SaneBox tidies your inbox by filing the unimportant mail out of sight. Pidgy works the important mail for you. It ranks what is left, writes the reply, and chases the thread that went quiet, in Outlook and Gmail at once.
Pidgy vs SaneBox comes down to one question: do you want a quieter inbox or a handled one? SaneBox files low-value mail into folders on any IMAP account for around $7 a month and never writes a word. Pidgy reads Outlook and Gmail together, ranks the handful of emails that need you, drafts replies in your voice, and queues follow-ups for threads that stalled. Buy SaneBox for noise. Buy Pidgy for the work that is left once the noise is gone. Plenty of people run both.
You are choosing between a filter and a worker. A filter decides what you should not see. A worker decides what you should do next, and starts doing it.
SaneBox sits between your mail server and your client over IMAP. It watches how you treat each sender, then moves the mail you rarely open (newsletters, receipts, cold pitches) into folders, leaving the inbox for people you actually answer. Nothing on screen changes. Its SaneNoReplies folder adds one more trick, a list of messages you sent that nobody answered.
Pidgy starts where SaneBox stops. Once the noise is gone you still have forty emails that need a decision, a reply or a nudge. Pidgy ranks those by what needs you, writes a first draft in one of four named tones, spots the thread that has waited a week, and groups the lot into projects. You keep clicking send; it never sends on its own.
With SaneBox you open a shorter inbox and start reading. With Pidgy you open a ranked list of five items, each with a draft attached.
The overnight mail has been sorted. Twenty messages sit in the inbox, another sixty in the folders to be skimmed at lunch. You read the twenty from the top, work out which three matter, and write each reply yourself.
A proposal you sent last Wednesday has had no answer. SaneNoReplies lists it, and you make a mental note to nudge them, which you may or may not remember at four o'clock.
Pidgy has read both your Outlook and your Gmail account overnight and ranked everything. The screen says five things need you. Each one has a draft in your voice. You pick Professional, Friendly, Direct or Urgent, edit a line, and click send.
The proposal from last Wednesday shows as stalled, with a chase already written. Your Inbox Health score ticks up when it goes out.
SaneBox keeps filing, so the inbox stays short. Pidgy keeps re-ranking, so the list stays honest. A client reply that lands at three can jump to the top, and a thread you have dealt with drops out of view.
SaneBox works over IMAP and Pidgy layers on top of Outlook and Gmail, so the two do not fight. SaneBox thins the pile, Pidgy works what is left, and nobody needs to cancel anything.
Twelve jobs an inbox asks of you, and which tool takes each one.
| The job | Pidgy | SaneBox |
|---|---|---|
| Thin out newsletters and noise | Ranks them low rather than filing them |
Its signature job, on any IMAP inbox |
| Tell me what needs an answer today | A ranked list, 147 cut to 5 |
A shorter inbox, no ranking |
| Write the first draft | In your voice, four tones |
Never drafts |
| Nudge the thread that went quiet | Chase queued, tone picked by you |
SaneNoReplies lists it; you write the nudge |
| Keep one client's email, docs and tasks together | Auto-grouped projects |
Folders only |
| Show me whether I am on top of things | One Inbox Health score, daily |
No score |
| Answer a question about my inbox | Ask Pidgy (voice coming soon) |
No assistant |
| Cover Outlook and Gmail | Both, as one inbox |
Both, over IMAP |
| Leave my client exactly as it is | Sits on top of your inbox |
An invisible IMAP layer |
| Never send anything I did not approve | Nothing goes out without your click |
Sends nothing at all |
| Keep my mail in the EU | EU-hosted, never used for training |
Hosted in the US |
| What it costs | Early-access pricing |
Around $7 a month per inbox |
SaneBox wins when volume is the whole problem and you have no wish to change how you work.
If most of what arrives is automated and the human mail is manageable once separated out, a $7 filter solves the problem outright. An agent on top would be drafting you do not need.
SaneBox connects to anything that speaks IMAP. Pidgy is built for Outlook and Gmail, so if your firm's mail sits on another provider, SaneBox is the one that connects today.
SaneBox needs no new screen, no new habit and no reading of drafts. The first time you wish something had drafted the answer or chased the client, you have outgrown a filter, and that is Pidgy's job.
Neither tool is a bad choice. They answer different complaints.
Filter the noise if you like. Let Pidgy work what is left.
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Pidgy treats Outlook and Gmail as one inbox, ranks it, drafts the replies and chases the silence. Ask for early access below.