Verdict: Avec and Superhuman barely compete head-to-head: Avec is a free, iPhone-only layer that swipes your Gmail to zero, while Superhuman is a $300-a-year desktop-first client that replaces your inbox. Pick Avec if you want to triage Gmail fast on your phone for nothing; pick Superhuman if you process 150-plus emails a day at a desk and the speed pays for itself.
Avec is the most interesting new email app of 2026, and the coverage keeps pairing it with Superhuman. That framing is off. Superhuman spent a decade building the fastest desktop inbox in the category and charges $30 a month for it. Avec launched in April 2026 as a free iPhone app that does not replace your inbox at all. They meet on one idea only, that email should take less of your day, and they attack it from opposite ends.
Here is the honest comparison, with pricing verified this month, and a disclosure up front: we build CMDK, a Gmail extension that shows up once near the end because it shares Avec’s core idea.
The core difference: a layer versus a replacement
Avec sits on top of your existing Gmail. It presents your important mail one card at a time and you swipe: right for done, left for later, down to stop hearing from a sender. You never leave Gmail, nothing is deleted without permission, and the whole thing is built to get you back out of the app in seconds. Its tagline is a promise to handle your inbox in about a minute a day. It was built by Jonathan Unikowski, previously a product engineer at Replit, and raised $8.4 million from Lightspeed and Haystack.
Superhuman replaces your email client. You do your email inside Superhuman, not Gmail, on a keyboard-driven interface tuned to sub-100ms responses with a command palette, split inbox, snippets, read statuses, and follow-up reminders. Its model user treats the inbox like a cockpit and moves through hundreds of messages a day.
That is the whole comparison in one line: Avec makes the Gmail you already have faster on your phone, Superhuman gives you a different, faster inbox on your desk.
Pricing
| Avec | Superhuman | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (paid tiers planned) | $30/month, about $300/year |
| Trial | Free, no card | 30 days |
| Platforms | iPhone only (desktop in the works) | Mac, iOS, Android, web |
| Accounts | Gmail only | Gmail and Outlook |
| Availability | US and Canada | Global |
| Model | Layer on top of Gmail | Replaces your email client |
The price gap is the story. Avec is free today and its founder has said the current feature set will stay free while paid tiers get figured out later. Superhuman has no free tier and starts at $30 a month. If cost is the deciding factor, this table ends the comparison before you reach the features.
Platforms and accounts
This is where “Avec vs Superhuman” stops being a fair fight, in Superhuman’s favor. Avec is iPhone only, Gmail only, and available in the US and Canada. No Android, no desktop yet, no Outlook, no wider international support. Superhuman runs on Mac, iOS, and Android with a web app, and supports both Gmail and Outlook accounts. If you use Android, Outlook, Windows, or you want the same client on your laptop and your phone, Avec is not an option this year and Superhuman wins by default.
How each one handles email
Avec is a triage tool. The swipe stack is fast for clearing a phone inbox, voice compose lets you hold a button, say a few points, and get a drafted reply in your tone, and its notifications tell you what happened without making you open the app. Newer touches like extracting a due date when you swipe left and resurfacing the message on the day are smart. It is a delightful way to keep a personal inbox at zero from your couch.
Superhuman is a processing machine. Total keyboard coverage, auto-advance after archive, split inbox, and snippets are built for someone doing high volume at a desk, fast, every day. It is not trying to be fun. It is trying to give a professional back an hour.
If your email problem is “my phone inbox is a mess and I want it clean in a minute,” Avec is the better tool. If it is “I do 150 emails a day for a living and every second counts,” Superhuman is, and it is not close.
AI
Both lean on AI, differently. Avec uses it for prioritization, voice drafting, and natural-language search, so you can ask your inbox a question (“find my 1099”) instead of building a Gmail query. Superhuman drafts and summarizes competently and keeps adding AI, but its identity is speed, not an assistant. For a phone-first user, Avec’s AI is the more novel of the two. For deep AI over your whole email history, neither is the category leader; Shortwave is.
Privacy: read this before you switch
Avec is not local-first. To power prioritization, search, and drafting, it processes your email on its servers using a mix of AI vendors, and it needs access to the full content of your mail to work. The company’s privacy policy says the right things, but that level of access is the trade for the features. If your employer audits where mail data is processed, or that access makes you uneasy, factor it in. Superhuman also processes mail server-side, so this is a general caution for any AI email tool, not an Avec-only flag, but Avec’s whole pitch depends on it.
The verdict
| You | Pick |
|---|---|
| Want a free, fast way to clear a Gmail inbox on your iPhone | Avec |
| Live in your email at a desk, 150-plus messages a day | Superhuman |
| Use Android, Outlook, or want it on your laptop too | Superhuman (Avec cannot yet) |
| Refuse to pay $300 a year to move faster | Avec, or a Gmail layer (below) |
| Want deep AI across your whole history | Neither; look at Shortwave |
What Avec actually disrupts
Avec is not coming for Superhuman’s desktop power users. What it threatens is the premise underneath Superhuman’s price tag: that fast, modern email has to cost $30 a month and live in a new client you install and learn. Avec shows you can get a large share of that “email is calmer now” feeling for free, on the device where most people actually read mail, without migrating anything. That is a real challenge to the paid-client category, even if it is not a like-for-like replacement for Superhuman itself.
Where a desktop layer fits (our product)
Avec proves the layer-on-Gmail idea works on mobile. The same idea works on the desktop, which is the half Avec does not cover yet. CMDK (our extension) adds a command bar, one-key triage, split inbox, snippets, read receipts, and follow-up reminders straight into Gmail in your browser for $69 a year, without replacing anything. Someone who wants Superhuman’s outcome without the $300 can run Avec on the phone and CMDK on the laptop, both layered on the same Gmail, for a fraction of the price. For the full desktop picture, see our CMDK vs Superhuman breakdown and the wider list of Superhuman alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
Is Avec better than Superhuman?
For a free, phone-first way to keep a Gmail inbox clean, yes. For high-volume desktop email, Outlook support, Android, or using one client everywhere, no. They are built for different jobs: Avec is a free iPhone triage layer, Superhuman is a $300-a-year full desktop client.
Is Avec free?
Yes. Avec is free to download and use today, with no card required, and the founder has said the current feature set will stay free while paid tiers are added later. Superhuman has no free tier and costs $30 a month.
Does Avec work on Android or desktop?
Not yet. As of 2026 Avec is iPhone only, works with Gmail only, and is available in the US and Canada. A desktop version is in development. Superhuman already runs on Mac, iOS, Android, and the web.
Can Avec replace Superhuman?
Only if your email lives on your phone and you are on Gmail. Avec has no desktop app, no Outlook, and no Android yet, so a desktop power user or an Outlook user cannot switch to it. It replaces the default Gmail app on your iPhone, not a full desktop client.
What is the cheapest way to get faster email?
Start with what is free: Gmail’s own keyboard shortcuts, plus Avec on your iPhone. On the desktop, add a Gmail extension like CMDK ($69 a year, 15-day free trial, no card) for the command bar, read receipts, and one-key triage. That stack covers most of what people pay Superhuman $300 a year for.
