The average office worker spends around 2.5 hours a day on email. A good AI email assistant drafts replies in your voice, summarises long threads and clears the noise before you open your inbox.
The market is crowded and the pricing is confusing: some tools charge $30 a month, others cost $36 a year, and several hide their best AI behind a higher tier. This guide compares the seven best AI email assistants for 2027, with pricing verified in November 2026. Every price below is in US dollars.
At a Glance: The 7 Best AI Email Assistants in 2027
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Paid price from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superhuman | Power users who live in email | No | $30/user/month |
| Shortwave | Gmail users who want deep AI search | Yes | $18/user/month |
| Fyxer | Busy professionals who want an AI chief of staff | Yes | $37/user/month (annual) |
| Missive | Teams sharing an inbox | Yes (trial) | $14/user/month (annual) |
| Canary Mail | Privacy-first users on a budget | Yes | $36/year |
| Spark | Everyday users who want a great free app | Yes | $10/user/month |
| Gmail with Gemini | Anyone already on Google Workspace | No | $7/user/month |
How to Choose an AI Email Assistant
Which mailbox? Shortwave is Gmail-only; Superhuman works with Gmail and Outlook; Canary Mail and Spark connect to almost anything. New app or AI in your current inbox? Gemini and Fyxer layer AI onto your current inbox; the others replace it. Solo or team? Missive is built around shared inboxes. Budget? Prices range from $3 a month to $40 a month, so the "best" tool depends heavily on what you will pay.
1. Superhuman — Best for Power Users Who Live in Email
Superhuman is the premium option: a keyboard-first client on Gmail or Outlook that promises to halve your inbox time. Now sold as Superhuman Mail after Grammarly's 2025 acquisition.
AI features: Write with AI, Instant Reply, Auto Summarize, Auto Labels and Auto Archive on every plan. Business adds Auto Drafts and Ask AI.
Pricing: Starter $30 per user per month, or $25 billed annually. Business $40 per month, or $33 annually. No free plan. Pros: the fastest inbox workflow here; Auto Drafts saves real time on heavy days. Cons: expensive — $3,600 a year for 10 people on Starter; the best AI needs the Business tier; Gmail and Outlook only. Best for: founders and executives who process a heavy inbox daily.
2. Shortwave — Best AI Search for Gmail Users
Shortwave was built by ex-Google engineers. It is a full replacement client for Gmail and Google Workspace, built around an AI assistant you can talk to.
AI features: the assistant summarises threads, answers questions about your email history, writes in your voice and files mail with AI filters written in plain English.
Pricing: free plan with basic AI, 90 days of search history and a forced "Sent with Shortwave" signature. Pro $18 per seat per month, Business $30, Premier $45, Max $120. Pros: the best AI search here; a free plan. Cons: Gmail only; the free signature looks unprofessional on client mail; AI usage is capped by a daily quota. Best for: Gmail users who want to ask their inbox questions, not just get drafts.
3. Fyxer — Best AI Chief of Staff
Fyxer works inside Gmail and Outlook instead of replacing your inbox. It labels mail, drafts replies in your tone and records meetings, with a daily briefing.
AI features: inbox sorting and labelling, drafted replies, a daily briefing, meeting recording and notes, and Fyxer Chat.
Pricing: free is $0 with 400 credits a month (chat and audio meeting notes only — no sorting or drafts). Pro is $49 per person per month, or $37 billed annually, with 3,000 credits. Team is $99, or $64 annually, with 6,000 pooled credits. Pros: no app switch; the daily briefing is genuinely useful; meeting notes included. Cons: recording costs 1 credit per minute, so a meeting-heavy month burns Pro's 3,000 credits fast. Best for: busy professionals whose calendar is full of meetings.
4. Missive — Best for Teams Sharing an Inbox
Missive is a team email client first and an AI tool second. It combines personal and shared inboxes with internal chat in every conversation.
AI features: on Productive and Business plans, the AI assistant drafts replies, summarises or translates conversations and powers AI rules that triage and route incoming mail. Use Missive AI credits or bring your own AI key.
Pricing: Starter $14 per user per month billed annually ($18 monthly) for up to 5 users. Productive $24 ($30 monthly) for up to 50 users — the first tier with AI. Business $36 ($45 monthly) for unlimited users. Pros: built around shared inboxes from the ground up; bring-your-own-key keeps AI costs low. Cons: no AI on Starter; user caps force a price jump at 6 and 51 users. Best for: small teams of 5–50 sharing addresses like support@ or sales@.
5. Canary Mail — Best Privacy-First Budget Pick
Canary Mail is the cheapest way to get a proper AI email client. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android, and its Focus Inbox classification runs on-device.
AI features: AI Copilot drafts replies, summarises long threads, rewrites messages in different tones and searches your inbox in plain language.
Pricing: free covers up to 2 devices with a unified inbox, snooze and templates. Growth is $36 a year (shown as $3 a month) and adds AI Copilot, read receipts and Send Later. Pro+ is $100 a year and adds PGP and SecureSend encryption and phishing protection. Pros: AI Copilot for $3 a month is the best price here by a wide margin; on-device triage; the only tool here with built-in PGP encryption. Cons: AI is less deep than Superhuman or Shortwave; the strongest security needs the $100 Pro+ plan. Best for: privacy-minded individuals who want AI drafting without a monthly subscription.
6. Spark — Best Free AI Email App
Spark, from Readdle, is the most generous free email app in this category. Its Smart Inbox automatically separates personal mail from newsletters.
AI features: Spark +AI drafts and rephrases email, summarises threads, answers questions against your history and takes meeting notes. The free plan includes a limited AI preview with one month of assistant history. Plus adds the full assistant and 40 AI meeting notes a month; Pro adds unlimited notes, full-history AI and shared inboxes.
Pricing: free is $0. Plus is $10 per month or $99 per year. Pro is $20 per month or $199 per year. Pros: the best free tier here — a genuinely usable daily email app with a taste of AI. Cons: the full AI assistant needs a paid plan; read statuses sit on the $20 Pro tier. Best for: everyday users who want a nicer inbox than Apple Mail or Gmail's app, with AI as a bonus.
7. Gmail with Gemini — Best If You Already Pay for Google Workspace
Since January 2025, Google has bundled Gemini into every Google Workspace Business plan instead of selling it as an add-on, so Gmail users now have AI in their inbox at no extra charge.
AI features: in Gmail, Gemini offers Help me write, thread summaries, AI Overviews in search, suggested replies and Proofread. Standard and Plus add Gemini across Docs, Sheets, Meet and Chat.
Pricing: Business Starter is $7 per user per month on an annual plan ($8.40 flexible) and includes Gemini in Gmail and the Gemini app. Standard is $14 and Plus is $22. Pros: no new app to learn and no extra bill if you already use Workspace; Help me write and summaries are genuinely good. Cons: no auto-drafting and no shared-inbox features. Best for: small businesses already on Google Workspace — try what you already have before buying anything else.
Verdict: Which AI Email Assistant Should You Pick in 2027?
Start free: try Spark or Canary Mail first; Canary's Growth plan at $36 a year is the cheapest real AI here. Best value for solo professionals: Shortwave Pro at $18 a month. Money no object: Superhuman Business at $40 a month. Team inbox: Missive Productive at $24 a user a month. Already on Workspace: use Gemini in Gmail before buying anything else.
One warning applies to every tool here: AI drafts still need checking — they can misread tone or invent a detail from a long thread. The time you save comes from reviewing a good draft, not from sending blindly.
For more ways AI can cut busywork, see our guides to the best AI writing tools, the best AI meeting notes tools and the best AI tools for small business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best AI email assistant in 2027?
For most people, Shortwave Pro ($18/month) is the best balance of AI depth and price on Gmail. Superhuman Business is more powerful at $40 a month; Canary Mail Growth at $36 a year is the cheapest AI drafting.
Is there a free AI email assistant?
Yes. Shortwave, Fyxer and Spark all offer free plans with some AI: Shortwave limits search to 90 days and adds a signature; Fyxer's covers chat and meeting notes but not drafts; Spark's includes a limited preview. Canary Mail's free plan has no AI — Copilot starts at $36 a year.
Can AI email assistants write replies in my voice?
Yes — Superhuman, Shortwave, Fyxer and Spark all learn from your sent mail to match your tone. Still review every draft before sending, especially for sensitive messages.
Do AI email assistants work with Outlook?
Superhuman, Fyxer, Canary Mail and Spark all work with Outlook. Shortwave is Gmail only. If you live in Outlook, Superhuman or Fyxer are the strongest options.
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