Shortwave Freemium

Shortwave is an AI assistant for Gmail. It reads your mailbox, drafts replies, finds past threads and can schedule calendar events from a chat prompt. There is a free tier and a Pro plan around $20 per user per month.

What is Shortwave?

Shortwave is built by former Google engineers and runs as a web app plus mobile apps. Unlike a standalone mail service, it connects to your Gmail account and acts as a smarter front-end. The AI assistant is the headline feature: you type a request in plain English and it answers using your email and calendar as context.

It can label and bundle mail automatically, and it supports email scheduling and send-later. The assistant is powered by large language models, so the quality tracks whatever base model the company is running at the time.

Product Features

• AI assistant — ask “what did Sarah say about the contract?” and get an answer, not a search list.
• Smart bundling — groups newsletters, receipts and notifications into stacks.
• Drafting — writes replies in your tone, with adjustable length and formality.
• Calendar integration — schedule events and check availability from the same chat.
• Save and snooze — reminders and saved searches.
• Gmail sync — you keep your address and mailbox; nothing migrates.

Product Highlights

• The assistant actually answers questions about your mailbox instead of just searching keywords.
• Free plan is usable for light personal accounts, with AI limits.
• Pro is cheaper than most AI email add-ons at around $20 per month.
• It is Gmail-only. Outlook and Exchange users are out of luck today.

Who is Shortwave for?

It works well for Gmail users drowning in mixed inboxes — contractors, founders, anyone juggling client threads. If you are on Outlook, or you dislike handing mailbox access to a third-party app, skip it. The AI can also be confidently wrong about old threads, so treat surprising answers as a prompt to verify.

Use Cases

• Finding the last agreed price in a long client thread.
• Drafting polite follow-ups automatically.
• Bundling newsletters away from real mail.
• Turning an email into a calendar invite.
• Snoozing mail until a deadline passes.

Quick Summary

• Shortwave is an AI email assistant that runs on top of Gmail.
• Free tier available; Pro is about $20 per user per month.
• The assistant answers questions using your mailbox as context.
• It is Gmail-only and does not support Outlook.
• Best for busy Gmail users, not for mixed-email teams.