Shortwave review

Shortwave is an AI email app for organizing, writing, searching and managing email. It can identify important messages and to-dos, then help filter, label, star or archive them. For writing, you can ask it in plain English to draft or improve an email in your style. Its search can find messages or answer questions using team emails and attachments.

Shortwave also includes scheduling help: it can check availability, create calendar events and draft scheduling emails. Teams can share live threads, leave private comments, assign next steps and share labels. For inbox cleanup, you can split messages into tabs, bundle bulk email and turn messages into to-dos.

The pitch is broader than an AI writing add-on: Shortwave combines email, search, scheduling and some team workflow features in one app. Whether that bundle is worth paying for depends on how much of it your team will use.

Shortwave’s clearest strength is that its AI features map to routine email work, rather than stopping at drafting replies. The product can help sort an inbox, surface to-dos, search across messages and attachments, and handle scheduling. That makes it relevant to teams that want email organization and coordination in the same workspace.

• Inbox control: Identify important email and to-dos, filter or label messages, and bundle bulk mail. Split inboxes into tabs or turn messages into to-dos.
• Writing help: Draft or improve emails with plain-English prompts and your writing style.
• Search: Ask about messages or team emails and attachments. Search limits vary by plan, so this is not an unlimited capability at every tier.
• Team workflows: Share live threads, comment privately, assign next steps and share labels.
• Scheduling: Check availability, create calendar events and write scheduling emails.

The plan structure also gives teams a choice of AI limits. Business includes 5 years of AI search history and searches of up to 50 threads; Premier raises those caps, while Max raises them further. Those are concrete differences to weigh against the per-seat price.

The main drawback is price. According to the published pricing information, Business starts at $30 per seat per month, Premier is $45 and Max is $120. A team pays per seat, so the starting figure scales with headcount. The pricing page does not state whether annual billing is available.

The cheaper paid tier also has defined AI limits: Business includes 5 years of AI search history, up to 50 threads per AI search and 3 AI-powered filters. Premier costs $45 per seat monthly and raises those limits to unlimited search history, 100 threads per search and 10 filters. Max costs $120 and allows 150 threads per search and 50 filters; its listed search-history allowance is not specified. Max adds expert intelligence, 6x more AI usage and 3x context tokens, but the source does not define what those multipliers mean in practical usage.

A free plan and a 14-day trial are listed, but their details are not published here. That makes it hard to assess the free tier or know what happens after the trial without checking the current terms.

Shortwave lists a free plan and a 14-day free trial, but the published pricing details do not specify what the free plan includes. Paid prices are per seat per month: Business is $30, Premier is $45 and Max is $120. The page does not say whether annual billing is available.

Business includes standard intelligence, five years of AI search history, searches across 50 threads and three AI-powered filters. Premier costs $15 more per seat monthly and raises those limits to unlimited search history, 100 threads per search and 10 filters, with advanced intelligence and twice the AI usage. Max is a steep jump: $75 more than Premier, for 150 threads per search, 50 filters, expert intelligence and six times the AI usage of Business.

No add-ons are listed in the published pricing data. For a team, multiply the per-seat price by headcount; confirm the free-plan limits and billing terms before budgeting.

The published materials do not describe an import process, migration time or data-export options. Before moving a team, confirm how messages, attachments, labels, calendar events, shared threads, private comments and assigned next steps transfer—and what you can export if you leave. The product supports shared threads, comments, assignments and shared labels, so workflows built around those features may take extra work to recreate elsewhere. That is a potential switching cost, not a documented export restriction.

We also do not have Reddit posts or comments in the published material, so we cannot reliably say what users report as reasons for leaving. Price is a clear consideration: paid plans start at $30 per seat monthly, and the next tier is $45. Teams that need more search history or higher AI limits may face an upgrade; teams that do not use those features should compare the cost with their current email setup. Get migration and exit terms in writing before switching.