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Which email API has the best free plan in 2026?

Free email API plans compared with numbers and sources (checked Nov 3, 2026): Pidgely 6,000 emails/month, Resend 3,000, SendGrid only a 60-day trial.

Pidgely teamPublished Updated 3 min readMarkdown version

On this page
  1. How do the free email API plans compare?
  2. What does the Pidgely Free plan include?
  3. Is the free plan enough for my project?
  4. Next step
  5. Frequently asked questions

Pidgely has the largest permanent free plan among the three services compared here: 6,000 emails per month, up to 200 per day, no credit card. Resend Free sends 3,000 per month (100 per day). SendGrid has no permanent free plan: only a 60-day trial of 100 emails per day. Numbers checked on Nov 3, 2026.

How do the free email API plans compare?

Pidgely FreeResend FreeSendGrid
Permanent free planYesYesNo (60-day trial)
Free volume6,000 emails/month3,000 emails/month100 emails/day in the trial
Daily cap200 emails/day100 emails/day100 emails/day
Sending domains33see their docs
Credit card at sign-upNoNoNo (trial)
First paid planStarter R$ 39/month (50,000 emails)Pro $20/month (50,000 emails)Essentials from $19.95/month

Sources: Pidgely pricing, Resend pricing, SendGrid pricing and the Twilio changelog (SendGrid retired its free plan on May 27, 2025). All checked Nov 3, 2026. Paid plans at the same volume are not exactly comparable: check features before you decide.

What does the Pidgely Free plan include?

  • 6,000 emails per month, up to 200 per day.
  • Up to 3 sending domains, with SPF and DKIM verification.
  • REST API and SMTP relay (smtp.pidgely.com, user pidgely, API key as the password).
  • Campaigns and contacts in the same plan, so a newsletter does not need a second product.
  • No credit card. At the limit sending stops; you are never billed by surprise.

Is the free plan enough for my project?

A quick test: look at your busiest sending day in the last 30 days. If it is under 200 emails, and the month under 6,000, the free plan fits (sign-up, password reset, receipts, alerts). If you fire a burst of 1,000 at once, that is five days of sending on the free plan: use Starter instead.

Before sending real traffic, publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your domain (see the SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide). Coming from SendGrid? The migration steps over SMTP take about an hour, and the feature comparison has the details.

Next step

Create a free Pidgely account and send your first test email today: 6,000 emails a month, no card.

Frequently asked questions

Which email API gives the most free emails per month?

Among the plans we compared on Nov 3, 2026, Pidgely Free sends the most: 6,000 emails per month (up to 200 per day), versus 3,000 per month at Resend Free (up to 100 per day). SendGrid has no permanent free plan, only a 60-day trial of 100 emails per day.

Is there a free email API that does not ask for a credit card?

Yes. Pidgely Free needs no credit card, and at the limit sending stops instead of billing overage. Resend Free also signs up without a card.

Can I use a free email API over SMTP?

Yes. With Pidgely you use host smtp.pidgely.com, user pidgely and an API key as the password, on the free plan too. You also get a REST API.

What is the catch with a free plan's daily cap?

The daily cap limits bursts. 200 per day adds up to 6,000 in 30 days, which fits transactional email. A single blast to a big list needs a paid plan (Pidgely Starter is R$ 39 a month for 50,000 emails).

When is a free plan not enough?

When you need more than 200 emails on a single day, a dedicated IP, or more than 3 sending domains. Move to a paid plan before you hit the limit.

Pidgely team

Published

We build Pidgely, the email API that gets you to the inbox. We write about what we learn delivering email, citing the standards and mailbox provider guidelines behind every claim.

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