Both packages help developers send emails from Node.js applications. Nodemailer is a free, open-source solution that works with various email services and your own email server. SendGrid is a commercial service with a more robust infrastructure, better for sending bulk emails and tracking delivery stats.
Nodemailer is a more comprehensive email sending library, supporting multiple transport methods (SMTP, Sendmail, AWS SES, etc.). SendGrid is a cloud-based email service that provides a more streamlined API for sending emails. Nodemailer requires more configuration, but offers more flexibility.
Both packages have TypeScript definitions, but Nodemailer's support is more extensive.
Nodemailer is not designed for browser use, while SendGrid provides a browser-friendly API.
Nodemailer has fewer dependencies (5) compared to SendGrid (15).
Nodemailer's performance is highly dependent on the chosen transport method, while SendGrid's performance is optimized for their cloud-based service.
Both packages are compatible with popular frameworks like Express.js and Next.js.
Nodemailer has a more active community, with more open issues and pull requests.
SendGrid's documentation is more comprehensive and user-friendly.
Both packages are actively maintained, with regular updates and bug fixes.
1const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');
2const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
3 host: 'smtp.example.com',
4 port: 587,
5 secure: false, // or 'STARTTLS'
6 auth: {
7 user: 'username',
8 pass: 'password'
9 }
10});
11
12transporter.sendMail({
13 from: 'sender@example.com',
14 to: 'receiver@example.com',
15 subject: 'Hello from Nodemailer',
16 text: 'Hello from Nodemailer'
17});
This example shows how to create a transporter using Nodemailer and send a simple email.
1const sgMail = require('@sendgrid/mail');
2sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);
3
4const msg = {
5 to: 'receiver@example.com',
6 from: 'sender@example.com',
7 subject: 'Hello from SendGrid',
8 text: 'Hello from SendGrid'
9};
10sgMail.send(msg).then(() => {
11 console.log('Email sent');
12}).catch((error) => {
13 console.error(error);
14});
This example shows how to set up SendGrid with an API key and send a simple email using their API.
Nodemailer is a more flexible and customizable email sending library, while SendGrid provides a more streamlined and cloud-based email service.
A simple way to send emails using JavaScript directly from your browser. No server required - it connects to EmailJS service which handles the email sending.
Perfect for front-end developers who want to send emails without setting up a backend server. Very beginner-friendly with good documentation and easy setup.
Email ServiceOfficial SDK for Mailgun's email service. Lets you send emails, create mailing lists, and track email delivery through their API.
Great alternative to SendGrid with similar features but often cheaper pricing. Has a generous free tier and simple API that's easy to learn.
Email ServiceAmazon's SDK that includes Amazon SES (Simple Email Service). Allows you to send emails through Amazon's reliable infrastructure.
Good choice if you're already using AWS services. Very reliable and scalable, with good pricing for high volume sending.
Email ServiceEmail delivery service focused on transactional emails. Known for excellent delivery rates and detailed analytics.
Best choice for sending important transactional emails like password resets or order confirmations. Has great tools for tracking email delivery.
Email ServicePackage for generating nice-looking email templates. Works with any email service and includes preview features and template management.
Great companion to any email service. Makes it easy to create and manage good-looking email templates with less code.
Email ToolsSend emails from Node.js – easy as cake! 🍰✉️
See nodemailer.com for documentation and terms.
[!TIP] Check out EmailEngine – a self-hosted email gateway that allows making REST requests against IMAP and SMTP servers. EmailEngine also sends webhooks whenever something changes on the registered accounts.
Using the email accounts registered with EmailEngine, you can receive and send emails. EmailEngine supports OAuth2, delayed sends, opens and clicks tracking, bounce detection, etc. All on top of regular email accounts without an external MTA service.
Documentation for Nodemailer can be found at nodemailer.com.
You are using an older Node.js version than v6.0. Upgrade Node.js to get support for the spread operator. Nodemailer supports all Node.js versions starting from Node.js@v6.0.0.
Gmail either works well, or it does not work at all. It is probably easier to switch to an alternative service instead of fixing issues with Gmail. If Gmail does not work for you, then don't use it. Read more about it here.
Check your firewall settings. Timeout usually occurs when you try to open a connection to a firewalled port either on the server or on your machine. Some ISPs also block email ports to prevent spamming.
It's either a firewall issue, or your SMTP server blocks authentication attempts from some servers.
secure
option. This should be set to true
only for port 465. For every other port, it should be false
. Setting it to false
does not mean that Nodemailer would not use TLS. Nodemailer would still try to upgrade the connection to use TLS if the server supports it.false
to skip chain verification or upgrade your Node versionlet configOptions = { host: "smtp.example.com", port: 587, tls: { rejectUnauthorized: true, minVersion: "TLSv1.2" } }
Node.js uses c-ares to resolve domain names, not the DNS library provided by the system, so if you have some custom DNS routing set up, it might be ignored. Nodemailer runs dns.resolve4() and dns.resolve6() to resolve hostname into an IP address. If both calls fail, then Nodemailer will fall back to dns.lookup(). If this does not work for you, you can hard code the IP address into the configuration like shown below. In that case, Nodemailer would not perform any DNS lookups.
let configOptions = { host: "1.2.3.4", port: 465, secure: true, tls: { // must provide server name, otherwise TLS certificate check will fail servername: "example.com" } }
Nodemailer has official support for Node.js only. For anything related to TypeScript, you need to directly contact the authors of the type definitions.
If you are having issues with Nodemailer, then the best way to find help would be Stack Overflow or revisit the docs.
Nodemailer is licensed under the MIT No Attribution license
The Nodemailer logo was designed by Sven Kristjansen.