Comparison
Meridian Mail vs Spark
Spark is a polished, cross-platform email app with strong team features. Meridian is a Windows app that keeps your mailbox on your PC and lets you ask your whole inbox questions, with every answer linked to the emails it came from.
| Meridian Mail | Spark | |
|---|---|---|
| Where your email is handled | Your PC talks directly to your mail server (IMAP/SMTP, or Google and Microsoft sign-in). There is no Meridian mail server: your mailbox index stays on your PC and sign-in tokens are encrypted there. When you use an AI feature, only the emails needed for that answer are sent to the AI service. | Some features run through Readdle's servers, such as push notifications and send later. Readdle's privacy policy says it keeps account access tokens on its servers, or your username and password where sign-in tokens are not supported. |
| Ask your inbox | Ask a question in plain words ("what did the supplier confirm last week?"). Meridian searches your whole mailbox and answers with numbered sources you can click to open the exact email. | Spark +AI helps write replies, summarise emails and threads, and answer questions about your mail. |
| Search | A full-text index of your mail, stored on your PC. It works offline and stays fast on large mailboxes. | Smart search with natural-language queries across your accounts. |
| Inbox style | A clean list grouped by Today, Yesterday and This Week, with a calm reading view and HTML signatures. | Smart Inbox that sorts mail into categories, plus Gatekeeper for screening new senders. |
| Teams | Built for individual professionals. There are no shared inboxes or team comments. | Strong team features: share threads, comment privately on emails and write drafts together. |
| Platforms | Windows only. | Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and web. |
| Price | Free for everyday email. Pro is $15/month or $150/year, for heavier AI use. | Free plan plus paid subscriptions. See Readdle's site for current prices. |
Bottom line
Pick the one that fits how you work.
Choose Meridian if you work on Windows, want your mailbox to stay on your own PC, and want answers from your email history with sources you can check. Choose Spark if you need the same app on your phone and Mac, or your team shares and discusses email together.
Also compare: Meridian Mail vs Thunderbird