SaneBox vs Shortwave: an inbox filter for any provider, or a Gmail AI client
By Jean Luc Poitier, SEO and growth marketing strategist · SaneBox Reviews · Updated October 1, 2026 · Shortwave facts from its own pricing, docs, and policies
Shortwave is an AI email client for Gmail and Google Workspace. You move your email reading into its apps, and in return you get an AI assistant that searches, writes, organizes, and schedules from a prompt. SaneBox is a filter that works on the server with any provider, so you keep the email app you have and important mail stays in your inbox while the rest moves to folders.
Shortwave has a free plan, and one paid seat covers all your own Gmail accounts. SaneBox has no free plan, only a 7-day trial without a card. Pick Shortwave if you're on Gmail and want an AI assistant inside a new email app. Pick SaneBox if you use Outlook, Microsoft 365, iCloud, or Yahoo, or you want automatic sorting that works from message headers, without changing apps.
SaneBox vs Shortwave at a glance
| Compared on | SaneBox | Shortwave |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A filter that sorts mail on the server; you keep your email app | A separate AI email client |
| Price | $9.49/mo or $65/yr (Snack, 1 account); $15.99/mo or $109/yr (Lunch, 2 accounts); $42.99/mo or $319/yr (Dinner, 4 accounts) | Free; Pro $18, Business $30, Premier $45, Max $120 per seat a month; monthly billing only |
| Free option | 7-day trial, all features, no card; no free plan | Free plan (90 days of search, no AI filters, "Sent with Shortwave" signature); 14-day trial of paid plans, card requirement not published |
| Refunds | 30-day money-back guarantee on eligible purchases, by request | Full refund on request within 14 days of a payment |
| Email providers | Gmail, Microsoft 365/Exchange, iCloud, Yahoo, Fastmail, any IMAP | Gmail and Google Workspace only; others by forwarding into Gmail; Microsoft 365 not supported |
| Several accounts | Priced per account (1, 2, or 4; more on request) | One paid seat covers all your own accounts |
| Automatic sorting | Learns from what you open, answer, and move | One-click AI inbox organization; prompt-based AI filters from Business ($30) up |
| AI assistant and writing | Reply drafts in beta, enabled on request | Built in: AI search, writing in your voice, summaries, scheduling |
| Apps | Works in any email app; SaneBox iOS and Android apps | iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web |
| Your mail and AI | Says it sorts using headers only and doesn't store your email | Processes email content for AI; lists OpenAI, Anthropic, and Pinecone as sub-processors |
| G2, 50 most recent reviews | 4.76 average; 0 of 50 incentivized (Jun to Sep 2026) | 4.54 average; 47 of 50 incentivized (Aug 2022 to Sep 2025) |
| Product Hunt | 4.8 across 26 reviews | 4.7 across 23 reviews |
| Trustpilot | 4.8 across 758; 49 of the 50 most recent unprompted | No reviews |
Figures checked against each company's published pages and review-platform listings as of 2026-10-01. “Not published” means the company does not publish that figure.
A filter for your email app vs an AI email client
Shortwave syncs with Gmail and replaces Gmail's interface: you read, search, and send in Shortwave's apps, and archiving or labeling there shows up in Gmail. The main feature is the AI assistant. You can ask it to find an old thread, draft a reply in your style, summarize a conversation, or book a meeting. Splits, Bundles, and delivery schedules group lower-priority mail, and paid plans add one-click AI inbox organization.
“it reads all my past emails and can interpret them in my style, not the formatting of regular LLMs exposed to the whole world.”Verified User in Consulting, G2, May 2025
SaneBox has no app you have to live in. It moves each new message into a folder based on how you've treated that sender, and the folders appear in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and on your phone alike. There's no prompt to write: you train it by moving mail between folders, which takes a few weeks to settle.
“It works with any email client, setup takes minutes, and it just gets better over time.”Tom B., Capterra, May 2026
SaneBox vs Shortwave pricing and free options
Shortwave's free plan is a real one: basic AI, 90 days of search history, and Splits and Bundles, but no AI filters and a “Sent with Shortwave” signature on your mail. Paid plans are billed monthly per seat, with no annual option: Pro $18, Business $30, Premier $45, and Max $120. One paid seat covers all the accounts you sign into on the same device. The AI filters, which act on new mail from a prompt you write and are the closest thing to SaneBox's automatic sorting, aren't on Free or Pro; Business includes three.
SaneBox has no free plan. Its 7-day trial includes every feature and up to four accounts with no card, and after that Snack costs $9.49 a month or $65 a year for one account, with cheaper yearly and two-year rates on every plan. See the SaneBox pricing breakdown. On refunds, Shortwave promises a full refund if you ask within 14 days of a payment (its Terms of Service, last updated January 2023, call payments final unless Shortwave decides otherwise), and SaneBox offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on eligible purchases, also by request.
“eventually didnt save time so I tried to cancel but even that couldnt as missed the refund policy”Yonatan S., G2, September 2025
Which email accounts each one supports
Shortwave needs a Gmail or Google Workspace account to sign in. Its docs say Microsoft 365 and Exchange are not supported and there is no timeline for them. Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, and Zoho can be forwarded into Gmail and sent from with an app password; Outlook.com and Hotmail can only be forwarded in. SaneBox connects directly to Gmail, Microsoft 365 and Exchange, iCloud, Yahoo, Fastmail, and any IMAP server, so work mail on Microsoft is where the two part ways.
How each one handles your email content
Shortwave's AI needs to read your mail, and its policies say so. Its security guide says it processes your emails for search, threading, labeling, and the assistant; data is stored in Google Cloud, encrypted at rest and in transit; and besides Google Cloud its only sub-processors are OpenAI, Anthropic, and Pinecone. The same guide says most AI work runs on open-source models on hardware Shortwave controls, while its pricing page names Anthropic's Claude models for each AI level. It says your data is never used to train third-party models, and that it doesn't show ads or sell your data.
SaneBox says it decides importance from message headers and doesn't store your email. Both still need broad permission to your mailbox, so read the SaneBox security write-up if that's the deciding factor.
SaneBox vs Shortwave reviews, like for like
G2 is the one large platform with both. In our pull of each product's 50 most recent G2 reviews, SaneBox's averaged 4.76 (June to September 2026) and none were labeled incentivized, meaning the reviewer was offered something for writing it. Shortwave's averaged 4.54, 47 of the 50 were incentivized, and they span August 2022 to September 2025, most of them from 2022 and 2023, so they describe an older version of the app. On Product Hunt the two are close: 4.8 across 26 reviews for SaneBox, 4.7 across 23 for Shortwave. Shortwave has no Trustpilot reviews to compare.
“Shortwave search capabilities are awesome as you can elaborate and ask the AI more precisely what email you are looking for specifically, and it's fast.”Yoni A., G2, October 2024
SaneBox's critical reviews center on the training period, misfiled mail early on, and support, with phone support only on the Dinner plan. They're all in the full SaneBox review set.
“The company offers no telephone customer support, unless you buy the premium level!!”Rich Nichols, Trustpilot, September 2026
Trying SaneBox first
If you'd rather not change email apps, the 7-day free trial is the low-risk test: no card, all features, and you can cancel and remove its folders if it isn't for you. Comparing AI clients instead? See Superhuman vs Shortwave.
Where Shortwave wins
- It has a free plan you can keep using, while SaneBox only has a 7-day trial.
- Its AI assistant searches years of mail, writes in your voice, summarizes threads, and schedules meetings from a prompt.
- One paid seat covers all of your own Gmail accounts, where SaneBox prices by the number of accounts.
- It's a full email client with team features: shared threads, comments, assignees, and shared labels.
- Its paid-plan trial runs 14 days, twice as long as SaneBox's.
SaneBox vs Shortwave FAQ
Is Shortwave free?+
It has a permanent free plan with 90 days of search history, a limited AI quota, no AI filters, and a "Sent with Shortwave" signature on your email. Paid plans run from Pro at $18 per seat a month to Max at $120, billed monthly only. SaneBox has no free plan; it has a 7-day trial with all features and no credit card.
Does Shortwave work with Outlook or Microsoft 365?+
No. Shortwave requires a Gmail or Google Workspace account, and its docs say Microsoft 365 and Exchange aren't supported, with no timeline. Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, and Zoho can be forwarded into Gmail; Outlook.com can be forwarded but not sent from. SaneBox works directly with Microsoft 365, Exchange, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, Fastmail, and any IMAP account.
Is SaneBox or Shortwave cheaper?+
For one Gmail user who wants AI help, Shortwave's free plan costs nothing and Pro is $18 a month, with one seat covering all of your own accounts. SaneBox's Snack plan is $9.49 a month or $65 a year for one account, and Lunch is $15.99 a month or $109 a year for two. Shortwave's AI filters, its closest match to SaneBox's sorting, start on the $30 Business plan.
Does Shortwave read my email?+
Yes, by design. Its security guide says it processes your emails for search, threading, labeling, and the AI assistant. Data is stored in Google Cloud, and the other sub-processors it lists are OpenAI, Anthropic, and Pinecone. It says your data is never used to train third-party models. SaneBox says it sorts using headers and doesn't store your email.