Sending Emails & SMS

Add email and SMS capabilities to your app. Compare providers, understand pricing, and implement sending and receiving messages.

Email Services Overview

When building an app that sends transactional emails (welcome emails, password resets, notifications, receipts), you need a reliable email delivery service. The two most popular options are SendGrid and Amazon SES.

Both can handle high volumes and provide good deliverability, but they differ significantly in pricing, ease of setup, and features.

SendGrid (by Twilio)

Pricing

Step-by-Step: Create a SendGrid Account

1. Go to signup.sendgrid.com
2. Enter your email, create a password, and click "Create Account"
3. Fill in your company info (use your app name if personal project)
4. Verify your email address by clicking the link they send you
5. You may need to complete additional verification (phone number) - this is normal

Step-by-Step: Get Your API Key

1. Log in to your SendGrid dashboard at app.sendgrid.com
2. In the left sidebar, click "Settings" → "API Keys"
3. Click the "Create API Key" button (top right)
4. Give it a name like "My App Production"
5. Select "Full Access" (or "Restricted Access" if you want to limit permissions)
6. Click "Create & View"
7. IMPORTANT: Copy the API key immediately! You won't be able to see it again.
8. Store it as an environment variable: SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG.xxxx...

Step-by-Step: Verify Your Sender Email

1. In the left sidebar, click "Settings" → "Sender Authentication"
2. Under "Single Sender Verification", click "Get Started" or "Verify a Single Sender"
3. Fill in the form:
   • From Name: Your app name (e.g., "MyApp")
   • From Email: The email you'll send from (e.g., [email protected])
   • Reply To: Same email or a support email
   • Company Address: Your business address (required by anti-spam laws)
4. Click "Create"
5. Check your email inbox and click the verification link
6. Once verified, you can send emails from that address!

Send Your First Email

# Install the SDK
npm install @sendgrid/mail

# Or with pip
pip install sendgrid

// Node.js example
const sgMail = require('@sendgrid/mail');
sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);

const msg = {
  to: '[email protected]',
  from: '[email protected]', // Must be verified sender
  subject: 'Welcome to MyApp!',
  text: 'Thanks for signing up.',
  html: '<strong>Thanks for signing up!</strong>',
};

await sgMail.send(msg);

Amazon SES (Simple Email Service)

Pricing

Step-by-Step: Create an AWS Account

If you don't have an AWS account yet:

1. Go to aws.amazon.com and click "Create an AWS Account"
2. Enter your email and choose an account name
3. Enter your contact information and payment method (required, but you won't be charged for small usage)
4. Verify your phone number
5. Select the "Basic support - Free" plan
6. Sign in to the AWS Console

Step-by-Step: Set Up SES

1. In the AWS Console, search for "SES" or "Simple Email Service" in the search bar
2. Click on Amazon Simple Email Service
3. Important: Check your region in the top-right corner. SES is region-specific. Use us-east-1 (N. Virginia) for best compatibility.

Step-by-Step: Verify Your Sender Email

1. In the SES dashboard, click "Verified identities" in the left sidebar
2. Click "Create identity"
3. Select "Email address"
4. Enter the email you want to send from (e.g., [email protected])
5. Click "Create identity"
6. Check your email inbox and click the verification link from AWS
7. The status will change to "Verified" in the console

Step-by-Step: Get Your API Credentials (Access Keys)

AWS uses Access Keys (not API keys) for authentication. You need to create an IAM user:

1. Search for "IAM" in the AWS Console search bar
2. Click "Users" in the left sidebar
3. Click "Create user"
4. Enter a username like "ses-email-sender"
5. Click "Next"
6. Select "Attach policies directly"
7. Search for and check "AmazonSESFullAccess"
8. Click "Next", then "Create user"
9. Click on the user you just created
10. Go to the "Security credentials" tab
11. Under "Access keys", click "Create access key"
12. Select "Application running outside AWS"
13. Click "Create access key"
14. IMPORTANT: Download or copy both the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key. You won't see the secret again!

Store these as environment variables:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIA...
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=abc123...
AWS_REGION=us-east-1

Step-by-Step: Request Production Access

1. In the SES dashboard, click "Account dashboard"
2. You'll see a banner saying you're in sandbox mode. Click "Request production access"
3. Fill out the form:
   • Mail type: Transactional (for app emails) or Marketing
   • Website URL: Your app's URL
   • Use case description: Explain what emails you'll send (e.g., "Welcome emails, password resets, and order confirmations for our e-commerce app")
4. Click "Submit request"
5. AWS typically approves requests within 24 hours. You'll get an email when approved.

Send Your First Email

# Install AWS SDK
npm install @aws-sdk/client-ses

# Or with pip
pip install boto3

// Node.js example
const { SESClient, SendEmailCommand } = require('@aws-sdk/client-ses');

// SDK automatically uses AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_REGION env vars
const client = new SESClient({ region: 'us-east-1' });

const command = new SendEmailCommand({
  Source: '[email protected]',  // Must be verified!
  Destination: {
    ToAddresses: ['[email protected]'],
  },
  Message: {
    Subject: { Data: 'Welcome to MyApp!' },
    Body: {
      Html: { Data: '<strong>Thanks for signing up!</strong>' },
    },
  },
});

await client.send(command);

Email Provider Comparison

SMS Services Overview

SMS is perfect for two-factor authentication, order notifications, appointment reminders, and alerts. The two most popular options are Twilio (market leader) and Plivo (cost-effective alternative).

Twilio

Pricing

Quick Setup with Twilio

# Install the SDK
npm install twilio

# Or with pip
pip install twilio

// Node.js example
const twilio = require('twilio');
const client = twilio(
  process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID,
  process.env.TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN
);

await client.messages.create({
  body: 'Your verification code is 123456',
  from: '+15551234567', // Your Twilio number
  to: '+15559876543'    // User's number
});

Plivo (Cost-Effective Alternative)

Pricing

Quick Setup with Plivo

# Install the SDK
npm install plivo

# Or with pip
pip install plivo

// Node.js example
const plivo = require('plivo');
const client = new plivo.Client(
  process.env.PLIVO_AUTH_ID,
  process.env.PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN
);

await client.messages.create({
  src: '+15551234567', // Your Plivo number
  dst: '+15559876543', // User's number
  text: 'Your verification code is 123456'
});

SMS Provider Comparison

Receiving & Parsing Incoming Emails

Sometimes you need to receive emails programmatically - for support tickets, parsing receipts, or handling replies. Here's how to set it up.

Option 1: SendGrid Inbound Parse

SendGrid can forward incoming emails to your webhook as HTTP POST requests.

Setup Steps

// Express.js webhook to receive parsed emails
const express = require('express');
const multer = require('multer');
const app = express();
const upload = multer();

app.post('/webhook/email', upload.none(), (req, res) => {
  const {
    from,        // Sender email
    to,          // Recipient (your email)
    subject,     // Email subject
    text,        // Plain text body
    html,        // HTML body
    attachments  // Number of attachments
  } = req.body;

  console.log(`Email from ${from}: ${subject}`);

  // Process the email (create ticket, parse data, etc.)
  processEmail({ from, to, subject, text, html });

  res.status(200).send('OK');
});

# MX Record Setup
# Add this MX record for your receiving domain
# e.g., inbound.yourapp.com

Type: MX
Host: inbound
Value: mx.sendgrid.net
Priority: 10

Option 2: Amazon SES Incoming Email

SES can receive emails and either store them in S3 or trigger a Lambda function.

Setup with Lambda

// Lambda function to process incoming emails
exports.handler = async (event) => {
  const sesNotification = event.Records[0].ses;
  const mail = sesNotification.mail;

  console.log('From:', mail.source);
  console.log('Subject:', mail.commonHeaders.subject);

  // Email content is in S3, fetch it
  const s3 = new AWS.S3();
  const email = await s3.getObject({
    Bucket: 'your-email-bucket',
    Key: mail.messageId
  }).promise();

  // Parse the raw email
  const parsed = await simpleParser(email.Body);
  console.log('Body:', parsed.text);

  return { statusCode: 200 };
};

Parsing Email Content

const { simpleParser } = require('mailparser');

const parsed = await simpleParser(rawEmailString);

console.log(parsed.from.text);     // "John Doe <[email protected]>"
console.log(parsed.subject);        // "Re: Your order"
console.log(parsed.text);           // Plain text body
console.log(parsed.html);           // HTML body
console.log(parsed.attachments);    // Array of attachments

Common Use Cases for Inbound Email

• Support Tickets: Create tickets from emails to [email protected]
• Reply Tracking: Detect when users reply to notification emails
• Document Processing: Parse invoices, receipts, or reports sent via email
• Lead Capture: Process inquiry emails automatically