--- title: "Reloop vs SparkPost (2026): Pricing, Features and Which to Choose" description: "Reloop vs SparkPost (now Bird Email) compared honestly: pricing from 3k to 500k emails a month, what changed after the Bird move, inbound mail, analytics, self-hosting and how to switch." canonical: "https://reloop.sh/blog/reloop-vs-sparkpost" last-updated: "2026-10-25" --- # Reloop vs SparkPost (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 SparkPost (now Bird Email) compared honestly: pricing from 3k to 500k emails a month, what changed after the Bird move, inbound mail, analytics, self-hosting and how to switch. Source: https://reloop.sh/blog/reloop-vs-sparkpost Published: 2026-10-25 **SparkPost isn't really SparkPost anymore.** sparkpost.com now redirects to Bird, and the product is sold as **Bird Email**, built on what Bird calls "the SparkPost engine, now one API." If you're comparing the two today, you're comparing Reloop with Bird's email product, and with a migration you'd have to plan either way. The short version: **Reloop is cheaper up to about 300k emails a month, has a real free tier, and is open source, so you can run it yourself.** Bird gets cheaper per email at very high volume and comes with the analytics and deliverability tooling SparkPost was known for. We build Reloop, so weigh this accordingly. Bird's numbers below are from [bird.com/pricing/email](https://bird.com/pricing/email) as of October 2026, and where Bird is the better pick, we say so. --- ## What happened to SparkPost - MessageBird [agreed to acquire SparkPost](https://bird.com/blog/sparkpost-joins-bird) and later rebranded as Bird. - [sparkpost.com](https://www.sparkpost.com) now redirects to Bird's email product page, and the old pricing page redirects to Bird's email pricing. - Bird's own [SparkPost page](https://bird.com/email-api/features/sparkpost) says Bird Email "has its own API and SDKs" and advises you to review sending, templates, domains and webhooks "rather than assuming that a SparkPost request can be sent unchanged." So if you're on SparkPost today, **you're facing a migration whichever way you go**. The real question is where to land. --- ## The 30-second comparison | | **Reloop** | **SparkPost / Bird Email** | |---|---|---| | Free tier | 3,000 / mo, 100 / day | 1,000 / mo, 50 / day | | Pricing model | Monthly plan + overage | Monthly deposit into a prepaid balance, billed per email | | 50,000 emails / mo | **$10** | About $20 (Startup, $0.40 per 1k) | | 100,000 emails / mo | **$20** | About $40 (Startup) | | Per 1,000 at high volume | $0.50 overage | **$0.20 – $0.45** depending on plan | | Dedicated IP | Included on Growth ($20) | Paid add-on, Growth plan ($250 deposit) and up | | Message retention | Plan-based logs | 30 days on every plan | | Inbound email | Mailboxes with threads, API, MCP, IMAP | Included, with mailboxes | | Open source | Yes (Apache 2.0) | No | | Self-host | Yes | No | | SMS / WhatsApp in the same account | No | Yes (Bird is omnichannel) | Prices change; check [Reloop pricing](/pricing) and [Bird pricing](https://bird.com/pricing/email) before you commit. --- ## Pricing at real volumes Bird's model is different from a classic plan. Each paid plan adds a **monthly deposit** to your Bird balance, and every email is charged against that balance at the plan's rate. Bird is clear that "a paid deposit adds spendable balance, not a fixed number of included emails," and unused funds carry forward. | Plan | Monthly deposit | Transactional rate per 1,000 | |---|---|---| | Free | $0 | 1,000 emails / mo, 50 / day | | Startup | $15 | $0.40 | | Growth | $250 | $0.45 | | Scale 1,000 | $1,000 | $0.35 | | Scale 2,500 | $2,500 | $0.30 | | Scale 5,000 | $5,000 | $0.25 | | Scale 10,000 | $10,000 | $0.20 | Here's what that looks like next to Reloop. Bird figures are usage at the Startup rate, rounded: | Monthly volume | Reloop | Bird Email | Cheaper | |---|---|---|---| | 3,000 | $0 | $15 deposit (free plan stops at 1,000) | Reloop | | 50,000 | $10 | ~$20 | Reloop | | 100,000 | $20 | ~$40 | Reloop | | 300,000 | $20 + $100 overage = $120 | ~$120 | Even | | 500,000 | $20 + $200 overage = $220 | ~$200 | Bird | The pattern: - **Under 300k a month, Reloop costs less**, and the gap is widest for small teams. Bird's free plan is 1,000 emails, so most real apps start paying sooner. - **Above 300k, Bird's per-email rate wins**, and at Scale volumes ($0.20 – $0.35 per 1k) it pulls clearly ahead on list price. - **Dedicated IPs:** on Reloop one is included on Growth ($20/mo). On Bird they're a paid add-on, and only on Growth ($250 deposit) and up. And if you self-host Reloop, there's no per-email fee at all. You pay for the server. See [self-hosted email infrastructure](/blog/self-hosted-email-infrastructure) for what that really involves. Price the volume you expect in a year, not today's. If you're heading past a few hundred thousand emails a month, run both numbers at that volume, including dedicated IPs. --- ## Developer experience SparkPost's classic API was built around **transmissions**: a content block plus a list of recipients. **SparkPost (legacy client)** ```typescript const client = new SparkPost(process.env.SPARKPOST_API_KEY); await client.transmissions.send({ content: { from: "hello@mail.acme.com", subject: "Welcome", html: "

Thanks for signing up.

", }, recipients: [{ address: "user@example.com" }], }); ``` Bird Email has its own API and SDKs, so existing SparkPost code is not guaranteed to work unchanged. Plan for a rewrite of the sending layer either way. **Reloop** ```typescript const reloop = new Reloop({ apiKey: process.env.RELOOP_API_KEY! }); const { response, emailError } = await reloop.mail.send({ from: "Acme ", to: "user@example.com", subject: "Welcome", html: "

Thanks for signing up.

", }); ``` Reloop returns errors as values with a **why** and a **fix**, so a failed send tells you what to change: ```json { "message": "Domain not found", "why": "The domain mail.acme.com was not found or is not authorized for your organization", "fix": "Ensure the domain is registered and verified in your dashboard" } ``` | | Reloop | Bird Email | |---|---|---| | Send shape | One message: `from`, `to`, `subject`, `html` | Bird's own API (SparkPost used transmissions) | | Stored templates | Yes, sent by ID with `{{{variables}}}` | Yes, including React Email | | SMTP relay | Yes | Yes | | Webhooks | Signed with HMAC-SHA256 in `Reloop-Signature` | Yes | | Official SDKs | Node, Python, Go, PHP, Ruby, Rust, Java, .NET, Elixir | Bird SDKs | --- ## Analytics and deliverability This is where SparkPost earned its reputation, and Bird keeps that focus. **Bird Email** lists real-time delivery tracking, opens, clicks and bounce reasons, IP warming, suppression lists, email validation and **Inbox Insights** for inbox placement monitoring. Bird also publishes customer results like Binance holding 99.01% inbox placement while scaling marketing email. **Reloop** covers the fundamentals: SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup, bounce and complaint events, open and click tracking, and automatic suppression. It sends through its own MTA (KumoMTA), with per-domain throttling and automatic pauses when bounce or complaint rates spike. Read [how bounce processing works](/blog/email-bounce-processing-automation). Free [domain reputation](/tools/domain-reputation-checker), [blocklist](/tools/blocklist-checker) and [auth](/tools/auth-checker) checkers help before you send. If inbox placement testing and deep deliverability analytics are a daily job for your team, Bird has more of that built in. --- ## Receiving email and agent inboxes Both handle inbound. Bird includes inbound email and a number of mailboxes on every plan (5 on Free up to 100 on Scale), and routes replies and attachments into your app. **Reloop** receives mail into **mailboxes** that are stored, threaded, spam-scored with Rspamd, and readable over the API, the [MCP server](/docs/integrations/ai-tools/mcp-server) or IMAP. You can reply in-thread with one call, and the `email.received` webhook gives you push notifications too. That matters most if you're building: - **AI agents that handle email.** Give an agent its own address and let it read and reply over MCP. See [build an AI agent that reads and replies to email](/blog/build-ai-agent-sends-emails). - **Support or shared inboxes** where humans (over IMAP) and agents work the same threads. --- ## Self-hosting and lock-in SparkPost and Bird are hosted-only, and the move to Bird is a good reminder of what that means: **when the vendor changes, your integration changes with it.** Reloop is Apache 2.0. You can: 1. Start on Reloop Cloud. 2. Move to your own server later with the [one-command installer](/self-host) or [Coolify](/blog/reloop-coolify-setup). 3. Keep the same API. Point the SDK's `baseUrl` at your instance and nothing else in your code changes. Self-hosting isn't free in effort. You own IP reputation, warm-up and uptime. Most teams should start hosted and keep self-hosting as an option. --- ## Where SparkPost (Bird) is the better choice - **You send hundreds of thousands to millions of emails a month.** Above about 300k, Bird's per-email rate beats Reloop's overage, and at Scale it's as low as $0.20 per 1,000. - **Deliverability analytics are a core need.** Inbox placement monitoring and SparkPost-grade analytics are built in. - **You want email, SMS and WhatsApp on one balance.** Bird is an omnichannel platform; Reloop is email only. - **You already work with SparkPost's account team** and want their help through the migration. ## Where Reloop is the better choice - **You send under 300k emails a month**, where Reloop is cheaper, often by half. - **You want a usable free tier**: 3,000 a month vs 1,000. - **You want a dedicated IP without a $250 monthly deposit.** - **You need inbound mail your agents can use** over MCP and IMAP. - **You want open source or self-hosting**, so a vendor change can't force a rewrite again. --- ## Switching from SparkPost to Reloop You'll need to touch the sending layer whether you move to Bird or to us, so plan it the same way. 1. **Add your domain in Reloop** and publish the DKIM record (`reloop._domainkey`). Merge `include:reloop.sh` into your existing SPF record. Don't add a second SPF record. 2. **Export suppressions** from SparkPost and import them into Reloop, so you never mail an address that bounced or complained. 3. **Swap the client.** Replace `transmissions.send` with `reloop.mail.send`. Each recipient becomes `to`, and `content.from`, `content.subject` and `content.html` move to the top level. 4. **Move templates.** SparkPost templates use `{{variable}}`. Change placeholders to triple braces: `{{{first_name}}}`. 5. **Point webhooks** at a new handler. Reloop events are named `email.delivered`, `email.bounced`, `email.complained` and so on, and are signed with HMAC-SHA256 in the `Reloop-Signature` header. 6. **Ramp traffic** from 10% to 100% over a week or two, then remove the old DNS records. Our [SendGrid migration guide](/blog/migrating-from-sendgrid) covers these steps in more detail, including a traffic-split flag and a suppression import script. --- ## FAQ SparkPost is now part of Bird and sold as Bird Email. sparkpost.com redirects to Bird, and Bird says its email product has its own API and SDKs, so existing SparkPost integrations should plan a migration rather than assume requests will keep working unchanged. Bird Email has a free plan with 1,000 emails a month, then paid plans that add a monthly deposit to your balance: Startup ($15, $0.40 per 1,000), Growth ($250, $0.45 per 1,000) and Scale ($1,000 to $10,000, $0.35 down to $0.20 per 1,000). Up to about 300k emails a month, yes: $10 for 50k and $20 for 100k on Reloop vs roughly $20 and $40 on Bird's Startup rate. Above that, Bird's per-email rate is lower. The HTML carries over. Change `{{variable}}` placeholders to triple braces, `{{{variable}}}`, and save them as Reloop templates or send the HTML directly. For most senders, your SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup, list quality and sending patterns matter far more than the provider. Fix those first with our [authentication guide](/blog/spf-dkim-dmarc-setup-guide).