The public history of Gmail dates back to 2004. Gmail, a free, advertising-supported webmail service with support for Email clients, is a product from Google. Over its history, the Gmail interface has become integrated with various other products and services from the company, with basic integration as part of Google Account and specific integration points with services such as Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Google Buzz. It has also been made available as part of Google Apps.

Gmail was a project started by Google developer Paul Buchheit several^[specify] years before it was announced to the public. Initially the software was available only internally as an email client for Google employees.

The gmail.com domain name was acquired by Google from Garfield.com, online home of the comic strip Garfield, where it had been used by a free e-mail service.

Gmail began what ended up being a five-year beta phase in March 2004, when Google invited about 1,000 opinion leaders and then allowed them to invite their friends, and family members to become beta testers, with trials beginning on 21 March 2004.