Stop spam in Gmail for good

Gmail has one of the best spam filters around, and spam still gets through. You mark it, it comes back from a new address the next day, and the newsletters you never asked for keep landing in Primary.

The Spam Blocker sits in front of your Gmail inbox and learns from your decisions, not everyone else's. Spam is moved out of the way before you see it, nothing is deleted, and the sender is never reported.

Stop spam in Gmail

Why Gmail's spam filter lets it through

Gmail's filter is trained on billions of mailboxes at once. If enough people open an email, it looks legitimate to Google, even if you personally never wanted it. That's why newsletters, promotions, and cold outreach so often sail straight into your inbox.

Report spam only works per sender. Spammers rotate domains constantly, so the address you reported yesterday isn't the one emailing you today. Blocking works the same way, one address at a time.

On a personal Gmail account there's no filter strength setting either. That control only exists for Google Workspace admins. Everyone else gets the same one-size-fits-all filter, with no way to tell it to be stricter.

How to stop it with Leave Me Alone

The Spam Blocker scans every new email as it arrives and decides whether it belongs in your inbox. It runs on your verdicts, so it gets stricter about the things you keep blocking. It takes about a minute to set up.

1. Connect your Gmail account to Leave Me Alone. You sign in with Google, and we only ask for the permissions we need.
2. Turn on the Spam Blocker. From then on, spam and cold outreach are moved out of your inbox into a blocked label the moment they land.
3. Rescue anything we got wrong. Open the blocked list, click Rescue, and the email goes back to your inbox. We'll trust that sender from now on.

Blocked email goes to a label we own, not Gmail's Spam folder. Google never sees a report, the sender never learns your address is live, and nothing gets deleted after 30 days like it does in Spam.

You also get custom filters for any sender or pattern you want gone, and a mailing list blocker that steps in if a list keeps sending after you've unsubscribed.

Block spam in Gmail now

What about the spam already in your inbox?

The Spam Blocker handles new mail from the moment you turn it on. For the pile that's already there, run the Unsubscriber first. It lists every newsletter and mailing list in your Gmail account and unsubscribes you with one click, so the senders that fill your inbox every week stop for good.

Anything that ignores your unsubscribe gets caught by the mailing list blocker automatically. If you'd rather do it by hand, we've written a guide to blocking spam emails in Gmail and another on how Gmail's spam folder works.

Gmail's filter vs the Spam Blocker

They work together. Gmail keeps catching the obvious stuff, and the Spam Blocker catches what's left.

	Gmail spam filter	Spam Blocker
Learns from	Everyone's inbox	Your decisions
Reports the sender	Yes	Never
Catches new sender addresses	Only if Google has seen them	Yes, based on how the email behaves
Custom rules	Gmail filters, one sender at a time	Block by address, domain, or pattern
Cold outreach and sales emails	Usually let through	Caught by the cold email classifier

FAQ

Why is my Gmail spam filter not working?

It is working, just not for you specifically. Gmail decides what's spam based on how millions of people treat an email. If a newsletter or sales pitch gets opened enough, Gmail treats it as wanted. There's also no strictness setting on personal accounts, so you can't ask Gmail to be tougher.

Does this report senders to Google?

No. Blocked email is moved to a separate blocked label in your account. It never touches Gmail's Spam folder, and Google never receives a report. The sender gets no signal that your address is real.

Does it delete anything?

No. Blocked mail stays in the blocked label for as long as you want it. Gmail's own Spam folder deletes after 30 days, ours doesn't. You can check the list any time and rescue anything that shouldn't be there.

What happens if it blocks a real email?

Rescue it from the blocked list and it goes straight back to your inbox. Rescuing also teaches the Spam Blocker to trust that sender, so it won't happen twice.

Does it work with Google Workspace accounts?

Yes. Any Gmail or Google Workspace mailbox works the same way. If your admin restricts third-party apps you may need them to approve Leave Me Alone first.

Will it block my newsletters?

Only the ones you don't want. Anything you've opened and read stays. Anything that looks like a mailing list you never signed up for gets blocked, and you can rescue it if we got it wrong.

What permissions do you need?

We ask Google for permission to read and modify your mail so we can label spam and move it. We don't ask for your contacts, calendar, or anything else, and you can revoke access from your Google account at any time.

How much does it cost?

The Spam Blocker is part of the Leave Me Alone Hero plan.