# Knock review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Cross-channel notification and messaging workflows for products Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Knock is messaging infrastructure for product teams. Workflows, broadcasts and in-app guides are built once and delivered across email, in-app, push, SMS and chat, with email going out through a connected provider such as SendGrid, Postmark or Amazon SES. Pricing follows messages sent rather than the number of stored users. - **Category:** Email Sending Services - **Made by:** Knock Labs, Inc. - **Website:** https://knock.app - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want a service that sends email by itself: it needs a provider you connect. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Knock has a free plan, and paid plans start at $250 per month, plus usage beyond 50,000 messages. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Up to 10,000 messages sent, 500 guide recipients and 500 agent credits a month, with unlimited workflows, profiles, channels and team members. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | Up to 10,000 messages sent, 500 guide recipients and 500 agent credits each month. No credit card required. | | Starter | $250 per month, plus additional usage | Includes 50,000 messages (then $0.005 each), 2,500 guide recipients and 2,000 agent credits. Removes Knock branding; adds email client previews. | | Enterprise | Custom | Annual agreements with volume-based pricing, custom roles, SAML SSO, SCIM, enterprise SLAs, HIPAA BAA and priority support over Slack, email and calls. | Read from https://knock.app/pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Knock before buying. ## Key features - **Cross-channel workflows:** A workflow is a single type of message, such as a user invite, that can branch, delay and route across email, in-app, push, SMS and chat. - **Broadcasts and in-app guides:** Broadcasts send a one-time message to an audience on any channel. In-app guides cover banners, modals, cards and tooltips rendered with your own components. - **Batching and preferences:** Batch and digest notifications to cut frequency, and let recipients manage preferences by channel, notification and category. - **Email through your own provider:** The integrations list names email providers including SendGrid, Postmark, Amazon SES, Mailjet, Mailgun, Mailtrap and MailerSend. - **Agent and MCP access:** Workflows, templates, guides, broadcasts and audiences can be managed from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Slack, through a remote MCP server or the Knock CLI. - **Multi-tenancy:** Built-in multi-tenancy is listed on every plan, and per-customer branding and preferences on Enterprise. ## Good for - Product teams that want one workflow layer across email, in-app, push, SMS and chat - Teams that already have an email provider and need orchestration on top - Small products: the free plan covers 10,000 messages a month ## Worth knowing - Knock is an orchestration layer, so email delivery goes through a provider you connect; it is not a standalone sending service. - The jump from Free to Starter is $250 a month, with messages beyond 50,000 billed at $0.005 each. - Removing Knock branding, email client previews and priority email support need Starter or higher. - Custom roles, SAML SSO, SCIM, translations and the HIPAA BAA are listed on Enterprise only. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Knock builds a notification workflow once and delivers it by email, in-app, push, SMS and chat. Email still goes out through a provider you connect, and the step from the free plan to Starter is $250 a month. - **Value for money: D.** $250 a month for Starter, plus $0.005 for each message past 50,000. Email sending tools start around $9, the dearest tenth begins at $68. - **Free plan and trial: B.** Free plan with 10,000 messages sent a month, unlimited workflows, profiles and team members, and no card needed. One small product could stay on it. - **Features: C.** Cross-channel workflows, broadcasts, in-app guides, batching and preferences. Email goes through SendGrid, Postmark or SES, so it isn't a sending service on its own. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You wire it into your app and connect providers before anything sends. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web dashboard with SDKs and an API, plus connections to SendGrid, Postmark, Amazon SES, Mailgun, Slack and others. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Knock's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among email sending services - Knock's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 14 of the 50 other email sending services we grade, and level with 10. - It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 35 of 50) and worst on value for money (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $250 a month, against a middle price of $15 for the category: 39 of the 41 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 15 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/email-sending ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Knock 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. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 26 of the 50 other email sending services grade higher. It costs $3,000 a year. - You could not: Mail servers with a good name among inbox providers. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with SendGrid, Postmark, Amazon SES, Mailjet, Mailgun, Mailtrap, MailerSend, Slack **Tags:** Transactional email, Workflow automation, Public API ## Alternatives - [Courier](https://toolgpa.com/tools/courier): Notification and messaging API across email, SMS, push and chat. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/courier-vs-knock) - [Novu](https://toolgpa.com/tools/novu): Open-source notification infrastructure for apps and agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/knock-vs-novu) - [Twilio SendGrid](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sendgrid): Twilio's email API and SMTP service, priced by monthly email volume. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/knock-vs-sendgrid) - [Postmark](https://toolgpa.com/tools/postmark): Transactional email API and SMTP, with broadcasts on a separate stream. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/knock-vs-postmark) - [Resend](https://toolgpa.com/tools/resend): Developer email API with React Email templates and a free tier. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/knock-vs-resend) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://knock.app/pricing - https://knock.app - https://knock.app/integrations Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/knock Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).