Top AI Email Assistant Tools (2025 Edition)

Why We Visualized Time on Market and Number of Users

When choosing an AI email assistant, two simple but powerful indicators can help guide your decision: how long the tool has been on the market and how many users rely on it today.

• Time on market reflects a tool’s maturity, stability, and feature evolution. A service that’s been around for years has had time to fix bugs, respond to user needs, and build trust.
• The number of users shows real-world adoption and can signal how well a tool works for others. Popular tools are often better supported, regularly updated, and less risky to invest in.

Together, these parameters help users—especially small teams and solo professionals—choose not just the newest or flashiest tool, but one that’s reliable, proven, and trusted by others.

Disclaimer: All figures provided are plausible estimates based on publicly available sources as of 2025. We’ve aimed to be as accurate and concise as possible, but actual user numbers and launch dates may vary slightly depending on reporting and updates from the respective companies.

Category 1. Inbox Management Assistants

Tools that automatically organize your inbox, prioritize important messages, and tame email overload. These assistants use AI to filter out low-priority email, surface what matters, and help you reach “inbox zero” with less effort.

1. Clean Email (Inbox cleanup platform)

A web and mobile (iOS/Android) tool focused on bulk email organization and cleanup.

It uses intelligent algorithms (like an AI) to create Smart Folders (over 30 categories such as Travel, Shopping, Social, etc.) so you can instantly find or mass-delete emails by type. Also, Unsubsriber feature show all your subscriptions in one place and let pause or unsubscribe one-by-one or in bulk. → Try it for Free

Cleaning Suggestions learn from your actions to recommend messages to archive or delete. Auto Clean lets you set rules to organize your inbox automatically. The Screener quarantines emails from new senders until you review them. You can even auto-delete old emails with large attachments.

• Pricing: Free trial (up to 1000 emails); premium starts around $9.99/month for one account (with steep discounts on annual plans). → Try it for Free
• Why use: Perfect if you have years of accumulated emails to clean out.

Clean Email shines at freeing up space and organizing a messy mailbox in one sweep.

Small teams can also use it to enforce email retention policies or simply start fresh with a more organized inbox, all without manually sorting thousands of messages.

2. Spike (Email app/client)

Transforms email into a chat-like interface for clarity.

Spike’s conversational email view and real-time threads make it feel like instant messaging instead of traditional email.

Its built-in AI Priority Inbox summarizes long threads and bubbles up important unread emails, while trivial updates are de-emphasized.

Spike also includes notes, tasks, and video meetings in one app.

• Pricing: Free for personal use; Pro starts at $5/month, and Ultimate at $10/user/month for teams.
• Why use: Ideal if you’re overwhelmed by lengthy email chains.

Spike’s AI “Priority” feed and summary features let you catch up on conversations in seconds, without opening every message.

It’s great for those who prefer a messaging-style experience but need to use email.

3. Superhuman (AI-enhanced email client)

A premium email app known for its speed and AI triage features.

Superhuman uses AI for Split Inbox filtering, automatically highlighting important emails (e.g. from your boss or VIP clients) and grouping less critical ones separately.

It also offers AI-powered reply suggestions that match your writing style and “Instant” canned responses to handle common replies.

• Pricing: No free tier; $30/user per month (with a discount for students at $10/month).
• Why use: For power-users who live in their inbox, Superhuman provides a blazing-fast workflow and intelligent automation.

It’s designed for executives, founders, and busy professionals handling hundreds of emails daily who want to prioritize with AI and blitz through email in record time.

4. Shortwave (Gmail-based AI email client)

A modern Gmail client that brings order to chaos.

Shortwave automatically bundles related threads (like Google’s old Inbox app) and uses AI to generate concise bullet-point summaries of long emails or threads.

It features a focus mode to hide distracting emails and a sleek interface optimized for fast triage.

• Pricing: Free plan with core features; Pro plan is about $14/user/month (annual billing).
• Why use: If you’re a Gmail user drowning in newsletters and updates, Shortwave can be a game-changer.

The AI summaries help you digest long conversations at a glance, and smart bundling means when you return to your inbox after a busy day, you see a tidy digest of what happened instead of 100 separate emails.

5. Hey (Email service with AI features)

An innovative email service that now incorporates AI-driven categorization.

Hey automatically organizes incoming mail into useful categories: “The Feed” for newsletters, “Paper Trail” for receipts, etc., using AI to sort them appropriately.

Its AI also suggests replies that mimic your tone and can highlight important details in emails.

• Pricing: $12/month for Hey Basic (includes custom domain for small teams), with business plans available.
• Why use: For a fresh take on email management.

Hey was already designed to reduce clutter with its unique workflow, and with AI it’s even smarter at keeping your inbox clear.

It’s great for privacy-conscious users and teams that want a controlled, minimal inbox experience (no ads, on-device processing for AI features).

6. Inbox Zero (AI automation for Gmail)

Not to be confused with the philosophy of reaching an empty inbox, this tool is an AI-powered Gmail add-on that automates many inbox tasks.

It can understand simple language commands to archive, label, forward or reply to emails.

It offers bulk unsubscribe suggestions and even a cold email blocker that detects and auto-archives marketing outreach.

Analytics dashboards show you who emails you most, response times, and other usage stats.

• Pricing: Free plan with limited features; Pro plan $10/month; Business plan $19/month.
• Why use: For Gmail users who want to delegate routine triage to an AI. Instead of manually creating filters, Inbox Zero’s AI learns and automates actions (like “if travel booking, label and archive it”) with easy setup.

It’s like having an inbox secretary that keeps things tidy and gives you reports on your email habits.

7. Missive (Team email collaboration with AI automation)

A team email/chat app known for shared inboxes and now offers AI integration via OpenAI.

Within any email thread, you can collaborate as a team – chatting, assigning, and commenting internally – and then use AI to generate smart reply drafts, translate messages, or rewrite content with your tone in mind. You can even build your own prompt library to share consistent language across the whole team.

Drafting content is just the start. Missive’s standout AI feature is its AI Rules engine, which lets you automate workflows using natural language prompts.

You can automatically categorize emails (custom to you), escalate urgent emails to key team members, summarize long threads, or extract tasks and deadlines, all without writing a line of code.

The AI doesn’t just help you draft emails; it can drive action by connecting it to other parts of your workflow.

Missive also supports multi-channel communication (email, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, live chat, etc.), and AI is available across all those channels.

• Pricing: Free for 3 users (with a 15-day history limit). Paid plans for teams start at $14/user/month (syncs all history) for Starter, $18/user/month for Productive to use AI Rules (plus you need to connect your own OpenAI account.
• Why use: If your team runs on email (think agency, accounting, or law firm, client success, etc), Missive keeps everyone aligned via its collaborative-first design. Now with AI, it goes further by helping you automate parts of your business that used to require a person to understand the context of an email before taking action.

And because the AI runs only on the messages you define, filtered by conditions you set, you stay in full control of privacy and cost.

Hey! We’ve covered a wide range of AI tools—jump to the category that interests you most:

Category 1. Inbox Management Assistants
Category 2. Sales & Outreach Assistants
Category 3. Email Writing Assistants
Category 4. Meeting Scheduling Assistants
Category 5. Customer Support Handling Assistants
Category 6. Security & Compliance Assistants
Category 7. Analytics & Productivity Tracking Assistants
Final Thoughts

Category 2. Sales & Outreach Assistants

Tools designed to supercharge sales emails and outreach campaigns. These AI assistants help craft personalized emails, automate follow-ups, and boost response rates – perfect for sales reps, marketers, or founders doing cold outreach.

Established platforms like Saleshandy and Outreach.io have been refining their outreach automation for nearly a decade or more.

Newer entrants like SmartWriter and Instantly.ai show strong innovation in recent years, designed with AI-first features from the start.

Unsurprisingly, tools with broader use cases like HubSpot Sales Hub and Apollo.io lead with the largest user bases, reflecting their maturity and integration with wider CRM and sales platforms.

Meanwhile, newer or more specialized tools like SmartWriter and Instantly.ai are showing rapid adoption within targeted outreach and personalization segments.

Established niche tools like Saleshandy and Lavender have steady user growth, reflecting their focused value in sales engagement workflows.

1. SmartWriter (Web platform for personalized outreach)

An AI copywriting assistant specialized in cold emails and LinkedIn messages.

SmartWriter automatically researches your prospect across 40+ data sources (social media, podcasts, blogs, etc.) and generates a highly personalized icebreaker or intro paragraph tailored to that individual.

It can then draft outreach emails that speak to the prospect’s interests or pain points, and even automate the follow-ups if there’s no reply.

• Pricing: No free tier (demo available); Basic plan ~$49/month, with higher plans for greater scale.
• Why use: If you send cold emails, SmartWriter can save hours of research time while improving your emails’ quality.

Users with sales quotas or fundraising goals should consider it – the tool’s AI personalization helps cut through the noise and get more replies by showing each recipient you did your homework.

2. Lavender (Browser extension for sales email coaching)

An AI email assistant that lives in your inbox (works with Gmail, Outlook, and others) and acts like a writing coach in real time.

As you draft an email, Lavender scores your message on clarity, length, tone, and personalization.

It gives instant suggestions to improve subject lines and body text – for example, simplifying complex sentences, adding a question at the end, or including a custom snippet about the recipient.

It also tracks engagement (opens, link clicks) and integrates with CRM tools.

• Pricing: Free plan (analyzes a few emails/month); Pro plan ~$29/month for unlimited AI writing and analytics. Team plans with collaboration features are ~$49/user/month.
• Why use: Great for anyone writing cold outreach, sales, or recruitment emails.

Lavender helps you write better emails faster – it ensures your message is concise and compelling.

If your team struggles with what to say or how to phrase it, this provides guidance and even inspiration with AI-generated snippets.

It’s like having a personal sales copy editor looking over your shoulder.

3. Outreach.io (AI-powered sales engagement platform)

A leading sales engagement platform that now embeds AI throughout.

Outreach can automate multi-step email sequences and follow-ups, and its Smart Email Assist uses generative AI to draft initial outreach emails or replies based on context you provide.

It analyzes prospect interactions to suggest the best times to send and can even recommend sequence tweaks to improve engagement.

In 2025, Outreach is introducing an AI Prospecting Agent that promises to research prospects and generate pipeline 24/7 autonomously.

• Pricing: Premium product, pricing on request (noted to be enterprise-grade). Typically starts in the hundreds of dollars per month for small teams.
• Why use: For teams that are serious about scaling their outbound sales.

Outreach’s AI features mean reps spend less time on repetitive tasks (like writing yet another follow-up email) and more time closing deals.

If you already have a decent lead list, Outreach ensures no lead falls through the cracks, using AI to maximize every touchpoint (from optimal send times to personalized content).

4. HubSpot Sales Hub (with AI) (CRM with AI email tools)

HubSpot’s platform includes CRM, email templates, sequencing, and in 2025 has added AI content assistance.

The AI can draft sales emails or marketing emails for you, pulling context from your CRM records.

HubSpot also uses AI for behavior-based automation – e.g., trigger an email sequence if a lead clicks a specific link.

It offers robust analytics tying emails to deal outcomes (revenue attribution).

• Pricing: Has a free CRM with basic email tools. Advanced sequences and AI features available in paid tiers (Starter from $50/month, up to Professional/Enterprise plans).
• Why use: If you want an all-in-one solution that manages your contacts and your email outreach in one place.
  
  HubSpot is especially friendly for small businesses.

With the new AI features, even a small team can quickly generate professional, on-brand emails and automate their outreach without hiring extra sales staff.

Plus, you get rich insight into which emails and sequences actually drive results.

5. Apollo.io (Sales intelligence platform with AI outreach)

Apollo combines a B2B contact database with an outreach automation tool.

You can find prospects’ emails and then use Apollo’s AI Email Composer to generate personalized messages at scale.

The AI suggests icebreakers based on prospect data and can tailor the tone to your campaign (e.g. more formal vs. casual). Apollo also optimizes send schedules to improve deliverability.

• Pricing: Free plan with limited credits. Paid plans from $49/month (Basic) with increasing contact credits; higher tiers add more automation and AI email credits.
• Why use: Ideal for startups or small sales teams that need both leads and an email tool in one.

Apollo’s huge contact database plus AI means you can go from zero to launching a targeted cold campaign quickly.

If you’re prospecting in a new market, Apollo helps find quality leads and reach out with less manual effort.

6. Saleshandy (AI-enabled cold email tool)

An affordable outreach tool that now incorporates AI for deliverability and timing.

Saleshandy can personalize each email in a sequence using mail merge data, and its AI will automatically adjust sending schedules to avoid spam filters (e.g., varying send times, optimizing daily send volume).

It provides feedback on your templates and has automated follow-ups that stop when a reply is detected.

• Pricing: Outreach-focused plans start at $25/month (billed annually), which is budget-friendly for small teams. Free trial available.
• Why use: If you’re on a tight budget but want to leverage AI for cold email, Saleshandy is a strong choice.

It’s known for improving deliverability – a crucial aspect of outreach.

The AI ensures your carefully crafted emails actually land in inboxes (not spam), and it takes care of the tedious sending patterns and follow-up logic so you can focus on writing your message and targeting the right audience.

7. Instantly.ai (AI-driven cold email and deliverability tool)

A platform focused on sending large volumes of cold email while maintaining deliverability.

Instantly’s AI features include warming up new email accounts by sending realistic AI-generated emails to dummy contacts (to build sender reputation), and rewriting portions of emails automatically to create slight variations that evade spam filters.

It also provides smart scheduling to send when replies are most likely.

• Pricing: Offers a free trial. Paid plans start around $37/month for solopreneurs, with higher tiers for adding multiple email accounts and higher send volumes.
• Why use: If you need to send at scale (hundreds or thousands of outreach emails), Instantly is built for that.

A small growth or marketing team can use it to run big outreach campaigns that traditionally would require a lot of manual work and technical setup.

The AI takes care of the hard parts of scaling – keeping your sender reputation healthy and your emails looking human-made.

Category 3. Email Writing Assistants

Tools that help you write emails better and faster. These AI assistants can compose drafts from scratch, refine your wording, fix grammar and tone, and tailor messages for you – acting like an on-demand copywriter or editor for your emails.

Tools like Boomerang and Mailbutler have been around for nearly a decade, offering steady improvements and reliability.

Newer options like Outlook Copilot and Gmail’s Help Me Write show how recent advances in AI are being built right into the email platforms we already use.

Gmail’s Help Me Write and Microsoft Outlook Copilot dominate the space with massive user bases, thanks to deep integration within popular platforms.

Tools like GrammarlyGO also stand out with strong adoption, showing user trust in writing support.

Meanwhile, Compose AI and Flowrite offer lightweight, app-agnostic AI writing help for those seeking flexibility and speed without switching tools.

Longstanding options like Boomerang and Mailbutler continue to serve users reliably with consistent improvements over nearly a decade.

1. Flowrite (AI writing platform & Chrome extension)

An AI writing assistant that turns short prompts into full, polished emails.

With Flowrite, you can input a few bullet points or a brief description of what you need to say, and it will generate a complete email draft in seconds.

It’s great for replying to common emails: Flowrite offers templates for things like meeting requests, thank-you notes, or project updates – you just fill in key details and let the AI expand it.

It also integrates directly into Gmail and Outlook, so you can use it while composing messages.

• Pricing: Starts at $12/month (Premium plan, billed annually) for up to ~2,000 AI-generated emails per year. Light plan available at $4/month for lower volume.
• Why use: For those who handle repetitive emails or struggle with wording, Flowrite is a huge time-saver.

It ensures your emails are well-written and formatted, and maintains a consistent tone.

For example, instead of drafting similar replies to FAQs or daily updates from scratch, you can rely on Flowrite’s AI to automate the heavy lifting and just tweak the final output.

2. Compose AI (Free Chrome extension)

An AI autocomplete and content generator that works in any text field, including webmail.

As you type an email, Compose AI can suggest completions to your sentences, much like a supercharged version of Gmail’s Smart Compose.

You can also prompt it to write entire emails or paragraphs – for example, “Draft an apology email for a delayed response,” and it will output a draft instantly.

It features an outline generator to help structure longer writing.

• Pricing: Generous free plan (up to 15,000 characters of AI generation per month). Paid plans from $9.99/month for unlimited usage.
• Why use: If you want to compose emails faster without breaking your workflow or budget, Compose AI is ideal.

Since it works in the browser, it’s seamless – start typing and let AI finish your sentence.

It’s especially useful for those who aren’t confident writers or non-native English speakers, providing fluency and tone suggestions on the fly.

And unlike some heavy AI tools, it’s lightweight and won’t cost you anything to get started.

3. GrammarlyGO (Multi-platform writing assistant)

From the makers of Grammarly, this AI goes beyond grammar checking. GrammarlyGO can actually generate email drafts based on context.

For instance, if you receive an email invite, you can click a prompt for GrammarlyGO to “reply with a polite decline” and it will compose a full reply using details from the invite.

It also rewrites existing text: you can highlight a rough draft and ask GrammarlyGO to make it more concise, more friendly, or more formal as needed.

All the usual grammar and spell-check is built-in too.

• Pricing: Included with Grammarly Premium (which is ~$12/month for individuals). Business plans per user also include it. There’s a limited free version as well, with caps on the number of AI generations.
• Why use: For people already using Grammarly or who want a trusted brand focusing on tone and correctness.

GrammarlyGO is like having a writing expert that not only fixes mistakes but can start writing for you.

It ensures your email is not just error-free, but also effective in communicating your intent.

If you’re replying to emails that require careful wording (sales pitches, sensitive HR communications, etc.), GrammarlyGO can be a lifesaver to get the tone right.

4. Microsoft Outlook Copilot (Built-in AI for Outlook in Microsoft 365)

Microsoft’s new AI assistant integrated into Outlook (part of Microsoft 365 Copilot suite).

It leverages organizational data (emails, files, meeting transcripts) to draft highly contextual emails.

For example, you can ask Copilot to “Draft a summary email of our last meeting for the team” and it will pull key points from the meeting notes and craft the email.

It can also suggest replies to incoming emails, complete with relevant details it finds in your documents or previous conversations.

Being an enterprise-grade tool, it respects permissions and privacy – only using data you have access to.

• Pricing: Only available with Microsoft 365 Business/Enterprise plans. Copilot is an add-on (starting at $14 per user/month on top of a Microsoft 365 subscription).
• Why use: If your company is in the Microsoft ecosystem, Copilot in Outlook is a no-brainer for productivity.

Busy managers and executives benefit greatly – Copilot can draft responses that incorporate data from spreadsheets, or create a follow-up email that references a document you discussed, all automatically.

It’s like having a knowledgeable assistant who knows all your context.

This is especially helpful for small teams where everyone wears multiple hats; Copilot helps ensure nothing falls through the cracks in communication.

5. Gmail “Help Me Write” (Duet AI for Gmail) (Built-in AI for Google Workspace)

Google’s native generative AI within Gmail.

It appears as a “Help me write” button when composing. Click it and enter a brief prompt (e.g. “Reschedule my appointment next week”) and the AI will produce a full email draft.

It uses Google’s advanced Gemini AI model behind the scenes, which understands context from your email thread.

It can also summarize long email threads at a click – showing you the gist of a lengthy back-and-forth conversation.

Additionally, it can extract action items from emails and even suggest adding them to your Google Calendar.

• Pricing: Included for free for Google Workspace users (business and enterprise tiers). Expected to roll out to consumer Gmail eventually.
• Why use: It’s built into Gmail, so it’s incredibly convenient and requires no setup.

If you’re already using Gmail daily, this can speed up tasks like responding to customer inquiries or drafting formal emails.

The AI’s integration with your data means it can, for example, notice a date mentioned in an email and suggest a calendar event, or adapt its reply style based on the sender (more formal for your boss, perhaps more casual for a close colleague).

For small teams using Google Workspace, everyone gets an AI assistant without additional cost.

6. Boomerang Respondable + AI (Gmail/Outlook plugin)

Boomerang is known for email scheduling, and its Respondable feature scores your email’s likelihood of getting a response.

In 2025, Boomerang’s AI features have expanded: it will suggest improvements to boost reply rates (tone, length, question count) and can even generate recommended responses.

Boomerang’s popular “Inbox Pause” is now enhanced by AI – it can determine an optimal time to deliver emails to you to minimize distraction.

It also analyzes your email’s tone for politeness or positivity.

• Pricing: Boomerang has a free basic plan. Advanced AI features are in the Professional plan (~$14.99/month).
• Why use: If you use Gmail or Outlook and want to improve your email effectiveness, Boomerang is a handy all-in-one tool.

You not only get assistance in writing (the AI can draft replies or propose better wording), but also guidance on when to send emails for maximum impact (using its vast data on open rates).

For salespeople or anyone who really cares about getting a reply, Respondable’s AI feedback is extremely useful.

7. Mailbutler Smart Assistant (Email plugin for Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail)

Mailbutler is a productivity add-on, and its AI assistant now helps with writing, scheduling, and CRM integration.

With a click, you can ask Mailbutler’s AI to draft a reply to the selected email or to compose a new message based on a short description. It offers variations (e.g., more formal, shorter) you can choose from.

Mailbutler also uses AI for sentiment analysis – flagging if an email you wrote might be coming off too curt or suggesting a kinder phrasing for sensitive messages.

It integrates with task managers and calendars, turning emails into tasks or events via AI understanding of the content.

• Pricing: Starts at $8.95/month per user (Professional plan) which includes the AI features. Mailbutler offers a free tier with limited use of the assistant.
• Why use: Great for Apple Mail or Outlook users who want AI capabilities similar to those in Gmail.

Mailbutler brings an AI boost to platforms that don’t have built-in generative AI.

It’s like having a virtual assistant that not only writes emails, but also makes sure you follow up on them – perfect for small business owners and professionals managing client communications.

The added benefit is everything stays within your familiar email client UI.

Category 4. Meeting Scheduling Assistants

Tools that eliminate the back-and-forth of scheduling meetings. These AI assistants coordinate availability, send invites, and handle calendar logistics automatically – so you can stop playing email tag and let the AI set up your meetings.

Time on Market shows that tools like Calendly and Clara have been refining their scheduling features for years, while newer apps like Lindy and Xembly are just starting to make waves with more holistic or AI-integrated approaches.

Estimated Users makes it clear that Calendly dominates this category by a huge margin, serving millions of users worldwide.

Meanwhile, tools like Motion, Clockwise, and Reclaim AI have strong traction among productivity-focused professionals. More specialized assistants like Lindy and Xembly have smaller but growing user bases.

1. Calendly (Scheduling platform with smart suggestions)

The popular Calendly isn’t resting on its laurels; in 2025 it’s augmented with AI recommendations.

Calendly lets you send a link for others to pick a time from your available slots, eliminating negotiation.

Now it also suggests optimal meeting times by analyzing participants’ time zones and past availability patterns.

It can automate reminders and follow-ups – for instance, if someone hasn’t booked via your link, Calendly’s AI can gently remind them or offer a new block of times that might work better.

• Pricing: Free basic version (1 event type, solo use). Premium plans from $10/user per month for teams, with advanced features and integrations.
• Why use: If you frequently say “When are you free?” Calendly solves that efficiently and professionally.

It’s simple for outsiders to book you, and you maintain control of your calendar. Small teams can use it to share round-robin links (AI chooses which team member is free first) for sales or support calls.

Overall, it saves countless email threads by letting people self-schedule at a time that works for everyone.

2. Motion< (AI time management & scheduling app)

Motion is like having a personal secretary that organizes your entire day.

It uses AI to automatically build your schedule: it will slot your tasks into free time on your calendar, move them when priorities change, and schedule your meetings at optimal times.

Motion’s meeting scheduler links with your calendar and learns your work patterns – for example, protecting your “focus mornings” by preferring afternoons for meetings. It coordinates with invitees via email with your preferences in mind.

• Pricing: Starts at ~$19/month (when billed annually) for the individual plan. Team plans available at higher tiers.
• Why use: For users with jam-packed schedules who need more than just a meeting link.

Motion not only schedules meetings but also makes sure you have time to actually get work done by shuffling tasks and blocking focus time automatically.

It’s perfect for small teams or startup founders juggling meetings, deep work, and deadlines – Motion will rearrange your day on the fly so you don’t have to.

3. Clockwise (Team calendar optimizer)

Clockwise is an AI scheduling assistant that lives in your Google Calendar (as an add-on). It automatically moves flexible meetings to the least disruptive times and creates large blocks of “Focus Time” for you and your team.

For example, if it sees two one-on-one meetings splintered across an afternoon, it might rearrange them back-to-back, freeing up a solid hour elsewhere for undisturbed work.

Clockwise also has a scheduling link feature, but its standout is intelligent conflict resolution – it can find the best common time for a group meeting and even integrate with Slack to coordinate.

• Pricing: Free for basic use (up to 5 users). Business plan with advanced optimization ~$6.75/user per month.
• Why use: If your small team’s calendars are a puzzle, Clockwise solves it. It’s great for engineering or product teams that need blocks of coding/design time – Clockwise will minimize fragmentation of your day.

By handling meeting shuffles automatically (with everyone’s permission), it removes the awkward “can we move our 1:1 to later?” emails and improves everyone’s productivity.

4. Reclaim AI (Personal calendar assistant)

Reclaim focuses on scheduling all the “non-meeting” stuff: your daily tasks, recurring routines (like “gym 3x a week” or “weekly report prep”), and breaks, around your existing meetings.

It uses AI to dynamically block time for these activities on your Google Calendar, and if a meeting gets added or cancelled, Reclaim adjusts those task blocks instantly.

For meetings, it integrates with Google Meet and Zoom to auto-create conferencing links and can suggest times by considering your preferences (e.g., no meetings on Friday afternoons).

• Pricing: Free plan for individuals (with limits on habits/tasks). Premium $8/month with unlimited features.
• Why use: Great for professionals who have trouble making time for important tasks amidst a sea of meetings.

Reclaim ensures things like “write proposal” or “team brainstorming prep” actually have reserved time on your calendar.

Essentially, it treats your tasks with the same respect as meetings, using AI to protect and optimize that time.

It’s like an assistant that not only schedules meetings, but also makes sure all your other work gets done by scheduling around those meetings efficiently.

5. Clara (Virtual email scheduling assistant)

Clara is an AI-driven scheduling agent that works over email.

Simply CC “Clara” on an email thread (or forward an email to it asking to set up a meeting), and it will handle the back-and-forth with the other person to find a time.

Clara understands natural language, so you can say, “Clara, please find a 30-minute meeting next week with John,” and it will email John with your availability, manage his responses (even handling multiple options or time zones), and send a calendar invite once a slot is confirmed. It’s like a human assistant that people email with, and often correspondents won’t realize Clara is an AI.

• Pricing: Clara is a premium service, often around $99/month for individuals (with higher enterprise plans). It provides a combination of AI with human oversight for accuracy.
• Why use: If you really want to get rid of scheduling emails, Clara is one of the most sophisticated solutions.

It’s especially useful for client-facing roles where a personal touch is important – clients or partners can interact with “Clara” just as they would with a human assistant, which comes off as professional and courteous.

For small teams without a receptionist or admin, Clara can make your operation look polished by handling scheduling politely and error-free.

6. Lindy (AI assistant for scheduling & more)

Lindy is an AI personal assistant that can handle meeting scheduling among other tasks.

For scheduling, you can instruct Lindy via chat or email to set up a meeting, and it will coordinate with all parties by checking calendars, suggesting times, sending invites, etc.

What sets Lindy apart is its concept of “mini-AIs” – specialized bots for each of your needs. For instance, a “Meeting Scheduler Lindy” focuses on your calendar availability and preferences to book meetings optimally. It learns your habits (e.g., you like 15-min breaks before meetings or you prefer Zoom over phone) and applies them consistently.

• Pricing: Free trial for new users. Full access around $29.99/month as of 2025.
• Why use: Lindy is like an entire executive assistant in one app – and scheduling is just one of its talents.

It’s great for entrepreneurs or small teams who want a single AI to manage multiple admin tasks.

By using Lindy for meeting scheduling, you also get the benefit of it knowing your whole workload context (since it can manage tasks, reminders, etc.).

That means, for example, it won’t schedule a meeting the night before a big deadline, because it knows you need that time to finish work. It’s a very holistic AI assistant.

7. Xembly (Automated chief-of-staff for meetings)

Xembly is an AI that not only schedules meetings via email and Slack, but also attends them (virtually) to take notes and generate follow-ups.

For scheduling, Xembly can pick up on phrases like “Let’s get a meeting next week” in an email or chat and proactively offer to schedule it. It will reach out to participants with available times and book the meeting on everyone’s calendars.

After meetings, Xembly provides AI-generated summaries and action item lists.

• Pricing: Enterprise-oriented pricing (available upon request), but they have tailored offers for teams under 10 as well.
• Why use: If your team has a lot of internal meetings and you want to streamline everything around them, Xembly is powerful.

Imagine an AI that not only sets up your meetings but also ensures everyone knows what happened in them by sending out notes afterward – that’s Xembly’s value.

Small teams looking to maximize efficiency (like agile teams or consultancies) can benefit from the end-to-end meeting management.

It’s like having a tireless project manager who never forgets to schedule the follow-up or send the recap.

Category 5. Customer Support Handling Assistants

Tools to manage and respond to customer emails with AI. These assistants help small teams provide professional support at scale – from triaging incoming support emails, drafting replies from knowledge bases, to organizing team workflows on customer conversations.

Time on Market shows strong maturity in this space. Tools like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Help Scout have been refining their support systems for over a decade, making them dependable choices for growing teams.

Meanwhile, newer platforms like Missive and Hiver bring more modern, collaboration-focused approaches.

Estimated Users points to trust and adoption. Zendesk and Freshdesk are clear leaders with millions of users.

Others, like Zoho Desk and Front, have built solid followings thanks to smart AI integrations and user-friendly design.

1. Front (Collaborative team inbox with AI)

Front is a shared inbox platform for teams, and with new AI features it’s even more powerful.

It lets your team collaborate on emails (with internal comments and assignments) and AI now suggests reply drafts for incoming support questions by pulling information from past emails or an integrated knowledge base.

Front’s AI can also analyze the sentiment and urgency of emails to prioritize them. Managers get analytics on response times and workloads.

• Pricing: Starting at $19/user per month for the base plan; AI features included in higher tiers (or as add-ons).
• Why use: Perfect for a small support or account management team that needs to work together in one inbox.

Instead of each person juggling their own Gmail, Front provides a single platform where emails to support@yourcompany are handled efficiently.

The AI reply suggestions speed up response times without sacrificing quality, and team members can tweak the drafts to add a personal touch.

It ensures consistency and that no customer email slips through unnoticed, even when your team is small.

2. Help Scout + AI (Help desk software with AI assist)

Help Scout is a help desk tool tailored for email support, now enhanced with an “AI Assist” feature .

Within the Help Scout interface, agents can click a button to draft a reply using AI, which utilizes your saved help articles and past conversations to form a relevant answer.

It also auto-suggests related knowledge base articles to include.

Help Scout centralizes support emails into a queue and tracks metrics like conversation volume, response time, and customer satisfaction.

• Pricing: Standard plan $25/user per month, which includes most features. AI Assist is available on all plans for now.
• Why use: Great for companies that handle support via email and want a lightweight, friendly tool.

Small teams love Help Scout for its simple, customer-centric approach (customers see replies as normal emails, not ticket numbers).

The new AI helps your team answer common questions faster by drafting responses in your style. It’s like giving each support rep a smart helper: even if you have just one or two support agents, they can manage a larger volume of inquiries with the AI doing first-pass drafting.

3. Hiver (Gmail-based helpdesk with AI)

Hiver turns your Gmail or Google Workspace into a customer service platform.

You can manage group inboxes (like support@) directly from Gmail, assigning emails to team members and tracking status.

Now Hiver has AI-powered email management: it can categorize incoming queries, suggest tags or assignments based on content, and even draft responses for common queries using saved templates and past answers.

It also offers AI-driven insights like identifying trending issues from email text.

• Pricing: Starts at $15/user per month. Since it layers onto Gmail, it’s easy to deploy for Google Workspace users.
• Why use: If your team already lives in Gmail, Hiver lets you provide customer support without switching tools.

It feels like Gmail but with teamwork features. The AI means your team can handle support emails more efficiently – for example, Hiver might auto-tag an email as “Billing Issue” and suggest a relevant snippet or article to include in the reply, saving time.

It’s especially useful for small startups where non-support staff (like a product engineer or founder) might be jumping in to answer tickets; Hiver gives them structure and AI help to do it right.

4. Zendesk (Customer support suite with AI)

Zendesk is a big name in support, and even small teams use the email ticketing part of it.

In 2025, Zendesk’s AI, called Answer Bot, can automatically draft answers to customer emails by drawing from your FAQ articles. It also does triage: analyzing incoming emails to detect the issue topic and customer sentiment (e.g., angry tone flagged for urgent attention).

Zendesk’s side panel can show AI-recommended macros or knowledge entries to use in the reply for faster resolution. And of course, it tracks key support metrics (CSAT, first response time, etc.).

• Pricing: Team plan for small businesses starts around $49/agent per month. AI addons (beyond basic Answer Bot) may cost extra.
• Why use: If you need a scalable, all-in-one support system, Zendesk is a solid choice. Even a team of 5 can use it effectively and look much bigger.

The AI features mean that repetitive questions ( “How do I reset my password?” ) can be answered instantly or with one-click using the Answer Bot suggestions, which frees up your team to tackle more complex issues.

Additionally, Zendesk’s robust workflow tools combined with AI ensure nothing gets lost and every customer gets a timely, accurate answer.

5. Freshdesk (Freddy AI)

Freshdesk by Freshworks is another popular support platform, and its AI (nicknamed Freddy) helps agents work smarter.

Freddy can auto-suggest solution articles as agents type a reply, and can even be set to automatically reply to very simple queries.

Freshdesk categorizes and prioritizes tickets using AI, for example highlighting if an email is from a VIP customer or if it contains certain keywords indicating urgency. It also has a feature to detect the language and can auto-translate inquiries for agents if needed.

• Pricing: Free tier available for basic ticketing (without AI). Paid plans with Freddy AI from $19/agent per month.
• Why use: Freshdesk is known for being quick to set up and easy to use, which is great for small teams.

The integrated Freddy AI means your team can handle a diverse set of inquiries without specialized staff – e.g., even if no one on your team is a billing expert, Freddy might pull up the relevant refund policy text for an agent to include in a reply.

For a small business that has one person wearing the hats of many (support, sales, etc.), these assists can be crucial to answering customers accurately and fast.

6. Zoho Desk (Zia AI)

Zoho’s helpdesk solution comes with Zia, an AI assistant that works across Zoho’s suite.

In Zoho Desk, Zia can do things like analyze incoming support emails to detect the intent (e.g., complaint vs. query vs. feedback) and automatically route the email to the right department or person. It provides agents with answer suggestions drawn from your company’s knowledge base.

Zia also proactively alerts if it finds an email that seems to be from an unsatisfied customer (perhaps by detecting certain phrases or a negative tone) so you can prioritize that.

Moreover, Zoho Desk’s dashboard will show trends (like an increase in emails about a certain bug) thanks to Zia’s analysis.

• Pricing: Standard plan $14/agent/month, Professional $23 (which includes Zia AI features).
• Why use: If you use Zoho in your business (they have CRM, email, etc.), adding Zoho Desk fits nicely and the AI will tie into the whole ecosystem.

Even if not, Zoho Desk is relatively affordable and Zia can reduce the workload on your team by doing first-level categorization and giving reply suggestions.

Small teams often have to juggle support with other duties; Zoho’s AI ensures support emails are handled efficiently and important ones stand out, so customer issues get the attention they need in a timely manner.

7. Missive (Team email collaboration with AI)

Missive is a team email/chat app known for shared inboxes and now offers AI integration via OpenAI.

Teams can draft emails together in Missive and invoke AI to generate reply drafts or brainstorm responses right in the compose area.

Missive’s strengths are in letting you discuss an email internally (through chat comments attached to an email) and assign it to someone – and with AI, you might get a first draft that the team can refine collaboratively.

It also supports multi-channel (email, SMS, WhatsApp) in one place, with AI available on all.

• Pricing: Free for 1 user (up to a limit). Paid plans for teams start at $14/user/month for Starter, $18 for Productive with advanced features.
• Why use: If your support or operations team handles more than just email (maybe social media DMs, SMS, etc.), Missive is a unified solution.

For a really small team, Missive lets everyone stay on the same page – you won’t accidentally send two separate replies to a customer because you can see in real-time who’s handling what.

The AI helps even one person sound like a whole expert team: you could be chatting internally "How do we answer this?" and use the AI to draft a professional reply that you then tweak with your team’s input.

Category 6. Security & Compliance Assistants

Tools that use AI to protect your email security and enforce compliance. These assistants guard against phishing, malware, and data leaks by analyzing email content and patterns.

They’re especially useful for small businesses that need enterprise-grade protection without a full IT security staff.

Time on Market shows a mix of long-standing stability and rapid innovation.

Built-in tools like Google Workspace AI protections and Microsoft 365 Defender have been evolving for years and are deeply integrated into everyday platforms.

Others, like Email Meter, IRONSCALES, and Yesware, have steadily matured over the past decade, offering proven value. Meanwhile, newer tools like Abnormal Security and Viva Insights are gaining traction quickly with focused, modern AI use cases.

Estimated Users highlight the gap between general and specialized tools. Google and Microsoft dominate thanks to their massive user bases and native integration.

But specialized solutions like Abnormal, Tessian, and EmailAnalytics serve smaller audiences with powerful, targeted features—like preventing data leaks or improving response times.

For small teams without a dedicated IT department, these niche tools act like extra hands (and eyes), quietly enhancing inbox security and productivity without the learning curve.

1. Abnormal Security (AI email threat protection)

Abnormal is a cloud email security platform that uses AI to detect advanced phishing and business email compromise attempts.

It profiles known good behavior for each user (who they normally communicate with, writing style) and can spot anomalies – for example, if the tone of an email from your CEO’s account suddenly looks phishy or the request is unusual, Abnormal will flag or quarantine it. It famously catches those hard-to-detect social engineering attacks by understanding context, not just scanning for bad links.

• Pricing: Enterprise product – pricing is custom (usually per mailbox per month).
  
  They do target mid-market too; expect on the order of a few dollars per user per month for full protection.
• Why use: Small companies are not immune to sophisticated attacks.

Abnormal gives you a virtually hands-free security operation center: the AI is monitoring inbound emails 24/7 for threats that would fool regular spam filters (like a hacker impersonating a vendor asking for payment).

If you don’t have dedicated IT security staff, this tool can prevent costly breaches or wire fraud attempts that could otherwise slip past busy employees.

2. Armorblox (NLP-powered email security)

Armorblox is another AI-driven security layer that specializes in understanding the language of emails.

It uses natural language processing to read email content and detect fraud or sensitive data exposure.

For example, it can block an email that tries to get an employee to send payroll data by recognizing the content of the email, not just known bad addresses.

It also helps with protecting outgoing emails – warning or preventing you if you’re about to send sensitive info like PII or customer data unencrypted.

• Pricing: Offers plans for small businesses (starts in the low tens of dollars per user/year). Often bundled with certain email providers or available via marketplaces.
• Why use: Armorblox is like a linguistic firewall for your email.

For a small team, it means AI is reading every important email with a security eye, which humans often fail to do when rushed.

If someone outside of known contacts emails your finance manager with wiring instructions, Armorblox will catch that even if the domain looks innocuous, because the content raises red flags.

It gives peace of mind that an AI is evaluating the meaning of emails, not just running down a checklist of known threats.

3. Tessian (Human error protection for email)

Tessian focuses on preventing costly mistakes and data leaks.

Its AI watches for things like misaddressed emails (e.g., accidentally emailing the wrong Bob because of auto-complete) and will warn the sender in real time (“Are you sure you want to send this info to Bob from outside the company?”).

It also detects if you are about to send an attachment containing sensitive information to someone who shouldn’t receive it.

Tessian’s models learn what normal sending patterns are for each employee – if one day an employee tries to mass email a client list externally, Tessian can block it if that’s out of the ordinary.

• Pricing: Geared toward businesses; pricing is custom, based on number of employees. Typically it might be ~$5-$10 per user/month.
• Why use: Many security incidents in small companies are unintentional mistakes – Tessian is your AI safety net to catch those.

It’s like a spellchecker, but for security: helping employees avoid the “oops” email where they CC a client instead of a colleague or send out confidential data by mistake.

If you handle sensitive client info or just want to avoid embarrassment and risk, Tessian provides a quiet, continuous layer of protection on every outgoing email.

4. IRONSCALES (AI plus human insights for phishing defense)

IRONSCALES is an email security platform that uses a blend of AI and crowd-sourced intelligence.

The AI component scans incoming emails for phishing signs (strange headers, domain typos, etc.) and also checks against reports from its community – if users at another company flagged a certain email as phishing, your AI is quicker to quarantine it.

It has an AI-powered phishing simulator and training as well, which can send test phishing emails to your team and then provide automated training to those who fell for it.

• Pricing: Offers SMB-friendly packages, possibly starting around $6/user/month, with scalable options.
• Why use: If you want an email security solution that gets smarter with every attack globally, IRONSCALES is a good pick.

For a small team, you might not encounter every type of phishing attempt – but IRONSCALES’ AI effectively shares knowledge across all its customers to protect you.

It’s like having a global warning system: when a new phishing campaign tricks someone somewhere, the AI learns and adjusts so your company doesn’t become the next victim.

Plus, it actively helps train your team to recognize threats, making your people part of the defense loop.

5. Microsoft 365 Defender (for Office Outlook)

Microsoft’s built-in security suite for Office 365 uses AI to detect threats in Outlook email.

It leverages Microsoft’s vast dataset of signals (across email, endpoints, etc.) to block phishing emails, prevent malware attachments from landing, and warn users of suspicious links (with features like Safe Links that analyze URLs on click).

The Defender AI can automatically quarantine emails that look malicious and then retroactively purge similar ones from all mailboxes if a new threat is confirmed, all without admin intervention. It also aids compliance by detecting sensitive info (like credit card numbers) and enforcing policies (like encrypt or prevent sending).

• Pricing: Included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Enterprise plans. For advanced features, some plans or add-ons (like Office 365 ATP) might be required.
• Why use: If your team uses Outlook/Exchange online, you likely already have this – it’s a robust, enterprise-grade protection that’s now accessible to small businesses via Microsoft 365.

The AI and cloud connectivity mean even small companies get the benefit of Microsoft’s security research: the instant a new spam or phishing technique is identified worldwide, your Defender is updated to block it.

It’s largely set-and-forget, which is ideal when you don’t have dedicated IT – just make sure it’s enabled, and you have a virtual security team working for you every time an email hits your users’ inbox.

6. Google Workspace AI protections (Gmail)

Google has long used machine learning to filter spam, and by 2025 Gmail’s AI security features are even more advanced.

Gmail’s AI now blocks 99.9%+ of spam, phishing, and malware by analyzing email content and sender reputation across billions of messages.

It also provides alerts for suspected phishing (“This email seems sketchy, it might not be from who it says”) for the user.

For compliance, Google’s AI-based data loss prevention can flag if an outgoing Gmail contains sensitive info (like a Social Security number or customer’s personal data) and prevent it or add encryption.

• Pricing: Included in Google Workspace (even basic Business Starter). Advanced phishing and malware protection in higher tiers.
• Why use: If you’re on Gmail, much of this comes built-in and is continually improving.

It’s essentially hands-free security – you’ve probably noticed how rarely you see obvious spam or dangerous emails in Gmail.

For a small business, relying on Google’s AI here is sensible; it’s like outsourcing your email security to Google’s vast AI brain which is updated non-stop.

It will stop most bad things at the door, and it gives users gentle warnings to double-check suspicious messages – a great safety net for those who might not be tech-savvy.

7. Barracuda Sentinel (AI for spear-phishing protection)

Barracuda Sentinel is a tool that layers on to Office 365 or other email systems to specifically guard against spear phishing and CEO fraud.

It uses AI to study communication patterns within your organization – who normally talks to who, what phrasing is normal – and can detect impersonation attempts (like an email that looks like it’s from your CEO asking for a wire transfer).

It will flag or block these in real time. Sentinel also offers account takeover protection: if an employee’s email account does get compromised, it can detect the anomalous behavior (like that account suddenly sending out mass emails at 3 AM) and alert you or auto-lock the account.

• Pricing: Typically an add-on subscription per mailbox; often a few dollars per mailbox per month. Barracuda often sells through partners/resellers.
• Why use: For a small finance or legal firm, or any business handling money, Sentinel provides extra assurance against the kind of targeted attacks that regular spam filters might miss.

It’s basically an AI bodyguard for your key executives’ inboxes, understanding their typical communication so well that a fake will stand out.

If your team is small, just one successful phishing email can be devastating; Sentinel is a worthwhile guardrail to prevent that one costly mistake by catching the tricks that look legit at first glance.

Category 7. Analytics & Productivity Tracking Assistants

Tools that analyze email usage and team productivity. These assistants crunch data like email response times, volumes, and patterns to give insights that help you and your team use email more effectively. Think of them as fitness trackers for your email habits.

Time on Market shows strong experience across the board. Tools like Yesware, Mixmax, and TimeToReply have been refining their analytics and engagement features for over a decade.

Even newer platforms like Microsoft Viva Insights and EmailAnalytics bring targeted insights into modern email workflows, helping teams build healthier and more productive habits.

Estimated Users reveal big differences in reach and focus. Yesware dominates with widespread adoption in sales environments, while Viva Insights is rapidly expanding through its Microsoft 365 integration.

Other tools like Gmelius, Email Meter, and TimeToReply serve more niche needs, offering laser-focused tracking for support and productivity teams without overwhelming features.

1. EmailAnalytics (Gmail/Outlook email metrics)

EmailAnalytics connects to your Gmail or Outlook account and visualizes your email activity.

It shows charts of emails sent and received per day, average response times to incoming emails, who your top senders and recipients are, etc..

For teams, you can compare metrics across team members – for example, see support agent Alice responds in 1 hour on average while Bob takes 3 hours.

It’s very useful for monitoring inbox workload and efficiency.

• Pricing: Starts at $5/user per month (Basic), with Pro at $15/user for more features. They offer a 14-day free trial.
• Why use: As a manager or small business owner, you can’t improve what you don’t measure.

EmailAnalytics is great for service teams or sales teams where timing matters – you can use it to ensure customers get timely replies or leads are followed up promptly.

Even individuals can benefit by discovering patterns (e.g., you get bogged down in email Mondays but hardly touch it Thursdays – so maybe schedule email time accordingly).

It basically gives you the data to back up hunches about email productivity and highlights where to improve.

2. Email Meter (Team email analytics dashboards)

Email Meter (formerly Gmail Meter) is an analytics tool for Gmail and Office 365 that provides customizable dashboards on email productivity.

You can define KPIs like “replied within 1 day” and track how you or your team are doing. It breaks down response times, thread lengths, and even attachment usage.

For managers, it can send monthly reports summarizing each team member’s stats. It’s useful for spotting trends, like an increase in emails to your support inbox this month, or if one client is consuming a lot of email time.

• Pricing: Offers a free version with basic stats. Pro plans for business with more customization – pricing on request (generally in the same ballpark as similar tools).
• Why use: Email Meter is quite flexible – you can get very granular data if needed.

Small customer success teams, for instance, might use it to ensure SLAs are met (e.g., every customer email answered in under 4 hours).

It’s also helpful for workload balancing: if one person is handling a disproportionate share of emails, you’ll see it in the data and can redistribute tasks.

Essentially, it brings the kind of reporting you’d expect in a call center to email, which for many small businesses is the primary communication channel.

3. Gmelius (Gmail team collaboration with analytics)

Gmelius transforms Gmail into a collaborative workspace with Kanban boards and project management, but here we focus on its analytics.

Gmelius provides shared inbox analytics – so if your team is managing a support inbox, you can see metrics like response times, how many emails are in each stage (Open, Pending, Closed), etc..

It also tracks task completion when you turn emails into tasks, and can monitor SLA compliance (e.g., flag if an email hasn’t gotten a reply in X hours).

Because it integrates with tools like Trello-style boards, it adds context like how many emails are tied to certain projects.

• Pricing: Team plan is $12/user per month, which includes these analytics and the collaboration features.
• Why use: Ideal for small teams that manage projects or customer inquiries via email and want lightweight project management.

Gmelius lets you treat emails as tasks – and then it measures your performance on those tasks.

If your team is using Gmail to handle say, customer onboarding or bug reports, Gmelius gives you structure and oversight.

The analytics ensure transparency and accountability, so no email-task falls through the cracks without someone noticing.

4. Yesware (Sales email tracking and analytics)

Yesware is known as a sales toolkit (email tracking, templates, etc.), and it provides robust analytics on outreach campaigns.

It will show you open and reply rates for your emails, performance of different template snippets, and even meeting booking rates from your emails.

Over time, you can see which types of emails are most effective. It also has a team dashboard to compare activity and results among sales reps.

• Pricing: Pro plan ~$35/user/month. Teams and Enterprise plans add more analytics and integration, around $65/user.
• Why use: For a small sales team or startup founder doing sales, Yesware offers data-driven insight into your cold emails and follow-ups.

It’s like having a personal sales operations analyst: you can quickly tell which email subject is working better or if adding a case study link increases responses.

That way, you can continuously refine your approach.

Also, it boosts individual accountability – if one rep is sending far fewer emails or getting lower engagement, the numbers will make it clear and you can adjust strategy or provide coaching accordingly.

5. TimeToReply (Email response time tracking)

TimeToReply is a specialized tool that measures how promptly your team members respond to emails.

It’s aimed at sales and service teams where slow replies can mean lost deals or unhappy customers.

You get reports on each user’s average reply time, fastest reply, slowest reply, and what percentage of emails are replied to within a target window.

You can also see the volume of emails each team member is handling. It integrates with Gmail and Outlook via API, so it works behind the scenes.

• Pricing: Plans start around $19 per mailbox per month (with volume discounts). They have a free trial.
• Why use: If quick email turnaround is critical in your business (think sales inquiries or support queries), TimeToReply gives you laser-focused metrics on that.

A small support team can use it to maintain SLAs, and a sales team can use it to ensure leads are engaged while hot.

It’s also motivating on a personal level – when staff see their response time improving, it gamifies customer communication in a positive way.

Essentially, it takes something usually opaque (how fast are we on email?) and makes it measurable and improvable.

6. Microsoft Viva Insights (MyAnalytics)

Viva Insights (formerly MyAnalytics in Office 365) is Microsoft’s personal productivity analytics for employees.

It sends you a private weekly report about how you spend your time: it will tell you how many hours you spent in email, how many after-hours emails you sent, and your average email response time to others.

It uses AI to even suggest “focus time” blocks if it sees you have a lot of email and meeting load, and nudges like “You have 3 emails from important contacts you haven’t replied to in 5 days” – prompting you to follow up.

All data is private to you (or aggregated for manager view without personal specifics).

• Pricing: Included in most Microsoft 365 business plans. Advanced manager and org insights in higher tiers (as part of Viva suite).
• Why use: For individuals and leaders using Outlook, Viva Insights is like a productivity coach living in your calendar and inbox.

It helps you build better work habits: for instance, it might flag that you’re emailing a lot outside of work hours (potential burnout sign) or that you routinely ignore emails from a certain client (maybe an issue to address).

Small teams might not have HR tools for wellness – this fills some gap by encouraging employees to unplug or schedule focus time.

For managers, the aggregated view (e.g., “Team averages 2 hours of after-hours emailing per week”) can inform policy changes to prevent overwork. It’s a gentle way to use AI for healthier and more productive email practices.

7. Mixmax (Email engagement and productivity platform)

Mixmax is known for email tracking and enhancements for Gmail, but it also provides analytics, especially for outbound sales or account management.

It tracks open rates, link clicks, reply rates, and even attachment downloads. Mixmax then gives you reporting on sequences/campaigns – e.g., email #1 of your sequence got 60% opens, email #3 got 20% replies, etc.

It also logs activity per rep if used by a team, so you can see email output and engagement by person.

Another productivity aspect: it shows you if emails you sent haven’t gotten a reply within a set time, which is useful to know who to follow up with.

• Pricing: Starting $29/user/month (for a plan with sequencing and analytics). Free basic tracking plan available.
• Why use: Mixmax is a favorite for data-driven email outreach and scheduling (it also has built-in scheduling links and templates).

For a small biz, Mixmax can act as a lightweight CRM: you’ll know who opened your proposals and who didn’t, and get reminders to follow up.

The analytics ensure you can refine your approach – for example, if none of your leads open emails after 5 p.m., you learn to send in the morning.

It’s like having an assistant analyze all your email interactions and extract actionable insights to close deals faster or keep clients happier.

Final Thoughts

In summary, 2025 has no shortage of AI email assistants tailored to just about every email challenge. From cutting down the time you spend sorting your inbox, to writing better emails, to automating your sales outreach, scheduling meetings, supporting customers, securing your communications, and tracking your productivity – there’s an AI tool for it.

Regular email users and small teams can mix and match these assistants to reclaim their time and improve effectiveness. By adopting some of these tools, you’ll spend less effort on the tedious parts of email and more on the work that matters most, all while responding faster and smarter than ever. Here’s to a future with a little less “Inbox 999+” stress and a lot more email productivity!