verifier.org

SendGrid

the default answer for a decade, now without a free plan, with three days of history, and behind a redirect loop.

$19.95/mo#high-volume-senders-on-p#eu-residency-bundled

still capable at the top tiers, and the entry experience has gone backwards — no free plan, three days of logs, and a pricing page that redirects in circles.

the free plan is gone. new signups get a 60-day trial at 100 emails a day, then billing starts. that change from may 2025 invalidates most of the recommendations still circulating, and it removes what was for years the reason to start here.

three days of log retention on free and essentials is the second-worst in this ranking. pro and premier get seven, which is still short of postmark's 45 and smtp2go's 30. for a platform sold on visibility and reputation management, that is a strange place to economise.

the description above is ours, condensed from the ranking. pricing moves — check it on the vendor's own page before you rely on it.

pricing
$19.95/mo
website
twilio.com
our verdict

still capable at the top tiers, and the entry experience has gone backwards — no free plan, three days of logs, and a pricing page that redirects in circles.

we researched this category against vendors' own pricing pages and licence files. that is where this line comes from — not from the vendor, and not from anything they paid for.

more transactional email providers

Brevo

marketing platform with a transactional smtp and api alongside it

#smtp#marketing

SparkPost

high-volume sending with deliverability analytics, now part of bird

#high-volume#deliverability

ZeptoMail

zoho's transactional-only service, priced in email credits

#credits#zoho

MailerSend

we checked this~$5.60/mo

the cheapest mid-field option at both anchor volumes, with retention that's honest about being tiered.

#cost-sensitive-senders-w