People looking for Mailgun alternatives usually want the same outcome: reliable transactional email delivery through an email API service, with clear pricing, predictable event tracking, and practical integration options.
This comparison focuses on email API services that send application messages like sign-in links, password resets, and receipts. The emphasis is on capabilities you can verify—published limits, billing structure, and core features such as webhooks and suppression management.
- Transactional Email
- Email API
- SMTP Relay
- Webhooks
- Templates
- Suppression Lists
- Inbound Email
- Dedicated IP
What This Page Helps You Compare
If you are weighing Mailgun alternatives, these are the recurring decision points: billing shape (metered vs tiers vs blocks), delivery controls (shared vs dedicated IP options), and observability (logs, events, and webhooks).
- Metered pricing tends to map cleanly to variable volume and spiky traffic.
- Monthly tiers work well when volume is steady and you want simple budgeting.
- Block or credit systems can match teams that prefer pre-paid units and controlled consumption.
Email API Services and What They Cover
Most email API services deliver two parallel interfaces: an HTTP API and an SMTP relay. The shared goal is the same—send messages fast and track outcomes through events like delivered, bounced, deferred, or complaint.
Common Building Blocks
- Authentication support for domain verification and signing (so receiving systems can validate the sender).
- Suppression management for bounces, unsubscribes, and complaint-related blocks.
- Templates for consistent transactional email formatting across products.
- Webhooks that push delivery events into your logging or analytics stack.
Optional Capabilities
- Inbound email parsing for workflows that need receive-and-process features.
- Dedicated IP options for teams that want a more isolated sending identity.
- Log retention and message history depth for auditability.
- Subaccounts for agencies or multi-product setups that need separation and role controls.
Pricing Models and Cost Signals
Pricing for Mailgun alternatives is usually expressed as a blend of included volume and overage, or as units you buy in advance. What changes most is how the provider turns usage into a bill.
| Billing Shape | What It Means in Practice | What to Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Metered (pay per message) | Unit cost stays consistent as volume changes; often matches variable workloads. | Extra charges for add-ons like dedicated IP, inbound processing, or extended logs. |
| Monthly tiers (bundles) | Included emails are packaged into a plan; budgeting is straightforward for steady volume. | Pay attention to overage rates and whether unused volume carries forward. |
| Blocks / credits (pre-paid units) | You buy fixed chunks; consumption is easy to track and constrain. | Check expiration rules and minimum purchase sizes. |
Another practical signal is whether a provider prices inbound email as a separate capability. If your workflow depends on reply handling or email-to-ticket patterns, confirm inbound availability early so you do not treat it as a default feature.
Deliverability and Compliance Features
Most teams compare Mailgun alternatives on delivery outcomes, yet the features are often described in platform language. A neutral way to read them is to group controls into identity, reputation, and visibility.
Identity: domain verification, signing, and alignment so receiving systems can validate the sender identity. Reputation: shared vs dedicated IP options, warm-up tooling, and suppression logic that protects future delivery. Visibility: event detail, log depth, and webhook coverage.
It is also common for a provider to separate transactional email and marketing-style sending in product design. That separation can simplify policy alignment and reporting, especially when you want system messages to remain distinct from higher-volume broadcasts.
Mailgun Baseline: What Gets Compared
Mailgun Send Plan Markers
Mailgun’s published plan markers include a $0/month option with 100 emails/day, a $15/month plan that includes 10,000 emails/month, and tiered bundles such as $35/month for 50,000 emails/month and $90/month for 100,000 emails/month. Mailgun also lists overage starting points like $1.80 per 1,000 on the Basic tier.✅Source
- Interfaces: REST API and SMTP relay are part of the baseline comparison set.
- Tracking: platform analytics plus webhooks are treated as core.
- Receiving: inbound routing is relevant when evaluating reply handling use cases.
Top Mailgun Alternatives
Each option below is a Mailgun alternative in the narrow sense: it offers an email API service for transactional email. The notes highlight published pricing markers and feature patterns like webhooks, templates, and inbound processing.
SendGrid (Twilio)
SendGrid is often evaluated as a Mailgun alternative when teams want a mature email API service with broad tooling around templates, analytics, and event reporting. Its pricing page lists a $0/month 60-day free trial and an Essentials tier starting at $19.95/month (with higher tiers listed above that).✅Source
- Fit: teams that want feature breadth and platform-style tooling in addition to sending.
- Signals: plan differentiation around support, analytics depth, and collaboration features.
- Core comparison points: SMTP relay, HTTP API, and event webhooks.
Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES)
Amazon SES is a common Mailgun alternative for teams that prefer a strongly metered model. Its public pricing lists $0.10 per 1,000 outbound emails and $0.10 per 1,000 inbound emails, and it notes a Free Tier of 3,000 message charges per month for the first 12 months.✅Source
- Fit: workloads with variable volume and a preference for usage-based pricing.
- Signals: costs may include related capabilities (for example, network egress or additional AWS services) depending on architecture.
- Core comparison points: deliverability controls, event handling, and how monitoring is integrated.
Postmark
Postmark is often compared as a Mailgun alternative when teams want a focused transactional email product with simple tiers. Its pricing lists a free Developer tier with 100 emails/month, plus a Basic plan at $15.00/month starting at 10,000 emails/month and extra emails at $1.80 per 1,000 (with other tiers showing different extra-email rates).✅Source
- Fit: teams that prefer clear tiers and a product designed around transactional traffic.
- Signals: published structure includes tiers that change overage pricing and feature scope.
- Core comparison points: API ergonomics, event detail, and any inbound requirements.
Mailjet
Mailjet appears in many Mailgun alternatives lists because it offers an email API service alongside campaign tooling, with a published Free tier. Mailjet’s pricing page lists a Free plan with 6,000 emails/month and a maximum of 200 emails/day, and it shows tiered monthly plans (for example, “Essential” and above) for higher volume.✅Source
- Fit: teams that want transactional email plus optional campaign functionality under one roof.
- Signals: daily caps on lower tiers can matter for bursty sending patterns.
- Core comparison points: templates, analytics, and how sending limits scale.
Brevo
Brevo is commonly considered a Mailgun alternative for teams that want an email API service within a broader customer communications platform. Its pricing page presents a Free plan and shows that paid plans can start at a 5,000 emails/month volume marker, with higher volumes available as plans scale.✅Source
- Fit: teams that want transactional sending while keeping room for multi-channel expansion.
- Signals: plan pages often emphasize included email volume and bundled platform features.
- Core comparison points: API support, event reporting, and how the platform handles suppression.
Mailchimp Transactional Email (Mandrill)
Mailchimp Transactional Email is sometimes evaluated as a Mailgun alternative when teams prefer a block-based approach. Its pricing page states that each block is a credit for 25,000 emails, and it lists price-per-block bands such as $20/block for 1–20 blocks; it also shows an optional Dedicated IP for $29.95/month and notes a demo that can include up to 500 free email sends to a verified domain (with restrictions).✅Source
- Fit: teams that like block accounting and a clear unit size.
- Signals: minimum block size can matter if your volume is small but consistent.
- Core comparison points: API capabilities, event streaming, and whether blocks align with your forecast.
Zoho ZeptoMail
ZeptoMail is considered a Mailgun alternative when teams want a credit model tied to transactional email. Its pricing page states 1 credit = 10,000 emails and that each credit is valid for up to 6 months from purchase; it also notes a first credit that can be used for 10,000 sends as a starter allowance.✅Source
- Fit: teams that prefer pre-paid credits without a fixed monthly commitment.
- Signals: credit expiration is a real variable when volume is seasonal.
- Core comparison points: API/SMTP options, logging, and webhook availability.
SMTP2GO
SMTP2GO is commonly compared as a Mailgun alternative for teams that want both SMTP relay and an Email API with straightforward tiers. Its pricing page lists a Starter plan at $10/month for 10,000 emails/month, a Professional plan at $75/month for 100,000 emails/month, and it also shows a Free tier plus extra-email pricing such as $0.85 per thousand on Professional.✅Source
- Fit: teams that want clean SMTP-first sending with a usable API layer.
- Signals: reporting windows and tier features (like dedicated IP) can differ by plan.
- Core comparison points: credentials management, webhooks, and activity visibility.
Elastic Email (Email API)
Elastic Email is often included among Mailgun alternatives when teams want an Email API plan that scales by monthly volume. Its Email API pricing shows a Starter plan at $19/month (example adjustment shown for up to 50,000 emails/month) and a Pro plan at $49/month for the same volume marker; the page also lists add-ons such as Private IP pricing (for example, $40/month on Starter).✅Source
- Fit: teams that want a volume-based monthly model and a feature ladder.
- Signals: some features (like inbound processing) appear on higher plans, so verify plan scope.
- Core comparison points: API features, event hooks, and how retention is handled.
Comparison Table: Entry Pricing and Core Capabilities
This table summarizes Mailgun alternatives using published pricing markers and broadly comparable capability labels. Values are shown as signals, not guarantees, because providers can adjust plan packaging while keeping the same product direction.
| Service | Billing Signal | Entry Pricing Marker | HTTP API | SMTP | Templates | Webhooks | Inbound Email | Dedicated IP Option |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailgun | Monthly tiers + overage | $0 (100/day), $15 (10k/mo) | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Yes | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent |
| SendGrid | Monthly tiers | 60-day $0 trial; Essentials from $19.95/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent |
| Amazon SES | Metered | $0.10 per 1,000 outbound | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Integration-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent |
| Postmark | Monthly tiers + overage | 100/mo free; $15/mo (10k) + $1.80/1k extra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Add-on / policy-based |
| Mailjet | Monthly tiers | Free: 6,000/mo (200/day cap) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent |
| Brevo | Monthly volume markers | Free plan; paid plans from 5,000 emails/month marker | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent |
| Mailchimp Transactional | Blocks / credits | 25,000 emails per block; $20/block (1–20 blocks band) | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | $29.95/mo optional |
| Zoho ZeptoMail | Credits | 1 credit = 10,000 emails; credits valid up to 6 months | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Available (plan / region dependent) |
| SMTP2GO | Monthly tiers + overage | $10/mo (10k); $75/mo (100k); extra $0.85/1k on Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Included on higher tier |
| Elastic Email | Monthly tiers by volume | $19/mo (up to 50k marker); $49/mo (up to 50k marker) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pro tier lists inbound processing | Private IP add-on pricing listed |
Integration and Operational Notes
Event Data Quality
Across Mailgun alternatives, you will see similar event families (delivered, bounced, deferred, opened, clicked). The operational difference is typically the granularity of fields, the consistency of IDs, and how long logs remain searchable.
Account Structure
Some email API services emphasize subaccounts, streams, or segregated senders for clearer reporting. If you operate multiple apps or brands, that structure can affect permissions and billing clarity.
A practical comparison point for Mailgun alternatives is how they handle suppression and identity controls: automated suppression reduces repeat bounces, while clear domain tooling reduces ambiguity around sender verification. These are not “better vs worse” features—just different operational assumptions.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Difference Between an Email API and SMTP Relay?
An email API service exposes an HTTP-based interface that typically supports structured parameters, templates, and richer event metadata. An SMTP relay accepts messages over SMTP and is often simpler to plug into existing systems. Many Mailgun alternatives offer both so teams can choose the interface that matches their stack.
Why Do Pricing Pages Use “Per 1,000,” “Monthly Included,” or “Blocks”?
Those formats reflect different billing models. Metered pricing scales linearly with volume; monthly tiers bundle volume into a fixed plan; blocks and credits represent pre-paid units. Each model can be a reasonable fit depending on how predictable your transactional email volume is.
Do These Services Support Webhooks for Delivery Events?
Most email API services provide webhooks or event push mechanisms for delivery status, bounces, and engagement signals. Differences are usually in event taxonomy, retry behavior, and how much context is included per event.
What Does “Dedicated IP” Mean in Transactional Email?
A dedicated IP is a sending IP address reserved for one account rather than shared across many accounts. Some Mailgun alternatives offer it as an add-on or in higher tiers. The key point is isolation of sending identity; whether it is needed depends on your operational requirements and how you prefer to manage reputation inputs.
Is Inbound Email Processing a Standard Feature?
Inbound email processing is not universal across Mailgun alternatives. Some providers include inbound features only on certain tiers, while others position inbound as a separate capability. If your application depends on replies, parsing, or routing, treat inbound support as a first-class comparison criterion.
Why Do Some Platforms Separate Transactional and Marketing Sending?
Separation can simplify reporting, policy boundaries, and operational controls. Transactional traffic often needs predictable delivery behavior and stable event semantics, while marketing-style sending can introduce different volume and list-management dynamics. Many email API services reflect that reality in product structure.