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Email Marketing · head to head

Keila vs Resend

Keila logo

Keila

Email Marketing

AGPL newsletter tool from Germany, self-hostable or hosted in the EU with no free plan

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Resend logo

Resend

Email Marketing

Email API for developers to send transactional and marketing email

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Keila there is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.; Resend free tier is capped at 100 emails per day, which is restrictive for apps with bursty transactional volume.
  • They diverge on capability: Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Resend covers Email API and SDKs.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Keila and Resend actually diverge.

Attributes where Keila and Resend differ
AttributeKeilaResend
Pricing modelPer month by emails sentfreemium
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hostedweb, api

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Email Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Keila

  • Priced by emails sent
  • Bring your own sender
  • Self-hosting
  • EU hosting
  • Sign-up forms
  • Segmentation
  • Markdown and block editor
  • Multiple projects

Only in Resend

  • Email API and SDKs
  • Domain management
  • Audience and contacts
  • Automation workflows
  • Email analytics
  • Dedicated IPs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Keila

  • A membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times morenot Resend
  • A European publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the EU under a GDPR-friendly arrangementnot Resend
  • A technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing AWS SES accountnot Resend
  • An agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional listnot Resend

Resend

  • Sending transactional emails from a web appnot Keila
  • Running marketing email campaigns to contact listsnot Keila
  • Automating onboarding or lifecycle email sequencesnot Keila
  • Tracking deliverability and engagement analyticsnot Keila

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Keila

  • There is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • Marketing automation is minimal, with none of the behavioural triggers, journey builders or e-commerce revenue attribution that Klaviyo, Brevo and Mailchimp treat as table stakes.
  • The self-hosted route puts deliverability entirely on you: reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warm-up and bounce handling are your problem, and a badly configured instance will land in spam folders.
  • It is a small project from a small company, so the integration ecosystem is thin and there is no partner network, template marketplace or large body of community expertise to draw on.
  • Email volume tiers step in fixed blocks, so an organisation whose sending is uneven across the year either overbuys at the annual peak or has to change plan repeatedly.

Resend

  • Free tier is capped at 100 emails per day, which is restrictive for apps with bursty transactional volume.
  • Marketing and transactional plans are billed and priced separately, so a product needing both must budget for two tiers.
  • Dedicated IPs are only available on the Scale plan and require a minimum daily send volume.

Pricing, plan by plan

Keila

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • AGPL-3.0-or-later licence with no fee
    • Official Docker image and sample compose file
    • You supply hosting and a sending backend
  • Keila XS$8/month
    • Two thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Send with Keila or bring your own email server
  • Keila M$32/month
    • Fifteen thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Sign-up forms and segmentation
  • Keila XXL$256/month
    • Two hundred and fifty thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Intermediate tiers at 16, 64 and 128 EUR for 5,000, 50,000 and 100,000 emails

Resend

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 3,000 emails/month
    • 100 emails/day
    • 3 domains
  • Pro$20/month
    • 50,000 emails/month
    • 10 domains
    • 100 AI credits/month
  • Scale$90/month
    • 100,000 emails/month
    • 1,000 domains
    • Slack and ticket support

Which should you pick?

Choose Keila if

  • You need priced by emails sent.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want bring your own sender.
Keila review

Choose Resend if

  • You need email api and sdks.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want domain management.
Resend review

Questions people ask

Is Keila or Resend better?
Neither clearly leads. Keila starts at Free and Resend at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Keila or Resend?
Keila starts at Free and Resend at Free.
Does Keila or Resend run on more platforms?
Keila runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted. Resend runs on web, api.
Can I use Keila for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Keila best used for?
Keila is most often used for a membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times more, a european publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the eu under a gdpr-friendly arrangement, a technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing aws ses account, an agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional list. Of those, a membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times more and a european publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the eu under a gdpr-friendly arrangement are not what Resend is typically brought in for.
What can Keila do that Resend cannot?
Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Bring your own sender, Self-hosting, EU hosting. Resend covers Email API and SDKs, Domain management, Audience and contacts, Automation workflows.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Keila: Is Keila free?

The software is, under AGPL-3.0-or-later, if you self-host. The hosted service has no free plan by deliberate policy and starts at 8 EUR a month.

Resend: What does Resend cost?

Transactional email starts free for 3,000 emails/month, then Pro is $20/month for 50,000 emails and Scale ranges from $90 to $1,150/month for up to 2.5M emails. Marketing email is priced separately by contact count, starting free for 1,000 contacts.

Source
Keila: How is the hosted service priced?

By emails sent, from 8 EUR for two thousand up to 256 EUR for two hundred and fifty thousand a month. Contacts and projects are unlimited on every tier.

Resend: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

Yes, the free transactional plan allows 3,000 emails per month capped at 100 per day across 3 domains, and the free marketing plan allows up to 1,000 contacts.

Source
Keila: Can I use my own email provider?

Yes. AWS SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun, Postmark, generic SMTP or a personal inbox are all supported as sending backends.

Resend: How is usage metered?

Transactional plans are metered by number of emails sent, with overage billed per 1,000 emails. Marketing plans are metered by number of contacts rather than emails sent.

Source
Keila: Are there discounts?

Pentacent offers reduced rates to nonprofits and open source projects on request.

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