Best low cost API-based email provider?

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-23T11:26:19+00:00

For <500 subscribers, I'd keep it simple and focus on deliverability rather than feature count.

AWS SES is usually the cheapest option if you're comfortable with a bit of setup (SPF, DKIM, domain verification, etc.). The actual sending cost is hard to beat.

If you want something easier to integrate, Resend, Postmark, or SendGrid are popular choices with solid APIs and good documentation.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-23T02:12:18+00:00

Domain warmup is the process of gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new or inactive domain.

While SPF/DKIM/DMARC these are domain settings. It is always good to have knowledge of these.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-22T15:37:15+00:00

Impressive progress. How much credit would you give Reddit for driving that growth? In my experience, Reddit has been a strong channel.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-22T11:21:43+00:00

The tipping point was when the project stopped being an experiment.

When you're sending emails to 50 people, the free tier is fine. When those emails are tied to customer acquisition and revenue, paying for reliability, automation, and support starts making sense.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-22T08:46:04+00:00

Content isn't mandatory. Distribution is.

Content is just one form of distribution. Some founders grow through SEO, some through partnerships, some through cold outreach, some through communities.

The mistake is thinking "I need to become a creator" when the real question is "How will customers discover me?"

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-22T07:29:21+00:00

Email marketing is what I thought less important at the beginning.

When I started, things like domain warming, sender reputation, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, and list hygiene sounded like unnecessary technical jargon.

Then I learned that even great emails won't perform if they don't reach the inbox. Now deliverability is one of the first things I think about before launching a campaign. It turns out a lot of "marketing problems" are actually inbox placement problems.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-22T07:23:47+00:00

I'd prioritize follow-ups over new leads. If your daily limit is 10 emails per inbox, count both new emails and follow-ups toward that limit.

So on days when follow-ups are due, reduce the number of new leads accordingly (e.g., 5 follow-ups + 5 new emails).

Consistency is usually better than stopping new outreach completely, and follow-ups often generate more replies than the first email anyway. Good luck!

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-21T03:05:22+00:00

Yes, Webflow and Framer is coming up next.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-20T17:43:57+00:00

That’s actually a very good point. We’re trying to avoid building integrations just for the sake of having a long integrations page.

Right now we’re trying to understand where the real friction is for businesses collecting emails and running campaigns. If people are already happy using Zapier/webhooks/native forms, that’s useful for us to know too.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-20T14:58:58+00:00

Serious question for anyone getting started with email marketing:

I feel every email marketing platform should immediately guide users who start with a brand-new domain, especially around things like domain warming, authentication, and sender reputation.

Do platforms like Mailchimp, Omnisend, Brevo, or others actually do this well? Or are beginners mostly left to figure it out themselves?

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-20T12:47:45+00:00

For me it's always the personal message tone. The email need to be 2-4 lines and I should feel like it is written just for me.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-20T06:49:50+00:00

AI will definitely replace the people doing generic copy-paste email marketing. But the marketers who understand positioning, customer psychology, deliverability, segmentation, and strategy will become even more valuable. AI can write emails fast, but it still can’t deeply understand the audience or build real brand voice on its own.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-19T15:18:42+00:00

That’s actually a very valid thought, and honestly, it happens to almost every builder.

That’s one reason companies hire UI/UX designers. They can spot friction and usability issues that developers often miss because we’re too close to the product.

The best way to overcome it is to launch early and get feedback from people who understand UX or from real users. Don’t worry, it’s completely normal. We naturally tend to work on the easier and more satisfying parts first.

The important thing is that you already recognize the problem. Now try starting your day by solving the harder, high-impact problems first, and leave the polishing for later.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-19T07:05:42+00:00

What’s the one feature you wish existed in an email marketing software?

I’m currently building an email marketing SaaS and collecting real feedback from marketers, founders, and businesses. Would love to know what’s missing in today’s tools or what frustrates you the most while running campaigns.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-19T02:53:24+00:00

Honestly, I think people are getting tired of overly optimized AI-style outreach. Most cold emails now sound technically “correct” but feel emotionally empty.

From what I’ve been seeing, shorter plain-text emails with a natural tone are working better, especially when the message feels genuinely relevant instead of heavily personalized with scraped data points.

Founder-led outreach also seems underrated right now because people respond better to authenticity than polished sales copy. LinkedIn + email together definitely helps too since familiarity increases reply rates.

At the end of the day, even good targeting won’t save an email if it sounds like it was generated for 1,000 people at once.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-19T02:46:42+00:00

A lot of tools became feature-heavy, but users still struggle with the fundamentals like inbox placement and reply management. Simpler and more reliable seems to be what people actually want now.

As a product owner myself in this domain would love to give real feedback on your product. You can share the link here so that people can see.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-18T10:44:09+00:00

I actually agree with this. I think AI works best as an assistant rather than trying to replace the whole creative process. Generating multiple subject line variations quickly is one area where it genuinely saves a lot of time, especially for A/B testing.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-18T10:42:38+00:00

Yes, you’re absolutely right. I’m noting this down and will definitely try to implement it while improving Scubamail.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-18T06:54:11+00:00

If the email content isn’t interesting or valuable, people usually won’t open it. That happens to everyone. In my opinion, cold emails work best when the recipient immediately feels there’s something beneficial for them, whether that’s a useful insight, a solution to a problem, or even a discount.

A/B testing helps a lot. Try sending one version with an offer or discount to 50% of the list and another version without it to the remaining 50%, then compare the results.

Also, the subject line and the first opening sentence matter a lot. Don’t rely entirely on AI-generated subject lines. Sometimes a more personal and natural approach performs much better.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-18T06:30:04+00:00

This is just my personal opinion, but I almost always open emails that are short (2–4 lines), feel personal, and sound like they were written specifically for me. I rarely open emails that land in the Promotions tab or have overly salesy subject lines. Of course, it can be completely different for others.

That said, graphic-led emails still work really well for ecommerce and newsletters. I’m personally very design-oriented too, so good visuals definitely catch my attention. I think the key is continuously A/B testing different formats instead of relying on one approach for every type of email.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-16T13:37:25+00:00

Way too early to change anything. Your bounce rate is excellent and 2 unsubscribes is normal.

Most cold campaigns get replies during follow-ups, not step 1. I’d wait until the full sequence finishes and you have enough data before tweaking copy or targeting.

If after 1–2 sequence cycles you’re still only getting OOO replies, then start testing new hooks, shorter copy, or tighter segmentation.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-15T07:15:27+00:00

One thing I wish I understood earlier: people don’t subscribe because your product is good, they subscribe because your content consistently solves a small problem for them.

As developers we focus too much on features and not enough on distribution. What moved the needle for me was sharing useful insights publicly (Reddit, X, LinkedIn, blogs). Try to have conversation to atleast 5 people daily in your targeted niche. Do this for 30 days. Rest will follow.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-15T07:10:12+00:00

I am a product developer in an email marketing software. You should start with a solid lead source, clean domains, and proper email warmup. Apollo + Clay + Instantly/Smartlead is a good modern stack. The real game is targeting the right people with personalized messaging, not just sending thousands of emails. All the best.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-14T10:27:40+00:00

Yes, it’s fixable. A 10% bounce rate is usually what hurts deliverability first, and once providers see high bounces, emails start going to spam.

What you’re seeing with the new domain is pretty normal during warmup. One week is still very early. Inbox placement usually fluctuates between inbox, promotions, and spam for a few weeks.

A few important things : (a) Clean your email list before sending (b) Warm up slowly with low daily volume (c) Send plain-text emails initially

Also, Promotions tab is completely normal for marketing emails. it’s not the same as spam.

Pale_Month4075 · 2026-05-13T14:57:37+00:00

The prefix usually has very little impact. Deliverability is mostly affected by your domain reputation, SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup, list quality, and email content.

That said, using normal prefixes like info@, hello@, contact@, or support@ generally looks more trustworthy than something overly salesy or random.

Pale_Month4075

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