Productivity · alternatives
Alternatives to HEY
21 productivity tools sit alongside HEY in this directory. Below is what separates each from HEY on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 21
- With a free tier
- 15
- Cheaper to start
- 11
- HEY starts at
- $99/year
Why people look past HEY
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the HEY entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
It costs more than the category median
HEY starts at $99/year. Across the 11 productivity tools listed beside it that publish a price, the median entry point is $9.99/month.
There is no free tier
The record for HEY carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 15 of the 21 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Native Mac email client built specifically for Gmail and Google Workspace accounts, and nothing else
- Starts $94.01 a month cheaper, at $4.99/month.
- 1 tier to HEY's 3.
Free standalone calendar app from Notion, formerly Cron, usable without a paid Notion subscription
- Can be used without paying; HEY cannot.
- Sold on a Free product, no licence fee model rather than Per user per month.
- 1 tier to HEY's 3.
Subscription RSS and social feed reader for Apple platforms, with a separate one-time Classic version
- Can be used without paying; HEY cannot.
- Starts $89 a year cheaper, at $10/year.
Security-focused AI email client with end-to-end encryption and a lifetime purchase option
- Can be used without paying; HEY cannot.
- Sold on a Per user per year, or one-time purchase model rather than Per user per month.
Mac launcher and automation tool sold as a one-time Powerpack licence rather than a subscription
- Can be used without paying; HEY cannot.
- Starts $65 a one-time cheaper, at £34/one-time.
- Sold on a One-time purchase model rather than Per user per month.
Free shared grocery list app with a simple icon-based interface, no subscription required for core use
- Can be used without paying; HEY cannot.
- Sold on a Free, with an optional paid Premium tier for extras model rather than Per user per month.
- 2 tiers to HEY's 3.
Every HEY alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HEY (this page) | $99/year | Per user per month | 3 | |
| MimestreamIf you want to keep your existing Gmail address and add a faster native Mac client rather than switch email providers entirely | $4.99/month | Per user per month | 1 | vs HEY |
| Notion CalendarIf your organisational need is calendar scheduling rather than email itself | Free | Free product, no licence fee | 1 | vs HEY |
| ReederIf your reading habit is RSS and social feeds rather than email | Free, then $10/year | Per user per month | 3 | vs HEY |
| Canary Mail | Free | Per user per year, or one-time purchase | 3 | vs HEY |
| Alfred | Free, then £34/one-time | One-time purchase | 3 | vs HEY |
| Bring! | Free | Free, with an optional paid Premium tier for extras | 2 | vs HEY |
| Day One | Free | Free tier plus subscription | 3 | vs HEY |
| Bluemail | Free | Quote | 1 | vs HEY |
| Samsung Food | Free | Free, no subscription | 1 | vs HEY |
| Spark Mail | Free | Per user per month | 3 | vs HEY |
| Mealime | Free, then $5.99/month | Freemium subscription | 2 | vs HEY |
| Supernormal | Free, then $20/month | Per month by credits | 3 | vs HEY |
| MeetGeek | Free, then $9.99/month | Per user per month | 4 | vs HEY |
| Bluedot | Free, then $14/month | Per recording user per month | 4 | vs HEY |
| LibreOffice | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs HEY |
| Gamma | Free, then $12/month | - | 6 | vs HEY |
| Streaks | $5.99/one-time | One-time purchase | 1 | vs HEY |
| AnyList | On request | Per user per year | 1 | vs HEY |
| Paprika Recipe Manager | $4.99/one-time | One-time purchase, priced separately per platform | 2 | vs HEY |
| Fastmail | $3/month | Per user per month | 3 | vs HEY |
| RowShare | On request | Subscription | - | vs HEY |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the HEY badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (15)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Notion Calendar , Free
- Reeder , Free, then $10/year
- Canary Mail , Free
- Alfred , Free, then £34/one-time
- Bring! , Free
- Day One , Free
- Bluemail , Free
- Samsung Food , Free
Cheaper than HEY (11)
Entry price under HEY's $99/year. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Mimestream , $4.99/month
- Reeder , Free, then $10/year
- Alfred , Free, then £34/one-time
- Mealime , Free, then $5.99/month
- Supernormal , Free, then $20/month
- MeetGeek , Free, then $9.99/month
- Bluedot , Free, then $14/month
- Gamma , Free, then $12/month
What you would be giving up
HEY is most often brought in for someone who wants to replace gmail or icloud mail entirely with an email service built around approving senders before they reach the inbox, a user overwhelmed by newsletters and receipts who wants them automatically separated from person to person conversation, a family that wants shared but individually addressed email under one annual plan, a small company wanting hey for work on its own domain with the screener model for the whole team. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If HEY is broadly right and the question is cost, the HEY pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Productivity category lists everything the directory holds, and best productivity tools ranks them.
HEY runs on mac, windows, web, ios, android. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about HEY alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to HEY?
- 21 other productivity tools are listed in this directory, led by Mimestream, Notion Calendar, Reeder, Canary Mail. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to HEY?
- 15 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Notion Calendar, Reeder, Canary Mail, Alfred, Bring!.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to HEY?
- Yes. 11 of the alternatives below start under HEY's $99/year: Mimestream at $4.99/month, Reeder at Free, then $10/year, Alfred at Free, then £34/one-time, Mealime at Free, then $5.99/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to HEY?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: it costs more than the category median; there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from HEY?
- HEY is most often brought in for someone who wants to replace gmail or icloud mail entirely with an email service built around approving senders before they reach the inbox, a user overwhelmed by newsletters and receipts who wants them automatically separated from person to person conversation, a family that wants shared but individually addressed email under one annual plan, a small company wanting hey for work on its own domain with the screener model for the whole team. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to HEY?
- None of the productivity tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these HEY alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Productivity, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare HEY against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against HEY covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every productivity tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Productivity category, 21 tools beside HEY. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.