mello vs Superhuman
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Superhuman and mello are both keyboard-first and both have an assistant, so they often come up together. But they are different kinds of product. Superhuman is an email app: your mail stays at Gmail or Outlook, and Superhuman works on top of it. mello is a mail service: your mail, calendar and contacts live at mello, and you can read them in mello’s webmail or in any mail app.
At a glance
What the table says about Superhuman comes from Superhuman’s own pages, as of October 2026.
| Superhuman Mail | mello | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An email app for your Gmail or Outlook account | A mail service, with a webmail and standard protocols |
| Your address | Stays at Gmail or Outlook | A mello address |
| Speed | Keyboard shortcuts | A command palette and a shortcut for everything |
| Sorting | Split Inbox: team, VIPs, tools | Inbox tabs for people, newsletters and notifications |
| Follow-ups | A reminder after the wait you choose | A reminder after the wait you choose; with AI, a drafted nudge after 3 days |
| AI | Auto Drafts, Instant Reply, Ask AI | On by default, and each part can be switched off: follow-ups, reply reminders, suggested to-dos, reply drafts, translation |
When Superhuman is the better choice
- You want to keep your Gmail or Outlook address. Superhuman works inside your existing account, so nothing about your address, your company’s setup or your admin changes. mello means a new address.
- You want AI that does more on its own. Superhuman drafts replies automatically from your inbox, calendar and the web, offers instant replies, and its Ask AI answers questions about your email in plain language. mello’s assistant is deliberately quieter: it drafts when you ask, and doesn’t summarize threads or answer questions in the webmail. If you want that, you can connect Claude or ChatGPT to your mello mailbox.
- You want an account today. mello is invite only for now.
Where mello is different
- It is your mail service, not a layer on top. Your mail lives at mello. Snooze, send later, undo send and follow-up reminders run on mello’s server, so they work in every mail app, including Apple Mail and your phone’s, even with all of them closed.
- Calendar, contacts and tasks included. All in one app, with one search and one set of shortcuts, and synced to your other devices over CalDAV and CardDAV.
- An assistant that drafts, never sends. It is on from the start, and you can switch off each feature under Settings → AI. Message text goes to the AI provider (Anthropic or OpenAI) for the features that are on; turning them off stops it. More in AI for email, without giving it everything.
- Private addresses. A random address for each site you sign up to, under Settings → Aliases. See private addresses.
- In the terminal too. A command-line client and a full-screen terminal client, for people who never leave the keyboard.
If speed is why you’re looking
mello’s webmail is built for the keyboard. Press ? to see every shortcut, or press ⌘K (Ctrl K on Windows) for the command palette and type what you want to do. A few that matter most: the arrow keys to move through the list, e to archive, r to reply, b to snooze and c to compose. Keyboard shortcuts has the full list.
How to switch
Moving to mello means moving your mail from the account Superhuman sits on:
- From Gmail: how to move from Gmail.
- From Outlook: how to move from Outlook.
Both guides start by forwarding your new mail, so nothing is missed while you move, and nothing is deleted on the old side. mello is invite only for now: request an invite.