Courier review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Notification and messaging API across email, SMS, push and chat
Black Friday: is there a Courier sale?
Courier report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for notifications across email, SMS, push and chat
Courier is a notification API that routes messages across email, SMS, push and chat through providers you connect. Free covers 10,000 sends a month, and after that Business is $0.005 per send, which is $50 per 10,000.
Who Courier is for
- Fits if you send mail, SMS and push from one product and want one API
- Works for small apps that stay under 10,000 sends a month
Who Courier is not for
- Skip it if you want Courier to deliver email itself, since it routes through your own provider
- Tight if you pass 10,000 sends a month, when Business charges $0.005 per send
- Pricey if you send high volume, where 100,000 sends works out at $500
- Watch out: AI Translations, the AI node and EU data residency are on Business
- Watch out: Device Preview is an extra from $20 a month
Why Courier gets a 2.4
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyThe Developer plan is free and Business is $0.005 per send with no per-seat fees, so 10,000 sends cost $50, in the ordinary range for email tools at low volume and above it at high volume.
- BFree plan and trialDeveloper is free for 10,000 sends a month with journeys, broadcasts, CLI and SDKs, which one person can live on.
- CFeaturesRouting across channels, journeys, design studio, inbox and an AI step. It routes through your own email provider rather than delivering mail, and add-ons like Device Preview start at $20 a month.
- CEase of useNo rating on record. You connect providers, build templates and journeys, and wire in SDKs.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb service with SDKs, a CLI, an MCP server and connections to SES, Mailgun, Postmark, SendGrid, Twilio, Slack, Teams and FCM.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Courier's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/courier#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/courier.svg" alt="Courier: 2.4 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Courier stands among email sending services
Courier's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 25 of the 50 other email sending services we grade, and level with 8.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 35 of 50) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 51 email sending services we grade, cut by the letter each got. Courier’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 8 of 50, level with 16
- BFree plan and trialAbove 35 of 50, level with 13
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 50, level with 29
- CEase of useAbove 7 of 50, level with 43
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 17 of 50, level with 32
Keep Courier, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Courier you would be making mail servers with a good name among inbox providers. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
What you could not
- Mail servers with a good name among inbox providers.
- Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
- A chatbot builder hooked into the messaging apps.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
What this rests on. Courier’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Courier?
Courier is a customer messaging platform that routes notifications and multi-step journeys across email, SMS, push, chat and in-app channels. It sends through your own providers, such as Amazon SES or Twilio, adding templates, routing and fallback. It includes a visual designer and an in-app notification inbox.
Worth knowing
- The Business plan has no monthly fee and charges $0.005 per send, with AI Translations, the AI node and EU data residency.
- The Developer plan stops at 10,000 sends a month.
- The Device Preview add-on is from $20 a month.
- Courier routes through your own email provider rather than delivering the mail itself.
Key features
- Omnichannel routing
- One send can go to email, SMS, push, chat or in-app, with fallback between providers.
- Journeys
- Multi-step messaging triggered and personalized from your data.
- Design Studio
- A no-code visual editor with multi-channel preview.
- In-app Inbox
- An embeddable notification center that syncs across devices.
- AI agent step
- Run a language model as a step in a workflow to score users or generate content.
- Provider connections
- Bring your own email, SMS, push and chat providers.
Courier pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Courier has a free plan.
- Starts at
- Not published
- Free plan
- Developer plan: 10,000 sends a month, with journeys, broadcasts, MCP server, CLI and SDKs.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | $0 | 10,000 sends a month, journeys and broadcasts, MCP server, CLI and SDKs, SSO via Google and GitHub, email and chat support. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Everything in Business plus volume pricing, a dedicated Slack channel, observability integrations, role-based access control and an enterprise SLA. |
Read from courier.com on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Courier before you buy.
Works with
Courier alternatives
- Courier vs Knock
Free plan · from $250/mo
- Courier vs Novu
Free plan · from $30/mo
- Courier vs Twilio SendGrid
Free trial · from $19.95/mo
- Courier vs Mailgun
Free plan · from $15/mo
- Courier vs Resend
Free plan · from $20/mo
Common questions
Does Courier have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Courier is listed for Web.
Does Courier have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Courier is listed for Web.
Is Courier open source?
Courier is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 13, 2026.
Does Courier have an API?
Yes. Courier offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.