What Is Shortwave?
Shortwave is an AI-powered email client designed to automate and streamline email management. Developed by a team of ex-Googlers, it serves as a spiritual successor to Google Inbox, offering advanced AI features like smart summarization, automated organization, and intelligent writing assistance. The target audience includes busy professionals, teams, and individuals overwhelmed by email volume, seeking to reclaim hours each day.
The tool integrates with popular services like Slack, Calendar, Notion, Asana, and HubSpot, enabling workflow automation directly from the inbox. Shortwave is available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, with a free tier and paid plans starting at $10/month.
How It Works
Shortwave uses a conversational AI agent that you can prompt to organize, write, schedule, and search emails. After signing up and connecting your Gmail account, the AI scans your inbox history to learn your communication style. The onboarding is quick, with a clean interface that splits your inbox into customizable tabs and bundles.
The learning curve is minimal for basic tasks, but mastering advanced features like custom AI filters and team collaboration may take a few days. The AI agent can be invoked via a command palette or natural language prompts, making it intuitive for most users.
Key Features in Detail
AI Summarization
Shortwave provides instant TL;DR summaries at the top of each email, condensing long threads into key points. This feature uses the latest AI models and is highly accurate for most business correspondence, though it may occasionally miss nuance in complex negotiations.
Smart Inbox Organization
The inbox can be split into custom tabs (e.g., Important, Newsletters, Social) using AI-driven classification. Bundles group similar emails, allowing bulk triage. Users can also create AI filters using plain English scripts to automatically label, star, or archive emails.
AI Reply & Writing Enhancement
The AI learns your unique voice from sent emails and can draft replies that sound like you. It offers autocomplete suggestions with real links and facts from your email history. The writing quality is generally good, but may require editing for highly personalized or creative messages.
Task Tracking & Todos
Emails can be converted into actionable todos with due dates, priorities, and notes. The todo list integrates with the inbox, allowing you to group and rename tasks. Team members can assign next steps and track progress with a shared done status.
Team Collaboration
Shortwave enables real-time sharing of email threads with team members, private commenting, and shared labels. This eliminates the need to paste screenshots into Slack. Shared prompts and templates streamline common responses across the team.
AI Search & Web Browsing
AI-powered search can find emails quickly using natural language queries or Gmail-style filters. The AI can also browse the web to fetch the latest information relevant to your emails, providing answers without leaving the inbox.
Ease of Use & User Experience
The UI is clean, modern, and reminiscent of Google Inbox, with a focus on speed and keyboard shortcuts. The command palette and markdown support enhance productivity for power users. Onboarding is smooth, with walkthroughs for key features, though the sheer number of options can be overwhelming initially.
Documentation is comprehensive, with a changelog and blog. Customer support is responsive via email and in-app chat, but there is no phone support. The mobile apps are well-designed and sync seamlessly with desktop.
Output Quality
AI summaries are concise and accurate for most emails, capturing key action items and deadlines. AI-generated replies are coherent and match the user's style, but may occasionally sound generic. The autocomplete suggestions are contextually relevant, pulling from email history. The search function effectively retrieves emails and attachments, even with vague queries.
In benchmarks, Shortwave's summarization outperforms Gmail's Smart Reply in depth, but may lag behind dedicated AI tools like Superhuman for extremely long threads. Overall, output quality is high for daily email tasks.
Integrations & Compatibility
Shortwave integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Notion, Asana, HubSpot, and more via direct connections. It also supports IMAP for non-Gmail accounts, though some AI features are limited. The tool offers a Zapier-like automation platform called Tasklet, which connects to 3,000+ apps for advanced workflows.
Compatibility extends to iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows apps. Multi-account support allows switching between Gmail accounts. Security is enterprise-grade with CASA Tier 2 compliance, image proxy, and tracking pixel blocking.
Pricing & Plans
| Plan | Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month | AI summaries, smart inbox, basic search, 1 account, limited bundles |
| Pro | $10/month | All features, unlimited bundles, team collaboration, 2 accounts |
| Business | $20/month | Everything in Pro, 5 accounts, admin controls, priority support |
The free tier is generous but limits bundles and team features. The Pro plan offers good value for individuals, while Business suits small teams. There is no annual discount, but a 14-day free trial for paid plans is available.
Pros & Cons
- Excellent AI summarization and writing assistance
- Robust team collaboration features
- Intuitive UI with keyboard shortcuts
- Strong integrations with popular tools
- Generous free tier
- Limited to Gmail/IMAP; no Outlook support
- AI can occasionally misinterpret context
- No native calendar integration beyond Google
- Pricing can be high for large teams
- Learning curve for advanced features
Who Should Use This Tool?
Shortwave is ideal for professionals who receive high volumes of email and need to stay organized. It's particularly beneficial for remote teams that rely on email collaboration, as the shared threads and commenting reduce back-and-forth. Sales and customer success teams will appreciate the link tracking and CRM integration.
Individuals looking for a Gmail alternative with AI smarts will find the free tier sufficient for basic needs. However, users who need Outlook support or deep native calendar features may want to look elsewhere.
Alternatives to Consider
Superhuman is a premium email client with AI features like split inboxes and read receipts, but it's more expensive ($30/month) and lacks team collaboration. Missive offers robust team email collaboration with shared inboxes and comments, but its AI features are less advanced. Spark provides smart inbox organization and team features at a lower price, but its AI summarization is not as polished as Shortwave's.
Final Verdict
Shortwave is a powerful AI email client that excels at automating routine tasks and enhancing productivity. Its AI summarization and writing features are best-in-class, and the team collaboration tools are a standout for businesses. The free tier makes it accessible, but the paid plans offer significant value for power users.
However, the lack of Outlook support and occasional AI inaccuracies may deter some users. Overall, Shortwave is a strong choice for anyone looking to tame their inbox with AI, especially teams already using G Suite.