Canary Mail pricing, plans and lifetime deals
Canary Mail is free on 2 devices. Growth costs $36 a year and Pro+ $100 a year, or $100 and $300 once for life. What each plan adds and when to buy.
By Emmett Miller
Canary Mail has a Free plan at $0, Growth at $36 a year or $100 once for a lifetime license, and Pro+ at $100 a year or $300 once for life (Canary pricing). There is no monthly billing, and a 7-day trial of every paid feature needs no credit card and drops back to Free on its own.
Prices as of November 2026, from Canary's own pages. Prices are in US dollars.
Canary Mail plans at a glance
The pricing page shows "$3 /month" for Growth and "$10 /month" for Pro+. Those are not monthly plans. Canary's FAQ says "Any monthly price shown on the pricing page is a monthly equivalent of the yearly plan, not a monthly billing option." The page has a Yearly and a Lifetime switch; the lifetime prices show when you pick Lifetime.
| Plan | Yearly | Lifetime (one payment) | What it adds | Devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Unified inbox, unlimited accounts, read receipts (lite), snooze and pin, templates | Up to 2 |
| Growth | $36 ($3 a month) | $100 | AI Copilot, full read receipts, send later, calendar and scheduling, Inbox Cleaner, integrations | Up to 5 |
| Pro+ | $100 (shown as $10 a month) | $300 | Everything in Growth, plus PGP encryption, SecureSend (HIPAA), phishing and ransomware protection, impersonation detection, priority support | Up to 5 |
All plan details come from the pricing page. The page shows Pro+ as "$10 /month" and "Billed yearly at $100/year - 2 months free".
You buy inside the app, not on the website. The FAQ says the pricing page "is for reference only and does not process payments."
Is Canary Mail free?
Yes. The Free plan is "Free forever" and takes unlimited mail accounts in one unified inbox (pricing). The page calls it the "Core inbox for students & personal use."
The main limit is devices. A free license covers "up to 2 devices", so a Mac and an iPhone use it up. A Windows PC or an iPad as well needs Growth or Pro+, which cover 5. Free also leaves out AI Copilot, send later and the security tools.
How does the Canary free trial work?
When you download the app, you get every paid feature for 7 days. The FAQ says "No credit card is required and there is no auto-billing" (pricing). When the trial ends, your account "moves to the Free plan automatically" unless you upgrade.
So there is nothing to cancel after a trial. Canary's pricing help article (updated October 16, 2026) says the same.
Is the Canary Mail lifetime plan worth it?
It pays off if you keep the app for about three years. Three years of Growth cost $108 billed yearly, against $100 once for life. Three years of Pro+ cost $300 billed yearly, the same as its lifetime price, so it saves money from the fourth year on.
Canary's help article says "Lifetime licenses include future updates for the purchased plan." A lifetime license is still a single-user license and covers up to 5 devices.
The Mac App Store lists the lifetime purchases at different prices from the website: "Canary Growth Lifetime Bundle" and "Canary Pro Lifetime Bundle" at $99.99 each, and "Canary Growth Yearly Bundle" at $35.99 (Mac App Store). Older Pro purchases also still appear there. Check the price in the app before you pay.
Is there a Canary Mail student or team discount?
Canary's pages show no student discount. The nearest thing is the Free plan, which Canary pitches for students and personal use (pricing).
There is no team plan either. Every plan is a single-user license: "A single user license is tied to one individual user, not a team or organization." The help article adds that a "Shared Inbox requires a separate license" (help).
How do I cancel Canary Mail, and can I get a refund?
You cancel where you bought it. The FAQ says "you can cancel anytime through your app store subscription settings. Your plan remains active until the end of the billing period, then moves to the Free plan" (pricing). On a Mac, that means your Apple Account's subscription settings when you bought through the Mac App Store.
Canary's pricing page and help article state no refund policy. For a purchase through the Mac App Store, Apple handles refund requests (Apple). For anything else, Canary's support address is hello@canarymail.io.
Why can't I pay for Canary monthly?
Canary sells only yearly and lifetime licenses. The FAQ answers "Does Canary Mail offer monthly subscriptions?" with "No, Canary Mail does not offer monthly subscriptions" (pricing). The pages don't give a reason. If you want to pay month to month, Spark bills Plus at $10 a month; see Spark pricing.
Is Canary Mail worth paying for?
Pay for Growth if you want AI Copilot to write and summarize, or need more than 2 devices. Pay for Pro+ if you send encrypted mail: PGP and SecureSend are only on Pro+. If you need neither, Free does the core job.
Two facts to weigh first:
- Push notifications go through Canary's server. Its privacy policy says "Canary will temporarily store your email address, credentials, sender, subject line" to send push, and deletes the data for each email once the notification arrives.
- AI is optional. The FAQ says AI features "can be disabled at any time" and your emails "are not used to train AI models" (pricing).
Alrighty and other options next to Canary
These are the apps people weigh against Canary's plans. For the full list, read Canary Mail alternatives.
Alrighty. A desktop mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux, with iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox. 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; Pro has both. Your passwords and sign-in tokens stay on your computer, encrypted, and no Alrighty server holds them. Search runs on your computer and matches meaning, so "when is my flight" finds the airline's confirmation. Phishing checks run on your computer too: a sure phishing message goes to Junk, and a likely one stays with a warning. Limits: no iPhone or Android app, no calendar, and no Yahoo or other IMAP accounts. Its AI features send the emails they read through Alrighty's server to OpenAI and other model companies. See Alrighty vs Canary Mail and the features.
Spark. Free with unlimited accounts, and paid plans billed monthly or yearly. See Spark pricing and Canary Mail vs Spark.
Mimestream. Gmail only, $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. See Mimestream pricing.
Apple Mail. Built into macOS, with no plan to buy.
Questions
Does one Canary license cover my Mac and iPhone?
Yes. A paid license covers macOS, iOS, Windows and Android, up to 5 devices, and Free covers 2 (pricing). Sign in with the same account on each device. If a paid plan doesn't show, use Restore Purchases in the app's settings.
Who makes Canary Mail?
The Mac App Store lists the developer as Cartasec Pte. Ltd. (Mac App Store).
Does Canary limit how much mail I can store?
No. The FAQ says "Canary Mail does not impose storage limits on your email." Your mail stays with your provider, so its storage limit is the one that counts (pricing).
What happens to Canary when my yearly plan ends?
If you don't renew, the plan stays active to the end of the billing period, then your account moves to the Free plan (pricing). You keep using the app on up to 2 devices, without the paid features.