What Is Inbox Zero? AI Email Assistant for Gmail and Outlook, Rules and Pricing

You connect Inbox Zero to your Gmail or Outlook account; it marks emails that need a reply as "To Reply", leaves a draft reply in your style in the Drafts folder, and moves newsletters and marketing emails out of your inbox. You write what you want it to do as a rule in a plain sentence, and you don't turn a rule on before testing it on real emails. The email app is free; the AI plans start with a 7-day trial, from $20 per user per month. The code is open; it can be self-hosted, but the license has additional conditions.

What it does: Sorts email, drafts replies
Which email: Gmail and Outlook / Microsoft 365
Free: Email app; 7-day trial for the assistant
Does it send?: Default rules write drafts; you turn on sending
Turkish: Not clear in the official documentation
Price: Starter $20 · Plus $35 · Professional $50 (per user/month)

What does Inbox Zero do?

The problem it solves: a few important emails that need a reply get lost among dozens of newsletters, notifications and sales emails. Inbox Zero reads every incoming email, classifies it by type and does the job you set. The default setup in the docs: an email that needs a reply gets the To Reply label and a draft reply waits in the Drafts folder; marketing and cold sales emails go from the inbox to the archive.

Draft replies to emails awaiting replyWhat you get: To Reply label and a reply in the Drafts folderNeeds a connection Email rules in plain sentencesWhat you get: A rule made of a condition and an action; Test and History tabsNeeds a connection Bulk unsubscribe from newslettersWhat you get: Sender list, read rate, one-click unsubscribe or archiveNeeds a connection Connecting email to Claude and ChatGPTWhat you get: New message in the Drafts folder, rules, statsNeeds a connection

You don't leave Gmail or Outlook: the assistant works in the background, and you still read and send email in your own program. If you like, you can also use Inbox Zero's own email app.

Who it's for: business owners, consultants, real estate agents and sales teams who get a lot of email every day. For someone who gets little email, the free email app and Gmail's own filters are usually enough.

How does Inbox Zero work?

Every rule has two parts: a condition (which email) and an action (what to do). You can describe the condition by meaning ("if this email is asking me to set up a call") or tie it to a fixed field (if the sender address contains @company.com). When a new email arrives, the assistant checks the conditions and applies the actions of the matching rule.

Connect the accountGmail or Outlook; you approve the permissions

Write the ruleIn a plain sentence; the assistant turns it into a rule

Test itWith sample emails in the Test tab

A new email arrivesLabel, archive, draft, forward…

Once a rule is on, it runs by itself. Add sending or forwarding actions only after you've seen the rule match correctly.

Available actions: label (category in Outlook), move to folder, archive, delete, draft a reply, send a reply, forward, mark as read, star, mark as spam, add to digest, call a webhook; with connected accounts, notify Slack, Teams or Telegram. Actions can be delayed from 1 minute to 90 days.

The assistant learns from your corrections: in the History tab you explain a wrongly matched email with Fix, and the rule is updated. By default one rule applies to each email; for multiple rules, turn on multiple selection in Assistant › Settings.

Source: Inbox Zero docs, AI Personal Assistant and Getting Started; October 29, 2026.

How do you get started with Inbox Zero?

Connect the account: Sign in at getinboxzero.com, connect your Gmail or Outlook account and approve the requested permissions.
Set up the assistant: Open Assistant in the sidebar and finish the guided setup. The preset rules separate newsletters, marketing and notifications, and prepare drafts for emails that need a reply.
Review the rules: Open each rule's condition and action, and try it on recent emails in the Test tab.
Clean up old email: Bulk Unsubscribe and Bulk Archive work on existing email; rules work on new email.
Set the draft style: Automatic drafts and writing style in Assistant › Settings.

To add another mailbox, go to Settings then Email Accounts. Each mailbox has its own rules and settings.

The docs recommend: start with rules that label, archive or mark as read; add outgoing actions such as sending replies and forwarding only after you've seen the rule match correctly.

How do you write a rule in Inbox Zero? Examples

You write what you want in the instruction box on the Assistant page; the assistant turns it into rules, and you review them before saving. The docs describe writing instructions in plain English; how instructions in Turkish are understood is not clear in the official documentation. The instructions below follow the example format in the docs.

1. Drafts for meeting requests"Apply this rule if this email is asking me to set up a call. Label it "Meeting" and draft a reply that suggests times from my calendar."What you get: the email is labeled, and a reply suggesting available times waits in the Drafts folder; you check it and send it. To suggest times from your calendar, the calendar must be connected.

2. Separate invoices"Label receipts and invoices as "Accounting" and archive them."What you get: receipts and invoices leave the inbox with the "Accounting" label and stay labeled in the archive. If you want to forward them to your accountant, add "and forward them to …"; forwarding is an outgoing action, so try it in the Test tab first.

3. Search and summarize by chat"Find the emails about order 1042 from last week and summarize the thread."Typed into Chat in the sidebar. What you get: a list of the relevant emails and a summary of the conversation. The docs themselves note that summaries of long conversations may miss details.

Putting an AI blank in a reply template

In draft or reply actions you can write the text yourself and leave only part of it to the AI: the assistant fills in the instruction inside double curly braces based on each email's context, and the text outside stays as is. The example from the docs:

Template (official example)

› Hi {{name}},
{{write a response expressing interest in their proposal and ask about their timeline}}
Best regards

Before turning a rule on, run it in the Test tab against an email or free text; Test All tries all rules but applies no actions. After you turn it on, History shows what matched and why.

Source: Inbox Zero docs, AI Personal Assistant and AI Chat; October 29, 2026. Example outputs are described as far as the docs describe them.

Bulk unsubscribe from newsletters and clean up old email

Bulk Unsubscribe finds the newsletter and marketing lists you're subscribed to, and shows how many emails came from each sender and how many you read. Then you decide for each sender:

Unsubscribe: unsubscribes and archives that sender's old emails; if Inbox Zero can't unsubscribe by itself, it opens the sender's unsubscribe page.
Block: for a sender with no unsubscribe link, archives old emails and auto-archives new ones.
Approve: the sender stays in the inbox.
In the ⋯ menu: label future emails, auto-archive, archive all, delete all.

"Select N suggested" selects subscriptions you rarely read. Bulk Archive archives old email in bulk by sender category. Cold Email Blocker separates cold sales emails with an AI filter.

Deleting is harder to undo than archiving and depends on Gmail's or Outlook's retention rules. The docs recommend reviewing your selection and archiving first.

Connecting Inbox Zero to Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor (MCP)

MCP is a connection format that lets an AI assistant use another service. Once Inbox Zero's MCP server is connected, the assistant searches your email, reads conversations, creates drafts, manages rules and reads stats. The standard connection doesn't send email: drafts wait in your mailbox until you send them. Sending needs a separate permission (mcp:send): it appears on the consent screen only if an app requests it, and it's approved per app; on the consent screen you can remove every permission other than reading.

First, turn on MCP in Inbox Zero from the Settings then Account then MCP row and copy the address: https://www.getinboxzero.com/mcp. You must sign in with a Google or Microsoft account; signing in with an email code can't authorize an MCP client.

In Claude, open Customize then Connectors then Add custom connector.
Paste the Inbox Zero MCP address; leave the OAuth client ID and client secret fields empty.
Add the connector, click Connect and choose Allow on the Inbox Zero consent screen.
In a chat, turn on Inbox Zero from + › Connectors, then ask.

On Team and Enterprise, an owner first adds the connector under Organization settings then Connectors.

Add (official command)› claude mcp add --transport http inbox-zero https://www.getinboxzero.com/mcp

Claude Code then opens sign-in via OAuth.

~/.cursor/mcp.json

› {
  "mcpServers": {
    "inbox-zero": {
      "url": "https://www.getinboxzero.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The same address can also be added from Cursor Settings then MCP; sign-in is via OAuth.

To Claude after connecting"In Inbox Zero, find this week's emails from suppliers, list the ones announcing a price change, and create a short draft reply thanking each of them."What you get: the list in the chat; the drafts in your mailbox's Drafts folder as separate messages, not inside the original conversation. With the standard permissions, you do the sending.

To disconnect: Disconnect next to the app under Settings then Account then MCP then MCP apps. Turning off MCP disconnects all apps at once; don't assume signing out of the browser disconnects them, as the docs state that it isn't enough.

My data, permissions and Turkish

What it accesses

When connecting, it asks for permission to read and modify emails, create drafts and send. Calendar and Drive/OneDrive permissions are requested only when you connect that feature.

Model training

According to the privacy policy, AI providers are not allowed to train models on your data; for Google data, Google's "Limited Use" rule is followed.

Sensitive data

The assistant settings include a policy that masks or blocks information such as passwords and card numbers in emails before it reaches the AI; the docs state that this isn't full protection.

Certification

The homepage states that it has SOC 2 Type 2 certification.

Because this tool can read your email and act on your behalf, test rules with outgoing actions (send reply, forward) in the Test tab first and keep an eye on History.

Turkish interfaceUnclear	The official pages have no list of interface languages.
Rules and drafts for Turkish emailUnclear	Language support isn't mentioned in the docs. Run the rule in the Test tab with sample Turkish emails and check the result.
Gmail and OutlookYes	Both are supported; in Outlook, labels become categories.
Turkish lira priceNo	Prices are in US dollars.

KVKK (Turkey's Personal Data Protection Law): your customers' emails are processed by a service abroad; KVKK isn't mentioned in the Inbox Zero docs. This is not legal advice.

Is Inbox Zero free? Plans and pricing

Email app$0 forever

Gmail and Outlook in one inbox
Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone
AI assistant (sorting, drafts, rules)

Starter$20 /user/month

Sorts and labels emails
Draft replies in your style
Cold email blocker
Bulk unsubscribe and archive
Email analytics
Pre-meeting briefs
Slack integration
Email digests
Filing attachments to Drive/OneDrive

Plus$35 /user/month

Everything in Starter
2 email accounts per user
Slack and app integrations
Email digests, attachment filing
Unlimited knowledge base
Meeting notetaker
Team-wide analytics
Priority support

Professional$50 /user/month

Everything in Plus
Team-wide analytics
Priority support
Dedicated onboarding help

These are monthly billing amounts; billed yearly, Starter is $18, Plus $28 and Professional $42 (per user/month). AI plans start with a 7-day free trial. Payment is by credit card via Stripe; you can request a refund by email within 14 days after upgrading. Enterprise is for organizations that need SSO, SCIM and on-premises deployment, priced through the sales team.

Inbox Zero covers the AI cost. If you want, you enter your own model provider key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq, OpenRouter…) in the AI Model section in Settings; that provider then bills you separately.

Prices are in US dollars; no local-currency (Turkish lira) price or tax information is published. Paying by card from Turkey is not clear in the official documentation; during the trial, check that your card is accepted on the payment screen. The meeting notetaker is on the "early access" list in the docs: it isn't available on every account.

Official pricing page last checked on November 3, 2026.

Is Inbox Zero open source? Self-hosting and license

The code for the AI assistant, web app and desktop email app is open on GitHub (the iPhone app isn't yet). Self-hosting is for those who want their data to stay on their own infrastructure. The docs recommend the hosted service for most users.

Install and start (official commands)

› npx @inbox-zero/cli setup
npx @inbox-zero/cli start

The docs give the command without a version; if you want to pin the version, you can write npx @inbox-zero/cli@2.30.0 setup with the package's latest version as of October 29, 2026.

Then http://localhost:3000 (or your own domain) opens. The setup wizard has you configure a Google or Microsoft OAuth app and your model provider.

Requirement	What the docs say
Software	Docker and Node.js 24 or later
Email access	Your own Google OAuth (Gmail API, Pub/Sub) or Microsoft (Azure app, Graph permissions) registration
AI	Your own model provider key (environment variable)
Updates	`inbox-zero update`, or pull the image with Docker Compose and restart
Hosting	Guides for Docker/VPS, Vercel, AWS, Kubernetes, Google Cloud

License: what's allowed and what isn't?

Allowed

Personal use, education and research
Business use in an organization with fewer than 5 business users
Inspecting and modifying the code under AGPL-3.0

Not allowed

Selling the software or a derivative, or offering it as a paid service (without written permission from Inbox Zero Inc.)
Using it without an enterprise license in an organization where 5 or more employees, contractors or users use it for business

Source: the additional conditions at the top of the LICENSE file in the repository (before the AGPL-3.0 text). That's why GitHub shows the license as "NOASSERTION". Not legal advice.

Common problems and fixes

What happens	What to do
"You have exceeded the rate limit" error	Gmail and Outlook set per-account limits; review the other services connected to your account on the Google or Microsoft security page and remove access for those you don't use.
A rule matched the wrong email	Turn the rule off, open the entry in History and explain what was wrong with Fix. While reviewing, you can turn off all rules for that account from Settings then Email Accounts.
The draft misses context	The docs state that drafts may be incomplete or based on assumptions; fill in the writing style and knowledge base in Assistant › Settings, and read the draft before sending.
Claude or ChatGPT won't connect	Sign in to Inbox Zero with a Google or Microsoft account; signing in with an email code can't authorize an MCP client.
A setting is missing on the phone	The full settings are in the web app; changes you save on the web also apply on the phone.

Canceling the subscription, deleting the account and removing access

Cancel the subscription: In the billing portal via Settings then Billing then Manage Subscription. The subscription lasts until the end of the period.
Delete the account: Settings then Delete Account. This doesn't automatically remove Google or Microsoft access.
Remove Gmail access: On the Connections page of your Google account: Inbox Zero › See Details › "Remove all access".
Remove Outlook access: On the App permissions page of your Microsoft account: Inbox Zero › Remove.

Frequently asked questions

What is Inbox Zero?

An AI email assistant for Gmail and Outlook. It marks emails that need a reply and prepares draft replies, sorts your inbox with rules you write in plain sentences, and lets you bulk unsubscribe from newsletters.

Is Inbox Zero free?

The email app is free. The AI assistant is on paid plans: after a 7-day trial it starts at 20 dollars per user per month, or 18 dollars billed yearly.

How do you use Inbox Zero with Gmail?

You connect your Gmail account at getinboxzero.com, approve the permissions and review the preset rules in Assistant. Labels show up directly in Gmail, and drafts land in Gmail's Drafts folder.

Does it work with Outlook?

Yes. Outlook and Microsoft 365 accounts can also be connected; Gmail labels become categories in Outlook, and emails can be moved to folders.

Does it send emails on my behalf?

The default rules only prepare drafts. Sending happens only if you add a send reply or forward action to a rule. The Claude or ChatGPT connection (MCP) doesn't send by default; sending needs a separate permission and is approved separately for that app on the consent screen.

Does it connect to Claude or ChatGPT?

Yes, through its MCP server. It's added as a custom connector in Claude, through developer mode in ChatGPT, and with a one-line setting in Claude Code and Cursor; the assistant searches, reads, writes drafts and manages rules.

Is AI trained on my data?

According to the privacy policy, no: AI providers are not allowed to train models on Inbox Zero data.

Is Inbox Zero open source, and can I self-host it?

The code is open on GitHub and is installed with Docker. The license is AGPL-3.0 plus additional conditions: organizations with 5 or more business users must get an enterprise license, and offering the software as a paid service requires written permission.

Related guides

Sources

Not clear in the official sources: Rule matching and draft language for Turkish emails · Turkish interface · Card payment and tax from Turkey · Which plans include the MCP connection · Which accounts have the meeting notetaker (early access). Each is covered in its section along with what you can do.