nodemailer vs mailgun-js vs sendgrid vs emailjs
Email Sending Libraries for Node.js Comparison
1 Year
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What's Email Sending Libraries for Node.js?

Email sending libraries in Node.js provide developers with tools to send emails programmatically, facilitating communication within applications. These libraries abstract the complexities of email protocols and services, allowing for easy integration of email functionalities such as sending notifications, alerts, or user communications. They often support various features like templating, attachments, and service integrations, making them essential for modern web applications that require reliable email delivery.

Package Weekly Downloads Trend
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Package
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nodemailer4,557,76216,931508 kB17a month agoMIT-0
mailgun-js130,599894-526 years agoMIT
sendgrid51,0233,015-737 years agoMIT
emailjs47,1572,195160 kB7a year agoMIT
Feature Comparison: nodemailer vs mailgun-js vs sendgrid vs emailjs

Ease of Use

  • nodemailer:

    Nodemailer is relatively easy to use, especially for those familiar with Node.js. It requires some configuration for SMTP settings but offers a flexible API for sending emails with attachments and HTML content.

  • mailgun-js:

    Mailgun-js offers a well-documented API that is easy to use, but it may require some initial configuration with the Mailgun service. Once set up, it provides powerful features for managing email campaigns.

  • sendgrid:

    SendGrid has a simple API and excellent documentation, making it easy to implement. It also provides a web interface for managing email templates and tracking, which enhances usability.

  • emailjs:

    EmailJS provides a user-friendly interface and straightforward API, allowing developers to send emails with minimal setup. It is designed for quick integration, making it suitable for projects that require rapid development.

Integration Capabilities

  • nodemailer:

    Nodemailer can be integrated with any Node.js application and supports various transport methods, including SMTP, AWS SES, and more. This flexibility makes it suitable for diverse project requirements.

  • mailgun-js:

    Mailgun-js integrates well with various Node.js applications and supports webhooks for event-driven email handling. It also provides SDKs for other languages, enhancing its versatility.

  • sendgrid:

    SendGrid offers extensive integration options with other services and platforms, including APIs for analytics and email tracking. It also supports webhooks for real-time event notifications.

  • emailjs:

    EmailJS integrates seamlessly with front-end frameworks and allows sending emails directly from the client, which is unique among these options. It is ideal for applications that need to send emails without a backend.

Features and Functionality

  • nodemailer:

    Nodemailer offers a wide range of features, including support for attachments, HTML content, and various transport methods. It is highly customizable, allowing developers to tailor email functionalities to their needs.

  • mailgun-js:

    Mailgun-js provides advanced features such as email validation, tracking, and analytics, making it suitable for applications that require detailed insights into email performance.

  • sendgrid:

    SendGrid includes features like email templates, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics, making it a powerful choice for applications that require robust email marketing capabilities.

  • emailjs:

    EmailJS focuses on simplicity and ease of use, providing basic email functionalities without advanced features like analytics or tracking. It is best for straightforward email sending needs.

Scalability

  • nodemailer:

    Nodemailer can scale with your application, but performance depends on the underlying SMTP service used. It is best suited for applications that manage their own email servers or use reliable SMTP providers.

  • mailgun-js:

    Mailgun-js is built for scalability, allowing applications to send thousands of emails per day without performance issues. It is ideal for growing applications that anticipate increased email traffic.

  • sendgrid:

    SendGrid is designed for high scalability and can handle large volumes of emails effortlessly. It is a preferred choice for businesses that require reliable email delivery at scale.

  • emailjs:

    EmailJS is suitable for small to medium projects but may not handle large volumes of emails efficiently due to its client-side nature. It is not designed for high scalability.

Support and Community

  • nodemailer:

    Nodemailer has a large user base and extensive documentation, along with community support through GitHub, making it easy to find solutions to common issues.

  • mailgun-js:

    Mailgun has a strong community and provides excellent support resources, including documentation, tutorials, and a responsive support team.

  • sendgrid:

    SendGrid offers comprehensive support resources, including documentation, tutorials, and a dedicated support team, along with a large community of users.

  • emailjs:

    EmailJS has a growing community and offers decent support through documentation and forums, but it may not be as extensive as the others.

How to Choose: nodemailer vs mailgun-js vs sendgrid vs emailjs
  • nodemailer:

    Opt for Nodemailer if you want a flexible and customizable solution that can work with various email services, including SMTP. It is perfect for developers who need full control over email sending and prefer to manage their own email server or use existing SMTP services.

  • mailgun-js:

    Select mailgun-js if you require advanced email features such as analytics, tracking, and high deliverability rates. Mailgun is a robust service suited for applications that need to send a large volume of emails and require detailed reporting and analytics.

  • sendgrid:

    Use SendGrid if you are looking for a comprehensive email delivery service with built-in features like email templates, analytics, and high deliverability. It is especially beneficial for applications that require scalability and reliability in email sending.

  • emailjs:

    Choose EmailJS if you need a simple and straightforward solution for sending emails directly from the client-side without server-side code. It is ideal for small projects or applications where you want to minimize backend complexity.

README for nodemailer

Nodemailer

Nodemailer

Send emails from Node.js – easy as cake! 🍰✉️

NPM

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.

Having an issue?

First review the docs

Documentation for Nodemailer can be found at nodemailer.com.

Nodemailer throws a SyntaxError for "..."

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.

I'm having issues with Gmail

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.

I get ETIMEDOUT errors

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.

Nodemailer works on one machine but not in another

It's either a firewall issue, or your SMTP server blocks authentication attempts from some servers.

I get TLS errors

  • If you are running the code on your machine, check your antivirus settings. Antiviruses often mess around with email ports usage. Node.js might not recognize the MITM cert your antivirus is using.
  • Latest Node versions allow only TLS versions 1.2 and higher. Some servers might still use TLS 1.1 or lower. Check Node.js docs on how to get correct TLS support for your app. You can change this with tls.minVersion option
  • You might have the wrong value for the 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.
  • Older Node versions do not fully support the certificate chain of the newest Let's Encrypt certificates. Either set tls.rejectUnauthorized to false to skip chain verification or upgrade your Node version
let configOptions = {
    host: "smtp.example.com",
    port: 587,
    tls: {
        rejectUnauthorized: true,
        minVersion: "TLSv1.2"
    }
}

I have issues with DNS / hosts file

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"
    }
}

I have an issue with TypeScript types

Nodemailer has official support for Node.js only. For anything related to TypeScript, you need to directly contact the authors of the type definitions.

I have a different problem

If you are having issues with Nodemailer, then the best way to find help would be Stack Overflow or revisit the docs.

License

Nodemailer is licensed under the MIT No Attribution license


The Nodemailer logo was designed by Sven Kristjansen.