Shortwave
An AI email client for prompt-based search, writing, organization, scheduling, and analysis, with a free starting option and tiered usage limits.
About Shortwave
Shortwave is an AI email client built around searching, organizing, writing, and scheduling from natural-language prompts. Its assistant can answer questions across email history, draft and personalize replies, analyze attachments, browse the web, remember preferences, and connect to other services through built-in integrations or MCP. Search combines AI topic queries with conventional operators for senders, recipients, labels, subjects, attachments, and message status. The product also supports inbox organization with AI filters and team-oriented email workflows. A free starting option lowers the cost of trying the workflow, while paid tiers increase AI intelligence, daily usage quota, search context, and the number of threads available to AI search. Those tier-dependent limits matter for users with large mailboxes or frequent analysis tasks. Shortwave is therefore most relevant to people who want AI actions inside their email workflow and are comfortable choosing a paid tier when free allowances or lower-tier context limits become restrictive.
Best for
Best use cases
Find a past discussion using a topic description instead of exact keywords
Summarize a long thread or attachment before composing a reply
Create filters and prompts that reduce repeated inbox triage
Compare before choosing
The free option supports evaluation before committing to a subscription
Higher paid tiers expand AI intelligence, quota, context, and thread limits
Search combines natural-language topic matching with precise email operators
Features
Natural-language email search
Describe a topic to find relevant messages, then refine results with operators for people, labels, subjects, attachments, and status.
AI-assisted writing
Create instant replies or detailed drafts and use personalized writing based on patterns in sent email.
Inbox analysis and organization
Summarize threads and attachments, ask questions across email history, and automate incoming-mail actions with AI filters.
Pros
- A free option lets users test the email workflow before paying
- Natural-language search and detailed operators cover both broad discovery and precise retrieval
- Drafting, attachment analysis, filters, and scheduling keep several email tasks in one workflow
Cons
- AI usage quotas vary by plan and request complexity, which can constrain frequent use
- Larger context and higher AI-search thread limits require more expensive tiers
- The strongest AI intelligence level is reserved for the Max tier
Pricing Plans
Free
- Start using Shortwave without a paid subscription
- Access core email and AI workflows within plan limits
- Upgrade when higher allowances are needed
Business
- Standard AI intelligence
- More daily AI usage
- AI search across up to 50 threads
- Five years of AI-powered search history
Premier
- Advanced AI intelligence
- Twice the Business search-context tokens
- AI search across up to 100 threads
- Unlimited AI-powered search history
Max
- Expert AI intelligence
- Three times the Business search-context tokens
- AI search across up to 150 threads
- Unlimited AI-powered search history
* Pricing information is for reference only. Please refer to the latest announcement on Shortwave's official website.