Comparison
Shortwave is an AI-powered email client: you read, search and reply inside it. InboxBrief is a read-only summary layer: one prioritized digest a day, tasks and an agenda - without switching clients.
Shortwave, built by former members of the Google Inbox team, reinvents the email client: on-demand thread summaries, AI search, assisted writing. It's brilliant - but it's a new client to adopt, designed first for Gmail, and the AI works while you're inside the inbox. InboxBrief flips the problem: the AI works for you outside the inbox. A prioritized summary lands every morning, actions become dated tasks, and your current mailbox stays exactly as it is.
| Criteria | InboxBrief | Shortwave |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of the tool | Read-only analysis layer on top of your mailboxes. | A full email client to adopt day to day. |
| Summaries | Scheduled daily digest: the whole inbox, prioritized, in 2 minutes. | On-demand thread summaries while you read. |
| Mailboxes covered | Gmail, Outlook / Microsoft 365, Yahoo and IMAP (private servers). | Designed first for Gmail. |
| AI writing & replies | Out of scope: read-only, no writing at all. | Strong: assisted drafting and AI replies inside the client. |
| Tasks, agenda & teams | Persistent planner + team spaces (shared mailboxes, assignments). | Todo-style inbox inside the client, individual-first. |
Shortwave's summaries are used while reading the inbox - so you still have to open it. InboxBrief moves the work upstream: the digest arrives on schedule, already sorted urgent / important / FYI, and you only open the inbox to answer what matters.
Adopting Shortwave means switching email clients. InboxBrief connects read-only (official OAuth or IMAP) to Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or a private server: nobody migrates, and nothing can ever be sent, moved or deleted.
Summarizing a thread helps you read it; extracting the action saves you from coming back to it. Every actionable email becomes a task or a dated event that persists from one digest to the next - the agenda replaces the re-read.
If your pain is "too much email to read and actions slipping through", yes: the daily digest + agenda address it directly, with no client switch. If you mainly want a better experience for writing and replying with AI, Shortwave remains an excellent client.
Yes. InboxBrief reads your mailbox read-only, independently of whichever client you use to read and reply - including Shortwave on Gmail.
Slack promised to kill email, but replaced it with a stressful, continuous flow of notifications and status meetings. InboxBrief offers a calm, asynchronous alternative.
ComparisonHiring a human assistant is expensive and poses privacy concerns. InboxBrief offers 24/7 AI triaging for a fraction of the cost.
ComparisonEmail clients are storage and manual triaging tools. InboxBrief is an AI layer that synthesizes and plans for you.