SaneBox alternatives, and what replaces each folder

The best SaneBox alternative is Alrighty if you use iCloud, Gmail or Outlook and want to stop unwanted senders instead of filing them away, with your mail logins kept on your computer. If you want free, the sorting built into Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail does much of what SaneLater does. Spark sorts for free on every device. Clean Email is the closest service to SaneBox, with rules that run on new mail. Superhuman and Shortwave sort with AI for Gmail users who will pay per seat.

People leave SaneBox for two reasons. It's a subscription with no free plan, and it keeps standing access to your mailbox from its own servers. Most lists of SaneBox alternatives name other apps but don't say what takes the place of each SaneBox folder, or who connects to your mail once you switch. This page answers both.

How we checked

We read each vendor's own help, pricing and privacy pages on November 3, 2026, and every fact about another product links to its source. For each app we noted what replaces SaneLater, SaneBlackHole and the Digest, what it costs, which accounts it takes, and which company connects to your mailbox. We did not test the apps. Alrighty is our app, and it's listed first.

What SaneBox does, and why people leave

SaneBox is a service, not a mail app. It connects to your mailbox and "asks the email server to move emails" into its folders (privacy). Because the folders live in your own mailbox, you "access them from any device or email client" (SaneBox). Its three main tools:

• SaneLater. SaneBox moves less important mail to a folder called @SaneLater, "based on headers (sender, subject, etc.)." You train it by dragging a message to a Sane folder, or back to the Inbox. Folders such as SaneNews work the same way.
• SaneBlackHole. Drag a message there and SaneBox will "always send future emails from that sender straight to SaneBlackHole," then trash them after 7 days. A separate setting can "automatically unsubscribe from mailing lists by training them to SaneBlackHole" (SaneBox).
• The Digest. "The Daily Digest is a daily summary of unimportant emails that haven't been opened yet" (SaneBox).

Price. Billed every two years, Snack is $4.54 a month, Lunch $7.46 and Dinner $22.04, and it also offers yearly and monthly billing (pricing). The Snack plan covers one account, Lunch two, and Dinner four "and access to all SaneBox features" (plans). There is no free plan. The pricing page showed no amounts when we read it.

The trial. SaneBox's pages disagree. The home page and the plans help page say 7 days, while the "why SaneBox is not free" help page says "two weeks." We use 7 days, from the home page, which also says "No credit card required."

Access to your mail. SaneBox says it "looks at the basics like sender, subject line and date of your mail," never stores full emails, and that "The credentials for your account are encrypted and securely stored" (SaneBox). Its optional AI features "may now process the body content of your emails" (privacy). So SaneBox reads less than many services. But it holds a login to your mailbox and works on it from its own servers as your mail arrives, and some people would rather no third party did.

SaneBox alternatives at a glance

App	Instead of SaneLater	Instead of SaneBlackHole	Price	Accounts	Who connects to your mailbox
Alrighty	Groups you describe (Pro and trial)	Stop mail: unsubscribes and keeps it out	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook	The app on your computer
Clean Email	Auto Clean rules, Read Later	Block senders that ignore unsubscribe	Plans for 1, 5 or 10 accounts	Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, work mail	Clean Email's servers
Spark	Smart Inbox: People, Notifications, Newsletters	Gatekeeper, block a sender or domain	Free; Plus $99/yr, Pro $199/yr	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP	The app, plus Spark's servers for some features
Superhuman	Auto Labels move mail to Other	Not described on its pages	From $25/member/mo, billed yearly	Gmail, Microsoft 365	Its pages disagree
Shortwave	AI filters that label and archive	One-click block and unsubscribe	From $30/seat/mo	Gmail; others by forwarding	Shortwave's Google Cloud
Gmail	Category tabs, filters	Block, or Manage subscriptions	Free	Gmail	Google only
Outlook	Focused Inbox: Focused and Other	Always move to Other, or block	Free with the account	Outlook.com, Microsoft 365, Exchange	Microsoft only
Apple Mail	4 categories	Block Sender, with blocked mail to the Trash	Comes with macOS	iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, others	The app on your Mac

None of them has a direct match for the Digest, a daily email listing the mail you haven't opened. The sections below say what comes closest in each.

Alrighty: best SaneBox alternative for iCloud, Gmail and Outlook

Alrighty is a mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox. Where SaneBox moves unwanted mail to a folder, Alrighty's answer is to stop it.

Instead of SaneBlackHole: Stop mail. One click on a sender unsubscribes you in every way the message offers (one-click, an email to the list, or the list's page), archives the mail you already have from them, and moves new mail from them out as it arrives. SaneBlackHole holds their mail for 7 days and then trashes it. Stop mail also asks the sender to stop, so less of it comes at all. It only unsubscribes from senders whose mail passed DMARC and wasn't marked spam, so a scammer never learns your address is live.

Instead of the Digest: Clean up. Clean up lists the senders you probably don't want, such as scams, cold outreach and newsletters you never open, so you can stop them all at once. It's a list you open in the app, not a daily email.

Instead of SaneLater: groups. Give a group a name and a sentence about what belongs in it, and Alrighty's AI files new Inbox mail that fits under it. When you make a group, it shows you the recent Inbox mail it would file, and nothing files until you say so. Groups can also have rules you write, which run on your computer. Sorting into groups is part of Pro and the trial. The Free plan has no sorting into groups.

What runs where. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy and its search index on your computer. Your passwords and tokens stay on your computer, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain. No Alrighty server holds them, which is the main difference from SaneBox. Some features do send mail to Alrighty's server, which asks an AI model, Jev from TypeSafe AI:

• Groups send each email's sender, subject and the start of its body.
• Clean up sends each sender's address, three facts the receiving server found, and up to 3 of their newest emails. When you're signed in, Clean up sorts senders in the background.
• Unsubscribing through a list's web page runs in a browser on Alrighty's server, so the sender sees neither your computer nor its address.

If you don't sign in to Alrighty, nothing goes to its server.

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. SaneBox works in any mail app on any device. Alrighty is a mail app you switch to, on your computer. There's no iPhone or web app, and no calendar. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, so Yahoo, Fastmail and other IMAP accounts that SaneBox handles can't come along. It's new, with no long track record.

Pick it if you mostly read mail on a computer and want unwanted senders gone, not filed, without a service holding your login.

Clean Email: closest service to SaneBox

Clean Email is, like SaneBox, a service that connects to your mailbox rather than a mail app. You keep reading mail where you do now.

Instead of SaneLater. Auto Clean can apply "selected rules and actions to emails arriving to your mailbox without any manual work," and for subscriptions you can choose "Read Later, Pause, or Keep Newest" (Clean Email). You build the rules yourself. It doesn't learn from you the way SaneLater does.

Instead of SaneBlackHole. "Clean Email will send unsubscribe requests on your behalf," and it can "block mailing lists and senders who do not respect such requests."

Accounts and devices. It supports "Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, and your company email account," and iCloud through an app-specific password. It runs on "iPhone and iPad, Android, Mac, and the web."

Who connects to your mailbox. Clean Email does, from its servers. Its privacy policy says it indexes "email metadata, including sender and recipient details, subjects," and that it won't read the bodies of your messages, though full bodies are fetched for previews and "may be temporarily cached." Indexed data is deleted 45 days after your last login, if no subscription is active.

Price. Its plans page lists plans for 1, 5 or 10 accounts at $9.99, $19.99 or $29.99 a month, or $29.99, $49.99 or $99.99 a year.

Pick it if you want a SaneBox-style service with rules you control, and you're fine with a service holding access to your mailbox. Our email cleaner guide covers its bulk cleanup.

Spark Smart Inbox: best free SaneBox alternative across devices

Spark is a free mail app for Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android with unlimited accounts (pricing).

Instead of SaneLater. Its Smart Inbox "gathers unread emails from your accounts and sorts them into three categories": People, Notifications and Newsletters, with read mail moving to Seen (Spark). To move a sender on a Mac, click their address, click the current category, and pick another. Their future mail goes there.

Closest to the Digest. Each category card can be set to Grouped, which shows each sender with their unread count. It's a view in the app, not a daily email.

Instead of SaneBlackHole. Gatekeeper screens new senders, "giving you the option to either accept or block any future contact," and you can "block a specific sender or domain" (Spark).

Who connects to your mailbox. Spark says some features "require our server-side email processing to work." For AOL, Exchange and custom IMAP accounts, it stores your login and encrypts the password in its database (privacy). Our Spark alternatives page covers this.

Pick it if SaneBox's price was the problem and you want free sorting on every device.

Superhuman Auto Labels: best for Gmail and Microsoft 365 teams

Superhuman's Auto Labels "automatically classify every email into built-in categories like marketing, cold pitches, and social network updates," and move those emails "from Important to Other" (Superhuman). That's close to what SaneLater does, without the training. To stop cold pitches instead of sorting them, see how to stop cold emails. Auto Labels come on all plans. Custom Auto Labels, which you describe in a prompt, need Business or Enterprise.

Price. Starter is $25 per member per month and Business is $33, both billed yearly (plans). That costs more than SaneBox's lowest plan.

What it can't do. It's "Built for teams that use Gmail or Outlook" (Superhuman), so iCloud, Yahoo and IMAP are out. Its pages don't agree on whether your mail is stored on its servers. See our Superhuman alternatives.

Pick it if you're on Gmail or Microsoft 365 and want AI sorting inside a fast mail app, and price wasn't why you left SaneBox.

Shortwave: best for Gmail users who want AI filters

Shortwave's AI filters "Automatically label, star, archive, and more with scripts you write in plain English" (Shortwave). That lets you rebuild SaneLater as a rule in your own words. It also offers one-click block and unsubscribe.

Price. Business is $30 per seat per month with 3 AI filters, Premier $45 with 10, and Max $120 with 50 (pricing).

Who connects to your mailbox. "All Shortwave data is stored in Google Cloud's highly secure & compliant data centers," and it uses OpenAI, Anthropic and Pinecone (security). If access to your mail is why you're leaving SaneBox, Shortwave holds more of it, not less.

What it can't do. It's for Gmail and Google Workspace. iCloud, Yahoo and Fastmail come in only by forwarding into Gmail, and Microsoft 365 and Exchange are "not supported at this time" (Shortwave). See our Shortwave alternatives.

Pick it if all your mail is Gmail and you want to describe your sorting in plain English.

Gmail categories: best free SaneBox alternative for Gmail

Gmail's Default inbox sorts mail into Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. Primary holds "Emails from people you know and messages that don't appear in other tabs" (Google). To set the tabs, click Settings, set Inbox type to Default, then click Customize.

How it compares to SaneLater. Promotions and Updates catch much of what SaneLater would. You teach Gmail by dragging a message to another tab, and for one sender you can create a filter that sends their mail to a category. You can't add your own tabs.

Instead of SaneBlackHole. Unsubscribe with Manage subscriptions, or block the sender so their mail goes to Spam. Our unsubscribe app guide has the steps.

Pick it if all your mail is Gmail and five fixed tabs are enough. Nothing new connects to your mailbox.

Outlook Focused Inbox: best free SaneBox alternative for Outlook accounts

Focused Inbox "separates your inbox into two tabs: Focused and Other," and decides by the "emails and contacts with whom you interact," filtering out automated and bulk mail (Microsoft). Other plays the part of SaneLater.

How to train it. Right-click a message, choose Move, then Always move to Other inbox or Always move to Focused inbox. In Outlook.com, turn it on in Settings, Mail, Message List.

What it can't do. Two tabs only. In Outlook for Windows it works only with Microsoft 365, Exchange and Outlook.com accounts, and "If you're using a shared mailbox, Focused Inbox will not work."

Pick it if your mail is Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 and you want important mail split from the rest for free.

Apple Mail categories: best free SaneBox alternative on a Mac

Apple Mail "automatically sorts your email messages into categories": Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions (Apple). To move a sender, Control-click a message, choose Categorize Sender, and pick a category. Mail rules cover anything else.

Instead of SaneBlackHole. Block Sender takes up to 3,000 senders (Apple), and Mail can "move blocked mail to the Trash" (Apple). That's the closest built-in match to SaneBlackHole. You can also unsubscribe from a list "directly in Mail."

What it can't do. Categories are "not available in all countries or regions," and you can't add your own. The steps for blocking in every app are in how to block a sender.

Pick it if you're on a Mac, four categories are enough, and you want nothing new to install or pay for.

What happens to your mail when you cancel SaneBox?

Your mail stays where it is. SaneBox says "All email resides on the customer's email server," and that it deletes "all the personal data that you've previously submitted to the Service, as soon as you cancel" (privacy). The Sane folders are folders in your own mailbox, so the mail in @SaneLater and the others stays in them. Before you cancel, open those folders and move anything you want back to your Inbox. Then remove SaneBox's access: SaneBox says you can "revoke anytime," and for Gmail or Outlook you can also remove it from your Google or Microsoft account's list of connected apps.

How to choose

• iCloud, Gmail or Outlook on your computer, and you want unwanted senders stopped with no service holding your login: Alrighty.
• A service like SaneBox that works in any mail app, with rules you set: Clean Email.
• Free sorting on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android: Spark.
• Gmail or Microsoft 365, AI sorting in a fast app, paid per seat: Superhuman.
• Gmail only, sorting written in plain English: Shortwave.
• All Gmail, free: Gmail's category tabs and filters.
• Outlook, free: Focused Inbox.
• On a Mac, free, nothing new: Apple Mail's categories and Block Sender.
• You want SaneBox's sorting in every app and on every device, and price and access don't bother you: stay with SaneBox.

For a wider look at how each organizer sorts mail, see our best email organizer apps. For tools where an AI does the sorting, see the best AI email triage tools. If an empty inbox is the goal, see the best inbox zero apps.

For a side-by-side of the two apps, see Alrighty vs SaneBox.

Questions

Is there a free alternative to SaneBox?

Yes. Gmail's category tabs, Outlook's Focused Inbox and Apple Mail's categories are free and already in your mail. Spark's Smart Inbox is free on every device. Alrighty has a Free plan after its 14-day trial, but its sorting into groups is part of Pro.

How long is SaneBox's free trial?

SaneBox's own pages disagree. Its home page and plans help page say 7 days, and its "why SaneBox is not free" help page says two weeks. The home page says no credit card is required.

Does SaneBox read my email?

SaneBox says it reads "the basics like sender, subject line and date," and never stores full emails or attachments. Its optional AI features process the body of the emails they summarize. It does store your account credentials, encrypted, so it can work on your mailbox from its servers.

What replaces SaneBlackHole?

Blocking a sender in Gmail, Outlook or Apple Mail moves their mail out, as SaneBlackHole does. Apple Mail can send blocked mail straight to the Trash. Alrighty's Stop mail also unsubscribes you, archives their mail and keeps new mail out. Clean Email blocks senders that ignore its unsubscribe requests.

Can I keep using my mail app without SaneBox?

Yes. SaneBox only moves mail between folders in your mailbox, so your app keeps working when you cancel. Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail sort on their own. Clean Email is the alternative that, like SaneBox, works behind any app.