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Mailstrom review: bulk cleanup with you at the controls

Mailstrom's bundling turns hundreds of messages into a handful of decisions, from $9 a month, and its FAQ says rules can carry those decisions forward to incoming mail. Every one of those decisions, though, is still yours to make.

Full disclosure up front: we make Sieve, so judge accordingly. Everything below about Mailstrom sticks to its own public positioning.

What is Mailstrom?

Mailstrom's own line is that it's the simplest way to clean up your inbox: it groups your existing mail into bundles (by sender, subject, or list) so you can keep what matters and delete, archive, or move the rest in bulk, staying in control of every action. Its pricing page promises unlimited email removal on every plan, alongside named tools like Chill, Expire, and Block.

Its FAQ pushes past the one-time purge: your mail is loaded continuously, and rules can automatically act on incoming messages that match your instructions.

What Mailstrom does well

  • Bundling is the right primitive for a purge. Grouping by sender or list turns an unmanageable pile into a short list of decisions, and you approve each one: nothing happens behind your back.
  • It carries your decisions forward, per its FAQ: mail keeps loading continuously, and rules can apply an action you've chosen to matching incoming messages automatically.
  • It scales to many addresses: per its pricing page, Plus covers 3 email addresses and Pro covers 20, with unlimited email removal on every plan.

Mailstrom pricing

As of July 2026, Mailstrom's pricing page lists three plans: Basic at $9 a month or $59.95 a year (one email address), Plus at $14 a month or $99.95 a year (three addresses), and Pro at $29.95 a month or $199.95 a year (twenty addresses). Every plan includes unlimited email removal and starts with a free trial; the tiers differ mainly in how many addresses you clean. Sieve, for comparison, is $10 a month for Basic or $20 for Pro, which adds a second inbox; both are 15% off yearly with a 7-day free trial.

Where Sieve fits differently

Sieve ships with its judgment built in and learns yours as you go. Every incoming message is classified server-side within seconds. Cold outreach goes under a Solicitor label, phishing under Malicious, and both are archived out of your inbox rather than deleted. When it gets one wrong, drag the message back; the correction is recorded automatically and future classifications improve. Reply to someone and Sieve treats them as a trusted sender from then on. And you can steer it in plain English: "I'm not interested in recruiter pitches."

Sieve starts where rules leave off. A rule repeats a judgment you've already made: this sender, this list, this action. Sieve supplies the first judgment itself, on senders you've never ruled on, so the inbox you dug out with Mailstrom stays clean without you writing the rulebook.

Mail from people you already know (your domain, trusted senders, anyone in a thread with you) is cleared by deterministic rules before any AI runs, so its contents are never read by the model. Sieve stores no message bodies (mostly metadata, plus the subject line of flagged mail, encrypted and deleted after 30 days), and nothing is used to train models. Google's security review is complete, and SOC 2 Type II is in progress. Read the Privacy Policy.

Sieve and Mailstrom, side by side

The job it doesSieveFilters unwanted mail out of Gmail: cold outreach is labeled Solicitor, phishing is labeled Malicious, and both are archived out of your inbox.MailstromIn its own words: bulk inbox cleanup, keep important messages and delete, archive, or move the rest.
New mail, as it arrivesSieveClassifies every incoming message server-side, within seconds of arrival. Your inbox is already clean when you open it.MailstromIts FAQ says mail loads continuously, and rules can act on matching incoming messages automatically.
How it adapts to youSieveLearns from you: drag a message back and the correction is recorded; reply to someone and they're trusted from then on; steer it in plain English.MailstromIts FAQ describes rules that carry your instructions forward to matching mail.
PriceSieveFrom $10/month ($102/year); Pro at $20/month adds a second inbox. 7-day free trial.MailstromIts pricing page lists Basic $9/mo ($59.95/yr), Plus $14/mo ($99.95/yr), Pro $29.95/mo ($199.95/yr), each with a free trial, as of July 2026.

Statements about Mailstrom reflect its own public positioning as of July 2026. Check mailstrom.co for current features and pricing.

When Mailstrom is the better choice

Pick Mailstrom over Sieve if:

  • You need a one-time dig-out of an overflowing inbox. Sieve never touches mail that arrived before you connected it: its job is keeping the inbox clean from here on.
  • You're not on Gmail or Outlook. Sieve supports those two providers through their direct APIs. It does not support Yahoo or custom IMAP.
  • You're cleaning many addresses at once. Its Pro plan covers 20 email addresses for $29.95 a month, per its pricing page; Sieve covers at most two inboxes (the second comes with its $20 Pro plan).

Common questions

How much does Mailstrom cost?
As of July 2026, its pricing page lists Basic at $9/month or $59.95/year (one address), Plus at $14/month or $99.95/year (three addresses), and Pro at $29.95/month or $199.95/year (twenty addresses), each with a free trial.
Is Mailstrom free?
It offers a free trial on every plan, per its pricing page, but ongoing use is a paid subscription starting at $9 a month. See mailstrom.co for what the trial includes.
Do I need to migrate anything from Mailstrom?
No. Sieve works with Gmail or Outlook as-is. Connect your account, and during onboarding Sieve asks for a one-sentence plain-English description of what you don't want to see; filtering starts from there. It uses provider-native labels, categories, or folders, never deletes classified mail, and you can disconnect and delete your Sieve data anytime.
Does Sieve clean up the mail already in my inbox?
No, and that's deliberate. Sieve never archives or deletes mail that arrived before you connected it. During onboarding it reviews your recent mail so you can preview real decisions, but real filtering applies only to new mail from activation onward.
What happens if Sieve gets it wrong?
Drag the message back to your inbox or remove the label. The correction is recorded automatically and future classifications improve. You can also add senders to your trusted list.
How much does Sieve cost?
From $10 a month. Basic is $10/month, Pro is $20/month and adds a second inbox (Gmail or Outlook), and annual billing takes 15% off either. Both start with a 7-day free trial, and you can cancel anytime.

Mailstrom is a trademark of its respective owner. Gmail is a trademark of Google LLC; interface depictions are illustrative. Sieve, by Snowfish Technologies, is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mailstrom or Google. Details about Mailstrom are drawn from its own public positioning and may change. Verify on mailstrom.co.