not need follow-ups. It is first-party, so there is no extra company with access to your mailbox.

Look elsewhere when you need a personal subject line, follow-ups that stop when people reply, scheduled sending, Cc for each person, attachments or a free Gmail account. Mergeline covers those from any Gmail or Workspace account. Free sends 60 a day; Pro is $12 a month or $99 a year.

Built-in mail merge compared with Mergeline

	Gmail built-in	Mergeline
Accounts	Eligible Workspace plans	Any Gmail or Workspace account
Daily sending	Up to 1,500 mail merge recipients	60 free, up to Gmail’s limit on Pro
Tags in the subject	No	Yes
Fallbacks and conditional text	No	Yes, on Free
Follow-ups	No	Up to 7 on Pro, stopping on reply
Scheduling	No	Pro
Cc and Bcc	One address, none with a sheet	Pro, with tags per person
Unsubscribe	Link added by Google	Optional footer line and reply detection

Google’s side of the table comes from its help page. Neither option adds a tracking pixel that Google documents, and both send from your own account, so Gmail’s limits apply either way.

Questions

Is Gmail’s mail merge free?

It costs nothing extra if your Workspace plan includes it. It is not available on free Gmail accounts or Business Starter.

Can I personalize the subject line?

No. Google says merge fields do not work in the subject. Mergeline supports tags like {{FirstName}} in the subject.

Does Gmail’s mail merge track opens?

Google’s help page does not mention open tracking, and it has no reply tracking or follow-ups.

What happened to multi-send mode?

Google replaced it with mail merge. The help page for mail merge is now the reference.

Can I schedule a Gmail mail merge?

No. Mail merge cannot be combined with schedule send. Read how to schedule a mail merge for other ways.

Sources

Facts checked October 29, 2026. Google and other vendors change their limits and prices, so check the source before you rely on a number.

Mergeline does this from your own Gmail. Free for 60 emails a day with merge tags and no branding. Pro is $12 a month or $99 a year for follow-ups, scheduling and attachments.

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