Alrighty vs Canary Mail

Pick Canary Mail if you need one app on your computer and your iPhone, iPad or Android phone, want PGP encryption or a one-time lifetime license, or have a Yahoo, Exchange or Zoho account. Pick Alrighty if your accounts are iCloud, Gmail and Outlook and you want unwanted senders stopped in one click, search that finds what you remember, and the AI you already use working in your mail.

We checked every fact on this page against each company's own pages in November 2026, and linked them below. Alrighty is our app, and Canary wins on several points, which we name.

Alrighty vs Canary Mail at a glance

	Alrighty	Canary Mail
Runs on	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux	Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Android
Accounts	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook.com and Microsoft 365	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, Zoho, Proton and others
Price	14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro	Free on 2 devices; Growth $36 a year; Pro+ $100 a year
Monthly billing	Pro's price isn't set	None; yearly or lifetime only
Where mail is kept	With your provider, plus a copy and search on your computer	On your device; push sends some details to its servers
Tracking pixels	Images load through a proxy that hides your address	Blocked by default
Unwanted mail	Stop mail, Clean up, Filters, phishing checks	1-Click Unsubscribe; Inbox Cleaner on Growth; phishing protection on Pro+
Encryption	No PGP	PGP and SecureSend on Pro+
AI	Some starts by itself when signed in; your own AI is off until you turn it on	AI Copilot on Growth and Pro+; can be turned off

Is Canary Mail free?

Yes, with a device limit. Canary's pricing page calls its free plan "Free forever," with unlimited mail accounts, read receipts (lite), snooze and pin, and templates. Its FAQ limits Free to "up to 2 devices." The paid plans:

• Growth: $36 a year. Adds AI Copilot, full read receipts, send later, calendar and scheduling, Inbox Cleaner and integrations. Up to 5 devices.
• Pro+: $100 a year. Adds PGP encryption, SecureSend for HIPAA, phishing and ransomware protection, impersonation detection and priority support. Up to 5 devices.

Every download starts with 7 days of all paid features. Canary says there's "No credit card. No auto-billing," and you drop to Free when the week ends.

Alrighty's trial is 14 days, also with no card. Then you keep the Free plan, with a small monthly AI allowance and no sorting into groups, or move to Pro for both.

Can you pay for Canary Mail monthly?

No. Canary's FAQ says "Canary Mail does not offer monthly subscriptions." The $3 and $10 monthly figures on its pricing page are the yearly price divided by twelve. You pay yearly, or once for a lifetime license, which Canary says covers up to 5 devices across macOS, iOS, Windows and Android. The pricing page doesn't show lifetime prices. The Mac App Store page lists a Canary Growth Lifetime Bundle and a Canary Pro Lifetime Bundle at $99.99 each.

Alrighty doesn't sell a lifetime license. Pro's price isn't set yet, so we can't compare the two.

Does Canary Mail keep your mail on your device?

Mostly, yes. Canary's privacy policy says your account details, credentials and mail are "stored on your device and is never transferred to our servers." The exception is push notifications. With push on, Canary "will temporarily store your email address, credentials, sender, subject line" on its servers, and deletes the data for an email "as soon as the notification for that email is delivered to your device." What Canary does collect is "stored on our servers in Germany." Cloud Sync stores what it syncs in encrypted form, and Canary says the keys sit in your private iCloud keychain.

Alrighty's design is close to Canary's on the basics. Your mail stays with Apple, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy on your computer. Your sign-ins stay on your computer, encrypted, and no Alrighty server holds them, push or not.

The difference is AI. When you're signed in, Alrighty's AI features and Clean up send the emails they need through Alrighty's server to a model company. Canary's AI Copilot also sends text to model companies when you use it. The next sections say which.

Which one blocks tracking pixels?

Canary does. Its security page says invisible pixels "reveal when and where you opened a message," and "Canary Mail blocks them by default."

Alrighty takes a different path, and it's weaker on this one point. It loads a message's images by itself, through a proxy with no cookies. Signed in, Alrighty's server fetches them, so the sender never sees your computer's address. But a tracking pixel still loads, so the sender can still see that the mail was opened. Alrighty has no "Load images" button. Our remote images doc explains how it works.

If hiding when you open mail matters to you, Canary is the better choice here.

Which AI models does Canary use, and is AI on by default?

Canary's privacy policy says AI Copilot uses models from providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere and Google, and that Canary has "opted out of data sharing - your data will not be used to train or improve 3rd party models." Its search help page says "AI features in Canary Mail can be turned off at any time." AI Copilot writes emails and summarizes long threads. It comes with Growth and Pro+, not Free.

Alrighty names its model companies too: OpenAI for answers and replies, Together AI for chat titles, and TypeSafe AI for Clean up and sorting. It has no single off switch. Signed in, opening a reply starts a suggested draft by itself, written in your voice from your sent mail, and Clean up sorts senders in the background. Signed out, nothing goes to Alrighty's server.

Where Alrighty goes further is the AI you already pay for. Turn on Connect AI and Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model can read and search your mail. It can also open mail, write replies and file messages in a window you watch. Nothing sends until you click Send. Canary's pages don't describe connecting an outside AI. The setup guide has the steps.

How do they deal with unwanted mail and phishing?

Both have one-click unsubscribe. Canary's home page lists "1-Click Unsubscribe," and its plan comparison lists a Gray Mail Cleaner. Growth adds an Inbox Cleaner. Pro+ adds phishing and ransomware protection and impersonation detection.

Alrighty puts more of its weight here:

• Stop mail unsubscribes every way the message offers, archives the sender's old mail, and keeps their new mail out of your Inbox as it arrives.
• Clean up lists the scams, cold outreach and newsletters you never open, so you can stop many senders at once.
• Filters handle mail that comes from a new address each time, like cold sales. Describe it in your words or set rules. Mail from people you've written to stays put.
• Phishing checks run on your computer. A sure phishing email goes to Junk, and a likely one gets a warning.

Alrighty also refuses to unsubscribe from a sender whose mail failed DMARC, so a scammer never learns your address works. It doesn't screen people who write to you for the first time. Stopped mail goes to Archive, not Junk.

For a wider look at phishing tools, see the best phishing email checkers.

Does Canary Mail have PGP?

Yes, on Pro+. Canary's security page says it is "OpenPGP compatible - recipients don't need Canary Mail," and SecureSend sends "a secure link with identity verification" to people without PGP. Teams can manage public keys from an admin console.

Alrighty has no PGP. If you send encrypted mail, or need a HIPAA option, choose Canary.

What does Canary Mail do better?

• Phones and tablets. Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android on one license. Alrighty runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, with no phone or tablet app.
• More accounts. Exchange, Yahoo, Zoho and Proton logos sit on its home page. Alrighty can't add Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail or other providers.
• Tracking pixels blocked by default.
• PGP and SecureSend on Pro+.
• A lifetime license, so you can pay once.
• Calendar and scheduling on Growth. Alrighty has no calendar.
• Track record. Alrighty is a new app.

Which should you pick?

• iCloud, Gmail and Outlook on your computer, and you want junk gone for good: Alrighty.
• You want Claude, ChatGPT or a local model reading your mail, and to click Send yourself: Alrighty.
• You want search that matches what you mean, across every account: Alrighty.
• You need Android, iPhone or iPad: Canary Mail.
• You send PGP-encrypted mail or need a HIPAA option: Canary Mail.
• You want to pay once: Canary Mail.
• You want tracking pixels blocked: Canary Mail.

Our Canary Mail alternatives compares more apps, and the features page shows the rest of Alrighty.

Questions

Does Canary Mail work with iCloud?

Yes. Canary's security page says it "supports Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Exchange, and IMAP." Alrighty works with iCloud as well, through an app-specific password.

Can I use Canary Mail free on more than two devices?

No. The FAQ on Canary's pricing page caps Free at 2 devices. Growth and Pro+ raise it to 5, and so does a lifetime license.

Does Canary Mail use my emails to train AI?

Canary's pricing FAQ says "Your emails are not used to train AI models," and its privacy policy says it opted out of data sharing with its model providers. Alrighty's privacy page names the model companies its AI features use.

Does Alrighty work on Windows or Android?

On Windows, yes. Alrighty runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. It has no Android, iPhone or web version. Canary has Android and iPhone apps.