Software profile Email and inbox
HEY
HEY is a mail provider, not a client, and it deliberately has no AI reading your messages. The Screener, Imbox and Paper Trail workflow does by hand what the AI tools try to do by model, and the privacy policy says plainly that the products do not include built-in AI features that process your content.
- From
- €7.59
- Free plan
- No
- Trial
- 30 days
Best for
People who want someone else's opinion about email imposed on them, and no model anywhere near the message body
Strengths / Weaknesses
Strengths
- The Screener, every first-time sender is approved or blocked by you, which removes more noise than any AI triage in this list
- Privacy policy states the products do not include built-in AI features that process your content and that content is not used to train AI models
- Published DPA and a public sub-processor list, which is more than most AI vendors here offer
- Optional MCP connector lets you point your own ChatGPT, Claude or Grok at HEY, so you decide whether a model sees anything at all
- 30 day trial of HEY for You without a credit card
Weaknesses
- It is a mailbox move, not an app, HEY does not check your existing Gmail or Outlook and supports neither IMAP nor POP
- A custom domain means HEY for Domains at 12 USD per user and month, more than twice the personal plan, with no trial
- Products are primarily housed in the United States and data from EU users is transferred there under standard contractual clauses
- No AI features at all, so in an AI email comparison it is the control group rather than a contender
- No historical import, old mail stays where it was
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Unit | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| HEY for You | Price on request | per user / month equivalent | 99 USD per year, annual billing only, converted at 1 USD = 0.92 EUR |
| HEY for Families | Price on request | per household / month equivalent | 179 USD per year for up to five people |
| HEY for Domains | Price on request | per user / month | 12 USD per user per month, first user 10 USD, monthly only, no trial |
| Short address, three characters | Price on request | per user / month equivalent | 349 USD per year |
| Short address, two characters | Price on request | per user / month equivalent | 999 USD per year |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Verdict
HEY belongs in this list as the honest counter argument: most of what AI triage promises can be had by making senders ask permission first. If you want that, HEY is excellent and it is the only vendor here whose privacy policy commits to keeping models out of your mail. The price is a migration, a new address and US hosting, and for a company that already runs Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 that is usually a deal breaker rather than a trade off.
Other Email and inbox software
Where we write about it
Where these numbers come from
- [1] HEY pricing accessed 2026-11-11
- [2] 37signals privacy policy accessed 2026-11-11
- [3] HEY sub-processors accessed 2026-11-11
- [4] HEY AI accessed 2026-11-11
- [5] Can I use HEY to check my other email accounts? accessed 2026-11-11