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iGPT vs Shortwave

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. iGPT starts at $20, Shortwave at $30. Only iGPT has a free tier. Only iGPT ships a public API.

iGPTTurns your email, files and meetings into cited answers, through a chat app or a token-billed context APIShortwaveAI-first email client for Gmail with deep assistant search

Side by side

FactiGPTShortwave
CategoryPersonal & Enterprise SearchEmail Management
Pricing modelFreemiumPaid
Starts at$20 month$30 month
Public APIYesNo
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
CompanyiGPTShortwave Communications, Inc.
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

iGPT

The interesting part is not the chat box but the plumbing under it — deduplicating quoted email text and attributing speakers across thread formats is fiddly work most 'chat with your inbox' tools skip. Selling that same layer as a token-billed API is unusual and genuinely useful if you are building on top. The unknown is the vendor itself: no company name, no address, no country.

Pros

  • Rebuilds email threads with quoted-text deduplication and participant attribution
  • Combines private context with live web data in a single cited answer
  • Developer API priced per token with no setup fee or commitment
  • States that customer email, documents and chat history are not used for model training

Cons

  • No legal entity, address or country disclosed anywhere on the site
  • Team carries a three-seat minimum, so the practical entry is $90/month
  • Token-billed API makes costs hard to forecast in advance

Shortwave

The strongest AI layer on Gmail right now, priced accordingly: $30 a seat is Superhuman money for a product whose real value is search and the assistant, not keyboard shortcuts. Worth it only if you interrogate old mail rather than just triage new mail.

Pros

  • AI search across multi-year history is the feature rivals handle worst
  • Real desktop apps for macOS and Windows plus iOS and Android, not a web wrapper
  • Collaboration is built in rather than bolted on
  • Model class is an explicit priced choice instead of a black box

Cons

  • No free plan and no cheap individual tier any more
  • Gmail-only, which rules out a large share of business mail
  • The $120 Max seat is hard to justify outside very heavy use
  • No public API to build on

Which one fits

Choose iGPT if you need

  • People whose real knowledge base is their inbox and shared drive
  • Developers who want parsed email and work-app context as an API rather than writing the parsers
  • Teams that want answers traceable back to the original thread

Choose Shortwave if you need

  • People whose job is finding things buried in years of email: recruiters, founders, account managers
  • Small teams wanting shared threads and assignment without adopting a helpdesk
  • Gmail users who liked Google Inbox and want a modern equivalent

More comparisons

All iGPT alternatives →Browse all Personal & Enterprise Search →