Postmark vs SendGrid
Updated
Postmark or SendGrid: which should you pick?
Focused transactional vs API plus marketing. Free plans, pricing basis, automation and transactional email from each vendor's pricing page, plus who should pick which.
- Postmark free emails
- 100/mo
- Postmark free emails
- SendGrid free plan
- 60-day trial
- SendGrid free plan
- Lumail free emails
- 3,000/mo
- Lumail free emails
TL;DR
Postmark vs SendGrid side by side
Every Postmark and SendGrid cell comes from the vendor's public pricing page, verified on August 17, 2026. Lumail is the third column, as the alternative.
| Postmark | SendGrid | Lumail (alternative) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 100 emails/month on the free Developer plan | No free plan; 60-day trial with 100 emails/day | $0, 3,000 emails/month |
| Paid from | $15/month for 10,000 emails | Marketing from $15/month; Email API from $19.95/month | $20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000 |
| Pricing basis | Monthly email volume, not subscribers; extra emails billed per 1,000 | Two separate subscriptions: the API priced by volume, Marketing by contacts | Unlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume |
| Automation | No journeys or drip builder; sequences live in your app | Welcome and drip series on Marketing Campaigns Advanced, from $60/month | Graph workflows with triggers, branches, goals, exits, and A/B paths |
| AI and developer access | Local MCP server with 24 tools, agent skills, and a CLI | Read-only Twilio docs MCP; REST API and official SDKs | ChatGPT OAuth, MCP, skills, CLI, SDK, REST API, and visual editor |
| Transactional email | Core product, via REST API or SMTP | Core product, via REST API or SMTP | Included through API, SMTP, SDK, CLI, and agent tools |
| Publishing | Server-side templates and broadcast streams; no newsletter editor | Single sends with drag-and-drop and code editors, plus signup forms | Capture pages and custom web domains; not a general website builder |
| Best for | Product engineering teams that need reliable transactional email from code | Engineering teams that need high-volume email through API or SMTP | Teams that want campaigns, workflows and transactional email priced by volume |
Choose Postmark if
- Transactional email from code is all you need
- You want a permanent free Developer plan to test with
- You need inbound parsing
Choose SendGrid if
- You need dedicated IPs, subusers and IP pools at high volume
- You want a marketing product from the same vendor
- You already use Twilio for SMS, WhatsApp or voice
Where Lumail fits
If you want transactional email and campaigns in one account without a second subscription, Lumail covers both on one volume-based plan.
Lumail prices by emails sent, with unlimited subscribers on every plan: $0 for 3,000 emails a month, Premium at $20 a month for 40,000 emails then $0.60 per 1,000, and Business at $200 a month for 400,000 emails then $0.40 per 1,000. Campaigns, graph workflows and transactional email (API and SMTP) live in one account, and agents can run it through MCP, the CLI or the SDK.
Read the full Lumail vs Postmark and Lumail vs SendGrid breakdowns, or the long-form Postmark and SendGrid articles.
Sources
- Postmark pricing, verified on
- Twilio SendGrid Email API pricing, verified on
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Postmark or SendGrid?
At entry, Postmark: $15 a month for 10,000 emails versus SendGrid's Email API from $19.95 a month.
Does Postmark or SendGrid have a free plan?
Postmark's free Developer plan includes 100 emails a month. SendGrid has no free plan, only a 60-day trial with 100 emails a day.
Do Postmark and SendGrid include transactional email?
Postmark: Core product, via REST API or SMTP. SendGrid: Core product, via REST API or SMTP.
Is there an alternative to Postmark and SendGrid that prices by emails sent?
Lumail. It is $0 for 3,000 emails a month, then $20 a month for 40,000 emails and $0.60 per extra 1,000, with unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, workflows and transactional email share one account.
Where do these numbers come from?
From each vendor's public pricing page (Postmark pricing and Twilio SendGrid Email API pricing), last verified on August 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.
Keep comparing
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Not sold on Postmark or SendGrid?
3,000 emails a month free. Unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, automations and transactional email on one domain.