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Pharos vs Resend
Resend is the broader product: official SDKs in eight languages, inbound email, marketing broadcasts and a choice of four sending regions. Pharos sends transactional email only, keeps 120 days of event history against Resend’s 30, and costs less at 10,000 and 500,000 emails a month but more at 50,000.
Prices and features checked 17 September 2026.
The short answer.
Pick Resend if you want an official SDK, inbound email, marketing broadcasts, a choice of sending region or SOC 2 Type II, all from one account.
Pick Pharos if you only send transactional email and want 120 days of event history, no plan limits on domains or features, and a lower bill at 10,000 or 500,000 emails a month.
What decides most cases is whether you need anything beyond sending. Resend covers more ground. Pharos does one job, and at 50,000 emails a month it costs more: $29 against Resend’s $20.
Side by side.
Transactional sending only. Where a row says "not offered", that is the plain answer, not a gap in the research.
| Resend | Pharos | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Monthly plans by email volume. Going over is billed per 1,000 once pay-as-you-go is switched on, and otherwise prompts an upgrade. | Monthly plans by email volume. On a paid plan, going over moves you to the next plan for that month, with an email telling you. |
| Free tier | 3,000 emails a month, 100 a day, 3 domains, 1 webhook endpoint | 3,000 emails a month, 100 a day, every feature, no card |
| Billing | Monthly only, no annual discount | Monthly only, no annual discount |
| Feature gating | Domains (3, 10, 1,000), webhook endpoints (1, 5, 10), dedicated IPs and single sign-on vary by plan | None. Every feature is on every plan, including free. |
| REST API | Yes, with batches of up to 100 emails, scheduled sends and idempotency keys | Yes, with idempotency keys |
| SMTP relay | Yes, on ports 25, 465, 587, 2465 and 2587 | Yes, on port 587 with STARTTLS. Same events and log as the API. |
| SDKs | Official for Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Java, Rust and .NET, plus Laravel | None. Plain HTTP and SMTP, nothing to install. |
| Webhooks | Signed. Retried on a schedule lasting about 28 hours, and replayable by hand. | Signed. Retried with backoff until your endpoint returns 2xx. Separate per domain. |
| Inbound email | Yes. Receive, parse, forward and reply. Each received email counts against the transactional email quota. | Not offered |
| Event history | 30 days of email and log data on Free, Pro and Scale | 120 days on every plan, queryable with GET /v1/events |
| Sending IPs | Shared pool by default. Managed dedicated IPs for $30 a month on Scale, above 3,000 emails a day. | Shared between Pharos customers, all sending transactional mail only under the acceptable use policy. Never a public pool. An isolated IP on request. |
| Data regions | Sends from North Virginia, Ireland, São Paulo or Tokyo. Stored data stays in the US. | No region choice and no guaranteed data residency |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type II. Not ISO 27001 or HIPAA. | None held |
| AI agent integration | Hosted, with an OAuth sign-in, or run locally | Not offered. An agent can call the REST API directly. |
| Marketing email | Broadcasts to contacts and segments, on plans priced by contact count | Not offered. Transactional email only. |
What it costs.
The cheapest published way to send each monthly volume, billed monthly, in US dollars. Resend charges $0.90 per 1,000 extra emails on Pro. Its free plan sends 3,000 emails a month, 100 a day. Pharos: on the Starter, Growth and Scale plans, going past the allowance moves you to the next plan for that month, with an email telling you. The free plan stops at 3,000. For more than 500,000 emails a month, talk to us.
| Emails a month | Resend | Pharos |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $20 Pro, 50,000 included | $9 Starter, 10,000 included |
| 50,000 | $20 Pro, 50,000 included | $29 Growth, 50,000 included |
| 150,000 | $80 Pro 100,000 ($35) + 50,000 × $0.90 per 1,000 | $79 Scale, 150,000 included |
| 500,000 | $350 Scale, 500,000 included | $199 Volume, 500,000 included |
Source: Resend pricing, read on 17 September 2026. Pharos's full ladder is on the pricing page.
Where Resend is better.
Official SDKs, and React Email in the send call
Resend publishes official SDKs for Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Java, Rust and .NET. The Node.js SDK also takes a React Email component and renders it for you. Pharos has no SDK: you write the HTTP request or configure SMTP yourself. That is a few lines of code, but they are lines Resend does not ask for.
Inbound email
Resend receives mail at your own domain or at a resend.app address, posts each message to a webhook, and lets you fetch attachments, forward the message or reply in the same thread. Pharos does not receive mail. If your application reads replies or support email, that part needs another provider.
Marketing email from the same account
Broadcasts, contacts, segments and topic-based subscription preferences sit next to transactional sending, on separate plans priced by contact count, and broadcasts do not count against the transactional quota. Pharos sends transactional email only and has no equivalent.
SOC 2 Type II and a pre-signed DPA
Resend is audited for SOC 2 Type II, and its data processing agreement is signed on its side at signup and downloadable from the dashboard. Pharos holds no certification and has no published DPA, as its security page states. If procurement requires either, this point decides it.
A choice of sending region
Each Resend domain sends from North Virginia, Ireland, São Paulo or Tokyo, which shortens the path to recipients far from the US. Resend’s docs say the region sets where mail is sent from, not where data is stored, which is the US in every case. Pharos has no region choice.
AI agent integration
Resend runs an AI agent integration, hosted with an OAuth sign-in or run locally, that can add domains and read received mail. Pharos has none. An agent can still send through the Pharos REST API with a tool definition.
Where Pharos is better.
A lower bill at 10,000 and 500,000 emails
Pharos costs $9 for 10,000 emails a month, where Resend’s cheapest paid plan is $20, and $199 for 500,000 against Resend’s $350. The gap is not the same at every volume. At 50,000 Resend is cheaper, $20 against $29, and at 150,000 the two are $79 and $80.
120 days of event history
Every Pharos plan keeps 120 days of events, and GET /v1/events returns them filtered by message, event type or date. Resend keeps email and log data for 30 days on Free, Pro and Scale. A question about a receipt sent two months ago can still be answered from the Pharos log.
No plan limits on domains or features
Resend sets the number of domains (3, 10 or 1,000) and webhook endpoints (1, 5 or 10) by plan, and sells 100 more domains as a $20 monthly add-on. Pharos puts every feature on every plan, including free, with unlimited sender domains and separate webhooks for each.
Switching from Resend.
Nothing needs a cutover window. Resend’s return path sits on a send subdomain by default and each provider signs with its own DKIM selector (Resend’s is resend._domainkey), so one domain can be authenticated for both while traffic moves. Replace the POST to /emails with a POST to /v1/send, or change the SMTP host. Then update webhook handlers: email.delivered, email.bounced and email.complained become delivered, failed and complained. The send reference covers the call, and the events reference lists every Pharos event.
Questions.
Is Pharos cheaper than Resend?
At some volumes. Pharos costs $9 for 10,000 emails a month against Resend’s $20, and $199 for 500,000 against $350. Resend is cheaper at 50,000, $20 against $29, and at 150,000 the two are $79 and $80. Both free plans allow 3,000 emails a month with a cap of 100 a day.
Does Pharos work with React Email?
Yes, through its output. React Email renders a component to HTML and plain text, and Pharos accepts both in a send request. What Pharos lacks is Resend’s shortcut, where the Node.js SDK takes the component and renders it for you, so you run the render step yourself before sending.
Can I use Pharos and Resend at the same time?
Yes. Each provider signs with its own DKIM selector, and Resend’s return path sits on its own send subdomain by default, so one domain can be authenticated for both. Move traffic across one message type at a time, and keep Resend for anything Pharos does not do, such as inbound email or broadcasts.
Can I keep email data in the EU with Resend or Pharos?
Not with either, as of 17 September 2026. Resend’s region setting controls where mail is sent from, and its security page says stored data is held in the United States whichever region you pick. Pharos has no region option and no guaranteed data residency.
Try it next to Resend.
3,000 emails a month free, every feature included, no card. Enough to verify a domain and send alongside whatever you run today.
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