Same email. Less overhead.
SendGrid charges per message, gates dedicated IPs behind their Pro plan, and bills transactional and marketing email separately. The more you grow, the more you pay, and the harder it gets to predict your bill.
unMTA gives you dedicated email infrastructure starting at $450/mo. Unlimited sending, dedicated IPs included, one predictable price.
How They Compare
Infrastructure
SendGrid
Multi-tenant shared infrastructure. Dedicated IPs only available on Pro plan ($89.95+/mo), and you still share underlying compute and queues with other customers.
unMTA
Single-tenant MTA instances. Your infrastructure runs in isolation with no shared queues and no noisy neighbors.
IP Addresses
SendGrid
Shared IP pool on Free and Essentials plans. Dedicated IPs on Pro ($89.95+/mo), but warmup and reputation management are your responsibility.
unMTA
Dedicated IPs included on every plan. We handle warmup, authentication, and ongoing monitoring as part of the service.
Pricing Model
SendGrid
Tiered per-message pricing with separate charges for Email API and Marketing Campaigns. Pro starts at $89.95/mo for 100K emails, with overage charges on top.
unMTA
Flat monthly rate. Unlimited sending on every plan. Your costs are predictable regardless of volume.
Deliverability Management
SendGrid
Self-service deliverability tools. Expert guidance only on Premier (custom pricing). Email Activity Feed limited to 3 days on Essentials, 7 days on Pro.
unMTA
Dedicated IPs with professional deliverability management included on every plan. We handle IP warmup, DNS authentication, monitoring, and ongoing tuning so you can focus on sending.
Observability
SendGrid
Email Activity Feed with 3–7 day history depending on plan. 30-day history available as a paid add-on. Stats dashboard and webhooks available.
unMTA
Dashboard, webhooks, S3 log archival, and configurable retention. Your data, exported on your terms.
Underlying Technology
SendGrid
Proprietary platform acquired by Twilio in 2019. Email is one product in a large portfolio spanning SMS, voice, and video.
unMTA
Powered by KumoMTA, a high-performance MTA built by engineers with decades of experience running some of the largest email platforms in the world.
What You'll Actually Pay
SendGrid charges per message. unMTA charges a flat rate. Here's what that looks like at real-world volumes.
SendGrid
Pro 700K
$733/mo
Pro plan with dedicated IP, tiered pricing
unMTA
Launch (annual)
$450/mo
Flat rate, unlimited sending
You save $283/mo with unMTA
SendGrid pricing from sendgrid.com/en-us/pricing, March 2026. unMTA pricing includes dedicated IPs and unlimited sending with no add-ons or overages.
Dedicated to You, Controlled by You
Hardware Isolation
SendGrid
Shared infrastructure on Free and Essentials. Dedicated IPs on Pro, but you still share underlying compute and queue infrastructure with other customers.
unMTA
Dedicated instances with no shared resources. Your MTA doesn’t share memory, disk, or network with anyone else’s workload.
Data Retention
SendGrid
Email Activity Feed limited to 3 days (Essentials) or 7 days (Pro). 30-day history is a paid add-on.
unMTA
Configurable retention with full export via webhooks and S3. Keep your data as long as you need it.
Cost Predictability
SendGrid
Tiered plans with overage charges. Email API and Marketing Campaigns billed separately. Costs can spike during high-volume periods.
unMTA
Flat-rate plans. Whether it’s a slow month or your biggest product launch, the bill is the same.
When SendGrid Is the Better Fit
Brand recognition
SendGrid has been around since 2009 and is one of the most recognized names in email infrastructure. If your team already knows the platform, there’s real value in that familiarity.
Marketing Campaigns
If you need a built-in drag-and-drop email builder, contact management, and campaign tools alongside your transactional API, SendGrid offers both under one roof.
Twilio ecosystem
If you’re already deep in Twilio for SMS, voice, or other channels, SendGrid fits naturally into that stack with unified billing and a shared developer experience.
SendGrid works well when you’re getting started or need marketing tools built in. But once your volume grows and you need dedicated infrastructure, predictable costs, and hands-on deliverability support, that’s what we built unMTA for.
Predictable costs. Dedicated infrastructure. Full control.
Every unMTA plan includes dedicated IPs, unlimited sending, and hands-on deliverability management. Starting at $450/mo.