bytemail Pricing and Licensing: Plans, Trial, and Device Limits

bytemail offers three ways to pay: $3.99/month, $39.90/year (about 17% cheaper than monthly), or a one-time lifetime licence currently priced at $69 (down from $99). Every option starts with a 7-day free trial, and a single licence covers 5 devices, including the iPhone app once it ships. If you want the lowest long-term cost and don't mind paying upfront, the lifetime tier is the cheapest path; if you'd rather spread the cost or test the app first, the monthly plan is the safest entry point.

The three plans at a glance

All three include the same core app: a native Swift email client for macOS 14+ on Apple silicon, with Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Microsoft 365, Yahoo, Fastmail, and any IMAP server supported in one unified inbox.

How the 7-day trial works

• The trial runs for 7 days and you are not charged during that period.
• You can start it either from the pricing page or from inside the app after downloading bytemail.
• Subscriptions can be cancelled anytime — cancelling before the trial ends means no charge.
• Lifetime purchases are not subscriptions, so there is nothing to cancel; you get an instant key delivery after checkout.

One practical detail: the checkout page requires JavaScript to run its spam check, so if the buy button appears unresponsive, that's usually why.

Lifetime licence: the launch pricing ladder

The lifetime tier is sold in limited batches that increase in price as each batch sells out:

The current $69 price applies to the next 50 users, with 4 already claimed. Once that batch is gone, the price moves to $99. If you're comparing lifetime against subscription, $69 is roughly equivalent to 17 months of the monthly plan or under two years of the yearly plan — after that point the lifetime licence is pure savings.

Licensing terms: devices and platforms

• 5 devices, one licence. A single purchase activates up to five machines.
• Mac + iPhone share the same licence. The iPhone app is in App Store review and, when released, is included free with your licence rather than sold separately.
• The Mac app requires macOS 14 or later and Apple silicon.

What the price includes beyond the inbox

The paid app is not just a mail viewer. The same licence covers:

• Unified inbox across Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Microsoft 365, Yahoo, Fastmail, and any IMAP server, each account with its own colour and unread count.
• On-device AI — Summaries and Rewrite run locally on your Mac rather than in the cloud.
• MCP support, so the app works with Claude, Codex, and other AI tools across every account.
• Privacy features such as tracking-pixel blocking and stripped link tags.
• Full-history search via ⌘K, covering senders, subjects, message text, and attachment names across all accounts.

Which plan fits which situation

• Just want to try it: start the 7-day trial, no payment needed.
• Unsure you'll stick with it: monthly at $3.99 keeps commitment low.
• Confident you'll use it for years: yearly at $39.90, or lifetime at $69 if you want to stop paying entirely.
• You own multiple Macs or plan to use the iPhone app: the 5-device licence covers both, so the per-device cost drops the more hardware you have.

The main decision point is time horizon. Under roughly 17 months of use, subscriptions cost less upfront; beyond that, the $69 lifetime licence wins — and it locks in before the price rises to $99.