A private alternative to SmartInbox
Klar filters spam on your Mac, inside Apple Mail. No account, no cloud, nothing to hand over.
If you are weighing up SmartInbox, here is how Klar differs and where each one is the better pick.
| Aspect | Klar | SmartInbox |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Your Mac | Your Mac plus the AI endpoint you configure |
| Who can read your mail | No one new during filtering. Classification stays on your device. | Local models keep processing on your Mac; a hosted endpoint receives the headers or full message you choose to send |
| Works with | Apple Mail, with any account: IMAP, Gmail, iCloud, Exchange | Apple Mail inbox messages on macOS 15.2 or later |
| Price | Free forever | $4.99 one-time; unlimited free trial with a fixed prompt |
Klar fits better when you want a bundled on-device model, no endpoint or prompt setup, and an actively maintained filter
What to check before you connect SmartInbox
- Bring your own model, or ship the model
- SmartInbox sends Apple Mail data to an API that follows OpenAI's format. You can run the model locally with LM Studio and keep mail on your Mac. You can also use a hosted service; it gets the headers or content you enable. Klar ships its multilingual classifier in the app. There is no endpoint, model server or prompt to choose.
- Check the maintenance status
- The SmartInbox product page says active work stopped because few people were interested. Its release history lists version 1.0.1 from January 2025. The app may still work. But a Mail extension depends on macOS and outside APIs, so maintenance matters.
The honest picks
- SmartInbox
- The closest match here. SmartInbox asks an OpenAI-compatible model if an Apple Mail message belongs in Junk. Pick it if you want to write the prompt and run your own local model. The developer says active work stopped because few people were interested.
- Klar
- Pick Klar if you read mail in Apple Mail and want a modern multilingual model that runs entirely on your Mac. No account, no cloud, nothing to hand over.
Product and price details from the vendors' public pages, July and August 2026: loshadki.app. Klar is not affiliated with any vendor named here. No vendor endorses Klar. Product names only identify the tools.
Reclaim your inbox
Spam filter for Apple Mail. Free on the App Store.
