Quick answer
Emitlo - Emitlo wins for most builders who just need to send transactional email cheaply, while MailerSend wins if you need a fuller email workflow with templates, verification, and team features.
How the free tiers compare
Emitlo’s free tier is built around sending volume and deliverability basics. It gives you a real email API and SMTP relay, authentication, analytics, webhooks, and enough room for small production use, but the main limits are volume, sending domains, credentials, and log retention. MailerSend’s free tier is much smaller on sending volume and requires a credit card, but it includes a drag-and-drop builder and email threads support, and its paid ladder adds templates, seats, verification, SMS, and deeper team tooling. In short: Emitlo is the better free send-first option; MailerSend is the better choice if you want the product to cover email creation and surrounding workflow, not just delivery. Once you outgrow free, Emitlo stays usage-based and scales with send volume, while MailerSend moves to flat monthly tiers that jump by feature set and capacity.
Emitlo vs MailerSend free tier, side by side
| EmitloFTV 51 | MailerSendFTV 37 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free emails per monthEmitlo’s free quota is much larger, but it is limited to early signups. | 12,000 emails/month for early signups | 500 emails/month |
| Sending rate limitEmitlo publishes both daily and hourly limits on the free tier. | 400 emails/day; 50 emails/hour | Not stated |
| Sending domainsMailerSend lists 1 domain on Hobby, not on the free plan. | 3 | Not stated on free |
| API/SMTP credentialsEmitlo caps free credentials explicitly. | 3 | Not stated |
| Log or activity retentionMailerSend’s paid plans specify activity retention; the free plan details do not in the provided input. | 14 days of log history | Not stated on free; 1 day on Hobby, 7 days on Starter/Professional |
| AttachmentsOnly Emitlo’s free tier includes an attachment size cap in the provided data. | 10 MB maximum attachment size | Not stated |
| Email verification creditsVerification is part of MailerSend’s free tier, but not Emitlo’s. | Not included | 10 credits |
| Credit card required for free tierThis claim is only made where the input states it. | No | Yes |
After you outgrow the free tier
Emitlo uses usage-based pricing at $0.15 per 1,000 emails, so costs rise directly with volume and the free tier effectively acts like a small send allowance. MailerSend’s next step is a flat $5.60/month Hobby plan, then $28 Starter and $88 Professional, so costs jump by plan rather than by exact usage in the provided data. For small-team sending, Emitlo is usually cheaper if you only need delivery. MailerSend becomes more attractive when you need templates, seats, verification, or broader workflow features, even though its free tier is much smaller and requires a card.
Cost at real usage
| Usage | Emitlo | MailerSend |
|---|---|---|
| 500 emails/monthMailerSend free includes 500 emails/month; Emitlo free includes 12,000 emails/month for early signups. | Free (within tier) | Free (within tier) |
| 5,000 emails/monthEmitlo is estimated from $0.15 per 1,000 emails. | ~$0.75/mo | $5.60/mo |
| 12,000 emails/monthMailerSend would require moving beyond free; the provided paid plans do not give a 12,000-email exact tier, so Hobby is the first meaningful paid step. | Free (within tier) | $5.60/mo |
| 50,000 emails/monthMailerSend Starter and Professional both list 50,000 emails/month in the provided input. | ~$7.50/mo | $28.00/mo |
Estimates, not quotes. Usage-based rates change - verify with the vendor's pricing page before committing.
When to pick each one
Pick Emitlo when…
- You want the largest free sending allowance for a small app or side project.
- You need REST API or SMTP email delivery without paying upfront.
- You are testing transactional email with webhooks, real-time analytics, and event tracking.
- You need a free tier with no credit card required.
- You send enough email that 500/month would be too restrictive, but you still want to stay on free while validating your product.
Pick MailerSend when…
- You need a drag-and-drop email builder on the free tier.
- You care about email verification credits in the same product.
- You want email threads support included from the start.
- You expect to move into a flat monthly plan with seats, templates, and team features.
- You are okay with a smaller free sending cap in exchange for more workflow tools and a broader paid ladder.
Bottom line
For the most common builder use case, Emitlo is the better free-tier pick if your app mainly needs to send transactional email and you want real room to test before paying. MailerSend is the better pick if free-tier volume is less important than email creation tools, verification, and a fuller workflow around sending. If you expect to stay small and send-first, Emitlo is the cleaner choice. If you expect to manage templates and team usage early, MailerSend’s ecosystem matters more despite the smaller free cap.
Read the full listings: Emitlo and MailerSend. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more head-to-heads on /compare, or see the top-ranked free tiers on /top.