Comparison

Shortwave vs Notion Mail

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Shortwave

This AI-powered email client streamlines your inbox with intelligent organization, writing assistance, and team collaboration tools. It helps you manage emails, schedule meetings, and turn messages into actionable tasks, all while learning your unique style.

Highlights
  • AI-powered email writing and drafting
  • Intelligent inbox organization and clutter removal
  • Real-time team collaboration and email assignment
  • AI-assisted meeting scheduling
  • Email to-do list conversion
  • Customizable AI prompts and automations
  • Management of multiple Gmail accounts
Read full description

AI-NATIVE EMAIL FOR BUSINESS "The AI revolution is coming for your email" – Business Insider "This app is like ChatGPT for your email, and it changed my life" – Digital Trends "The Google Inbox successor I’ve been waiting for" – The Verge YOUR AI EMAIL ASSISTANT Supercharge your productivity with advanced AI & real-time team collaboration. Write emails, improve drafts, schedule meetings, analyze threads, translate text, and more using Shortwave’s powerful AI Assistant. ORGANIZE YOUR INBOX WITH AI With 1-tap, Shortwave’s AI Assistant can identify urgent emails, group threads into todos, and sweep away the remaining clutter so you can get to inbox zero with zero effort. SHARE & DISCUSS EMAILS WITH YOUR TEAM Get the right people involved and bring everyone up to speed fast with private team comments and live thread sharing. Assign emails to teammates to delegate next steps. WRITE EMAILS WITH AI Write personalized emails with AI in seconds, or use instant AI replies to get full drafts in just one tap. Shortwave learns your unique writing style and even facts about you from the emails you send. IMPROVE AND PROOFREAD DRAFTS Complete your drafts, adjust length and tone, translate into other languages, and more with a built-in AI editor. SEARCH AND FIND ANSWERS Use AI-powered search to find emails fast, or to analyze your entire team's emails & attachments for the answers you need SCHEDULE MEETINGS WITH AI Spend less time juggling calendars with AI-powered scheduling features. Create events, send AI-generated scheduling emails, accept calendar events with one click, and more. GET ORGANIZED WITH SPLITS AND BUNDLES Focus your time & attention by dividing your inbox into tabs for important emails, specific senders, labels & even custom queries. Use bundles for fast triage of promotions, newsletters, updates, and other automated emails. TURN EMAILS INTO TODOS Transform your overflowing inbox into an organized list of action items. Group, rename, prioritize, and add notes, right in your inbox. SET DELIVERY SCHEDULES Avoid interruptions by deferring when emails arrive in your inbox, so you only receive emails when you want them. VIEW READ STATUSES See when people read your emails to get the context you need to prioritize your time and write effective follow-ups. Close more deals and collaborate better with your team. SCREEN UNWANTED SENDERS Guard your inbox from noise with one-click block and unsubscribe. FINE-TUNE PUSH NOTIFICATIONS Granular push controls let you minimize distractions with personalized alerts for specific senders and types of emails. CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING Customize AI prompts and automate your team’s work with AI Snippets & AI Automations. Adjust tons of details in settings, and make Shortwave yours with custom colors and beautiful light & dark modes. MANAGE MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS Organize all of your Gmail accounts from one app and seamlessly switch between them in a single swipe. SYNCS WITH GMAIL Migrate seamlessly to Shortwave from your existing Gmail or Google Workspace account with all of your labels, filters, and other settings imported. If you have questions or want to learn more about Shortwave and best practices, you can find resources here: https://www.shortwave.com/docs/

About

Notion Mail

This intelligent inbox automatically organizes your emails based on your preferences, allowing you to draft messages and schedule meetings with AI assistance. Customize your views, swipe through tasks with custom actions, and craft beautiful emails using a powerful editor, all available online or offline.

Highlights
  • AI-powered email sorting
  • Customizable inbox views
  • Swipe gestures for actions
  • Offline email access
  • Powerful email editor
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

The inbox that thinks like you Notion Mail is the self-organizing inbox that drafts emails and schedules meetings just the way you like it. It’s smart, personalized, and beautiful. - Sort incoming emails automatically: Tell AI what types of emails matter to you, and it'll label and organize incoming emails (requires setup on desktop at this moment).⁠⁠ - Personalize your inbox: Split your inbox into custom views for what matters. - Swipe your way to get things thing: Set custom actions to speed through your inbox. - Always available online or offline: Manage your inbox and draft your email whenever and wherever. - Craft engaging emails: Use the powerful Notion editor to make your emails stand out.⁠⁠ - Available in 18+ languages: Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, and more. Connect your Gmail and get started for free.

Screenshots

Notion Mail4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Shortwave at 4.8 against Notion Mail's 2.9. Shortwave also leads on review sentiment (65% vs 26%) and ratings volume (710 vs 122). Notion Mail's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shortwave holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shortwave has 710 ratings behind it against 122, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Shortwave's written reviews are positive against 26% of Notion Mail's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shortwave ships an update every 3 weeks, Notion Mail weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Shortwave versus Notion Mail: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShortwaveNotion Mail
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (710 ratings) — better2.9 (122 ratings)
Positive reviews65.4% of reviews — better26.2% of reviews
Number of ratings710 — better122
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB59 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperShortwave Communications, Inc.Notion Labs, Incorporated

Customer experience

Shortwave

All ratings659 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral1.8%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews211 reviews
Positive65.4%
Neutral10.9%
Negative23.7%

Notion Mail

All ratings122 ratings
Positive36.1%
Neutral18.0%
Negative45.9%
Written reviews164 reviews
Positive26.2%
Neutral16.5%
Negative57.3%

User reviews

Shortwave

From 710 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent email management
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Efficient email processing
  • 💡 Innovative AI features
  • 👍 Helpful email bundling and scheduling

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent mobile app experience
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns around data collection
  • 🔍 Limited search and filtering options
  • 💻 Lack of support for non-Gmail accounts
  • 🔧 Missing key features like delete and landscape mode

Notion Mail

From 122 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Smooth and simple interface
  • 🚀 Fast and responsive
  • 💡 Notion-style integration
  • 🔥 Lots of potential

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Lack of notifications and customization
  • 🚫 No unified inbox for multiple accounts
  • 🚫 Limited feature set compared to desktop app
  • 🚫 Not compatible with iPad

Bugs and requests

Shortwave

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unreliable email bundling and threading
  • Inconsistent performance and stability issues
  • Bugs with email forwarding and attachment handling

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for more email providers
  • Improve iPad and tablet optimization
  • Enhance customization options for labels and actions
  • Integrate with more productivity apps and services
  • Provide better transparency around data usage and privacy

Notion Mail

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Scaling issues with some emails
  • Unable to use other login options

Requested features

5 requests
  • Customizable notifications
  • Unified inbox for multiple accounts
  • Feature parity with desktop app
  • iPad compatibility
  • Slash commands and AI compose features

In-app purchases

None

Shortwave

No in-app purchases

None

Notion Mail

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Shortwave free?
Shortwave is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notion Mail free?
Notion Mail is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Shortwave or Notion Mail?
Shortwave is rated higher. Shortwave averages 4.8 out of 5 from 710 ratings, while Notion Mail averages 2.9 from 122 ratings.
Do Shortwave or Notion Mail have ads?
Neither Shortwave nor Notion Mail shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shortwave or Notion Mail?
Shortwave ships an update every 3 weeks, and Notion Mail weekly. Most recently, Shortwave was updated on September 24, 2026 and Notion Mail on September 19, 2026.

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