Productivity
Shortwave
AI email client built on Gmail.
What it is
Shortwave is an AI-first email client whose pricing is unusual in that the tiers do not unlock features so much as buy a stronger model and a larger daily quota. The vendor names the models directly: Standard is Claude Sonnet 4.6, Advanced adds adaptive thinking, and Expert is Claude Opus 4.6. Every plan is per seat and there is no free tier, only a 14-day trial, so the decision is really about how much AI work you push through your inbox each day and how far back the AI needs to search.
Shortwave pricing
Shortwave publishes 3 plans. Paid tiers start at $30/user/mo.
| Plan | Price | What the vendor’s page says |
|---|---|---|
| Business | $30/user/mo | Business $30 per seat/month: standard intelligence, full standard search history, 5 years of AI search history, max 50 threads per AI search, 3 AI-powered filters, AI integrations and web browsing, AI autocomplete, summaries and attachment analysis, read statuses, link tracking and snippets |
| Premier | $45/user/mo | Premier $45 per seat/month: advanced intelligence, 2x more AI usage, unlimited AI search history, max 100 threads per AI search, 10 AI-powered filters, 2x context tokens |
| Max | $120/user/mo | Max $120 per seat/month: expert intelligence, 6x more AI usage, max 150 threads per AI search, 50 AI-powered filters, 3x context tokens |
Prices read from the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-09. Vendors change plans without notice — check the source before you budget. Source
Cheaper alternatives to Shortwave — same category, ordered by verified starting price.
Key features
AI assistant
Answers questions across your mail using a selectable intelligence level.
AI-powered filters
Custom prompts that label, archive, delete or star incoming mail automatically.
AI search
Natural-language search across email history, 5 years or unlimited by plan.
Strengths and trade-offs
What works well
- Vendor names the underlying models and quotas openly
- AI search history, filters and context scale with the tier
- 14-day free trial on every plan
Where it falls short
- No free plan at any level
- Daily AI usage is a quota, not unlimited
- Entry price is high for a mail client
Who it is for
Heavy email users who want an AI assistant working inside the inbox.
Pick it or skip it
Pick Shortwave if
- People who want AI triage rather than a mail client: even the entry plan includes filters, web browsing and attachment analysis
- Buyers who want to know what they are running — the vendor names the exact model behind each intelligence level
- Heavy searchers: unlimited AI search history and 100 threads per search start at Premier, $45 per seat per month
- Power users automating the inbox, since AI filters go from 3 to 10 to 50 across the three tiers
Skip it if
- You want to try before paying beyond two weeks — there is no free tier, only a 14-day trial
- Your budget expects mail-client pricing: this starts at $30 per seat per month
- You need heavy daily AI use on the entry plan, which is quoted at roughly 150-300 standard requests a day
- You expect 24/7 workflow automation in the product — that is a separate sister product, Tasklet
Our verdict
Priced as an AI subscription that happens to include a mail client. Worth it if AI triage is the point; overpriced if you mainly want a nicer inbox.
Closest alternatives we track
Same category, ordered by verified starting price.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Shortwave cost?
- Business is $30 per seat per month, Premier $45 and Max $120. There is no free tier, only a 14-day free trial.
- Does Shortwave have a free plan?
- No. Every plan is paid per seat, with a 14-day free trial to start.
- Which AI models does Shortwave use?
- The vendor names them: Basic is Claude Haiku 4.5, Standard is Claude Sonnet 4.6, Advanced is Claude Sonnet 4.6 with adaptive thinking and Expert is Claude Opus 4.6 with adaptive thinking.
- What are Shortwave's AI usage limits?
- Usage is a daily quota. Business is quoted at roughly 150-300 standard requests a day, Premier has 2x that and Max 6x, and consumption varies with request complexity.
- How much does Shortwave cost?
- Shortwave publishes 3 plans: Business at $30/user/mo, Premier at $45/user/mo, Max at $120/user/mo. Every figure is read from the vendor's own pricing page; the pricing section above shows the source sentence for each tier.
- Does Shortwave have a free plan?
- No free plan is listed on the vendor's pricing page. Shortwave is sold as a paid subscription.
- Who is Shortwave best for?
- Heavy email users who want an AI assistant working inside the inbox.
- What are the closest alternatives to Shortwave?
- In the same category we track Superhuman and Spark Mail. Each has its own review page with verified pricing, and the comparison links above show them side by side.
- What are the main drawbacks of Shortwave?
- The trade-offs we noted: No free plan at any level; Daily AI usage is a quota, not unlimited; Entry price is high for a mail client.
- When should you not use Shortwave?
- Skip Shortwave if: You want to try before paying beyond two weeks — there is no free tier, only a 14-day trial; Your budget expects mail-client pricing: this starts at $30 per seat per month; You need heavy daily AI use on the entry plan, which is quoted at roughly 150-300 standard requests a day.
What we checked
- Public APIOffers a documented API you can build against.Yes
- Mobile appHas a native app for iOS or Android, not just a mobile website.Yes
- Open source / self-hostableSource is open and the tool can be run on your own infrastructure.No
- SSO (SAML)Supports SAML single sign-on on at least one plan.Yes
“Not checked” means exactly that — we have not verified it, and we do not guess.
Evidence and freshness
Status: Vendor pricing page verifiedReviewed: 2026-09-09
- Shortwave — Pricing ↗
Checked 2026-09-09 · Supports: 14-day free trial; no free tier is listed, Business $30 per seat/month: standard intelligence, full standard search history, 5 years of AI search history, max 50 threads per AI search, 3 AI-powered filters, AI integrations and web browsing, AI autocomplete, summaries and attachment analysis, read statuses, link tracking and snippets, Premier $45 per seat/month: advanced intelligence, 2x more AI usage, unlimited AI search history, max 100 threads per AI search, 10 AI-powered filters, 2x context tokens, Max $120 per seat/month: expert intelligence, 6x more AI usage, max 150 threads per AI search, 50 AI-powered filters, 3x context tokens, Intelligence levels are named as Basic (Claude Haiku 4.5), Standard (Claude Sonnet 4.6), Advanced (Claude Sonnet 4.6 with adaptive thinking) and Expert (Claude Opus 4.6 with adaptive thinking), The Business plan is stated to allow roughly 150-300 Standard intelligence AI requests per day, with quota consumption varying by request complexity and intelligence level, 24/7 workflow automation is handled by a separate sister product, Tasklet, rather than by Shortwave itself
Limit: Vendor pricing page was reviewed by an editor on this date; this record is not a ToolCompare benchmark. Prices and limits change. The pricing page has a Business/Individual toggle whose alternate view renders client-side, so only the view served in the page HTML could be read.
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