Loops vs Resend: Full Platform vs Transactional Specialist

Overview

Loops and Resend are both modern email tools built for developers, but they solve different problems. Loops is a unified platform handling both transactional and marketing email. Resend is a specialist focused exclusively on transactional email with the best developer experience in the market.

The choice comes down to: do you want one tool for everything, or the best tool for transactional paired with something else for marketing?

Key Differences

What They Do

Loops is a complete email platform for SaaS. Send password resets AND onboarding sequences AND newsletters from one place. One sender reputation, one dashboard, one contact list. For many founders, this simplicity is exactly what they need.

Resend does one thing exceptionally well: transactional email delivery. Password resets, verification codes, receipts - anything triggered by user action. No marketing features, no sequences, no contact management. Just the best API for sending triggered emails.

Developer Experience

Both are modern and developer-friendly, but Resend is in a league of its own. The API is beautifully designed, documentation is pristine, and React Email lets you build templates in JSX. If you care deeply about DX, Resend sets the standard.

Loops is also developer-friendly with a clean API and good documentation. But it's not trying to be Resend - it's trying to be a complete platform that happens to have a good API.

Simplicity vs Specialization

Loops offers operational simplicity. One vendor, one bill, one integration. You can build your entire email infrastructure without thinking about how different tools connect.

Resend offers technical excellence. If you pair it with a marketing tool like ConvertKit or Customer.io, you get best-in-class tools for each job. More complexity, but potentially better results.

Pricing Comparison

Resend is cheaper if you only need transactional email. But if you also need marketing, you'd need to add another tool - which could make the total cost higher than Loops. Calculate based on your actual needs.

Pros and Cons

Who Should Choose What

Choose Loops if:

• You want one platform for all email needs
• You value operational simplicity over technical optimization
• You'll send marketing emails (onboarding, newsletters, campaigns)
• You're a small team without dedicated engineering time for integration
• You don't need React Email specifically

Choose Resend if:

• You only need transactional email (or have a separate marketing tool)
• Developer experience is a top priority
• You want to build email templates in React/JSX
• You want a free tier to start
• You're okay managing multiple tools for the best-in-class experience

The Bottom Line

This comparison reflects a broader decision: unified simplicity versus specialized excellence.

For early-stage SaaS founders who need both transactional and marketing email and don't want to manage multiple tools, Loops is an excellent choice. One integration, one dashboard, one bill.

For developers who prioritize the best possible API experience and either don't need marketing email or are happy to use a separate tool for it, Resend is hard to beat.

There's no wrong answer here. Both are well-designed modern tools built by teams who understand developers. Pick based on whether you value unification or specialization.