One price. One simple rule.

$0.001

per email that matters to you

Everything else is free.

The rule

$0.001 per accepted email.

When a person sends:

  • SaltMail member: they pay.
  • Whitelisted non-member: you pay.
  • Or, you can make every sender pay.

When a machine sends:

SaltMail learns what you want and what you don't.

You pay for what you choose to receive.

A typical month of 200-1,500 paid emails costs about $0.20-$1.50/month, compared with other email services that can charge $29.99/month.

The four scenarios

Who pays, every possible scenario.

There are only four. Once you see them, the whole model clicks.

  1. You pay
    Chris
    [non-member, whitelisted] → You
    [member]

Chris isn't on SaltMail, but you've whitelisted him so his email reaches you. Since Chris can't be charged, the cost falls to you.

Cost to you: $0.001 · Cost to Chris: $0

  1. They pay
    Maria
    [member] → You
    [member]

Maria is a SaltMail member, so the cost is on her for sending. You receive it free.

Cost to you: $0 · Cost to Maria: $0.001

  1. No charge
    You
    [member] → Chris
    [non-member]

You're sending out of SaltMail to a regular email address. There's no SaltMail inbox involved on the receive side.

Cost to you: $0 · Cost to Chris: $0

  1. You pay
    You
    [member] → Maria
    [member]

You're delivering an email to a SaltMail inbox, and you're the sender — so you pay.

Cost to you: $0.001 · Cost to Maria: $0

A day in your inbox

Here's how it actually plays out.

You're a SaltMail member. Maria is a member. Chris is a friend you've whitelisted but isn't on SaltMail.

  1. Chris emails you about weekend plans.

    • Chris isn't a member, but you've whitelisted him. You're the recipient, so the cost is on you.
      You pay $0.001

  2. Maria sends you a meeting invite.

    • Maria is a SaltMail member and she initiated. She pays the cost — you receive it free.
      Free for you

  3. You reply to Chris.

    • You're replying to someone outside SaltMail (regular email address), so there's no SaltMail inbox involved and no charge.
      Free for you

  4. You email Maria back.

    • You're sending to a SaltMail inbox and you're the sender, so you pay.
      You pay $0.001

  5. A spammer tries to reach you.

    • They're not whitelisted and they're not a member. Blocked before it reaches you.
      $0 — they're blocked

Common questions

$0.001 is tiny. How does this actually stop spam?

The mechanism is asymmetric on purpose. One email costs less than the electricity your laptop burns sending it. Send a million and it's real money. Spam campaigns become uneconomic. Spammers depend on zero marginal cost — add any real cost per message and the math collapses. That's the whole point: invisible to humans, prohibitive to abusers.

Why don't I pay to email someone outside SaltMail?

Because there's no SaltMail inbox on the receiving end. The whole point of the price is to make abuse expensive at scale when delivering to a protected inbox. Sending out to a regular email address is just regular email — nothing to charge for.

Why do I pay to receive emails from people I whitelisted?

Because the sender isn't on SaltMail. You've chosen to receive their email anyway, and since we don't charge a monthly fee, the per-message cost is what covers routing. In practice it's a few cents a month — most whitelisted senders are friends, family, and a handful of vendors.

Do I have to top up an account or pay per message?

Neither, exactly. You fund a balance once and SaltMail draws from it as emails come and go. You can check your balance at any time from your SaltMail dashboard, and we'll notify you when it gets low.

Why does the sender pay when both parties are members?

This is the part that makes member-to-member email feel like normal email — frictionless to receive. You don't think twice about opening a message from another member. The cost sits with the side that initiated the message, which keeps the incentives clean: send thoughtfully, receive freely.

What if I get flooded by whitelisted senders?

If a whitelisted sender starts sending too many emails, you can move them to the garbage. From that point on, their messages go to the garbage instead of your inbox — and you stop being charged to receive them.

Is the price ever going to change?

$0.001 per email is our launch price. We believe it's the 'just right' amount — meaningless, or at least trivial, for users, but enough to prohibit spammers, bots, and fraud. As we learn and grow, it may make sense to introduce different price points in the future.

What happens to my balance if I cancel?

If you cancel your account, we refund whatever's left in your balance. No fine print, no expiration — your money is yours.

Secure payments

All payments are processed securely through Stripe. We never store your payment information.