--- title: "Best SendGrid Alternatives in 2026: Cheaper, Simpler and Open Source" description: "The best SendGrid alternatives in 2026 compared: Reloop, Resend, Postmark, Amazon SES, Mailgun, MailerSend, Brevo and Mailjet on price at 50k and 100k emails, free tiers, inbound, marketing and how to migrate." canonical: "https://reloop.sh/blog/best-sendgrid-alternatives" last-updated: "2026-10-25" --- # Best SendGrid Alternatives in 2026: Cheaper, Simpler and Open Source > For the site documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). Docs index: [llms-docs.txt](/llms-docs.txt). Marketing corpus: [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt). Docs corpus: [llms-full-docs.txt](/llms-full-docs.txt). Product skill: [skill.md](/skill.md). Prefer markdown URLs (append `.md`) when available. > The best SendGrid alternatives in 2026 compared: Reloop, Resend, Postmark, Amazon SES, Mailgun, MailerSend, Brevo and Mailjet on price at 50k and 100k emails, free tiers, inbound, marketing and how to migrate. Source: https://reloop.sh/blog/best-sendgrid-alternatives Published: 2026-10-25 **The short version:** if you're leaving SendGrid to pay less and get a simpler API, **Reloop** is the strongest all-round replacement: $10 for 50,000 emails, a permanent free tier, inbound mailboxes, campaigns on the same plan, and open source. If you only care about transactional deliverability, look at **Postmark**. If you're on AWS and want the cheapest raw pipe, **Amazon SES**. We build Reloop, so weigh that. Every price below comes from the providers' public pricing pages, linked in our head-to-head posts, and each section says where that provider beats us. --- ## Why teams leave SendGrid SendGrid, now part of Twilio, is proven at enormous volume. The reasons people look elsewhere are consistent: - **No permanent free plan.** New accounts get 100 emails a day for a 60-day trial, then you pay. - **The features growing teams want sit on Pro.** A dedicated IP, subusers and SSO start at $89.95 a month. - **Two products, two plans.** The Email API and Marketing Campaigns are billed separately. - **An older API.** The v3 payload nests recipients inside a `personalizations` array that most developers look up every time. - **Hosted only.** No source, no self-hosting, no way to run it yourself if pricing or policy changes. If none of that bothers you and you need Twilio's enterprise contracts, SendGrid may still be the right call. Otherwise, here are the alternatives. --- ## Top picks at a glance | Category | Pick | Why | |---|---|---| | **Best overall SendGrid alternative** | Reloop | $10 for 50k, free tier, inbound mailboxes, campaigns, open source | | **Best hosted developer experience** | Resend | Clean API, React Email, big ecosystem | | **Best for transactional deliverability** | Postmark | Transactional-first, message streams | | **Cheapest raw sending** | Amazon SES | $0.10 per 1,000, if you build the rest | | **Best for inbound routing and logs** | Mailgun | Inbound routes, detailed event logs | | **Best for a visual builder** | MailerSend | Drag-and-drop editor, SMS add-on | | **Best for marketing-led teams** | Brevo | Email, SMS, WhatsApp and CRM in one | | **Best EU-based ESP** | Mailjet | Strong editor, generous free tier | --- ## The comparison table | | SendGrid | Reloop | Resend | Postmark | Amazon SES | Mailgun | MailerSend | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | **Free tier** | 60-day trial, 100 / day | 6,000 / mo (200 / day) | 3,000 / mo (100 / day) | 100 / mo | $200 AWS credits, 6 months | 100 / day trial | 500 / mo | | **~50,000 / mo** | $19.95 | **$10** | $20 | $87 (Basic + overage) | ~$5 | $35 | $35 | | **~100,000 / mo** | $34.95 | **$20** | $35 | $177 (Basic + overage) | ~$10 | $90 | $68 | | **Dedicated IP** | Pro, from $89.95 | Included on Growth ($20) | $30/mo add-on on Scale ($90+) | $50 / mo, from 300k / mo | $24.95 / mo | Paid add-on | Add-on on Professional | | **Inbound** | Inbound Parse webhook | Mailboxes + threads, API, MCP, IMAP | Webhook | Webhook (Pro and up) | Receipt rules to S3 / Lambda / SNS | Inbound routes | Forward to webhook or address | | **Marketing** | Separate plan | Yes + automations | Broadcasts | Broadcast streams | No | Separate Sinch product | Bulk sending; MailerLite for marketing | | **Open source / self-host** | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Brevo and Mailjet are covered in their own sections below. Postmark's 50k and 100k figures are Basic list price plus overage; Pro and Platform plans lower the overage, so check [their calculator](https://postmarkapp.com/pricing). SES figures are sending only, before data transfer. --- ## 1. Reloop: best overall SendGrid alternative Reloop is open-source email infrastructure: a transactional API, SMTP relay, inbound mailboxes, contacts, campaigns, automations and webhooks in one product. Use it hosted, or run the same code on your own server. **Pricing:** Free is 6,000 emails a month (200 a day) with no end date. Pro is $10 for 50,000. Growth is $20 for 100,000 and includes a dedicated IP. Extra mail costs $0.50 per 1,000. Self-hosting is free under Apache 2.0. Pay-as-you-go credits are also available at $0.50 per 1,000, valid for 6 months. **Why it fits SendGrid users** - **Roughly half the price.** $10 vs $19.95 at 50k, $20 vs $34.95 at 100k. With a dedicated IP, it's $20 on Reloop against $89.95 on SendGrid Pro. - **One product.** Transactional email, campaigns and event-triggered automations share one API key and one suppression list. No second Marketing Campaigns plan. - **A flat API.** One request, one message, no `personalizations` array. Errors return `message`, `why` and `fix`. - **Inbound as real mailboxes.** Where SendGrid's Inbound Parse POSTs each message to your URL, Reloop stores and threads mail, scores spam, and lets you read and reply over the API, the [MCP server](/docs/integrations/ai-tools/mcp-server) or IMAP. - **Open source and self-hostable**, so you're never locked in. Reloop Cloud runs on Hetzner, a German hosting company, with EU data centers. **Where SendGrid is still ahead** - **Template logic.** SendGrid's dynamic templates run full Handlebars (`#if`, `#each`). Reloop templates substitute variables like `{{{first_name}}}` with defaults; loops and conditions happen in your code. - **Enterprise procurement.** Subusers, IP pools and a mature Twilio compliance programme. - **Track record.** Reloop is younger, with fewer years of community answers. **Best for:** startups and product teams that want SendGrid's sending without its pricing, especially if they also need inbound mail or might self-host. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs SendGrid](/blog/reloop-vs-sendgrid) · [SendGrid alternative overview](/alternatives/sendgrid) · [Feature comparison](/compare/sendgrid) --- ## 2. Resend: best hosted developer experience Resend set the bar for a modern email API and created React Email. **Pricing:** Free is 3,000 a month (100 a day). Pro is $20 for 50,000. 100,000 costs $35. Overage is $0.90 per 1,000. **Strengths:** excellent docs and onboarding, first-class React Email, a large ecosystem of examples, and Broadcasts for simple marketing sends. **Weaknesses:** $35 at 100k is about the same as SendGrid Essentials, a dedicated IP needs the $90 Scale plan plus a $30/mo add-on, inbound is a webhook per message, and it's hosted only. **Best for:** small teams that want a polished API and will stay under 50k emails a month. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Resend](/blog/reloop-vs-resend) --- ## 3. Postmark: best for transactional deliverability Postmark has been transactional-first for over a decade. **Message streams** keep transactional and broadcast traffic apart, so a newsletter can't hurt your password resets. **Pricing:** a free developer plan of 100 emails a month. Basic is $15 for 10,000, with overage at $1.80 per 1,000; Pro and Platform lower that to $1.30 and $1.20. Inbound needs Pro or above. Dedicated IPs are $50 a month per IP for senders above 300,000 a month. **Strengths:** strong transactional reputation, clear bounce handling, excellent support. **Weaknesses:** the most expensive per email here once you pass 10,000, a tiny free tier, and hosted only. **Best for:** teams where a delayed receipt or reset costs real money and budget is secondary. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Postmark](/blog/reloop-vs-postmark) --- ## 4. Amazon SES: cheapest raw sending SES is AWS's sending pipe. It's the cheapest per email by a wide margin, and it's a building block, not a product. **Pricing:** $0.10 per 1,000 emails plus $0.12 per GB of outbound data. Dedicated IPs are $24.95 a month. New AWS accounts get up to $200 in Free Tier credits for six months. **Strengths:** lowest list price, deep AWS integration (IAM, SNS, EventBridge, Lambda), scales to huge volume. **Weaknesses:** new accounts start in a sandbox, and you build bounce handling, logs, templates and any dashboard yourself. **Best for:** AWS-heavy teams with engineering time to build the tooling SendGrid gave them. You can combine the two: Reloop can route outbound mail through SES (or any SMTP provider) while you keep Reloop's API, logs, templates and suppression list. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Amazon SES](/blog/reloop-vs-aws-ses) --- ## 5. Mailgun: best for inbound routing and logs Mailgun, now part of Sinch, is a long-standing developer API with strong log search and inbound routes. **Pricing:** a 100-a-day free trial. Basic is $15 for 10,000. Foundation is $35 for 50,000, with overage from $1.30 per 1,000. **Strengths:** inbound routes that match patterns and forward or POST messages, detailed event logs, Handlebars templates, and email validation as an add-on. **Weaknesses:** more expensive than SendGrid Essentials at 50k, dedicated IPs are an add-on, campaigns are a separate Sinch product, and it's hosted only. **Best for:** teams that need routing and log search more than a low price. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Mailgun](/blog/reloop-vs-mailgun) --- ## 6. MailerSend: best for a visual builder MailerSend comes from the team behind MailerLite and is built for teams where non-developers edit emails. **Pricing:** free for 500 emails a month. Hobby is $7 for 5,000. Starter is $35 for 50,000 and $68 for 100,000, with $1.30 per 1,000 overage at those tiers. Professional, which unlocks the dedicated IP add-on, is $110 for 50k. **Strengths:** a drag-and-drop template builder, SMS in the US and Canada, and a clean dashboard. **Weaknesses:** a small free tier, marketing lives in a separate product (MailerLite), and inbound is forwarded rather than stored. **Best for:** teams where designers or marketers own transactional templates. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs MailerSend](/blog/reloop-vs-mailersend) --- ## 7. Brevo: best for marketing-led teams Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is an all-in-one marketing suite from Paris with a transactional API. **Pricing:** free for 300 emails a day. Starter begins at $9 for 5,000 emails, and Standard, with automations, starts at $18. Larger volumes are priced on a slider. **Strengths:** email, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM and live chat in one product, with an editor marketers can use alone. **Weaknesses:** costs rise quickly with volume compared with developer APIs, dedicated IPs are on higher tiers, and inbound is a webhook. **Best for:** teams that left SendGrid mainly for Marketing Campaigns and want a broader marketing suite. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Brevo](/blog/reloop-vs-brevo) --- ## 8. Mailjet: best EU-based ESP Mailjet, now owned by Sinch, combines transactional and marketing email with a strong drag-and-drop editor. **Pricing:** free for 6,000 emails a month (200 a day). At 50,000 it's $40 on Essential or $59 on Premium; 100,000 on Premium is $112. **Strengths:** tied with Reloop for the most generous free tier here, a good visual editor, and long GDPR experience. **Weaknesses:** automations and the dedicated IP need Premium, and above the free tier it's several times Reloop's price. **Best for:** small senders under 6,000 a month, or teams that want a visual editor with EU hosting. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Mailjet](/blog/reloop-vs-mailjet) --- ## How to choose - **"We want SendGrid's features for less."** Reloop. It's $10 at 50k, and the dedicated IP is $20 instead of $89.95. - **"Our templates depend on Handlebars logic."** Stay on SendGrid, or move the logic into your code and use Reloop or Resend. - **"Only transactional deliverability matters."** Postmark. - **"We're all-in on AWS and have engineers to spare."** Amazon SES, or SES behind Reloop. - **"Marketers edit the emails."** MailerSend, Brevo or Mailjet. - **"We receive mail too, or run AI agents that read and reply."** Reloop, the only option here with stored, threaded mailboxes. - **"We need to self-host or read the source."** Reloop, the only open-source option here. --- ## Migrating off SendGrid The steps are the same whichever provider you pick: 1. **Verify your domain** with the new provider. For Reloop, publish the `reloop._domainkey` DKIM record and merge `include:reloop.sh` into your existing SPF record. Never publish a second SPF record. 2. **Export your suppressions** (bounces, blocks, spam reports, unsubscribes) from SendGrid and import them, so you don't email people who already said no. 3. **Swap the client.** Replace `sgMail.send` and flatten the `personalizations` array into one request per message. 4. **Move templates.** In Reloop, placeholders use triple braces, like `{{{first_name}}}`, and Handlebars logic moves into your code. 5. **Point webhooks** at a new handler. Reloop events are named `email.delivered`, `email.bounced` and so on, and are signed in the `Reloop-Signature` header. 6. **Ramp traffic** from 10% to 100% over one to two weeks, watching bounce and complaint rates. Our [SendGrid migration guide](/blog/migrating-from-sendgrid) walks through each step with code, including a traffic-split flag and a suppression import script. --- ## FAQ For raw sending, Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, if you build the tooling around it. For a complete platform, Reloop: $10 for 50,000 emails and $20 for 100,000 with a dedicated IP, against $19.95 and $34.95 on SendGrid Essentials. Yes. Reloop gives 6,000 emails a month (200 a day) with no end date, Mailjet gives 6,000 a month, and Resend gives 3,000 (100 a day). SendGrid itself now offers a 60-day trial instead of a permanent free plan. Self-hosted Reloop has no per-email fee at all. Reloop is open source under Apache 2.0. You can use the hosted service or run the same code on your own server, and point the SDK's `baseUrl` at it without changing the rest of your code. The HTML moves over as is. Placeholders change to Reloop's triple-brace syntax, and any `#if` or `#each` logic moves into your application code, since Reloop templates substitute variables but don't run logic. Not if you migrate carefully: authenticate the new domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, import your suppression list, and ramp traffic over a week or two. Our [authentication guide](/blog/spf-dkim-dmarc-setup-guide) covers the DNS side.