PostGrid handwritten notes: a print API vs a real pen

Teams that already mail letters through PostGrid sometimes look for a way to send handwritten notes from the same code. The short answer: PostGrid is a print-and-mail API. Its letter API covers templates, variable-data printing, merge fields, and a visual editor, and we found no handwriting product on it (PostGrid Letter API, checked October 25, 2026). Anything mailed through a print API is printed, including a handwriting-style font placed in a template. notecardHQ, the service we run, writes each card with a robot holding a real pen. This page sets out what each one is for.

What PostGrid does

PostGrid's letter API page describes letters built from templates, with merge fields and variable-data printing, plus a visual editor for the design. Its guides document a test mode in which "actual letters are not sent out but the process of creating orders is completed" (PostGrid guides). That is a useful way to build and test an integration before any mail goes out.

The same holds for Lob, another print-and-mail API: its pricing page does not mention handwriting. We did not find PostGrid's prices during our research, so this page does not compare cost per piece.

Printed handwriting vs a real pen

If you place a handwriting font in a letter template, the result is print. It can look like handwriting at a glance, but it sits flat on the paper and every "e" has the same shape. A pen presses ink into the card, leaves a faint groove, and varies in weight along each stroke. Our guide to real pen vs printed handwriting shows how to tell on a card in your hand, and robot handwriting vs handwriting fonts covers when each one makes sense.

For a notice, a statement, or an offer to a long list, print is the right tool. For a thank-you, a welcome, or a milestone sent to someone who already knows you, the point of the card is that a pen touched it.

At a glance

	PostGrid	notecardHQ
What it sends	Printed letters built from templates	Cards written by robots holding real pens, in New York
Handwriting	No handwriting product found	Four real-pen handwriting styles
Personalization	Merge fields and variable-data printing	Each note written in full, up to 500 characters; we can write it from context you send
Design	Visual editor for letters	Your own card artwork and return address, uploaded in the card studio
Test mode	Documented: orders complete, letters are not sent	Test keys that never write, mail, or bill
Price	Not covered here	$3.25 down to $1.95 in the US, $4.25 down to $2.95 abroad, all-in

Sources: PostGrid Letter API, PostGrid guides. Features change; check with PostGrid before you decide.

Where PostGrid is the better tool

• Printed letters at volume. Templates, merge fields, and variable data are built for sending the same letter, personalized, to many people.
• Longer documents. A notecardHQ note is up to 500 characters, sized for a card. A full letter belongs in a letter API.
• You have already integrated it. If your printed mail runs through PostGrid today, keep it there.

Where a real pen card fits

notecardHQ prices are all-in (card, handwriting, envelope, and postage), billed per card mailed, with no monthly fee:

Cards a month	US	International
1 to 499	$3.25	$4.25
500 to 2,499	$2.95	$3.95
2,500 to 9,999	$2.35	$3.35
10,000 or more	$1.95	$2.95

A handwriting model turns each note into pen strokes, and OCR reads every word back before the robot writes. Numbers must read exactly, and any unclear word is redrawn. How we check every card explains the steps.

Using both from your code

Many teams will want both: printed letters for the long list, and a pen-written card for the moments that matter, triggered by the same event. Sending a card is one request, much like creating a letter:

• POST /api/v1/notes with a Bearer key creates one card.
• An Idempotency-Key header means a retried request with the same key and body returns the same note, never a second card.
• US addresses are verified before a note is accepted. An undeliverable address returns a 422 and nothing is created.
• Statuses are created, card_printed, card_dispatched, and cancelled, with signed webhooks on every change.

The quickstart has curl, Node.js, Python, and PHP examples, and the handwritten notes API guide covers the rest.

Which one fits

PostGrid fits for printed letters: templated, personalized with merge fields, and sent to many people at once.

notecardHQ fits when the card should be written with a real pen: thank-yous, welcomes, renewals, and milestones, sent one at a time from your code or the portal, to the US and abroad at a published price.

For more on services that do write by hand, see the best handwritten note services roundup, the API comparison, or our compare page.

See every notecardHQ tier, US and international, on the pricing page.