Shortwave review

Shortwave rebuilds the inbox around an AI assistant rather than adding a sidebar to an old client. The Business plan at $30 per seat per month gives you an assistant that can load up to 50 threads into one search, AI-powered search across five years of mail, three AI filters that act on new email from a plain-language prompt, instant summaries on every message and autocomplete that learns your writing style from what you send. Premier at $45 doubles AI usage, removes the search history limit and raises AI filters to ten. The assistant can also browse the web, read attachments, check your calendar and draft scheduling emails. Organization tools include splits, bundles for newsletters and promotions, delivery schedules and todos, and teams get shared threads, comments and assignees. The tradeoffs are price and metering: there is no cheap paid tier, and daily AI usage is capped by a quota that varies with request complexity. Shortwave is built for Gmail and Google Workspace accounts.

Who it is for

Gmail power users who want an AI assistant that searches, sorts and answers across years of email

Price

Business from $30 per seat per month; 14-day free trial.

$30 per seat / month
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 12, 2026.

Key features

• AI Assistant that searches up to 50 threads per query on Business and 150 on Max
• AI filters that label, archive, delete or star new email from a custom prompt (3 on Business, 10 on Premier, 50 on Max)
• Instant AI summaries at the top of every email and AI autocomplete while drafting
• Personalized AI writing that learns your style and tone from sent email
• Splits, bundles, todos, delivery schedules and automatic follow-up reminders

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Business includes 5 years of AI-powered search history; Premier and Max are unlimited
• Strength: Attachment analysis reads and summarizes PDF, text and code files
• Strength: Team comments, shared threads and assignees for collaborative inboxes
• Weakness: No paid tier below $30 per seat per month
• Weakness: Daily AI usage is metered; Business allows roughly 150 to 300 Standard requests per day
• Weakness: Max plan costs $120 per seat per month for 6x more AI usage

Key facts

• Plans: Business $30, Premier $45, Max $120 per seat per month
• Free trial: 14 days
• AI filters: 3 on Business, 10 on Premier, 50 on Max
• AI models: Claude Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 tiers, per Shortwave

Where it ranks

Shortwave is No. 1 in our Best AI Email Assistants verdict.