ShipAI.today infrastructure reference
SendGrid vs Mailgun vs Resend vs SES pricing: the complete 2026 comparison.
SendGrid, Mailgun, Resend, Postmark, and Amazon SES all claim to be the best transactional email provider — but their pricing, deliverability, and developer experience differ significantly. Here's the definitive pricing comparison, plus an honest recommendation for SaaS builders in 2026.
Full comparison
Transactional email pricing comparison 2026
All prices are for transactional/triggered emails. Marketing bulk email pricing may differ.
| Provider | Free tier | Entry paid plan | Overage rate | Dedicated IP | React Email? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ResendRecommended | 3,000 emails/month free | $20/month → 50K emails | $0.80 per 1,000 above limit | Yes (Pro+) | Yes — native support |
| Postmark | 100 emails free trial (no ongoing free) | $15/month → 10K emails | $1.25 per 1,000 above limit | Yes ($50/month) | No (MJML/HTML) |
| SendGrid | 100 emails/day (~3,000/month) forever | $19.95/month → 50K emails | ~$0.85 per 1,000 above limit | Pro plan only ($89.95/mo) | No (requires HTML templates) |
| Mailgun | 100 emails/day trial (not ongoing) | $35/month → 50K emails | $1 per 1,000 above limit | Scale plan ($90/mo) | No |
| Amazon SES | 62,000 emails/month free if sending from EC2; otherwise $0 | $0.10 per 1,000 emails (no monthly fee) | Same rate — pure pay-as-you-go | Yes ($24.95/IP/month) | No |
Provider details
SendGrid, Mailgun, Resend & SES pricing in detail
Exact plan tiers and overage costs for each provider.
Resend pricing
Recommended for new SaaSFree
$0/month
3,000 emails/month included
• 1 domain
• 100 emails/day rate limit
• Full API access
• Webhooks
• React Email support
No dedicated IP, limited dashboard
Pro
$20/month
50,000 emails/month included
• Unlimited domains
• No daily rate limit
• Dedicated IP available
• Webhooks
• React Email support
• Email logs (30 days)
• Priority support
Overage: $0.80 per 1,000 above
Scale
$90/month
250,000 emails/month included
• Everything in Pro
• Higher rate limits
• Dedicated IPs included
• Custom domains
Overage at reduced rate
SendGrid pricing
Free
$0/month
100 emails/day (~3K/month) included
• API access
• Basic templates
• Basic analytics
• No expiry
No dedicated IP, no advanced features
Essentials
from $19.95/month
50K–100K emails/month included
• No daily rate limit
• Email validation add-on
• Customer support (email)
• API + SMTP relay
No dedicated IP. 100K: $29.95/mo
Pro
from $89.95/month
100K–1.5M emails/month included
• Dedicated IP addresses
• Sub-user management
• Unsubscribe tracking
• Phone support
Required for dedicated IP. 300K: $249/mo
Mailgun pricing
trial
$0/month
100 emails/day (trial) included
• API + SMTP
• Basic webhooks
• Email logs
• No credit card required
Not an ongoing free tier — limited trial only
Foundation
$35/month
50,000 emails/month included
• No daily rate limit
• Email tracking
• Suppression management
• EU data storage option
No dedicated IP. 100K: $75/mo
Scale
$90/month
100,000 emails/month included
• Dedicated IPs
• 5-day email logs
• 24/7 customer support
• Advanced analytics
Overage: ~$1 per 1,000
Amazon SES pricing
Cost: $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent. No monthly subscription fee.
Attachment transfers: $0.12 per GB of attachments (beyond 10 KB).
Dedicated IPs: $24.95/IP/month.
Free tier: 62,000 emails/month free when sending from an EC2 instance in the same region. Otherwise no ongoing free tier.
Cost examples at scale:
10K emails/month = $1
100K emails/month = $10
1M emails/month = $100
Versus Resend at 1M: ~$720/month. SES is 7× cheaper at scale, but has more ops overhead (bounce management, suppression lists, DMARC).
Our recommendation
Which transactional email service should you use in 2026?
The right choice depends on your stage. Here's a decision matrix.
Early stage / pre-revenue
$0/month→ Resend (free tier)
3,000 emails/month free, React Email support, clean API. No credit card needed. Handles welcome emails, magic links, and notification emails for most MVPs without paying anything.
Growth (100–10K users)
$20/month→ Resend Pro ($20/month)
50K emails/month, unlimited domains, no daily rate limits. The leap from free to $20/month is well worth the removal of rate limits. React Email + Resend is the best developer experience in 2026.
GDPR / EU-focused SaaS
$35/month (Foundation)→ Mailgun (EU data region)
Mailgun stores email data in EU data centers (Frankfurt). If your users are primarily EU-based and you need GDPR-compliant email infrastructure, Mailgun's EU region option is important.
High deliverability critical (finance, legal)
$15/month for 10K→ Postmark
Postmark has the best deliverability in the industry. They focus purely on transactional email and reject marketing email clients. If inbox placement rates are critical (password resets, invoices), Postmark is worth the premium.
Scale (1M+ emails/month)
$100/month at 1M→ Amazon SES
At $0.10/1,000 emails, SES is 5-10× cheaper than competitors at high volume. Requires more ops work (bounce handlers, suppression list management, DMARC/SPF/DKIM config), but the cost savings at scale justify the overhead.
Need email + marketing in one
$19.95/month + marketing plan→ SendGrid
If you need both transactional email AND marketing campaigns (newsletters, drip sequences, broadcast) in one platform, SendGrid is the established choice. Their marketing features are mature, though the UI feels dated.
Quick start
Setting up Resend in a Next.js project
The fastest way to get transactional email working in Next.js 15.
Install Resend + React Email
bun add resend @react-email/components
# or: npm install resend @react-email/componentsemails/welcome.tsx — React Email template
import {
Body, Button, Container, Head, Html,
Preview, Section, Text,
} from "@react-email/components";
interface WelcomeEmailProps {
username: string;
loginUrl: string;
}
export function WelcomeEmail({ username, loginUrl }: WelcomeEmailProps) {
return (
<Html>
<Head />
<Preview>Welcome to ShipAI — let's get you started</Preview>
<Body style={{ fontFamily: "sans-serif", background: "#f9fafb" }}>
<Container style={{ maxWidth: 520, margin: "40px auto", padding: 24 }}>
<Text style={{ fontSize: 24, fontWeight: "bold" }}>
Welcome, {username}!
</Text>
<Text style={{ color: "#6b7280" }}>
Your account is ready. Click below to sign in and start building.
</Text>
<Section>
<Button
href={loginUrl}
style={{
background: "#7c3aed",
color: "white",
borderRadius: 6,
padding: "12px 24px",
}}
>
Sign in to your account
</Button>
</Section>
</Container>
</Body>
</Html>
);
}app/api/send-welcome/route.ts — send the email
import { Resend } from "resend";
import { WelcomeEmail } from "@/emails/welcome";
import { render } from "@react-email/render";
const resend = new Resend(process.env.RESEND_API_KEY!);
export async function POST(req: Request) {
const { email, username } = await req.json();
const { data, error } = await resend.emails.send({
from: "ShipAI <hello@yourdomain.com>",
to: email,
subject: "Welcome to ShipAI",
react: <WelcomeEmail username={username} loginUrl="https://yourdomain.com/login" />,
});
if (error) {
return Response.json({ error }, { status: 500 });
}
return Response.json({ id: data?.id });
}Add RESEND_API_KEY=re_... to your environment variables. Get the key from the Resend dashboard → API Keys.
FAQ
Transactional email pricing FAQ
How much does SendGrid cost?
Free: 100 emails/day forever. Essentials: $19.95/month (50K) or $29.95/month (100K). Pro: from $89.95/month (100K) with dedicated IP. Usage above plan limits is billed per-email.
How much does Mailgun cost?
No ongoing free tier (trial only). Foundation: $35/month for 50K emails. Scale: $90/month for 100K emails + dedicated IPs. Overage: ~$1 per 1,000 emails above plan.
Is Resend better than SendGrid for Next.js?
Yes, for new projects in 2026. Resend has native React Email integration, a cleaner API, and is cheaper for early-stage ($20/month vs $19.95, but with 3K/month free tier). SendGrid's advantage is marketing email features and longer track record.
What is the cheapest transactional email service?
Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails — no monthly flat fee. At 10K emails/month: $1. At 100K: $10. The trade-off is you manage bounce and complaint handling yourself (more DevOps than managed services).
Does SendGrid have a free plan?
Yes — 100 emails/day forever (no expiry), no credit card required. Limitations: no dedicated IP, limited analytics, community support only. Suitable for very low-volume transactional email.
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Ready to ship
Resend + React Email pre-wired in ShipAI.today
ShipAI.today ships with Resend configured, React Email templates for welcome, magic link, and subscription events, and a working email queue. No setup needed.