How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- HEY costs $99 a year for a personal @hey.com address, with a 30-day free trial and no free plan. Every alternative below is cheaper per year or has a free tier.
- Shortwave is the closest match for Gmail users, with AI triage and a free plan. Pro is $18 a seat a month.
- Proton Mail and Fastmail are the best picks for your own domain and strong privacy. Proton Mail starts at $3.99 a month billed yearly, Fastmail at $5.
- Superhuman is the fastest option, but at $30 a user a month it only fits people who live in email all day.
- Missive covers shared team inboxes, while Spark, Canary Mail and Edison Mail are free clients. Check the comparison table before you pay.
Why do people leave HEY?
HEY is an opinionated email service from 37signals. It screens every new sender, splits mail into an Imbox, a Feed and a Paper Trail, and blocks tracking pixels by default. People who leave usually leave for one of four reasons. First, the price: HEY for You costs $99 a year, billed annually only, with no free plan and no monthly option. Second, the address: HEY gives you an @hey.com address, and moving years of mail and logins to a new address is real work. Third, the workflow: the Screener and the three-way split are a fixed system, and if you want folders and a traditional inbox, HEY will not bend. Fourth, teams: HEY for Domains costs $12 a user a month, with no shared inbox features for support or sales teams.
What should a HEY alternative do differently?
Start with the problem you are trying to solve. If the problem is noise, you want screening, bundles or AI triage, which Shortwave, Superhuman and Spark all offer in different ways. If the problem is price, Proton Mail, Fastmail and Canary Mail all cost less per year than HEY and let you keep your own domain. If the problem is team email, Missive is the only tool in this list built around shared inboxes. If the problem is the address change, pick a client like Spark, Canary Mail or Edison Mail that works on top of the Gmail or Outlook account you already own. Check the platform list too: Edison Mail retired its desktop app and is now mobile only.
How much do HEY alternatives cost?
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan | Best for |
| Superhuman | $30 per user per month | No | Speed and keyboard-first email |
| Shortwave | $18 per seat per month | Yes | AI triage on Gmail |
| Spark | $10 per user per month | Yes | A free client with AI help |
| Proton Mail | $3.99 per month, billed yearly | Yes | Private mail on your own domain |
| Fastmail | $5 per month, billed yearly | No | Fast, ad-free mail with masked email |
| Missive | $14 per user per month, billed yearly | No | Shared team inboxes |
| Canary Mail | $36 per year | Yes | AI writing and encryption |
| Edison Mail | $14.99 per month | Yes | A free mobile inbox with smart sorting |
A five-person team pays $1,800 a year for Superhuman, $1,080 for Shortwave Pro, $600 for Spark Plus on monthly billing, $240 for Fastmail Individual accounts, and $180 for Canary Mail Growth. HEY for Domains for the same five people costs $720 a year. The cheapest way to replace HEY is usually a free client on top of the mail account you already have, not a new mail host.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Superhuman | People who answer hundreds of emails a day and want the fastest inbox available | $30 per user per month (third-party reported; the vendor pricing page did not render figures on 15 Nov 2026) | No free plan. A trial is offered before you pay. |
 Shortwave | Gmail and Google Workspace users who want HEY-style triage with AI | $18 per seat per month (Pro) | Yes. Free plan with basic AI, 90 days of search history and a Shortwave signature on sent mail. |
 Spark | People who want a polished free email client with AI help on any account | $10 per user per month (Plus, monthly billing; $8.25 per user per month billed yearly) | Yes. Free plan with Smart Inbox, unlimited accounts, snooze, send later and reminders. |
 Proton Mail | Privacy-focused users who want their own domain at a low price | $3.99 per month, billed yearly (Mail Plus; $4.99 billed monthly) | Yes. Free plan with 1 GB of storage and one encrypted address. |
 Fastmail | People who want fast, reliable, ad-free email on their own domain | $5 per month, billed yearly (Individual; $6 billed monthly) | No free plan. 30-day free trial. |
 Missive | Small teams that share an inbox for support, sales or operations | $14 per user per month, billed yearly (Starter; $18 billed monthly) | No free plan listed on the current vendor page. 30-day free trial of the Productive plan. |
 Canary Mail | People who want AI writing and encryption in a client that works with any account | $36 per year (Growth; $100 per year for Pro+) | Yes. Free plan with unlimited accounts on up to two devices. |
 Edison Mail | Mobile users who want a free inbox that sorts bills, travel and parcels automatically | $14.99 per month (Mail+; $99.99 per year) | Yes. Free plan with unlimited accounts and the full core inbox. |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The 8 best HEY alternatives
#1Superhuman
Best for: People who answer hundreds of emails a day and want the fastest inbox available4.7/5 on
G2 (1,309 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit superhuman.com
Starting price$30 per user per month (third-party reported; the vendor pricing page did not render figures on 15 Nov 2026)
Free planNo free plan. A trial is offered before you pay.
Superhuman is the inbox for people who treat email as a full-time job. Everything is built around speed: keyboard shortcuts for every action, instant search, snippets for repeated replies, and an AI assistant that drafts replies in your voice and triages the inbox while you work. Read statuses and send later are included, and the split inbox lets you separate important mail from newsletters without rules. The drawback is the price and the lock-in. At $30 a user a month, a small team pays more for email than for its project tool, and Superhuman only connects to Gmail and Outlook, so anyone on Fastmail, Proton Mail or a private IMAP host has to move their mail first.
What we like- Very fast keyboard-first workflow, AI triage and drafting, read statuses, snippets and split inbox
Watch out for- At $30 a user a month it costs more than three times HEY, and it works only with Gmail and Outlook accounts, so you cannot bring a Fastmail or Proton address
#2
Shortwave
Best for: Gmail and Google Workspace users who want HEY-style triage with AI
Visit shortwave.com
Starting price$18 per seat per month (Pro)
Free planYes. Free plan with basic AI, 90 days of search history and a Shortwave signature on sent mail.
Shortwave is the closest thing to HEY that runs on the Gmail account you already own. It was built by ex-Google engineers and it organises mail into bundles, lets an AI assistant search years of mail, draft replies and book meetings from a prompt, and keeps full history on paid plans. The Pro plan at $18 a seat a month includes standard AI, three years of AI search history and personalised AI writing, while Business at $30 adds AI filters and team features. The free plan is usable for a trial but limited: 90 days of search history, a small AI quota and a forced signature. The hard limit is the platform. Shortwave only works with Gmail and Google Workspace, so if your mail lives anywhere else, this is not your tool.
What we like- AI assistant that searches, summarises and drafts across your mail, bundles that replace HEY-style triage, works on your existing Gmail account
Watch out for- Gmail and Google Workspace only, so Outlook and IMAP users are excluded, and the free plan adds a signature to every email you send
#3
Spark
Best for: People who want a polished free email client with AI help on any account
Visit sparkmailapp.com
Starting price$10 per user per month (Plus, monthly billing; $8.25 per user per month billed yearly)
Free planYes. Free plan with Smart Inbox, unlimited accounts, snooze, send later and reminders.
Spark is a free email client from Readdle that layers a smart inbox, snooze, send later and an AI assistant over the mail accounts you already have. The free plan is generous: unlimited accounts, a unified inbox, a calendar and basic reminders, with no ads. Plus at $10 a user a month adds the full AI assistant, Gatekeeper, priority sorting and 40 AI meeting notes a month. Pro at $20 adds shared inboxes, read statuses and a HubSpot integration. The weakness is the tiering. The features that make Spark feel modern, including Gatekeeper and most of the AI, sit behind the paywall, and team email needs the most expensive tier.
What we like- Works with Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and IMAP, smart inbox sorting, AI assistant, apps on every platform
Watch out for- The useful AI features and Gatekeeper need the Plus plan at $10 a month, and shared inboxes need the Pro plan at $20 a user a month
#4
Proton Mail
Best for: Privacy-focused users who want their own domain at a low price
Visit proton.me
Starting price$3.99 per month, billed yearly (Mail Plus; $4.99 billed monthly)
Free planYes. Free plan with 1 GB of storage and one encrypted address.
Proton Mail is the best HEY alternative for people whose main complaint is privacy. Mail is end-to-end encrypted, the company is based in Switzerland, and the business model is subscriptions, not advertising. Mail Plus at $3.99 a month billed yearly adds 15 GB of storage, 10 addresses, one custom domain and IMAP access, so you can use any client you like. Proton Unlimited at $9.99 a month billed yearly adds 500 GB, three domains, a VPN, a password manager and cloud storage. The trade is convenience. Encrypted search is slower than Gmail search, and some power features, like full IMAP support, need a paid plan. The free plan is a genuine free tier, not a trial, but 1 GB fills up fast.
What we like- End-to-end encryption, based in Switzerland, custom domain on paid plans, no ads and no tracking
Watch out for- Search is slower than Gmail because mail is encrypted, and the free plan has only 1 GB of storage
#5
Fastmail
Best for: People who want fast, reliable, ad-free email on their own domain
Visit fastmail.com
Starting price$5 per month, billed yearly (Individual; $6 billed monthly)
Free planNo free plan. 30-day free trial.
Fastmail is a paid email host from Australia that does one thing, email, and does it very well. The Individual plan at $5 a month billed yearly includes 60 GB of storage, custom domains, masked email addresses for sign-ups, and apps on every platform. Business plans start at $3 a user a month for Basic, but Standard at $5 is the real entry point because Basic has no custom domains and no snooze. Fastmail has no free plan, only a 30-day trial, and it does not offer end-to-end encryption by design, which is a deliberate choice that privacy buyers should know about. What it offers instead is speed, reliability and a clean interface with no ads and no tracking.
What we like- Very fast webmail, masked email addresses, custom domains, excellent calendar and contacts
Watch out for- No free plan and no end-to-end encryption, and the cheapest Business Basic plan at $3 a user a month excludes custom domains
#6Missive
Best for: Small teams that share an inbox for support, sales or operations4.7/5 on
G2 (861 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit missiveapp.com
Starting price$14 per user per month, billed yearly (Starter; $18 billed monthly)
Free planNo free plan listed on the current vendor page. 30-day free trial of the Productive plan.
Missive is the team answer to HEY. Where HEY is built for one person, Missive is built around shared inboxes: a support address or a sales address that several people work from, with assignment, internal comments, shared drafts and collision detection so two people never answer the same mail. Starter at $14 a user a month billed yearly covers up to 5 users with email, SMS and social accounts, while Productive at $24 adds rules, integrations, the AI assistant and API access. Business at $36 removes the user cap and adds SSO. The limits matter. Starter has no rules or integrations, so most teams need Productive, and there is no free plan, only a 30-day trial. For a solo user leaving HEY, Missive is the wrong tool.
What we like- Shared inboxes with assignment and internal comments, email plus SMS and social in one place, rules and automations on Productive
Watch out for- No free plan, Starter stops at 5 users and leaves out rules, integrations and the AI assistant, and the price jumps to $24 a user a month for the useful tier
#7Canary Mail
Best for: People who want AI writing and encryption in a client that works with any account4.5/5 on
G2 (53 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit canarymail.io
Starting price$36 per year (Growth; $100 per year for Pro+)
Free planYes. Free plan with unlimited accounts on up to two devices.
Canary Mail is a third-party email app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android that adds AI writing, summaries, read receipts and encryption to whatever mail account you already use. The free plan covers unlimited accounts on two devices, which is enough for most people to try it properly. Growth at $36 a year adds AI Copilot, full read receipts, send later, a calendar and five devices. Pro+ at $100 a year adds PGP encryption, SecureSend for encrypted mail to people without PGP, and phishing and impersonation detection. Lifetime licences cost $100 for Growth and $300 for Pro+. The drawback is the billing: there is no monthly option, so you commit to a year or a lifetime purchase.
What we like- AI Copilot for writing and summaries, PGP encryption on Pro+, read receipts, works with Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and IMAP
Watch out for- No monthly billing, so you pay yearly or buy a lifetime licence, and the encryption and phishing tools only arrive on the $100 a year Pro+ plan
#8
Edison Mail
Best for: Mobile users who want a free inbox that sorts bills, travel and parcels automatically
Visit edisonmail.com
Starting price$14.99 per month (Mail+; $99.99 per year)
Free planYes. Free plan with unlimited accounts and the full core inbox.
Edison Mail is a free email app for iPhone and Android that pulls unlimited Gmail, Outlook and Exchange accounts into one fast inbox. The free tier is unusually complete: one-tap unsubscribe, automatic filing of bills, receipts and travel, and a smart assistant that surfaces subscriptions and parcel tracking. Edison Mail+ at $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year adds phishing protection, caller ID and contact tools, most of which most people will never need. The real limitation is the platform. Edison retired its desktop app, so there is no Mac or Windows version any more, and some Mail+ features are iPhone only. For someone leaving HEY who does most of their email on a phone, the free app is a strong, zero-cost replacement.
What we like- Genuinely complete free tier, one-tap unsubscribe, automatic sorting of bills, receipts and travel, fast search
Watch out for- The desktop app has been retired, so it is mobile only, and Mail+ at $14.99 a month is expensive for what it adds
How we picked these alternatives
We checked each vendor pricing page and independent pricing trackers on 15 Nov 2026, and we used the annual billing rate where the vendor lists one. HEY prices come from hey.com/pricing, read through third-party checks dated Oct 2026. Shortwave prices were read from shortwave.com/pricing on 21 Oct 2026, Spark from sparkmailapp.com on 8 Nov 2026, Proton Mail from proton.me/mail/pricing on 31 Oct 2026, Fastmail on 5 Oct 2026, Missive on 22 Sep 2026, Canary Mail on 16 Oct 2026 and Edison Mail on 11 Oct 2026. Superhuman prices are third-party reported because the vendor pricing page did not render figures on 15 Nov 2026. Prices change, so confirm the current figure on the vendor page before you pay. Last verified: 15 Nov 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to HEY?
Yes. Spark, Shortwave, Proton Mail, Canary Mail and Edison Mail all have free plans. Spark and Canary Mail are clients that work on your existing Gmail or Outlook account, so you keep your address and pay nothing. Proton Mail gives a free encrypted address with 1 GB of storage. Shortwave free plan adds a signature to sent mail and limits search history to 90 days.
What is the cheapest HEY alternative?
Proton Mail Mail Plus at $3.99 a month billed yearly is the cheapest paid mail host here, at $47.88 a year against HEY at $99 a year. Canary Mail Growth at $36 a year is cheaper still, but it is a client, not a mail host, so you still need an account underneath it. For zero cost, use Spark or Edison Mail on your existing account.
Can I keep my own domain with a HEY alternative?
Yes. Proton Mail, Fastmail, Zoho Mail and Missive all support custom domains on paid plans, and HEY for Domains is the HEY way to do it at $12 a user a month. Proton Mail Mail Plus includes one custom domain at $3.99 a month billed yearly. Fastmail Individual includes custom domains at $5 a month billed yearly.
Which HEY alternative is best for teams?
Missive is the best team pick because it is built around shared inboxes, assignment and internal comments. Spark Pro adds shared inboxes at $20 a user a month. HEY for Domains works for teams that like the HEY workflow, but it has no shared inbox features.
Does any HEY alternative have a Screener?
No tool copies the Screener exactly. Shortwave comes closest, with bundles and an AI assistant that triages new mail and drafts replies. Spark has Gatekeeper on its Plus plan, which holds mail from unknown senders for review. Proton Mail and Fastmail rely on filters and rules instead, which take more setup but give you full control.
Sources we checked (9)
- https://hey.com/pricing
- https://superhuman.com
- https://www.shortwave.com/pricing
- https://sparkmailapp.com
- https://proton.me/mail/pricing
- https://www.fastmail.com
- https://missiveapp.com/pricing
- https://canarymail.io
- https://www.edisonmail.com/features/edison-mail-plus
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.