The best AI email assistants in 2026, compared

For most teams already on Gmail, Fyxer is the most complete assistant that works inside the inbox you have: it sorts mail, drafts replies in your tone and writes meeting follow-ups, on Gmail or Outlook. If you pay for Google Workspace, Gemini in Gmail is already included. For scheduling by email, Howie. For broader automations, Lindy.

An AI email assistant reads your mail and does some of the work: sorting, summarising, drafting replies, reminding you of threads that went quiet, booking meetings. They come in three shapes. Some are built into your email suite (Gemini, Copilot). Some connect to your Gmail or Outlook account from outside (Fyxer, Jace, Lindy, Howie, Cora). Some are whole email clients with AI inside (Superhuman, Shortwave).

How we chose

• Mail it works with: Gmail, Microsoft 365 or Outlook, or its own mailboxes.
• What it does: sorting, drafting, follow-up reminders, scheduling, and whether it can send on its own.
• Price per user: public prices, with the billing basis, as of the date of this article.
• Data handling: whether the vendor says it trains on your mail, its security certifications, and where data lives when it says so.
• Setup: how much you have to change to start.

Every product here exists today and we checked each claim on the vendor’s own page. Where a vendor does not state something, such as where data is stored, we say so.

Prices are public list prices on 2026-10-05, in the currency the vendor's page showed. Assistants that connect to Gmail or Outlook are paid on top of the mailbox.

1. Fyxer AI

Fyxer connects to Gmail or Outlook, labels and prioritises incoming mail, drafts replies in your voice, joins meetings to take notes and drafts the follow-up email afterwards. Starter is US$22.50 per user per month billed annually (US$30 monthly) for one inbox; Professional is US$37.50 annually (US$50 monthly) and adds several inboxes, scheduling, Fyxer Chat and HubSpot. Fyxer is clear that it cannot send email for you: it only drafts. It holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 and says your data is not used to train outside models.

Best for: a founder or sales lead who wants a tidy inbox and drafts waiting, without changing email provider. Trade-off: it does not say where data is stored, and you pay for it on top of Workspace or Microsoft 365. More in Skein vs Fyxer.

2. Gemini in Gmail

Gemini is part of every Google Workspace plan, from Business Starter up. In Gmail it writes and rewrites drafts (Help me write), suggests replies and summarises long threads. Business Standard and above add Gemini in Docs, Meet and Drive. Google has also been testing an AI Inbox that pulls out priorities and to-dos; at the time of writing it was not generally available. Gmail’s older nudges, which remind you of mail you have not answered and sent mail that got no reply, are free and need no AI.

Best for: anyone already on Workspace: try it before buying anything else. Trade-off: it helps you write, but it does not track follow-ups across the team or act on its own. Our Google Workspace alternatives roundup has the plan prices.

3. Copilot in Outlook

Microsoft 365 business subscribers get Copilot Chat at no extra cost, but Microsoft says it does not work with your organisation’s content, including your mail. Copilot inside Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams needs the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on, listed at US$21 per user per month on an annual commitment (€18.20 in Spain), for up to 300 users, or a plan sold with Copilot: Business Standard with Copilot is US$23.50 and Business Premium with Copilot US$32 per user per month, paid yearly. Until 31 December 2026, existing customers pay US$18 for the add-on in their first year. Prompts stay inside the Microsoft 365 service boundary, which includes the EU Data Boundary.

Best for: teams already on Microsoft 365 who want AI across Office, not only in mail. Trade-off: the add-on costs more than the mailbox it sits on.

4. Superhuman Mail

Superhuman Mail is a fast email client for Gmail and Microsoft 365 accounts. Its AI writes drafts, gives instant replies, labels and archives automatically, summarises threads and sets reminders that come with a drafted follow-up. Starter is US$25 per member per month and Business US$33, billed annually; Business adds auto-drafts and Ask AI. Superhuman says its AI sub-processors are contractually barred from training on your data.

Best for: people who live in their inbox and want shortcuts and AI together. Trade-off: one of the most expensive options. See Superhuman alternatives.

5. Shortwave

Shortwave is an AI-first Gmail client with an assistant you can ask about your mail, AI search, instant replies and AI filters. It works with Gmail and Google Workspace only. Plans are US$30, US$45 and US$120 per seat per month, the higher ones with stronger models and higher quotas. Shortwave says your data is stored in Google Cloud and never used to train third-party models.

Best for: Gmail users who want to ask their inbox questions. Trade-off: no Microsoft 365.

6. Howie

Howie is an AI scheduling assistant. You copy it on a thread and it emails or texts the other person, finds a time that works and books the meeting on your Google Calendar. It also sends reminders and calendar briefings. This is the one assistant here that sends email on its own, as your assistant; a custom-domain address for it costs US$20 per month extra. The Team plan starts at US$25 per month for a pool of credits. Howie holds SOC 2 Type II.

Best for: people who book many meetings with outsiders. Trade-off: scheduling only, and Outlook is not listed.

7. Lindy

Lindy is a platform for building AI agents, and email is one of its main uses: it drafts replies in your voice, sorts the inbox and can run multi-step automations across Gmail or Outlook and other tools. Plans are Plus at US$29.99, Pro at US$99.99 and Max at US$199.99 per user per month, each with a pool of credits. Lindy says nothing irreversible happens without your approval and that your data is never used to train models.

Best for: teams that want to design their own workflows. Trade-off: credits make the monthly cost harder to predict, and someone has to build and maintain the agents.

8. Jace AI

Jace connects to Gmail or Outlook, labels mail and prepares drafts before you open your inbox, and lets you ask questions across your email history. Plus is US$20 per month billed yearly (US$25 monthly) for two inboxes; Pro is US$40 yearly (US$50 monthly) for eight. You approve every draft. Jace says it never trains models on your data.

Best for: one person with several inboxes. Trade-off: a young product; it lists SOC 2 Type 1, not Type II.

9. Cora

Cora, from Every, screens your Gmail, sends you two briefs a day with the mail that does not need you right away, and drafts replies in your style. It cannot send or delete mail without you. Professional is US$20 per month (US$240 per year) for two accounts, and Cora is also included in Every’s subscription.

Best for: a busy individual who wants less inbox, not more features. Trade-off: Gmail only, and built for individuals more than teams.

10. Skein

It takes a different route: instead of an assistant connected to someone else’s mailbox, it is the mailbox, and its agent follows every thread across the team. Business email on your own domain with an agent that follows up on every conversation. Hosted in the EU. The agent notices when a customer, investor or candidate is waiting and drafts the follow-up in your tone. By default nothing is sent without your OK, from the app or, at launch, from Slack or WhatsApp, and every send has a few seconds to undo. For the contacts you choose, you can let it send on its own. Mail and agent run in Frankfurt, and you can keep reading mail in Apple Mail, Outlook or the Gmail app over IMAP. It also proposes meeting times from your Google, Microsoft or iCloud calendar inside the thread and sends one brief a day. Pricing is per person with the agent, with cheaper mailboxes for the rest of the team.

It is pre-launch: teams reserve a spot by paying their first month, refundable until they start (pricing). The interactive demo shows the app with sample data. Trade-off: you move your email hosting, which is more work than installing an assistant, and it is not available yet.

Mostly no, and that is deliberate. Fyxer, Jace and Cora state plainly that they only draft. Lindy asks for approval before anything irreversible. Gemini and Copilot help you write; you send. Howie is the exception because scheduling only works if the assistant can write to the other person.

Before giving any tool the right to send, check three things: whether you can limit it to certain contacts or kinds of reply, whether there is an undo window, and whether there is a log of what it sent and who approved it.

• Start with what you already pay for. Gemini comes with every Workspace plan; on Microsoft 365, a Copilot trial or bundle. Use it for two weeks and note what is missing.
• If the gap is drafting and sorting: Fyxer or Jace.
• If the gap is scheduling: Howie.
• If the gap is threads nobody chased: look for follow-up tracking across the team, not only drafting. Our sales follow-up cadence guide shows what to track.
• If your data must stay in the EU: ask each vendor where mail and model calls are processed, and for its data processing agreement. Few assistant vendors state a region on their pages.

1. 1Pick one inbox, usually yours, and connect the assistant there first.
2. 2Read every draft for a week before you trust it. Note which ones you sent unchanged.
3. 3Check the permissions it asked for in your Google or Microsoft account, and remove them from the security settings if you stop using it.
4. 4Only then roll it out to the team, and write down who may let it send on its own.

Moving to a provider with the agent built in, like Skein, means changing MX records and importing old mail; our guide to migrating from Google Workspace covers it.