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Comparison · Comms

Shortwave vs Rspamd

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Shortwave and Rspamd — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shortwave vs Rspamd: at a glance

FeatureShortwaveRspamd
SectorCommsComms
Velocity score0.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesai-email, agentic-workflows, mcp, automationspam filtering, email authentication, input hardening, attachment extraction
Last editorial update4mo ago2h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Shortwave?

Shortwave keeps folding autonomy into the inbox, one AI action at a time.

Shortwave has moved decisively from an AI-assisted email client to an inbox that acts on the user's behalf. The assistant reads, drafts, organizes, and — via the Tasklet integration — triggers automated workflows across thousands of apps, with its work surfaced inside Shortwave rather than buried in Gmail. Every release since late 2024 has pushed more of the email workflow out of the user's hands and into the model's.

Read the full Shortwave trajectory →

What is Rspamd?

Rspamd 4.3 fixes SPF evaluation order and rejects weak DKIM keys, with results that change.

Rspamd 4.3.0 on November 13 is a correctness release with a long incompatible-changes list. SPF records are now evaluated in term order, closing a case where an explicit -ip4 deny could be overridden by a broader allow. DKIM rejects RSA keys under 1024 bits and signatures with duplicate tags, DMARC no longer drops a policy over an unknown tag, URL mismatches are scored apart from phishing, and PDF text extraction and archive unpacking change their output. Critical fixes cover a header line that could abort a worker from one unauthenticated HTTP request.

Read the full Rspamd trajectory →

Shortwave vs Rspamd: editorial side-by-side

S0.0

Shortwave keeps folding autonomy into the inbox, one AI action at a time.

◆ Current state

Shortwave has moved decisively from an AI-assisted email client to an inbox that acts on the user's behalf. The assistant reads, drafts, organizes, and — via the Tasklet integration — triggers automated workflows across thousands of apps, with its work surfaced inside Shortwave rather than buried in Gmail. Every release since late 2024 has pushed more of the email workflow out of the user's hands and into the model's.

◆ Where it's heading

The direction is a steadily widening action surface: MCP connectors to external tools, AI Memories, voice, and now trigger-based automation all frame email as an agent runtime rather than a reading pane. Model choices track the frontier closely — Claude 3.7 to Sonnet 4 to the 4.6 family — keeping capability tied to whatever the best available model can do. The team ships broadly across web, desktop, iOS, and Android each cycle.

◆ Prediction

The next moves most likely deepen autonomous execution — more trigger types and tighter loops where the assistant acts with less confirmation — rather than adding new surface features.

R
Rspamd
COMMS
5.0

Rspamd 4.3 fixes SPF evaluation order and rejects weak DKIM keys, with results that change.

◆ Current state

Rspamd 4.3.0 on November 13 is a correctness release with a long incompatible-changes list. SPF records are now evaluated in term order, closing a case where an explicit -ip4 deny could be overridden by a broader allow. DKIM rejects RSA keys under 1024 bits and signatures with duplicate tags, DMARC no longer drops a policy over an unknown tag, URL mismatches are scored apart from phishing, and PDF text extraction and archive unpacking change their output. Critical fixes cover a header line that could abort a worker from one unauthenticated HTTP request.

◆ Where it's heading

Since 4.1, every release has hardened parsers and closed memory-safety and trust gaps; 4.3 applies the same pass to the authentication standards themselves (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, ARC) and to content extraction. Operators should expect scores and fuzzy hashes to shift after upgrading, because the project now favours spec-correct results over backward-compatible ones.

◆ Prediction

A 4.3.x point release fixing regressions from these behaviour changes is the likely next step, as 4.2.1 followed 4.2.0 within two weeks.

Alternatives to Shortwave and Rspamd

Other Comms products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Shortwave or Rspamd.

See all Shortwave alternatives → · See all Rspamd alternatives →

Recent activity from Shortwave and Rspamd

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 21h agoRspamd4.3.0: SPF order fix, stricter DKIM, new truncation symbols
  2. 24d agoRspamd4.2.3: ARC trust fix, merged RBL queries, browser-style HTML parsing
  3. 1mo agoRspamd4.2.2: crypto wallet detection and changed MIME digests
  4. 1mo agoRspamd4.2.1: critical HTTP and memory-safety fixes
  5. 1mo agoRspamd4.2.0: public suffix lookup and attachment content extraction
  6. 3mo agoRspamdCloses an arbitrary file read reachable by any TCP client
  7. 8mo agoShortwaveUpgraded to Claude Sonnet & Opus 4.6
  8. 10mo agoShortwaveFully automate your email with Tasklet 🔗 ⚡
  9. 1y agoShortwaveEnhanced AI performance & collaboration
  10. 1y agoShortwaveIntegrate the AI with all your apps 🔌 ⚡
  11. 1y agoShortwaveTalk to your inbox 🎙️
  12. 1y agoShortwaveOrganize your inbox with AI ✨

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Shortwave and Rspamd?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Rspamd is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Shortwave better than Rspamd?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Rspamd is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Comms products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Shortwave?

Top Shortwave alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Shortwave alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/shortwave for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Rspamd?

Top Rspamd alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Rspamd alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rspamd for the full list with editorial commentary on each.