Plunk vs Loops for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

Plunk Overview

Plunk is an open-source email platform that combines transactional email, event-based automations, and broadcast campaigns in one package. The open-source nature means you can self-host it on your own server for free, connecting it to any SMTP provider like Amazon SES for actual delivery.

The automation system works through events. You define events in your application (user_signed_up, trial_started, payment_failed), send them to Plunk via the API, and Plunk triggers the appropriate email or sequence. Contact management includes user properties and basic segmentation. The API is developer-friendly with clear documentation.

Self-hosted Plunk on a VPS with SES delivery gives you a capable email platform for essentially the cost of SES sending ($0.10 per 1,000 emails) plus a few dollars monthly for the server. For a solo developer watching every expense, that is hard to beat.

The managed cloud version removes the self-hosting overhead but at a higher price point. Both versions offer the same features: transactional sending, automations, broadcasts, contacts, and analytics.

Loops Overview

Loops is built specifically for SaaS companies who want a polished, purpose-built email platform. Everything about the product, the flow builder, the contact management, the analytics, is designed around the SaaS user lifecycle.

The visual flow builder is Loops' strongest feature. You drag and drop steps to create email sequences with triggers, delays, conditions, and branching. An onboarding flow that sends a welcome email immediately, a getting-started guide after two days, and a check-in after a week is built visually in minutes. No backend code required.

Contact management goes beyond basic properties. Loops tracks user events, engagement history, and lets you create segments based on any combination of attributes. The analytics dashboard shows flow performance, email engagement, and audience insights in clean, actionable charts.

Loops starts free for 1,000 contacts with the paid plan at $49/month for 5,000 contacts. Pricing scales based on contacts stored, not emails sent.

Key Differences

Polish and user experience. Loops feels more polished. The flow builder is visually refined, the dashboard is clean, and the overall product feels designed by a team that obsesses over user experience. Plunk is functional and well-built, but the interface is more utilitarian. For a tool you interact with regularly, that difference in polish adds up.

Self-hosting option. Plunk can be self-hosted for free. Loops is cloud-only. If you want full control over your email data and infrastructure, or if budget is extremely tight, Plunk gives you that flexibility. Loops requires trusting a third party with your contact data and paying their pricing.

Automation sophistication. Both platforms support event-triggered automations, but Loops' flow builder is more advanced. Branching logic based on user properties, conditional delays, and multi-path flows are easier to build in Loops' visual editor. Plunk's automations handle basic trigger-to-email sequences well but are less flexible for complex flows.

SaaS-specific features. Loops is built for SaaS from the ground up. Features like trial tracking, plan-based segmentation, and engagement scoring are native. Plunk is a general-purpose email platform that works for SaaS but also for e-commerce, content sites, and other use cases. Loops speaks the language of SaaS; Plunk speaks the language of email.

Pricing model. Plunk self-hosted costs nearly nothing (SES rates plus server). Plunk cloud varies. Loops costs $49/month for 5,000 contacts. If your primary concern is minimizing costs, self-hosted Plunk wins by a wide margin. If your concern is minimizing time and maximizing capability, Loops' pricing is fair for what you get.

Community and ecosystem. Loops has funding, a growing team, and active development with frequent feature releases. Plunk is open-source with community contributions. Both are actively maintained, but Loops' commercial backing means faster feature development and more resources for support and documentation.

When to Choose Plunk

• Budget is your top priority and you want to self-host for near-zero email costs
• You value open-source software and want full control over your email platform
• You need a general-purpose email tool that works for any project type
• You already manage server infrastructure and adding one more service is manageable
• You want transactional, automation, and broadcast email without a premium price tag

When to Choose Loops

• You are building a SaaS and want purpose-built email tooling
• The visual flow builder and advanced automation matter to your email strategy
• You prefer a polished, managed SaaS over self-hosting additional infrastructure
• Contact segmentation and SaaS lifecycle tracking are core to your growth plans
• You value speed of implementation and are willing to pay for a better experience

The Verdict

Both platforms serve solo developers well, but they are designed for different priorities.

Choose Plunk if budget drives your decisions. Self-hosted Plunk with SES delivery is one of the cheapest ways to get a fully functional email platform with automation. You sacrifice some polish and automation sophistication, but you keep costs minimal and maintain full ownership of your data and infrastructure.

Choose Loops if time and quality drive your decisions. The visual flow builder, polished interface, and SaaS-specific features save you hours of setup and ongoing management. The $49/month is an investment in moving faster and building more effective email sequences.

My recommendation for most solo SaaS developers: start with Loops. The time savings compound. An onboarding sequence that takes 30 minutes to build in Loops might take several hours with Plunk. That time difference, multiplied across every email flow you build, adds up to days over a year. If $49/month is truly not in the budget, self-hosted Plunk is a capable alternative that gets the job done.