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Gmail AI assistants: what Gemini does and what an email client adds
Gmail has AI built in through Gemini: help writing a draft, summaries of long threads, suggested replies and, on paid plans, answers to questions about your inbox. Which of those you get depends on your plan, your country and your language. Google's own pages say personal accounts without a paid plan get some of them in the US only. An email client with an AI assistant, such as Donezo Inbox, adds something different: sorting and labelling every new message, rules in plain English, and a connector so Claude or Codex can work in your inbox. Everything about Gemini below was read from Google's pages on October 21, 2026.
What does Gemini in Gmail do?
| Feature | What Google says it does | Who gets it, per Google |
|---|---|---|
| Help me write | Drafts a new email or refines text from a prompt | Personal accounts in the US at no charge; Workspace editions listed by Google. Google's table |
| Conversation summaries | Summarizes a long thread | Google's pages disagree for free personal accounts outside the US: its table and its summaries help page say global, while a banner on the table says the US; Workspace editions listed by Google |
| Suggested replies | Offers reply options at the bottom of a thread | Personal accounts in the US, English; Workspace editions listed by Google |
| Search answers (AI Overview in search) | Answers a natural-language question above your search results | Needs a Google AI plan or an eligible Workspace plan, and English. Google's search help page says personal accounts in the EEA, UK, Switzerland and Japan don't get it, and also offers it through its Workspace Experiments trusted-tester program. Google's table and search help page list Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra; its Workspace overview page and January blog post list Pro and Ultra only. Check: table, search help page and Workspace page |
| Proofread | Suggests changes to style, tone and conciseness | Paid: Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra, or an eligible Workspace plan, per Google's table and help pages; its January blog post lists Pro and Ultra only. Languages differ between its pages |
| AI Inbox | Reviews top priorities and topics | Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra, or a Workspace plan, in English and the US only; Google calls it beta. Google's October 15 Workspace Updates post says rollout to paid Workspace editions began October 12 for Rapid Release domains and starts October 26 for Scheduled Release domains, and also says Starter and Education editions come in the coming months; its Workspace overview page still shows no Workspace edition for it, so check your edition. Google Workspace Updates |
| Ask Gemini panel (desktop) | Summarizes, drafts, searches and, after you confirm, organizes mail | Google's panel page and Workspace page list Workspace plans and Google AI plans; its feature table lists Workspace plans only. Google says Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the US may no longer see it |
Free personal Gmail gets some of this only in the US, and Google's own help page says availability is limited to the US for personal accounts without a paid plan. Languages vary by feature. Google's pages carry no update date, so open them before relying on a detail: the feature table, the Workspace page and the desktop panel page.
Does Gemini in Gmail send email on its own?
Google's Gmail help pages read for this page describe drafting, refining and suggesting, not sending, and none of them says Gemini cannot send. You select a suggested reply and click Send yourself. On desktop, Google says organizing actions in the Ask Gemini panel wait for your confirmation and can be undone within 60 seconds (Google's page); the Android page does not say the same. Google's January 2026 blog post says you can refine a suggested reply before giving your approval (Google blog). Separately, Google's October 8, 2026 Gemini at Work post says Gemini in Workspace "starts an email thread" to arrange a meeting, and does not say which plans or accounts get that (Google Cloud blog). This page does not claim Gemini never sends.
What does Google say about your data?
Google's April 2026 blog post says it does not train its foundational models, including Gemini, on your personal emails, and that Gemini in Gmail does not retain your data (Google blog). A separate Google help page says, for Google AI plans, that Gemini in these apps does not use your content to train its models and does not store your prompt or the output without your permission, with exceptions: data a Workspace user with a personal account shares with Gemini Apps, Search services for Personal Intelligence and screen actions may be used for model training (Google help page). Google's own pages are not fully consistent on retention: the blog post says Gemini does not retain your data, while its Workspace page says prompts and generated content are stored with your Workspace content. The blog post does not say which accounts or plans it covers, so check the page that matches your plan.
What does an email client with an AI assistant add?
Gemini helps inside the Gmail window you already use. An email client changes the window. Donezo Inbox, which publishes this page, is one example; it works with Gmail and Google Workspace today, with Outlook on the roadmap.
- Sorting every new message. The assistant labels new mail as To reply, FYI, Notification, Marketing, Meeting, Receipt or Cold email, tracks who owes whom, and applies rules you write in plain English. It is off until you switch it on, per account, and acts only on mail that arrives afterwards.
- It never sends. It labels and drafts; you press send.
- You choose the AI. Your own key, a model on your computer or Chrome's built-in model are free; hosted AI and the always-on background assistant need Pro, or a server-side key of your own.
- Claude and Codex. The connector lets an agent search, read, triage and draft across every inbox. Sending, scheduling, forwarding and deleting wait for your approval by default.
Neither replaces the other: Gemini's features are Google's, inside Gmail, while a client's assistant works on the mail it shows you. Donezo works with Gmail and Google Workspace today. Outlook and other mail providers are on the roadmap. On the roadmap: Android and Windows apps, single sign-on for teams, and a bot that joins calls. The Mac app is in closed beta (download it here), and the iPhone app is launching soon.
Should you use Gemini, a client or both?
- Start with what Google includes. If you are in the US with a personal account, summaries, Help me write and suggested replies cost nothing, and a Workspace plan may already include more.
- Add a client when the problem is volume, not writing. If the trouble is sorting, reply tracking, snoozing and keeping several inboxes in one place, an email client addresses that directly.
- Compare the options in the best AI email assistants for Gmail before you pay for any of them.
How was this page made?
Every statement about Gemini was read from the Google pages linked above on October 21, 2026. Where Google's pages disagree or are silent, this page says so. Donezo Inbox publishes this page and competes with some products that use Gemini or similar AI, so read it with that in mind. It has not tested Gemini's quality, speed or accuracy.
Questions
Is Gemini in Gmail free?
Partly. Google's pages say personal accounts in the US get Help me write and suggested replies at no charge, with language limits, and that conversation summaries are available to personal accounts globally (a banner on its feature table says the US only). Search answers and proofreading need a Google AI plan or an eligible Workspace plan, and Google also offers some of them through its Workspace Experiments trusted-tester program. Availability changes, so check Google's pages.
Which Gmail accounts get Gemini features?
Google lists personal accounts in the US for some features, paid Google AI plans for others and specific Workspace editions (Business Starter, Standard and Plus, and several Enterprise editions) on its Workspace page. Its pages differ on some plans, so use the page that matches yours.
Can Gemini in Gmail send emails for me?
Google's Gmail help pages describe drafting, refining and suggesting replies, and organizing actions in the desktop panel wait for your confirmation. Google's October 8, 2026 Gemini at Work post describes Gemini starting an email thread to arrange a meeting. Google's pages do not say whether Gemini in Gmail sends on its own, and they do not say it cannot.
Does Google train Gemini on my emails?
Google's April 2026 blog says it does not train its foundational models on personal emails, with details for Google AI plans on a separate help page. Read the page for your plan.
What is the difference between Gemini in Gmail and an AI email client?
Gemini is part of Gmail itself. An email client replaces the Gmail window and adds its own assistant: Donezo Inbox, for example, labels new mail, applies your rules, drafts in your tone and offers a connector for Claude and Codex.
Can I use Claude with Gmail?
Yes: see how to connect Claude to Gmail. Anthropic's own Gmail connector and Donezo Inbox's connector differ in what they can do, and the how-to guide compares them from their documentation.
See the assistant on sample mail
The demo opens a full inbox with sample mail and no sign-in. The assistant is off until you switch it on, and it never sends.