Is Spike or Shortwave cheaper?

Spike has the lower entry price — Spike starts at $0/mo and Shortwave at $0/mo.

Does Spike or Shortwave support HIPAA?

HIPAA support — Spike: —; Shortwave: —. Confirm current scope with the vendor.

Spike vs Shortwave

A sourced, side-by-side comparison for email client. Spike has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it.

Spike has the lower entry price — Spike starts at $0/mo, Shortwave at $0/mo. Free tier: Spike Yes, Shortwave Yes. HIPAA: Spike —, Shortwave —.

As of 2026-09-02 · figures link to their source below STALE

Side by side

Spike

$0/mo entry

Entry price$0/mo (Teamspace Free)

Free tierYes

HIPAA (BAA)—

SOC 2—

GDPR—

Best forteams wanting chat-style email

Shortwave

$0/mo entry

Entry price$0/mo (Free)

Free tierYes

HIPAA (BAA)—

SOC 2—

GDPR—

Best forGmail power users

Sources — Spike: spikenow.com (verified 2026-09-02) · Shortwave: shortwave.com (verified 2026-09-02) STALE · 2026-06-18

Key features

Spike: Conversational email threading (chat-like UI); Built-in video calls and team collaboration; Dual product tracks: Teamspace and individual Email App; WhatsApp shared inbox on team plans

Shortwave: AI-native inbox with executive assistant; Multi-tiered AI search over full email history; AI-powered filters and thread summarization; Contextual AI autocomplete

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