Serverless Email Services vs SMTP Relay

Developers should use serverless email services when building applications that require reliable email functionality, such as user registration, notifications, marketing campaigns, or transactional emails, without the overhead of maintaining email servers meets developers should learn and use smtp relays when building applications that send transactional or marketing emails, as they provide better deliverability, scalability, and security compared to direct sending from application servers. Here's our take.

Serverless Email Services

Nice Pick

Developers should use serverless email services when building applications that require reliable email functionality, such as user registration, notifications, marketing campaigns, or transactional emails, without the overhead of maintaining email servers

Pros

• They are ideal for startups, SaaS products, or any project needing quick integration, scalability, and reduced operational complexity, as they offload infrastructure management and ensure high deliverability rates through provider expertise
• Related to: aws-ses, sendgrid

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

SMTP Relay

Developers should learn and use SMTP relays when building applications that send transactional or marketing emails, as they provide better deliverability, scalability, and security compared to direct sending from application servers

Pros

• They are essential for handling high email volumes, implementing authentication protocols like SPF and DKIM, and integrating with email service providers in cloud-based or on-premises environments
• Related to: email-delivery, postfix

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Serverless Email Services is a platform while SMTP Relay is a tool. We picked Serverless Email Services based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Serverless Email Services wins

Based on overall popularity. Serverless Email Services is more widely used, but SMTP Relay excels in its own space.