Free email infrastructure tool
At 50,000 emails a month, published list prices for an email API range from $5.00/month (Amazon SES, À la carte) to $55.00/month (Postmark, Basic 50K), before taxes and add-ons. Transactional email APIs charge by emails sent, so your cost depends on volume, peak daily sends, and add-ons such as dedicated IPs.
Compare SendGrid vs Resend vs Postmark vs Mailgun vs Amazon SES for your volume. The calculator picks each vendor's cheapest plan that meets your daily cap, domain, dedicated IP, retention, and seat requirements, then projects costs for 12 months.
Your sending needs
Need a dedicated IP?
Ranked cheapest first
Prices last verified:
For 50,000 emails/month, peak 1,667/day, 1 domain, shared IPs, any log retention.
| # | Vendor | Cheapest plan that fits | Monthly cost | Per 1,000 | Included | Headroom / overage | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon SES | À la carte | $5.00 | $0.10 | Pay per email ($0.10/1K), 10,000 domains | No tier: cost scales per email. | — |
| 2 | Twilio SendGrid | Essentials 50K | $19.95 | $0.40 | 50,000 emails/mo, 3-day logs | At the plan limit; more needs a bigger plan | — |
| 3 | Resend | Pro 50K | $20.00 | $0.40 | 50,000 emails/mo, 30-day logs, 10 domains | At the plan limit, then $0.90/1K | — |
| 4 | Mailgun | Foundation 50K | $35.00 | $0.70 | 50,000 emails/mo, 5-day logs, 1,000 domains | At the plan limit, then $1.30/1K | — |
| 5 | Postmark | Basic 50K | $55.00 | $1.10 | 50,000 emails/mo, 45-day logs, 5 domains | At the plan limit, then $1.80/1K | — |
SendGrid's free option is a 60-day trial (100 emails/day), so it is not ranked as an ongoing plan. Costs marked "from" use a vendor's published starting price.
Volume and peak daily sends compound monthly. Each month uses the cheapest qualifying plan; hollow markers show a plan switch.
| Month | Emails | SendGrid | Resend | Postmark | Mailgun | Amazon SES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50,000 | $19.95 | $20.00 | $55.00 | $35.00 | $5.00 |
| 2 | 55,000 | $34.95→ Essentials 100K | $24.50 | $64.00 | $41.50 | $5.50 |
| 3 | 60,500 | $34.95 | $29.90 | $73.90 | $48.65 | $6.05 |
| 4 | 66,550 | $34.95 | $35.00→ Pro 100K | $82.02→ Pro 50K | $56.52 | $6.66 |
| 5 | 73,205 | $34.95 | $35.00 | $90.67 | $65.17 | $7.32 |
| 6 | 80,526 | $34.95 | $35.00 | $100.18 | $74.68 | $8.05 |
| 7 | 88,578 | $34.95 | $35.00 | $110.65 | $75.00→ Foundation 100K | $8.86 |
| 8 | 97,436 | $34.95 | $35.00 | $115.00→ Basic 125K | $75.00 | $9.74 |
| 9 | 107,179 | $249.00→ Pro 300K | $42.20 | $115.00 | $82.90 | $10.72 |
| 10 | 117,897 | $249.00 | $51.20 | $115.00 | $94.69 | $11.79 |
| 11 | 129,687 | $249.00 | $62.00 | $123.44 | $107.66 | $12.97 |
| 12 | 142,656 | $249.00 | $73.70 | $146.78 | $121.92 | $14.27 |
| 12-month total | $1,260.60 | $478.50 | $1,191.64 | $878.69 | $106.93 |
List prices in USD from each vendor's public pricing page, checked 2026-10-31. Prices change: re-check the vendor page before you buy. Taxes, attachments, data transfer, validation credits, and add-ons not listed are excluded.
Know what you are comparing
SendGrid Email API, Resend, Postmark, Mailgun, and Amazon SES bill by emails sent per month: a plan includes a bundle of emails, and you pay an overage rate or move up a tier beyond it. Amazon SES bills every email with no bundle.
Newsletter and campaign tools usually bill by contacts stored, not emails sent. Resend's own marketing plans work this way, so broadcasts don't count against its transactional quota. This calculator compares transactional (API) pricing only.
Receipts, password resets, and product notifications are triggered one recipient at a time, which suits sends-based pricing. Lifecycle sequences to a known audience can fit either model; compare both before you commit.
Costs use each vendor's published prices in USD. Taxes, attachments, data transfer, validation credits, and negotiated discounts are excluded.
Where a vendor shows prices on a slider (SendGrid, Postmark, Mailgun), only the published points are modeled. A volume between points uses the next plan that covers it, or the published overage rate.
If a vendor does not publish a needed number (such as SendGrid's overage rate or extra dedicated IP price), that option is shown as Contact sales instead of being estimated.
Twilio SendGrid Email API plans start at Essentials: $19.95/month for 50,000 emails or $34.95 for 100,000. Pro runs from $89.95/month for 100,000 emails to $1,099.00/month for 2.5 million and includes a dedicated IP. Premier is custom pricing. Prices checked 2026-10-31.
SendGrid's Email API pricing page lists a free trial, not a free-forever plan: $0 for 60 days with up to 100 emails per day and no overages. After that, the cheapest paid plan is Essentials at $19.95/month for 50,000 emails.
Resend's Free plan includes 3,000 emails/month with a 100 emails/day limit. Pro costs $20.00/month for 50,000 emails ($35.00 for 100,000), and Scale runs from $90.00/month for 100,000 emails to $1,150.00/month for 2.5 million. Extra emails cost $0.90 per 1,000 on Pro. Enterprise is custom.
It depends on volume. At 50,000 emails/month: Resend $20.00 (Pro 50K), SendGrid $19.95 (Essentials 50K), Postmark $55.00 (Basic 50K). At 1,000,000: Resend $650.00 (Scale 1M), SendGrid $799.00 (Pro 1.5M), Postmark $775.00 (Basic 1.5M). Use the calculator for your volume, domains, dedicated IP, and retention needs.
On published list prices, Amazon SES is the cheapest at both 50,000 emails/month ($5.00) and 1,000,000 ($100.00). Amazon SES charges $0.10 per 1,000 emails on à la carte pricing, but new accounts start on the Essentials plan at $0.16 per 1,000 unless you switch. For very low volume, Resend Free (3,000/month) costs nothing.
Build an SPF TXT record for the email providers you send through.
Check syntax, provider typos, disposable domains, and role addresses in your browser.
Scan subject lines and copy for words that can trigger spam filters.
Create a secure, clear password reset email in HTML and plain text.
Plan onboarding, activation, retention, and win-back email journeys.
Create responsive HTML and plain-text email templates.
DripAgent is agent-native lifecycle email for AI-built apps: set up onboarding, activation, retention, and re-engagement emails.
Try DripAgent free