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Resend API — pricing, free tier & how to get a key

Resend is a modern transactional email API built for developers — sign-up confirmations, password resets, receipts and notifications, with a clean API and first-class React Email support. Here's the pricing, the free tier, and how to get started.

Resend pricing (reference, June 2026)

PlanPriceEmails
Free free tier$03,000 / mo (100 / day), 1 domain
Profrom ~$20/mo50,000 / mo, unlimited domains
Scalefrom ~$90/mo100,000 / mo, higher limits
Enterprisecustomvolume pricing, SLA
⚠️ Reference prices, June 2026 — tiers and email volumes change. Confirm on resend.com/pricing. Above the included volume, extra emails are billed per thousand.

The free tier

Resend's free plan sends up to 3,000 emails per month (capped at 100 per day) from one verified domain — no credit card to start. That's more headroom than SendGrid's 100/day free plan, and plenty for a small app's transactional email. When you outgrow it, the Pro plan jumps to 50,000/month.

How to get a Resend API key (step by step)

1. Sign up at resend.com.
2. Add your domain and verify it by adding the SPF and DKIM DNS records Resend shows you. Email won't send from your domain until this is done (you can test from the shared onboarding domain first).
3. Go to API Keys → Create API Key.
4. Give it Sending access (full access only if you need it), name it, and copy the key once — it's shown a single time.

Send a test email:

# replace $RESEND_API_KEY and emails
curl -X POST https://api.resend.com/emails \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $RESEND_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"from":"you@yourdomain.com","to":"to@example.com","subject":"Hi","html":"<p>Hello</p>"}'

Cheaper / alternative options

Amazon SES is the cheapest at scale (~$0.10 per 1,000 emails) but bare-bones and fiddly to set up. Postmark is loved for transactional deliverability and speed. SendGrid (see our SendGrid guide) has more marketing-email features. Mailgun is a solid mid-market option. Resend wins on developer experience and a generous free tier. For SMS instead of email, see Twilio.

FAQ

Does Resend have a free tier?

Yes — 3,000 emails/month (100/day max) from one verified domain, no credit card to start. Good for low-volume transactional email.

How do I get a Resend API key?

Sign up at resend.com, add and verify your domain via DNS (SPF + DKIM), then API Keys → Create API Key with Sending access, and copy it once.

Is Resend or SendGrid cheaper?

Resend's free tier is more generous (3,000/mo vs 100/day) and its first paid tier is ~$20/mo for 50,000 emails. SendGrid has more marketing features. For raw cost at huge scale, Amazon SES at ~$0.10/1,000 beats both.

Does Resend support React Email?

Yes — Resend is built by the team behind React Email, so you can write email templates as React components and send them through the same API.

Not affiliated with Resend. Prices are reference estimates — always verify on the official pricing page.