Superhuman vs Shortwave, price, AI and accounts

Pick Superhuman if you have a Microsoft 365 or Outlook account, or a mix of Gmail and Outlook, because Shortwave can't add Microsoft 365 at all. Pick Shortwave if all your mail is Gmail and you want AI search and plain-English AI filters, with the Claude model named on the plan you buy.

Both are AI-first inboxes with keyboard shortcuts, on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, and both cost $25 or more a month. So the choice comes down to your accounts, how each prices its AI, and where each keeps your mail. If you also have an iCloud address, neither takes it directly; Alrighty is a third option for that, covered after the comparison.

How we checked

We read Superhuman's and Shortwave's own pricing, help, security and privacy pages on November 8, 2026. Every fact below links to the page it came from. We did not test the apps. Alrighty is our app.

Superhuman vs Shortwave at a glance

	Alrighty	Superhuman	Shortwave
Platforms	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux	Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chrome extension	Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Accounts	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook and Microsoft 365	Gmail and Outlook / Microsoft 365	Gmail and Google Workspace; others by forwarding
Price	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	$25 or $33 per member per month, billed yearly	$30, $45 or $120 per seat per month; 14-day trial
Where mail is kept	Your provider, plus a copy and search index on your computer	Its pages disagree	Shortwave's Google Cloud
Unwanted mail	Stop mail, Clean up, Filters	Split Inbox, auto labels, unsubscribe	One-click junk, AI filters
AI, and is it on?	Your own AI off until you connect it; reply drafts on when signed in	On every plan; default not stated	On every plan; summaries "at the top of every email"

Is Shortwave cheaper than Superhuman?

Not on the prices each company lists. Shortwave's pricing page shows Business at $30 per seat per month, Premier at $45 and Max at $120, with "Start your 14 day free trial" on each. It lists no yearly prices. Superhuman's plans page shows Starter at $25 per member per month and Business at $33, both billed yearly, and shows no monthly-billed price or trial.

Two details muddy this:

• Superhuman's own comparison page says "Shortwave starts at $24/month billed annually." Shortwave's pricing page didn't show that price when we read it.
• Shortwave's home page says "Get started for free" and "No credit card required" (Shortwave), and a help page says "Multi-account support is available for all users, even those on the Free plan" (Shortwave). But the pricing page's "Can I use Shortwave for free?" answer was empty, so we can't say what the Free plan includes.

Superhuman also bundles Grammarly, Docs and Go into every plan. Shortwave sells mail alone.

Does Shortwave work with Outlook?

Barely. Shortwave says "Currently, Shortwave only supports Gmail & Google Workspace accounts" (Shortwave). Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live work by forwarding only and "cannot send from address," and Microsoft 365 and Exchange are "not supported at this time." iCloud, Yahoo, Fastmail and Zoho work by forwarding their mail into Gmail (Shortwave).

Superhuman says "Superhuman Mail is built for Gmail and Outlook," and that you "can also connect multiple accounts" (Superhuman). It doesn't take iCloud or Yahoo either. So a Microsoft 365 work account rules out Shortwave, and an iCloud address rules out both. Our Shortwave alternatives page covers apps that add those accounts directly.

Which has better AI, Superhuman or Shortwave?

Shortwave tells you more about its AI. Superhuman gives you more AI that acts for you.

Shortwave names its models by plan (pricing):

• Business: Claude Sonnet 4.6, "roughly 150-300" AI requests a day, 50 threads per AI search, 3 AI filters.
• Premier: Sonnet 4.6 with adaptive thinking, twice the usage, 100 threads per AI search, 10 AI filters.
• Max: Claude Opus 4.6, six times the usage, 150 threads per AI search, 50 AI filters.

It puts "a smart tl;dr right at the top of every email," learns "your unique voice and style from the emails you send," and runs filters "with scripts you write in plain English" (Shortwave). Search takes "Gmail-style filters or natural language."

Superhuman includes Write with AI, Instant Reply, Auto Summarize, Autocorrect and Autocomplete on Starter. Business adds Auto Drafts, Ask AI, custom AI labels and the Superhuman Mail MCP for outside AI assistants (plans). Its assistant drafts replies in your voice and, if you allow it, sends "fully written emails on your behalf" (Superhuman). Superhuman doesn't name its model company on the pages we read.

Neither page says how to turn the AI off. If you want an app where AI stays quiet, see email apps without AI.

Where does each keep my email?

Shortwave answers plainly. Superhuman's pages disagree with each other.

Shortwave says "All Shortwave data is stored in Google Cloud's highly secure & compliant data centers," encrypted "at rest using AES256" and "in transit using TLS 1.2+." 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 says "Your data will never be used to train third-party LLMs," and you can delete your account and its data (Shortwave security).

Superhuman's blog says "your inbox is never stored on our servers" and is "stored on your machine." Its privacy policy, which covers all its products, says "We receive the content you upload or enable our products to access, such as emails and drafts," and it runs "fully on infrastructure managed by Google." We can't tell which describes the Mail app today.

Can I see all my accounts in one inbox?

Not by default in Shortwave. Its help page says "there is no default option to view a unified inbox in Shortwave," and suggests auto-forwarding or Gmail's "Send as" instead (Shortwave). You switch between Gmail accounts.

Superhuman says you can connect multiple accounts. The pages we read don't say whether it shows them in one combined inbox.

Can I switch from Superhuman to Shortwave?

Yes, and Shortwave has a migration guide for it. Because both sit on top of Gmail, you see the same mail in each.

• Labels come across: "Superhuman labels are automatically imported into Shortwave when you sign up," and label changes sync back.
• Shortcuts. "Shortwave supports many of the Superhuman and Gmail keyboard shortcuts you're used to." Many, not all.
• Splits don't carry over. You set them up again under Settings > Inbox Setup > Splits.
• Signatures. Shortwave "currently syncs your default Gmail signature," so copy a custom Superhuman signature into Gmail first.
• History. Shortwave imports the last 90 days of mail on sign-in; a separate guide covers the rest.
• Snoozes. "Snoozed threads in Shortwave are temporarily archived in Superhuman."

Going the other way, Superhuman publishes no Shortwave guide that we found, but your mail is still in Gmail.

Which is better for a team?

Both are built for teams. Superhuman Starter and Business allow up to 25 seats, with shared conversations, team comments and team scheduling, and Enterprise adds single sign-on and an admin console (plans). Shortwave offers "shared threads that update automatically in real-time" (Shortwave), plus team comments, assignees, shared labels and channels on its pricing page. A team on Microsoft 365 can only use Superhuman.

Alrighty: a third option for iCloud and Outlook

Superhuman and Shortwave both build the AI in and pick the model for you. Alrighty, a desktop mail app, takes the other route: the AI you already use works in your mail. And it adds the accounts these two can't, with iCloud next to Gmail and Microsoft 365 directly, no forwarding, in one inbox.

• Bring your own AI. A local MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor or a local model read and search all your accounts. It's off until you turn it on with Connect AI. That AI can work in a window you watch, and nothing sends until you click Send. The MCP setup guide has the steps.
• Replies in your voice. When you're signed in, opening a reply starts a draft written from what you sent that person before. You edit it and send it, or ask for a change in your words.
• Search on your computer. It matches meaning as well as words across every account, and you can ask a question and get the answer with the emails it came from.
• Stop mail. One action unsubscribes every way the message offers, archives the sender's mail and moves their new mail out. Clean up lists the senders you probably don't want.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with Apple, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy, its search index and your sign-ins on your computer. Its own AI features send the emails they need through Alrighty's server to model companies: OpenAI for answers and replies, Together AI for chat titles, TypeSafe AI for Clean up and sorting. Signed in, reply drafts and Clean up run on their own.

What it can't do. It runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, but has no iPhone or Android app, which both rivals have, and no web app. It has no calendar. It can't add Yahoo, Fastmail or other IMAP accounts. It's a new app without a long track record. The price is a 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro. See all features.

Which should you pick?

• iCloud next to Gmail or Outlook, and you want Claude or ChatGPT in your mail: Alrighty.
• Gmail plus a Microsoft 365 work account: Superhuman.
• All Gmail, and you want named Claude models and AI filters: Shortwave.
• An AI that can draft and send for you: Superhuman.
• Single sign-on and an admin console: Superhuman Enterprise.
• Mail without the Grammarly bundle: Shortwave.

For more on each, see our Superhuman alternatives and Shortwave alternatives. To compare more apps by which AI reads your mail, see the best AI email client. Other pairs are on the Compare page, including Spark vs Superhuman.

Questions

Is Shortwave better than Superhuman for Gmail?

For Gmail alone, Shortwave offers more AI detail: named Claude models, AI filters you write in plain English, and AI search across up to 150 threads on Max. Superhuman offers Split Inbox, auto labels and an assistant that can send for you. Pick by the job: AI that searches and sorts points to Shortwave, AI that drafts and sends points to Superhuman.

Does Superhuman have a free trial?

Its plans page names none, only "Get started" and "Contact sales." Shortwave offers a 14-day free trial on its paid plans, and its home page says "No credit card required."

Which AI models do Superhuman and Shortwave use?

Shortwave names them: Claude Sonnet 4.6 on Business and Premier, and Claude Opus 4.6 on Max, plus open source models it runs on its own hardware. Superhuman doesn't name a model company on its plans or privacy pages.

Will I lose my email if I cancel either one?

No. Both work on top of your Gmail account, so your mail stays in Gmail. Shortwave also stores data in Google Cloud and says you can delete your account and all associated data.