Costs
What 100,000 emails really cost across providers
Per-message prices look tiny until you add the monthly fees, the minimums and the extras nobody mentions.
Email prices are easy to misread. A tiny per-message rate can hide a monthly minimum, and a generous free tier can end the day it runs out.
What to compare
- The price per thousand messages, once you are past any free tier.
- The monthly plan fee, and whether you pay for it even when you send nothing.
- Dedicated IP fees, log retention, and support plans.
- Whether the free allowance renews, or is a one-time grant.
Rough orientation
- Amazon SES is one of the cheapest per message, at about ten cents per thousand at its standard list price (at the time of writing), with you doing the reputation work.
- Postmark is priced in monthly plans, often quoted around $15 a month for the entry tier.
- Gateways that send through a shared provider usually cost little at small volume, but read their terms for marketing mail and unsubscribes.
- Check every pricing page on the day you decide: these numbers move.
The hidden part
- Engineering time for authentication, bounces and blocklists often costs more than the sending itself.
- A plan that renews forever on a small allowance is worth more to a small app than a big one-off credit that expires.
Prices are list prices at the time of writing and vary by region and contract.