Disclosure: we build Mailient. Shortwave is a genuinely excellent product and this comparison tries to be the one we would want to read if we were choosing. Details are as of September 2026; verify current features and pricing on both sites.
TL;DR
Shortwave is the best AI-first Gmail client available — faster search, thread summaries, smart bundling, drafting help. It makes the time you spend in your inbox better.
Mailient is not a client at all. It works behind your existing Gmail so there is less reason to open it: scheduled triage, drafts written before you arrive, meetings proposed against your real calendar, quiet threads chased, one morning briefing.
Shortwave bets that founders want a better inbox. Mailient bets they want less inbox. Both bets are reasonable; only one is right for you.
What Shortwave Gets Right
We would not write this page if Shortwave were not good. Specifically:
- AI search that actually works. Asking your inbox a question in plain language and getting the right thread back is the feature Gmail should have shipped years ago.
- Thread summaries. A forty-message thread compressed to what happened is a real time saver and Shortwave does it well.
- Speed and keyboard control. It is a serious client for people who live in email, and it is the swap most Superhuman leavers make.
- You stay in control. Nothing happens that you did not initiate. For a lot of people that is a feature, not a limitation.
The Bet Each Product Makes
This is the whole comparison, and it is philosophical rather than about features.
Shortwave's bet: the inbox is where the work happens, so make it excellent. Every feature makes a session in the client shorter and sharper. That is coherent, and if you enjoy inbox time it is the right product.
Mailient's bet: the inbox is where the work piles up, so do the work before you get there. Scheduled runs read everything, decide what needs a human, and leave drafts in Gmail. You open the inbox to approve rather than to process. The interface we care about is a morning briefing, not a message list.
The practical difference shows up in what happens when you do not open your email. With a client, nothing happens — the pile grows. With an assistant, the work still gets done and waits for a signature. That is the entire argument, and whether it appeals to you is a question about your relationship with your inbox rather than about software.
Side-by-Side
| Shortwave | Mailient | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An AI-first email client | An assistant behind your existing Gmail |
| Do you change client? | Yes — Shortwave becomes your inbox | No — keep Gmail, or keep Shortwave |
| When does AI run? | When you ask, in the app | On a schedule, before you arrive |
| Drafting | Assisted, on request | Written ahead, in your company's voice |
| Triage | Smart bundling and labels | Decides what needs a human, with a reason |
| Meeting booking | Not the focus | Proposes real times against your calendar |
| Chasing silence | No | Yes — drafts the follow-up |
| Beyond email | Email-focused | Also reads Slack and Notion |
| Can it send on its own? | You send | Never — drafts wait for approval |
The Question That Decides It
Forget features for a second and answer this honestly: do you like being in your inbox?
Plenty of good founders do. There is a real satisfaction in a clean inbox and a fast client, and if that describes you, Shortwave will make you happier than we will. Buying an assistant to remove something you enjoy is a bad trade.
But if the inbox is the thing you avoid — if it is why you open your laptop with a small dread, if the expensive email is the one you never opened — then a faster client is optimising the wrong variable. You do not need to get through it quicker. You need less of it to reach you.
Who Should Pick Which
- Pick Shortwave if: you live in email by choice, you want the best AI search available, you want summaries on long threads, and you want to stay the one making every call.
- Pick Mailient if: your inbox is a workload rather than a tool, you would hire an assistant if the economics worked, you want meetings booked and follow-ups chased without thinking about them, and you want one briefing instead of a message list.
- Pick both if: you want a great client for the sessions you choose, and something handling the sessions you would rather skip. They do not conflict — Mailient writes into Gmail, and Shortwave reads the same account.
Mailient shows you real drafts to your real threads during setup, before you pay anything — so you can judge the voice rather than take our word for it. Start free, or see the wider field.