EazyEmailer vs Maillayer vs MailCheap: Honest Comparison
EazyEmailer, Maillayer and MailCheap all cut email costs, in different ways. EazyEmailer is a simple self-hosted app on Amazon SES. Maillayer is a self-hosted, developer-focused platform supporting several providers. MailCheap is a newsletter platform mainly used as a hosted service. Pick by whether you want to self-host and what you send.
Disclosure: I built EazyEmailer, so I'm biased. I've tried to describe the others fairly; check their sites for current details.
Quick comparison
Details checked on each vendor's site on 31 October 2026.
| EazyEmailer | Maillayer | MailCheap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted | Self-hosted | Hosted service; open-source code |
| Pricing model | One-time, $30 | Lifetime licence | Monthly, by emails sent |
| Sending providers | Amazon SES | SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, SMTP and others | Its own infrastructure when hosted |
| Main focus | Simple campaigns on SES | Campaigns, sequences, transactional API | Newsletters |
| Who controls the sending account | You | You | The vendor, when hosted |
| Best for | Founders who want to send through their own SES account and pay once | Developers wanting a Resend-style dashboard | Newsletter writers leaving beehiiv |
When should you choose EazyEmailer?
If you want the simplest way to send campaigns through your own Amazon SES account, pay once ($30, with the full source code) and avoid configuring a large platform. You get contacts in groups with CSV import, plain-text or HTML campaigns, an automatic email when someone joins a group, and a contacts API.
Where it's weaker: it only sends through Amazon SES, and it has no transactional email API or multi-step sequences. Templates are written in HTML rather than built with drag and drop.
When should you choose Maillayer?
If you're a developer who wants marketing campaigns, automated sequences and a transactional email API in one self-hosted dashboard, with the freedom to switch between several sending providers.
When should you choose MailCheap?
If you run a newsletter, don't want to manage a server, and want lower prices than beehiiv. Because the hosted version runs on the vendor's infrastructure, the vendor controls account approval and suspension.
What matters most when choosing?
- Control: self-hosted tools keep your app and data on your server, and you own the sending account.
- Effort: hosted tools need no server; self-hosted tools need a deploy and DNS records.
- What you send: newsletters only, or also receipts and password resets?
- Cost at your volume: run your numbers using How much does it cost to send 1 million emails?
For more options, see Best self-hosted Mailchimp alternatives.
FAQ
Which one is cheapest?
It depends on volume. Self-hosted tools on SES cost about $0.10 per 1,000 emails plus a server; hosted tools bundle those costs into their plan.
Can I switch between them later?
Yes. All let you export contacts. Keep your unsubscribe list when you move.
Do I need technical skills for EazyEmailer or Maillayer?
Basic ones: deploying an app, pasting API keys and adding DNS records.
Which is best for transactional email?
Of these three, Maillayer focuses most on transactional email via an API. EazyEmailer doesn't have a transactional API.