What is the best free alternative to Zero?
Goblin Tools is the closest free alternative to Zero: same Email, Scheduling & Tasks sub-category, and it is free. Magic ToDo breaks a task into tiny steps with adjustable spiciness
Best free Zero alternatives
Looking for a free alternative to Zero? Here are 9 email, scheduling & tasks worth trying — 6 with a free tier. Zero itself is free.
| Tool | Zero (you searched) | Goblin Tools | Shortwave | Reclaim.ai |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | free | free | freemium | freemium |
| Best for | Fully open-source (MIT license), self-hostable AI email client | Magic ToDo breaks a task into tiny steps with adjustable spiciness | AI email assistant for Gmail | Auto-schedules tasks, habits and breaks |
| Visit | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
Zero alternatives — straight answers
Are there free Zero alternatives?
Yes — 6 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: Goblin Tools, Shortwave, Reclaim.ai, Taskade, Inbox Zero. The other 3 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 →✦ WhyA Zero 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
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
Amie
Email, Scheduling & Tasks
✦ WhyA Zero 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 Zero 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 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
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