[awill]

I tried it out, but instantly realized the 'free' version is go restrictive it's useless. I get many startups want to make sure the free version isn't too good, but here the free version is unusable.

Also, $9/mo for a frontend for gmail is just way too much. $108/y ??? If you're going to pay that much, surely you'd just get off gmail entirely. Why pay that much but still give up all your privacy...

[jwngr]

Outside of search and import history, our free version is 100% feature compatible with the paid version. None of the core functionality (including the new AI stuff) requires a paid plan. On a paid plan, you can import and search your full history. On the free plan, you can import and search your last 90 days. See our pricing page for more details (https://www.shortwave.com/pricing/).

[Aeolun]

> On a paid plan, you can import and search your full history.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I have 15 years of Gmail history. I don’t think you can claim searching/looking at all that isn’t ‘core functionality’ for an email client.

I don’t begrudge you the need to charge something for it, but to claim the free version has full functionality is a bit misleading.

[awill]

Exactly. I wasn't specific because I thought it was obvious. I need to search for old emails all the time. I'd hardly want to use shortwave sometimes, but flip to Gmail multiple times a day. I thought that limitation was by design to make sure 'free-tier' people didn't overwhelm your service.

[richardw]

I think the measure of this would be "would this make me more than $9 a month more efficient" and "is there any alternative that is a better cost/benefit", i.e. a free tool that is mostly as good. For you it might be useless, for someone who lives on gmail and charges per hour, it's probably an instant win.

[awill]

Didn't they charge $9/mo before this AI stuff. What was the value then?

[richardw]

Sorry, I'm unsure what you mean. AI isn't required to save you time, you just need to save time. Automation is the key, this is just adding more ways to come up with what/how to automate.

[barbazoo]

I bet there are lots of people that "live" inside their email client all day long. Saving them time and effort will pay off quickly, $108/year is nothing even if it just saves you 30 minutes every day.