Mailgun
Mailgun is a developer-friendly email API platform that handles transactional and marketing emails at scale. Developers use it for reliable email delivery, detailed analytics, flexible routing, email validation, and inbox preview with strong infrastructure and compliance backing.
Overview
| Category | |
| Ecosystem | aws |
| Compliance | SOC2, GDPR, PCI-DSS, ISO27001 |
| Self-Hostable | No |
| On-Prem | No |
| Best For | startup, growth, enterprise |
| Last Verified | 2026-02-13 |
Pricing
| Model | tiered |
| Free Tier | 100 emails/day
|
| Unit Price | $1.8 / 1,000 emails |
| Source | pricing page |
Plans
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 100 emails/day, ticket support, RESTful email APIs and SMTP relay, 1 custom sending domain, tracking and analytics, 2 API keys, email analytics, 1 day log retention, 1 inbound route |
| Basic | $15 | $180 | 10,000 emails/month, no daily email limit, monthly email overage options, RESTful email APIs and SMTP relay, 1 custom sending domain, tracking and analytics, 2 API keys, email analytics, 1 day log retention, 5 inbound routes |
| Foundation | $35 | $420 | 50,000 emails/month (free for 1 month), everything on Basic plus 1,000 custom sending domains, email template builder, 5 days log retention, 1 day message retention, full access to inbound routing |
| Scale | $90 | $1080 | 100,000 emails/month (free for 1 month), everything on Foundation plus SAML SSO, 5,000 email validations, dedicated IP pools, schedule and send analytics reports, 30 days log retention, up to 7 days message retention |
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths:- dx
- reliability
- performance
- support
- pricing can be steep at scale ($1.80 per 1,000 emails)
- free tier limited to 100 emails/day
- no built-in A/B testing for marketing emails
- limited log retention on lower-tier plans (1 day on Basic/Free)
When to Use
Best when:- high-volume transactional email
- need detailed bounce and engagement tracking
- flexible email routing and templating
- require webhooks and event tracking
- need email validation and list cleaning
- require inbox preview and email inspection before sending
- strict budget constraints under $15/mo
- need simple send-only service without validation/optimization features
- require on-premises or self-hosted solution
- need unlimited log retention on free tier