10 Best AI Email Assistants in 2024

AI is changing how we manage our work. 

Recently, I stumbled upon a Reddit thread where someone was looking for an AI tool that could read incoming emails and draft responses. 

That discussion got me thinking: is AI really useful in managing our inbox? Can it help us save time and effort in sorting emails on a daily basis?

Given how much AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini have already helped me streamline content creation, it made sense to check out what AI can do for email management.

While researching, I found that AI email assistants are more than just basic drafting tools. They can analyze your email habits, pull out important details like dates and contact info, and help you write emails more efficiently.

In this article, I’ll share my top ten picks for the best AI email assistants, each offering something unique to help you manage your inbox.

Table of Contents

• 10 Best AI Email Assistants
  • 1. Hiver 
  • 2. SaneBox   
  • 3. Mailbutler  
  • 4. Missive
  • 5. Superhuman    
  • 6. Flowrite
  • 7. ComposeAI 
  • 8. Fin AI 
  • 9. AI Assist 
  • 10. Shortwave
• Key Features of AI Email Assistants
• Find The Right AI Email Assistant  

10 Best AI Email Assistants

What you need most will guide you to the right AI email assistant. Some tools excel at automating the repetitive stuff, while others are pros at helping you write better emails or manage a clean, organized inbox. Here’s a quick glance: 

1. Hiver

Hiver is a customer support tool that works intuitively inside Gmail and Outlook. It’s well-known for its email management feature and has an AI email assistant – named Harvey – that is great for handling routine email tasks. Users appreciate how Harvey streamlines email management, making it easier for agents to focus on high-priority tasks. 

Setting up Harvey in Hiver is straightforward. To enable or disable Harvey’s “Thank You Detection,” start by going to Hiver Settings and opening the Admin Panel. Next, select the Shared Mailbox where you want to apply Thank You Detection. Then, scroll down to the Harvey section in Settings, where you can easily toggle the “Thank You Response Detection” on or off with a simple click.

Standout features:

1. Auto-closing conversations 

Harvey helps with a few things:

• It can recognize when a customer’s response includes a “thank you” sentiment.
• It automatically closes the conversation without needing human intervention.
• The closed conversation is tagged with a “Harvey-Thank-You” label.

Harvey’s ability to auto-close conversations with a “thank you” is a feature I find genuinely useful. This might seem like a small thing, but in reality, it drastically improves team efficiency. Manually closing conversations is time-consuming and can skew metrics if not done properly. 

Harvey takes care of this by accurately detecting when a conversation no longer requires attention and closes it out, all while ensuring that SLAs are met effortlessly. I appreciate that Harvey can be trained to recognize incorrect conversations, making it even more reliable over time.

“Hiver’s AI Bot – Harvey helps us get rid of redundant emails, such as autoresponders. We’re now able to focus better on important customer queries. Our average query handling time has consequently improved by 30%.” – Robert Zylc, President and CEO at Wheel Wiz

2. Email summarization

The ability to summarize emails is one of the most practical features of Hiver’s AI email assistant. When you and your team members have to deal with long, detailed email threads, Hiver’s AI Summarizer steps in to turn them into concise notes.

What stands out to me is how these AI-generated summaries allow agents to resolve conversations faster. They provide the necessary context while capturing all important information, making it easier for supervisors to quickly understand the conversation, make decisions, track escalations, and improve response times.

If you’re curious to explore more AI summarizers, read: 10 Best AI Email Summarizer Tools

3. Intelligent email template suggestions 

Speed is of the essence in customer service, and Harvey does a great job here by providing intelligent email template suggestions. It eliminates the guesswork and identifies the best template for a response, which is a huge time-saver. 

I also like that these templates can be customized, allowing agents to send personalized responses to customers, whenever needed. Overall, a powerful AI email assistant. 

Pricing:

Two of Hiver’s plans include access to all Harvey features mentioned above – the Pro plan which is priced at $49 per user per month, and the Elite plan which costs $79 per user per month. If you’re unsure, there’s also a 7-day free trial, which gives you a chance to try out Harvey and see if it works for you before making a commitment. And if you have any questions, our customer support team is here to help 24/7.

2. SaneBox

SaneBox is an AI-driven email management tool that helps you prioritize, snooze, and track emails with minimal effort. It works with almost any email provider, such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, and Apple Mail, and integrates seamlessly without requiring you to switch email clients. 

SaneBox’s main goal is to “sanitize” your inbox, leaving only the most relevant and important messages visible while filtering out distractions.

Standout features:

• AI-powered email filtering: SaneBox uses AI to learn your email habits and sort your inbox accordingly. It automatically moves less important emails to a “SaneLater” folder, allowing you to focus on the most critical messages.
• SaneBlackHole: This feature allows you to block unwanted senders easily. Simply move an email from an annoying sender to the “SaneBlackHole” folder, and you’ll never see emails from them again.
• SaneAttachments: SaneBox automatically saves email attachments to your preferred online storage, helping you manage and organize files more efficiently.
• DailyDigest: The Daily Digest provides a summary of less important emails that SaneBox has filtered out, giving you a quick overview of what you might need to check or ignore. I’ve covered in detail about SaneBox’s Daily Digest feature in this article: 10 Best AI Email Summarizer Tools

Some drawbacks:

A few users have reported that SaneBox sometimes filters out emails that shouldn’t have been moved, causing important emails to be missed. This over-automation can be frustrating, especially if you rely heavily on receiving certain emails promptly.

“I have got reservations about how every time someone sends me an email for the first time, their email ends up in the Sanelater Folder rather than my inbox. On some occasions, such emails have ended up being very important emails.” – SaneBox user review on Capterra

Although SaneBox is designed to be user-friendly, there’s a learning curve involved, especially when setting up filters and folders to work exactly as you want. Some users found the setup process a bit overwhelming at first.

Pricing:

No matter which plan you choose—Snack for $3.49 per month, Lunch for $5.99, or Dinner for $16.99—you’ll get access to this feature. There’s also a 14-day free trial available.

3. Mailbutler

Mailbutler is an email extension for your Apple Mail, Gmail, or Outlook inbox. It has an AI email writer and assistant feature, known as Smart Assistant. The tool is especially useful for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners who need to keep up with a busy email schedule and manage a growing lists of contacts.

Standout features:

• Smart Compose: This feature allows you to quickly draft emails. All you have to do is type in a prompt and Mailbutler’s AI generates the email for you.
• Contact Finder: Mailbutler automatically finds and adds contact details from your emails to your contact list. This helps keep your contact information up to date without manual entry.
• Smart Summarize: For long or complex emails, Smart Summarize provides a quick overview of the key points, saving you time and helping you stay on top of your inbox.
• Smart Respond: This feature automatically creates email replies for you, letting you choose between a positive or negative response (like accepting or declining a meeting invite). 

“As an early adopter, I’m using Mailbutler for more than five years. The program includes many great features such as “Send Later”, “Email Tracking” and many more. With the new AI features, Mailbutler has become a superior program. I can recommend it to everyone – light and heavy users of emails. Mailbutler has definitely made me and my team much more productive.” – MailButler user review | G2

Some drawbacks:

I read some user reviews and found a few limitations of this tool:

• Mailbutler tends to slow down and sometimes even crash AppleMail.
• Inability to change the subject lines of incoming emails in Apple Mail. Unlike Office 365, where this can be done easily, Apple Mail requires exporting, editing, and re-importing the email, which alters the timestamp and other key information.

Pricing:

MailButler’s Smart Assistant feature is available in its two top plans: Smart at $14.95 per user per month and Business at $32.95 per user per month. A 14-day free trial is also available.

4. Missive

Missive is a collaborative email management tool. It has a team-focused email assistant that integrates with OpenAI’s GPT technology. 

One of the key features of Missive’s integration with OpenAI is that it can use your canned responses to generate replies. This allows your support team to quickly and accurately respond to customer requests based on your company’s information.

For example, your customer support or sales team can use AI to generate precise replies to any inquiry. Missive also gives you the option to choose between ChatGPT 3.5 for faster responses or ChatGPT 4 for more accurate replies.

Standout features:

• Intelligent tone adjustment: Missive’s AI can modify the tone of your emails, helping you switch from formal to casual or vice versa. This ensures that your communication is always appropriate for the context.
• Customizable AI prompts: You can train Missive’s AI by feeding it specific prompts and data relevant to your business. This allows the AI to generate responses that are tailored to your company’s communication style.
• Real-time translation: Need to communicate across languages? Missive can translate messages within the app, making it easier to correspond with clients and team members globally.
• Integrated team chat and task management: Beyond email, Missive includes a team chat feature and the ability to create and assign tasks directly from emails.

Some drawbacks:

• The snooze option doesn’t get automatically canceled when a client responds to a text or email.
• You won’t know if the recipient has “seen” or “viewed” the email.
• Internal emails aren’t visible within Missive; you still need to open Gmail to check them.

“Only bug I’ve found is that occasionally the program will randomly hide all my unread emails and I have to restart to get them to show up again.” – Missive user review | G2

Pricing:

Missive has several pricing tiers, including a free plan. However, to use the OpenAI integration, you’ll need to subscribe to the Productive plan, which costs $30 per month. A 30-day free trial is available. You’ll also need an OpenAI account and pay based on usage.

5. Superhuman

Superhuman is an AI-powered email management tool designed to help you manage your inbox. Superhuman uses AI to prioritize emails, generate responses, and summarize conversations, making email management faster and more intuitive.

Superhuman AI is powered by language models like GPT-3, giving it access to a vast amount of information on almost any topic. When composing emails that require research or specific knowledge, you can simply ask the AI for relevant facts, statistics, or insights. It will quickly gather the necessary information from its knowledge base and incorporate it into your email draft.

Standout features:

• AI-powered email replies: Quickly generate email replies using AI. Just hit Ctrl + J, type a prompt, and the AI will draft a response.
• Snippets: Add pre-written blocks of text to your emails with a single keypress. Customize snippets with variables that update based on the message sender.
• Auto summarize: Superhuman can summarize entire email threads in a single line, updating the summary as new emails arrive.
• Polish your writing: Improve your email’s clarity, fix grammar, or adjust the tone with a few keystrokes, ensuring your writing is always polished.

Some drawbacks:

I read some user reviews and found a few limitations:

• AI-generated responses can come off as too wordy or inauthentic, though they may improve over time as they adapt to your writing style.
• Emails can appear in multiple inboxes (e.g., both in the Team inbox and another inbox),inflating the count of unactioned emails. There’s no option to prioritize where an email shows up first or to prevent it from appearing in multiple places.

“Some of the shortcuts do not correspond well with an Azerty keyboard in my experience. Also the calendar “AI detection” could be way better. I send many emails in Dutch and some features won’t work for that.” – Superhuman user review | G2

Pricing:

Superhuman AI’s features—Write with AI, Instant Reply, and Auto Summarize—are included in all pricing plans. The Starter plan is $25 per user per month, while the Business plan is $33 per user per month. For the Enterprise plan, you’ll need to contact their team for pricing. The Ask AI feature, which helps you get quick answers without searching through emails, is only available in the Business and Enterprise plans, not the Starter plan. A 30-day free trial is also available.

6. Flowrite

Flowrite is an AI-powered writing assistant designed to help busy professionals create emails and other communications more efficiently. It functions as a Chrome extension or web app, integrating seamlessly with platforms like Gmail, Outlook, LinkedIn, Slack, WhatsApp, and more. 

Flowrite uses advanced natural language processing to generate high-quality writing suggestions based on minimal input, streamlining your workflow and reducing the time spent on repetitive communication tasks.  

Standout features:

• AI writing assistance: Generates personalized, context-aware content for emails, documents, and more based on a few keywords or phrases.
• Customizable templates: Offers a library of templates for common scenarios, such as cold outreach, meeting requests, and self-introductions, which can be customized to fit your style.
• Workflow automations: Automates repetitive tasks like generating meeting agendas or project updates, saving significant time.
• Tone selector: Adjusts the tone of your messages (formal, casual, etc.) to suit different communication needs.

“Flowrite literally writes your emails for you 😀 The time-saving benefits are clear, after you learn to use it. As with most things in life, there is a learning curve 🙂 Nonetheless, it’s overall an impressive product, and I believe it’s only going to get easier and better” – Flowrite user review | Product Hunt

Some drawbacks:

• Flowrite currently does not generate subject lines, which means you’ll need to draft those manually.
• While the workflow automations are powerful, setting them up can be complex and may require some time to master.

Pricing:

All three plans come with a 14-day trial. The Light plan offers 15 messages per month for $5/month. The Premium plan provides 150 messages for $15/month. The Unlimited plan costs $30/month and offers unlimited messages.

7. ComposeAI

Compose AI is a free Chrome plugin that helps you write faster by offering AI-powered autocomplete and writing assistance across different platforms. It’s designed to save you time by generating content and completing your sentences as you type. While the basic version is free, there’s also a premium option with extra features for personalization.

Standout features:

• AI-powered autocompletion: Completes your sentences as you type, making writing quicker and easier.
• Content generation: Creates text based on prompts or keywords, useful for writing emails, articles, social media posts, and more.
• Rephrase sentences: Lets you rephrase sentences by highlighting text and choosing from AI-suggested alternatives.
• Easy email reply: Generates full email replies from just a few words, referencing the original email to ensure the response fits the context.

Some drawbacks:

• Focuses mainly on writing help and doesn’t offer advanced features like team collaboration, or automation.
• Doesn’t help with managing your inbox, such as organizing or prioritizing emails.

Pricing:

Compose AI offers a free forever plan that includes:

• 1,500 AI-generated words per month
• 25 uses per month for rephrasing, rewording, shortening, or expanding text
• 10 AI-generated full email drafts per month
• 50 AI-assisted autocomplete suggestions per month

Note that the free plan does not include customer support.

There are also two paid plans:

• Premium: $9.99/month with 25,000 AI-generated words and unlimited rephrasing, rewording, shortening, and expanding.
• Ultimate: $29.99/month with unlimited access to all features.

8. Fin AI

Fin AI by Intercom is an AI-powered email assistant that uses advanced language models to resolve customer issues quickly and accurately. It works across multiple channels, including email, and is integrated with Intercom’s Workflows for seamless customization and control. 

Fin AI can generate summaries, compose personalized replies, auto-fill ticket details, and handle conversations in multiple languages, all while providing options for smooth handovers to human agents when needed.

Intercom’s Fin AI Copilot acts as a personal AI assistant for every support agent. It delivers instant answers, allowing your team to spend less time on routine tasks and more time building meaningful relationships with customers.

Standout features:

• AI-generated summaries: Automatically generates concise summaries of customer issues and conversations, providing your team with the necessary context to resolve them efficiently.
• Personalized replies: Fin AI can rephrase messages to match your tone, correct spelling and grammar, expand on responses, and translate replies into 10 different languages.
• Auto-populate ticket details: When converting conversations into tickets, it automatically fills in ticket titles and descriptions, saving time and reducing manual entry for support teams.
• Customizable workflows: Enables you to customize how Fin AI interacts with different customer segments, such as handling paying and non-paying customers differently.

Some drawbacks:

• Setting up and customizing Workflows for Fin AI may require some time and expertise, particularly for those unfamiliar with Intercom’s system.
• While Fin AI is available in EU and AU hosted workspaces, the data is currently processed in the US, which may raise privacy concerns for some users.
• As one user pointed out, “The new Fin reporting does not give the same data as the old ResolutionBot report, which our team relies on.”

Pricing:

You can try Fin AI Agent free for 14 days. After the trial, you’ll only be charged $0.99 per resolution, meaning you only pay when Fin successfully answers a customer’s question. Fin AI Agent is available on all core plans:

• Essential: $39/seat
• Advanced: $99/seat
• Expert: $139/seat

Using Fin is completely optional, and you won’t be billed if you don’t use it. You can also set reminders and usage limits to control the number of resolutions Fin provides.

9. AI Assist

AI Assist by Help Scout is a tool designed to help your team write better, more polished responses quickly. It’s integrated into the Help Scout customer service platform and can be used across emails, live chats, and social media interactions. With AI Assist, you can adjust the tone, length, and quality of your responses, making it easier for your team to maintain consistency and professionalism.

Standout features:

• Adjust the tone: Highlight a response and click a button to make the tone more professional or friendly, helping your team stay consistent with your brand’s voice.
• Adjust the length: If your response is too long, select “make shorter” to condense it, or choose “make longer” to expand brief messages into a full email.
• Check your work: Use AI Assist to spot and correct any spelling or grammatical errors, ensuring your responses are accurate.
• Translate: AI Assist can translate your text into languages like Chinese (Simplified),Dutch, French, German, Spanish, and more.

Some drawbacks:

• Since AI Assist is currently in beta, there may be occasional inaccuracies in the tool’s suggestions and outputs.
• The AI features are part of Help Scout’s new editor, so teams not yet familiar with the editor may need time to adjust.

Pricing:

AI Assist is included in Help Scout’s Plus and Pro plans, which cost $44/user/month and $65/user/month respectively. A 15-day free trial is available.

10. Shortwave

Shortwave is an AI-powered email assistant designed to help you manage your Gmail inbox more efficiently. Integrating with the ChatGPT API, Shortwave offers advanced features like AI-driven email search, automated email summaries, and personalized email responses. 

It also supports Google Calendar integration for scheduling meetings with simple prompts. Shortwave’s primary goal is to streamline email management, helping users reach inbox zero and stay organized.

Standout features:

• AI-powered email search: Sort through years of email conversations using simple prompts to quickly locate specific documents, contracts, or other important information.
• Email summarization: Automatically generates summaries of long emails, allowing users to quickly grasp the key points without reading the entire message.
• Personalized email replies: Mimics your tone and style to write or complete email replies, saving you time and ensuring consistency.
• Smart labels and inbox organization: Automatically tags and categorizes emails, such as labeling client emails as “Priority” or sorting newsletters into “To Delete.”

Some drawbacks:

• Currently, Shortwave does not offer an Android version, limiting mobile access and making it less convenient for users who need to manage emails on the go.
• Many users find Shortwave’s pricing to be on the higher side, which can be a barrier to adoption, especially for smaller teams or individual users.

“Shortwave disappointed me in a few things the pricing was quite high if they reduce the price it would be so much better and Also if they provide an option for Wisestamp it would be good and if they bring the Android APP it will be really very helpful.” – Shortwave user review | G2

Pricing:

Shortwave offers a free plan that includes basic AI features like the AI Assistant and instant AI summaries and replies. The Personal plan costs $7/user/month and adds 1 year of AI-powered search. The Pro plan is $14/user/month, offering 3 years of AI-powered search and personalized AI writing style and autocomplete. The Business plan is $24/user/month, featuring 5 years of AI-powered search, customizable AI writing prompts, and all basic AI features.

Key Features of AI Email Assistants

When selecting an AI email assistant for your business, look for these key features. 

In this table, I have listed out all the key features of an AI email assistant. But the right AI email assistant for you depends on your specific needs and workflow.

• If your main concern is managing a high volume of emails, features like Email Summarization, Smart Reply Generation, and Priority Inbox Management might be essential.
• If you work within a team, Real-Time Collaboration and Shared Inbox Management could be crucial for smooth communication and task management.
• For those who frequently communicate with international clients, Language Translation and Tone Adjustment might be more important.
• If you’re juggling many responsibilities, Task Extraction and Snooze Emails could help you stay organized and focused.

Find The Right AI Email Assistant

After going through these AI email assistant tools, I hope you now have a better understanding of how they can make managing your inbox easier. Each one brings something unique to the table that can help you save time and stay organized. 

I suggest giving these tools a test run using their free trials. See which one aligns with your workflow. Finding the right AI email assistant can really change the way you handle emails. You might want to begin with Hiver’s 7-day free trial to get a feel for how it works.