AI Email pricing compared
What 4 ai email tools actually cost — free tiers, the cheapest paid plan, and where each free plan runs out. Each figure is taken from the vendor’s own pricing page and dated, so you can see when we last checked.
| Tool | Free tier | Cheapest paid plan | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gmelius | No | $19/user/month · Paid tier 1 | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Shortwave | No | $30/seat/mo · Paid tier 1 | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Superhuman | No | $300/year · Starter | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Missive | Yes | Custom / contact | 14 Jul 2026 |
Prices are as published by each vendor and may be region-specific — many vendors price by country. Confirm on the vendor’s page before buying.
Sorted cheapest paid plan first. A “free tier” means there is a genuinely free plan — tap through to any tool to see the full tier breakdown and exactly where the free plan stops. We list no fabricated prices: where a vendor only quotes “contact sales” we say so.
What drives ai email pricing
This is per-seat software, and the seat is the whole story. Gmelius, Shortwave and Superhuman all bill per user per month, so cost is simply headcount multiplied by tier — there is no usage meter to game. Tiers separate on collaboration depth and AI: Gmelius climbs $19 → $25 → $40 per user on annual billing, Shortwave $30 → $45 → $120 per seat, and Superhuman sits at a flat premium of roughly $25–$33/month ($300–$396 billed yearly). The annual-versus-monthly gap is real money here — Gmelius's $19 annual seat is $21 monthly, its $40 tier $50 monthly — so commitment length materially changes the per-seat rate. Missive is the outlier, starting everyone free with no card. What you buy up the ladder is shared-inbox rules, AI assistance, admin controls and custom integrations, all priced against the seat rather than against message volume.
How to choose on price
Count seats honestly, then decide how many actually need the premium client. These tools reward buying the right number of licenses, not the fanciest tier for everyone — a support team may need Gmelius's shared-inbox middle tier while only a few power users justify Superhuman's flat premium. Start on Missive's free plan or a trial (Shortwave offers 14 days) to confirm the workflow sticks before committing seats, because per-seat costs compound fast across a team. Choose annual only once adoption is proven; the discount is worth it, but paying yearly for seats people abandon is the common waste here. The false economy is under-tiering a shared-inbox team to save a few dollars per seat and losing the automation rules that justified the tool. Conversely, don't put a whole company on a $120 or $33/month seat when most users only send email — reserve top tiers for the people whose inbox is their job.
AI Email pricing FAQ
Why is everything priced per seat instead of per usage?
Because these are email clients and shared-inbox tools where value scales with the number of people using them, not with message count. Gmelius, Shortwave and Superhuman all multiply a per-user rate by headcount, so your only real variables are how many seats and which tier.
How much does annual billing change the price?
Enough to matter. Gmelius's tiers are $19/$25/$40 per user annually versus $21/$33/$50 monthly, so annual commitment shaves 10–20% off each seat. Commit annually once you're sure of adoption; the saving is real, but so is the lock-in.
Is Missive's free plan a genuine option?
Yes — everyone starts free with no credit card, and for small teams needing shared inboxes without heavy AI or admin controls it can be the whole solution. You move to paid tools only when you need the automation, integrations or AI those platforms charge for.
Is Superhuman's flat price worth it over cheaper clients?
Only for users whose inbox is their primary workspace. At roughly $25–$33/month per user it's priced as a premium single-tier product; heavy senders often justify it on speed alone, but putting occasional emailers on it is money spent on capability they won't use.
See the full breakdown
Open any tool for its complete pricing tiers, free-tier limits, screenshot and honest review.