11 Best Email Tools With Permanent Free Tiers (2026), Tested
Limited to providers with a permanent free tier as of the last check. Trials excluded.
criteria
- Monthly send volume
- Daily caps
- Feature limitations
- 01
Sender
Marketing2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails/mo on a permanent free plan. Strongest free marketing tier in this set.
- 02
SendPulse
Transactional Marketing12,000 transactional SMTP emails/mo is unusually generous, though the free plan is hourly capped.
- 03
Mailjet
Transactional Marketing6,000/mo capped at 200/day. Permanent and useful for steady low-volume sends.
- 04
Loops
Marketing TransactionalUnlimited emails on the Free plan within a 1,000-contact ceiling. Different model: optimal when your contact list grows slowly but your volume is high.
- 05
Brevo
Transactional Marketing300/day permanent. Best for low daily volumes that do not spike on launch day.
- 06
Mailtrap
Transactional Testing4,000/mo permanent on the sending side, plus a free testing tier.
- 07
Resend
Transactional3,000/mo permanent on a single domain.
- 08
MailerSend
Transactional3,000/mo permanent.
- 09
Plunk
Self-hosted Marketing3,000/mo on hosted free plan, or self-host for unlimited.
- 10
Amazon SES
TransactionalNew accounts get up to $200 in AWS credits for six months. The old 62,000/mo-from-EC2 allowance is gone.
- 11
SMTP2GO
Transactional1,000/mo permanent, no daily cap.
All 11 compared
Every provider in this ranking against the priorities early-stage startups weigh. Free tier and entry price sit with each pick above.
| Provider | Best published rate per 1,000 | DX score | Operating since | Scheduling | SDKs | Webhooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sender | Tiers not published in comparable form | 6/10 | 2012 | Yes | None | Yes |
| SendPulse | Tiers not published in comparable form | 6/10 | Not published | Yes | None | Yes |
| Mailjet | Tiers not published in comparable form | 6/10 | Not published | Yes | node, python, go, ruby, php, java, dotnet | Yes |
| Loops | Tiers not published in comparable form | 9/10 | 2022 | Yes | node, python, go, ruby, php | Yes |
| Brevo | Tiers not published in comparable form | 7/10 | 2012 | Yes | node, python, go, ruby, php, java, dotnet | Yes |
| Mailtrap | Tiers not published in comparable form | 8/10 | 2014 | No | node, python, go, ruby, php, elixir | Yes |
| Resend | $0.35 | 8/10 | 2023 | Yes | node, python, go, ruby, php, rust, java, elixir, cli | Yes |
| MailerSend | Tiers not published in comparable form | 8/10 | 2020 | Yes | node, python, go, ruby, php | Yes |
| Plunk | Tiers not published in comparable form | 7/10 | Not published | Yes | node, python | Yes |
| Amazon SES | $0.10 | 4/10 | 2011 | No | node, python, go, ruby, php, java, rust, dotnet | No |
| SMTP2GO | Tiers not published in comparable form | 7/10 | 2006 | No | node, python, go, ruby, php | Yes |
If you are 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.
The order above is the general editorial ranking. Re-sorted against best published rate per 1,000, developer experience, and operating track record, the shortlist for a waitlist, a launch announcement, onboarding email, and the first transactional sends becomes Mailjet, Loops, and Brevo. That differs from the headline order, which weighs all audiences together.