Spike email alternatives, by what you used it for

The best Spike email alternative depends on which part of Spike you used. Alrighty is the pick if you used Spike as a personal mail app for iCloud, Gmail and Outlook, and you want more than one address without paying per address, with your mail and logins kept on your computer. Missive is closest to Spike for teams: email, internal chat and shared inboxes in one app. Spark keeps a people-first inbox and private comments, with a free plan for many accounts. Superhuman is for speed on Gmail and Microsoft 365. HEY is for starting over with a new address and a screener.

Most Spike alternative lists come from a competitor or a directory of reviews. They compare features but skip two things Spike users hit: what the free plan stops you doing, and what Spike keeps on its servers. Both are on Spike's own pages, so we start there. Then we say which part of Spike each app keeps and which it drops.

How we checked

We read Spike's pricing, security and Mac App Store pages, and each other app's own pricing, product and privacy pages, on November 4, 2026. Every fact about another product links to its source. For each app we noted which of Spike's features it has, what it costs, which accounts it takes, and where it keeps your mail. Alrighty is our app, and it's listed first.

What Spike gives you, and where it stops

Spike sells two things, and it helps to know which one you're leaving. Its pricing page splits them: Spike Email App "turns your existing email into chat-like conversations," and Spike Teamspace is "an end-to-end email and team chat service" with its own @spike.team addresses.

On the Email App plans:

• Free "offers Spike's Smart Inbox with a single email address." Search history is limited to the last 60 days, and Spike AI is capped at 10 queries.
• Pro is $6 a user a month billed yearly, or $8 monthly. It adds a unified inbox for "up to 3 email addresses" and unlimited search history.
• Ultimate is $12 a user a month billed yearly, or $16 monthly, for unlimited addresses.

The Mac App Store listing shows different amounts for the in-app plans: Pro at $7.99 a month or $71.99 a year, and Ultimate at $15.99 a month or $143.99 a year.

Every plan lists the conversational, chat-like view, notes and tasks, video calls, voice messages, and snooze, pin and auto archive. Spike says it "is ad-free and does not rent, sell, distribute or monetize on your data ever."

So the most common reason to look for a Spike alternative is plain: you have more than one address, and the free plan takes one.

What Spike keeps on its servers

Spike keeps message data on its own servers, encrypted. Its security page says:

• "Data is stored using the AES-256 algorithm, with a per-message private key."
• "We store only the minimum data needed to provide the fastest communication and collaboration experience."
• "Spike does not store passwords for accounts that support OAuth, such as Gmail." For accounts that don't, "your password is encrypted."
• "We receive the information you share with us, such as your email address, authentication and refresh tokens."

Its App Store privacy label says usage data "may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies."

None of this is hidden. If you'd rather no company's servers hold your mail or your sign-ins, though, you want an app that connects from your device straight to your provider.

Each Spike feature, and who has it

Spike feature	Alrighty	Missive	Spark	Superhuman	HEY
Chat-like view of email	No	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	No
Many addresses in one inbox	Yes, on every plan	Up to 10 personal accounts	Unlimited, free	Gmail and Microsoft 365 only	Your @hey.com address
Team chat and groups	No	Internal chat, team spaces	Private comments on an email	Team Comments, Shared Conversations	No
Shared notes and tasks	No	Tasks from emails	Not stated	Not stated	Sticky notes on an email
Video calls	No	Video chat via Twilio	Not stated	Zoom, Meet and Teams integrations	No
Calendar	No	Calendar syncing	Yes	Yes	HEY Calendar
Priority inbox	Groups you describe, on Pro	Not stated	Smart Inbox and Priority	Split Inbox	Imbox and Screener
Snooze and pin	No	Snooze	Snooze and Pin	Snooze, Remind Me	Not stated
Stop unwanted senders	Stop mail, Clean up, Filters	Rules	Gatekeeper, block	Unsubscribe, Block	Screener

Spike alternatives at a glance

App	Price	Runs on	Accounts	Where your mail and logins are kept
Alrighty	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook only	Your computer
Missive	From $14 a user a month, billed yearly	Mac, Windows, web, iPhone, Android	Gmail, Outlook, IMAP, WhatsApp, SMS and more	Missive's servers, encrypted at rest
Spark	Free; Plus $99 a year, Pro $199 a year	Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP	Spark's servers for some features
Superhuman	From $25 a member a month, billed yearly	Mac, Windows, web, iPhone, Android	Gmail, Microsoft 365	Its pages disagree
HEY	$99 a year	Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android	A new @hey.com address	HEY's servers
Spike	Free for 1 address; Pro from $6 a user a month	Mac, Windows, web, iPhone, Android	Gmail, Outlook, IMAP	Spike's servers, encrypted

Alrighty: best Spike alternative for personal mail on your computer

Alrighty is a mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox. If you used Spike to read several personal addresses in one place, this is the part Alrighty replaces, and every plan takes more than one account.

• One inbox for your accounts. Gmail connects with Sign in with Google or an app password, Outlook and Microsoft 365 with Sign in with Microsoft, and iCloud with an app-specific password.
• Groups, in place of Priority Inbox. On Pro, you name a group and describe it in a sentence, and Alrighty's AI files new Inbox mail that fits into it, out of your Inbox. A group can also have rules that run on your computer.
• Stop mail. One action ends a sender's mail. It unsubscribes every way the message offers, archives their mail, and moves their new mail out as it arrives.
• Clean up. It 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.
• Search with no 60-day limit. Search runs on your computer across every account and matches meaning as well as words: "when is my flight" finds the airline's confirmation. Ask a question and get the answer with the emails it came from.
• Your own AI, in place of Spike AI. Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model can read and search your mail, and work in a window you watch. Nothing sends until you click Send. Signed in, opening a reply also starts a suggested draft in your voice.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy and its search index on your computer. Your passwords and sign-ins stay on your computer, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain. No Alrighty server holds them. Alrighty's own AI features (answers, suggested replies, sorting into groups, Clean up) send only the emails they need to its server, which asks an AI model (OpenAI's for answers and replies). Signed out, nothing goes to Alrighty's server. There are no ads, on any plan.

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. Alrighty is a mail app, not a chat app. It has no chat-style view, no team chat or groups, no shared notes, no video calls, no snooze, no pins and no calendar. It has no iPhone, Android or web app, so Spike's reach on every device isn't here. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, not Yahoo or other IMAP. It's a new app with no long track record.

Pick it if you used Spike for your own iCloud, Gmail and Outlook addresses on a computer, and you'd trade the chat view for all your accounts, better search and less junk, with your mail kept on your computer.

Missive: closest to Spike for a team

Missive is the closest match to Spike's team side. It's built for "Inbox collaboration for teams that run on email" (Missive), and its pricing page lists internal chat, internal threads, team spaces, team inboxes, assignment and tasks with due dates. You can "Discuss certain emails, in those emails," which is Spike's mix of mail and chat.

• More than email. It connects Gmail and Google Workspace, Outlook and IMAP, and also WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and SMS. Spike's Teamspace connects WhatsApp too.
• Snooze, send later and canned responses are on every plan.
• AI. It works with "Anthropic, OpenAI, and Gemini," with Missive's credits or your own key.

Price. Starter is $14, Productive $24 and Business $36 a user a month billed yearly, or $18, $30 and $45 billed monthly. Starter is for up to 5 users. "Try Missive free for 30 days. No credit card required." There's no free plan.

Where your mail goes. Missive runs on Amazon Web Services, and "All data stored in our database and cloud storage is encrypted at rest" (security). It says it passed Google's security audit for services that store Gmail data on their servers.

Platforms. Mac and Windows desktop apps, a web app, and iPhone, iPad and Android apps (download).

What it can't do. It has no free plan, even for one person. Each user can connect up to 10 personal accounts and 5 shared ones. For one person's mail, it's more than you need.

Pick it if your team used Spike Teamspace or groups to talk about email, and you want shared inboxes and chat in one app.

Spark: best free plan for many accounts with a people-first inbox

Spark keeps the part of Spike that sorts people from machines, and it's free for unlimited accounts. Smart Inbox sorts unread mail into People, Notifications and Newsletters (Spark), and its home page names "Priority and Pin functions."

• Free plan. Its pricing page lists unlimited email accounts, Smart Inbox, a unified inbox, snooze, Set Aside, reminders and Mark as Done, plus a calendar.
• Team chat, lightly. "Turn email into chat with private comments," and you can add attachments in the comments. Team collaboration starts on Plus.
• Screening. Gatekeeper screens new senders so you can accept or block them.

Price. Free. Plus is $10 a month or $99 a year, and Pro is $20 a month or $199 a year. Spark +AI is on the paid plans.

Where your mail goes. Spark says some features "require our server-side email processing to work," and it stores the login and encrypted password for IMAP, AOL and Exchange accounts (privacy). What it can't do. Comments sit on an email, not in a chat stream like Spike's. Its pages don't describe video calls or shared notes. Our Spark alternatives page covers what its servers hold.

Pick it if Spike's free plan stopped at one address and you want many accounts free, on every device.

Superhuman: best for speed on Gmail and Microsoft 365

Superhuman is a fast mail app with team features on top. Its plan table lists Split Inbox, Snooze, Remind Me, Unsubscribe and Block, and for teams, Shared Conversations, Team Comments and Shared Drafts. It lists Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams integrations for scheduling.

Price. Starter is $25 a member a month and Business is $33, both billed yearly. Each plan bundles Mail with Grammarly, Docs and Go.

What it can't do. It's "Built for teams that use Gmail or Outlook" (Superhuman), so iCloud and other IMAP accounts are out, where Spike takes them. It has no chat view. Its pages don't agree on where your mail is stored. See our Superhuman alternatives.

Pick it if your team runs on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and wants speed and AI more than chat.

HEY: best if you'll start over with a new address

HEY is its own email service, and it's the one alternative that rethinks the inbox as much as Spike did. Its features page describes the Imbox, "where important, immediate emails go from people or services you care about," and the Screener, which decides who may email you. You can add sticky notes to any email, and push notifications are "off by default."

Price. HEY for You is $99 a year, with a 30-day trial and no card (pricing). It includes HEY Calendar. Billing is yearly only.

Where your mail goes. HEY holds your mail on its servers, and its privacy policy says its products "don't include built-in AI features that process your content."

What it can't do. It's not a client for the address you have. "HEY does not import your existing email from Gmail, Outlook, iCloud," and "HEY doesn't support IMAP or POP" (FAQ). It has no team chat. Our HEY alternatives page covers screeners that keep your address.

Pick it if you liked that Spike changed how email feels, and you're ready for a new address to go further.

How to choose

• Your own iCloud, Gmail and Outlook addresses, mail and logins kept on your computer: Alrighty.
• A team that talks about email, with shared inboxes and chat: Missive.
• Many accounts free, on every device, with a people-first inbox: Spark.
• Speed and AI on Gmail or Microsoft 365, paid per seat: Superhuman.
• A new address and a screener that decides who reaches you: HEY.

For the wider field, see our best email apps for Mac and our best email app for multiple accounts. See everything Alrighty does.

Questions

Is Spike email free?

Spike's Email App has a free plan with one email address, 60 days of search history and 10 Spike AI queries. A unified inbox for up to 3 addresses needs Pro, at $6 a user a month billed yearly or $8 monthly on Spike's site. Unlimited addresses need Ultimate.

Does Spike store my emails?

Yes, in encrypted form. Spike's security page says message data is stored with AES-256 and a per-message private key. It doesn't store passwords for OAuth accounts such as Gmail, and it encrypts passwords for accounts that don't support OAuth.

Is there a Spike alternative with a chat-style inbox?

None of the apps on this page shows email as a chat stream the way Spike does. Missive comes closest for teams, with internal chat and comments inside emails. Spark adds private comments to an email.

Which Spike alternative is free for more than one email address?

Spark's free plan takes unlimited accounts. Alrighty's Free plan takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts after its 14-day trial, on Mac, Windows and Linux.

What is the difference between Spike Email App and Spike Teamspace?

Spike Email App works with the address you already have and turns it into chat-like conversations. Teamspace is Spike's own email and team chat service, with @spike.team addresses or your own domain, priced per member.