Which email service to choose for your startup in 2025?

I'm currently developing a project and need to choose a provider (or several, depending on the needs) for sending emails. Today, email remains the most stable channel for any project: account validation, notifications, newsletters and marketing automation. But choosing the right platform can be confusing.

I started reading and researching in various forums, articles and Twitter/X conversations. I reviewed posts and participated in communities like "Build In Public" (I recommend it if you're in the same mood as me). In particular, in this thread with @_amanjakhar I saw that many of us are in the same situation and with the same doubts.

Developers always tend to move with trends, and right now Resend is the tool with the most hype in the community. But the big question is: is it really the best option, or just the most mentioned one? 🤔

This article is a benchmark updated to 2025, designed for entrepreneurs and developers who need clarity when choosing an email provider. Specifically we'll compare: Resend, Mailgun, Brevo and AWS SES.

My criteria for the comparison

Before getting into the matter, it's important to consider some key factors that can influence your decision, these are the ones I've based this comparison on:

1. Developer experience (DX): Is it easy to connect to your application? Are there SDKs, examples and clear documentation?

2. Cost at scale: The initial price is usually attractive; what matters is how it evolves with 10k, 100k or 1M emails/month.

3. Extra features: Only transactional or also marketing automation, visual templates, CRM, SMS/WhatsApp?

4. Compliance and deliverability: Data residency (GDPR/EU), IP/reputation management, SLAs and support.

Now yes, let's get into the matter.

Resend: Developer Experience and simplicity

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, Resend is one of the most recent platforms with the highest adoption in the developer community. Its value proposition is simplicity: modern SDKs, impeccable DX and focus on easy integrations.

• Modern SDK in multiple languages.
• Very good developer experience. Integrates easily with React/Next.js and React Email. 😎
• Infrastructure optimized for transactional emails.
• GDPR support and data residency in the EU.

• Higher prices compared to AWS SES (if we compare at large scale, +100k emails/month).
• Limited log retention depending on the plan.
• Still growing, less mature than competitors like Mailgun or Brevo.
• Very focused on transactional emails, not so much on marketing automation.

💡 My conclusion: I see it as ideal if you want to quickly validate an MVP or prototype with a JavaScript/TypeScript stack and have email templates in the repository.

Mailgun: reliability with track record

Mailgun has been in the market for years and is a reference in sending transactional and marketing emails.

• Very robust and proven at large volumes.
• Transactional emails and marketing automation.
• API with many advanced features (tracking, validation, analytics).
• Scalable plans for startups and large companies.
• Deliverability and IP reputation tools.
• Competitive pricing between 100k-500k emails/month; more than that becomes expensive.
• Complies with GDPR and has good reputation in the EU.

• More complex initial setup.
• Doesn't have the same "hype" in the dev community as Resend.

💡 My conclusion:I see it as ideal if you prioritize stability, European compliance and solid technical support.

Brevo: the all‑in‑one option

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) combines marketing automation with transactional email, offering a more "all-in-one" approach.

• Includes SMS/WhatsApp, marketing automation and lightweight CRM.
• User-friendly interface for non-technical teams.
• Good option for projects that combine marketing and product.
• Generous free plan (up to 300 emails/day).
• Very attractive prices up to 40k emails/month.
• Complies with GDPR and has data centers in the EU.

• API less "developer friendly" than Resend or Mailgun.
• Can be too big for an MVP or side project.
• Limited or no branding on the free plan.
• More focused for marketing teams than for developers.

💡 My conclusion: I see it as ideal if you want to manage newsletters, campaigns and automated flows on a single platform.

AWS SES: the low-cost giant

AWS SES, Amazon's giant in emails. Widely used when looking for scalability and reduced cost.

• Extremely cheap for large volumes.
• Direct integration with AWS.
• High delivery capacity (deliverability).
• Easy to scale. Ideal for 1M+ emails/month.
• Complies with GDPR and has good reputation in the EU.

• More complicated developer experience. Who likes the AWS UI? 🙄
• High learning curve if you don't use AWS in your stack.
• Reputation management is your responsibility.
• For marketing automation, you need to integrate with other services (like Pinpoint or SNS).

💡 My conclusion: I see it as ideal if you're already in the AWS ecosystem and looking to optimize costs at large scale.

Comparison table (2025)

How to choose in 1 minute?

• Need to move fast (Next.js/React) 👉🏻 Resend.
• EU compliance and stable deliverability 👉🏻 Mailgun.
• Marketing + transactional on the same platform 👉🏻 Brevo.
• Scale to high volume with low cost 👉🏻 AWS SES.

My conclusions

• Resend: Ideal for startups looking for speed and good developer experience. Perfect if you work with React/Next.js. I'll use it for welcome emails, notifications and any functionality that requires quick integration.
• Mailgun: The most robust and reliable option. Recommended if you need to comply with European regulations and prioritize deliverability.
• Brevo: The best choice if you're looking for an all-in-one solution that combines marketing and transactional email. I'll use it to manage marketing campaigns and transactional emails on a single platform.
• AWS SES: Although at the cost level it's the cheapest at large scale, it requires more effort in management and configuration. I would use it once the project is validated and needs to scale, when the plans of the previous providers no longer fit my budget 🤑.

In short, each provider has its strengths and weaknesses. The choice will depend on the specific needs of your project, how you plan to scale in the future... and your personal preferences.

Finally, I'll use Resend for transactional emails and Brevo for marketing campaigns and newsletters.