Like the Hey.com Screener? Want to keep your existing email address?
The feature people keep recommending Hey for is the Screener — the little gate where unknown senders wait to be approved before they can reach your inbox. It’s a great idea. The dealbreaker is everything around it: Hey requires a new @hey.com address, which means moving all your contacts, vendors, subscriptions, and logins to a new email.
Rythm is the Screener idea without the move. You keep your existing Gmail or Outlook. Your guest list builds itself from the people you already talk to. Strangers see a short note and a one-tap link to pay a small cover charge (about four cents). Real people rarely hesitate. Nothing is deleted — anything held for review can be rescued in one click.
Hey makes you move. Rythm protects where you already live.
Rythm vs Hey vs the usual alternatives
| Rythm | Hey.com | Superhuman | Clean Email Screener | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Need a new email address | No | Yes — @hey.com | No | No |
| Annual price | ~$21 | $99 | $360 | ~$120 |
| Gate style | Auto guest list + small cover charge | Manual approve/reject | No built-in screener | Manual approve/reject |
| Strangers become | Income | Approved or ignored | N/A | Approved or ignored |
| Time to get value | ~12 minutes | Days — migrating addresses | Minutes, but no screener | Minutes |
Why Rythm is worth considering
- Keep your Gmail or Outlook. Nobody has to know you’re running a bouncer on the door.
- Automatic guest list — no manual approve-every-sender for the first month.
- When a stranger does pay the cover charge, the money lands in your wallet.
- Roughly five times cheaper per year than Hey.
Frequently asked
I love the Screener idea. Why not just use Hey?
If you’re starting with a fresh email life, Hey is a lovely product. If you already have an address that a thousand people, logins, and subscriptions point at, the migration is where the cost lives.
What does the "screen" look like for strangers?
They get a short note — "Rythm keeps this inbox for people the recipient already knows; to reach them as a first-time sender, pay the cover charge" — and a one-tap link. About four cents, by default.
Does Hey.com have a cover-charge feature?
No. Hey’s Screener is manual approval with no economic component. You see the sender, you approve or reject, nobody pays anybody.
Do I approve every sender one-by-one like Hey?
No — and that’s the main difference day-to-day. Your guest list auto-builds from your contacts, sent folder, starred messages, and the people you already reply to. Day one, everyone you actually know walks right in.
Can I switch later if this doesn’t fit?
Yes. One click in the dashboard. Your inbox goes back to exactly the way it was. No lingering labels, no leftover filters.
Try Rythm. Your inbox, your rules.
$1.65 a month. Cancel anytime.
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