Epistles Mail vs Shortwave

Epistles Mail is an email app with a unified inbox, offline access, scheduled sending, and calendar tools. It works with Gmail, Microsoft 365, Fastmail, JMAP servers, iCloud, Proton, and IMAP. Mail content, attachments, drafts, and the search index stay on the device, and search runs against a local cache. Its local-first, zero-knowledge encryption model stores ciphertext in Cloud Vault; Epistles servers do not store mailbox content. The app is available on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, and the web, as well as Apple Watch and Wear OS. The free plan supports up to two connected accounts. Pro costs $35 per year after a 14-day free trial and allows unlimited connected accounts, with password-protected, expiring email included. Pro uses one flat price rather than per-seat billing. iCloud support includes mail, calendar, and contacts. The watch app supports archive, snooze, pin, template replies, and RSVP. Epistles passed a CASA Tier 2 security assessment by TAC Security.

Shortwave is an AI email app for organizing, writing, scheduling, and searching messages with prompts. Email tools include inbox splits, bundles, delivery schedules, todos, summaries, AI filters, and AI-assisted search. Teams can share live threads, comment privately, assign next steps, and use shared labels. Connections include Slack, Calendar, Notion, Asana, and HubSpot; the pricing page also describes built-in integrations or MCP. Shortwave runs on Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows, and includes calendar tools and scheduled sending. It offers a free plan and a 14-day trial; paid plans start at $30/user/mo. Business is $30 a month per seat and includes five years of AI search history, up to 50 threads per search, and three AI-powered filters. Premier and Max cost $45.00 USD and $120 a month per seat, respectively, with unlimited history and higher search-thread and filter limits. Shortwave says data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and customer data is not used to train third-party LLMs. It lists CASA Tier 2 compliance and annual third-party security audits.