Email provider choice starts with the mail role

There is no single best email provider because email is several different jobs hidden behind one word.

Use Proton Mail or Gmail for human inboxes.

Use an ESP such as Mailtrap, Resend, or Mailjet when an application needs transactional delivery.

Use MailerLite when the platform should own newsletter subscribers and campaigns, or pair Listmonk with an ESP when campaign management and message delivery should remain separate.

The practical lesson from testing is to rank providers inside a role, not across the whole email stack.

Mailtrap can be the preferred transactional option without replacing Proton for regular mail or MailerLite for newsletters.

Likewise, Mailjet becomes more useful when treated as the delivery engine behind Listmonk rather than as a direct replacement for it.

Related:

• SMTP and e-mail stuff
• Email APIs are product infrastructure
• Newsletter tools own audience state
• Inbound mail routing is not outbound sending