Send & Retain vs Loops
Both send marketing and transactional email for SaaS. Loops is built around a visual editor; Send & Retain around an API and your AI agent.
✓Free to start. Unlimited contacts on every tier.
One system, end to end
Product event accepted
Trigger
Paused automation inspected
Run
Delivery state retained
Report
[ 01 / 05 ]The short answer
What's the difference between Send & Retain and Loops?
Loops is an email platform for SaaS teams, run from a polished visual editor. Send & Retain is an email API plus a remote MCP server, so your AI agent builds and runs the automations and you approve what goes live.
- Both handle transactional email and event-triggered email automation for SaaS products.
- Loops also sends campaigns to your whole list. Send & Retain sends every email to one person, by design.
- Both can be run by an AI agent. Loops has an MCP server too; Send & Retain creates every automation paused until you approve.
- Loops pricing grows with your subscribed contacts. Send & Retain is priced on sends, with unlimited contacts.
A run you can inspect
When contact.created fires
No filter — every event enrolls.
Welcome email
Send
2 days
Wait
Activated?
Branch
[ 02 / 05 ]Side by side
How do Send & Retain and Loops compare?
Who does the work
A marketer or founder in a visual editor, or an agent over its MCP server
Your AI agent over MCP, with your approval, plus a dashboard
Automation
Loops triggered by events and contact changes
Automations triggered by product events, always created paused
Newsletters
Campaigns to your list or a segment
No blasts. Every email goes to one person
Transactional email
Included, through its API
Same API and contact record as your automations
Templates
Visual editor
React Email (TSX), versioned. Edits create drafts
Sending
Loops' own infrastructure
Our platform, or your own Resend or SendGrid key, with failover
Pricing
Grows with your number of subscribed contacts
Priced on sends. Unlimited contacts on every tier
[ 03 / 05 ]Which to pick
Which should you choose?
Pick by who will do the work every week.
- Choose Loops if a marketer or founder wants to design emails in a visual editor.
- Choose Loops if you send product update newsletters to your whole list.
- Choose Send & Retain if your AI agent should set up and run email, with every automation paused until you approve.
- Choose Send & Retain if you have a large list and send relatively little, since contacts are unlimited.
[ 04 / 05 ]Example prompts
What does an agent-run email setup look like?
In Send & Retain, these are things you'd ask your agent, not screens you'd click through.
Welcome
“Build a paused welcome automation triggered by our signup event, in our brand.”
Trial
“Add a trial ending email that skips anyone who already upgraded.”
Diagnose
“Why did clicks on the onboarding automation drop last week? Break it down by email.”
Questions people ask us
Let your agent build your first automation.
Connect your agent, build a paused welcome automation, and approve it when it's right.