Apple Intelligence in Mail alternatives for Mac

If Apple Intelligence in Mail isn't working for you, the best alternative depends on what you want from it. Alrighty, our app, swaps Apple's summaries and Smart Reply for reply drafts in your own voice and lets Claude or ChatGPT read your iCloud, Gmail and Outlook mail. Spark keeps all its AI off until you turn it on, on every device. Canary is the cheapest AI plan with iCloud. Superhuman suits Gmail and Microsoft 365 teams. Mimestream is a native Gmail app that keeps Apple's Writing Tools. And if you like Apple Mail and only dislike one AI feature, you can turn that one feature off.

Lists of Apple Mail alternatives compare whole apps. They rarely say what Apple Intelligence does in Mail today, why it may not show up on your Mac, how to switch off one part of it, or what AI each alternative uses and who runs it. This page covers those first, then the apps.

How we checked

We read Apple's own Mail and Mac user guides for macOS 27 and its Apple Intelligence support pages on November 4, 2026, and each vendor's pricing, help and privacy pages the same day. Every fact links to its source. We list only features Apple's guides describe today, not ones it has announced. For Alrighty, we read our own code. We did not test the apps. Alrighty is our app, and it's listed first.

What Apple Intelligence does in Mail on macOS 27

Apple's Mail guide for macOS 27 describes four AI features (Apple):

• Summaries in the inbox. "A short summary automatically appears under each unread email in your inbox."
• Summarize a message or thread. "Click Summarize at the top of the email." If the email is part of a thread, Mail summarizes the whole thread.
• Smart Reply. "Apple Intelligence can suggest replies to emails you receive." You click the Message field, choose a suggestion, and "Apple Intelligence drafts a reply in the email."
• Writing Tools. Select text, Control-click it, and choose Writing Tools to proofread, rewrite in a Friendly, Professional or Concise tone, summarize, or describe a change. Compose writes new text with ChatGPT, where the ChatGPT app and service are offered (Apple).

Apple's macOS 27 Mail pages we read don't mention Priority Messages, so we don't list it here.

Where your mail goes. "Apple Intelligence models run entirely on device so that a task can be completed without data leaving your device." Larger tasks go to Private Cloud Compute, which "uses larger, server-based models," and "The data being processed in Private Cloud Compute is not stored or made accessible to Apple" (Apple). Compose sends your request to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Why Apple Intelligence isn't showing up in Mail

Apple's requirements page lists what has to be true:

• The Mac. A Mac with M1 or later, or a MacBook Neo. Intel Macs don't get it.
• macOS 27. It arrives "automatically" on eligible devices with the 27.0 releases.
• The language. Your Mac and Siri must be set to the same supported language: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified or Traditional), Japanese or Korean. If you change the Siri language, Apple Intelligence can stop until the new language downloads.
• The region. "Apple Intelligence features will not currently work for supported devices purchased in China mainland," or when your Apple Account region is set to mainland China.
• Storage. It needs up to 8 GB, or up to 14 GB on Macs with M3 or later and at least 12 GB of memory.
• Usage limits. Features that use server models "are subject to daily usage limits."

If your Mac fails one of these, no setting in Mail brings the features back. A different app with its own AI is the way to get them.

The alternatives at a glance

App	Price	Accounts	Which AI reads your mail	AI on by default
Alrighty	14-day trial, then Free or Pro	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook	OpenAI and TypeSafe; or the AI you connect	Your own AI: off. Reply drafts and Clean up: on
Spark	Free; AI from Plus, $99/yr	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP	Azure OpenAI	No, "turned off" by default
Canary	Free; AI from Growth, $36/yr	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, IMAP	OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Google, others	Not stated
Superhuman	$25/member/mo, billed yearly	Gmail, Microsoft 365	Not named	Not stated
Mimestream	$49.99/yr	Gmail only	Apple, through Writing Tools	Not stated

"Not stated" means the vendor's pages we read don't say. It does not mean the answer is bad.

Alrighty: best for replacing Apple's AI with the AI you already use

Alrighty is a desktop mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook in one inbox. Where Apple Mail gives you Apple's AI, Alrighty starts from a different idea: most people already write email with an AI. They copy a message into a chat, work on a reply there, and paste it back. Alrighty removes those steps.

Here is how it lines up with Apple Mail's AI:

• Instead of Smart Reply: replies in your voice. When you open a reply, Alrighty writes a draft from the conversation and from what you sent that person before. It is always a draft. You click Send.
• Instead of Writing Tools: your own AI. A local MCP server lets Claude (the desktop app and Claude Code), ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, OpenCode, Antigravity or a local model read and search your mail across every account. That AI can work in a window of its own while you watch, open mail and write replies. Nothing sends until you click Send. See the setup guide.
• Instead of summaries: answers. Alrighty has no summary under each email and no summarize button. You ask a question and get the answer with the emails it came from.
• Instead of Spotlight search: its own search. Search runs on your Mac with its own index and matches meaning as well as words, so "when is my flight" finds the airline's confirmation.

Which AI reads your mail. This is the trade. Alrighty's AI runs on its server, not on your Mac. Answers and reply drafts go to OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Terra, and Clean up and sorting into groups go to Jev, a model from TypeSafe. With your own AI, it's the assistant you connect, so a local model keeps everything on your Mac. Signed out, nothing goes to Alrighty's server, and phishing checks and search always run on the Mac.

On by default. Partly. The link to your own AI is off until you turn it on with Connect AI. Signed in, a reply draft starts when you open a reply, and Clean up sorts senders in the background.

Also. Stop mail ends a sender's mail in one click, and Clean up lists the senders you probably don't want so you can stop them all at once.

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro. Free has a small monthly AI allowance and no sorting into groups.

What it can't do. On a Mac it needs Apple silicon, so like Apple Intelligence, it's no help on an Intel Mac. There's no iPhone or web app, and no calendar. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, so no Yahoo, Fastmail or other IMAP. It's a new app with no long track record yet.

Pick it if you'd rather have Claude or ChatGPT in your mail than Apple's AI, and your accounts are iCloud, Gmail or Outlook.

Spark: best if you want AI off until you choose it

Spark, from Readdle, runs on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android, and takes iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Exchange and IMAP (Spark). Its AI covers Compose, Translate, Summary, My Writing Style, an AI Assistant and Auto-Drafts (Spark).

On by default. No. "By default, Spark +AI is turned off." On a Mac you open Spark Settings, go to Spark +AI and turn on the toggle, and "You can disable it in your Settings anytime" (Spark).

Which AI reads your mail. Microsoft's Azure OpenAI. Spark says it "will not retain the data for more than 30 days" and "does not use this data to train models" (Spark).

Price. AI is part of the paid plans, with a limited preview on Free. Plus is $10 a month or $99 a year, and Pro is $20 or $199 (pricing).

What to know. Some features "require our server-side email processing to work," and for Exchange and custom IMAP accounts Spark stores your password, encrypted, in its database (Spark). That's a bigger change from Apple Mail than the AI. See our Spark alternatives.

Pick it if you want AI on your Mac and phone, and only when you switch it on.

Canary Mail: best low-cost AI with iCloud

Canary runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android, and takes iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Exchange and IMAP. Its AI Copilot writes, replies and summarizes, and starts on the Growth plan at $36 a year. There's no monthly billing (pricing).

Which AI reads your mail. Canary's privacy policy says Copilot uses "top-tier providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Google and others." It doesn't say which one handles a given request.

Where your mail goes. The same policy says your data is "stored on your device and is never transferred to our servers," except for push notifications on phones, where Canary "will temporarily store your email address, credentials, sender, subject line."

What it can't do. The free plan lists no AI. Its pages don't say whether Copilot is on by default. See our Canary Mail alternatives.

Pick it if Apple Intelligence doesn't work on your Mac and you want AI summaries and writing for little money.

Superhuman: best for Gmail and Microsoft 365 teams

Superhuman is a mail app on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, "Built for teams that use Gmail or Outlook" (Superhuman). Starter, at $25 per member a month billed yearly, includes Superhuman AI: Write with AI, Instant Reply, Auto Summarize, Autocorrect and Autocomplete. Business, at $33, adds Auto Drafts, Ask AI and the Superhuman Mail MCP (plans).

Which AI reads your mail. Not named. Its privacy policy says "we restrict our AI service providers from training their models on user content."

Sends without you. It can. Superhuman's mail page lists "sending fully written emails on your behalf," if you want it (Superhuman).

What it can't do. No iCloud account, which rules it out for many Apple Mail users. See our Superhuman alternatives.

Pick it if your work mail is Gmail or Microsoft 365 and your company pays for speed and AI.

Mimestream: best Gmail app that keeps Apple's Writing Tools

Mimestream is a native Mac app built only for Gmail. It "only stores your data and tokens on your device" (Mimestream). It isn't a different AI: its 1.5.0 release brought "Mimestream's first integration with Apple Intelligence," for Writing Tools (releases). It's on this list for people who like Apple's AI but want a better Gmail app than Apple Mail.

Price. $49.99 a year, or $4.99 a month, for up to five devices, after a 14-day free trial with no credit card (pricing).

What it can't do. Gmail accounts only, so no iCloud or Outlook. Writing Tools still need a Mac that gets Apple Intelligence. See our Mimestream alternatives.

Pick it if all your mail is Gmail and you want to keep Apple's AI.

How to choose

• Claude, ChatGPT or a local model in your iCloud, Gmail and Outlook mail, with replies in your voice: Alrighty.
• AI that stays off until you turn it on, on every device: Spark.
• AI with iCloud for the least money: Canary.
• A Gmail or Microsoft 365 team: Superhuman.
• All Gmail, and you like Apple's Writing Tools: Mimestream.
• You like Apple Mail and dislike one feature: keep it, and turn that feature off (below).

If you're leaving Apple Mail for reasons beyond its AI, such as search, see our Apple Mail alternatives. For a wider look at AI mail apps, see the best AI email clients and the best AI email summarizers. More lists are on the blog, and what Alrighty does is on features.

Questions

How do I turn off Apple Intelligence in Mail?

Apple lists the switches one feature at a time. For summaries, choose Mail > Settings, click Viewing, and turn off Summarize Message Previews. For personalized Smart Reply, choose Mail > Settings, click Composing, and turn off Personalize Smart Replies (Apple). The Apple page we read lists no single switch for all of Apple Intelligence.

Why is Apple Intelligence not working in Mail?

Check the Mac first: it needs M1 or later, or a MacBook Neo, on macOS 27. Then check that your Mac and Siri use the same supported language, and that the Mac wasn't bought in mainland China. Features that use Apple's servers also have daily usage limits.

Does Apple Intelligence send my email to Apple?

Some tasks run on your Mac and never leave it. Larger ones go to Private Cloud Compute, and Apple says that data "is not stored or made accessible to Apple." Writing Tools' Compose sends your request to ChatGPT.

Can I use ChatGPT or Claude in Apple Mail instead?

Writing Tools' Compose uses ChatGPT, but it writes text and doesn't read your mailbox. To let Claude or ChatGPT read and search your mail, you need a connection to your account. Alrighty does that for iCloud, Gmail and Outlook together; our page on email apps for Claude and ChatGPT compares the options.

Which of these alternatives work with iCloud?

Alrighty, Spark and Canary take iCloud accounts. Superhuman takes Gmail and Microsoft 365 only, and Mimestream takes Gmail only.