Comparison

PayloadCMS email adapters differ less in how they integrate with Payload and more in who owns the delivery infrastructure, the operational trade-offs involved, and which features are available by default.

All supported options integrate through the email configuration in buildConfig and preserve the payload.sendEmail() API. Application-level email code remains unchanged. The primary differences are delivery model, control, cost structure, and feature surface.

useSend

The PayloadCMS useSend Email Adapter integrates with useSend via a REST-based API. useSend is open source and can be self-hosted, allowing teams to operate their own email delivery platform while maintaining a Resend-style developer experience.

The adapter exposes useSend-native capabilities such as templates, variables, and scheduled delivery directly at the adapter level. No SMTP configuration or transport management is required.

This makes useSend well suited to privacy-sensitive, compliance-driven, or region-restricted deployments where SaaS-only email providers are not acceptable.

Resend

The official Payload adapter integrates with Resend, a proprietary managed email API. Resend provides a REST-based developer experience and is designed for serverless and short-lived runtimes.

All infrastructure, pricing, and data handling are managed by Resend. There is no self-hosting option. Feature availability and behavior are defined by Resend’s API and service model.

This is the lowest-friction option for teams already committed to the Resend platform.

Nodemailer

Nodemailer is a transport library rather than an email platform. The Payload Nodemailer adapter connects applications to SMTP servers or service-specific transports.

This approach provides maximum flexibility and broad provider compatibility, but shifts responsibility for deliverability, scheduling, templates, analytics, and connection management to the application or the chosen provider.

Nodemailer is best suited to legacy systems, bespoke SMTP requirements, or environments where full transport control is required.

Integration

All approaches integrate with PayloadCMS through the same payload.sendEmail() API.

• useSend adapter: Translates email sends into useSend REST API requests, with optional template, variable, and scheduling directives.
• Resend adapter: Translates email sends into Resend REST API requests following Resend’s API semantics.
• Nodemailer: Routes email sends to the configured SMTP server or service transport.

No changes are required to application-level email logic when switching adapters.

Deployment

Deployment models differ primarily in infrastructure ownership and operational responsibility. Each option makes a distinct trade-off between control, flexibility, and managed convenience.

• useSend: Cloud hosted or self-hosted.
• Resend: Managed SaaS only.
• Nodemailer: Depends on SMTP provider or custom infrastructure.

Self-hosting capability is the primary differentiator for useSend. Transport flexibility is the primary differentiator for Nodemailer.

Runtime

REST-based adapters such as useSend and Resend are naturally suited to serverless and short-lived runtimes. Each email send is a stateless HTTP request with no connection pooling overhead.

SMTP-based approaches using Nodemailer can operate in these environments but require additional configuration to manage connection lifecycle, authentication, and retries.

Cost

Cost considerations vary based on infrastructure ownership, delivery volume, and operational overhead. Pricing reflects whether email delivery is managed as a service or operated as part of your own stack.

• useSend: Cost depends on deployment model. Cloud pricing or self-hosted infrastructure costs apply.
• Resend: Approximately USD $20 per month for production usage, with a limited free tier.
• Nodemailer: Pricing depends entirely on the chosen SMTP provider or infrastructure.

For cost-sensitive projects with basic requirements, Resend’s free tier may be sufficient. For compliance-driven or infrastructure-controlled environments, useSend self-hosting or SMTP via Nodemailer are the only viable options.

PayloadCMS useSend Email Adapter sits between hosted-only APIs and low-level SMTP tooling. It combines REST-based delivery, provider-native features, and self-hosting capability while preserving Payload’s standard email API.