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How to Send Emails in Django (2026)

Anymail is the canonical bridge. Most providers ship Anymail backends; pick a provider with a maintained backend rather than a raw SDK.

Anymail standardizes Django EmailBackend across providers, with first-class webhook handling. Async sends require Celery or a worker.

patterns

Send patterns

  • Anymail EmailBackend in settings.py.
  • Celery tasks for async sends.
  • Webhook views via Anymail signal handlers.
  • Django templates rendered to HTML before send.
pitfalls

Common mistakes

  • Synchronous send blocks the request without a worker.
  • Anymail backend mismatch between dev and prod.
  • EMAIL_BACKEND env override forgotten in CI.

provider picks for Django

  1. 01

    Postmark

    Transactional

    First-class Anymail backend; webhook signature helpers built in.

    100/mo developer plan · $15/mo for 10,000 emails
  2. 02

    Mailgun

    Transactional

    Anymail backend; queue-friendly.

    100/day permanent free plan · $15/mo for 10,000 emails (Basic)
  3. 03

    Amazon SES

    Transactional

    Anymail SES backend; pairs naturally with AWS-hosted Django.

    Up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits for new accounts · $0.10 per 1,000 emails
  4. 04

    SendGrid

    Transactional Marketing

    Anymail backend; mature.

    60-day free trial only (permanent free tier was removed May 2025) · $19.95/mo for 50,000 emails
Want a language-level SDK comparison instead? See the SDK hub.

reading this as early-stage startups

At an early stage the deciding factors are what the free tier actually covers, what the first paid invoice looks like, and how much of a founding engineer's week the setup costs. Feature depth that only matters at a million sends a month is noise until it is not.

Applied to how to send emails in django (2026), that means weighing free tier, best published rate per 1,000, entry price, and developer experience ahead of the rest, against a waitlist, a launch announcement, onboarding email, and the first transactional sends.