An automatic, cheaper Mailstrom alternative
Mailstrom groups your mail into bundles so you can clear thousands of messages at once, with plans that start at $9/month. Siftbird makes the call on each new email for you — no bundles to review — for a flat $5/month, and it stores no email content.
What Mailstrom does
Mailstrom, run by 410 Labs, sorts your inbox into bundles — by sender, subject, mailing list, and time — so you can delete, archive, move, or unsubscribe from large groups of messages in one action. Subscribers also get Chill (hide messages until a date you pick), Expire (automatically clear a sender's or list's mail after a set period), Block (filter future matching mail), and custom rules for incoming messages. It works with Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, iCloud, and other IMAP accounts.
Why people switch to Siftbird
Mailstrom is a power tool you drive. It groups the mail; you decide what happens to each bundle and write the rules that handle new messages. That's great for a big backlog, but staying on top of it means coming back to sort again. Siftbird doesn't ask you to: it reads a subject and short snippet, decides whether each new email matters, then forgets them. Mailstrom's own FAQ says it keeps subject lines and metadata on its servers. And its plans are tiered — $9/month for Basic, $14 for Plus, $29.95 for Pro, per its pricing page as of 2026 — where Siftbird is one flat $5/month.
Siftbird vs Mailstrom, head to head
 Siftbird | Mailstrom | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic triage of every new email | Yes | Limited |
| No bundles to review by hand | Yes | No |
| Stores no email content | Yes | Keeps subjects + metadata |
| Works beyond Gmail (Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP) | No | Yes |
| Price | $5/mo | Tiered, from $9/mo* |
* Per mailstrom.co as of 2026: Basic $9/mo or $59.95/yr, Plus $14/mo or $99.95/yr, Pro $29.95/mo or $199.95/yr. Verify current terms.
Where Siftbird wins
- · Decides on every new email by itself — no bundles to sort and no rules to write.
- · Reads only a subject and short snippet, then forgets them; no subject lines are stored.
- · One flat $5/month, or $45/year — below Mailstrom's cheapest annual plan.
- · Archives rather than deletes, and every action is reversible in one click.
Where Mailstrom may fit better
Mailstrom is the better pick if you manage several accounts (its Plus plan covers 3 and Pro covers 20), use Outlook, Yahoo, or IMAP mail, or want hands-on control over a huge backlog. Features like Chill, which hides mail until a date you choose, have no equivalent in Siftbird.
Common questions
How is Siftbird different from Mailstrom?
Mailstrom groups mail into bundles and lets you act on each group, plus set rules for new mail. Siftbird skips the sorting step: it triages every new Gmail message on its own, leaving important mail unread, marking noise read, and archiving clutter.
How much does Mailstrom cost compared to Siftbird?
Per Mailstrom's pricing page as of 2026, Basic is $9/month or $59.95/year for one account, Plus is $14/month or $99.95/year for three, and Pro is $29.95/month or $199.95/year for 20. Verify current terms. Siftbird is $5/month or $45/year for one Gmail account, with a 7-day free trial and no card required.
Does Mailstrom store my email?
According to Mailstrom's FAQ, it keeps subject lines and metadata on its servers, not full messages, though it accesses message contents when you view emails in its app. Siftbird stores no email content: it reads the subject and a short snippet to decide, forgets them, and keeps only what's needed to undo an action (the action, a category, the sender's domain, and the message ID).
Can Siftbird clean up my existing backlog like Mailstrom?
Yes — Siftbird works through your existing unread backlog first, then keeps triaging new mail every few minutes. For a one-time purge of years of old mail across several accounts, Mailstrom's bundles give you more manual control.
A calmer inbox, without giving up your privacy.
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Siftbird's comparisons reflect our reading of publicly available information about each product as of mid-2026 and may be out of date — check each provider for their current features, pricing, and privacy terms. Siftbird is not affiliated with any product named here.