Compare
Relay vs. the alternatives
A straight comparison — including where the others are stronger. Notably, both Relay and Resend are built on AWS SES, so our real difference is the edge layer, zero-SDK simplicity, and transparent pricing, not the sending backbone.
| Relay | Resend | Postmark | SES direct | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Cloudflare Workers (edge) + AWS SES | AWS SES | Own infrastructure (since 2010) | AWS SES (raw) |
| Integration | Plain HTTPS — no SDK to install | 8 SDKs + React Email | SDKs for most languages | AWS SDK / SMTP |
| Ingestion latency | Global edge, ~tens of ms | Regional | Regional | Regional |
| Pricing | Transparent per-1k, shown up front | Tiered | Per-1k | Cheapest raw — you build the rest |
| DKIM / SPF / DMARC | Guided + verified live in-app | Yes | Yes | You configure it yourself |
| Suppression list | Automatic (bounce + complaint) | Yes | Yes | You build it |
| Message streams | Yes | Broadcast / audiences | Yes (pioneered them) | No |
| Signed webhooks | HMAC-signed, built in | Yes | Yes | Wire up SNS yourself |
| Open/click tracking | Yes — HMAC-signed tokens | Yes | Yes | No |
| BYODKIM | Yes — single TXT record | No (Easy-DKIM only) | No | Yes (manual) |
| Domain Connect | Yes — one-click DNS setup | No | No | No |
| Auto-pause circuit breaker | Yes — 5% bounce / 0.1% complaint | Dynamic suppression | No | No |
| MCP (AI agent support) | JSON-RPC 2.0 endpoint | MCP server (hosted) | No | No |
| AI Design Studio | Yes — visual block editor + AI | No | No | No |
| Multi-payment providers | Stripe + Paddle + Razorpay | Stripe only | Stripe | AWS billing |
| Admin RBAC | super_admin, support_admin, billing_admin | Basic | No | IAM |
| Sandbox mode | Yes — full event simulation | Yes (test mode) | No | SES sandbox |
| Free tier | 10,000/month | 3,000/month | 100/month | 62,000/month (free forever) |
| Dashboard | Activity, templates, domains, analytics, AI Studio | Polished, mature | Mature, deliverability-focused | Basic AWS console |
Who should pick what
- Resend if you want React Email and the most mature, polished ecosystem today — they set the bar for developer UX.
- Postmark if a long, proven deliverability track record is your top priority.
- SES directly if you want the lowest raw cost and are happy to build authentication, suppression, webhooks, and a dashboard yourself.
- Relay if you want the best of both worlds: SES-grade delivery + edge-first architecture + auto-pause circuit breaker + BYODKIM + AI Design Studio + a free tier that actually lets you build (10,000/month). Relay is the only provider that runs on the edge — your emails are processed in ~tens of ms, not hundreds.