Plunk 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 they share a 2.6 GPA.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Plunk
Open-source email platform for transactional and marketing mail
Resend
Developer email API with React Email templates and a free tier
Which one is for you
Pick Plunk if
- Fits if you send a few thousand emails a month and want pay-as-you-go
- Works for developers who might self-host it later
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you send more than 1,000 emails a month on the free plan, which also adds Plunk branding
- Pricey if your volume grows, since it is a flat $0.001 on every email
- Watch out: self-hosting under AGPL-3.0 carries that licence's obligations
- Watch out: the hosted service runs in the EU
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
| 2.6GPAPlunkGood | 2.6GPAResendGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BNo monthly fee; $0.001 per email, so 10,000 emails cost $10, near the cheapest quarter of $9 for sending tools. Cost grows with volume. | 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 | CFree for 1,000 emails a month with unlimited contacts and every feature, but emails carry Plunk branding. | 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 | BTransactional email, campaigns, workflows, segments and inbound email. The listing shows no gap in the core job. | 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 store rating on record. It is built for developers and can be self-hosted under AGPL-3.0. | 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 | BWeb, with Amazon SES and Docker listed. No apps, and the hosted service is in the EU. | 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 | open-source email sending at $0.001 an email | 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: Plunk and Resend. How we grade
Where they differ
- Plunk is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Plunk also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| Plunk | Resend | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $0.001 per email sent | $20 per month for 50,000 emails, billed monthly |
| Free plan | 1,000 emails per month with unlimited contacts and every feature, with Plunk branding on emails. | 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 | Plunk | Resend |
| Price read from | useplunk.com | resend.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Plunk
- The free plan stops at 1,000 emails a month and puts Plunk branding on emails.
- The paid plan has no monthly fee: it is $0.001 per email, so cost scales directly with volume.
- The hosted service is in the EU; self-hosting under AGPL-3.0 carries that license's obligations.
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
Plunk
- Transactional email
- Send single emails through a REST API or an SMTP relay, from your own domain with DKIM signing.
- Campaigns and newsletters
- Broadcasts go to the whole contact list or to a segment, with a visual and an HTML editor and open and click tracking.
- Workflows
- Event-triggered sequences with delays, conditions and webhook steps, started by something a contact does in your product.
- Segments
- Dynamic segments are queries that re-run each time they are used, so a campaign reaches the current audience.
- Inbound email
- Addresses at your domain can receive mail, and replies become contacts that can start workflows.
- Self-hosting
- The code is open source under AGPL-3.0 and can be deployed with Docker Compose on your own servers.
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
Plunk
Free forever$0
1,000 emails a month and unlimited contacts. Every feature is included, but emails carry Plunk branding.
Pay as you grow$0.001
per email sent, no monthly fee
Removes the Plunk branding and the 1,000-email cap, with a monthly spend cap you can set. The vendor's example shows 10,000 emails costing $10.
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
Plunk
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, Plunk or Resend?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Plunk starts at $0.001 per email sent, and Resend starts at $20 per month for 50,000 emails, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Plunk or Resend?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Plunk and Resend have a free plan.
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.