§04 · Email · Which email API?
Transactional email APIs
Transactional email is the mail your app sends one person at a time: sign-up confirmations, password resets, receipts. What matters is deliverability, a clean API and predictable pricing as volume grows, and prices at 50,000 emails a month range from free to over $50.
Where we would start, by stage
Editorial picks from the data below, never paid. They change when prices or free tiers do; the full table is underneath.
3,000 emails a month free (100 a day), a clean API and inbound on every plan.
From $20/mo for 50,000 emails
A transactional-only service from $15/mo for 10,000 emails, with inbound on Pro and Platform.
From $15/mo for 10,000 emails
$19.95/mo covers 50,000 emails; a dedicated IP is included from the Pro plan.
From $19.95/mo for 50,000 emails
About $5 for 50,000 emails at à la carte rates, with dedicated IPs from $24.95/mo.
From $0.10 per 1,000 emails
Plans from free to enterprise, an EU region and inbound routing.
From $15/mo for 10,000 emails
All 30 compared
A to Z · never paid placement30 tools
| Tool | From | Free option | Free | 50k emails/mo | Dedicated IP | Inbound | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AhaSend ahasend.com · EU | $10/mo | Free tier | 1,000/month | About $22.50 (Pro $10 + 25k at $0.50/1k) | Access at 100k on Pro; included at 300k+ on Max | Yes (inbound routing) | |
| Amazon SES aws.amazon.com · EU | Usage-based | None; new AWS accounts get up to $200 credits | $5 (a la carte, plus attachment data) | $24.95/mo per IP, or managed from $15/mo | Yes, $0.10/1,000 plus chunks; Mail Manager | ||
| Azure Communication Services Email learn.microsoft.com · EU | Usage-based | None | About $12.50 plus data transfer | Not offered in the docs we read | |||
| Bento bentonow.com | $29/mo | ||||||
| Brevo brevo.com · EU | $9/mo | Free tier | |||||
| Cloudflare Email Service developers.cloudflare.com | $5/mo | 3,000/month on Workers Paid ($5) | About $21.45 (incl. $5 Workers Paid) | Yes, Email Routing, unlimited on all plans | |||
| Elastic Email API elasticemail.com | $19/mo | Free tier | 3,000/month (100/day) | $19/mo (Starter) or $49/mo (Pro) | Private IP add-on $40/mo | Not listed on the pricing page | |
| Emailit emailit.com · EU | Usage-based | None (free tier retired) | About $10 in credits at $0.20/1k | $300/year add-on | Yes | ||
| Lettermint lettermint.co · EU | €10/mo | Free tier | 300/month | €40/mo (Starter 50,000) | €50/mo add-on, Pro plan, 300k+ emails | Yes, from Starter | |
| Loops loops.so | $49/mo | Free tier | |||||
| Mailchimp Transactional mailchimp.com | $20/mo | Up to 500 demo sends to your verified domain | $40/mo in blocks + Mailchimp plan | $29.95/mo add-on | Yes (inbound email handling) | ||
| Mailcoach mailcoach.app | $9.99/mo | Trial | |||||
| Maileroo maileroo.com | $10/mo | Free tier | 3,000/month (+1,000 inbound) | Not readable (slider) | Free on 250k+ plans; extra $50/mo each | Yes, all plans | |
| MailerSend mailersend.com | $7/mo | Free tier | 500/month | $35/mo (Starter) | Enterprise only, over 100K emails/week | Yes (inbound routing) | |
| Mailgun mailgun.com · EU | $15/mo | Free tier | 100/day | $35/mo (Foundation) | Access at 50k, 1 included at 100k+; extra $59/mo | Yes (1 route free, 5 Basic, full Foundation+) | |
| Mailjet mailjet.com · EU | $9/mo | Free tier | 6,000/month (200/day) | Not readable (slider) | 1 IP on Premium 100k+ plans | Not listed on the pricing page | |
| MailPace mailpace.com · EU | $4/mo | 100/month plan on request | Not readable (slider) | Yes, all plans | |||
| Mailtrap Email API/SMTP mailtrap.io | $15/mo | Free tier | 4,000/month (150/day) | $20/mo (Basic 50K) | Included on Business ($85+) | Yes, all plans | |
| Notifuse notifuse.com · OSS · EU | $19/mo | Open source | |||||
| Plunk useplunk.com · OSS · EU | Usage-based | Free tier | 1,000/month | About $50 ($0.001/email) | Yes (webhook notifications) | ||
| Postmark postmarkapp.com | $15/mo | Free tier | 100/month | Not shown without the slider; $15 plan + $1.80/1k over 10k | $50/mo per IP, 300k+ emails/mo, Pro or higher | Yes, Pro and Platform | |
| Resend resend.com | $20/mo | Free tier | 3,000/month (100/day) | $20/mo (Pro) | $30/mo add-on on Scale, 3,000+ emails/day | Yes, all plans | |
| Scaleway Transactional Email (TEM) scaleway.com · EU | Usage-based | Free tier | 300/month | About €12.43 (Essential, pay as you go) | Managed dedicated IP on Scale (€80/mo) | Not offered on the pages we read | |
| SMTP2GO smtp2go.com | $10/mo | Free tier | 1,000/month | Not readable (slider) | Included on Professional ($75+) | Not listed on the pricing page | |
| SocketLabs socketlabs.com | $39.95/mo | Trial | First month of Core free (trial) | Core $39.95 + $0.0013 per email over 40k | Included on Pro ($89.95) | Not listed on the pricing page | |
| SparkPost sparkpost.com | $15/mo | Free tier | 1,000/month | $15/mo (Startup 50K) | $24.95/mo each, Growth and above, up to 5 | Not listed on the pricing page | |
| Sweego sweego.io · EU | €10/mo | Free tier | 100/day | Individual 50K tier; price not readable | Available on Startup, included on Scaleup | Yes, paid plans | |
| Twilio SendGrid Email API twilio.com · EU | $19.95/mo | Trial | 60-day trial, 100/day | $19.95/mo (Essentials 50k) | 1 included on Pro ($89.95+) | Yes (Inbound Parse webhook) | |
| useSend usesend.com · OSS | $10/mo | Free tier | 3,000/month (100/day) on cloud | $20 on cloud (transactional) | Listed as not yet done in the README | ||
| Zoho ZeptoMail zoho.com · EU | Usage-based | First credit (10,000) free, expires in 1 month | About $12.50 in credits | Annual add-on, some data centers only | Not offered on the pages we read |
No tools match these filters.
How to choose an email API
- Estimate your monthly volume and compare the price at that volume, not the entry price. The email cost calculator does this for you.
- Keep transactional and marketing mail on separate streams or providers, so a newsletter complaint cannot hurt password resets.
- Check the free tier: some are a daily cap, some a monthly cap, some expire after a trial period.
- If you need to receive mail (replies, parsing), check inbound support.
- A dedicated IP only helps at steady high volume; below that, a shared pool with a good reputation usually delivers better.
Questions
What is the cheapest transactional email service?
At high volume Amazon SES is usually cheapest per email, but it needs more setup. The table and the email cost calculator show each provider's price at 10,000 to 500,000 emails a month.
Can I send transactional email from my own SMTP server?
You can, but new servers and IP addresses start with no reputation, and major mailbox providers now require SPF, DKIM and DMARC. A transactional provider handles reputation, bounces and complaints for you.
Comparisons and pricing changes
Recent changes
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New Amazon SES accounts default to the Essentials plan
Amazon SES · source ↗
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ZeptoMail pricing update for new sign-ups
Zoho ZeptoMail · source ↗
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Postmark Pro and Platform features available at 10,000 emails
Postmark · source ↗
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SendGrid retires its Free Email API plan
Twilio SendGrid Email API · source ↗
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New SendGrid accounts get a 60-day trial instead of a free plan
Twilio SendGrid Email API · source ↗