The Best Resend Alternative for Developers in 2026

Resend has taken the developer world by storm with its beautiful API, excellent documentation, and developer-first approach. But as your application scales, you might find yourself looking for a Resend alternative that gives you more control over your email infrastructure.

Why Look for a Resend Alternative?

Resend is undoubtedly a great product, but it's not perfect for everyone:

• Pricing at Scale: Resend's free tier is generous (3,000 emails/month), but paid plans can get expensive quickly
• Vendor Lock-in: Like all traditional ESPs, you're locked into their infrastructure
• Limited SMTP Options: You must use Resend's email servers—you can't bring your own
• Data Control: All your email data flows through Resend's servers

Feature Comparison

API Similarity

Void Relay's API is intentionally similar to Resend's, making migration straightforward:

Resend

import { Resend } from 'resend';

const resend = new Resend('re_xxx');

await resend.emails.send({
  from: '[email protected]',
  to: '[email protected]',
  subject: 'Hello',
  html: '<p>Hi there</p>'
});

Void Relay

import { RelayClient } from '@voidvalue/relay';

const relay = new RelayClient({
  apiKey: 'your-api-key',
  smtpKey: 'your-smtp-key',
});

await relay.send({
  to: '[email protected]',
  subject: 'Hello',
  content: '<p>Hi there</p>',
  isHtml: true
});

Key differences:

• Void Relay uses content instead of html with an isHtml flag
• Void Relay requires both apiKey and smtpKey
• The from address comes from your configured SMTP server

Pricing Comparison