---
title: "Reloop vs Loops (2026): Pricing, Features and Which to Choose"
description: "Reloop vs Loops compared honestly: per-email vs per-contact pricing at 1k to 100k contacts, lifecycle automations, transactional API and SMTP, inbound inboxes, self-hosting, plus how to switch."
canonical: "https://reloop.sh/blog/reloop-vs-loops"
last-updated: "2026-10-25"
---

# Reloop vs Loops (2026): Pricing, Features and Which to Choose

> 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.

> Reloop vs Loops compared honestly: per-email vs per-contact pricing at 1k to 100k contacts, lifecycle automations, transactional API and SMTP, inbound inboxes, self-hosting, plus how to switch.
Source: https://reloop.sh/blog/reloop-vs-loops
Published: 2026-10-25
**Loops and Reloop both send the emails a SaaS product needs: onboarding sequences, product announcements and account mail.** The big difference is how you pay. **Loops bills by how many contacts you store. Reloop bills by how many emails you send.** At 100,000 contacts that's $399 a month on Loops versus $20 to $70 on Reloop for most sending patterns. Reloop also covers the transactional side (REST API and SMTP), receives mail into real inboxes, and is open source.

Loops is a polished, focused tool for lifecycle marketing, and for some teams that focus is exactly the point. We build Reloop, so weigh this accordingly. Loops' prices below come from [loops.so/pricing](https://loops.so/pricing), and where Loops is the better pick, we say so.

---

## The 30-second comparison

| | **Reloop** | **Loops** |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Emails sent | Contacts stored |
| Free tier | 3,000 emails / mo, 100 / day | 1,000 contacts, 4,000 sends / mo |
| Entry paid plan | **$10** / mo (50,000 emails) | $49 / mo |
| At 100,000 | **$20** / mo (100,000 emails) | $399 / mo (100,000 contacts) |
| Extra volume | $0.50 per 1,000 emails | Next contact tier |
| Transactional REST API | Yes | Limited |
| SMTP relay | Yes | No |
| Lifecycle automations | Yes | Yes (core focus) |
| Broadcasts | Yes | Yes |
| Inbound email / agent inbox | Yes | No |
| Sending engine | Own MTA (KumoMTA) | Third-party infrastructure |
| Open source / self-host | Yes (Apache 2.0) | No |

Reloop's prices are on [reloop.sh/pricing](/pricing). Both change; check before you commit.

---

## Pricing: contacts vs emails

This is the decision for most teams, so it's worth getting right.

**Loops charges for your list.** Every contact you store counts, whether they opened an email last week or haven't logged in for a year. Your bill grows with signups, not with how much you send.

**Reloop charges for sends.** Store as many contacts as you like. You pay for the emails that go out, and nothing at all for the software if you self-host.

Here's what that means for a product with **100,000 contacts**, depending on how often you email them:

| Emails per contact per month | Emails sent | Reloop | Loops |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (monthly newsletter) | 100,000 | $20 | $399 |
| 2 | 200,000 | $20 + $50 overage = **$70** | $399 |
| 4 (weekly) | 400,000 | $20 + $150 overage = **$170** | $399 |

Reloop's Growth plan includes 100,000 emails for $20. Each extra 1,000 costs $0.50.

At the small end, the free tiers favor different shapes. Loops gives you 1,000 contacts and 4,000 sends a month. Reloop gives you 3,000 emails a month with a 100-a-day cap and no limit on contacts. A side project with a large, quiet waitlist fits Reloop's free tier better; a tiny list you email often fits Loops'.

<Callout type="tip">
  Per-contact pricing quietly punishes growth. A launch that brings in 20,000 signups raises your Loops bill even if you never email most of them. Before you choose, model next year's list size, not today's.
</Callout>

---

## Automations and lifecycle email

Lifecycle email is Loops' core focus, and it shows. Building onboarding flows is pleasant and the product is designed around that one job.

Reloop's automations cover the same ground: an **event trigger**, then **delays**, **conditions** and **email steps**. Your app tracks an event, and the contact enters every automation that event triggers:

```typescript

const reloop = new Reloop({ apiKey: process.env.RELOOP_API_KEY! });

const { automationError } = await reloop.automations.start({
  event: "user.signed_up",
  email: user.email,
  firstName: user.name,
  properties: { plan: user.plan },
});
if (automationError) console.error(automationError);
```

Passing `email` creates the contact if it doesn't exist yet. Conditions can read event properties (for example `trigger.plan`), so trial and paid users can get different welcome emails. Our [welcome sequence guide](/blog/welcome-email-sequences-that-convert) builds a full four-email onboarding flow this way.

Around that, Reloop has contacts with custom properties, groups, subscription channels so people can opt out of one kind of mail without losing all of it, and scheduled broadcast campaigns.

| | Reloop | Loops |
|---|---|---|
| Event-triggered automations | Yes | Yes |
| Delays and conditions | Yes | Yes |
| Broadcasts / newsletters | Yes | Yes |
| Template editing | HTML, React Email, stored templates with `{{{variables}}}` | HTML / visual editor |

If your marketing team wants to build emails visually without touching code, that's a point for Loops.

---

## Transactional email: one tool or two

Password resets, receipts, magic links and invoices need to arrive in seconds, every time. They're also where developers spend most of their integration time.

Loops' transactional support is limited and it has no SMTP relay, so many teams that use Loops for lifecycle mail add a second vendor (often Resend or Postmark) for transactional sends. That means two bills, two sets of DNS records, two dashboards and two suppression lists that can disagree.

Reloop handles both in one place:

```typescript
const { response, emailError } = await reloop.mail.send({
  from: "Acme <hello@mail.acme.com>",
  to: user.email,
  subject: "Reset your password",
  html: `<p><a href="${resetUrl}">Reset your password</a></p>`,
});
```

- **REST API** with SDKs for Node, Python, Go, PHP, Ruby, Rust, Java, .NET and Elixir.
- **SMTP relay** at `smtp.reloop.sh` for frameworks, CMSs and tools that only speak SMTP.
- **Signed webhooks** for delivered, bounced and complained events, verified with HMAC-SHA256 in the `Reloop-Signature` header.
- **One sender reputation and one suppression list** for transactional and marketing mail. A user who hard-bounces on a receipt won't get your next newsletter.

---

## Receiving email and agent inboxes

Loops is outbound only.

Reloop receives mail into **mailboxes**. Messages are stored, threaded and spam-scored, and readable through the API, the [MCP server](/docs/integrations/ai-tools/mcp-server) or IMAP. You can reply in-thread with one call.

That matters for reply handling ("just reply to this email"), support addresses, and AI agents that need their own address to read and answer mail. See [build an AI agent that reads and replies to email](/blog/build-ai-agent-sends-emails).

---

## Deliverability and data ownership

Reloop runs its own MTA (KumoMTA), with per-domain throttling and automatic pauses when bounce or complaint rates spike. Loops sends through third-party email infrastructure. Both verify your domain and sign webhooks.

The bigger difference is where your data lives:

- **Loops** is closed SaaS. You can export contacts as CSV.
- **Reloop** is Apache 2.0. You can start on Reloop Cloud and later move to your own server with the [one-command installer](/self-host) or [Coolify](/blog/reloop-coolify-setup). Point the SDK's `baseUrl` at your instance and your code stays the same.

Self-hosting means owning IP warm-up and uptime yourself, so most teams should start hosted. It's useful to have the option for data residency, security reviews and price protection.

---

## Where Loops is the better choice

Being honest about it:

- **Your list is small and you email it often.** Under 1,000 contacts, Loops' free tier allows 4,000 sends a month.
- **Marketers own email, not engineers.** Loops is built around a visual, marketing-first workflow, and that focus makes it pleasant for non-developers.
- **You already run transactional mail elsewhere** and only want a lifecycle tool on top.

## Where Reloop is the better choice

- **Your contact list is large or growing fast.** Paying per send instead of per contact is usually far cheaper: $20 vs $399 at 100,000.
- **You want transactional and lifecycle mail in one product**, with one domain setup and one suppression list.
- **You need SMTP**, inbound inboxes, or email for AI agents.
- **You want open source** or the option to self-host.

---

## Switching from Loops to Reloop

1. **Add your sending domain** in Reloop and publish the DKIM record (`reloop._domainkey`). Merge `include:reloop.sh` into your existing SPF record rather than adding a second SPF record.
2. **Export your contacts** from Loops as CSV and import them into Reloop. Map custom fields to contact properties and keep unsubscribed contacts unsubscribed.
3. **Rebuild templates.** Paste in your HTML or React Email components and change placeholders to triple braces: `{{{first_name}}}`.
4. **Recreate your loops as automations.** Create an event for each trigger (for example `user.signed_up`), then add the same delays, conditions and email steps.
5. **Swap the tracking calls** in your app for `reloop.automations.start`, and send transactional mail with `reloop.mail.send`.
6. **Run both in parallel** for a week or two, then remove Loops' DNS records.

---

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Why is Loops more expensive at scale?">
    Loops prices by contacts stored, so 100,000 contacts cost $399 a month
    however few emails you send. Reloop prices by emails sent: $20 covers
    100,000 emails, and each extra 1,000 is $0.50.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can Reloop replace both Loops and a transactional provider?">
    Yes. Reloop sends transactional mail over a REST API and SMTP, and runs
    event-triggered automations and broadcasts, all on one domain setup and
    one suppression list.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does Reloop have onboarding automations like Loops?">
    Yes. Track an event like `user.signed_up` from your app and the contact
    enters every automation it triggers, with delays, conditions and email
    steps. See our [welcome sequence guide](/blog/welcome-email-sequences-that-convert).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I self-host Loops?">
    No. Loops is a hosted service only. Reloop is Apache 2.0 and can run on
    your own server with the same API.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do inactive contacts cost money on Reloop?">
    No. Reloop doesn't charge for stored contacts, only for emails sent.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Cta
  title="Try Reloop free"
  description="3,000 emails a month on the free tier, with no limit on contacts. Transactional email and lifecycle automations in one place."
  href="/dashboard/signup"
  label="Get started"
/>