Alrighty vs Shortwave

Pick Shortwave if all your mail is Gmail or Google Workspace, you want AI on every message, and you need it on your phone too. Pick Alrighty if you have an iCloud or Outlook account next to Gmail, and you want them in one inbox, with search on your computer and AI when you ask for it.

The two apps start from opposite ends. Shortwave is a Gmail client built around its own AI, and it keeps your mail on its servers in Google Cloud. Alrighty is a desktop app that adds three kinds of account directly and keeps its copy of your mail on your computer. The facts below come from each vendor's own pages, as of November 2026. Alrighty is our app.

How do Alrighty and Shortwave compare?

	Alrighty	Shortwave
Runs on	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux	Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Accounts it adds directly	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook.com, Microsoft 365	Gmail and Google Workspace
Other accounts	None	iCloud, Yahoo, Fastmail, Zoho by forwarding into Gmail; Outlook.com forwarding only
One inbox for all accounts	Yes	"No default option"
Price	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	$30, $45 or $120 a seat a month, 14-day trial
Where its copy of your mail is kept	Your computer	Shortwave's servers in Google Cloud
Search	On your computer, by meaning and words	AI search, Gmail-style filters or plain language
Unwanted mail	Stop mail, Clean up, Filters	One-click block and unsubscribe, AI filters
AI models	OpenAI for answers and replies; your own AI over MCP	Claude Haiku, Sonnet and Opus by plan
AI on by default	Your own AI off; reply drafts and Clean up on when signed in	A summary at the top of every email; an off switch isn't described

Does Shortwave work with iCloud and Outlook?

Partly, and only through Gmail. Shortwave's support page lists iCloud, Yahoo, Fastmail and Zoho as "full support with app password," set up by forwarding that mail into a Gmail account. Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live are "forwarding only, cannot send from address." Microsoft 365 and Exchange are "not supported at this time," and the same page says "We do not have a timeline for Microsoft support."

Alrighty adds each account as itself. Gmail connects with Sign in with Google, Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 with Sign in with Microsoft, and iCloud with an app-specific password. You send from each address directly. A Microsoft 365 work account, which Shortwave can't open at all, goes in next to your personal Gmail.

The trade runs the other way for Yahoo, Fastmail and Zoho. Shortwave can bring those in through Gmail. Alrighty can't add them at all.

Does Shortwave have a unified inbox?

No. Shortwave's multi-account page says "there is no default option to view a unified inbox in Shortwave." You switch between accounts, and its suggested workarounds are auto-forwarding or Gmail's "Send as."

Alrighty shows every account in one inbox by default, and one search covers all of them. If you have two Gmail accounts and an iCloud address, that is the main practical difference between the apps on a normal morning.

Is Shortwave or Alrighty cheaper?

Shortwave's pricing page lists three plans, each per seat per month, with a 14-day free trial:

• Business, $30: "Standard" AI on Claude Sonnet 4.6, 3 AI filters.
• Premier, $45: "Advanced" AI, Sonnet 4.6 with adaptive thinking, 10 AI filters.
• Max, $120: "Expert" AI, Claude Opus 4.6 with adaptive thinking, 50 AI filters.

The page lists no yearly prices. It has an "Individual" tab and a "Can I use Shortwave for free?" question, but both were empty in the page text when we read it. A help page says "Multi-account support is available for all users, even those on the Free plan," so a Free plan exists. We can't tell you what it includes.

Alrighty has 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's price isn't set yet, so we don't give one here.

Where does each app keep your email?

Shortwave keeps a copy on its servers. Its security page says "All Shortwave data is stored in Google Cloud's highly secure & compliant data centers," encrypted at rest with AES256. Besides Google Cloud, "we only use OpenAI, Anthropic, and Pinecone," and "The vast majority of our AI workloads use open source models that run on hardware we control." It also says "Your data will never be used to train third-party LLMs." Its security guide says it "processes your emails to provide features like search, threading, labeling, and the AI assistant." Neither page says how long data is kept.

Alrighty keeps its copy and its search index on your computer. Your mail itself stays with Apple, Google or Microsoft. Your passwords and tokens stay on your computer, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain, and no Alrighty server holds them.

That doesn't mean nothing leaves your computer. Alrighty's AI features send the emails they need to Alrighty's server, which asks a model: OpenAI for answers and replies, Together AI for chat titles, and TypeSafe AI's Jev for Clean up and sorting. If you don't sign in, nothing goes to Alrighty's server.

Which has better AI, Shortwave or Alrighty?

Shortwave has more of it, and it shows. Its home page puts "Instant AI summaries" at the top of each email, offers a Shortwave Agent that organizes, schedules, writes and searches from a prompt, and lets you write AI filters in plain English. It says its AI "learns your unique voice and style from the emails you send." It names its models by plan, all from Anthropic. If you want an assistant built into the mail app, with a strong model on the top plan, Shortwave goes further.

Alrighty's AI is quieter and works in two ways.

• Built in. When you're signed in, opening a reply starts a suggested draft in your voice. It reads up to 12 of your sent emails and up to 12 messages of the conversation. Ask for a change in your own words, or click Shorten, Warmer or Formalize. You can also ask a question about your mail and get the answer with the emails it came from. There are no summaries on every email.
• The AI you already use. A local MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model read and search your mail. It's off until you turn it on with Connect AI. That AI can work in a window of its own while you watch, and nothing sends until you click Send. The setup guide has the steps.

So if you already pay for Claude and want it in your mail, Alrighty lets you bring it. Shortwave gives you Claude inside Shortwave, priced by seat.

Which is better at stopping junk mail?

Both have a one-click answer, and they do different things after the click. Shortwave's "Block & unsubscribe" is described as "Guard your inbox from junk emails with one click," and its bundles group promotions and newsletters (Shortwave). Its AI filters can label, star or archive mail you describe, with 3 to 50 of them depending on plan.

Alrighty's Stop mail unsubscribes every way the message offers (one-click, an email to the list, or the list's page), archives the mail you already have from that sender, and moves their new mail out as it arrives. It only unsubscribes from senders whose mail passed DMARC and wasn't marked spam, so a scammer never learns your address is live. 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. Filters catch a kind of mail that comes from a new sender each time, like cold sales, and never move mail from people you've written to.

Alrighty doesn't screen first-time senders. A new sender's mail lands in the Inbox, and stopped mail goes to Archive, not Junk.

What does Shortwave do better?

• Phones. Shortwave is "Available on iOS, Android, Mac & Windows." Alrighty runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, with no iPhone, Android or web app.
• More AI. Summaries on every email, an agent, AI filters, and a choice of Claude models by plan.
• More providers, through Gmail. Yahoo, Fastmail and Zoho can come in by forwarding. Alrighty takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook only.
• A longer track record. Alrighty is a new app.

What does Alrighty do better?

• Outlook and Microsoft 365. Added directly, sending as themselves.
• One inbox. Every account together, with one search across them.
• Mail kept on your computer. Its copy and search index live on your computer, not on a mail service's servers.
• Your own AI. Claude, ChatGPT or a local model works in your mail, and you click Send.
• Price to start. A no-card trial, then a Free plan, against Shortwave's $30 a seat a month for the cheapest plan it lists.

Switching from Shortwave to Alrighty

Your mail is already in Gmail, so nothing needs to move. Add the Gmail account in Alrighty and it appears. If you forwarded an iCloud or Outlook.com account into Gmail for Shortwave, add that account directly in Alrighty, then turn the forwarding off in the provider's settings, or each message arrives twice. Shortwave's security page says you can delete your account "and all associated data" when you leave.

Which should you pick?

• iCloud or Outlook next to Gmail, all in one inbox: Alrighty.
• You want Claude or ChatGPT, the one you already use, working in your mail: Alrighty.
• A Microsoft 365 work account: Alrighty. Shortwave doesn't support it.
• All Gmail, AI summaries on every email, and you'll pay per seat: Shortwave.
• You read mail on an iPhone or Android phone: Shortwave.
• Yahoo, Fastmail or Zoho accounts: Shortwave, through Gmail forwarding.

For more options, see our Shortwave alternatives. To compare AI mail apps by which company reads your mail, see the best AI email client list, or browse more comparisons.

Questions

Is Shortwave free?

A Free plan exists: Shortwave's help pages say multi-account support is available "even those on the Free plan." Its pricing page doesn't describe what the Free plan includes. The plans it lists start at $30 a seat a month, after a 14-day trial.

Which AI does Shortwave use?

Shortwave's plans name Anthropic models: Claude Sonnet 4.6 on Business and Premier, and Claude Opus 4.6 on Max. Its security page also names OpenAI and Pinecone, and says most AI work runs on open source models on its own hardware. Alrighty's built-in replies and answers use OpenAI; Claude can work in Alrighty only as your own AI, over MCP.

Can I use Shortwave and Alrighty at the same time?

Yes. Both read the same Gmail account, so a message you archive in one is archived in the other. The difference is where each keeps its copy: Shortwave on its servers, Alrighty on your computer.

Does Alrighty have a phone app like Shortwave?

No. Alrighty runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. There's no iPhone, Android or web app, so on your phone you'd keep using Gmail, Apple Mail or Outlook.