Most teams looking at Mailgun alternatives aren't unhappy with the sending itself. They've run into a plan limit. As of November 2026, Mailgun's Basic plan includes one sending domain, one API key and one day of logs. Email validation is billed separately. A dedicated IP comes with Foundation at 100,000 emails or with Scale. This page covers six alternatives and when each is the better choice. It also answers the head-to-head questions people search for: Mailgun vs SendGrid, Amazon SES vs Mailgun, Mailgun vs Mailchimp, and Mailgun against Postmark, Resend and Mailjet. Competitor figures come from each vendor's official pages, checked in November 2026.
Mailgun pricing at a glance (as of November 2026)
| Plan | Price / mo | Emails / mo | Overage per 1,000 | Domains | Log retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 a day | n/a | 1 | 1 day |
| Basic | $15 | 10,000 | $1.80 | 1 | 1 day |
| Foundation | $35 / $75 | 50,000 / 100,000 | $1.30 / $1.10 | 1,000 | 5 days |
| Scale | $90 to $1,250 | 100,000 to 2.5M | $1.10 down to $0.40 | 1,000 | 30 days |
Foundation and Scale are free for the first month. For the same volumes priced across every major provider, see email API pricing compared.
Why teams look for Mailgun alternatives
Taken from Mailgun's pricing page and FAQ as of November 2026:
- Basic is a single-domain plan. It has 1 custom sending domain, 1 API key and 1 day of log retention. Foundation raises domains to 1,000, but logs only to 5 days and message retention to 1 day.
- Users. The free plan allows 1 user, and Basic doesn't include the unlimited users that Foundation and Scale get.
- Validation costs extra. It's $1.20 per 100 for the first 5,000, then lower in higher bands. Only Scale includes 5,000.
- Dedicated IPs. One is included at Foundation 100k ($75) and on Scale. Each extra IP is $59 a month.
- No campaign editor. Mailgun's own FAQ says, "There's no send button in Mailgun." If you want marketing campaigns, you need a second tool.
The best Mailgun alternatives
| Alternative | Best for | Starting price (as of November 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Volanea | Transactional plus marketing in one place, no contact fees | Free; Starter $5 for 7,500 |
| SendGrid | Teams that want the Twilio ecosystem and Marketing Campaigns | 60-day trial; Essentials $19.95 for 50,000 |
| Amazon SES | Lowest cost, AWS-native teams | $0.10 per 1,000 |
| Postmark | Transactional mail with long activity retention | Free 100 a month; Basic $15 for 10,000 |
| Resend | Developer experience and a 3,000-a-month free tier | Free; Pro $20 for 50,000 |
| Mailjet | EU-only data storage and simple marketing | Free 6,000 a month; Starter $9 |
Volanea
A developer-first platform built on Amazon SES. It covers the REST API (POST https://api.volanea.com/v1/send and batch send), SMTP, marketing campaigns, automation workflows, contacts and segments, templates, webhooks, inbound email, a suppression list, and a reputation guard that slows sending when bounce or complaint rates rise. It also has a validation endpoint (POST /v1/verify) and a free email verifier.
- Better than Mailgun at: campaigns, automation and contacts on every plan, with no contact fees. Starter covers 3 domains for $5. You never pay overage, because sending pauses at your limit.
- Weaker: no plan between 50,000 ($20) and 200,000 ($149), so 100,000 a month costs more than Mailgun Foundation 100k ($75). Dedicated IP pools are Enterprise-only, while Mailgun includes one IP at 100k.
Feature details: Volanea vs Mailgun.
SendGrid
The closest big-name competitor. Essentials is $19.95 for 50,000 or $34.95 for 100,000. Pro runs from $89.95 for 100,000 to $1,099 for 2.5M.
- Better than Mailgun at: price at 50,000 and 100,000 if you don't need a dedicated IP, and a Marketing Campaigns product from the same vendor.
- Weaker: the free option is a 60-day trial. Essentials has 1 teammate and 3 days of activity history, and overage rates aren't on the pricing page.
The head-to-head is below, and SendGrid alternatives covers who should leave SendGrid.
Amazon SES
$0.10 per 1,000 emails with no plan, plus $0.12 per GB of attachments.
- Better than Mailgun at: cost at every volume, and a dedicated IP at $24.95 a month.
- Weaker: you start in a sandbox and build the logs, templates and bounce processing yourself.
See the SES section below and Volanea vs Amazon SES.
Postmark
Built for transactional mail.
- Better than Mailgun at: activity retention, which defaults to 45 days against Mailgun Basic's 1 day of logs, and message streams that keep transactional and broadcast traffic on separate infrastructure.
- Weaker: price at volume. Basic is $55 for 50,000 against Mailgun Foundation at $35. Users are capped at 4 on Basic and 6 on Pro.
Resend
- Better than Mailgun at: the free tier (3,000 emails a month against 100 a day) and price at 100,000 ($35 on Pro against $75 on Foundation), as of November 2026.
- Weaker: 30-day data retention on every self-serve plan. A dedicated IP is a $30-a-month add-on, only on Scale. Marketing is billed by contacts.
More in Resend alternatives.
Mailjet
- Better than Mailgun at: EU-only storage. Mailjet says its data is "stored in secure data centers located exclusively within the European Union." It also has a free plan of 6,000 emails a month (200 a day).
- Weaker: the published volume selector stops at 500,000 before "More," and the overage rate isn't on the pricing page.
Mailgun vs SendGrid
The most common comparison, as of November 2026:
| Mailgun | SendGrid Email API | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 100 a day, no end date stated | 100 a day for 60 days |
| 50,000 / mo | $35 (Foundation) | $19.95 (Essentials) |
| 100,000 / mo | $75 (Foundation, 1 dedicated IP) | $34.95 (Essentials, no IP) or $89.95 (Pro, 1 IP) |
| ~250–300k / mo | $215 (Scale 250k) | $249 (Pro 300k) |
| 500k–700k / mo | $400 (Scale 500k) | $499 (Pro 700k) |
| 2.5M / mo | $1,250 | $1,099 |
| Users | 1 on Free; unlimited on Foundation and Scale | 1 on Essentials; up to 1,000 on Pro |
| Log / activity history | 1, 5 or 30 days by plan | 3 days (Essentials), 7 days (Pro) |
| Included validations | 5,000 on Scale | 2,500 on Pro |
| Overage | Published: $1.80 down to $0.40 per 1,000 | "May apply"; rate not on pricing page |
| Marketing campaigns | No send button | Separate Marketing Campaigns product |
| EU | EU region (api.eu.mailgun.net) | EU data residency on a dedicated EU IP (Pro/Premier) |
Verdict: SendGrid is cheaper at 50,000 and 100,000 if you don't need a dedicated IP, and cheaper again at 2.5M. Mailgun is cheaper from about 250,000 to 500,000, includes a dedicated IP at 100k for less than SendGrid Pro, and publishes its overage rates.
Amazon SES vs Mailgun
| Amazon SES | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000 / mo | $10 | $75 |
| 500,000 / mo | $50 | $400 |
| Dedicated IP | $24.95 per IP per month | 1 included at Foundation 100k and Scale; extra $59 |
| Inbound | $0.10 per 1,000 + $0.09 per 1,000 256 KB chunks | Inbound routes (1 on Free, 5 on Basic, full on Foundation+) |
| Getting started | Sandbox: verified recipients only, 200 a day, 1 per second | Free plan: 100 a day, 1 custom sending domain |
Verdict: SES costs a fraction of Mailgun at any volume, and the difference grows as you send more. Mailgun's price pays for what SES leaves to you: a dashboard and logs, templates, analytics and support. Pick SES if you have engineering time and AWS experience. Pick Mailgun, or a platform on top of SES like Volanea, if you'd rather not build that layer.
Mailgun vs Mailchimp
These solve different problems. Mailchimp is a marketing platform. Mailgun is an API with "no send button." To send transactional email through Mailchimp, you add Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill). It needs a Standard or Premium Mailchimp plan and costs $20 per block of 25,000 emails up to 500,000, as of November 2026.
- Choose Mailgun when your application sends the email: receipts, password resets, alerts.
- Choose Mailchimp when marketers send campaigns from a visual editor.
- Many teams run both. Volanea combines them: a send API plus campaigns and automation on one plan. See Volanea vs Mailchimp and Volanea vs Mandrill.
Mailgun vs Postmark, Resend and Mailjet
Postmark vs Mailgun
At 10,000 emails both start at $15. At 50,000 Mailgun Foundation ($35) is cheaper than Postmark Basic ($55). Postmark keeps activity for 45 days by default, extendable to 365 on Pro and up, while Mailgun Basic keeps logs for 1 day. Postmark sells dedicated IPs from $50 a month, only at 300,000+ emails a month. Mailgun includes one at 100,000. More in Volanea vs Postmark.
Resend vs Mailgun
Resend's free plan is 3,000 emails a month (100 a day), against Mailgun's 100 a day. At 100,000 a month Resend Pro is $35 and Mailgun Foundation is $75, but Mailgun's price includes a dedicated IP and 1,000 domains. Resend Pro has 10 domains, and its dedicated IP is a $30-a-month add-on on Scale for senders above 3,000 emails a day.
Mailjet vs Mailgun
Mailgun's GDPR page says "both Mailgun and Mailjet maintain their GDPR compliance under Sinch." The products are aimed at different users. Mailjet leans toward marketing: a free plan of 6,000 emails a month (1,000 contacts), signup forms and EU-only data centres. Mailgun is the developer API, with higher volume tiers, inbound routing and published overage rates.
Moving off Mailgun
- Add the new provider's SPF and DKIM records next to Mailgun's, and keep your DMARC policy in place.
- Export bounces, unsubscribes and complaints, and import them as suppressions before your first send.
- Swap the API calls or SMTP settings. With Volanea, SMTP uses the settings in your Volanea dashboard, with username
volaneaand your secret API key as the password. - Repoint webhooks and inbound routes.
- Move one stream at a time, and keep Mailgun live until bounce and complaint rates look normal.
Step-by-step instructions are in the Mailgun migration guide.
FAQ
What are the best Mailgun alternatives?
For the lowest cost, Amazon SES. For a like-for-like API with a Marketing Campaigns option, SendGrid. For transactional mail with long retention, Postmark. For a generous free tier, Resend. For EU-only data, Mailjet. For transactional and marketing with free contacts, Volanea.
Who are Mailgun's main competitors?
SendGrid, Amazon SES, Postmark, Resend, Mailjet and Volanea for transactional email. Mailchimp and Brevo on the marketing side.
Is Mailgun better than SendGrid?
Neither wins outright. As of November 2026, SendGrid is cheaper at 50,000 and 100,000 emails without a dedicated IP, and at 2.5M. Mailgun is cheaper between about 250,000 and 500,000, gives unlimited users from Foundation, and includes a dedicated IP at 100,000.
Is Amazon SES cheaper than Mailgun?
Yes. SES costs $0.10 per 1,000 emails, so 100,000 emails cost $10 against $75 on Mailgun Foundation. SES leaves logs, templates, dashboards and bounce processing to you.
What's the difference between Mailgun and Mailchimp?
Mailgun is an email API for messages your application sends. Mailchimp is a marketing platform for campaigns. Mailchimp's transactional add-on requires a paid Standard or Premium plan.
Is there a free Mailgun alternative?
Yes. As of November 2026, Mailjet (6,000 a month), Resend (3,000 a month), Volanea (1,000 credits a month) and Postmark (100 a month) all have free plans with no end date.
Try Volanea free, with no card and every feature included: create an account or see pricing.