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Pidgeon vs Nylas
Nylas connects software to people’s own mailboxes, and now hosts agent accounts too. Here is how its Agent Accounts compare with Pidgeon, and when Nylas is the better pick.
Checked 17 October 2026
The short version
Nylas built its name connecting software to people's existing mailboxes — Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, iCloud and IMAP — behind one API, along with their calendars, contacts and meetings. In 2026 it added Agent Accounts: hosted mailboxes an agent owns, on a nylas.email address or your own domain, now generally available.
So this is two comparisons. Against Nylas's connected accounts, the question is whose mailbox the agent uses: with Pidgeon, your agent gets its own mailbox instead of access to yours. Against Agent Accounts, the products do the same job, and the difference is what each is built around: Nylas around the connections, Pidgeon around the conversation — who owns a thread, when a person takes it over, and what the agent should not act on.
Choose Nylas if your product works inside your users' own mail and calendars, or needs meeting notes and scheduling too. Choose Pidgeon if the agent needs an address of its own and people work alongside it.
At a glance
Prices and limits as published on 17 October 2026. Nylas prices in US dollars, Pidgeon in euros.
| Pidgeon | Nylas | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 3 mailboxes, 1 custom domain, 3,000 sent a month | 3 agent accounts, 3,000 agent emails a month, 5 connected accounts |
| First paid plan | €20 a month: 10 mailboxes, 10 domains, 10,000 a month | $15 a month: 10 agent accounts, 10,000 agent emails, 1 sending domain |
| Next plan | €200 a month: 150 mailboxes, 150 domains | $49 a month: 50 agent accounts, 50,000 emails, 10 domains; usage above that |
| An agent's own mailbox | Every plan | Agent Accounts, every plan |
| A person's Gmail or Outlook | Not what it does | Connected accounts, OAuth or credentials |
| IMAP and SMTP for mail clients | Every plan, with an app password | Agent Accounts, with an app password |
| Thread owner, agent or human | Yes, with assignment events | Not in the documentation |
| Mail that tries to steer the agent | Firewall verdict on every inbound message | SPF, DKIM, DMARC and blocklist checks; your own rules |
| Verification codes and links | Extracted on every message | Not in the documentation |
| Agent signs itself up | Yes — two calls and a code from a human | Created by your code, the CLI or the dashboard |
| Calendar | Invitations on every mailbox | Full calendar API across providers, plus Scheduler |
| Meeting notes | No | Notetaker bot for Meet, Teams and Zoom |
| MCP server | Hosted and npm | Hosted, US and EU |
Where Pidgeon is different
The conversation is the object
A Pidgeon thread has an owner — human, agent or automation — and changing it is one call. thread.assigned tells your agent the moment a person takes a conversation, so it stops replying, and handing it back lets it pick up where it left off. The hand-off guide walks through it. Nylas gives an agent account folders, rules and webhooks; who is allowed to answer is left to your code.
A verdict before your agent acts
Anyone who can email an agent can try to instruct it. Pidgeon Firewall reads every inbound message and names what it found — hidden text, instructions addressed to an AI, look-alike senders, requests for secrets. Nylas checks that mail is authentic and lets you write block and spam rules, which answers a different question: whether the sender is who they say, not whether the message is trying to steer the reader.
The agent can do the setup
An agent can create its own Pidgeon account with two HTTP calls and a six-digit code from a person, then read GET /v1/messages/await for the next message with any verification code already extracted. It is the shortest path from "my agent needs an email address" to one that works.
One price per mailbox
Nylas plans meter connected accounts, calendar-only accounts, agent accounts, agent emails, storage, bandwidth, bot hours and domains, each with its own overage rate. Pidgeon's plans count mailboxes, domains and mail sent; receiving is never metered.
Where Nylas is ahead
- People's own mailboxes. If your product reads and writes in your users' Gmail, Outlook, Exchange or iCloud, Nylas does that and Pidgeon does not.
- Calendar and meetings. Two-way calendar sync across providers, room and resource calendars, an embeddable Scheduler, and a Notetaker that joins meetings and returns transcripts.
- Compliance. SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA with a BAA on Enterprise, ISO 27001 and 27701, and separate US and EU regions to choose between. Pidgeon has none of the certifications yet, and one region: its mail is stored and processed in the EU (Ireland).
- Price at small scale. $15 a month for ten agent accounts, against our €20.
- Time in market, and a long list of production customers.
Which should you choose?
- Your product works inside your users' existing inboxes and calendars: Nylas.
- Your agent needs its own address and people work alongside it: Pidgeon.
- You need meeting transcripts or a booking page: Nylas.
- You need HIPAA, or a choice of US and EU regions, today: Nylas.
Getting started
The quickstart takes about five minutes; Integrations has the setup for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and VS Code. Or paste one line into your coding agent:
Read pidgeon.ai/skill.md and get yourself an email address.
We make Pidgeon, so weigh this accordingly. Every claim about Nylas comes from its own pricing page, product pages, developer documentation and security page, checked on 17 October 2026. We re-check this page every month. If something here is out of date, write to support@pidgeon.ai and we will fix it.
Questions
What are Nylas Agent Accounts?
Mailboxes that Nylas hosts for an AI agent, on a nylas.email address or your own domain, with a calendar, rules and IMAP access through an app password. Nylas lists them as generally available.
How much do Nylas Agent Accounts cost?
The free plan includes 3 agent accounts and 3,000 agent emails a month. Essentials is $15 a month for 10 and 10,000 emails, and Pro is $49 a month for 50 and 50,000 emails, with usage charged above that.
Can Pidgeon read a user's existing Gmail or Outlook?
No. Pidgeon gives an agent mailboxes of its own. If your product needs to work inside your users' existing Gmail, Outlook, Exchange or iCloud accounts, Nylas's connected accounts do that.
Is Nylas HIPAA compliant?
Nylas offers a HIPAA report under NDA and a business associate agreement on Enterprise, alongside SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. Pidgeon has none of these yet.