What is the best free alternative to Zero?
Shortwave is the closest free alternative to Zero: same Email, Scheduling & Tasks sub-category, and it is free tier + paid. AI email assistant for Gmail
Best free Zero alternatives
Looking for a free alternative to Zero? Here are 9 email, scheduling & tasks worth trying — 4 with a free tier. Zero itself is free.
| Tool | Zero (you searched) | Shortwave | Reclaim.ai | Taskade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | free | freemium | freemium | freemium |
| Best for | Fully open-source (MIT license), self-hostable AI email client | AI email assistant for Gmail | Auto-schedules tasks, habits and breaks | AI agents that run projects and tasks |
| Visit | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
Zero alternatives — straight answers
Are there free Zero alternatives?
Yes — 4 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: Shortwave, Reclaim.ai, Taskade, Inbox Zero. The other 5 are trial or paid.
Is Zero free?
Zero is free. There is no paid plan attached to it in the catalog.
How were these Zero 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 Zero alternatives
Browse Email, Scheduling & Tasks →Shortwave
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero alternative — AI email assistant for Gmail.
- AI email assistant for Gmail
- Auto-summaries, drafting and search
- AI agents and scheduling
- Free tier
Reclaim.ai
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero 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 Zero 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
Inbox Zero
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero 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
Superhuman
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero alternative — The fastest AI email experience.
- The fastest AI email experience
- AI drafting, triage and summaries
- Split inbox and follow-up reminders
- Free trial
Motion
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero 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
Fyxer
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero 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
Missive
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero alternative — Shared team inbox with real-time internal chat alongside email.
- Shared team inbox with real-time internal chat alongside email
- Multi-provider AI (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini) via credits or bring-your-own-key
- AI-powered automations/rules plus built-in translation and summarization
Sunsama
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero alternative — Daily-planning ritual UI blending tasks, calendar, and email into one view.
- Daily-planning ritual UI blending tasks, calendar, and email into one view
- AI + MCP + Zapier support built into the Pro plan
- Unifies tasks pulled from Asana/ClickUp/Jira/Trello/Gmail into one day