LocalInbox vs Airmail: AI on your Mac, no subscription

At a glance

What it costs over three years

Airmail's free version handles one account. Airmail Pro, for more accounts and the Pro features, is $29.99 a year on Airmail's help page, about $90 over three years, or $5.99 a month, about $216. Prices are set by Apple and vary by region.

In 2026 Apple told some yearly subscribers that their renewal price would rise; a notice quoted by Michael Tsai went from $9.99 to $49.99 a year. Airmail's help page explains the options: keep it, cancel auto-renewal and keep Pro until the period ends, or go back to the free version.

LocalInbox is $19 once during early access, then $49, for up to three Macs and every 1.x update. There's no subscription and no AI quota. Every licence includes unlimited accounts.

Where your mail and the AI go

Airmail's website describes a privacy mode that processes your data locally on your device. For AI, Airmail connects to outside assistants such as Claude and Codex through MCP. Airmail says everything runs on your Mac and you decide what the assistant may do; the assistant itself is a separate service with its own terms.

LocalInbox has no server. Your Mac talks straight to your mail provider, passwords stay in the macOS Keychain, remote images wait until you allow them, and tracking pixels and link-tracking parameters are removed. Every connection the app can make is listed on its privacy page (https://localinbox.app/security).

LocalInbox doesn't need an outside assistant: its summaries, replies and answers are written on your Mac, by Apple's on-device model or a model server you run in Ollama or LM Studio.

The AI features side by side

Airmail's AI is the assistant you connect. Its announcement says you can ask it to find messages, summarise long threads, draft replies, tidy up your inbox and organise folders.

LocalInbox's AI is built in:

• Summaries of messages and threads, suggested replies, Rewrite and Draft with AI.
• Ask your mailbox: a question in plain words, answered from your mail with a numbered source after each claim.
• A To Reply mailbox of mail from people waiting on you, decided on arrival.
• Categories you describe in your own words, next to Primary, Updates and Promotions.
• Phishing warnings that say why, with a second opinion from the model.

Day to day

• Devices: Airmail runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro, and one Pro subscription covers your Apple devices. LocalInbox is Mac-only, on up to three Macs per licence.
• Accounts: Airmail supports Exchange, Office 365 and POP, which LocalInbox doesn't. LocalInbox works with Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, Zoho, GMX, Proton Mail Bridge and any IMAP server, with no limit on how many.
• Sending: LocalInbox has Undo Send from 5 to 30 seconds, Send Later, snooze and “remind me if no reply” on every account, and a small helper sends scheduled mail while the app is closed.
• Search and safety: LocalInbox reads the text in image and PDF attachments for search, and blocks attachments that are programs, installers or scripts, even inside a ZIP.

Switching from Airmail to LocalInbox

1. Keep Airmail for any Exchange or Office 365 account: LocalInbox can't add Microsoft accounts yet.
2. Download LocalInbox and start the 7-day trial: every feature, no sign-up and no card.
3. Add your accounts, as many as you like. Gmail, iCloud and Yahoo use an app password, and the setup guides have each provider's steps and server settings (https://localinbox.app/guides).
4. There's nothing to export. Your mail stays on your provider, and LocalInbox downloads it over IMAP, so folders, read state and sent mail stay in step with the app you're leaving.
5. Recreate your signatures in Settings › Composing, and the rules you rely on. Signatures, templates, rules and categories then follow you to your other Macs through iCloud.
6. When you're ready, make LocalInbox your default mail app.
7. If you're on a yearly Airmail Pro plan, its help page explains how to turn off auto-renewal; Pro keeps working until the paid period ends.

When LocalInbox is the better choice

• You'd rather pay once than renew a subscription.
• You want summaries and replies written on your Mac, without connecting an outside assistant.
• You want a To Reply mailbox and phishing warnings that explain why.

When Airmail is the better choice

• You want the same mail app on iPhone and iPad.
• You use Exchange or Office 365 today.
• You want an outside assistant like Claude to work in your mailbox.

Sources

Facts about Airmail were checked in October 2026 and can change; check its website for current prices and features. Facts about LocalInbox come from its own documentation.

• Airmail
• Airmail Help: Airmail Pro pricing and subscription plans
• Airmail Help: Apple notified me of an Airmail Pro price increase
• Airmail: connecting AI assistants (MCP)
• Michael Tsai: Airmail 26.037 and the Pro price increase