Two transactional email providers, compared on price, features and ratings, so you can pick fast.
Updated October 2026
THE VERDICT
MailerSend wins on price and developer experience. SparkPost wins on sending APIs and compliance.
MailerSend starts at $7 versus SparkPost's $20. MailerSend rates higher with developers (4.1 vs 4.0 on G2). Pick based on volume and team, and the scorecard below breaks down where each one leads.
Winner cells are tinted, green where MailerSend leads, violet where SparkPost does.
FAQ
MailerSend starts at $7 versus SparkPost's $20. Because pricing models differ by tier, the cheaper option depends on your monthly volume, so compare the pricing rows in the scorecard above.
MailerSend's paid Hobby plan starts at 7 USD per month (6.30 USD per month billed annually) for 5,000 emails, with overage billed at 1.50 USD per additional 1,000 emails. The Starter plan is 35 USD per month for 50,000 emails, and Professional is 110 USD per month, covering the same base volume but adding unlimited seats and domains, longer log retention, a dedicated account manager, and deliverability consultation. Enterprise pricing is custom.
On current Bird pricing, signup provides a test API key for evaluation rather than an ongoing free production allowance. SparkPost historically offered a free monthly volume for some accounts, but the published Bird email plans now start with the paid Starter tier. Teams needing a permanent free sending quota should confirm current terms directly with Bird.
Yes. Many teams route different message types through different providers or fail over between them. Courier lets you send through both behind a single API and switch providers without changing your code.
Why not both?
Use both behind one API.
Route MailerSend, SparkPost, or both, and switch providers without changing your code. Courier sits in front of every channel.
Pricing, plans and feature availability as of October 2026 and may change. Ratings are aggregated from public review platforms. SparkPost is a Bird (MessageBird) product.