| $ / 1,000 emails ▲ | Provider | Free tier | Entry plan | Best for |
|---|
Indicative pricing as last reviewed 11 July 2026. This space changed fast in 2025-26 (SendGrid dropped its free plan, Mailgun raised rates), confirm current pricing. Rates shown are at-volume / overage per 1,000; monthly plans bundle a base allowance.
Cheapest email API?
Amazon SES at ~$0.10/1,000, with Elastic Email and SparkPost close behind. But SES is DIY infrastructure, no dashboard or templates. Managed providers cost more but save setup time. Sort by "$/1,000" above.
Which have a free tier?
SES and Resend give 3,000/month; Brevo and SendPulse have generous free allowances; Mailtrap and SMTP2GO ~1,000/month. SendGrid removed its free plan in 2025. See the free-tier column.
Why deliverability beats a few cents
If emails land in spam a cheap sender is useless. Postmark and Resend focus on transactional deliverability, worth the premium for critical mail like resets and receipts.