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Drag vs Sortd: the Gmail-boards idea, taken to its 2026 conclusion
Sortd helped invent the Gmail-boards category, and it is still the closest competitor in shape Drag has: both turn your inbox into drag-and-drop boards. But Sortd stayed a light, hand-organised layer with AI still marked launching soon, while Drag took the same idea and shipped the 2026 parts: six live AI assists included from $18, automation that moves cards for you, live chat, WhatsApp, a help centre, and standalone apps beyond the extension. Here is the honest, side-by-side comparison.
Table of contents
The verdict
The best Sortd alternative for Gmail teams is Drag: it takes the Gmail-boards idea Sortd helped pioneer and ships the 2026 parts. Where Sortd stays a light, hand-organised boards extension with AI still marked launching soon, Drag adds six live AI assists included from $18, automation that moves cards for you, live chat, WhatsApp, a help centre in the same queue, and standalone web, desktop, and mobile apps beyond the extension, plus its own MCP server. Sortd remains the better pick if you want the lightest personal-productivity layer on Gmail at the lowest entry price (around $10) and your workflow is the day-planner more than the team queue.
Choose Drag if you…
- You want the Gmail-boards idea taken to its 2026 conclusion.
- You want AI that actually ships: six assists included from $18.
- You want automation that moves work for you, not boards you file by hand.
- You want live chat, WhatsApp, and a help centre in the same queue.
- You want standalone web, desktop, and mobile apps beyond the extension.
Choose Sortd if you…
- You want the lightest possible personal-productivity layer on Gmail at the lowest entry price.
- Your workflow is the day-planner more than the team queue.
- You do not need AI or automation today.
For the full background, read our full Sortd review.
Drag vs Sortd at a glance
| Feature | Drag | Sortd |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & plans | ||
| Entry price (annual) | $12 per user | ~$10 per user (its genuine edge) |
| AI | Six assists live and included from $18 | Early: AI status features listed on paid tiers; fuller AI marked launching soon |
| Free plan | 7-day trial, no card | Yes (recently reduced; reviewers note renamed-column and other limits removed) |
| Platform & workflow | ||
| Where you work | Inside Gmail + standalone web, desktop, and mobile apps | Gmail Chrome extension (+ a mobile app); no standalone web or desktop app |
| Kanban boards in Gmail | check_circle | Yes (the shared DNA, and Sortd helped pioneer it) |
| Automation | Rules that assign, label, and move cards | No auto-move; boards are organised by hand |
| Shared inbox depth | Collision detection, round-robin, reporting | Shared mailboxes with lighter team tooling |
| Channels & AI | ||
| Channels | Email + live chat + WhatsApp | |
| Help centre | Yes, AI-grounded | No |
| MCP server | Yes, 47 tools | No |
Pricing and features verified July 2026; Sortd pricing read from sortd.com. Confirm current details on each vendor’s site.
Why Gmail teams pick Drag
AI
AI that is fully shipped, not arriving in pieces.
Credit first: Sortd helped invent the Gmail-boards category. But Sortd’s AI is arriving in pieces: its pricing page lists AI status tracking on paid tiers while its site still marks the fuller set, urgency and complaint detection among them, as launching soon. Drag’s six assists are live today, included from $18: grounded reply drafts, automatic tagging, sentiment, thread summaries, compose help, and a co-pilot. Five seats with full AI: $90 a month.
- Drag: six assists live and included from $18: drafts, tagging, sentiment, summaries, compose, co-pilot.
- Sortd: AI status tracking listed on paid tiers; fuller AI (urgency, complaint detection) marked launching soon.
Automation
Automation that moves the work.
Sortd’s boards are organised by hand: there is no rule that files an email onto the right board, which at team volume means the tool’s upkeep becomes a job. Drag’s automation rules assign, label, and move cards on conditions you set once, and the AI tagging feeds them.
- Drag: rules assign, label, and move cards on conditions you set once; AI tagging feeds them.
- Sortd: boards organised by hand; no rule files an email onto the right board.
AI Platform
AI included, not added on.
Drag includes six AI assistants in the seat from $18: draft, tag, sentiment, compose, summarise, and co-pilot. One predictable bill, no separate AI tier. Sortd’s AI is arriving in pieces: status tracking is listed on paid tiers while the fuller set remains marked launching soon.
See Drag AISix AI assistants, included
Run your inbox from your AI tools (MCP).
Drag publishes its own MCP server, @dragapp/mcp-server: 47 tools across 12 categories, including WhatsApp, full read+write across email, boards, assignments, labels, analytics, and the knowledge base. Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Code, set up in ~30 seconds. Tell Claude ‘summarise unread Support threads and assign billing to Sarah,’ and it does. Sortd has no MCP server and no public API story, so you cannot drive a Sortd board from an AI tool.
Explore the MCP serverMCP Server
@dragapp/mcp-server
47
tools · 12 categories · read + write
ClaudeChatGPTGeminiCopilotCursor+ any MCP clientDrag Agent
Early AccessComing to Drag: an autonomous agent that classifies inbound email, retrieves context from your knowledge base and connected tools, takes action (refunds, ticket updates, CRM notes), drafts a sourced reply, and resolves the thread, all without a human in the loop. Currently rolling out in Early Access. Sortd’s early AI tracks status and flags urgency, but an agent that resolves a thread end to end is not something it has announced.
09:41:02 CLASSIFY intent=billing, entity=invoice #4821
09:41:03 RETRIEVE stripe.invoices.get(4821) → $249.00 paid
09:41:04 RETRIEVE kb.search('refund policy') → 30-day window
09:41:05 ACT stripe.refunds.create(amount=249.00) → rf_8xK2
09:41:06 DRAFT confidence=0.96, sources=2, tokens=142
09:41:07 SEND thread_id=t_9f3a → resolved
Classify
Reads the email, identifies intent and extracts key entities.
Retrieve
Pulls context from your knowledge base, CRM, and previous conversations.
Act
Takes real action: issues a refund, updates a ticket, logs a note.
Resolve
Drafts a response, cites its sources, and sends or escalates.
Platform
Beyond the extension.
Sortd lives as a Chrome extension (plus a mobile app); there is no standalone web or desktop app, and reviewers note the extension occasionally needs restarting. Drag runs inside Gmail and as standalone web, desktop, and mobile apps on the same account, with a live-chat widget, WhatsApp, and an AI-grounded help centre landing in the same queue.
- Drag: inside Gmail plus standalone web, desktop, and mobile apps; live chat, WhatsApp, and an AI-grounded help centre in the same queue.
- Sortd: a Chrome extension plus a mobile app; no standalone web or desktop app.
Team depth
Team depth, not just a tidier day.
Sortd’s roots are personal productivity, and its day-planner remains genuinely nice. Drag is built for the queue: collision detection so two people never answer the same customer, round-robin ownership, internal notes, and reporting your Friday meeting can run on.
- Drag: collision detection, round-robin ownership, internal notes, and reporting, on one flat per-seat bill.
- Sortd: personal-productivity roots and a genuinely nice day-planner.
Pricing: Drag vs Sortd
Sortd starts around $10 a seat, genuinely cheap, and stays a hand-organised board. Drag at $18 with full AI is the same idea doing the work itself: five seats is $90 a month. Model your team in the cost calculator.
AI features
Drag Plus (AI included)
$2,160/yr
$18/user/mo × 10 seats · AI included
Sortd Essentials
from $1,920/yr+
$16/user/mo × 10 seats · Sortd's AI is early and tier-scattered: status tracking is listed on its $16 Essentials tier while fuller AI remains marked launching soon; the comparison shows Essentials against Drag's $18 AI-included plan.
Estimate based on annual per-seat pricing, verified July 2026 from sortd.com. Sortd tiers: Starter $10, Essentials $16, Business $22, Business Plus $29 (upcoming). Sortd's AI is early and tier-scattered: status tracking is listed on paid tiers while fuller AI remains marked launching soon. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.
Drag vs Sortd, feature by feature
The detail layer for evaluators, with Drag product screenshots where they clarify the claim, and the launching-soon or reviewer source where we state a Sortd limitation.
Boards in Gmail
The shared DNA, honestly stated: both turn the inbox into drag-and-drop boards, both feel native, both set up in minutes. Sortd’s execution is light and quick; Drag’s adds list views, workspace routing, and per-workspace structure. Check both.
- Drag: boards plus list views, workspace routing, and per-workspace structure.
- Sortd: light, quick boards that feel native and set up in minutes.
AI on the email
The 2026 gap, stated fairly: Sortd’s AI is emerging, status tracking listed on paid tiers, urgency and complaint detection still marked launching soon, while Drag’s six assists are all live and seat-included. Check Drag; Sortd partial.
- Drag: six live AI assists (drafts, tagging, sentiment, summaries, compose, co-pilot), included from $18.
- Sortd: AI status tracking listed on paid tiers; fuller AI marked launching soon.
Source: Sortd site (AI marked launching soon), third-party reviews; Drag product.
Automation
No auto-move on Sortd versus condition-and-action rules on Drag. Check Drag; Sortd honest cancel.
- Drag: condition-and-action rules that assign, label, and move cards.
- Sortd: no auto-move; boards organised by hand.
Team workflow
Assignment exists on both; collision detection, round-robin, and shared reporting are Drag’s. Check Drag; Sortd partial.
- Drag: assignment plus collision detection, round-robin, and shared reporting.
- Sortd: assignment, with lighter team tooling.
Personal productivity
Sortd wins a real point: the day-planner view (today’s emails and tasks as a plan) is its signature and Drag has no direct equivalent. Honest check for Sortd.
- Sortd: the day-planner view (today’s emails and tasks as a plan), its signature.
- Drag: boards with due dates and list views, no direct day-planner equivalent.
Channels and self-serve
Drag adds live chat, WhatsApp, and the help centre in the same queue; Sortd is email-only. Check Drag, cancel Sortd.
- Drag: live chat, WhatsApp, and a help centre in the same queue.
- Sortd: email only.
Platform and reliability
Standalone apps and MCP versus extension-plus-mobile; reviewer notes on Sortd’s occasional crashes and slow support cited as reviewer reports. Check Drag.
- Drag: standalone web, desktop, and mobile apps plus an MCP server.
- Sortd: a Chrome extension plus a mobile app; reviewers report occasional crashes and slow support.
Source: public reviews (Sortd); Drag product.
If you switch: what you keep, what changes
You keep
Everything that matters, because both tools share the architecture that makes switching trivial: Gmail is the system of record for both, so your email, labels, and history are exactly where they were. Board muscle memory transfers almost 1:1, the closest-shaped switch on this site.
What changes
Boards start moving themselves (automation and AI tagging replace hand-filing); the day-planner view has no direct Drag equivalent, honestly noted, with boards-plus-due-dates as the near substitute; and the bill changes from around $10 hand-organised to $12, or $18 with the AI doing the organising.
Where Sortd fits better
Three real cases.
- The lightest touch at the lowest price: around $10 a seat for boards on Gmail is the category's cheapest credible entry, and for a solo operator or two-person team organising by hand, it is enough.
- The day-planner workflow: if your unit of work is “my day” rather than “our queue”, Sortd's planner is genuinely its own idea.
- Personal-productivity roots: for individuals who want a tidier inbox rather than a team operation, Sortd's shape fits.
If those describe you, stay with our blessing; this page is for the team whose boards stopped being a productivity hack and became the support or sales operation.
Switching from Sortd to Drag is quick
The closest-shaped switch we know: both tools live on Gmail, so nothing migrates and the board habit transfers. Install Drag into the same Google Workspace, connect the shared addresses, recreate your boards and templates, invite the team. Most teams are working the queue the same afternoon; the 7-day trial answers the fit question directly.
What customers say
“What we like the most about Drag is the ability to see at a glance where a client is during their Onboarding process, through the use of columns, tasks, and tags. It has been crucial for us because Waste Logics is a growing business and this transparency allows us to work faster and smarter.”
“There really is no comparison when it comes to Drag. We have a great relationship with their team, it’s incredibly easy to use, addresses all of our needs, and the price is right!”
“Drag provided a lot of transparency and unified our team. It allowed us to bring the entire team together to manage emails and tasks collaboratively, as opposed to working in silos, across different tools.”
Frequently asked questions
Is Drag a good Sortd alternative?
The closest one there is: both put Kanban boards inside Gmail. Drag takes the idea further with six live AI assists from $18, automation rules, collision detection, live chat, WhatsApp, a help centre, and standalone apps. If you liked Sortd's idea, Drag is that idea with the 2026 parts shipped.
What is the main difference between Drag and Sortd?
Execution depth. Sortd is a light, hand-organised boards extension with AI arriving in pieces. Drag ships the AI, moves cards by rules, covers more channels, and runs beyond the extension.
How much does Sortd cost?
Entry plans start around $10 per user per month billed annually, rising toward $29 for business tiers, with a free plan whose limits reviewers note have tightened. Third-party listings citing $12 and $18 tiers are documented as stale; check Sortd's own pricing page.
Is Drag more expensive than Sortd?
At entry, slightly: $12 versus about $10. The comparison that matters is $18, where Drag includes six AI assists and automation that Sortd does not offer at any price today. Five Drag seats with full AI: $90 a month.
Does Sortd have AI?
Partially, and it is arriving in pieces: the pricing page lists AI Smart Status on its Essentials tier and AI Risk Management on Business, while the fuller AI set, status, urgency, and complaint detection, is still marked launching soon. Drag's six assists are live and included from $18.
Does Sortd automate anything?
Its boards are organised by hand; there is no rule that auto-files emails onto boards. Drag's automation rules assign, label, and move cards on conditions, and AI tagging feeds them.
Can I run my inbox from Claude or ChatGPT with Drag?
Yes: Drag exposes an MCP server with 47 tools, so Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or Cursor can read, draft, assign, label, and report on your shared inbox by prompt. Sortd has no MCP server.
Does Drag have Sortd's day planner?
Not directly, and we say so: the day-planner is Sortd's signature and genuinely useful for personal workflows. Drag's boards with due dates and list views cover the ground differently, built around the team's queue rather than one person's day.
Does Drag have a free plan?
Drag offers a 7-day trial with no card required; paid plans are $12, $18 (AI included from here), and $24 per user billed annually. Sortd also has a free plan, with limits reviewers note have been reduced over time.
Is switching from Sortd to Drag hard?
The easiest switch on this site: both live on Gmail, so nothing migrates, your email and labels stay put, and the boards habit transfers almost one to one. Most teams switch in an afternoon.
What channels does each support?
Sortd: email. Drag: email, a website live-chat widget, and WhatsApp, all landing in the same Gmail queue with the same owners, boards, and AI.
Does Sortd work outside Gmail?
No, and neither does Drag by design: both are Gmail and Google Workspace tools. The platform difference is depth: Drag adds standalone web, desktop, and mobile apps; Sortd is a Chrome extension plus a mobile app.
Is Sortd still maintained?
Yes: its Marketplace listing was updated in May 2026 and it reports over 840,000 installs. The fair caveats from public reviews: development moves slowly, its AI is arriving in pieces, and support response times draw complaints.
Who is Sortd best for?
Individuals and very small teams who want the lightest boards-on-Gmail layer at the lowest price, organise by hand, and value the day-planner workflow.
Why do teams outgrow Sortd?
The hand-organisation ceiling: at team volume, boards that do not move themselves become upkeep, and the thin AI, automation, collision detection, and reporting are exactly what a queue needs next.
Did Drag copy Sortd, or the other way around?
Both emerged in the same wave of Gmail-boards tools, and Sortd deserves real credit for pioneering the idea. The products diverged: Sortd stayed a light personal-productivity layer; Drag built the team operation on top, and in 2026 that difference, live AI, automation, channels, MCP, is the whole comparison.
