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

6 points by harrid ↗ HN
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?

25 comments

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KomoD
> 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
5 or so. All the usual suspects from the sites that list alternatives. I didn't keep a list
blamarvt
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
But Gmail SMTP doesn't work anymore because they disabled 'less secure apps' or something like that
predictabl3
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.

harrid
I went back and actually managed to do this. For future readers: it's true that in 2022 Google disabled login with the normal login/pw but you can create app passwords to do this.

Thanks! This was actually the only working solution from at least 15 different sites.

predictabl3
:) hurray. I'm very happy it was helpful. I remember your exact sense of exasperation when my original SMTP provider started doing the same crap as the rest and I felt similar despair.
gnz11
Assuming you have shell access, why not use mutt or sendmail?
harrid
When I'm reading correctly, that's a Unix program. That's a pretty tight constraint and not one I can satisfy
shaunpud
smtp2go
harrid
Also only for commercial use, not private use
shaunpud
Free plan allows 1000 emails a month, which I'm using for personal server and script alerts.
harrid
It explicitly asks for a work mail at signup, blocking Gmail etc
AlexITC
AWS SES works nicely and the costs for personal usage will likely be close to 0.
harrid
AWS requires a credit card, which is not really a thing in Europe
isbvhodnvemrwvn
It does not...
harrid
Are you sure? It requires me to enter one upon registration.
isbvhodnvemrwvn
A debit card works fine, and even Germans got that far in finance tech.
harrid
Available but still far from common. I don't have one and most of my peers don't either.
mcwhy
3,000 emails are included in oracle free tier