SendGrid Killed Their Free Plan So I Built a $1/Month SendGrid Alternative Instead

#productivity #saas #cloud #nocode

On July 26, 2025, SendGrid ended its free plan.

Instead of paying $20 per month to SendGrid, I built a SendGrid alternative called WhautoMail.

It connects to your own AWS SES or Mailgun account, plugs into Stripe and Chargebee events, and costs only $1 per month.

No vendor lock-in. No surprise upgrades.

Why I stopped using SendGrid

When SendGrid killed the free plan they gave only two choices:

Upgrade to $20 per month
Move to another provider and rewrite all integrations

As a bootstrapped founder, both options were bad.

And this is common with VC-backed email tools. They offer big free tiers to acquire users, and once you are integrated and dependent, they change pricing or kill free plans. This is not accidental. This is the business model.

The real problem is not SendGrid. The problem is vendor lock-in.

What I built instead: WhautoMail (SendGrid alternative without lock-in)

I built WhautoMail with three rules in mind.

1) You control the email infrastructure

Use AWS SES or Mailgun. You pay them directly.

AWS SES costs $0.10 per 1,000 emails
Mailgun offers free 100 emails a day then $0.80 per 1,000

Disconnect any time. No dependency.

2) Native Stripe and Chargebee triggers

No more writing webhook code.

Events trigger emails automatically:

New signup
Trial ending
Payment failed
Subscription renewed or cancelled
Winback after churn

All point and click.

3) Simple and honest pricing

Starter $1/month

5,000 contacts
5,000 emails
Basic segments
Stripe and Chargebee triggers

Professional $29/month

Unlimited contacts
20,000 emails
Advanced automation
API and priority support

Extra emails cost $1 per 1,000.

Cost comparison: SendGrid vs WhautoMail

For 10,000 emails per month:

Provider	Monthly Cost
SendGrid after free tier ended	$20 to $80 depending on add-ons
WhautoMail + AWS SES	WhautoMail Starter $1 covers first 5,000 emails. Extra 5,000 emails cost $5. Total $6 per month

Features for people moving away from SendGrid

Double opt-in protection
Automatic bounce and complaint handling
Smart segments based on payments and events
Drip campaigns and onboarding flows
Real-time webhooks and full API on Pro plan

Built for SaaS founders who need a working SendGrid alternative fast.

Why $1 instead of free

Free plans attract abusers and noise, we want users who actually benefit from the product
We are bootstrapped and must run a real, sustainable business, not a growth hack
We answer to users, not to investors
The $1 is locked for life, even if we change pricing later, early users stay on $1 forever