SaneBox Competitors: 7 Alternatives That Actually Work
SaneBox does one thing well: it filters your email into folders so you see important stuff first. But at $7-$36/month with features locked behind higher tiers, it's not for everyone. Maybe you want more control over bulk cleanup. Maybe you need team collaboration features. Or maybe you just don't want to pay that much for email filtering.
I've tested the main SaneBox alternatives to help you figure out which one actually makes sense for your workflow. Here's the honest breakdown.
Quick Summary: SaneBox vs The Competition
Before diving in, here's the short version:
- Best overall alternative: Clean Email ($29.99/year) - Better bulk cleanup, true unsubscribe, way cheaper
- Best for teams: Gmelius (free tier available) - Shared inboxes and collaboration features SaneBox doesn't have
- Best premium option: Superhuman ($30/month) - If you live in email and money isn't the issue
- Best free option: Spark Mail - Decent filtering, actually free
SaneBox Pricing Refresher
SaneBox offers three plans with confusing feature limitations:
- Snack Plan: $7/month ($59/year) - 1 email account, only 2 features
- Lunch Plan: $12/month ($99/year) - 2 accounts, 6 features
- Dinner Plan: $36/month ($299/year) - 4 accounts, all features
The catch? Lower-tier plans make you choose which features you want. Want SaneBlackHole AND SaneReminders AND SaneLater on the Snack plan? Tough luck - pick two. This à la carte approach frustrates a lot of users.
SaneBox also doesn't have a free tier - just a 14-day trial. And their "SaneBlackHole" feature doesn't actually unsubscribe you from emails; it just hides them in a folder. The senders still have your address.
1. Clean Email - Best Budget Alternative
Clean Email takes a different approach than SaneBox. Instead of just filtering incoming mail, it helps you bulk-clean your existing inbox mess and then set up automation rules to keep it clean.
Pricing:
- 1 account: $9.99/month or $29.99/year
- 5 accounts: $19.99/month or $49.99/year
- 10 accounts: $29.99/month or $99.99/year
- Free trial: 1,000 emails cleaned + 14 days of automation features
What Clean Email Does Better:
- True unsubscribe: Actually sends unsubscribe requests to senders, not just folders
- 33 Smart Folders: Auto-categorizes by Social, Shopping, Finance, Travel, etc.
- Bulk actions: Delete thousands of old emails in seconds
- Supports 10 accounts: SaneBox maxes out at 4
- Cleaning suggestions: Proactively tells you what to delete based on patterns
Where SaneBox Wins:
- Better ongoing AI filtering that learns your preferences
- Snooze and reminder features are more polished
- Works in the background without you opening an app
Verdict: If you need to clean up a disaster inbox and want real unsubscribe functionality, Clean Email is the move. At $29.99/year vs SaneBox's $59/year minimum, it's also significantly cheaper.
2. Superhuman - Premium Email on Steroids
Superhuman isn't really a SaneBox competitor - it's a complete email client replacement. But if you're considering paying $36/month for SaneBox's top tier, you might as well look at Superhuman.
Pricing:
- Starter: $30/month ($25/month billed annually)
- Business: $40/month ($33/month billed annually)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
What You Get:
- Blazing fast interface (seriously, sub-100ms load times)
- AI email writing that learns your tone
- Split Inbox to organize by priority
- Keyboard shortcuts for everything
- Auto-summarize long threads
- Instant Reply drafts waiting when you wake up
The Catch:
- Only works with Gmail and Outlook
- Expensive compared to basically everything else
- No free tier - you're committing right away
Verdict: If you process 100+ emails daily and your time is worth $150+/hour, Superhuman's math works out. Users report saving 4+ hours weekly. For everyone else, it's overkill.
3. Gmelius - Best for Teams
SaneBox is built for individuals. Gmelius is built for teams who share email inboxes. If you manage support@, sales@, or any shared mailbox, this is your answer.
Pricing:
- Free plan available
- Paid plans with team features
What Makes Gmelius Different:
- Shared team inboxes inside Gmail
- Assign emails to teammates like tickets
- Kanban boards for email workflow
- Internal notes on conversations
- Integrates with Slack and Trello
- Email sequences for follow-ups
Limitations:
- Gmail/Google Workspace only (no Outlook, Yahoo, etc.)
- The filtering AI isn't as sophisticated as SaneBox
Verdict: If you're a solo user who just wants inbox filtering, Gmelius is overkill. But for teams drowning in shared inbox chaos, it solves problems SaneBox doesn't even attempt to address.
4. Spark Mail - Best Free Option
Spark is a free email app with smart filtering baked in. It won't replace SaneBox feature-for-feature, but for basic inbox organization at zero cost, it delivers.
Pricing:
- Free: All basic features
- Premium Individual: $60/year for AI features
- Premium Teams: $84/year for shared inboxes and read receipts
What Spark Offers:
- Smart folders that group automated emails
- Priority contacts stay at the top
- First-time sender screening
- Email snoozing and scheduling
- Collaborative features in teams plan
Downsides:
- Requires downloading a desktop app (no browser version)
- AI features are subtle, not transformative
- Lacks advanced automation rules
Verdict: If you're mostly happy with your email client but want smarter organization for free, try Spark first. You might not need to pay for SaneBox at all.
5. Mailbutler - Best for Apple Mail Users
Mailbutler is an extension that bolts onto Apple Mail, Gmail, and Outlook. It focuses on productivity features rather than pure inbox filtering.
Key Features:
- Email tracking (see when recipients open)
- Scheduling and send-later
- Follow-up reminders
- AI writing assistant
- Professional signatures
Best For: Sales professionals and anyone who needs to track email engagement. It's less about filtering noise and more about maximizing the emails you do send.
6. Leave Me Alone - Unsubscribe Specialist
If your main problem is newsletter overload, Leave Me Alone focuses specifically on unsubscribing and filtering by sender type.
Pricing:
- 7-day pass: $19 one-time
- Casual Emailer: $9/month for 4 inboxes
- Inbox Zero Hero: $16/month for unlimited inboxes
What It Does:
- Sorts emails by type and sender
- Bulk unsubscribe from unwanted lists
- "Rollup" feature to bundle newsletters
- Shielded emails to hide your real address
Verdict: More focused than SaneBox. If subscriptions are your main inbox problem, this might be all you need.
7. Gmail Priority Inbox - The Free Built-In Option
Here's the thing nobody talks about: Gmail already has most of what SaneBox does, for free. Priority Inbox automatically sorts important emails to the top based on who you interact with most.
Free Gmail Features That Overlap With SaneBox:
- Priority inbox sorting
- Spam filtering (99.9% of phishing blocked)
- Email snoozing
- Schedule send
- Follow-up reminders via Nudges
What You're Missing:
- SaneBlackHole equivalent
- Custom folder rules beyond basic filters
- Cross-platform support (if you're not on Gmail)
Verdict: If you use Gmail and haven't fully explored its native features, do that first. You might save yourself $84-$300/year.
Which SaneBox Competitor Should You Choose?
Let me make this simple:
You need to clean up years of inbox mess: Clean Email. Bulk actions and true unsubscribe beat SaneBox here.
You share inboxes with a team: Gmelius. SaneBox doesn't do collaboration.
You're drowning in 200+ daily emails and time is money: Superhuman. Expensive but genuinely faster.
You want free and good enough: Spark Mail or Gmail Priority Inbox. Don't pay until you've tried these.
Your main problem is newsletters: Leave Me Alone or Clean Email's unsubscribe feature.
You want SaneBox but cheaper: Try SaneBox's free trial with the Snack plan if 2 features is enough. Otherwise, Clean Email at $29.99/year gives you more value.
Final Take
SaneBox pioneered the "AI email filtering" category, but the competition has caught up. Clean Email offers better value for budget-conscious users. Gmelius serves teams that SaneBox ignores. Superhuman targets power users willing to pay premium prices.
The question isn't whether SaneBox is good - it is. The question is whether it's the right fit for YOUR specific email problems. Test 2-3 options during their free trials before committing.
And if you decide SaneBox is the one, start your 14-day free trial here to see if it lives up to the hype for your inbox.