I'm using SendGrid but only use the API for transactional email. Is there a simpler option?

Yes — if you only need transactional email via API (password resets, receipts, alerts, etc.), SendGrid can be overkill. Simpler options often give you:

• easier setup
• cleaner APIs
• less marketing-email baggage
• better developer UX for transactional use cases

Good simpler alternatives

1) Postmark

• Very popular for transactional email only
• Simple API, excellent deliverability
• Clean docs and fast setup
• Strong choice if you want “just transactional email”

2) Mailgun

• Flexible API and good for developers
• Can be a bit more complex than Postmark, but still simpler than a full SendGrid setup for some teams
• Good if you want more email infrastructure control

3) Amazon SES

• Very cheap, scalable
• But not the simplest to use
• Great if you’re already in AWS and want low cost over ease

4) Resend

• Modern developer-focused API
• Very simple if you want a lightweight transactional email service
• Good DX, especially for startups and SaaS apps

5) Brevo (Sendinblue)

• Can do transactional email plus marketing
• Not as minimal as Postmark/Resend, but often easier than SendGrid for some users

If you want the simplest answer

• Postmark if you want reliability and a transactional-only service
• Resend if you want a modern, very simple developer experience

Quick rule of thumb

• Simplest transactional-only: Postmark
• Most modern DX: Resend
• Lowest cost at scale: Amazon SES
• More flexible/general purpose: Mailgun

If you want, I can also recommend the best option based on your stack (Node, Python, Ruby, AWS, etc.) or compare SendGrid vs Postmark vs Resend side by side.