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Shortwave added AI to an infinite feed. You still open it dozens of times a day.

Shortwave made your inbox smarter. Swizero asks a different question: what if your inbox could be finished? A ranked stack you swipe through in minutes, then close.

Shortwave is not the problem. It is brilliant software. The problem is that brilliant software keeps you inside your inbox. What if the answer is not a smarter inbox, but a shorter one?

Shortwave

The AI-powered feed

AI search. Chat with your email. Auto-labels. Smart summaries. Every feature makes your inbox more powerful, more engaging, more worth checking. The smarter it gets, the harder it is to close. You came for AI help. You stayed for over an hour.

More to see
Swizero

A stack you finish

AI ranks your email by importance and presents only the ones that matter as swipeable cards. You swipe through the stack and watch each card disappear. When it is empty, email is done. Not surfaced, not optimized. Done as in close the app and walk away.

Done

Feature-by-feature comparison

Not just checkmarks. Context on what each feature actually means for your daily workflow.

Philosophy

How it works

Shortwave makes email smarter. Swizero makes email shorter. One pulls you deeper in. The other lets you walk away.

SwizeroA ranked stack you swipe through, then close
Swizero
ShortwaveAn AI-powered feed that keeps surfacing more

What done looks like

Shortwave helps you process more. Swizero helps you stop.

SwizeroStack empty. App closed. Morning free.
Swizero
ShortwaveFaster processing, better organization, still checking

How you use it

Shortwave gives you more to explore. Swizero gives you less to worry about.

SwizeroSwipe through a ranked stack
ShortwaveEnhanced inbox with AI chat sidebar
AI Features

AI email ranking

How each app decides what you see first.

SwizeroOn-device ML ranks by importance
Swizero
ShortwaveAI categorization and smart labels

AI search

Shortwave's AI search is genuinely best-in-class.

SwizeroStandard search
ShortwaveNatural language AI search across all email
Better

Chat with email

A powerful feature. But it keeps you inside the inbox longer.

SwizeroNot available
ShortwaveAsk questions about your email history
Better

AI summaries

SwizeroEvery card, one-line summary
ShortwaveThread summaries and AI briefings

AI drafts

Both draft. Swizero never sends without your explicit approval.

SwizeroPre-written draft, never auto-sends
ShortwaveAI compose with tone and length controls

AI auto-actions

Shortwave's AI acts. Swizero's AI prepares, then waits for your swipe. No surprises.

SwizeroNone. You always decide.
Swizero
ShortwaveAuto-labels, auto-categorization, suggested actions
Privacy

Data handling

Where your email data lives and for how long.

SwizeroZero-retention cloud AI. Emails processed, never stored.
Swizero
ShortwaveCloud-based processing with standard retention

Ranking intelligence

SwizeroOn-device. Your patterns never leave your phone.
Swizero
ShortwaveServer-side AI models

Third-party training

Both respect this boundary. Shortwave uses Anthropic models.

SwizeroNever. Contractually guaranteed.
ShortwaveNot used for training (uses Claude/Opus)
Platform

Mobile app

Shortwave covers both mobile platforms today.

SwizeroiOS (native, gesture-first)
ShortwaveiOS and Android
Better

Desktop / web

Shortwave has full web coverage today.

SwizeroNot yet (coming later)
ShortwaveFull web app
Better

Team features

If you need team email workflows, Shortwave wins here.

SwizeroNot available (personal email focus)
ShortwaveTeam channels, shared labels, Slack integration
Better
Pricing

Monthly price

Shortwave's comparable AI tier (Pro at $18/mo) costs nearly 2x more.

Swizero$9.99/mo
Swizero
ShortwaveFree (limited) / $8.50 Personal / $18 Pro / $30 Business / $45 Premier

Annual price

Swizero$79.99/yr ($6.67/mo)
Swizero
ShortwavePersonal $7/mo annual / Pro $15/mo annual

Free tier

Shortwave offers a permanent free tier.

SwizeroBeta waitlist (free during beta)
ShortwaveFree plan with limited AI queries
Better

A morning with each app

Same person. Same 83 unread emails. Two different experiences.

Shortwave
7:02 AM

Open Shortwave. AI has organized overnight emails into smart categories. 83 unread across labels.

Organized. But how long will this take?

7:04 AM

Check the AI briefing. It summarizes a stack of threads. Tap into three that look important.

7:11 AM

Use AI search to find that contract from last week. Ask a follow-up question in chat. Get a useful answer.

Impressive. But you have been in the app for 9 minutes now.

7:18 AM

Start composing replies. AI suggests drafts. Tweak tone. Send four responses.

7:26 AM

Notice the AI surfaced a thread you missed. Read it. That leads to two more threads. Open those too.

Wait, I thought I was almost done.

7:34 AM

Slack notification pulls you to a team channel in Shortwave. Respond to three messages.

7:41 AM

Finally close the app. But the AI briefing badge says '5 new insights.' Open it again.

The AI keeps finding things to show you.

8:15 AM

Check again on the web. New categorized emails. The feed refreshed.

When does this actually end?

Over an hour across three sessions. Inbox is organized. But the AI keeps surfacing more.

Swizero
7:05 AM

Open Swizero. The same 83 emails ran through AI overnight. But instead of surfacing all of them with insights, it filtered down to the ones that actually need you.

Quiet. Intentionally quiet.

7:06 AM

First card has a one-line summary. No chat sidebar. No follow-up threads to explore. Just one question: act on this, or move on? Swipe left to delete.

7:08 AM

Client follow-up. AI draft is already written. You review it, swap one phrase, swipe up to send. No tone sliders, no length controls. Just a good draft.

The AI helped without pulling you deeper in.

7:10 AM

Two more cards. A team update you swipe down to archive. A billing notice you swipe left to delete.

7:11 AM

Stack is empty. No AI briefing badge. No '5 new insights' notification. The app has nothing more to show you.

The calm of actually being done. No AI badge pulling you back. Just quiet.

7:12 AM

Close the app. Phone goes in your pocket. You walk away from email and forget about it. There is nothing new to discover, nothing the AI is about to surface.

7 minutes. The AI showed you less, not more. No briefing badge. No pull-back. Inbox closed.

Which one is right for you?

Be honest about what you want: more to explore, or permission to stop.

Choose Swizero if...

You have tried smarter inboxes and realized they just give you more to look at. What you actually want is permission to close the app.

  • You want a clear finish line for every email session
  • You process email on your phone and want gesture-first flow
  • You care about email privacy and want zero data retention
  • You are tired of AI surfacing more things to engage with
  • You want AI that ranks and drafts but never acts without your approval

Choose Shortwave if...

You want the most AI-rich email experience available, with deep search, chat, and team collaboration.

  • You need powerful AI search across your entire email history
  • You work on a team and need shared channels and Slack integration
  • You want to ask questions about your email in natural language
  • You need Android or web access today
  • You want the deepest AI toolset available in an email client

Switching from Shortwave takes 2 minutes

What you keep, what changes, and what gets better.

Your Gmail stays untouched

Swizero connects via secure OAuth. Your existing labels, filters, and email history remain exactly where they are.

Your Shortwave labels carry over

Any labels or organization you built in Shortwave live in Gmail. They stay. Swizero reads them too.

From AI chat to a ranked stack

Instead of chatting with your inbox, you swipe through the emails that matter. Most people adapt in one session.

From exploring to finishing

The biggest shift: you stop discovering more and start experiencing the relief of done. The AI shows you less, not more.

Simpler, more honest pricing

$9.99/mo for everything. No tiers, no feature gates, no upsells. Shortwave's comparable tier costs nearly 2x more.

Your mornings back

When email actually ends, you get back the 30-50 minutes per day Shortwave's AI kept filling with more insights, more threads, more reasons to stay.

Shortwave is genuinely impressive software. But I was in the app for an hour every morning. Swizero gets me through email in minutes. Turns out I wanted less, not more.

Beta tester, former Shortwave user

<10 min

Average session in beta

~2x

Less expensive than Shortwave Pro

0

Emails stored on our servers

100%

Human-in-the-loop

Ready for permission to stop?

Shortwave keeps surfacing more. Swizero gives you a stack that empties and stays empty. No credit card. No commitment.