Magic.dev vs Shortwave: 2026 comparison
Autonomous AI engineer trained on long contexts — handles hour-long coding sessions without losing track.
AI email client — natural-language search, summary, scheduled send, and AI-drafted replies grounded in your inbox.
Magic.dev vs Shortwave — specs
| Spec | Magic.dev | Shortwave |
|---|---|---|
| Agent Rank | 67 / 100 (B) | 72 / 100 (A) |
| Autonomy | Autonomous | Assistant |
| Pricing | Subscription · Free tier | Freemium · from $9 |
| Open source | No | No |
| Capabilities | Code, Tool use, Memory | RAG, Memory, Tool use |
| Integrations | 2 apps | 3 apps |
| Verified | Verified | Verified |
| Released | May 2025 | Feb 2025 |
Agent Rank breakdown
- Autonomy fit
- 9
- Capabilities
- 6
- Integrations
- 2
- Pricing value
- 9
- Polish & maturity
- 4
- Verifiability
- 10
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
- +Unique long-context model — can hold an entire mid-sized repo in one session
- +Strong on cross-cutting refactors that other agents struggle with
- +Funded at frontier-lab levels — engineering muscle behind the product
- −Enterprise pricing — no public per-seat tier
- −Newer entrant — fewer customer references than Devin or Cursor
- −Best for very large codebases; overkill for solo + small-team work
- +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
- +Long-context model (100M+ tokens)
- +Codebase-wide reasoning
- +Custom deployment
- +Basic AI summary
- +90-day search
- +Unlimited search
- +AI assistant
- +Scheduled send
- +Shared inboxes
- +Send delegation
- +Admin controls
Which one should you pick?
Pick Magic.dev if cost is the main constraint or if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place.
Try Magic.dev →Pick Shortwave if its specific capabilities (RAG, Memory) match what you need.
Try Shortwave →Affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked
Should I pick Magic.dev or Shortwave in 2026?+
Pick Magic.dev if cost is the main constraint or if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place. Pick Shortwave if its specific capabilities (RAG, Memory) match what you need. Most working teams running both can use Magic.dev for primary work and Shortwave for the workflows where its specific strengths matter.
What's the price difference between Magic.dev and Shortwave?+
Magic.dev starts at Subscription · Free tier; Shortwave starts at Freemium · from $9. Magic.dev 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, Magic.dev or Shortwave?+
Magic.dev 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.