When is Mailinator the better choice?

You need disposable inboxes to test sign-up, password reset, or OTP flows. You want SMS testing in the same tool as email workflow testing. You need QA tooling like routing rules, webhooks, or email load testing on the free plan. You want to start without a credit card for internal testing. You are validating message delivery behavior rather than sending real customer email.

When is Resend the better choice?

You need to send real transactional email from your app on the free tier. You want SDKs, SMTP relay, and React Email in the same workflow. You are okay with a 3,000 emails per month cap and a 100 emails per day limit. You need open and link tracking on the free plan. You plan to grow into a usage-based paid email platform with higher send volumes.

Mailinator vs Resend: Free Tier Comparison

Q: How much does Mailinator cost after the free tier?

Verified Pro - $0 with Verification. Mailinator’s paid plans are mostly flat-price tiers after the free public plan, starting at Verified Pro with verification at $0, then Business at $79/month billed yearly, Business Plus at $159/month billed yearly, and Enterprise at $699 and up custom pricing. Resend’s paid plans are usage-based: Pro starts at $20/month for 50,000 emails/month plus $0.90 per 1,000 extra emails, and Scale starts at $90/month for 100,000 emails/month with the same overage rate. That means Mailinator is simpler and predictable, while Resend can be cheaper at lower send volumes but rises with usage. For small teams sending real email, Resend’s Pro plan is the lower entry price; for QA and inbox testing, Mailinator’s free/public approach avoids paid usage entirely.

Q: How much does Resend cost after the free tier?

Pro - $20 / mo. Mailinator’s paid plans are mostly flat-price tiers after the free public plan, starting at Verified Pro with verification at $0, then Business at $79/month billed yearly, Business Plus at $159/month billed yearly, and Enterprise at $699 and up custom pricing. Resend’s paid plans are usage-based: Pro starts at $20/month for 50,000 emails/month plus $0.90 per 1,000 extra emails, and Scale starts at $90/month for 100,000 emails/month with the same overage rate. That means Mailinator is simpler and predictable, while Resend can be cheaper at lower send volumes but rises with usage. For small teams sending real email, Resend’s Pro plan is the lower entry price; for QA and inbox testing, Mailinator’s free/public approach avoids paid usage entirely.

Quick answer

Mailinator - Mailinator wins for most builders who need a free tier for testing email and SMS workflows, because its public plan is genuinely usable without a card and includes more of the QA toolkit; Resend wins only if your free-tier need is sending a small number of real emails from an app.

How the free tiers compare

These products solve different problems even though both touch email. Mailinator is a testing and QA tool first: the free public plan is built for disposable inboxes, temporary message storage, SMS testing, API access, webhooks, routing rules, and load testing. That makes it useful for sign-up, OTP, and password-reset verification without forcing you into paid hosting for the core workflow. Resend is a production email delivery platform: its free tier is more about limited real sending, with 3,000 emails per month, 100 per day, one custom domain, tracking, SMTP, SDKs, and webhooks. The tradeoff is clear. Mailinator gives broader testing coverage and no card requirement on the public plan. Resend gives a more production-shaped email stack, but the free tier is narrower and card-required. Once paid, Mailinator is flat-priced while Resend is usage-based, so Resend can stay cheaper at low volume but grows with send volume.

Mailinator vs Resend free tier, side by side

	MailinatorFTV 74	ResendFTV 30
Free emails per monthMailinator's free plan is for public inbox testing, not a standard send quota.	Unlimited public inboxes; temporary storage	3,000 emails/month
Free daily sending limitResend explicitly caps daily volume on the free tier.	Not stated for public free plan	100 emails/day
Custom domains on free tierResend includes one domain in free; Mailinator's free public plan is public-inbox based.	Not stated for public free plan	1 custom domain
API access on free tierBoth include API access in the free tier.	Included	Included
Webhooks on free tierMailinator also lists routing rules and load testing on free.	Included	Included
SMS testing on free tierMailinator explicitly includes SMS testing.	Included	Not stated
Data retention on free tierResend gives a defined retention window; Mailinator's free plan is temporary.	Temporary storage	30 days
Card required for free tierMailinator's public plan does not require a card; Resend's field says a card is required.	No	Yes

After you outgrow the free tier

Mailinator’s paid plans are mostly flat-price tiers after the free public plan, starting at Verified Pro with verification at $0, then Business at $79/month billed yearly, Business Plus at $159/month billed yearly, and Enterprise at $699 and up custom pricing. Resend’s paid plans are usage-based: Pro starts at $20/month for 50,000 emails/month plus $0.90 per 1,000 extra emails, and Scale starts at $90/month for 100,000 emails/month with the same overage rate. That means Mailinator is simpler and predictable, while Resend can be cheaper at lower send volumes but rises with usage. For small teams sending real email, Resend’s Pro plan is the lower entry price; for QA and inbox testing, Mailinator’s free/public approach avoids paid usage entirely.

Mailinator next stepVerified Pro - $0 with VerificationFlat monthly

Resend next stepPro - $20 / moUsage-based

Cost at real usage

Usage	Mailinator	Resend
50,000 emails/moResend Pro includes 50,000 emails/month.	Not directly comparable; free public plan is for testing inboxes, not sending real mail	$20/mo
100,000 emails/moResend overage math: 50,000 extra emails x $0.90/1,000 = $45, so $20 + $45 = $65 est.	$79/mo billed yearly at Business	~$65/mo est. on Pro plus 50,000 extra emails at $0.90/1,000
300,000 emails/moResend overage math: $20 + 250 x $0.90 = $245 est.	$159/mo billed yearly at Business Plus	~$245/mo est. on Pro plus 250,000 extra emails at $0.90/1,000

Estimates, not quotes. Usage-based rates change - verify with the vendor's pricing page before committing.

When to pick each one

Pick Mailinator when…

You need disposable inboxes to test sign-up, password reset, or OTP flows.
You want SMS testing in the same tool as email workflow testing.
You need QA tooling like routing rules, webhooks, or email load testing on the free plan.
You want to start without a credit card for internal testing.
You are validating message delivery behavior rather than sending real customer email.

Pick Resend when…

You need to send real transactional email from your app on the free tier.
You want SDKs, SMTP relay, and React Email in the same workflow.
You are okay with a 3,000 emails per month cap and a 100 emails per day limit.
You need open and link tracking on the free plan.
You plan to grow into a usage-based paid email platform with higher send volumes.

Bottom line

For the most common builder case, Mailinator is the better free-tier pick if you are testing email or SMS workflows and want more than just a basic inbox. The free plan is broad, card-free, and oriented around QA. Resend is the better choice only if you need to send real app email on a free plan and can live within 3,000 emails per month and 100 per day. Once you pay, Mailinator is easier to predict, while Resend scales with usage.

Read the full listings: Mailinator and Resend. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more head-to-heads on /compare, or see the top-ranked free tiers on /top.