# SendLayer review (2026): is it worth $5 a month, billed yearly? > Transactional email over SMTP or API, aimed at WordPress sites Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. SendLayer is a transactional email service that sends a site's or app's messages through an SMTP relay or an API. Plans are priced by emails a month and billed annually, and each includes email logs, open and click tracking, suppression and bounce management. Its pages focus on WordPress and WooCommerce, though it can connect to any platform. - **Category:** Email Sending Services - **Made by:** SendLayer, LLC - **Website:** https://sendlayer.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want a free plan, as there is only a 200-email trial. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, SendLayer is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $5 per month for 1,000 emails, billed annually. - **Pricing model:** Free trial - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** Free trial of up to 200 emails. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Starter | $5 per month for 1,000 emails, billed annually | 1 sender domain, 3 days of log retention and standard support. | | Business | $15 per month for 5,000 emails, billed annually | 3 sender domains, 15 days of log retention and premium support. | | Growth | $25 per month for 10,000 emails, billed annually | 5 sender domains, 30 days of log retention and premium support. | | Scale | Custom | 20,000+ emails a month, 20 sender domains, 30 days of logs and VIP support. Quote on request. | Read from https://sendlayer.com/pricing/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with SendLayer before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **14-day money-back guarantee** (Other savings): The pricing page says that within 14 days of starting, you can ask for a full refund if SendLayer is not a fit. Source: https://sendlayer.com/pricing/ ## Key features - **SMTP relay and API:** Every plan can send through an SMTP relay, set up by copying credentials, or through an email API. - **Email logs:** Logs trace each message to its destination. Retention runs from 3 days on Starter to 30 days on Growth and Scale. - **Open and click tracking:** Engagement can be checked per message and filtered by status or recipient, with an analytics view on every plan. - **Suppression and bounce handling:** Suppression, bounce and blocklist management are listed on every plan, along with event-based webhooks. - **Domain authentication:** DKIM, SPF and DMARC authentication are listed on every plan, with a limit on sender domains per plan. ## Good for - WordPress and WooCommerce sites that need reliable system emails - Small senders who want a low entry price per month - Sites sending a few thousand transactional emails a month ## Worth knowing - All plans are billed annually; the pricing page shows no monthly-billing option. - It has no permanent free plan, only a trial of up to 200 emails. - Per its FAQ, a plan is upgraded automatically if you reach its monthly email limit. - It is a transactional email service, not a tool for marketing campaigns. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. SendLayer is a transactional email service over SMTP or API, aimed at WordPress sites, from $5 a month for 1,000 emails billed annually. There is no free plan, only a 200-email trial, every plan is billed yearly, and it is not for marketing campaigns. - **Value for money: A.** $5 a month billed annually for 1,000 emails, under the $6 that is 60% of the category's cheaper quarter. The volume is small and the year is paid up front. - **Free plan and trial: D.** A trial of up to 200 emails and no permanent free plan; the page does not say whether a card is needed. - **Features: C.** SMTP and an API, email logs, open and click tracking, suppression and domain authentication, but the listing shows no inbound mail or IP pools and logs last 3 to 30 days. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You verify a sending domain with DNS records and wire up SMTP credentials or an API key before the first email goes out. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** A web dashboard and an API; the listing names WordPress and WooCommerce. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from SendLayer's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among email sending services - SendLayer's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 10 of the 26 other email sending services we grade, and level with 5. - It stands best on value for money (A, above 24 of 26) and worst on free plan and trial (D, above 2). - Its paid plans start at $5 a month, against a middle price of $13.73 for the category: 1 of the 25 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs 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 SendLayer 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. It costs $60 a year. - You could not: Mail servers with a good name among inbox providers. - You could not: It plugs into other products, WordPress and WooCommerce among them, and has an API. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with WordPress, WooCommerce **Tags:** Transactional email, Public API ## Alternatives - [SMTP2GO](https://toolgpa.com/tools/smtp2go): SMTP relay and email API priced by emails a month, with a free plan. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/sendlayer-vs-smtp2go) - [Mailgun](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailgun): Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailgun-vs-sendlayer) - [Postmark](https://toolgpa.com/tools/postmark): Transactional email API and SMTP, with broadcasts on a separate stream. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/postmark-vs-sendlayer) - [Elastic Email](https://toolgpa.com/tools/elastic-email): Low-cost email API and SMTP relay priced by monthly email volume. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/elastic-email-vs-sendlayer) - [MailerSend](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailersend): Transactional email and SMS API from the team behind MailerLite. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailersend-vs-sendlayer) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://sendlayer.com/pricing/ - https://sendlayer.com/features/ - https://sendlayer.com Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/sendlayer Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).