Frequently Asked Questions

SendForge is a SaaS email orchestration platform that lets you manage campaigns, automations, contacts, and segmentation while using your own sending infrastructure. Instead of locking you into a proprietary sending system, SendForge connects to providers you already use — Amazon SES, Mailgun, SendGrid, or any standard SMTP server. You control deliverability, reputation, and costs while we handle the orchestration layer.

Traditional email platforms bundle sending with their software and charge per email or per subscriber. SendForge decouples the orchestration layer from sending. You bring your own infrastructure (SES, Mailgun, SendGrid, SMTP) and pay those providers directly at their rates — which are typically 5–10x cheaper than bundled platforms. You get full control over your sender reputation, IP addresses, and deliverability, along with the ability to switch providers without losing your campaign data or automations.

SendForge currently supports Amazon SES, Mailgun, SendGrid, and any standard SMTP server. You can configure multiple sending nodes per project and route different campaigns through different providers. We are actively working on adding support for Postmark, SparkPost, and other popular transactional email services. If you need a specific provider, let us know — our architecture makes it straightforward to add new integrations.

No advanced technical knowledge is required. Setting up a sending node takes just a few minutes — you paste in your API key or SMTP credentials, and SendForge handles the rest. The campaign builder, contact management, segmentation, and automation features all use a visual interface. That said, if you are technically inclined, SendForge also offers a full REST API and webhooks so you can integrate email orchestration into your existing workflows and applications.

No. SendForge charges a flat monthly or annual subscription fee for access to the platform. There are no per-email fees from us. Your sending costs are determined entirely by your infrastructure provider — for example, Amazon SES charges $0.10 per 1,000 emails, which is a fraction of what bundled platforms charge. This model means your costs stay predictable as you scale, and you avoid the markup that traditional email platforms add on top of delivery costs.

Yes. Every new account starts with a 14-day free trial of the Growth plan — no credit card required. After the trial, choose a paid plan or simply stay on the free Starter plan: every feature is included, with up to 5,000 contacts and 2 projects. Nothing is deleted when the trial ends.

Absolutely. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time from your account billing settings. When you upgrade, the new plan takes effect immediately and we prorate the charge for the remainder of your current billing cycle. When you downgrade, the change takes effect at the start of your next billing cycle so you retain access to premium features through the end of the period you have already paid for. No data is lost when changing plans.

When you cancel your subscription, you keep your paid plan until the end of the period you have paid for. After that, your account moves to the free Starter plan — nothing is deleted. If you have more contacts than the free plan allows, sending pauses until you upgrade again or remove contacts. You can export your contacts at any time, and delete your account from its settings whenever you like.

Yes. SendForge supports any standard SMTP server as a sending node. You provide the host, port, username, and password (or authentication token), and SendForge will route emails through your server. This is ideal for organizations that run their own mail infrastructure, use on-premises mail servers, or have specific compliance requirements that necessitate self-hosted sending. You can configure TLS/SSL settings, connection pooling, and throughput limits per node.

Yes. SendForge provides both inbound and outbound webhooks. Inbound webhooks receive delivery status events from your sending providers (bounces, complaints, deliveries, opens, clicks) so your analytics stay up to date in real time. Outbound webhooks let you push events from SendForge to your own systems — for example, triggering actions in your CRM when a contact clicks a link, or updating your database when someone unsubscribes. All webhook payloads are signed with HMAC-SHA256 so you can verify their authenticity.

SendForge includes a built-in IP warm-up scheduler for new sending nodes. When you add a new dedicated IP through providers like Amazon SES or Mailgun, the warm-up feature gradually increases your daily sending volume over a configurable period (typically 2–4 weeks). The system automatically throttles outgoing messages to stay within the warm-up schedule, prioritizing your most engaged contacts first to build a strong sender reputation. You can monitor warm-up progress and deliverability metrics in real time from the sending nodes dashboard.

Yes. SendForge provides a comprehensive REST API that covers every feature available in the web interface. You can manage contacts, lists, segments, campaigns, automations, templates, sending nodes, and analytics programmatically. The API uses token-based authentication, supports pagination, filtering, and sorting, and returns JSON responses. Rate limits are generous and scale with your plan. Full API documentation with code examples in cURL, PHP, Python, JavaScript, and Ruby is available at docs.sendforge.io.

Yes. All data transmitted between your browser and SendForge is encrypted using TLS 1.3. Sensitive data stored on our servers — including your sending infrastructure credentials, API keys, and authentication tokens — is encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption. Our infrastructure runs on AWS with encryption enabled at every layer, from database storage to backups. We never store passwords in plain text; they are hashed using bcrypt with a high cost factor.

Yes. SendForge is fully committed to GDPR compliance. We act as a data processor on your behalf and offer a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) for all customers. The platform includes built-in tools to help you meet your obligations as a data controller: consent tracking, data subject access request workflows, right-to-erasure automation, and data portability exports. We maintain records of processing activities, conduct regular data protection impact assessments, and have appointed a dedicated Data Protection Officer. For more details, see our Privacy Policy.

SendForge includes built-in compliance features to help you stay within the law. Every campaign automatically includes an unsubscribe link and your physical mailing address (both required by CAN-SPAM). The platform maintains a global suppression list that ensures unsubscribed, bounced, and complained addresses are never emailed again — even if they appear in new list imports. We also provide double opt-in workflows, consent timestamp tracking, and list hygiene tools. While SendForge provides the tools, you remain responsible for ensuring your email practices comply with all applicable laws in your jurisdiction.