Shortwave
AI-first email client for Gmail.
About
Shortwave (shortwave.com) replaces the Gmail interface entirely with an AI-first client: semantic search across years of email history, AI drafts that learn your voice, thread summaries, and bundles that group similar emails.
Gmail and Google Workspace only — no Outlook support. Free tier (90-day history, branded signature); Personal from ~$7/month, business tiers from $24-30/seat/month. Switching clients is the real cost.
What it can do
- Semantic AI search over email history
- AI drafting in your voice
- Thread summaries
- Smart Labels and Bundles
- Calendar integration
- Team threads and comments
- Beta MCP tool access (Business)
- Mobile apps (iOS/Android)
Setup
- Go to shortwave.com and sign in with Gmail or Google Workspace.
- Authorize access; Shortwave becomes your email client.
- Use natural-language search and the AI assistant to draft, summarize, and triage.
- Set up Smart Labels and Bundles; upgrade for full history and team features.
Prerequisites
Gmail or Google Workspace account.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 7/10
Scored 7/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: AI-first Gmail client; semantic search over years of history; Free tier (90-day history); business from $24-30/seat/mo; Gmail/Workspace only; no Outlook; Full client replacement is the real adoption cost.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 7.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 8.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 4.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 7.0/10
- · AI-first Gmail client; semantic search over years of history
- · Free tier (90-day history); business from $24-30/seat/mo
- · Gmail/Workspace only; no Outlook
- · Full client replacement is the real adoption cost
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.