Postmark retired credits on July 5, 2023

Before we introduced monthly subscription plans in 2017, Postmark customers could purchase email credits as a pay-as-you-go option. We kept credit-based billing in place for existing customers for many years. But maintaining two types of billing has turned into a major headache and time commitment for our team. Reducing this complexity means we’ll have more time to dedicate to the things we love: improving Postmark, building great new features, and providing excellent support whenever you need it.

Effective on July 5, 2023, the ability to purchase credits and auto-renew credits has been disabled. Any credits purchased prior to July 5 will be honored and available for use in your account after July 5—you just can’t purchase additional credits. When your credits run out, we’ll ask you to switch to a monthly subscription plan to continue sending with Postmark.

If you're still using up credits that you purchased prior to July 5, we'll notify you once your credits balance runs low. Read more about the alerts we send and what happens when credits run out.

We understand that for long-time customers, this can feel like a big change. That’s why we provided a 6-month notice period (we started notifications in December 2022), along with plenty of discounts to folks who would experience a price increase.

One last thing: When we introduced subscription prices back in December 2017, the credit-based system was no longer offered to new customers—all signups were required to purchase under the subscription model. So this decision has been a long-time coming.

Frequently asked questions

What happens to accounts with auto-renew enabled?

Many credits customers had enabled auto-renew to automatically top up their credit balance once it ran low. Auto-renew was disabled on July 5, 2023. You’ll need to log into your account to choose a subscription before your credits run out. If no subscription is selected, and your account runs out of credits after July 5, sending/receiving will be paused.

What happens to my existing credits after July 5, 2023?

Credits purchased prior to July 5, 2023 won’t just go away. They will remain available in your account after July 5 for your use. When you’ve used all available credits, we’ll ask you to switch to a monthly subscription plan to continue sending with Postmark.

What will happen to the free credits on my account?

If you've had a Postmark account for a very long time, you might have signed up under a promotion that granted you free credits. It's not possible to sell free credits back to us and get an account credit. If you switch to a subscription, the free/promo credits are forfeited/lost. You can continue using those free credits until they run out and switch after that. And just like existing purchased credits, any free credits will remain available in your account for your use after July 5, 2023. When you’ve used all of your credits, you’ll need to switch to a monthly subscription plan to continue sending.

What happens when I run out of credits?

When your credits run out on or after July 5, you’ll need to switch to a monthly subscription plan to continue sending with Postmark. We recommend migrating to a subscription plan before your credit balance reaches zero to avoid interruptions in sending. We send a series of alerts when your credits balance is running low.

How do monthly subscription plans work?

Postmark offers several monthly plans starting at 10,000 emails/month—and you can upgrade and downgrade your plan at any time. If you exceed your monthly allotment of emails, you’ll pay an overage rate for every 1,000 emails over your plan limit. Check out this detailed overview of how Postmark’s monthly subscriptions work and access the pricing calculator to help you find the right plan for your email volume.

What happens to the existing credits on my account when I switch?

Any existing credits you purchased before July 5 won’t go to waste. If you decide to switch to a subscription and still have a balance of paid credits on your account, we will “buy back” those credits and put the balance towards your new monthly plan. This happens automatically. You can see a preview of the account credit you'll receive on the " Plans & Add-ons" page in your account.

Here’s a detailed walkthrough of how this works. In many cases, we’ve had customers end up with a few months' worth of account credits before their monthly invoices kick in.

What are the advantages of switching to a subscription?

Switching to a subscription will ensure your account has access to new features and more predictable billing—which means they are typically more friendly to budgets and accounting teams.

Will new features be added to credit-based plans?

We don’t expect to make new features available to legacy plans like the credit-based system, which is why we recommend switching to a subscription plan if you’d like to get access to new features as they become available. For example, custom activity retention times, which was recently released, is only available on subscriptions.

You’ll always have the option to switch to a subscription after credits have been retired on July 5, 2023, and as noted above, we’ll “buy back” any credits balance on your account.

Is there a smaller subscription plan?

The 10,000 emails/month plan is our smallest paid plan. We worked on the subscription plans with the broadest range of customers in mind, and we know that even with our best attempts, we won't cover everyone and all cases.

Does Postmark offer annual subscription plans?

No, we currently offer monthly subscription plans only. We’ve heard from a number of folks that an annual option would be beneficial, and it is something we’re actively considering.

Can I get help choosing a subscription?

No problem! Contact us and we’ll help fit you into the best plan based on your sending volume.

How and when did you notify customers about this change?

Here is a timeline of the communications that were sent along with their subject lines. These notifications were sent from support@fyi.postmarkapp.com and went to owners, admins and/or emergency and billing contacts listed on your account at the time of send. Many emails were personalized based on your account history with Postmark (and included different discounts and offers tailored to your usage), so you may have received slight variations.

Changes to Postmark's pricing (Sent on December 6, 2022)
We’re retiring credits in 2023 (Sent on December 8, 2022)
An update on retiring credits (Sent on February 9, 2022)
We’re retiring credits (Sent on February 14, 2022)
Auto-renew and credits purchasing will be retired on July 1, 2023 (Sent on March 23, 2023)
Upcoming changes to your account (Sent on March 23, 2023)
Reminder: Upcoming changes to your account (Sent on March 23, 2023)
[Action Required] Auto-renew will be disabled July 1 (Sent on April 28, 2023)
[Action Needed] Your billing method will be retired July 1 (Sent on April 28, 2023)
Credits will be retired on July 1st (Sent on April 28, 2023)
Your account is at risk 🚨 (Sent on May 23, 2023)
[Action Required] Your billing method will be retired July 1 (Sent on May 23, 2023)
⚠️ Action Required: Credits will be retired soon (Sent on June 14, 2023)
Reminder: Credits will be retired on July 1st (Sent on June 14, 2023)
[Final Notice] Your billing method will be retired this week (Sent on June 27, 2023)
Auto-renew has been disabled on your account (Sent on July 5, 2023)