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SaneBox 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. SaneBox starts at $9.49, Shortwave at $30.

SaneBoxServer-side email triage that sorts your inbox by importanceShortwaveAI-first email client for Gmail with deep assistant search

Side by side

FactSaneBoxShortwave
CategoryEmail ManagementEmail Management
Pricing modelPaidPaid
Starts at$9.49 month$30 month
Public APINoNo
PlatformsWebWeb, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
CompanySaneBox, Inc.Shortwave Communications, Inc.
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

SaneBox

The most durable answer to inbox overload precisely because it is client-agnostic: it changes your mail server, not your mail app, so it works the same in Outlook, Apple Mail and Gmail. Skip it if you live entirely in Gmail and will spend an afternoon building filters yourself.

Pros

  • Operates at the IMAP and Exchange layer, so there is no client lock-in or extension to install
  • 14-day trial with no card required
  • Blackhole and digest behaviour is genuinely hard to reproduce with manual filters
  • Biyearly billing cuts the effective Snack rate to about $4.54 a month

Cons

  • Snack tier caps you at one account and only two features, so most users land on Lunch or higher
  • Paid utility with no free tier at all
  • No public developer API and api.sanebox.com does not respond
  • Sorting only continues while the service retains mailbox access

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 SaneBox if you need

  • People juggling several mailboxes across different providers
  • Outlook, Fastmail and iCloud users that Gmail-only AI tools ignore
  • Anyone who wants triage to persist across phone, laptop and web with nothing installed

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

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