Inbound vs Resend (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Resend: it is first in our ranking of email sending services, and it grades higher too, 2.6 against 1.8.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Resend grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Resend
Developer email API with React Email templates and a free tier
Which one is for you
Pick Inbound if
- Fits if your app needs to receive and answer incoming email
- Works for developers who want email handled by webhook
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to try it free, since no free plan or trial is listed
- Not for you if you send marketing or bulk email, which the page does not describe
- Tight if you run many domains, with 50 on the $15 plan and $3.50 for each extra
- Watch out: extra capacity is $16 per 50,000 received plus 50,000 sent a month
Pick Resend if
- Fits if you build in React or Next.js and want emails written as components
- Works for apps or AI agents that need inboxes that send and receive by API
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you need a dedicated IP, at $30 a month on top of the $90 Scale plan and over 3,000 emails a day
- Tight if you need SSO, which is a $150 a month add-on on Scale
- Skip it if you want to pay yearly for a discount, since billing is monthly only
- Watch out: the free plan stops at 100 emails a day, and the next step up is Pro at $20
- Watch out: marketing email is priced separately by contacts, from $40 a month for 5,000
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAInboundWeak | 2.6GPAResendGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$9 a month for 5,000 emails is at the edge of the cheaper quarter of email tools. Extra domains are $3.50 each and extra capacity $16 per 50,000. | BGraded on 50,000 emails a month: Pro is $20 for exactly that, in the lowest-priced quarter of this category at that volume, with 10 domains and no daily limit. There's no yearly discount, and extra emails are $0.90 per 1,000. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial are listed, so every email is paid for from the first one. | CFree for good: 3,000 emails a month, but only 100 a day, with 3 domains, 1 webhook and 30 days of logs. Marketing email is free up to 1,000 contacts too. A launch day with more than 100 sign-ups hits that daily cap. |
| Features | CEmail to webhook, address routing, threaded replies, API and CLI, spam filtering and retries. It does that narrow job fully, and does not describe bulk sending. | BAPI, SMTP, SDKs, React Email templates, inbound email and inboxes for AI agents, signed webhooks, a test mode and broadcasts. It covers the job. No address validation is on record, and dedicated IPs need Scale. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. It is an API and CLI product, so setup means DNS, webhooks and code. | CJudged on how fast a developer sends a first email: SDKs for most languages and React templates for web developers, and test mode fakes events without emailing anyone. You still verify a domain first. No rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb dashboard, API and CLI only. No integrations list is shown. | BWeb, with an API, SMTP, SDKs and MCP, and it works with Next.js, Remix, Nuxt, Express, Hono and Astro. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | receiving and replying to email by API | developers building with React and Next.js |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Inbound and Resend. How we grade
Price against what you get
Inbound starts at $9 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Resend starts at $20 a month and scores 2.7.
Resend scores higher, and starts $11 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email sending services on the chart, 8 score higher than Inbound for less, and none scores higher than Resend for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Inbound also covers AI agents.
- Resend also covers email campaigns.
At a glance
| Inbound | Resend | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9 per month for 5,000 emails | $20 per month for 50,000 emails, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | 3,000 transactional emails a month, limited to 100 a day, 3 domains, 3 inboxes, 1 webhook endpoint and 30 days of logs. Marketing email free up to 1,000 contacts. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Exon Enterprise LLC | Resend |
| Price read from | inbound.new | resend.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Inbound
- There is no free plan or trial listed.
- Extra domains cost $3.50 per domain per month.
- Extra capacity is $16 per 50,000 received plus 50,000 sent a month.
- The product centers on receiving and replying; the pricing page does not describe bulk or marketing sending.
Resend
- Billing is monthly only; there are no annual plans or yearly discounts.
- There is no plan between Free and the $20 Pro plan, and the free plan caps sending at 100 emails a day.
- Dedicated IPs cost $30 a month and need the Scale plan and more than 3,000 emails a day; SSO is a $150 a month add-on on Scale.
- Marketing email is priced separately by contacts, from $40 a month for 5,000; broadcasts do not use the transactional quota.
Key features
Inbound
- Email to webhook
- Point MX records at the service and received mail is delivered as parsed JSON.
- Address routing
- Route specific addresses or a catch-all to different endpoints.
- Threaded replies
- Reply to a received message in the same thread from the API.
- API and CLI
- One API and a command-line tool cover receiving, parsing and replying.
- Spam filtering
- Choose to reject, flag or accept mail marked as spam.
- Failed delivery retries
- Failed webhook deliveries show in logs and can be retried.
Resend
- API, SMTP and SDKs
- Send through a REST API or SMTP relay, with official SDKs for Node.js, Python, Ruby, PHP, Go, Rust, Java, Elixir and .NET, plus batch sending and scheduling.
- React Email templates
- Build email templates as React components with TypeScript and Tailwind through the open-source React Email library, instead of hand-written HTML tables.
- Inbound email and inboxes
- Receive email through webhooks, parse content and attachments, and give your team or AI agents inboxes reachable by API and MCP; 3 are included.
- Webhooks and test mode
- Signed webhooks report deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces and complaints, and a test mode simulates events without emailing real people.
- Broadcasts and automations
- A visual editor, contact lists, segments and broadcast analytics for marketing email, sold as separate plans priced by contacts.
- Deliverability tools
- DKIM, SPF and DMARC setup, automatic suppression lists, bounce details, region choice and managed dedicated IPs on Scale.
Plans
Inbound
Default$9
per month for up to 5,000 emails
Basic support, with unlimited mailboxes.
Pro$15
per month for up to 50,000 emails
Up to 50 domains.
Growth$39
per month for up to 100,000 emails
Up to 300 domains.
Scale$79
per month for up to 200,000 emails
Unlimited domains.
Resend
Free$0
3,000 emails a month and 100 a day, 3 domains, 1 webhook endpoint, ticket support.
Pro$20
per month for 50,000 emails, billed monthly
No daily limit, 10 domains, 5 webhook endpoints, 100 AI credits. $35 a month at 100,000 emails; overage $0.90 per 1,000.
Scale$90
per month for 100,000 emails, billed monthly
1,000 domains, Slack support, urgent response SLA; dedicated IP and SSO as add-ons. $160 a month at 200,000 emails. Overage $0.90 per 1,000, less at higher tiers.
EnterpriseCustom
For 1 million or more emails a month: volume pricing, dedicated IPs, SSO, 99.99% uptime SLA and a dedicated success manager.
Ways to pay less
Inbound
No public discounts listed.
Resend
- Nonprofit
50% off for nonprofits
Registered nonprofits can apply for 50% off paid plans. Resend says it does not offer education pricing.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Inbound or Resend?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Inbound is cheaper to start with: $9 a month, against $20 a month for Resend. Inbound starts at $9 per month for 5,000 emails, and Resend starts at $20 per month for 50,000 emails, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Inbound or Resend?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Resend has a free plan. Inbound does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.