Canary Mail review for Mac users

Canary Mail pitches itself as the secure, AI-powered email app. It has real strengths, like encryption and on-device sorting, and one important nuance about where its AI runs. Here's what Mac users need to know.

Plans and prices

Growth and Pro+ are also sold as one-time lifetime licences. Prices checked September 2026.

Canary works on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android, with most mail providers.

Privacy: what stays on your device

• Sorting runs on your device. Canary says its prioritisation models are created, trained and stored on your device.
• Writing and summaries run in the cloud. Its AI Copilot uses models from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere and Google.
• Not used for training. Canary says your emails aren't used to train general AI models.
• Encryption. Pro+ adds PGP and secure sending.

So Canary is more private than most AI mail apps, but when you ask it to write or summarise, your email leaves your device.

What Canary does well

• End-to-end encryption with PGP, which few mail apps offer
• Works with almost any account, on every platform
• A free plan, and lifetime options instead of a subscription

Where it falls short for Mac power users

• Its AI writing depends on the cloud.
• It isn't built around working from the keyboard.
• It doesn't track whose turn it is in a thread.

Canary vs Dusk

Choose Canary if you need PGP or apps on every platform. Choose Dusk if you want every AI feature, including summaries and replies, to stay on your Mac, and an inbox built for speed. See Dusk vs Canary Mail.

Questions

Is Canary Mail free?

Yes, there's a free plan for up to two devices. Growth is $36 a year and Pro+ is $100 a year, with lifetime options.

Is Canary Mail's AI on-device?

Partly. Its prioritisation runs on your device, but AI Copilot writing and summaries use cloud models.

Does Canary Mail support PGP?

Yes, on the Pro+ plan.