European Alternatives to Postmark
Looking for a European alternative to Postmark? Postmark is sold by AC PM, LLC in Chicago, part of ActiveCampaign, under Illinois law with binding arbitration in Cook County, and it keeps data in the US with no EU region planned.
Eleven European providers cover transactional email with an API or SMTP relay, from companies in the Netherlands, Poland, the UK, France, Italy and Spain, most with a free plan or a low entry price.
How we rank these tools — 4-step process
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1
European ownership, verified
The company is headquartered and incorporated in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, and processes customer data in Europe. A US parent company disqualifies a tool from this page regardless of where its servers are.
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2
Category fit and hands-on review
What the tool actually does, who it suits, and where it falls short — checked against the vendor’s own documentation, changelog and pricing page rather than its marketing copy.
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3
Compliance and pricing check
GDPR posture, hosting location and the prices quoted on this page are verified against the vendor’s public pricing before publication, and re-checked when we revisit the category.
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Position on this page
Placement on this page can be paid, and that can affect which tools appear here and the order they appear in. It never buys a good review: a tool that fails the checks above is not here at any price, and payment does not change the shortcomings we write about. A vendor can ask us to correct a factual error — not to remove a criticism.
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11 European Alternatives to Postmark
Lettermint
Zwolle transactional email with a free plan of 300 a month, inbound from Starter and EU infrastructure
EmailLabs
Poznan API and SMTP service with 9,000 free emails a month and all data processed in the EEA
MailPace
Transactional-only email from a UK company, from $10 a month for 10,000, hosted in the EU
Scaleway Transactional Email
Paris cloud email at €0.25 per 1,000 after 300 free, with dedicated IP and a 99.9% SLA on Scale
Sweego
Lille email and SMS API with 100 free emails a day, inbound routing and logs from 7 to 90 days
Brevo
Paris platform with a free plan of 300 emails a day, SMTP and API sending, plus SMS and campaigns
turboSMTP
Milan SMTP relay and web API with a six-month free tier, from €14.95 a month and prepaid credits
Bird
Amsterdam email, SMS and WhatsApp platform with 1,000 free emails a month and 30-day retention
SMTPeter
Amsterdam SMTP and REST relay from Copernica on Dutch servers, €55 a month for 25,000 emails
Mailjet
French email API and campaign tool with a free plan of 6,000 a month, in the Sinch Email group
Mailrelay
Madrid email platform with a free tier and SMTP and API sending as a €14.95 add-on
Key takeaways
- Postmark is sold by AC PM, LLC in Chicago, owned by ActiveCampaign, under Illinois law with JAMS arbitration in Cook County and a class action waiver.
- Postmark stores data near Chicago and on AWS and says it has no EU-server plans; transfers rely on standard contractual clauses.
- Lettermint (Zwolle) is the closest in shape: a free plan of 300 a month, inbound from Starter, and EU infrastructure, with 28 days of logs.
- EmailLabs (Poznan) gives 9,000 free emails a month and publishes euro prices, with all data processed in the EEA.
- MailPace (UK) is transactional only, like Postmark, from $10 a month for 10,000, and hosted in the EU.
- Brevo, Mailjet, Bird, SMTPeter, turboSMTP, Mailrelay and Scaleway each fit a narrower case, mostly where messaging, campaigns or cloud infrastructure matter too.
Why people leave Postmark
Postmark is a transactional email service that has built its name on one idea: keep the mail your app has to send (password resets, receipts, alerts) apart from bulk mail.
You send through an API or SMTP, split traffic into message streams, use templates, and read the delivery log for 45 days by default. Its pricing page lists a free plan of 100 emails a month, then $15 for 10,000 on Basic, $16.50 on Pro and $18 on Platform, with overage from $1.20 to $1.80 per 1,000.
It is sold by AC PM, LLC in Chicago, trading as Postmark and owned by ActiveCampaign. The terms apply Illinois law, with binding arbitration in Cook County under JAMS rules for new customers and a class action waiver. Data is stored at a data centre near Chicago and on AWS, and Postmark says on its privacy page that it has no plans to add servers in the EU, relying on standard contractual clauses in its data processing addendum instead.
This page is about the transactional side: an API or SMTP relay for the mail your own product sends. Eleven European providers qualify. They differ in how transactional they are: MailPace is transactional only, Lettermint is built for developers, and Brevo, Mailjet, Bird and Mailrelay come from a marketing or messaging background.
- The contract and the courts are in Illinois Postmark's terms name AC PM, LLC in Chicago and apply Illinois law. For new customers, disputes go to binding arbitration under JAMS rules in Cook County, with exceptions for small claims and intellectual-property injunctions, and class actions are waived. If you want a counterparty with a court in your own region, none of that applies to the providers here, apart from Bird's US entity, which only takes US email customers.
- Your mail data sits in the US, by design Postmark lists a Deft data centre outside Chicago and AWS as its storage, and says it does not plan EU servers because GDPR does not require them. It relies on standard contractual clauses in its DPA. That is a lawful route, but it means a bounce log, a recipient address and the message content are held in the US. EmailLabs says all data is processed in the EEA, Lettermint and MailPace say EU infrastructure, and SMTPeter says its own servers are in the Netherlands.
- Useful features are priced in tiers On Postmark, inbound email and custom retention start on Pro, unlimited message streams are Platform only, a dedicated IP starts at $50 a month per IP and needs 300,000 or more emails a month, and DMARC monitoring is $14 a domain. Elsewhere inbound can arrive earlier: Lettermint from Starter, Sweego from Individual, and MailPace on every plan.
- Free plans are smaller than they look, or hidden Postmark's free plan is 100 emails a month with no overage allowed. EmailLabs gives 9,000 a month, Mailjet 6,000, Bird 1,000, Lettermint 300, Brevo 300 a day, and Sweego 100 a day. MailPace's free plan, 100 a month, is available on request only. Pick the one whose limits match how you test.
What you have to replace, not just match
List what you use on Postmark: API or SMTP, how many sending domains, whether you use message streams for transactional and broadcast mail, templates, inbound parsing, webhooks, and how many days of logs you rely on. Postmark keeps 45 days by default. Lettermint keeps 28, MailPace 30, Bird 30, EmailLabs 1 to 15 depending on plan, and Sweego 7 to 90, so check retention first if you use logs for support.
Add the new provider's sending domain with its own SPF and DKIM records, send a small share of mail through it, and keep Postmark live until bounces and complaints look normal. Move one domain at a time. A new sender starts with no reputation of its own, so warm it up before you move the password-reset and receipt mail that cannot be late.
The alternatives compared
| Position | Tool | Headquarters | Pricing | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2 | EmailLabs | Poznan, Poland | Free STARTUP up to 9,000 emails a month (300 a day) / Essential 30 at €23 a month for 100,000 / PRO 100 at €69 a month with a dedicated IP and €1.02 CPM overage / Enterprise above 1M | EU (Poland) |
| #3 | MailPace | United Kingdom | $10 a month for the first 10,000 emails, then usage-based; every feature is on every plan | UK |
| #4 | Scaleway Transactional Email | Paris, France | From about €0.0025/hour (DEV1-S) | EU (France) |
| #5 | Sweego | Lille, France | Free 100 emails a day / Individual €10 a month (€8 annual) for 20,000-50,000 / Startup €79 (€63) for 100,000-200,000 / Scaleup €270 (€216) for 500,000-1,000,000 / Unicorn on quote. SMS is a separate credit system from about €0.04 a message | EU (France) |
| #6 | Brevo | Paris, France | Free (300 emails/day, unlimited contacts) / from about €8/month | EU (France) |
| #7 | turboSMTP | Milan, Italy | Free up to 200 emails a day for the first six months / Basic €14.95 a month for up to 15,000 emails / Pro €79.95 a month, adding a dedicated IP, custom routing, a 365-day analytics database and up to 100 subaccounts / Enterprise custom pricing above 2.5 million emails a month; prepaid pay-as-you-go credits from €49 for 50,000 emails up to €790 for 1 million, unused credits expiring after a year | EU (Italy) |
| #8 | Bird | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Free 1,000 emails a month / Startup from $15 a month (50,000-100,000) at $0.30 per 1,000 / Growth from $80 a month up to 2.5M / Enterprise above that; dedicated IP $24.95 a month | EU (Netherlands) for customers outside the United States |
| #9 | SMTPeter | Amsterdam, Netherlands | €55 a month for 25,000 messages on one IP and one domain, then €0.23 per 1,000, falling to €0.22, €0.17, €0.06 and €0.05 as volume rises; optional support contract €89 a month | EU (Netherlands) |
| #10 | Mailjet | Paris, France | Free tier / from about €15/month | EU (France) |
| #11 | Mailrelay | Torrelodones, Madrid, Spain | Free for 80,000 emails a month to 20,000 contacts; transactional email is an add-on at €14.95 a month after a 30-day trial; paid plans are priced from a volume slider rather than a published table | EU (Spain) |
How each alternative compares to Postmark
Lettermint
the closest in developer shape, from Zwolle
Best for: Developers who want API, SMTP, webhooks and inbound with EU infrastructure and a free plan
Lettermint is Lettermint B.V., at Willemsvaart 16 B in Zwolle, registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under 99337711. Its pages say the email infrastructure stays inside the EU, plans are GDPR compliant, and it holds ISO 27001.
The pricing page lists Free at 300 emails a month, then Starter, Growth and Pro from €10 up to €740 for volumes from 10,000 to 1.5 million. Inbound email starts at Starter, scheduling at Growth, and a dedicated IP is an add-on at €50 a month on Pro. Retention is 28 days. No card is needed to start.
Students and startups can claim €60 in one-time credits.
What Lettermint does better than Postmark
- Dutch entity with EU-based infrastructure
- Inbound from Starter, where Postmark needs Pro
- Free plan allows signup without a card
- Plans scale in small steps from €10
Where Lettermint is a step down from Postmark
- 28 days of logs against Postmark's 45
- Free plan is only 300 emails a month
- A young company without Postmark's track record
- Dedicated IP only as an add-on on the top plan
Standout against Postmark. It combines inbound and an API on a €10 plan and states EU infrastructure on every plan.
EmailLabs
the biggest free allowance, with data processed in the EEA
- Which law reaches it. EU (Poland). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. EEA — the vendor states that all data is processed in the EEA, on servers located in Central and Eastern Europe.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
- Independently checked. ISO 27001, ISO 27018, Certified Senders Alliance (Essential plan and above).
Best for: Teams that want to test with real volume before paying, with euro prices
EmailLabs is operated by Vercom S.A. at Wierzbięcice 1B in Poznań, KRS 0000535618, NIP 7811765125. Its pricing page says all data is processed in the EEA and lists ISO 27001 and ISO 27018.
Startup is free for up to 9,000 emails a month with one day of logs. Essential 30 is €23 a month for 100,000 emails (regular price €29) with seven days of logs and Certified Senders Alliance certification, and Pro 100 is €69 (regular €115) with a dedicated IP, unlimited webhooks and 15 days of logs.
Enterprise starts at one million emails a month with at least two dedicated IPs.
What EmailLabs does better than Postmark
- 9,000 free emails a month against Postmark's 100
- Euro prices with a regular and a discount price shown
- Dedicated IP on Pro 100, where Postmark requires 300,000 a month
- Polish entity with EEA processing stated
Where EmailLabs is a step down from Postmark
- Free plan keeps only one day of logs
- Log retention tops out at 15 days
- Discount prices rise to the regular price later
- Less known to English-language developer communities
Standout against Postmark. Its free plan is 90 times Postmark's allowance and still includes API and SMTP.
MailPace
transactional only, like Postmark, from a UK company
- Which law reaches it. UK. Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. EU and UK — servers at Freethought (UK) and Clever Cloud (EU), backups kept seven days at Hetzner in two German locations, monitoring by AppSignal in Amsterdam.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
- Independently checked. None stated; the full subprocessor list is published, and none of them are American.
Best for: Small teams that want a focused transactional service without marketing features
MailPace is run by OhMySMTP Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (13200428). Its terms apply the laws of the United Kingdom and do not give a postal address. The UK is outside the EU, and the site says it is hosted in the European Union.
The pricing page starts at $10 a month for the first 10,000 emails, with usage-based steps, and accepts nine currencies. Every plan has an HTTP API, SMTP, inbound email, unlimited domains, team members and webhooks. Standard retention is 30 days. A free plan of up to 100 emails a month exists on request.
It says it is for transactional mail only.
What MailPace does better than Postmark
- Single price list with every feature on every plan
- Inbound email on all plans, where Postmark needs Pro
- Unlimited domains, where Postmark needs Platform
- Pricing in nine currencies
Where MailPace is a step down from Postmark
- UK jurisdiction, outside the EU
- The free plan is on request only
- Shorter retention than Postmark's 45 days
- No postal address in the terms
Standout against Postmark. It is the one that says no marketing mail at all, which suits Postmark users who already separate the two.
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw — EU only.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
Best for: Teams already on Scaleway or those who want usage-based pricing
Scaleway SAS is registered in Paris (SIREN 433 115 904, 8 rue de la Ville-l'Évêque). Its transactional email is one of its managed services, priced per message. The legal notice did not state a governing law.
The Essential plan includes 300 emails and then €0.25 per 1,000, with no subscription. The Scale plan is €80 a month for 100,000 emails, €0.20 per 1,000 beyond, a dedicated IP and a 99.9% uptime SLA that applies to Scale only.
Log retention was not on the pricing page.
What Scaleway Transactional Email does better than Postmark
- Usage-based price without a monthly minimum on Essential
- Dedicated IP included at €80 a month
- A written 99.9% SLA on Scale
- French entity and a wider cloud account
Where Scaleway Transactional Email is a step down from Postmark
- Only 300 free emails, not a monthly allowance
- A €80 jump from Essential to Scale
- Retention not shown on the pricing page
- Fewer email-specific tools than Postmark
Standout against Postmark. It is the only one here billed purely by usage, from the first email after 300.
Sweego
email and SMS API from Lille, with logs up to 90 days
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. France — the site names OVH in Roubaix as its host and Sweego states its data centres are in France.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
- Independently checked. None published; the vendor claims GDPR compliance and that data is outside the reach of the CLOUD Act.
Best for: Teams that want longer logs than Postmark and might add SMS later
Sweego is operated by MINDBAZ, a French simplified joint-stock company at 19 rue d'Amiens in Lille (RCS 893 278 382). The website runs at OVH in Roubaix.
Free allows 100 emails a day with five templates and seven days of logs. Individual, Startup and Scaleup extend logs to 30, 60 and 90 days, and inbound routing starts at Individual. SMS credits are sold separately. The page showed euro amounts, but earlier checks showed dollars, so no amount is quoted here.
Annual billing is listed at 20% off.
What Sweego does better than Postmark
- Logs up to 90 days, where Postmark keeps 45 by default
- Inbound routing from the first paid plan
- Email and SMS from one provider
- French entity with a registered number
Where Sweego is a step down from Postmark
- Prices on the page change by region or currency
- Free plan keeps logs for only 7 days
- Hosting of the mail service was not stated
- Less documentation than Postmark
Standout against Postmark. Log retention goes to 90 days on its top plan, twice Postmark's default.
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. EU.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
- Independently checked. GDPR.
Best for: Teams that send both transactional mail and marketing campaigns from one account
Brevo is Brevo, SAS, registered in Paris under 498 019 298 at 9-17 rue Salneuve. Its terms are governed by French law, with disputes sent to the commercial court of Paris, and separate variants exist for US and Indian customers.
The pricing page speaks of a free plan with up to 300 emails per day, and it also sells SMS, WhatsApp and a CRM. Plan amounts could not be read as text, so none is quoted here.
Brevo started as Sendinblue and is now a marketing platform that also sends transactional mail through SMTP and API.
What Brevo does better than Postmark
- French company under French law with the Paris commercial court
- 300 free emails a day against Postmark's 100 a month
- Campaigns, SMS and WhatsApp from the same account
- Daily rather than monthly free allowance
Where Brevo is a step down from Postmark
- A marketing platform first, so transactional is not the focus
- Plan amounts could not be verified
- Hosting location was not verified
- Terms have US and Indian variants
Standout against Postmark. It combines a free daily allowance with campaign and messaging tools in one account.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Italy). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
Best for: Teams that send irregular volumes and prefer to prepay
turboSMTP is run by Edisplay Srl, Via Palmanova 24 in Milan (VAT IT01172340919). The company is Italian, with offices in Milan and Sardinia.
Free is 200 emails a day for the first six months. Basic is €14.95 a month for 15,000 emails with 30 days of analytics, and Pro is €79.95 with a dedicated IP, up to 100 subaccounts and 365 days of analytics. Prepaid credits start at €49 for 50,000 emails and are valid for a year.
Enterprise is custom and starts at 2.5 million emails.
What turboSMTP does better than Postmark
- Prepaid credits that suit irregular volume
- A 365-day analytics database on Pro
- Subaccounts for agencies
- Italian entity with a registered VAT number
Where turboSMTP is a step down from Postmark
- The free plan stops after six months
- Pro stays at 15,000 emails a month
- Credits expire after a year
- Fewer developer features than Postmark
Standout against Postmark. Prepaid credits are valid for a year, so a quiet month costs nothing extra.
Bird
a large messaging platform from Amsterdam, with a US entity for US email
- Which law reaches it. EU (Netherlands) for customers outside the United States. Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Not stated — Bird publishes an EU regional endpoint (eu1.platform.bird.com) alongside a US one, but its privacy policy says data may be transferred outside the EEA and does not name the hosting provider for email.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
- Independently checked. Bird states that all its hosting providers meet ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II.
Best for: Teams that already use Bird for SMS or WhatsApp and want email in the same place
For customers outside the US, the contracting entity is Bird B.V. at Keizersgracht 268 in Amsterdam, with Dutch law and the Amsterdam courts. For US customers who buy email, it is Bird.com Inc., a Delaware company in Bethesda, Maryland, under Delaware law.
The email pricing page lists Free at 1,000 emails a month, Startup from $15 for 50,000 to 100,000 emails and Growth from $80 for 100,000 to 2.5 million. All plans include authentication, dashboards, suppression, webhooks and 30 days of retention on a shared IP. A dedicated IP is $24.95 a month and extra email is $0.90 per 1,000.
Unused capacity does not roll over, and sending pauses at five times your plan amount.
What Bird does better than Postmark
- 1,000 free emails a month against Postmark's 100
- Dutch entity and law outside the US
- Dedicated IP at $24.95 a month, no volume minimum stated
- Email, SMS and WhatsApp in one place
Where Bird is a step down from Postmark
- Prices are in dollars
- A US entity exists for US email customers
- Retention is 30 days against Postmark's 45
- A broad platform, so more to learn than a pure relay
Standout against Postmark. It offers a dedicated IP at $24.95 a month with no stated volume minimum.
SMTPeter
a relay on its own Dutch servers, with no free plan
- Which law reaches it. EU (Netherlands). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Netherlands — Copernica states it runs its own servers in the Netherlands with its own technology.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
Best for: Teams that want mail on non-hyperscaler servers in the Netherlands and accept a fixed price
SMTPeter is made by Copernica, at De Ruijterkade 112 in Amsterdam. Copernica says it runs its own servers in the Netherlands, with no AWS and no Google Cloud. The chamber of commerce number was not shown on the pages we read.
The base plan is €55 a month for up to 25,000 emails, one IP and one sender domain. Above that, €0.23 per 1,000 falling to €0.05 at higher volume. A technical support contract is €89 a month extra. Sending is through SMTP or a REST API, with DKIM signing, tracking and a template editor.
No free plan is mentioned.
What SMTPeter does better than Postmark
- Own servers in the Netherlands, stated by the vendor
- A dedicated IP included in the base plan
- Per-1,000 prices falling to €0.05
- A template editor and archiving in the product
Where SMTPeter is a step down from Postmark
- €55 a month to start; no free plan
- Support is a separate €89 contract
- Smaller developer community than Postmark
- Chamber of commerce number not shown
Standout against Postmark. It states its infrastructure is its own, in the Netherlands, with no hyperscaler behind it.
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. EU.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
- Independently checked. GDPR.
Best for: Teams that want a free 6,000 a month and campaign tools, and accept a shared-terms group
Mailjet is a French product that belongs to the Sinch Email group, which also owns Mailgun. The Sinch Email terms name Mailjet SAS and Mailjet GmbH (French law, Paris), Mailjet SaaS Ltd (English law, London) and Mailjet Emailing SL (Spanish law, Madrid), and also Mailgun Technologies, Inc. (Texas law, San Antonio).
The pricing page lists a free plan of 6,000 emails a month and 200 a day, with API and SMTP, and no credit card. Paid plans are shown in dollars and can differ by region, so no amount is quoted here.
Which entity applies depends on your order, so ask before you sign.
What Mailjet does better than Postmark
- 6,000 free emails a month against Postmark's 100
- French entities available under French law
- Campaign tools in the same account
- Free plan needs no credit card
Where Mailjet is a step down from Postmark
- Terms are shared with a Texas entity, so the contract is not certain
- Paid plans are priced in dollars
- Free plan is capped at 200 a day
- More of a campaign tool than a transactional specialist
Standout against Postmark. It combines a 6,000 a month free plan with API and SMTP, under group terms that need reading.
Mailrelay
a Spanish marketing platform with transactional sending as an add-on
- Which law reaches it. EU (Spain). Postmark is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Closed source, as Postmark is.
Best for: Small senders who mainly run newsletters and add a few system emails
Mailrelay is operated by CPC Servicios Informáticos Aplicados a Nuevas Tecnologías SL (CIF B83964601) in Torrelodones, Madrid. Its general conditions are governed by Spanish law, with the courts at the company's registered office.
The free plan covers up to 80,000 emails a month and 20,000 contacts for marketing. Transactional sending through SMTP and API is a €14.95 monthly add-on after a 30-day trial, and the paid monthly plans include it. Plans run on a 12-month commitment, and prepaid packages are an alternative.
Payment can be by bank transfer, card, PayPal and other methods, and VAT is extra where it applies.
What Mailrelay does better than Postmark
- A large free tier for campaigns
- Spanish entity under Spanish law
- Prepaid packages with no subscriber limit
- Transactional add-on at €14.95 a month
Where Mailrelay is a step down from Postmark
- Transactional sending is an add-on, not the core
- Monthly plans carry a 12-month commitment
- Fewer developer tools than Postmark
- No retention or hosting details found
Standout against Postmark. The free tier is built for newsletters, with system email as a cheap add-on.
What actually breaks when you switch
The hard part of leaving Postmark is reputation, not code. A new sender starts without history, so move traffic in steps, watch bounces and complaints, and keep transactional mail on a separate sending domain from marketing mail. Postmark's message streams have no one-to-one equivalent here, so plan how you split traffic.
Check retention before you rely on logs for support. Postmark keeps 45 days by default and up to 365 on request. Lettermint keeps 28, MailPace and Bird 30, and EmailLabs between 1 and 15 days depending on plan, so a customer who writes in after a month may find nothing.
Several vendors lock features behind tiers or show prices that change by region (Sweego, Brevo, Mailjet). Write down the plan you actually need, its monthly price in your currency, and what happens when you go over, before you commit to a provider.
Is there a European service that works exactly like Postmark?
MailPace is the nearest in spirit, because it only does transactional mail and refuses marketing. Lettermint is the nearest in developer features, with API, SMTP, webhooks and inbound. Neither copies Postmark's message streams, so check how you separate transactional from bulk traffic.
Postmark's reputation for fast delivery is a marketing claim we could not verify for any provider, Postmark included. Test delivery with your own recipients.
Which of these has a free plan I can test with?
EmailLabs gives up to 9,000 emails a month on its Startup plan, Mailjet 6,000 a month (200 a day), Bird 1,000 a month, Lettermint 300 a month, Brevo 300 a day, Sweego 100 a day, Scaleway 300 emails in total, turboSMTP 200 a day for six months, and Mailrelay up to 80,000 a month for marketing, with transactional as a paid add-on after a 30-day trial.
MailPace has a free plan for up to 100 emails a month on request, and SMTPeter has none. For comparison, Postmark Free is 100 emails a month with no overage allowed.
Can I get a dedicated IP?
Postmark sells one from $50 a month per IP and requires 300,000 or more emails a month. EmailLabs includes a dedicated IP on PRO 100, Scaleway on Scale at €80 a month, turboSMTP on Pro and Enterprise, Lettermint as a €50 add-on on Pro, and Bird as a $24.95 add-on. SMTPeter's €55 plan includes one IP.
Does it matter where the mail data is stored?
Delivery logs, recipient addresses and message content are personal data. With Postmark they are held in the US under standard contractual clauses, which is allowed. With the European providers that state it, they stay in the EEA or EU. Several providers here do not state their hosting location, so ask before you decide.
Which one to pick
If you want the nearest thing to Postmark in developer features, with a free plan and EU infrastructure, Lettermint is the one to start with. If you want the largest free allowance and euro prices, EmailLabs, and if you want a service that does only transactional mail, MailPace.
If you already use a platform for other things, Brevo and Bird add campaigns, SMS and WhatsApp, Mailrelay adds newsletters, and Scaleway fits teams already on its cloud. turboSMTP suits irregular volume with prepaid credits, SMTPeter suits those who want Dutch-owned servers and accept €55 a month, and Mailjet is last because its terms are shared with a Texas entity.
Be realistic about the gap. Postmark has a long record in transactional email, 45 days of logs by default, message streams and a focused product. None of the eleven matches all of that. Switch if you want a European contracting party and EU data, and stay if the log retention and stream separation matter more to you than the jurisdiction.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no single best. Lettermint is the closest in developer features and has a free plan. EmailLabs has the biggest free allowance and states EEA processing. MailPace is the nearest in focus, because it is transactional only. Pick by the volume, the retention and the features you actually use.
No. Postmark is sold by AC PM, LLC at 1 North Dearborn Street in Chicago, and its terms identify ActiveCampaign as the owner. The terms apply Illinois law and send most disputes to binding arbitration in Cook County.
Its pricing page lists Free at 100 emails a month, Basic at $15 for 10,000 emails, Pro at $16.50 and Platform at $18, with overage at $1.80, $1.30 and $1.20 per 1,000. Dedicated IPs start at $50 a month per IP, and custom retention at $5 a month. Unused emails do not roll over.
Lettermint lists Free at 300 emails a month and paid plans from €10 for 10,000 emails (Starter) up to €740 for 1.5 million (Pro). EmailLabs lists Startup free up to 9,000 a month, Essential 30 at €23 a month for 100,000 (regular price €29) and Pro 100 at €69 (regular €115).
MailPace starts at $10 a month for 10,000 emails. Scaleway lists 300 free emails, then €0.25 per 1,000, and a Scale plan at €80 a month for 100,000 with €0.20 per 1,000 after. turboSMTP lists Basic at €14.95 a month for 15,000 emails and Pro at €79.95, and prepaid credits from €49 for 50,000 that are valid for a year.
Bird lists Free at 1,000 emails a month, Startup from $15 and Growth from $80, with $0.90 per 1,000 extra. SMTPeter lists €55 a month for up to 25,000 emails, with €0.23 down to €0.05 per 1,000 above that. Mailrelay is free up to 80,000 emails a month for marketing, and SMTP and API transactional sending is a €14.95 monthly add-on after a 30-day trial.
MailPace is the one that says so: it only allows transactional mail. Lettermint, EmailLabs, Scaleway, SMTPeter and turboSMTP are built around sending through an API or relay. Brevo, Mailjet, Bird and Mailrelay also run campaign or messaging products, so check that your use case sits on the transactional side of their terms.
No. Mailjet and Mailgun share the same terms of service, and the terms list Mailgun Technologies, Inc. under Texas law next to Mailjet SAS (France), Mailjet SaaS Ltd (England) and Mailjet Emailing SL (Spain). Which entity applies depends on your order, so ask before you sign. That is why Mailjet is placed near the bottom of this page.
Bird B.V. in Amsterdam is the contracting entity for customers outside the US, under Dutch law with the Amsterdam courts. For US customers buying email, the terms name Bird.com Inc., a Delaware company. Check which entity applies to you.
Postmark keeps 45 days on paid plans and can extend to 365 days. Lettermint lists 28 days, MailPace 30, Bird 30, EmailLabs 1, 7 or 15 days depending on plan, Sweego 7 days on Free and 30 to 90 on paid plans, and turboSMTP 30 days on Basic and 365 on Pro.
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