Your inbox fills up with dozens of emails every day. Newsletters, work, spam, personal messages – all mixed together. Spark is an email client that automatically brings order to that chaos with AI and smart filters. The app sorts your messages, blocks unwanted senders, and even lets you collaborate with your team on emails.
Who is behind Spark?
Spark comes from Readdle, a company founded in Ukraine in 2007. It started as a small team making productivity apps for the iPhone, at a time when the App Store had only just launched. Readdle grew into one of the best-known independent app developers, with apps like PDF Expert and Scanner Pro reaching millions of users.
In 2015, Readdle launched Spark, an email client that wanted to be different from standard mail apps. The idea: email should be smarter and more organized. The app was an immediate hit, especially with Mac users. Apple rewarded Spark multiple times with an ‘App of the Year’ award. What stands out: Readdle has never raised external capital. The company remains completely independent and grows from its own revenue, which is rare in the tech world.
Today, Readdle has offices in multiple countries and the team works fully remote. Spark has grown from a Mac app into a cross-platform solution for iOS, Android, and Windows. The company continues to focus on productivity tools for individuals and teams, without the pressure from investors demanding rapid growth.
Who is Spark for?
Spark is aimed at people who process many emails daily and don’t want to spend all day doing it. Freelancers with multiple clients, teams that need to handle emails together, and productivity enthusiasts who love a clean inbox – they find what they’re looking for in Spark. The app works especially well for Mac users, because the interface feels most refined there.
But Spark isn’t for everyone. Do you have strict requirements about local storage without cloud sync? Then Spark is out, because the app synchronizes via Readdle’s servers. Linux users can’t use the app either – there’s no support for that platform. And if you prefer traditional email clients without modern bells and whistles, then Outlook or Thunderbird is probably a better choice.
What can Spark do?
The free version of Spark offers the basic Smart Inbox, unified inbox for all your accounts, and standard snooze features. For advanced AI tools, Gatekeeper, and team features, you need a paid plan. Here are the main capabilities:
- Smart Inbox: Spark automatically sorts your emails into categories like Personal, Notifications, and Newsletters. You can see at a glance what’s important and what can wait. The app learns from your behavior and adjusts the sorting.
- Spark +AI: The AI assistant helps you write, summarize, and reply to emails. You give a brief instruction and the AI writes a complete email. The AI also summarizes long email threads in a few lines, so you can quickly understand what it’s about.
- Gatekeeper: This feature blocks emails from unknown senders until you allow them. Spam and newsletters you didn’t ask for no longer reach your inbox. You maintain control over who can reach you.
- Shared Drafts: You can collaborate with your team on one email before sending it. Useful for important customer communication or formal messages that need to be reviewed by multiple people. Everyone sees the changes in real-time.
- Private Team Comments: Within an email thread, you can leave internal notes for your teammates without the recipient seeing them. This way you can discuss with colleagues how to respond to a customer, all within the same email.
- Snooze and Send Later: Put emails aside for a moment and have them come back later when you want to deal with them. Or write an email now and schedule the sending for a better time. Both features help keep your inbox empty.
- Done-workflow: Instead of archiving emails, you mark them as ‘Done’. This gives a satisfying sense of completion and helps you work towards Inbox Zero. Your inbox becomes a to-do list that you work through systematically.
- Unified Inbox: All email accounts together in one overview. Gmail, Outlook, iCloud – it doesn’t matter. You no longer have to switch between different apps or inboxes to check everything.
The calendar integration shows your appointments next to your emails, so you can directly see when you have time to handle messages. And the cross-platform synchronization ensures that you always see the same status on your iPhone, Android phone, Mac, and Windows PC.
What does Spark cost?
Spark has a free version that you can use unlimited. You get the Smart Inbox, unified inbox, and basic email features. However, there is a quota on the AI features and you miss out on team tools and Gatekeeper.
For the Premium Individual plan, you pay 7,99 dollar per month. If you choose annual payment, you pay 59,99 dollar per year, which comes down to 4,99 dollar per month. You then get unlimited AI credits (although users report that there are still limits), Gatekeeper, and all individual premium features.
The Premium Teams plan costs 9,99 dollar per month per user, or 83,88 dollar per year (6,99 dollar per month). This plan adds team features such as shared inboxes, shared drafts, and private comments. New users can try Spark Premium free for 7 days before paying.
What stands out: Spark used to have more features available for free. The company switched to a subscription model, which caused frustration among existing users. Features that were previously free are now behind the paywall.
What should you watch out for?
Spark’s synchronization doesn’t always run smoothly. Users report that emails sometimes arrive delayed or that the status of read messages doesn’t synchronize properly between devices. For those who use email time-critically, this can be annoying.
The desktop app doesn’t feel native. Especially on Mac, it’s noticeable that the interface looks more like a port of the iPad version than a real Mac app. It uses Electron technology, which means it runs heavier than a native app and sometimes responds slower.
Privacy is a frequently heard discussion point. Spark stores your login credentials on their own servers to enable synchronization. Although the company claims not to sell data, some users find it uncomfortable that a third party has access to their email accounts. For those who object to this, there are alternatives that work completely locally.
The AI features also have limits in the paid plan. Spark promises “unlimited” AI credits, but in practice there appear to be quotas after all. Intensive users run into these limits, which is confusing given the marketing message.
The pricing model is an obstacle for some. 7,99 dollar per month for an email client is considered high by many people, especially when you compare the app with free alternatives like the standard Mail app or Thunderbird. The switch from a largely free model to a subscription has also cost a lot of goodwill in the community.
Spark alternatives
Spark is not the only smart email client on the market. Depending on your priorities, there are alternatives that suit you better:
- Superhuman: Choose this if speed is your most important requirement and budget doesn’t matter. Superhuman is extremely fast and has extensive keyboard shortcuts, but costs 30 dollars per month. It’s more minimalist than Spark and lacks team features.
- Microsoft Outlook: Go for Outlook if you’re deeply integrated into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The interface is more traditional and less modern than Spark, but the enterprise features and integration with Teams, OneDrive, and other Microsoft tools are unmatched.
- Airmail: Choose Airmail if you work specifically in the Apple ecosystem and prefer a one-time purchase over a subscription. The features are similar to Spark, but Airmail is cheaper and feels more native on Mac and iOS.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about Spark:
Is Spark free to use?
Yes, there is a free version available with the basic Smart Inbox features. You can send and receive emails unlimited, but advanced AI tools, Gatekeeper, and team features are only available in the paid plans. For individual use, the free version is often sufficient.
Does Spark sell my data?
No, according to Spark’s privacy policy, the company does not sell personal data to third parties. They do use your data to improve the service and enable synchronization. Your email login credentials are stored on their servers, which some users see as a privacy risk.
Does Spark work on Windows?
Yes, since 2022 Spark has an official Windows version. In addition to Windows, the app is available for Mac, iOS, and Android. There is no Linux version and no web version either, so you depend on the native apps on supported platforms.
Conclusion
Spark is a solid email client for those who want to organize an overflowing inbox. The Smart Inbox saves time, Gatekeeper blocks spam, and the team features make collaboration easier. For Mac users and teams handling emails together, it’s a good choice. But the app also has drawbacks: synchronization doesn’t always run smoothly, the desktop app doesn’t feel native, and the prices are on the high side. If privacy is important to you and you’re uncomfortable with your login credentials being stored on external servers, then alternatives like Airmail or Thunderbird are better. For those who have no issues with cloud-sync and are looking for a modern email experience with AI support, Spark is worth trying.
