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SShortwave vs Superhuman
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
S
Choose Shortwave if…
- you want to trial it before paying
- you work on macOS, Windows, iOS
- you're in its core audience: professionals with high email volume, startup and business teams
S
Choose Superhuman if…
- you want a free plan to start with
- you want the lower entry price ($12/mo vs $30/mo)
- you're in its core audience: professionals with heavy email volume, sales teams
Side by side
Feature Shortwave Superhuman
Pricing modelFree trialFreemium
Starting price$30/mo$12/mo
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Trains AI on your contentNoYes, unless you opt out
Data retentionKept as long as reasonably necessary for business need or legal requirementsKept as long as necessary; periods vary by data and settings
Security and complianceSOC 2 Type II, GDPR—
AI reply drafts
Auto inbox sorting
Thread summaries
Follow-up reminders—
Read/link tracking
Team collaboration
Outlook/M365 support—
CRM integration
PlatformsWeb, macOS, Windows, iOS, AndroidWeb
CategoryEmailEmail
CompanyShortwave Communications, Inc.Superhuman Platform Inc.
Based inUnited StatesUnited States
Founded—2009
Part of——
Key features
S Shortwave
- Prompt-driven email agent for organizing, writing and scheduling
- AI filters written in plain English
- AI search across emails and attachments
- Drafts in your own voice with autocomplete
- Thread summaries and attachment analysis
- Shared threads, comments and assignments for teams
- Read status and link tracking
- Integrations via connectors or MCP
S Superhuman
- AI-drafted email replies in your own voice
- Split inbox, auto labels and auto archiving
- Shareable availability links and calendar scheduling
- Inline writing suggestions in 20+ languages
- Daily Briefs summarizing deadlines and meetings
- Collaborative docs with tables, Kanban boards and forms
- Store of 100+ prebuilt AI agents
- CRM views from HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
Shortwave
Business$30/seat/mo
Premier$45/seat/mo
Max$120/seat/mo
Superhuman
FreeFree
Pro$12/member/mo billed yearly ($15 billed monthly)
Business$33/member/mo billed yearly ($40 billed monthly)
EnterpriseCustom
Strengths and limitations
Shortwave
- 14-day free trial on every plan
- Apps for desktop, iOS and Android
- Plans use Claude models, up to Opus 4.6
- Live human support offered
- No free plan is listed on the pricing page
- Paid plans start at $30 per seat per month
- Lower tiers cap AI filters and daily AI requests
Superhuman
- Free plan includes AI chat, writing help and collaborative docs
- Bundles email, Grammarly writing tools and docs in one suite
- Business plan connects HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive
- Enterprise offers SAML SSO, DLP and BYOK encryption
- Superhuman Mail is only included from the Business plan
- No free trial of paid plans listed on the plans page
- CRM views in the inbox are read-only
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Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy