whichdevtool?
Menu
StacksDirectory Pricing changes Glossary
VPS and cloud servers App hosting and PaaS Managed databases Transactional email APIs Email marketing and newsletters Domain registrars CDN, DNS and edge security Monitoring, uptime and error tracking Auth and identity Frontend and full-stack frameworks Backend frameworks UI component libraries AI model APIs File and object storage Payments and billing Background jobs, queues and workflows ORMs and database toolkits

Email marketing and automation

Bento

Developer-friendly email marketing platform priced by active users, with unlimited marketing sends, automations and a usage-based transactional add-on.

Visit bentonow.com ↗ Alternatives Paid
Bento homepage
§1

Overview

Bento is an email marketing platform for businesses that earn money from email; customers named on its site include Laravel News and several indie SaaS products. It includes broadcasts, automation flows, forms and pop-ups, segmentation with a CRM view, an API with webhooks, and pre-send checks for broken links, missing names and spammy content.

Pricing is simple: $29 a month covers up to 5,000 active users, then each extra active user costs $0.01 up to 50,000, with lower rates above that. Marketing sends are unlimited on paid plans under a fair-use policy, and team seats are included.

Transactional email is a separate usage-based product: the first 100 emails are free, then $5 a month through 12,500 emails, plus $0.09 per 1,000 beyond. Bento Chat is a $30 add-on.

There is no free plan. Bento emphasises support from deliverability specialists, including migration help and price-match reviews.

§2

Pricing and plans

Plan Price What you get
Marketing Platform $29/mo Up to 5,000 active users; $0.01 per active user 5,001-50,000; $0.009 50,001-250,000; $0.008 above
Bento Chat +$30/mo Add-on
Transactional Email $5/mo First 100 emails free, then $5/mo through 12,500 emails, plus $0.09 per 1,000 after; can be used on its own

costAt values are calculated from the published per-active-user rates ($29 base up to 5,000, then $0.01 each to 50,000). 'Active users' is Bento's billing unit; the pages read did not define it further. Unlimited marketing sends are subject to fair use. Dedicated IPs are available on request; price not published.

Source: bentonow.com/pricing · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Broadcasts and flows
One-off campaigns and automation flows with segmentation and CRM data.
Pre-send checks
Automatic checks for broken links, empty personalisation fields and spam trigger phrases, plus send pacing.
Transactional email
Usage-based sending with 100 free emails, usable alone or with the marketing platform.
API and webhooks
API, webhooks and integrations included on the marketing plan.
Deliverability tooling
Authentication setup, list hygiene reports and dedicated IP options.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Published per-user rates make costs easy to model
  • Unlimited marketing sends and included seats
  • Transactional email at low usage prices
  • SOC 2 compliance stated

Limitations

  • No free plan
  • Unlimited sends are subject to fair use
  • No landing page builder listed on the pricing page
  • Chat is an extra $30 a month
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Indie SaaS founders sending product and marketing email
  • Online businesses where email drives revenue
  • Teams moving off a platform after deliverability problems

Look elsewhere if

  • Hobby projects that need a free tier
  • Marketers who want built-in landing pages
§6

Alternatives to Bento

Tool From Free option Stages
Resend Email API for developers
$20/mo Free tier
Notifuse Open-source email platform
$19/mo Open source
Loops Lifecycle email for SaaS
$49/mo Free tier
Brevo Email marketing and transactional platform
$9/mo Free tier
Mailjet Email API, SMTP relay and campaign editor
$9/mo Free tier
GetResponse Email marketing and automation
$19/mo Free tier

All email marketing and newsletters →

§7

Questions

How much does Bento cost for 10,000 subscribers?

About $79 a month: $29 covers 5,000 active users and each additional active user costs $0.01.

Does Bento have a free plan?

No. The marketing platform starts at $29 a month; transactional email includes 100 free emails.

Does Bento limit the number of emails?

Marketing sends are unlimited on paid plans, subject to fair use.

Sources read for this page