Twilio's email delivery platform for transactional and marketing emails. Free for 100 emails/day, then volume-based pricing from $19.95/mo — but dedicated IPs, email validation, and overage fees add up.
Advertised Price
$0
/month
Estimated True Cost
$105
/month (typical usage)
Surprise Factor
N/A×
more than expected
Confidence
75%
Data source: manual
What the pricing page doesn't tell you
Shared IP on lower plans hurts deliverability. Dedicated IP costs $20-$40/mo extra and requires Pro plan ($89.95/mo) minimum. High-volume senders need multiple IPs.
Trigger: dedicatedIp > 0
+$30
/monthly
Email address validation to reduce bounces costs $0.003-$0.01 per validation. Validating a 50K list = $150-$500 per run. Not included in any plan.
Trigger: emailValidation > 0
+$50
/per-use
Exceeding monthly email limit incurs overage at $0.00085-$0.001 per email. 100K extra emails = $85-$100. No automatic upgrade — charges applied to next invoice.
Trigger: emails > planLimit
+$25
/monthly
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Key Limits | Overage Rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Free | $0 | $0 |
| No overages |
EssentialsPOPULAR | $20 | $20 |
|
|
Pro | $90 | $90 |
|
|
SendGridoffers a free plan, but with significant restrictions. Here's exactly what you get — and what forces you to upgrade.
⚠️ When you'll need to upgrade:
Most teams outgrow the free plan within 1-3 months. The first paid tier (Essentials) costs $20/mo.
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