# useSend review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Open-source email sender built on Amazon SES Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. useSend is an open-source email platform for transactional and marketing email, with an API, SDKs, an SMTP relay, a campaign editor and contact lists. It sends through Amazon SES, either on the company's hosted cloud or on a self-hosted copy that uses your own AWS account. The cloud plan is $10 a month with usage billed on top, and contacts are not charged for. - **Category:** Email Sending Services - **Made by:** useSend - **Website:** https://usesend.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't want to set up Amazon SES, as sending runs on it. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, useSend has a free plan, and paid plans start at $10 per month, then pay as you go. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Self-host edition: free to run on your own server and your own AWS account; you pay AWS directly, about $0.10 per 1,000 emails. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Self-host | $0 | Open source and free forever; you host it yourself with Docker or Railway and pay AWS about $0.10 per 1,000 emails. Unlimited domains, contact books and team members. | | Cloud | $10 per month, then pay as you go | Includes 25,000 transactional or 10,000 marketing emails a month, then $0.40 per 1,000 transactional and $1 per 1,000 marketing. Unlimited domains and contact books. | Read from https://usesend.com on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with useSend before buying. ## Key features - **API and SDKs:** Typed SDKs are shown for TypeScript, Python, Go and PHP, over a plain HTTP API. - **SMTP relay:** A drop-in SMTP relay works with any app or framework; the site mentions Supabase as a use. - **Analytics:** A searchable log tracks deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes, filterable by domain, status and API key, and exportable. - **Marketing editor and contacts:** A visual editor with templates and variables, plus contact lists with per-list subscription status that update from bounces and complaints. - **Suppression list:** Filled automatically from bounces and complaints and managed by import, export or API, for both transactional and marketing email. ## Good for - Developers who want to self-host and keep sending costs at SES rates - Apps with large contact lists, since contacts are not billed - Teams that want open-source code behind their email ## Worth knowing - Sending runs on Amazon SES, so SES account setup and limits apply, including on a self-hosted copy. - The cloud plan includes either 25,000 transactional or 10,000 marketing emails, not both. - The pricing is on the homepage; the site has no separate pricing page. - The company says it is bootstrapped and funded by the cloud offering and sponsors. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. useSend is an open-source email sender built on Amazon SES, free to self-host and $10 a month on its cloud, which includes 25,000 transactional emails. It depends on SES, so SES account setup and limits apply even to a self-hosted copy, and the free route needs your own server. - **Value for money: B.** The cloud plan is $10 a month with 25,000 transactional emails, at the cheaper end of the category. Self-hosting costs nothing for the software but needs a server and about $0.10 per 1,000 emails paid to AWS, so it is not counted as free here. - **Free plan and trial: C.** Free to self-host, but you run the server and pay AWS yourself; the cloud edition has no free tier. - **Features: C.** An API and SDKs, SMTP relay, analytics, a marketing editor and a suppression list, with Amazon SES account setup and limits underneath. - **Ease of use: D.** No store rating on record. The free edition is self-hosted with Docker or Railway, and Amazon SES setup applies to both editions. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** A web dashboard and an API; the listing names Amazon SES, Supabase, Railway and Docker. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from useSend'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 - useSend's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 4 of the 26 other email sending services we grade, and level with 5. - It stands best on value for money (B, above 11 of 26) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $10 a month, against a middle price of $13.73 for the category: 6 of the 25 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 5 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 useSend 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: 17 of the 26 other email sending services grade higher. It costs $120 a year. useSend is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself. - You could not: Mail servers with a good name among inbox providers. - You could not: Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Amazon SES, Supabase and Railway 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 Amazon SES, Supabase, Railway, Docker **Tags:** Open source, Self-hostable, Transactional email, Email campaigns, Public API ## Alternatives - [Amazon SES](https://toolgpa.com/tools/amazon-ses): AWS email sending and receiving, paid per 1,000 emails. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/amazon-ses-vs-usesend) - [Resend](https://toolgpa.com/tools/resend): Developer email API with React Email templates and a free tier. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/resend-vs-usesend) - [Postmark](https://toolgpa.com/tools/postmark): Transactional email API and SMTP, with broadcasts on a separate stream. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/postmark-vs-usesend) - [MailPace](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailpace): EU-hosted transactional email API and SMTP, without open tracking. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailpace-vs-usesend) - [SendLayer](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sendlayer): Transactional email over SMTP or API, aimed at WordPress sites. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/sendlayer-vs-usesend) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://usesend.com Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/usesend Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).