Ask HN: Is there any mail-by-API provider for personal use?

I remember using mailgun a decade ago or so. But every single site I check now requires me to enter a company name or work mail address (no Gmail etc). So where to go when I want to send some simple alert mails to myself when something in my scripts goes wrong?

blamarvt · 2 years ago

Isn’t SMTP an API? Why would you pay or complicate things when you can just send email with libraries available in every language?

harrid · 2 years ago

But Gmail SMTP doesn't work anymore because they disabled 'less secure apps' or something like that

predictabl3 · 2 years ago

That's absolutely not true. I receive SMS daily that is sent to my Telnyx number in my Gmail account via Gmail SMTP from a pipedream workflow.

Gmail SMTP for small personal use cases is very convenient for something like this. Matrix a nice option, too.

gnz11 · 2 years ago

Assuming you have shell access, why not use mutt or sendmail?

LinuxBender · 2 years ago

Fastmail has an API [1]

[1] - https://www.fastmail.com/for-developers/integrating-with-fas...

harrid · 2 years ago

Thanks, that seems doable!

Edit: but not free, ugh. Understandable, but annoying to send a mail every couple of weeks

przeor · 2 years ago

Try pay-per-message via www.smsapi.com

You will pay circa 10 cents per month if you use it once a month via pre paid

byoung2 · 2 years ago

Why not just use the Gmail API? https://developers.google.com/gmail/api/guides

KomoD · 2 years ago

> But every single site I check now requires me to enter a company name or work mail address (no Gmail etc).

Which have you checked?

harrid · 2 years ago

5 or so. All the usual suspects from the sites that list alternatives. I didn't keep a list

AlexITC · 2 years ago

AWS SES works nicely and the costs for personal usage will likely be close to 0.

harrid · 2 years ago

AWS requires a credit card, which is not really a thing in Europe

isbvhodnvemrwvn · 2 years ago

It does not...

mcwhy · 2 years ago

3,000 emails are included in oracle free tier

shaunpud · 2 years ago

smtp2go

harrid · 2 years ago

Also only for commercial use, not private use

shaunpud · 2 years ago

Free plan allows 1000 emails a month, which I'm using for personal server and script alerts.