Thanks.io vs Lob: plan fees, postcard rates and mailing volume

Thanks.io vs Lob: a mail tool or a developer API

Lob is a developer print-and-mail API with plans sized by mailings a year: Developer is $0 a month for up to 6,000 mailings, and Startup starts at $260 a month, as read on October 24, 2026. Lob prints its pieces, and its pricing page lists no handwriting-style product.

Thanks.io prices by plan and piece instead: Pay as you go is $0 a month and Business is $49 a month, with a dashboard, CSV upload, an API and digitally rendered handwriting-style script.

Plan fees and postcard rates

Lob direct mail pricing is a platform subscription, except on Developer, plus an all-in per-piece rate that covers print, postage and envelopes where applicable. The pricing page shows the postcard rate as "Starting at" with no size or class. Lob's help center puts the same three figures at the 4x6 postcard, First Class, which is the Thanks.io Pay as you go basis.

Lob bills its print and postage costs beside the plan fee, and Thanks.io's per-piece rate covers printing, the handwriting-style message, the piece and US postage. The Thanks.io Business rate shown is Standard Mail, USPS's lower-priced, slower class.

Lob's Growth plan starts at $550 a month for up to 150,000 mailings and 5 users, with postcards from $0.615. Lob says a USPS rate rise reaches its prices only as the higher postage, with no fee of its own, while Thanks.io's terms say it may raise or add fees if USPS does.

Volume limits and users

Lob counts mailings per year on its pricing page: Developer 6,000, Startup 75,000, Growth 150,000. Its help center lists the same limits per month as 500, 6,250 and 12,500. A mailing is the unit that sizes a Lob plan.

Thanks.io sets no minimum or batch size. The plan sets the rate, and a single postcard costs the same rate as a million. Sending up to 500 pieces a month fits inside Lob's Developer limit.

Refunds, trials and HIPAA

Lob's terms make charges non-refundable, non-cancellable and non-creditable except as the terms provide. Thanks.io's terms refund no unused services, allow a one-time courtesy refund at its discretion shortly after a renewal, and refund a canceled order to the account within 30 minutes if it is canceled within one hour. Lob offers a 30-day Enterprise free trial for high-volume senders, with print and postage costs not included.

For healthcare senders, Lob lists HIPAA-compliant mailing support on its Enterprise tier. Thanks.io says it is not HIPAA compliant and signs no Business Associate Agreements. This is not legal advice.

Who should pick which

Pick Lob for an engineering team building mail into an app, with plans sized by yearly mailings. Pick Thanks.io for a marketer with a list and no developer who wants a CSV upload, handwriting-style script and, from about 120 to 137 4x6 postcards a month, the $49 Business plan.

Pick PostGrid for an API plan with a $0 Starter tier of up to 500 mailings a month; Thanks.io vs PostGrid, PostGrid alternatives and best direct mail API have the numbers.

No Thanks.io page documents a trial of Business, though Pay as you go needs no monthly fee to start sending.