# FlareMail vs AgentBox AgentBox creates agent inboxes and long-polls them. It does not send or reply. FlareMail is a hosted inbox with send. HTML: https://sendwithflare.com/articles/flaremail-vs-agentbox/ **Keyword:** flaremail vs agentbox **Audience:** people building agent inboxes who still need a human mailbox that can reply ## Short answer FlareMail is a web inbox for Cloudflare-powered email — a hosted inbox that can send, while AgentBox is a receive-only agent control plane you deploy. First three domains are free; Pro is $10/month for 12 domains; Agency is $60/month unlimited. FlareMail vs AgentBox is a human inbox versus an agent control plane. AgentBox is self-hosted, MIT, with 7 GitHub stars. The control plane is often deployed to Vercel, with mail on your Cloudflare account. It is receive-only: sending and replying are not included. FlareMail is a hosted inbox where send is part of the app. ## Hosted inbox or a stack you operate FlareMail is for people who already run on Cloudflare and do not want to provision the mail stack. You create an account, open the app, and connect a domain. The setup guide says about five minutes. One step sits outside the app: an Email Routing rule to the flaremail-api Worker. FlareMail operates the Worker, D1, and R2. AgentBox is the self-hosted path in this comparison. You clone it and you keep it running. That can be the right trade when the mail must live in your Cloudflare account, or when a feature below is the reason you are here. ## Side by side Same job, different operator. Price on the FlareMail side is the domain plan, not a claim that self-hosting is free. ## What the FlareMail screen actually is The inbox list above is the web app from this product, with obviously fake mail so the screenshot does not use a customer account. The sign-in form at app.sendwithflare.com is only the account door. It is not the inbox. ![FlareMail compose window in the web app, From set to hello@paperlantern.example](/assets/articles/flaremail-compose.webp) *Compose in the FlareMail web app. The From address is fictional sample data, captured from this repo so the screenshot is the real UI.* ![FlareMail sign-in form at app.sendwithflare.com](/assets/articles/flaremail-signup.webp) *The public sign-in form at app.sendwithflare.com. Use it to create an account. It is not the inbox.* ## What AgentBox is actually good at AgentBox is honest about the job. You create inboxes with POST /v1/inboxes and long-poll GET /v1/inboxes/:id/messages?wait=30. MCP is built in. It is multi-domain, with D1 and optional R2. The README says about one Email Routing rule per inbox, and about 200 rules per domain. Email Routing must be enabled by hand in the dashboard. A Vercel deploy button is in the README. The captured README describes agent-native inboxes and receive-only OTP or verification style mail. That is a strength for agents. It is not a compose window. If the message needs a reply from a person, AgentBox is the wrong tool on purpose, and FlareMail is the hosted place to write it. ## Which one to pick Pick AgentBox when you want the bits in your account and you will operate them. Pick FlareMail when you want the inbox without becoming the person who provisions Worker, D1, and R2. Start on [onboarding](/onboarding/) and use the [setup guide](/help/setup-guide/). First three domains are free. Pro is $10/month for 12 domains, then $1 per extra domain. Agency is $60/month unlimited. ## Other FlareMail comparisons The same hosted-versus-self-host question, for the rest of the field: - [FlareMail vs Mailflare](/articles/flaremail-vs-mailflare/) - [FlareMail vs Agentic Inbox](/articles/flaremail-vs-agentic-inbox/) - [FlareMail vs Quickinbox](/articles/flaremail-vs-quickinbox/) - [FlareMail vs Orange Inbox](/articles/flaremail-vs-orange-inbox/) - [FlareMail vs Email Explorer](/articles/flaremail-vs-email-explorer/) - [FlareMail vs Postern](/articles/flaremail-vs-postern/) - [FlareMail vs Doota](/articles/flaremail-vs-doota/) - [FlareMail vs cf-mail](/articles/flaremail-vs-cf-mail/) - [FlareMail vs Reccado](/articles/flaremail-vs-reccado/) - [FlareMail vs cloudflare-email](/articles/flaremail-vs-cloudflare-email/) Create an account on [onboarding](/onboarding/), then follow the [setup guide](/help/setup-guide/). The guide’s outside step is an Email Routing rule to the flaremail-api Worker. ## FAQ **Can AgentBox reply to mail?** No. It is receive-only. Sending and replying are not included. **How does an agent read an AgentBox inbox?** Create an inbox with POST /v1/inboxes and long-poll GET /v1/inboxes/:id/messages?wait=30. MCP is built in. **What does FlareMail cost?** First three domains are free. Pro is $10/month for 12 domains, then $1 per extra domain. Agency is $60/month unlimited. Send is included in the hosted app. ## Related - [Cloudflare Email Client: How to Turn Cloudflare Email Routing Into a Real Inbox](/articles/cloudflare-email-client/index.md) - [Cloudflare Email Routing Destination: Where Routed Mail Should Actually Land](/articles/cloudflare-email-routing-destination/index.md) - [Does Cloudflare Email Routing Support IMAP? The Practical Answer for Inbox Buyers](/articles/does-cloudflare-email-routing-support-imap/index.md) ## Start [Onboarding](https://sendwithflare.com/onboarding/) · [Pricing](https://sendwithflare.com/pricing.md) · [Setup guide](https://sendwithflare.com/help/setup-guide/)