"Kind regards" vs "regards" vs "best regards" - what's the difference?

Email sign-offs work like a temperature dial. The words look small, but native speakers read a surprising amount of tone into them. Here is the scale from coolest to warmest, with examples of how each one actually lands.

"Regards" - neutral, almost cold. Used when you want to be professional but not warm. Some read it as slightly distant or even passive-aggressive when used between people who usually write more warmly. If you and a colleague have been swapping friendly, chatty emails all week and you suddenly close with a bare "Regards," they may wonder what they did wrong. Example: "Please send the figures by Friday. Regards, Tom." That reads as businesslike and a little clipped, which is fine for a formal request but chilly for a friendly one.

"Best regards" - slightly warmer than "regards." Standard professional sign-off. Safe for most business emails. This is the sign-off to reach for when you are not sure. Example: "Thank you for the quick turnaround on this. Best regards, Priya." It works for clients, new contacts, and colleagues you do not know well.

"Kind regards" - warm and professional. The most common sign-off in British professional email. Slightly more personal than "best regards." In a UK workplace you will see "Kind regards" dozens of times a day. It signals politeness without becoming too familiar. Example: "Do let me know if you need anything else. Kind regards, Sarah."

"Best" - very common, especially in American professional email. Casual but widely accepted. Some find it abrupt. In many US offices "Best" is the everyday default, the American cousin of "Kind regards." Example: "Looking forward to the call. Best, Mike." British readers sometimes find the single word a touch curt, so keep the British and American difference in mind depending on who you are writing to.

"All the best" - warm, genuinely friendly. Good for people you know. Example: "Great to catch up earlier. All the best, Nina." This one carries real warmth, so save it for people you actually have a rapport with rather than a first-contact email.

"Yours sincerely" / "Yours faithfully" - formal letters only. "Sincerely" when you know the name; "faithfully" when you don't (UK convention). So a letter opening "Dear Mr Clarke" closes with "Yours sincerely," while one opening "Dear Sir or Madam" closes with "Yours faithfully." These belong in printed letters and very formal correspondence, not everyday email.

Many learners write "Best regard" or "Kind regard" in the singular. Native speakers always use the plural form: "regards." Another frequent slip is capitalising every word, as in "Kind Regards." The standard style is to capitalise only the first word: "Kind regards." Watch this closely, because these small errors are exactly the kind of thing a careful reader notices in a professional email.

Think of a thermostat running from cold to hot. "Regards" sits at the cold end, "Best regards" and "Kind regards" are comfortable room temperature, and "All the best" is warm. When you finish writing an email, ask yourself how warm the message itself felt, then pick a sign-off at the matching temperature.

"Warm regards" is a useful middle option, a little cosier than "Kind regards" but still perfectly professional. It suits people you have built a friendly working relationship with over time. You may also see "Many thanks" used as a sign-off when the email is a request, which doubles as a closing and a thank you.

Match the sign-off to the relationship and the email's tone. Don't sign a warm, friendly email with cold "regards." The mismatch reads as passive-aggressive. When in doubt, "Best regards" and "Kind regards" are the two safest choices you can make.