Three clients have stuck their necks out in the last decade with strong opinions about how email should work. Hey, Superhuman, and STAMP. None of them are trying to be Gmail. All three are paid. All three have a bet.
We make one of them. We will be honest about all three.
The three bets, in one sentence each
- Hey. Email is broken because we let strangers into our inbox by default. Fix that and the rest follows.
- Superhuman. Email is fine; it is just slow. Make every action one keystroke.
- STAMP. Email is broken because nothing tells you what matters today. Build a triage layer.
These are not subtle differences. They drive every other design choice in the products.
How each one shapes your day
A morning with Hey
You open Hey. There are three boxes: Imbox (people you let in), Feed (newsletters), Paper Trail (receipts and confirmations). Strangers go to Screener; you approve them or you do not.
Hey's daily question is: “is this sender allowed in?” Once you answer, Hey trusts that decision. You are training a list of allowed senders, not a triage system.
This works beautifully if your inbox problem is “too many strangers shouting.” It works less well if your problem is “the people I let in are also overwhelming.”
A morning with Superhuman
You open Superhuman. You see your Split Inbox: Important, Other, News. You J/K through Important, R to reply, E to archive, S to snooze. You finish Important in 12 minutes.
Superhuman's daily question is: “how fast can I get through this list?” The answer is: very fast. The list, however, is still mostly the same one Gmail showed you, sorted by time, with manual splits.
This works beautifully if your problem is “I read the right emails, I am just slow.” It works less well if your problem is “I do not know which emails are the right ones to read.”
A morning with STAMP
You open STAMP. The headline says: “Working late, Simon. 7 need attention.” The seven threads are listed below, ordered by why they matter, with tags. Reply needed. VIP. Urgent. Frustrated. Reply through them with R. Inbox at zero in 20 minutes.
STAMP's daily question is: “which threads matter today, and why?” The triage layer makes that decision for you, on-device, before you ever open a message.
This works if your problem is volume plus signal. It is overkill if your problem is just speed.
Side by side, the boring table
| Dimension | Hey | Superhuman | STAMP | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Core metaphor | Sender buckets | Faster Gmail | Triage layer | | Multi-provider | Hey-only or Hey for Work | Gmail, Outlook | Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, IMAP | | Pricing | $99/year personal, $12/user/mo Work | $30/month | $8/month, locked | | Classification | Manual + sender rules | Manual splits | On-device automatic | | Keyboard-first | Decent | Best in class | First class | | AI on-device | No cloud AI involved | Cloud LLM features | On-device classifier |
Where Hey wins
- The cleanest reset. If you want to genuinely rethink email, Hey is the boldest option.
- Reply Later and Set Aside. Two of the most useful primitives in any email client.
- Spy Pixels blocking. Built in, surfaced, on by default.
- Privacy posture. Strong, well documented.
If you have the patience to learn a new metaphor and your problem is “strangers,” Hey is the right answer.
Where Superhuman wins
- Polish. Highest in class.
- Read receipts. Mature.
- AI drafting. Slick.
- Brand and prestige. A real factor for some users.
If your problem is speed and you do not mind cloud-side AI, Superhuman is the right answer.
Where STAMP wins
- Triage across multiple accounts. Not split, not bucketed, not faster. Triaged.
- On-device privacy. Classification runs locally.
- Price. $8/month vs $30/month vs $99/year is a meaningful gap.
- Multi-provider. Gmail and Outlook and iCloud and custom IMAP, in one queue.
If your problem is volume plus multiple accounts and you care about on-device processing, STAMP is the right answer.
What about combining
We get asked this. “Can I use Hey for my hey.com address and STAMP for my Gmail?” You can. We are not mad. The two products do not overlap meaningfully.
“Can I use Superhuman and STAMP?” Less common. Both want to be your daily driver. Pick one.
The right email client is the one you stop noticing.
A confession
We use STAMP because we built it. We have used Hey for two years on a side address. We have used Superhuman for six months in a previous job. All three are real products with real opinions. The category is healthier with all three in it.
If you tell us your situation in an email, we will tell you which one we think fits. Even if it is not us. Honest is cheaper than churn.
Where to go from here
For deep dives: STAMP vs Superhuman, STAMP vs Apple Mail, STAMP vs Gmail web.
For the broader category, best macOS email clients in 2026.
Pick the one that fits. hello@stamp.email