I'm using Next.js and want the least complicated email setup possible. What should I use?

If you want the least complicated email setup in a Next.js app, use a transactional email API rather than running your own SMTP server.

Best simple choice

Resend

It’s one of the easiest options for Next.js:

• very simple API
• good developer experience
• works well with React email templates
• easy environment-variable setup
• no server to manage

Why not plain SMTP?

SMTP via Gmail/Outlook or your own mail server is usually more annoying because of:

• app passwords / auth issues
• deliverability problems
• rate limits
• more setup and debugging

Typical stack

• Resend for sending
• React Email for templates
• Next.js API route / server action to send emails

Example

import { Resend } from 'resend';

const resend = new Resend(process.env.RESEND_API_KEY);

await resend.emails.send({
  from: 'Your App <hello@yourdomain.com>',
  to: 'user@example.com',
  subject: 'Welcome!',
  html: '<p>Thanks for signing up</p>',
});

If you want the absolute simplest fallback

For just a few manual emails and no template needs, you could use:

• nodemailer + SMTP but this is usually not the “least complicated” in practice.

Recommendation

Use Resend with Next.js.
It’s probably the simplest clean setup for most apps.

If you want, I can give you a copy-paste Next.js email sending setup using Resend.