--- title: "ReplyPen vs Gemini in Gmail for customer email" canonical: https://replypen.com/compare/replypen-vs-gemini-in-gmail description: "Gemini in Gmail helps you write and summarise your own email. ReplyPen drafts answers to customer email from your help center and website. Sourced, dated comparison." question: "Isn't AI for customer email already free in Gmail?" author: "ReplyPen team" published: 2026-09-30 operator: ProBackup BV (Hasselt, Belgium) --- # ReplyPen vs Gemini in Gmail for customer email Gemini in Gmail helps you write and summarise your own email, using your other emails and Drive files. ReplyPen is built for customer email: before you open a message, a Draft is waiting in the thread, based on your help center, website and past replies, with a Check note showing what it used. ReplyPen also works for a shared address like support@ and in Outlook. If most answers already live in your own inbox, Gemini may be enough. [Join the waitlist](https://replypen.com/waitlist). We're opening to new teams soon. We'll email you when your spot is ready. ## ReplyPen and Gemini in Gmail side by side Checked against Gemini in Gmail's own pages on 2026-09-30. Numbers in brackets point to the sources below. ### Who starts the reply - ReplyPen: A Draft is already in the thread before you open the email - Gemini in Gmail: Suggested replies appear when you open an email. Drafts before you ask are in AI Inbox, for paid Google AI plans in the US, in English. [1, 2] ### Where the facts come from - ReplyPen: Your help center, your website and the replies you sent before - Gemini in Gmail: Your other emails and Drive files, matched to your writing style [3, 4] ### Can you see what it used - ReplyPen: Yes, a Check note under every Draft lists the help articles, pages and past emails - Gemini in Gmail: Yes, a Sources list shows the emails and files behind a personalised reply [3] ### What happens to your corrections - ReplyPen: What it learns from your edits is written to a Knowledge log you can read and correct - Gemini in Gmail: Standing instructions you set in the Gemini side panel apply to later chats [5] ### Shared and delegated mailboxes - ReplyPen: Connect a shared address like support@ and everyone in it sees the Drafts - Gemini in Gmail: Not available to people who use a mailbox as a delegate [6] ### Languages - ReplyPen: Drafts in the language your customer wrote in - Gemini in Gmail: Help me write in 8 languages, suggested replies in English [1, 7] ### Mail apps - ReplyPen: Gmail and Outlook, including their phone apps - Gemini in Gmail: Gmail on the web, iPhone and Android [1] ### Price - ReplyPen: €0.25 per conversation at launch, on top of the mailbox you already have - Gemini in Gmail: Included in Google Workspace plans, listed from €6.80 per user per month for Business Starter. Google AI plans for personal accounts. [1, 8] ## Who should choose which ### Choose Gemini in Gmail if - You already pay for Google Workspace or a Google AI plan and mainly want help writing and summarising your own email. - The answers you need are in your own inbox and Drive files rather than a help center or website. - You prefer not to give another company access to your mailbox. - You want one tool across Gmail, Drive, Docs and Calendar. ### Choose ReplyPen if - Customers write to a shared address like support@, or your team works in Outlook. - Your answers live in a help center and on your website, and you want each Draft based on them. - You want a Draft waiting for every customer email, in the language the customer wrote in. - You want your corrections kept as knowledge you can read, check and fix. ## What does Gemini in Gmail do well? Gemini in Gmail is part of Gmail itself. It summarises long threads, suggests replies at the bottom of an email, writes or rewrites a message from a prompt, and can pull details from your other emails and Drive files into a draft. It comes with many Google Workspace plans and Google AI plans, works on the web and in the Gmail phone apps, and adds no new company with access to your mail. For someone who wants help with their own inbox, that covers a lot. ## What does ReplyPen add for customer email? ReplyPen starts from a different question: what is the right answer for this customer? It reads your help center, your website and the replies you already sent, and writes a Draft in the customer's thread before you open it. Under each Draft, a Check note lists the help articles, website pages and past emails it used, so you can check an answer in seconds. When you edit a Draft, ReplyPen notes what changed and keeps it in the Knowledge log, which you can read and correct in [Memory](https://replypen.com/#memory). It is built for the inbox customers write to: a shared address like support@ works, Outlook works, and newsletters, receipts and notifications are skipped. Nothing is sent unless you send it. ## When is Gemini in Gmail enough? If you answer a handful of customer emails a week, the answers are in your head or your own inbox, and you already pay for a Google plan that includes Gemini, start there. ReplyPen earns its place when customer email is a daily job, the answers live in a help center or on your website, or several people work from one address. ## Can you use both? Yes. ReplyPen adds normal drafts to your Gmail threads and changes nothing else, so Gemini in Gmail keeps working next to it. See [how ReplyPen shows what a Draft used](https://replypen.com/product/inbox#what-is-in-a-check-note) or [pricing](https://replypen.com/pricing.md). ## Questions **Is Gemini in Gmail free?** Some of it. Google lists Help me write, suggested replies and thread summaries for personal Gmail accounts, with Help me write and suggested replies limited to the US. Business accounts get Gemini in Gmail with eligible Google Workspace plans, and features such as AI Inbox need a paid Google AI plan. **Will ReplyPen change how my Gmail works?** No. ReplyPen adds Drafts to your threads and leaves the rest of your mailbox alone. It does not sort, label or delete email, and Gmail's own features keep working as before. ## Sources 1. [Gmail Help: Learn about Gemini features in Gmail](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/16831098): Lists Help me write, Suggested Replies, AI Inbox and conversation summaries with the plans, languages, countries and platforms each needs. Checked 2026-09-30. 2. [Google blog: New ways to create and get things done in Google Workspace (19 May 2026)](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/workspace/workspace-updates/): Says that when an email needs a quick reply, AI Inbox generates a contextual draft for you to review. Checked 2026-09-30. 3. [Gmail Help: Help me write](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/13955415?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop): Says Help me write takes details from your other emails and Drive files and matches your tone, and that clicking Sources shows the emails and documents it used. Checked 2026-09-30. 4. [Google Workspace Updates: Improvements to Help me write in Gmail (7 May 2026)](https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2026/05/improvements-to-help-me-write-in-gmail.html): Says Help me write can use context from Drive and Gmail and match the tone and style of emails you wrote before, and lists the editions that get it. Checked 2026-09-30. 5. [Google Workspace Updates: Custom instructions for Gemini in more apps (2 September 2026)](https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2026/09/custom-instructions-for-gemini-in-Workspace-now-available-in-more-apps.html): Says persistent custom instructions now work in the Gemini side panel in Gmail, Slides and Sheets. Checked 2026-09-30. 6. [Gmail Help: Set up mail delegation](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/138350?hl=en): Lists Gemini in Gmail among the features not available to delegates. Checked 2026-09-30. 7. [Gmail Help: Supported languages for Google Workspace with Gemini](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/14925782?hl=en): Lists English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish for Help me write. Checked 2026-09-30. 8. [Google Workspace pricing](https://workspace.google.com/intl/en/pricing): Lists Business Starter at €6.80 per user per month with Gemini in Gmail, and Business Standard at €13.60 with Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Meet and more. Checked 2026-09-30. Something out of date? Email info@replypen.com and we correct it.