What is the cheapest way to send 10,000 transactional emails?

Amazon SES à la carte at $1.00 ($0.10 per 1,000). New accounts may start on Essentials at $1.60 unless you switch. Postal on a Hetzner CX23 is $6.49 if you will run an MTA. Postmark Basic and Mailgun Basic are $15.

What does 1,000,000 emails/month cost?

About $100 on SES à la carte, $650 on Resend Scale, $799 on SendGrid Pro 1.5M, $1,080 on Mailgun Scale overage, $1,206 on Postmark Platform overage. Postal stays $6.49 plus your time on reputation.

Who includes a dedicated IP?

Mailgun includes one at 100,000+ (Scale); extras are $59/month. SendGrid Pro includes one (extra $ not published). Resend sells them for $30/month on Scale above 3,000 emails/day. Postmark from $50/month at 300,000+ on Pro+. SES Standard is $24.95/IP-month. Brevo names them on Enterprise with no public $.

Is listmonk a SendGrid replacement?

No. listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter and mailing-list manager. It still sends through SMTP you configure (Resend, SES, Postal). Postal is the self-hosted MTA on this page. The published listmonk stack on this site is /stacks/listmonk-email.

Does Resend Free cover a small app?

3,000 emails/month at 100/day. The Small example is 10,000, so it needs Pro at $20. There is no plan between Free and Pro $20 / 50,000.

Compare / Transactional email

Transactional email pricing, normalized

Amazon SES à la carte is the cheapest published cloud rate ($0.10 per 1,000 emails → $1 / $10 / $100 at 10,000 / 100,000 / 1,000,000). New SES accounts default to Essentials ($0.16 per 1,000) after 21 Jul 2026 unless you switch back to à la carte. Self-hosting Postal on a Hetzner CX23 is $6.49/month if you will run an MTA. Productized ESPs start at $15 (Postmark Basic / Mailgun Basic for 10,000) or $20 (Resend Pro, which includes 50,000). Resend Scale is $650 for 1,000,000; Postmark and Mailgun overage at that size is about $1,080–$1,206.

Prices from each provider's official pricing page, checked 17 Oct 2026. USD, excluding tax. Worked examples are email volume only — dedicated IPs are a separate column and are not added unless the plan includes one. "Not published" means the page did not list that number. Estimates, not guarantees.

Start on Railway

Price for the same monthly send volume

Provider	Per 10,000 emails	Per 100,000 emails	Dedicated IP	Free tier / minimum
Resend	$20.00 (Pro includes 50,000; no 10,000 SKU. Free is 3,000/month at 100/day.)	$35.00 (Pro 100,000)	$30/month add-on on Scale, only if you send more than 3,000 emails/day	Free $0 (3,000/month, 100/day). Paid monthly only; overage $0.90 per 1,000 on Pro/Scale 100k.
Postmark	$15.00 (Basic, 10,000 included)	$126.00 (Platform $18 + 90 × $1.20 overage)	From $50/month per IP. 300,000+ emails/month, Pro plans or higher.	Free $0 / 100 emails/month (no overage). Paid starts at 10,000/month.
SendGrid	$19.95 (Essentials 50,000; no 10,000 SKU)	$34.95 (Essentials 100,000)	1 included on Pro and Premier. Extra IPs are an add-on; $ not on the public page — omitted.	Free trial 100 emails/day for 60 days. Paid from $19.95/month.
Mailgun	$15.00 (Basic, 10,000 included)	$90.00 (Scale, 100,000 included, 1 dedicated IP included)	Access at 50,000 volume; 1 included at 100,000+. Extra $59/IP/month.	Free $0 / 100 emails/day. Foundation and Scale: first month free, then $35 / $90.
Amazon SES	$1.00 à la carte ($0.10 per 1,000). Essentials default $1.60 ($0.16 per 1,000).	$10.00 à la carte. Essentials $16.00.	Standard $24.95/IP-month. Managed $15/account-month + $0.08 per 1,000 (first 10 million).	À la carte: no monthly floor. Essentials: no account fee. Pro $105 / Enterprise $500 per account per region per month.
Brevo	Not published (Starter from $9 for 5,000. Free is 300/day ≈ 9,000/month — 10,000 needs paid.)	Not published (Starter from 5,000; Professional from $499 for 150,000). 100,000 SKU omitted.	Listed as an Enterprise feature. $ not published — omitted.	Free $0 (300 emails/day after sending is approved). Starter from $9/month. Standard from $18. Professional from $499. Enterprise custom.
Postal (self-hosted)	$0 software + the VPS (Hetzner CX23 $6.49)	$0 software + the VPS (same CX23 $6.49; you own reputation)	The host IP. Extra IPs were not on the Hetzner CX page we used — omitted.	MIT-licensed open-source software. You pay hosting and any extra IPs.
listmonk (self-hosted)	$6.49 CX23 + SMTP (listmonk is not an MTA)	$6.49 CX23 + SMTP for 100,000 (still not an MTA)	Whatever SMTP you attach. No listmonk DIP product.	AGPL-3.0 software. You pay the VPS and an SMTP provider (or Postal).

What you actually get

Provider	SMTP / API	Overage	Dedicated IP eligibility	Plan notes	Regions
Resend	REST API, SMTP, inbound, React Email	Pro $0.90 per 1,000 after the included volume (must enable overage). Scale 1,000,000 overage $0.65 per 1,000.	Dedicated IPs are Scale-only, $30/month, customers exceeding 3,000 emails/day. Includes warmup.	Free forever at 100 emails/day (3,000/month), 3 domains, 30-day retention. No DIP on Free/Pro.	Multi-region (you pick the send region)
Postmark	REST API, SMTP, inbound (Pro+), message streams	Basic $1.80 per 1,000 extra; Pro $1.30; Platform $1.20. High-volume: contact sales.	Managed dedicated IPs from $50/month at 300,000 emails/month on Pro or higher.	Developer plan 100 emails/month, never expires. No SKU between 100 and 10,000.	Multi-region SMTP routing listed on the pricing page
SendGrid	SMTP and API	Overage $ not listed as a public per-1,000 table on the pricing page — omitted. Upgrade to the next volume SKU instead.	Pro/Premier include 1 dedicated IP (warmup listed). Essentials has none.	60-day trial at 100 emails/day ($0). No forever-free volume is in the page summary.	Twilio SendGrid (EU data residency listed as a Pro+ feature)
Mailgun	REST API and SMTP. US or EU data residency.	Basic from $1.80 per 1,000 extra; Foundation from $1.30; Scale from $1.10.	1 dedicated IP included on Scale (100,000+). Extra $59/month. Automated warmup listed.	100 emails/day on Free. Paid 30-day trials on Foundation/Scale.	US or EU from one account
Amazon SES	SES API, SMTP, AWS SDK. Mail Manager is a separate inbound product.	À la carte is the listed rate (no overage SKU). Essentials $0.16 / $0.14 / $0.11 per 1,000 at 0–10M / 10–100M / >100M.	Standard dedicated IPs $24.95/month (you warm them). Managed dedicated IPs $15 + per-email fee.	New AWS accounts: up to $200 AWS Free Tier credits (6-month free plan / 12-month to spend). Not an SES-only email quota — omitted from examples.	All SES regions; examples ignore attachment data ($0.12/GB) and EC2 DTO.
Brevo	Transactional API and SMTP on every plan, plus marketing campaigns	Pay-as-you-go credits mentioned; per-1,000 overage $ not in the fetched pricing JSON — omitted.	Dedicated IP is named on Enterprise only; no public $.	Free plan: 300 emails/day (~9,000/month), contacts upload without a card.	Brevo (see brevo.com/pricing)
Postal (self-hosted)	HTTP API and SMTP. Incoming and outgoing mail.	None from Postal. Host egress is included in the VPS quota (CX23 20 TB).	You warm whatever IP the VPS has. Blocklists are your problem.	Software is free. Capacity is the box you rent.	You pick the host
listmonk (self-hosted)	HTTP UI + API for lists and campaigns. Sends through SMTP/API you configure.	None from listmonk. SMTP overage is the provider's.	Reputation lives on the SMTP you use (Resend, SES, Postal, …).	Software is free. Catalog: AGPL-3.0, Go, one binary + Postgres.	You pick the host

Best for

Resend
A developer API with a $20 floor once 3,000/month is not enough, and $650 when you actually send 1,000,000.
Postmark
Transactional mail with a $15 floor at 10,000 and published overage, when you want Postmark's streams.
SendGrid
50,000–100,000/month on Essentials, or Pro when you need the included dedicated IP.
Mailgun
A $15 floor at 10,000, or Scale at $90 when 100,000 and an included dedicated IP matter.
Amazon SES
The lowest published per-email rate when you will operate SES yourself and switch off Essentials if you were defaulted onto it.
Brevo
Marketing + transactional on one bill when the $9 Starter floor is enough and you do not need a published 10,000/100,000 SKU.
Postal (self-hosted)
An MTA you operate when $6.49/month beats a $650–$1,200 ESP bill and you will do DNS, rDNS, and warmup.
listmonk (self-hosted)
A newsletter/list you host. Transactional app mail still needs Postal or an ESP.

A $0.10/1,000 meter vs a $15 floor vs a mail server you run

À la carte Amazon SES is a pure meter: $0.10 per 1,000 outbound emails, no monthly floor. After 21 Jul 2026, new SES accounts (and account×region pairs with no metered SES activity since 1 Jun 2025) start on Essentials at $0.16 per 1,000 for the first 10 million emails. You can switch to à la carte. That is the right shape when you will configure IAM, DKIM, and bounce handling yourself.

Productized ESPs sell a plan floor plus overage. Postmark Basic and Mailgun Basic are $15 for 10,000 emails. Resend has no 10,000 SKU — Pro is $20 for 50,000 or $35 for 100,000. Twilio SendGrid Essentials starts at $19.95 for 50,000 (no 10,000 SKU). Dedicated IPs are usually an add-on or a higher plan: Resend $30 on Scale above 3,000 emails/day, Postmark from $50 at 300,000+/month on Pro+, Mailgun $59 extra (one included at 100,000+), SendGrid one included on Pro, SES Standard $24.95/IP-month.

Self-hosting Postal is $0 for the MIT-licensed software plus the VPS. A Hetzner CX23 is $6.49/month (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB NVMe / 20 TB traffic, USD excl. VAT, after the 15 Jun 2026 adjustment). You own DNS, rDNS, warmup, and blocklists. listmonk is an AGPL newsletter box, not an MTA — you still pay an SMTP provider (or run Postal). That is the right shape for a list you host, not for app password-resets on their own.

What would a real project cost?

Estimates, not guarantees. Built from the published rates above (checked 17 Oct 2026); check each provider's current pricing before you commit. Tax is not included. Numbers marked unverified or not published were left out rather than guessed.

Small: 10,000 emails/month. 10,000 transactional emails in a 30-day month (password resets, receipts, signup). No dedicated IP. No inbound. Tiny bodies (SES attachment $ ignored).
Medium: 100,000 emails/month. 100,000 transactional emails/month. No extra dedicated IP unless the plan includes one.
Large: 1,000,000 emails/month. 1,000,000 transactional emails/month. Dedicated IPs still listed separately — not added to these totals unless included in the plan price.

Provider	Small: 10,000 emails/month	Medium: 100,000 emails/month	Large: 1,000,000 emails/month
Resend	$20.00 (Pro 50,000 floor)	$35.00 (Pro 100,000)	$650.00 (Scale 1,000,000)
Postmark	$15.00 (Basic)	$126.00 (Platform + overage)	$1,206.00 (Platform + overage)
SendGrid	$19.95 (Essentials 50,000 min)	$34.95 (Essentials 100,000)	$799.00 (Pro 1.5M; no 1,000,000 SKU)
Mailgun	$15.00 (Basic)	$90.00 (Scale; 1 dedicated IP included)	$1,080.00 (Scale + overage)
Amazon SES	$1.00 à la carte / $1.60 Essentials	$10.00 à la carte / $16.00 Essentials	$100.00 à la carte / $160.00 Essentials
Brevo	Not published (Starter from $9 for 5,000; Free ~9,000 at 300/day)	Not published (Professional from $499 for 150,000)	Enterprise custom (1,000,000 SKU not published)
Postal (self-hosted)	$6.49 (CX23 + free software)	$6.49 (you own reputation)	$6.49 (you own reputation)
listmonk (self-hosted)	$6.49 + SMTP (not an MTA)	$6.49 + SMTP	$6.49 + SMTP

Small: 10,000 emails/month
Try first: Amazon SES à la carte at $1.00 — $0.10 per 1,000. Switch off Essentials if a new account defaulted you to $0.16 per 1,000 ($1.60).
Runner-up: Postal on a Hetzner CX23 at $6.49 if you will run an MTA, or Postmark Basic / Mailgun Basic at $15 if you want a productized ESP.
Avoid: Twilio SendGrid Essentials at $19.95 (50,000 minimum, no 10,000 SKU) and Resend Pro at $20 (50,000 included) unless you already want that API. Brevo Free is ~9,000/month at 300/day — 10,000 needs a paid plan whose 10,000 SKU is not published.
Medium: 100,000 emails/month
Try first: Amazon SES à la carte at $10.00 ($16.00 on Essentials if you stay on the default plan).
Runner-up: Resend Pro at $35, Twilio SendGrid Essentials 100k at $34.95, or Mailgun Scale at $90 if you want the included dedicated IP. Postal remains $6.49 if you will operate mail.
Avoid: Postmark Platform overage at $126 and Mailgun Scale at $90 unless you want those features. Brevo's 100,000 SKU is not published (Professional starts at $499 for 150,000).
Large: 1,000,000 emails/month
Try first: Amazon SES à la carte at $100.00 ($160.00 on Essentials). Postal on a CX23 at $6.49 if you will run the MTA, DNS, and warmup yourself.
Runner-up: Resend Scale at $650 for 1,000,000, or Twilio SendGrid Pro 1.5M at $799 (no 1,000,000 SKU; 1 dedicated IP included on Pro).
Avoid: Mailgun Scale overage at $1,080 and Postmark Platform overage at $1,206 unless you already live on those APIs. Brevo Enterprise is custom; Professional's $499 floor is for 150,000, not 1,000,000.

Show the math

Project — Small: 10,000 emails/month: 10,000 transactional emails in a 30-day month (password resets, receipts, signup). No dedicated IP. No inbound. Tiny bodies (SES attachment $ ignored). SES à la carte 10×$0.10 = $1.00; Essentials 10×$0.16 = $1.60. Resend: Free 3,000 too small → Pro $20. Postmark Basic $15. SendGrid Essentials 50k $19.95. Mailgun Basic $15. Brevo: 10,000 SKU not published. Postal CX23 $6.49. listmonk $6.49 + SMTP.
Project — Medium: 100,000 emails/month: 100,000 transactional emails/month. No extra dedicated IP unless the plan includes one. SES 100×$0.10 = $10.00 (Essentials $16.00). Resend Pro $35. Postmark Platform $18 + 90×$1.20 = $126. SendGrid Essentials 100k $34.95. Mailgun Scale $90 (1 DIP included). Brevo omitted. Postal $6.49. listmonk $6.49 + SMTP.
Project — Large: 1,000,000 emails/month: 1,000,000 transactional emails/month. Dedicated IPs still listed separately — not added to these totals unless included in the plan price. SES 1,000×$0.10 = $100.00 (Essentials $160.00). Resend Scale $650. Postmark Platform $18 + 990×$1.20 = $1,206. SendGrid Pro 1.5M $799. Mailgun Scale $90 + 900×$1.10 = $1,080. Brevo omitted. Postal $6.49. listmonk $6.49 + SMTP.
Resend: Official: Free $0 / 3,000/month (100/day). Pro $20 / 50,000 or $35 / 100,000, overage $0.90 per 1,000. Scale $90 / 100,000, $160 / 200,000, $350 / 500,000, $650 / 1,000,000 (overage $0.65 per 1,000 at that tier). Dedicated IP $30/month on Scale if >3,000/day. Examples exclude the DIP. Source: https://resend.com/pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
Postmark: Official: Free 100/month. Basic $15 / 10,000 extra $1.80 per 1,000. Pro $16.50 / 10,000 extra $1.30. Platform $18 / 10,000 extra $1.20. 100,000 on Platform = $18 + 90×$1.20 = $126. 1,000,000 on Platform = $18 + 990×$1.20 = $1,206. DIP from $50/month at 300,000+/month — omitted from volume examples. Source: https://postmarkapp.com/pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
SendGrid: Official Email API pricing JSON on twilio.com: Essentials 50k $19.95, Essentials 100k $34.95. Pro 100k $89.95, Pro 300k $249, Pro 700k $499, Pro 1.5M $799, Pro 2.5M $1,099. 10,000 has no SKU — use Essentials 50k. 1,000,000 has no SKU — Pro 1.5M $799 covers it. Extra dedicated IP $ omitted (add-on, no public $). Source: https://www.twilio.com/en-us/products/email-api/pricing (checked 17 Oct 2026)
Mailgun: Official: Free 100/day. Basic $15 / 10,000 extra from $1.80 per 1,000. Foundation $35 / 50,000 extra from $1.30. Scale $90 / 100,000 extra from $1.10. 1,000,000 on Scale = $90 + 900×$1.10 = $1,080. Extra dedicated IP $59/month; one included at 100,000+. Source: https://www.mailgun.com/pricing/ (checked 17 Oct 2026)
Amazon SES: Official à la carte outbound $0.10 per 1,000. Essentials (default for new accounts after 21 Jul 2026) $0.16 per 1,000 for 0–10 million. 10,000 → $1.00 / $1.60. 100,000 → $10.00 / $16.00. 1,000,000 → $100.00 / $160.00. Attachment $0.12/GB omitted (examples assume tiny bodies). DIP not in volume examples. Source: https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/ (checked 17 Oct 2026)
Brevo: Official JSON-LD: Free $0, Starter $9, Standard $18, Professional $499, Enterprise custom. Page copy: Starter from 5,000 emails/month, Professional from 150,000, Free 300/day. 10,000 / 100,000 / 1,000,000 SKUs are not listed — omitted rather than interpolated. Source: https://www.brevo.com/pricing/ (checked 17 Oct 2026)
Postal (self-hosted): postalserver/postal is MIT. Host math matches the other pages: Hetzner CX23 $6.49/month (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB NVMe / 20 TB). 10,000 / 100,000 / 1,000,000 sends fit the CPU; deliverability does not. Extra dedicated-IP SKUs were not verified on that CX page — omitted. Source: https://github.com/postalserver/postal (checked 17 Oct 2026)
listmonk (self-hosted): listmonk.app / catalog: AGPL Go binary + Postgres. CX23 $6.49 holds the app. Sending 10,000 / 100,000 / 1,000,000 still costs the SMTP row (SES à la carte $1 / $10 / $100, or Postal on the same box). Examples show the box only, plus a reminder to add SMTP. Source: https://listmonk.app (checked 17 Oct 2026)

FAQ

What is the cheapest way to send 10,000 transactional emails?: Amazon SES à la carte at $1.00 ($0.10 per 1,000). New accounts may start on Essentials at $1.60 unless you switch. Postal on a Hetzner CX23 is $6.49 if you will run an MTA. Postmark Basic and Mailgun Basic are $15.
What does 1,000,000 emails/month cost?: About $100 on SES à la carte, $650 on Resend Scale, $799 on SendGrid Pro 1.5M, $1,080 on Mailgun Scale overage, $1,206 on Postmark Platform overage. Postal stays $6.49 plus your time on reputation.
Who includes a dedicated IP?: Mailgun includes one at 100,000+ (Scale); extras are $59/month. SendGrid Pro includes one (extra $ not published). Resend sells them for $30/month on Scale above 3,000 emails/day. Postmark from $50/month at 300,000+ on Pro+. SES Standard is $24.95/IP-month. Brevo names them on Enterprise with no public $.
Is listmonk a SendGrid replacement?: No. listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter and mailing-list manager. It still sends through SMTP you configure (Resend, SES, Postal). Postal is the self-hosted MTA on this page. The published listmonk stack on this site is /stacks/listmonk-email.
Does Resend Free cover a small app?: 3,000 emails/month at 100/day. The Small example is 10,000, so it needs Pro at $20. There is no plan between Free and Pro $20 / 50,000.
What would a real project cost?: Estimates from published rates: 10,000 emails is about $1 on SES, $6.49 on Postal, $15 on Postmark or Mailgun, $20 on Resend. 100,000 is about $10 on SES, $35 on Resend, $35 on SendGrid Essentials, $90 on Mailgun Scale. 1,000,000 is about $100 on SES, $650 on Resend, $799 on SendGrid Pro 1.5M.

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