Resend vs SendGrid (2026): Pricing, Features, and Where SendHeron Fits

Resend and SendGrid cost almost exactly the same for most products: $20 against $19.95 at 50,000 emails a month, and $35 against $34.95 at 100,000. So the price rarely decides it. What each plan includes does. Resend is an API built around developer tooling, with React email templates and a free plan that never expires. SendGrid, part of Twilio, packs a dedicated IP, EU data residency and email validation into its Pro plan. We build a third option, SendHeron, so this article also says where it fits and, just as plainly, where it does not.

Prices below are as of October 20, 2026, on monthly billing, from each vendor's own pricing page: Resend and SendGrid in US dollars, SendHeron in euros. Prices change, so check before you decide.

What you will learn

• What each costs at 50,000, 100,000 and 300,000 emails a month
• What the free options really allow
• Where dedicated IPs, logs, data location and inbound email differ
• How each one handles marketing email and automated sequences
• A plain recommendation per situation, including when SendHeron is the wrong pick

Quick comparison

Resend pricing

Resend prices transactional and marketing email separately.

Transactional email is anything sent through its /emails API, to any address. The Free plan sends 3,000 emails a month, at most 100 a day, from up to 3 domains. Pro costs $20 for 50,000 emails or $35 for 100,000, with 10 domains and no daily limit. Scale starts at $90 for 100,000 and runs $160 for 200,000, $350 for 500,000 and $650 for 1,000,000, with 1,000 domains. Extra emails cost $0.90 per 1,000 on Pro and on Scale's 100,000 tier, falling to $0.46 per 1,000 on the largest Scale tier, but only if you switch on pay-as-you-go; otherwise Resend asks you to upgrade. Free, Pro and Scale keep 30 days of email and log data. A dedicated IP is a $30-a-month add-on, available on Scale to senders above 3,000 emails a day, and single sign-on is a $150-a-month add-on on Scale.

Marketing email goes through Broadcasts and is priced by stored contacts, not by emails sent: free up to 1,000 contacts, then $40 for 5,000, $80 for 10,000, $180 for 25,000, $250 for 50,000, $450 for 100,000 and $650 for 150,000. Broadcasts reach only contacts you have stored, and they do not count against the transactional quota. Automations, Resend's event-triggered sequences for welcome, trial and payment recovery emails, include 10,000 runs a month; on paid plans each run beyond that costs $0.0015.

SendGrid pricing

SendGrid sells its Email API and its Marketing Campaigns as two separate products.

The Email API starts with a 60-day free trial that sends 100 emails a day. Essentials costs $19.95 for 50,000 emails or $34.95 for 100,000. Pro costs $89.95 up to 100,000, then $249 for 300,000, $499 for 700,000, $799 for 1,500,000 and $1,099 for 2,500,000. Premier is priced on a call. Past a tier's allowance, SendGrid's pricing sheet charges per extra email: $0.00133 on Essentials 50,000, $0.00088 on Essentials 100,000, and from $0.00110 down to $0.00047 on the Pro tiers. Pro is where most of the extras live: one dedicated IP, 2,500 email validations, single sign-on, subusers, up to 1,000 teammates where Essentials allows one, five event webhooks where Essentials allows two, 7 days in the searchable Email Activity view where Essentials has 3, and EU data residency for the Email API.

Marketing Campaigns is priced by contacts and monthly emails. Basic runs from $15 for 5,000 contacts and 15,000 emails to $200 for 100,000 contacts and 300,000 emails, and has no automation. Advanced adds automation and dedicated IPs and runs from $60 for 10,000 contacts and 50,000 emails to $900 for 200,000 contacts and 1,000,000 emails.

SendHeron pricing

SendHeron charges by subscribed contacts, with one monthly allowance of emails that marketing and transactional share. The full details are on the pricing page.

Only subscribed contacts count. Unsubscribed and bounced contacts are stored free, and sequences, tags and segments are unlimited on every plan. Transactional email keeps flowing even when the allowance is spent, up to 10% over the plan's pool. There is no free plan: every plan starts with a 7-day trial that takes a card at checkout, runs with reduced limits of 1,000 contacts and 5,000 sends, and converts to the plan you picked unless you cancel before it ends.

The pricing math

Transactional email only, the job most people compare these two for:

The 300,000 figures are our arithmetic from the listed rates. Up to 100,000 emails the two are five cents apart, and at 300,000 they are about $4 apart when you pay for the extra emails. The gap opens when you need a dedicated IP. SendGrid's Pro includes one at $249. On Resend, a transactional sender gets one on Scale, which at 300,000 emails comes to $240 ($160 for 200,000 plus 100,000 at $0.80 per 1,000), plus $30 for the IP: $270.

Now a SaaS that sends both kinds of email: lifecycle sequences to 5,000 contacts plus 25,000 transactional emails a month.

• Resend: $20 on Pro if your app runs the sequences and sends every email through the API, which Resend allows for individual marketing emails. Storing the 5,000 contacts in Resend for Broadcasts adds the $40 Marketing plan, $60 in total, and Automations include 10,000 runs a month.
• SendGrid: $19.95 on Essentials if your app runs the sequences and sends through the Email API. Using SendGrid's own automation takes Marketing Campaigns Advanced at $60, since Basic has none: $79.95.
• SendHeron: €19 on Starter, which covers up to 10,000 contacts and 50,000 emails across both kinds.

With Resend's Automations or SendGrid's Advanced plan, these assume the sequences stay within Resend's 10,000 included runs a month and the 50,000 marketing emails SendGrid's Advanced plan includes.

Feature comparison

API, SDKs and templates

Both offer a REST API and an SMTP relay. Resend has official SDKs for Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Rust, Java and .NET, plus a community library for Elixir, and supports React Email, so templates can be written as React components. Its API allows 10 requests a second per team by default, the same on every plan, and one batch request sends up to 100 emails. SendGrid has official libraries for C#, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python and Ruby, and its dynamic templates use Handlebars.

Deliverability tools

Both authenticate your domain with SPF and DKIM, work with your DMARC policy and keep a suppression list. The difference is dedicated IPs. SendGrid includes one from Pro, and its automated warmup works only alongside at least one other IP that is already warm. Resend sells one as a $30 add-on on Scale for senders above 3,000 emails a day, and warms it up for you. SendGrid Pro also includes 2,500 email validations, which catch bad addresses before you send. Whichever you pick, a free deliverability test shows whether your domain's records are in place.

Logs and history

Resend keeps 30 days of email and log data on Free, Pro and Scale. SendGrid's Email Logs keep 30 days of event history for every email customer, while its older searchable Email Activity view covers 3 days on Essentials and 7 days on Pro. For debugging a delivery problem after the fact, the two are now close.

Data location

Resend sends from four regions: North Virginia, Ireland, São Paulo and Tokyo. Its own documentation says that account data, logs and API records are stored in the United States whichever region you send from. SendGrid offers EU data residency for the Email API on Pro and Premier, set up through an EU subuser with its own EU dedicated IP; Marketing Campaigns is not covered. SendHeron is an EU company and stores contact data in Europe.

Inbound email

Both receive email. Resend receives inbound email, and received emails count against the same quota as sent ones; its Inboxes feature is still in early access. SendGrid's Inbound Parse webhook posts each incoming message to a URL you choose. SendHeron does not receive email.

Marketing and sequences

Resend covers marketing with Broadcasts and lifecycle email with Automations, both inside the same account. SendGrid's Marketing Campaigns is a separate plan, and automation starts at Advanced. SendHeron is built around lifecycle sequences: you build them in a visual editor from the tags and events your app sets, and its AI setup reads your website and drafts a welcome, trial, win-back and cancel-save suite for you to approve.

Teams

SendGrid Essentials allows one teammate and Pro allows up to 1,000, with single sign-on. Resend includes single sign-on on Enterprise and sells it as an add-on on Scale.

Who should use what

Choose Resend if

• You want a free plan that never expires while you build
• You write templates in React or use one of its many SDKs
• You want to send from the US, Europe, South America or Asia
• You want event-triggered automations included on every plan

Choose SendGrid if

• You need a dedicated IP at the lowest entry price
• You need EU data residency for your API sending
• You run many teammates or separate subaccounts for clients
• You want email validation in the same plan

Choose SendHeron if

• You run a SaaS and want lifecycle sequences and transactional email from one API and one allowance
• You would rather approve a drafted lifecycle suite than build one from a blank canvas
• You want to pay for subscribed contacts, not for every product email on a separate meter

SendHeron is the wrong pick if you need an SMTP relay, inbound email, a dedicated IP, an official SDK in a language other than Node.js, or more than 500,000 emails a month. Resend or SendGrid fits those better today.

We also compare Postmark vs Resend and Mailgun vs Resend, and three lifecycle pairs in Customer.io vs Mailchimp, Loops vs Customer.io and Customer.io vs Intercom.

Frequently asked questions

Is Resend cheaper than SendGrid?

Not by much. Up to 100,000 emails a month they are five cents apart: $20 against $19.95 at 50,000 and $35 against $34.95 at 100,000. At 300,000, paying for the extra emails, SendGrid Essentials comes to about $211 and Resend Pro to about $215. With a dedicated IP, SendGrid Pro costs $249 and Resend Scale about $270.

Does SendGrid have a free plan?

Not a lasting one. SendGrid offers a 60-day free trial that sends 100 emails a day. Resend has a free plan with 3,000 emails a month and at most 100 a day, with no end date.

Which one has better deliverability?

Neither publishes a figure you can compare, and most of deliverability depends on your domain authentication, your list and your content, which are yours on any service. Both support SPF, DKIM and DMARC and offer dedicated IPs: SendGrid from Pro, Resend as an add-on on Scale.

Can Resend send marketing emails?

Yes. Broadcasts send to stored contacts and are priced by the number of contacts, from $40 for 5,000. Automations send event-triggered sequences such as welcome and trial emails, with 10,000 runs a month included.

Does SendGrid support EU data residency?

Yes, for the Email API on its Pro and Premier plans, through an EU subuser with an EU dedicated IP; Marketing Campaigns is not covered. Resend can send from Ireland, but its documentation says account data, logs and API records stay in the United States.

Is SendGrid vs Resend a different question from Resend vs SendGrid?

No. It is the same comparison in the other order, and everything above applies.

Start with the one that fits

If you want a free plan, React templates and sending regions on four continents, start with Resend. If you need a dedicated IP, EU data residency or many teammates at the entry price, start with SendGrid. If you run a SaaS and want lifecycle sequences and transactional email on one bill, start a 7-day trial of SendHeron. It takes a card; cancel before it ends and you will not be charged.