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Email API Pricing, per 1,000 Emails

Headline plans hide the real number. This ranks transactional email APIs by cost per 1,000 emails at volume, alongside each one's free tier, so you can find the cheapest reliable way to send.

Sorted by cost per 1,000 emails, cheapest first. Tap a column heading to re-rank.

See email apis priced beside 632 tools and services, in one list →

$ / 1,000 emails ▲ProviderFree tierEntry planBest for
Amazon SES free tier 3000, ppk 0.10, entry Pay-as-you-go $0.10/1k, note Cheapest at scale, but raw infra (no dashboard) Visit →
Elastic Email free tier 3000, ppk 0.12, entry From ~$0.12/1k, note Ultra-cheap high-volume sending Visit →
SparkPost (Bird) free tier 500, ppk 0.20, entry Volume pricing, note Enterprise-scale sending Visit →
Resend free tier 3000, ppk 0.40, entry $20/mo for 50k, note Developer-first, modern, React Email Visit →
SendGrid ppk 0.40, entry $19.95/mo for 50k (no free tier), note Industry standard, huge ecosystem Visit →
Brevo free tier 9000, ppk 0.60, entry Free 300/day; plans from ~$9, note Generous free, marketing + transactional Visit →
SendPulse free tier 12000, ppk 0.65, entry Free 12k/mo, note Big free tier, multi-channel Visit →
Mailtrap free tier 1000, ppk 0.80, entry Free ~1k/mo, note Email testing + sending in one Visit →
MailerSend free tier 500, ppk 1.00, entry Free 500/mo, $1/1k over, note Clean API + drag-drop templates Visit →
SMTP2GO free tier 1000, ppk 1.00, entry Free ~1k/mo, note Reliable SMTP + API, strong support Visit →
Loops free tier 1000, ppk 1.00, entry Free tier, then usage, note Modern product & transactional email Visit →
Postmark ppk 1.80, entry $15/mo for 10k, $1.80/1k over, note Best-in-class transactional deliverability Visit →
Mailgun ppk 2.00, entry $2/1k pay-as-you-go, note Powerful API (rates rose in 2025) Visit →

Indicative pricing as last reviewed 28 August 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.

How to read this. $ per 1,000 emails is the value metric at scale. But the cheapest is not always best: Amazon SES and other ultra-low options are raw infrastructure with no dashboard, templates or hand-holding, so you pay in developer time. Managed providers (Resend, Postmark, SendGrid) cost more per email but set up in minutes and often deliver better, which matters most for password resets and receipts. Weigh price against your time and how critical inboxing is.
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 does deliverability beat 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.

See this beside every other category we rank by value, cheapest per TB, per bay, per serving and more →

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