5 ms·

What even is the best way (reliably and free) these days to set up a website that occasionally sends email? I have a hobby site on a linode for creative writers

What even is the best way (reliably and free) these days to set up a website that occasionally sends email? I have a hobby site on a linode for creative writers to follow up to each other's chapters, and it's very low volume, but I don't want to sent it all through my gmail account, either.

chmullig 6y ago
Something like sendgrid?
dmurray 6y ago
Mailgun reduced their free tier drastically recently, I think to 625/month. If that fits your needs it's a decent choice.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- zubspace 6y ago
  Hmm, I can't find a free plan: https://www.mailgun.com/pricing https://www.mailgun.com/pricing
  - dmurray 6y ago
    Looks like you're right, they abandoned the free plan altogether on March 1. The new deal is $0.80 per thousand messages with no minimum spend, which may be negligible for you, but there are likely free alternatives out there too. HN discussion from when they downgraded the free tier, includes some discussion of alternatives: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22192543 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22192543
    - thomaslord 6y ago
      They eliminated the free tier, but as of June they won't be billing for <=1250 messages a month. Link from the email they sent: https://help.mailgun.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048661093-How-does-PAYG-billing-work- https://help.mailgun.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048661093-How-...
kl4m 6y ago
Postmark, or sendgrid
mmm_grayons 6y ago
Unpopular opinion, but... set up your own e-mail server. I've been running my own off my home connection for quite a while with basically no spam problems.
- pmlnr 6y ago
  Wanted to comment the same. Initial setup is a bit bumpy - make sure reverse dns is ok, set up dkim, dmarc, spf - but once up, is should be fine, especially if it's only to send, and not receive.
  - 1bc29b36f623ba8 6y ago
    Just an addition to that: Don't use the cheapest possible provider available if you get a VPS to use as an email server; chances are the spammers are doing the same thing and that your emails will be sent straight to spam. DigitalOcean, OVH and Hetzner are especially difficult. It is possible to run an email server there, but getting the IP reputation up will be a tedious process and some providers will simply reject sent emails simply for using one of those hosts.
    - kvss209 6y ago
      Thank you for sharing your experience on digitalocean and OVH hosting providers. I want to understand the issue a bit more because we have a plan to host email service on both the platforms. Your inputs will help us to decide to go with them or to choose any other service provider. Can you please let me know when you sent those emails using both service providers is your emails authenticated with SPF and DKIM or you have used any free email service provider like gmail or yahoo as a from email address. Thank you in advance.
    - willcipriano 6y ago
      I've had luck with digital ocean by sending friends emails (who have accounts at major providers) and having them mark it as not spam a few times over the course of a week or two. After that, it worked without issue.
ekianjo 6y ago
Use an external SMTP and several of them have free tier that includes several hundreds emails a day.
rawoke083600 6y ago
Shameless plug for transactional mail , i got a little comparison site setup. https://bestsendmail.com/ https://bestsendmail.com/
- iamacyborg 6y ago
  No SparkPost, Mandrill, Postmark or Mailgun?

chmullig 6y ago

Something like sendgrid?

dmurray 6y ago

Mailgun reduced their free tier drastically recently, I think to 625/month. If that fits your needs it's a decent choice.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
zubspace 6y ago
Hmm, I can't find a free plan: https://www.mailgun.com/pricing https://www.mailgun.com/pricing
- dmurray 6y ago
  Looks like you're right, they abandoned the free plan altogether on March 1. The new deal is $0.80 per thousand messages with no minimum spend, which may be negligible for you, but there are likely free alternatives out there too. HN discussion from when they downgraded the free tier, includes some discussion of alternatives: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22192543 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22192543
  - thomaslord 6y ago
    They eliminated the free tier, but as of June they won't be billing for <=1250 messages a month. Link from the email they sent: https://help.mailgun.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048661093-How-does-PAYG-billing-work- https://help.mailgun.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048661093-How-...

kl4m 6y ago

Postmark, or sendgrid

mmm_grayons 6y ago

Unpopular opinion, but... set up your own e-mail server. I've been running my own off my home connection for quite a while with basically no spam problems.

pmlnr 6y ago
Wanted to comment the same. Initial setup is a bit bumpy - make sure reverse dns is ok, set up dkim, dmarc, spf - but once up, is should be fine, especially if it's only to send, and not receive.
- 1bc29b36f623ba8 6y ago
  Just an addition to that: Don't use the cheapest possible provider available if you get a VPS to use as an email server; chances are the spammers are doing the same thing and that your emails will be sent straight to spam. DigitalOcean, OVH and Hetzner are especially difficult. It is possible to run an email server there, but getting the IP reputation up will be a tedious process and some providers will simply reject sent emails simply for using one of those hosts.
  - kvss209 6y ago
    Thank you for sharing your experience on digitalocean and OVH hosting providers. I want to understand the issue a bit more because we have a plan to host email service on both the platforms. Your inputs will help us to decide to go with them or to choose any other service provider. Can you please let me know when you sent those emails using both service providers is your emails authenticated with SPF and DKIM or you have used any free email service provider like gmail or yahoo as a from email address. Thank you in advance.
  - willcipriano 6y ago
    I've had luck with digital ocean by sending friends emails (who have accounts at major providers) and having them mark it as not spam a few times over the course of a week or two. After that, it worked without issue.

ekianjo 6y ago

Use an external SMTP and several of them have free tier that includes several hundreds emails a day.

rawoke083600 6y ago

Shameless plug for transactional mail , i got a little comparison site setup. https://bestsendmail.com/ https://bestsendmail.com/

iamacyborg 6y ago
No SparkPost, Mandrill, Postmark or Mailgun?