Best AI apps for Gmail

Okay, let’s be real. Does your Gmail inbox feel like a never-ending flood? Are you staring at that blank reply window, wishing you could just magically get through your emails faster? You’re definitely not alone. Drowning in email is a common problem, but guess what? Artificial intelligence, or AI, is stepping in to lend a hand. AI apps built for Gmail are designed to smooth out your email routine, making things like drafting replies, getting the main points from long threads, and keeping your inbox organized way more manageable.

In this post, we’re going to walk through some of the top AI tools you can use with Gmail right now. We’ll chat about what they do, how they can actually help you, and what stuff to think about when you’re trying to pick the right one. While lots of these tools focus directly on your Gmail inbox, we’ll also touch on how bigger AI support platforms, like eesel AI, can give email-based work a boost, especially if you’re dealing with customer support. They offer some cool benefits, particularly when it comes to cost and making things your own.

What AI can do for your Gmail inbox

Think of AI for Gmail like having a really smart assistant just for your email. It does way more than just fix typos or suggest grammar tweaks. These tools use some pretty clever language tech to understand what you mean, write text that sounds natural, and even do things based on what’s in your emails.

Specifically, AI can give you a hand with:

• Drafting emails and replies: Ever get stuck trying to figure out how to say something just right? AI can whip up a starting point for you based on a few words you give it or the conversation you’re already having.
• Summarizing long threads: You can quickly grab the main points from those super long email chains without having to read every single message.
• Prioritizing and organizing: It can automatically spot important emails, slap on labels for you, or even suggest actions you might need to take based on the email’s content.
• Finding information: Need to dig up a specific detail mentioned in an email or even a document connected to it? AI can help you search your inbox for it.

Using AI means you can spend less time on those repetitive email chores and free up more time for the stuff that really needs your personal touch.

How we picked the best AI apps for Gmail

With so many AI tools popping up everywhere, how do you even start finding the right one for your Gmail? We checked out a bunch of apps based on a few key things to put together this list of options that actually work well and are dependable. We looked for tools that hooked up smoothly with Gmail, offered AI features that were genuinely helpful (beyond just basic text writing), and really focused on making your overall email life easier and more organized. We also thought about things like keeping your data private, how easy they were to use, and how much they cost to make sure they give you good bang for your buck.

The best AI apps for Gmail

Alright, here’s our list of the top AI apps and tools that can seriously help you get a handle on your Gmail inbox and your daily work.

It’s important to note that all of these are free to install, but may require a subscription to function properly.

1. eesel AI

Now, eesel AI isn’t exactly a tool for managing your personal Gmail inbox in the same way some others are. It’s actually a robust AI platform built to automate and improve support work, and let’s face it, a lot of support happens over email (like helpdesk tickets). Its AI Assistant, which you can get via a browser extension, is designed to help human agents draft responses and find information based on the conversation happening right there. This is super useful for teams who use Gmail as part of their support process, especially when it’s hooked up to helpdesks like Zendesk or Freshdesk. Unlike many AI tools that charge you per agent or have confusing usage fees, eesel AI has clear pay-per-interaction pricing, which can be a smart way to keep costs down as you grow. It also has this cool ability to learn from all sorts of information sources – like past support tickets, your internal documents, and even external wikis. This means it can give you more accurate and relevant answers than tools that only look at help center articles or just basic email content.

Here are some of the things eesel AI can do:

• It can draft replies for you, pulling context straight from the conversation.
• It helps you find information from all your connected knowledge sources (like old tickets, docs, and more).
• You can customize the tone and actions the AI takes to fit your needs.
• It offers a solid testing environment so you can see how responses will look.
• It learns from lots of different data types.
• Its pricing is based on interactions, not how many people use it, which is pretty transparent.

Just keep in mind its main focus is on support and helpdesk workflows, so it’s not really a general tool for personal Gmail use or just basic inbox sorting.

You can check out their pricing, which includes Team, Business, and Enterprise plans with that pay-per-interaction model, over at eesel.ai/pricing.

2. MailMaestro

MailMaestro is a popular AI email assistant that’s built to plug directly into Gmail (and Outlook) using a Chrome extension. It’s really focused on helping you write and handle emails faster. It uses some of the best AI models out there, like GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro, to power its features. The goal is to cut down the time you spend on email while also making your writing sound better. It offers a bunch of features, from writing emails and summarizing them to smartly handling meeting requests. It looks pretty easy to use and has good privacy features, but you’ll need a paid plan to get access to everything it can do.

Here’s a look at its features:

• It helps you write and respond to emails using top AI models like GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro.
• It can summarize email threads and even attachments.
• It gives you a hand with managing your inbox, like suggesting which emails are important.
• It can learn how you write to sound more like you.
• It works in multiple languages.
• It has a user-friendly interface.
• It includes privacy protection features.

The main thing to remember is you’ll need a paid plan to unlock the full set of features.

They offer a free tier and paid subscriptions. According to what they say on their site, it’s currently the highest-rated free AI extension for Gmail in the Chrome Webstore.

3. Gemini for Gmail

Google’s very own AI helper, Gemini, is built right into Gmail if you have a paid Google Workspace or Google One AI Premium subscription. It’s designed to make handling your inbox smarter and quicker without ever leaving Gmail. Google talked about it at Google I/O 2025, and it offers features like personalized smart replies that actually pull info from your inbox and Google Drive. It can also suggest ways to clean up your inbox and help you schedule meetings. Since it’s from Google, it works super smoothly with all the other Google apps. However, some folks find it a bit basic compared to tools that focus just on AI for email, and you might need to be really specific with what you ask it to do. Plus, according to a review from Zapier, it’s really cautious about using your data (for security reasons), which might mean it doesn’t use all the context it could. Also, the chat history in the sidebar doesn’t save, according to that same Zapier review.

Here are some of the things Gemini for Gmail can do:

• It gives you personalized smart replies that use context from your inbox and Google Drive.
• It suggests ways to clean up your inbox, like deleting or archiving emails.
• It helps you with scheduling, like suggesting meeting times.
• You get access to Google’s latest AI models.
• It works seamlessly with other Google Workspace apps.

The main points to note are that you need a paid subscription to get it. Some users feel it’s not quite powerful enough for complex tasks or needs very detailed instructions. And because it’s so careful with data (according to Zapier), it might not use as much context as other tools, and the chat history in the sidebar doesn’t stick around (also according to Zapier).

It’s available as part of paid Google Workspace plans (it’s a $20/user/month add-on) or through Google One AI Premium, which is $19.99/month.

4. Shortwave

Shortwave is an email client that uses AI and actually replaces the standard Gmail look and feel. It’s built from the ground up to help you manage your inbox more effectively with AI features right at its core. One cool thing about Shortwave is its AI-powered search. You can just ask it questions in plain language to find specific emails or pull out data. It also connects deeply with Google Calendar to help with scheduling and automatically summarizes your email threads. The catch is that using Shortwave means you’re not using the familiar Gmail interface anymore, and right now, it only works with Gmail accounts.

Here are some key features of Shortwave:

• It has AI-powered search where you can ask questions to find emails.
• It can extract data directly from emails.
• It helps you write content, like tweets or summaries.
• You can schedule meetings just by using natural language.
• It automatically summarizes email threads for you.
• It connects really well with Google Calendar.

The main limitations are that you have to switch away from the native Gmail interface to use it, and it only works with Gmail accounts. Some users also find the interface a bit busy.

They offer a free plan and paid plans starting from $8.50/user/month.

5. Superhuman

Superhuman is a premium email client for Gmail that’s all about speed. It mixes AI features with really powerful keyboard shortcuts and tools to help you fly through your inbox. It’s designed for people who want to use commands and shortcuts to get things done fast, and it includes AI writing capabilities to help you draft emails quickly. With Superhuman, you can blend text written by AI with your own saved message templates (they call these “snippets”). This gives you a nice mix of speed and personalization. Its main focus is on being super efficient and giving you a polished experience, but it comes with a pretty high price tag compared to other options. Also, its AI features aren’t as extensive as some tools that are purely focused on AI writing.

Here’s what Superhuman offers:

• It lets you combine AI-generated text for drafting with your own pre-written message templates (snippets).
• It has tons of keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate really fast.
• It includes AI search to help you find information.
• It can summarize email threads.
• It helps you organize your inbox better by splitting it up.

Keep in mind it’s quite expensive. You’ll also need to learn the keyboard shortcuts to get the most out of it, and its AI writing features aren’t as deep as some dedicated AI tools.

The pricing is $30/user/month.

6. SaneBox

SaneBox is an AI-powered service that’s all about helping you reach inbox zero by smartly organizing your emails for you. It works with Gmail and lots of other email providers by creating folders and automatically sorting your incoming messages based on how important they seem. SaneBox learns how you handle emails over time by watching which ones you open and which you ignore, and it keeps getting better at sorting them. It’s a fantastic tool if you want hands-off help with inbox clutter and keeping things tidy. However, it doesn’t offer any AI features for writing emails, summarizing content, or pulling out data. Also, according to Zapier’s review, its interface can look a little old-fashioned.

Here are some key features of SaneBox:

• It automatically puts less important emails into a different folder, like SaneLater.
• It learns your habits by watching how you interact with emails.
• It creates different folders for various categories of emails.
• It has a SaneBlackHole feature to help you block unwanted senders.
• Once you set it up, it works across any email client or device you use.

The main points here are that it’s really just an organization tool. It won’t help you write emails or summarize them. And according to Zapier, the interface looks a bit dated.

Pricing starts from $24/year for basic features, and you’ll need higher plans if you have multiple accounts or want more features.

7. Mailbutler

Mailbutler is an extension you can add to Gmail (it also works with Outlook and Apple Mail) that brings in a bunch of productivity tools, including some AI help. It offers AI writing tools like Smart Compose, Smart Respond, Smart Summarize, and Smart Improve to help you write and understand emails faster. Mailbutler also uses AI to grab contact details from email signatures and spot tasks mentioned in emails, and it can even connect with your task management apps. It has a good range of useful features, but you often have to pay for the more expensive plans to get the AI stuff. Some users also feel the interface is a little clunky.

Here’s what Mailbutler can do:

• It provides AI writing help with features like Smart Compose, Respond, Summarize, and Improve.
• It can pull contact details from email signatures.
• It finds tasks mentioned in emails and can integrate with task managers.
• It offers email tracking so you know if someone opened or clicked on your email.
• You can schedule emails to be sent later.

The main drawbacks are that you typically need one of the higher-priced plans to get the AI features, and some people find the interface a bit clunky.

They have a free plan, but the AI features start at $14.95/month.

Choosing the right AI app for your Gmail workflow

Picking the perfect AI tool for your Gmail isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. It really just depends on what you need the most help with and how you like to work.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Consider your primary needs: Are you finding it hardest to write emails, keep your inbox neat and tidy, or maybe quickly find information? Figure out what your biggest headaches are to help you narrow down the choices. Some tools are fantastic at helping you write, while others are wizards at keeping things organized.
• Evaluate integration and privacy: How important is it that the tool works smoothly right inside the standard Gmail window you’re used to? Are you okay with using a completely different email program instead? Also, seriously take a look at how each tool handles your email data and read their privacy policies carefully.
• Look at pricing and scalability: Compare the free options with the paid plans. Make sure you understand how they charge – is it per person using it, based on how many times you use the AI, or tied to how many emails you send? Think about how the cost might go up if you start sending more emails or if your team grows.

Boost your productivity with AI for Gmail

Adding AI into how you use Gmail can really give your productivity a jolt. Whether you need help writing, getting organized, or quickly understanding what’s going on, there’s probably an AI tool out there that’s a good fit for you. From simple Gmail add-ons to completely different email programs, you’ve got options. The right tool can seriously free up a lot of your time and brain power that used to be tied up with email tasks.

If your email headaches are mostly about customer support and handling lots of tickets, think about how a platform like eesel AI could automate and improve those specific email-based workflows. With flexible pricing, lots of ways to customize things, and powerful automation features, it’s built to help support teams work more efficiently as they grow.

Want to see eesel AI in action? You can book a demo or start a free trial today.