SendGrid Pricing: What You’ll Really Pay in 2025 

There aren’t that many email marketing platforms that really punch above their weight when it comes to value. What caught my eye with SendGrid was how they pack useful features into even their lower-priced plans—even if email automation is hidden behind a pricier tier.

SendGrid doesn’t have a Free plan, but their free trial is surprisingly generous. You can send up to 3,000 emails a month without paying a cent for 60 days in total, which is perfect if you’re part of a small team or startup just starting to experiment with email marketing. 

That said, it’s still not quite as generous as the Free Forever plans from Sender or MailerLite, which let you send significantly more emails without any time limit. 

What really caught my attention with SendGrid is how much functionality they’ve built into even their lower-tier plans. Still, the big question is whether that approachable entry price truly matches the platform’s performance and reliability once you start scaling. Let’s investigate.

SendGrid Pricing at a Glance

SendGrid Plans & Costs Reviewed

Free Trial Reviewed

SendGrid’s Free Trial is a solid entry point for developers, startups, and small businesses looking to explore email marketing waters without upfront costs. Once you sign up, you can send up to 100 emails per day for 60 days, giving you enough room to test integrations, templates, and basic automations.

Naturally, there are trade-offs. The free account lacks a dedicated IP, sub-user management, and advanced analytics, and support is limited to email only. Users who need these features can purchase access through one of SendGrid’s paid plans, which unlock more automation and scalability options.

Basic Plan

The Basic plan starts at $15/month, enabling you to manage up to 100,000 contacts and send up to 300,000 emails. It offers design and code editors, basic segmentation tools, basic A/B testing, multiple signup forms, and chat & phone support—making it suitable for growing marketing teams. 

However, it’s worth noting that the Basic plan lacks any automation workflows, dedicated IP addresses, and large-team collaboration features, some of which are found either on the free trial or Premium plan. SendGrid alternatives like Moosend and Sender, for instance, offer basic automation features right from the entry plan. 

Overall, the Basic marketing tier delivers strong value for mid-level email marketing campaigns but may feel constrained for users needing full automation or enterprise-grade sending.

Advanced Plan

The Advanced plan starts at $60/month, giving you access to higher contact and send volume tiers and richer marketing features. It includes advanced automation, segmentation tools, A/B testing, dedicated IPs and options to manage additional IP addresses as your sending needs expand.

This makes it well-suited for growing marketing teams or businesses running frequent or complex campaigns.

Compared with competitors, such as Sender or MailerLite, SendGrid’s Advanced plan sits on the higher end of the pricing spectrum but delivers enterprise-grade reliability and scalability.

However, SendGrid’s strengths lie in its robust deliverability, dedicated IP options, sub-user management, and deep API/SMTP integration—features designed for high-volume senders who benefit from SendGrid’s high volume pricing.

SendGrid Hidden Fees & Extra Costs

SendGrid’s pricing is generally straightforward, but a few extra costs can sneak up on you if you’re not paying attention. For starters, features like dedicated IP addresses, email validation credits, and priority support aren’t included in the lower-tier plans and can quickly add to your total bill. 

Costs also rise as your contact list or email volume grows, meaning it’s easy to outpace your plan limits and get bumped into a higher pricing plan mid-cycle. Premium plans that include guaranteed response times and 24/7 technical support are available but naturally come at a higher cost.

Another thing to note is that overage fees can apply if you exceed your monthly email sends*. Also, advanced features like enhanced automation or actionable insights on deliverability optimization are locked behind higher plans. While these extras make sense for heavy users or enterprise teams, they can catch smaller businesses off guard. 

*The Essentials plan (50,000 contacts) comes with $0.00133/email overage fee. In contrast, the same plan but with a 100k contact limit has $0.0009/email overage free. 

SendGrid Pricing by Subscriber Count

SendGrid Transactional Emails Pricing

Transactional Plans Breakdown

Free Trial
SendGrid’s Free Trial lasts 60 days and allows up to 100 emails per day. It includes API and SMTP access, a dynamic template editor, and basic analytics check, making it ideal for testing integrations or evaluating deliverability. However, it lacks advanced features like a dedicated IP, sub-user management, or premium support.

Essentials
Starting at $20/month, the Essentials plan supports 50,000–100,000 monthly emails. It includes analytics, dynamic templates, and deliverability tools but excludes dedicated IPs, SSO, and domain authentication options. Best for small to mid-sized senders.

Pro
Beginning at $90/month, the Pro plan supports higher volumes (up to millions of emails). It adds dedicated IPs, sub-user management, SSO, and more event webhooks. Designed for high-volume or enterprise senders needing advanced deliverability and control.

Premier
The Premier plan offers SendGrid’s highest level of customization and support, featuring premier custom pricing access for those enterprise-level needs. It includes all Pro features plus dedicated account management, SLAs, and advanced security controls like SSO and sub-user permissions. Ideal for businesses needing maximum reliability and flexibility.

Per-Email Costs by Volume

Keep in mind that these are effective averages, not fixed per-email charges. Actual cost depends on your plan tier, add-ons (e.g., dedicated IP), and overage fees. SendGrid’s scaling model also lets larger senders unlock volume discounts, lowering per-email costs as your monthly send volume grows.

SendGrid SMS Pricing & Costs

Keep in mind that SendGrid provides SMS marketing through integration with Twilio (SendGrid’s parent company). While SendGrid specializes in email delivery and automation, Twilio’s SMS infrastructure enables users to combine both channels without having to pay for two separate plans.

In terms of global reach, Twilio supports SMS delivery to a wide range of countries worldwide. However, I’ve found that MMS capabilities are mainly available in the USA and Canada. Before launching campaigns, it’s important to verify specific country support and check for any regional restrictions or requirements.

SendGrid vs Competitors: Which Costs Less?

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See comparison

See comparison

Is SendGrid Worth the Price?

If you’re after a solid email automation platform with A/B testing and advanced segmentation—and you don’t mind spending around $60 a month—SendGrid’s Advanced plan is a worthwhile investment.

However, if you’re hoping to experiment with basic automation on a budget, the Basic SendGrid account might feel like a rip-off (even at $15/month), as it’s one of the few entry-level tiers on the market that leaves automation out entirely.

SendGrid Pricing FAQs