lately', 'recently', and 'of late' all mean essentially the same thing. The difference is in register. 'lately' is the most commonly used. 'recently' is much used, and only slightly more formal. 'of late' is hardly ever used. To me it seems very formal and old-fashioned. In an everyday conversation, the speaker who uses 'of late' might be considered pretentious by his conversation partners.

for me, recently is more commonly used than lately. And the words are not directly interchangeable. e.g. 1) I recently received an email from John 2) I lately received an email from John. People say number one, not number two.