Email Is Still Broken — But AI Is Finally Starting to Fix It
The average professional receives over 120 emails a day. Most email clients were designed to help you store those emails, not act on them. And so your inbox becomes a to-do list managed by other people’s priorities.
A new generation of AI-powered email clients is trying to change that. Superhuman, Shortwave, Spark, and HEY each take a different angle on the same problem — and the right choice depends entirely on how you work, what you’re willing to pay, and how much you trust AI to handle your communications.
Here’s an honest look at all four in 2026, what each one does well, and who should actually use it.
Superhuman — The Speed-Obsessed Power Tool
Superhuman built its reputation on one claim: make email faster. It uses a keyboard-first interface, AI summaries, and a highly curated feature set designed to help power users hit Inbox Zero in under 30 minutes a day.
What Superhuman does well
- AI Triage and summaries — Superhuman’s AI reads your threads and gives you a one-line summary, so you can scan 50 emails in the time it used to take to read 10
- Split Inbox — you can separate newsletters, team messages, and key contacts into different inbox views with zero manual sorting
- Follow-up reminders — set reminders to follow up if someone doesn’t reply, directly from the compose window
- Read receipts — built-in, granular read tracking for every email you send
- Speed — genuinely the fastest email interface available; the keyboard shortcuts and instant load times are not marketing copy
Where Superhuman falls short
- Costs $30/month — the most expensive option on this list by a significant margin
- Requires an onboarding call to get started, which some users find overkill
- No standalone mobile app experience for Android that matches the iOS quality
- Works only with Gmail and Outlook — no support for other providers
Best for: Executives, founders, and sales professionals who live in their inbox and are willing to pay for meaningful time savings. If you’re spending two or more hours a day on email, the $30/month is easy to justify.
Shortwave — The AI-Native Organiser
Shortwave started as an AI-first email client with a focus on automatic organisation. It groups related emails into conversation bundles, surfaces action items, and uses AI to help you draft replies that sound like you.
What Shortwave does well
- Automatic email bundles — related threads get grouped automatically, which is genuinely useful when you’re tracking multiple projects across multiple senders
- AI draft suggestions — Shortwave can suggest complete reply drafts based on your communication history, which you can edit before sending
- Snooze and pin — simple, well-implemented inbox triage tools that don’t require keyboard shortcut mastery
- Team inbox features — for small teams sharing a support or general inbox, Shortwave’s assignment and status tracking features are genuinely useful
- Free tier available — unlike Superhuman, you can try the core experience without a credit card
Where Shortwave falls short
- Gmail-only — if you’re on Outlook, Apple Mail, or another provider, you’re out
- AI drafts sometimes need significant editing to match your actual voice
- The bundling logic occasionally puts things in unexpected groups, requiring manual correction
- Less polished mobile experience compared to desktop
Best for: Individuals and small teams on Gmail who want AI organisation without a steep learning curve or a steep price. The free tier makes it worth testing before committing.
Spark — The Collaborative Team Email Client
Spark from Readdle is one of the most widely used alternative email clients across iOS, macOS, and Android. In 2026, it’s positioned itself as the email client built for teams that collaborate on email — shared drafts, internal comments on threads, and smart notifications that cut noise.
What Spark does well
- Smart inbox — Spark’s AI automatically categorises your emails into Personal, Notifications, Newsletters, and Pinned — without you setting rules manually
- Team collaboration features — you can leave internal comments on email threads visible only to your team, assign emails to teammates, and collaborate on drafts before sending
- AI email assistant — the built-in AI can draft full replies, adjust tone, or rewrite your email more concisely based on a prompt
- Multi-provider support — Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, and most IMAP accounts all work
- Free for individuals — the personal tier is free and still includes the Smart Inbox and AI drafting features
Where Spark falls short
- Team features require a paid subscription ($14.99/month per team)
- Privacy-conscious users have raised questions about how emails are processed for AI features — check Readdle’s privacy policy before using this at an enterprise level
- Less customisable than Superhuman for power keyboard users
- AI reply quality is good but not at Superhuman’s calibre for tone-matching
Best for: Teams that collaborate heavily on email — agencies, customer success teams, marketing leads managing shared inboxes. Also good for individuals who want a free, smart inbox experience across all their email accounts on any device.
HEY — The Opinionated Rethink of Email
HEY from Basecamp isn’t trying to make existing email better. It’s trying to replace it with a fundamentally different model — one where you decide who gets through to your inbox before their first email lands.
What HEY does well
- The Screener — every new sender has to be approved before their email reaches your main inbox. It sounds drastic; it works remarkably well at stopping cold outreach and newsletter spam
- The Feed and Paper Trail — newsletters go to a separate Feed (like a news reader), and receipts go to the Paper Trail. Your main inbox becomes only the emails that matter
- No tracking pixels — HEY blocks email tracking by default, so senders don’t know when you’ve read their emails
- Opinionated simplicity — because HEY makes many decisions for you, there’s very little to configure, which suits people overwhelmed by email customisation
Where HEY falls short
- Costs $99/year for personal use — you’re getting a new @hey.com email address, not a layer on top of Gmail
- The opinionated workflow can frustrate users who want full control over how emails are sorted
- No AI drafting features as capable as Superhuman or Spark
- The Screener is powerful but creates friction when legitimate new contacts try to reach you
- Limited integrations compared to Gmail-based clients
Best for: Individuals who want a fresh start and are willing to adopt a completely different email philosophy. Particularly well-suited to founders, writers, consultants, and anyone whose current inbox is an unmanageable mess they want to escape.
Which AI Email Client Should You Choose?
Here’s how to think about it based on your situation:
- You need speed and you’re on Gmail or Outlook: Superhuman is the clear choice if budget isn’t the constraint
- You’re on Gmail and want AI organisation without spending $30/month: Shortwave is the best free-to-start option
- You work on a team and collaborate on email regularly: Spark’s team features are purpose-built for this and available across all devices and providers
- Your inbox is a disaster and you want to start over: HEY’s Screener system is the most radical and effective solution for inbox control
The Bottom Line
AI email clients are no longer a novelty. In 2026, the AI summary, draft suggestion, and smart triage features in Superhuman and Shortwave in particular are genuinely useful — not demos. If you’re still using Gmail or Outlook’s default interface and spending 90+ minutes a day in your inbox, you’re leaving real productivity on the table.
Start with Shortwave or Spark (both have free tiers) and see whether the AI organisation genuinely changes your email behaviour. If it does, Superhuman’s speed and power features are worth the upgrade if your email volume justifies it. And if you just want to escape your inbox entirely and start fresh, HEY is in a category of its own.
Any of these is a better starting point than your default inbox in 2026.
Looking for more tool comparisons? Check out our guides on AI tool reviews and messaging apps for security-conscious users.
