What is the best free alternative to Shortwave?
Inbox Zero is the closest free alternative to Shortwave: same Email, Scheduling & Tasks sub-category, and it is free tier + paid. Open-source codebase (9k GitHub stars), self-hostable for free
Best free Shortwave alternatives
Looking for a free alternative to Shortwave? Here are 9 email, scheduling & tasks worth trying — 6 with a free tier. Shortwave itself is free tier + paid.
| Tool | Shortwave (you searched) | Inbox Zero | Zero | Goblin Tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | freemium | freemium | free | free |
| Best for | AI email assistant for Gmail | Open-source codebase (9k GitHub stars), self-hostable for free | Fully open-source (MIT license), self-hostable AI email client | Magic ToDo breaks a task into tiny steps with adjustable spiciness |
| Visit | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
Shortwave alternatives — straight answers
Are there free Shortwave alternatives?
Yes — 6 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: Inbox Zero, Zero, Goblin Tools, Reclaim.ai, Taskade. The other 3 are trial or paid.
Is Shortwave free?
Shortwave is free tier + paid. There is a free tier you can work in, with paid plans above it.
How were these Shortwave alternatives chosen?
They are the other tools in Email, Scheduling & Tasks, then the rest of Productivity & Workflow, ordered free tiers first and capped at 9. There is no sponsorship and no paid placement in that ordering — only the pricing tier decides.
All Shortwave alternatives
Browse Email, Scheduling & Tasks →Inbox Zero
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — Open-source codebase (9k GitHub stars), self-hostable for free.
- Open-source codebase (9k GitHub stars), self-hostable for free
- Plain-English custom rules engine for inbox automation
- Cold-email blocking and bulk unsubscribe built in
Zero
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — Fully open-source (MIT license), self-hostable AI email client.
- Fully open-source (MIT license), self-hostable AI email client
- AI agents/LLMs built into the mail workflow, not bolted on
- 10.7k+ GitHub stars, active 2025-2026 development
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — Magic ToDo breaks a task into tiny steps with adjustable spiciness.
- Magic ToDo breaks a task into tiny steps with adjustable spiciness
- Formalizer rewrites tone, Estimator guesses time, Compiler organizes brain dumps
- Free, kept going by sponsors
- Android and iOS apps; optional Pro for history and sync
Reclaim.ai
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — Auto-schedules tasks, habits and breaks.
- Auto-schedules tasks, habits and breaks
- Defends focus time on your calendar
- Smart meeting and 1:1 scheduling
- Free plan
Taskade
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — AI agents that run projects and tasks.
- AI agents that run projects and tasks
- Notes, mind-maps and workflows in one
- Team collaboration and automations
- Free plan
Amie
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — AI chat with full context of your calendar, email, and meetings.
- AI chat with full context of your calendar, email, and meetings
- Bot-free meeting recording with 17-language transcription
- AI chat actions can draft emails and create meetings directly
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — Proactively builds 10-14 personalized story collections per day.
- Proactively builds 10-14 personalized story collections per day
- Uses Personal Intelligence across Gmail, Calendar, Photos, YouTube and Search (opt-in)
- Android and iOS apps
Fyxer
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — Drafts email replies matching your personal writing style.
- Drafts email replies matching your personal writing style
- Combines inbox triage + AI meeting notetaker + scheduling in one tool
- Fyxer Chat searches across inbox and meeting notes together
Motion
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Shortwave alternative — AI planner that auto-builds your day.
- AI planner that auto-builds your day
- Combines tasks, calendar and projects
- Reprioritizes as things change
- Free trial