Adept vs Shortwave: 2026 comparison
Browser-driving AI agent — completes multi-step workflows on real web apps the way a human would.
AI email client — natural-language search, summary, scheduled send, and AI-drafted replies grounded in your inbox.
Adept vs Shortwave — specs
| Spec | Adept | Shortwave |
|---|---|---|
| Agent Rank | 67 / 100 (B) | 72 / 100 (A) |
| Autonomy | Autonomous | Assistant |
| Pricing | Subscription · Free tier | Freemium · from $9 |
| Open source | No | No |
| Capabilities | Browser, Tool use, Memory, Vision | RAG, Memory, Tool use |
| Integrations | 3 apps | 3 apps |
| Verified | — | Verified |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Feb 2025 |
Agent Rank breakdown
- Autonomy fit
- 9
- Capabilities
- 8
- Integrations
- 4
- Pricing value
- 9
- Polish & maturity
- 4
- Verifiability
- 6
Auto-computed from autonomy, capabilities, integrations, pricing, maturity and editorial verification. Updated every deploy. How is this computed?
- Autonomy fit
- 7
- Capabilities
- 6
- Integrations
- 6
- Pricing value
- 8
- Polish & maturity
- 6
- Verifiability
- 10
Auto-computed from autonomy, capabilities, integrations, pricing, maturity and editorial verification. Updated every deploy. How is this computed?
Pros & cons
- +Pioneering work on UI-driven browser agents — strong research lineage
- +Best for fully-autonomous, multi-step workflows that cross web apps
- +Foundation models tuned specifically for browser action prediction
- −Not generally available — enterprise pilots only as of mid-2026
- −Pricing not public
- −Reliability on long-tail UIs still a work in progress
- +Best AI-native email client in 2026 — search, summarize, draft all natural-language
- +Built specifically for Gmail; faster + smarter than Gmail itself
- +Cheap relative to Superhuman with better AI features
- −Gmail-only — no Outlook support
- −AI assistant is helpful but not yet revolutionary
- −Smaller user base means fewer integrations than Gmail/Outlook ecosystems
Pricing
- +Browser-driving agent
- +Custom workflow training
- +Dedicated research-eng support
- +Basic AI summary
- +90-day search
- +Unlimited search
- +AI assistant
- +Scheduled send
- +Shared inboxes
- +Send delegation
- +Admin controls
Which one should you pick?
Pick Adept if cost is the main constraint or if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place.
Try Adept →Pick Shortwave if you want a vendor we've verified for accessibility and pricing accuracy.
Try Shortwave →Affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked
Should I pick Adept or Shortwave in 2026?+
Pick Adept if cost is the main constraint or if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place. Pick Shortwave if you want a vendor we've verified for accessibility and pricing accuracy. Most working teams running both can use Adept for primary work and Shortwave for the workflows where its specific strengths matter.
What's the price difference between Adept and Shortwave?+
Adept starts at Subscription · Free tier; Shortwave starts at Freemium · from $9. Adept is the cheaper entry option. For team deployments the TCO can differ — use the AI Agent Rank TCO calculator for your specific volume.
Which is more autonomous, Adept or Shortwave?+
Adept is the more autonomous of the two (Autonomous vs Assistant). Higher autonomy ships throughput faster but requires verification loops in place — see our autonomous-vs-copilot framing for when each tier wins.