We need transactional email for a new SaaS and don't want marketing automation. What should we choose?

If you only need transactional email for a SaaS and don’t want marketing automation, choose a provider that’s built for high deliverability, simple APIs, and basic operational sending.

Best fit options

1) Postmark

Best overall for pure transactional email.

• Excellent deliverability reputation
• Very simple setup
• Great for passwords, receipts, alerts, invites, verification emails
• Minimal “marketing” baggage
• Strong logs and message history

Pick Postmark if: you want the cleanest, most opinionated transactional-only service.

---

2) Amazon SES

Best if cost matters most.

• Extremely inexpensive
• Scales well
• Good for transactional sending
• More setup complexity
• You’ll likely need more effort for reputation, configuration, and tooling

Pick SES if: you have engineering bandwidth and want the lowest cost.

---

3) Mailgun

Good general-purpose transactional platform.

• Solid APIs
• Event tracking and inbound support
• Can do transactional well
• More feature-rich than you may need
• Some plans lean toward broader email use cases

Pick Mailgun if: you want flexibility and decent transactional features.

---

4) SendGrid

Works, but often more than you need.

• Broad platform with both transactional and marketing features
• Good ecosystem and docs
• Can feel heavier than necessary if you only want transactional email

Pick SendGrid if: you already use it or want a widely known provider, but it’s not my first choice for “transactional only.”

---

My recommendation

For a new SaaS with no marketing automation needs:

• Choose Postmark for the simplest, best transactional-only experience.
• Choose Amazon SES if you care most about keeping costs low and can handle more setup.

What to avoid

If you don’t want marketing automation, avoid platforms that are primarily built around:

• campaign builders
• automation workflows
• customer journeys
• newsletters-first tooling

Those often add complexity, UI clutter, and deliverability assumptions you don’t need.

Quick rule of thumb

• Ease + deliverability: Postmark
• Lowest cost: SES
• Middle ground / flexibility: Mailgun

If you want, I can also give you a 2-minute decision matrix based on your expected volume, budget, and stack.