Kestrel vs Superhuman

Superhuman Mail is an email app for teams on Gmail and Outlook, on the web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android, with AI on every plan. Kestrel uses many of the same keys, E for done, H for a reminder and ⌘K for any action, but it is a Mac app for Gmail and IMAP accounts. Its AI runs on your Mac or on your own Anthropic key, and no Kestrel server sees your mail.

At a glance

Feature	Kestrel	Superhuman
Price	$20 a year, on up to 3 Macs	From $25 a member a month, billed yearly
Platforms	Mac	Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android
Mail accounts	Gmail and any IMAP account	Gmail and Outlook
Mail passes through	Your provider, and Anthropic if you add a key	Your provider, its AI providers, and a vendor for Ask AI
AI	On your Mac, or with your own Anthropic key	On every plan, through outside AI providers
Account needed	None, a license key	A Superhuman account

The same keys

Superhuman and Kestrel share many single-key actions: E marks done, H sets a reminder, # trashes, / searches and ⌘K finds any action by name. Both split the inbox into Important and Other.

Kestrel Command also shows each action's key as you search, and the first sign-in ends with a practice inbox that teaches the keys one at a time.

Where your mail and the AI go

Superhuman's AI runs with outside model providers, among them OpenAI and Anthropic. With Ask AI on, a third-party vendor stores your mail so Ask AI can search it. Superhuman says no vendor trains on your data.

Kestrel's AI runs on Apple Intelligence on your Mac, or on Claude through an Anthropic API key you add, which sends the text a feature needs straight to Anthropic. Ask AI answers from the mail on your Mac. Kestrel's own servers see no mail. They check the license key and offer updates.

Platforms and teams

Superhuman runs on the web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android. Team collaboration comes with every plan, and Recent Opens with Business.

Kestrel is Mac only. Read statuses, team comments and booking pages need a small server you deploy to your own Cloudflare account, on its free plan.

Pick Kestrel if

You use iCloud, Fastmail, Proton Mail or another IMAP account.
You want AI that runs on your Mac or on your own Anthropic key.
You want to pay $20 a year for up to 3 Macs.

Pick Superhuman if

You use Outlook or Microsoft 365.
You want the same app on Windows, the web, iPhone and Android. Kestrel is Mac only.
You want team features without running a server.

The details

Detail	Kestrel	Superhuman
Price	$20 a year for a license key, bought on account.laibe.cc. One key works on 3 Macs. The demo inbox, with made-up mail, is free to try.	Starter costs $25 and Business $33 a member a month, billed yearly, for up to 25 seats. Enterprise is priced on request. Ask AI, Auto Drafts and the Mail MCP come with Business. Superhuman's Free and Pro suite plans don't include Mail.
Platforms	Mac only, on macOS 15 or later. A direct download, not on the Mac App Store, and it updates itself.	The web through a Chrome extension, native apps for Mac and Windows, and apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. The iPhone and iPad app needs iOS 26.
Mail accounts	Gmail and Google Calendar, through a free Google Cloud project you create yourself in about five minutes. Any IMAP account for mail, with Proton Mail (through Proton Mail Bridge), Fastmail and iCloud Mail filled in for you. IMAP accounts have no calendar and keep recent mail only, such as the latest 400 in the inbox.	Gmail and Outlook. Superhuman's help center says only Google and Microsoft 365 accounts are supported.
Where your mail goes	Straight between your Mac and Google or your IMAP server. Kestrel's own servers see no mail. account.laibe.cc checks the license key, and kestrel.laibe.cc offers updates if you allow it. Sign-ins, mail passwords and API keys stay in the macOS keychain. Read statuses, team comments and booking pages need a team server you deploy to your own Cloudflare account.	Superhuman wrote in 2022 that it downloads mail to your computer and keeps the inbox off its servers. Its AI features go to the AI model providers on its subprocessor list, OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure and Baseten. With Ask AI on, a third-party vendor stores your mail, and Superhuman keeps Ask AI questions and answers.
AI	Kestrel AI writes and rewrites drafts, summarizes threads, answers questions about your mail and labels new mail. It runs on Apple Intelligence on your Mac (macOS 26), or on Claude with your own Anthropic API key, which sends the text a feature needs to Anthropic. Auto Labels is on by default, and every part can be turned off. AI apps such as Claude Code can search, triage and draft through its MCP server, never send.	Every plan has Superhuman AI for writing, summaries and search. Business adds Ask AI, Auto Drafts, Custom Auto Labels and the Mail MCP for AI apps such as Claude and ChatGPT. Superhuman says neither it nor any vendor trains on your data.
Keyboard	Every action has a key: E marks done, H sets a reminder, # trashes, / searches. ⌘K finds any action or folder by name and shows its key. A practice inbox teaches the first keys.	⌘K opens Superhuman Command, which finds any action. Single keys do the rest: E marks done, H sets a reminder, # trashes, / searches.
To sign up	No Kestrel account. You sign in to Google or your IMAP server, and add a license key.	A Superhuman account, made with Google, Apple or Microsoft, on a plan that includes Mail.

Sources

Superhuman’s side was checked against these pages on October 29, 2026. Write to [email protected] if something has changed.