Transactional Email · decision tool
Which email API should I use?
Set your monthly volume and constraints — get a ranked email-provider verdict with the real monthly bill. Resend, Postmark, SES, Mailgun, SendGrid.
Prices verified 2026-07-15 against official pricing pages · fit weights are our estimates (see methodology) · share the URL to share your configuration
As of Jul 2026, with 20,000 emails/month, a $30 budget for this slot, Resend ranks first for these inputs at 83% fit and a StackSays-estimated $20.00/month (SendGrid: 83% fit, $19.95/month). Fit weights are our estimates; prices trace to official pages. Change any input below and the verdict recomputes.
Your situation
The verdict updates as you move these.
Toss-up — your priorities decide, not the tools
Developer-first email API with React Email templates and a generous free tier
vs SendGrid: fit 83% against 83%, est $20.00 against $19.95 per month — genuinely close; read both risk lists below
The decision, in plain words
For a solo builder at 20,000 emails/month and a $30.00/mo budget for the email provider slot, Resend leads at 83% fit and $20.00/mo. The two rules doing the work: budget fit (~$20/mo is 67% of your $30/mo budget); batteries included (Bundles marketing email, template tooling, inbound parsing — fewer services to glue at team size 1).
SendGrid is a genuine coin-flip here (83% fit, $19.95/mo, $0.05 cheaper) — read both risk lists and pick the failure mode you prefer.
Honest weak spot of the pick: growing — our estimate from ecosystem age, docs and hiring pool.
Generated from the calculation above — every number traces to the sourced data; nothing here is written by an AI making things up.
Why Resend scores 83%
How the $20.00/mo estimate is calculated
What could change this verdict
Cost risk
Official prices verified 2026-07-15; calculation is deterministic code over those prices.
At a glance
| Tool | Free tier | Paid entry | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resend | 3,000 emails/month (100/day), 1 domain | Pro 50K $20/mo | 2026-07-15 |
| Postmark | 100 emails/month, full features | Basic $15/mo | 2026-07-15 |
| Amazon SES | No free tier | Pay-as-you-go — Flat $0.10/1K sent. Free tier is 3K/month for the first 12 months only — not permanent. Dedicated IP $24.95/mo optional | 2026-07-15 |
| Mailgun | 100 emails/day | Basic $15/mo | 2026-07-15 |
| SendGrid | No free tier | Essentials $19.95/mo | 2026-07-15 |
Data sources
| Tool | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Resend | Resend pricing page | 2026-07-15 |
| Postmark | Postmark pricing page | 2026-07-15 |
| Amazon SES | Amazon SES pricing page | 2026-07-15 |
| Mailgun | Mailgun pricing page | 2026-07-15 |
| SendGrid | Third-party 2026 pricing tracker (official page redirect-loops) | 2026-07-15 |
A monitor re-checks these pages for changes; when a vendor moves a price, the date updates and every verdict recomputes.
People also ask
Is Resend free forever?
The free tier is permanent: 3,000 emails/month capped at 100/day, one domain (verified 2026-07-15). It's a real production lane for small apps — the cap you'll hit first is the 100/day on bursty signup days.
Is SendGrid free forever?
No — SendGrid discontinued its permanent free tier in 2025. New accounts get a 60-day trial (100 emails/day), then must move to Essentials at $19.95/month. If you want a permanent free lane, Resend (3K/mo) and Mailgun (100/day) still have one.
Is Amazon SES free?
Not permanently — the 3K/month free allowance lasts only your first 12 months on AWS (verified 2026-07-15). After that it's $0.10 per 1,000 emails, which is still the price floor of the industry: 100K emails ≈ $10 vs $35–90 elsewhere.
Is Postmark free?
Only a developer tier: 100 emails/month with full features (verified 2026-07-15) — enough to evaluate deliverability, not to run production. Paid starts at $15/month for 10K emails.