Sortmail vs SaneBox

Every feature in one plan. A reason on every email. That’s the SaneBox alternative.

No feature allowance to count, no tier to climb. Sortmail files the mail you don’t need into real labels, shows you exactly why each message went where it did, and sorts your own inbox for free before you pay.

Sort my inbox free See the comparison

Connect a mailbox and Sortmail sorts your last 30 days (up to 1,000 messages) for free, showing where each one would go and why. Nothing in your mailbox changes until you choose a plan, and you can cancel in one click.

Your inbox: 18 messages instead of 247.

INCOMING

247

new messages

sortmailfiling

In your inbox18

Receipts31

Newsletters64

System134

Arrived247
In your inbox18
Receipts31
Newsletters64
System134

Illustrative example · one day of mail

Why switch

Why switch to Sortmail.

Every feature, from day one

SaneBox’s Snack plan gives you two of its features. Sortmail has one plan, and everything is in it.

See why, every time

Every filed email shows what decided it — your rule, your correction, sender signals or the model — and how sure it was.

Proof before you pay

Sortmail sorts your last 30 days the moment you connect. Nothing moves until you say so.

Side by side

Sortmail vs SaneBox.

Every claim about SaneBox links to their own page.

Sortmail and SaneBox, feature by feature
What matters	Sortmail	SaneBox
Every feature on every plan	YesOne plan with every feature; new mail sorting unlimited.	PartlySnack: 2 features, 1 account. Lunch: 6 features. Every feature only on Dinner.[1][2][3]
Corrections change future sorting	YesMoving a message saves a rule for that sender, listed and removable.	YesLearns when you move an email to another folder.[6]
Files into your own mailbox	YesOrdinary Sortmail/ labels (categories on Outlook) that stay if you leave.	YesMoves mail to folders such as @SaneLater (labels, in Gmail).[7][8]
Message bodies never stored	YesNever stored; a fingerprint is kept instead.	YesSays it sorts on headers and never stores email bodies.[9]

Yes YesPartly Partly, or with a catchNo No

The proof

What you get, and what it looks like.

You can see why

Every filed message carries its reason.

Open any message and Sortmail shows what decided it — one of your rules, your own correction, sender signals or the model — and, where it weighed evidence, how sure it was. When something lands in the wrong place, you know whether to fix a rule or just move it.

Your order has shippedHarbor Goods · [email protected]

Why this is hereReceipts

Decided bySender signals

Confidence94%

Sender[email protected]

Where it wentSortmail/Receipts, out of the inbox

Illustrative example

One flat price

Every feature, one plan, no credits.

There is one plan with everything in it: no tier to upgrade to, no AI add-on, no per-message charge. Sorting new mail is unlimited under the fair-use policy, so a busy month costs the same as a quiet one. A second mailbox is a fixed add-on at half the plan price.

With SaneBox: SaneBox sells features by the plan: two on Snack, six on Lunch, all of them only on Dinner.[1][2][3]

Plans to choose betweenOne

Features behind a higher tierNone

AI add-on or creditsNone

A heavy month vs a light monthSame price

Illustrative example

Corrections stick

Move a message once. It becomes a rule.

Put a message in the right category and Sortmail saves a rule for that sender in the same step. The rule outranks the model from then on, and it is listed on the Overrides screen where you can remove it. On Gmail, moving a message between Sortmail labels in any Gmail app counts as the same correction.

You move “Weekly product digest” to NewslettersSystemNewsletters

Rule saved: sender is [email protected] → NewslettersListed on Overrides. Remove it any time.

Next week’s digest files itselfWhy this is here: One of your rules

Illustrative example

Unsure stays in the inbox

When it isn’t sure, it doesn’t hide the message.

If the model answers below its confidence floor, or nothing can place a message, Sortmail labels it with its best guess and leaves it in your inbox, asking where it goes. Your answer becomes a rule. Mail it is unsure about is never filed out of sight.

Needs youStill in your inbox

Priya from Northwind — Quick question about the invoiceSortmail wasn’t sure — where does this go?

Sam Okafor — Can you review this by Thursday?Actionable · The model · 91% sure

Illustrative example

Your categories

Five to start. Rename them, or add your own.

Every account starts with Actionable, Personal, Receipts, Newsletters and System. Rename any of them, recolour them, choose which stay in the inbox, or add your own — Clients, School, Travel — up to 8. Sortmail sorts into the categories you set, not a fixed list.

Your categoriesRename, recolour, add

ActionableStays in inbox
PersonalStays in inbox
ReceiptsFiled
ReadingFiled · renamed
SystemFiled
ClientsStays in inbox · added by you

Illustrative example

Pricing

Every feature. One price.

Sortmail’s prices come straight from our billing code.

Billed	Founding	List
Monthly	$8.99 / month	$12.99 / month
Yearly	$79 / year$6.58 a month	$99 / year$8.25 a month
Every 2 years	$139 / 2 years$5.79 a month	$169 / 2 years$7.04 a month

Founding price for the first 500 subscribers, kept for as long as the subscription runs. Each extra mailbox is $4.49 a month at the founding price ($6.49 at list), or half the plan price on yearly and 2-year plans.

Dinner, billed yearly[5]4 accounts, every feature, paid annually$26.58 / month
Dinner, billed monthly[4]4 accounts, every feature$42.99 / month

Like for like — every feature, four mailboxes, billed yearly: SaneBox is $26.58 a month. Sortmail is $16.46 a month at the founding price ($10.12 less) and $20.63 at list ($5.95 less). Dinner is the SaneBox plan that includes every feature. Sortmail includes every feature on every plan, for every mailbox you add.

On the 2-year plan, Sortmail works out at $5.79 a month at the founding price — about 19¢ a day for an inbox that only holds what needs you.

Zero risk

Try it on your own mail. Pay only if it earns it.

See it sorted before you pay

Connect a mailbox and Sortmail sorts your last 30 days — up to 1,000 messages — and shows where each one would go and why. Nothing in your mailbox changes until you choose a plan.

Leave in one click

Cancel from Billing — no call, no form. You’re emailed 21 days before every yearly or 2-year renewal and 3 days before a monthly one. Your labels stay if you go.

Founding price, locked in

$5.79 a month on the 2-year plan, $6.58 on yearly, $8.99 monthly. Limited to the first 500 subscribers, and kept for as long as you subscribe.

Sort my inbox free

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Is Sortmail a good SaneBox alternative?

Yes, for Gmail and Outlook. Every feature is in one plan, every filed email shows why it was filed, and you see your own last 30 days sorted before you pay a cent.

I’ve trained SaneBox for years. Do I have to start over?

No training period needed. Sortmail sorts your last 30 days as soon as you connect, so you can compare the result with what you have now. Every correction becomes a rule for that sender straight away.

How is Sortmail priced?

One plan with every feature: $8.99 a month, $79 a year or $139 for 2 years at the founding price, kept for as long as you subscribe. Once the 500 founding seats are gone, new subscribers pay $12.99, $99 or $169. Each extra mailbox is a fixed add-on with every feature included.

Where does my mail go?

Into ordinary labels in your own mailbox: Sortmail/Receipts, Sortmail/Newsletters and so on, with filed mail out of the inbox. On Outlook, categories of the same names, with filed mail in Archive.

Is an AI reading all my mail?

No. Your rules decide first, then header signals such as mailing-list headers. Only when neither settles it does a masked extract — sender, subject and at most 400 characters — go to a model, and you can switch that off per mailbox. The model provider is contractually barred from keeping or training on it.

Does Sortmail store my email?

It stores a fingerprint of each message: the sender, a keyed hash of the subject, the category and why it was chosen. Message bodies are never written to its database, and it never sends, drafts or deletes mail.

Sources, checked 27 September 2026

Snack: 1 email account managed, 2 customizable features. sanebox.com
Lunch: up to 2 email accounts, 6 features. sanebox.com
Dinner: 4 email accounts, unlimited access to features. sanebox.com
Dinner, billed monthly — $42.99 a month, 4 accounts, every feature. sanebox.com
Dinner, billed yearly — $26.58 a month, 4 accounts, every feature, paid annually. sanebox.com
Moving an email to a different folder trains SaneBox not to make that mistake again. sanebox.com
Less important email is moved to a server folder called @SaneLater, based on headers such as sender and subject. sanebox.com
In Gmail, SaneBox folders are labels. sanebox.com
SaneBox says it looks only at header data and never stores the body of your emails. sanebox.com

Competitor details are taken from each company’s own public pages on the date above and can change after it. Sortmail’s own details are read from the code that enforces them. SaneBox is a trademark of its owner; Sortmail is not affiliated with it. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at [email protected] and we will correct it.