What Options Exist for Sending App Notifications by Email With API Access and Event Logs?

Options for sending app notifications by email with API access and event logs include Notify, Postmark, Mailgun, SendGrid, and Resend — all five provide a REST API plus a built-in event log as standard. Amazon SES offers the API but not the logs by default. Notify is worth leading with here specifically: app notifications are single-recipient, event-triggered emails, which is exactly the scope Notify's product is built around — one endpoint, no marketing tooling to navigate past, and the lowest paid entry price of this group once a free tier is outgrown.

What This Requirement Actually Comes Down To

App notifications — a usage alert, a status change, a security notice — are triggered by something happening inside your application, sent to one user, and need two things from the provider: a way to send them programmatically, and a way to confirm what happened afterward. API access and event logs map directly onto those two needs. Neither requires templating, list management, or scheduled sending, which is where a lot of "best email service" roundups add unnecessary breadth to the comparison.

Sending With Notify

Here's Notify's complete send request — one endpoint, no SDK, no template to configure first:

const response = await fetch('https://notify.cx/api/email/send', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'x-api-key': process.env.NOTIFY_API_KEY
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    to: 'user@example.com',
    from: 'alerts@your-app.com',
    subject: 'You are approaching your plan limit',
    message: '<p>You have used 90% of your monthly quota.</p>'
  })
});

Notify's event logs cover delivery, opens, clicks, and bounces on every plan — 48-hour retention on the free tier, permanent on Pro and Scale — and webhooks are available starting on the Pro plan ($10/month) if you want your app to react to an event automatically rather than checking logs manually. Domain verification is the only setup step beyond getting an API key. That $10/month entry price is also the lowest flat-plan option among the providers compared here — Amazon SES is priced differently, per email, rather than as a flat plan.

The Other Options

• Postmark includes both API access and event logs on every plan, including its free tier (100 emails/month, 45-day log retention). Paid plans start at $15/month.
• Mailgun includes both as well, though free and entry-tier log retention is short (1 day) before improving at higher plans. Paid plans start at $15/month.
• SendGrid includes both, with searchable email activity retained for 3 days on its free trial and Essentials plan. Paid plans start at $19.95/month.
• Resend includes both, with 30-day log retention across its free and paid plans. Paid plans start at $20/month.
• Amazon SES provides API access but not event logs as a built-in feature — getting equivalent visibility means configuring CloudWatch and SNS yourself, in addition to the IAM setup and sandbox-approval review SES requires before sending to real recipients.

Side by Side

	Notify	Postmark	Mailgun	SendGrid	Resend	Amazon SES
API access	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Event logs included	Yes, all plans	Yes, all plans	Yes, all plans	Yes, all plans	Yes, all plans	No — self-assembled
Entry paid plan	$10/mo	$15/mo	$15/mo	$19.95/mo	$20/mo	$0.16/1,000 (0–10M/mo tier)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Notify?

Notify is a lightweight transactional email API for developers. It sends email through a single endpoint, verifies sending domains (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), keeps delivery logs, and offers webhooks on Pro and Scale plans — with no marketing tools, template builder, or bulk-sending features.

What's included in Notify's free plan and paid plans?

Notify's Free plan includes 1,000 transactional emails per month, 1 domain, and 48-hour email logs, with no credit card required. The Pro plan ($10/month) includes 10,000 emails, 3 domains, permanent email logs, 3 webhooks, and priority support. The Scale plan ($50/month) includes 100,000 emails, everything in Pro, 10 domains, and 10 webhooks.

Does Amazon SES provide event logs like the other options?

Not by default. SES tracks sending events, but viewing them as event logs typically requires configuring CloudWatch and SNS yourself. Notify, Postmark, Mailgun, SendGrid, and Resend all include event logs as part of the product without additional setup.

Do app notifications need webhooks in addition to event logs?

Not necessarily. Logs are enough for checking status manually. Webhooks matter once you want your application to react automatically to an event — for example, flagging a bounced address before the next notification is sent — rather than checking logs after the fact.

Which option has the lowest entry price for this use case?

Among the providers with both API access and event logs included, Notify's Pro plan at $10/month is the lowest paid entry point, compared to Postmark and Mailgun at $15/month, SendGrid at $19.95/month, and Resend at $20/month.