Shortwave review
A Gmail-focused email client with AI organization, collaboration, and scheduling.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Shortwave is an AI email client for Gmail and Google Workspace users, including individuals, professionals, and teams. It combines inbox organization, AI-assisted drafting and summaries, email search, scheduled sending, calendar tools, meeting scheduling, and collaboration features. Users can manage multiple signed-in Gmail or Google Workspace accounts, work across web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and a Chrome extension, and use keyboard shortcuts or a command palette for navigation.
Shortwave uses a freemium model and includes a 14-day free trial. The Business plan costs $30 per seat per month and adds full standard search history, standard intelligence, more AI usage, five years of AI search history, AI integrations and web browsing, and AI-powered filters. Premier costs $45 per seat per month and adds advanced intelligence, twice the AI usage, unlimited AI search history, and up to 10 AI-powered filters. Max costs $120 per seat per month and adds expert intelligence, six times the AI usage, up to 50 AI-powered filters, and three times more context tokens. The tiers are mainly differentiated by AI capacity, search history, intelligence, and filter limits.
Its workflow depth extends beyond the inbox. Inbox Splits create custom tabs and filtered views, Bundles group related emails, and team features support comments, shared threads, assignees, shared labels, read statuses, and link tracking. Calendar and Google Calendar integration support scheduling, while connections with Slack, Notion, Asana, and HubSpot extend the workspace. Shortwave suits Google Workspace teams that want AI-assisted email work and shared collaboration. Teams needing a straightforward low-cost client, or a default unified inbox across accounts, should consider its pricing and account workflow carefully.
Shortwave pros and cons
- Where it wins
- AI supports email organization, drafting, search, and summaries
- Team comments, shared threads, assignees, and shared labels
- Calendar, scheduling, filters, bundles, and multiple account support
- Where it doesn't
- Paid plans start at $30 per seat per month
- Unified inbox viewing requires forwarding and Gmail alias configuration
- Its strongest fit is Gmail and Google Workspace users
Shortwave fact sheet, pricing and score →
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