8 Best Mailgun Alternatives (2026)

The closest alternatives to Mailgun are AhaSend, Amazon SES, Brevo and Loops, with 4 more below. Each shares a comparison category with it, so every rationale here names both tools' real values. Mailgun is 8th of 9 on Log retention (1440 min), usually where a switch starts.

Website Docs Mailgun logo & brand assets Email APIs

Why do people look for Mailgun alternatives?

Most people searching for Mailgun alternatives are not shopping, they already run it and something has stopped fitting.
That something is usually a specific number rather than a feeling.
This page starts from the fields where Mailgun genuinely trails the rosters it appears in, and only then covers the reasons that never show up in a table.

The measured reasons.

Log retention, 1440 min, 8th of 9. Postmark records 64800 min.
Dedicated IP, $59 /mo, the weakest of the 7 here. Amazon SES records $24.95 /mo.
Price / 1k emails, $1.5 /1k, 8th of 11. Amazon SES records $0.1 /1k.

Any one of those is enough on its own if you sized your architecture around it.
None of them is enough if you didn't, which is why the list is short and specific rather than a general case against Mailgun.

The reasons that never make it into a table.

A price rise after a funding round.
A licence change that turns a self-host into a subscription.
A region you now need and they do not have.
An acquisition.
A support experience that quietly degrades.
None of those are fields, and all of them move teams, which is why every entry below links back to Email APIs, where the full field set and its sources live.
The ones we catch get logged on the Mailgun timeline.

How the shortlist is ordered.

Every tool below shares at least one comparison category with Mailgun, sorted by how many categories the two overlap in.
There is no editorial ranking, no sponsorship and no affiliate link, the order is the overlap count.
The rationale under each is generated from the two tools' own cells, so it names real values rather than adjectives.

1.AhaSend

AhaSend, Small indie transactional API competing on price and instant signup.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on llms.txt docs (Yes against No), GA year (2023 against 2010) and DKIM/DMARC friction (2 against 3).
What you give up: Hosted templates (none, where Mailgun records visual-editor) and Funding (bootstrapped, where Mailgun records subsidiary).
Best for side projects and internal tools where price dominates.
Cheap and fast to start, but trusts one small team's discipline with your reputation, fine for side projects.

Where AhaSend and Mailgun actually differ

Hosted templates: noneMailgun: visual-editor
llms.txt docs: YesMailgun: No
GA year: 2023Mailgun: 2010
Funding: bootstrappedMailgun: subsidiary
Event webhooks: deliveredopened+3Mailgun: delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, complained, deferred, unsubscribed, inbound
DKIM/DMARC friction: 2Mailgun: 3

AhaSend profile Compare in Email APIs

2.Amazon SES

Amazon SES, The cheapest way to send email at scale, and the least finished product.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on Price / 1k emails ($0.1 /1k against $1.5 /1k), Data residency (us, eu, au, apac, sa, ca against us, eu) and Dedicated IP ($24.95 /mo against $59 /mo).
What you give up: Time to first send (2880 min, where Mailgun records 30 min) and Hosted templates (api-only, where Mailgun records visual-editor).
Best for high volume where $0.10 per thousand actually moves the P&L.
An order of magnitude cheaper and half a product, right above a couple of million a month or for Sydney residency.

Where Amazon SES and Mailgun actually differ

Time to first send: 2880minMailgun: 30 min
Price / 1k emails: $0.1/1kMailgun: $1.5 /1k
Data residency: useu+4Mailgun: us, eu
Hosted templates: api-onlyMailgun: visual-editor
Dedicated IP: $24.95/moMailgun: $59 /mo
Bounce handling: PartialMailgun: Yes

Amazon SES profile Compare in Email APIs

3.Brevo

Brevo, EU-hosted marketing platform with a competent transactional API attached.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on Log retention (43200 min against 1440 min), Free tier (9,000 emails/mo against 3,000 emails/mo) and Product scope (marketing-first against transactional-first).
What you give up: IP warmup (Partial, where Mailgun records Yes) and Shared pool quality (2, where Mailgun records 3).
Best for EU-only data residency without self-hosting.
Buy it for EU hosting and the marketing suite, not the transactional API, and not if you need to be live today.

Where Brevo and Mailgun actually differ

Log retention: 43200minMailgun: 1440 min
Free tier: 9,000emails/moMailgun: 3,000 emails/mo
Product scope: marketing-firstMailgun: transactional-first
IP warmup: PartialMailgun: Yes
Shared pool quality: 2Mailgun: 3
Multi-domain sending: YesMailgun: Partial

Brevo profile Compare in Email APIs

4.Loops

Loops, Lifecycle and marketing email for SaaS, priced on contacts rather than sends.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on llms.txt docs (Yes against No), GA year (2023 against 2010) and Product scope (marketing-first against transactional-first).
What you give up: IP warmup (No, where Mailgun records Yes) and Inbound parsing (No, where Mailgun records Yes).
Best for onboarding sequences and product announcements.
The best-looking way to send lifecycle email, wrong for high-volume transactional, and a bet your list stays engaged.

Where Loops and Mailgun actually differ

IP warmup: NoMailgun: Yes
Inbound parsing: NoMailgun: Yes
llms.txt docs: YesMailgun: No
GA year: 2023Mailgun: 2010
Pricing model: contact-basedMailgun: volume-tiers
Multi-domain sending: NoMailgun: Partial

Loops profile Compare in Email APIs

5.MailerSend

MailerSend, Transactional sibling of MailerLite, bootstrapped and cheap at mid volume.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on Log retention (43200 min against 1440 min), Price / 1k emails ($0.56 /1k against $1.5 /1k) and React Email / MJML (handlebars, mjml against handlebars).
What you give up: Time to first send (1440 min, where Mailgun records 30 min) and Funding (bootstrapped, where Mailgun records subsidiary).
Best for mid-volume sending where SES is too raw and Postmark too dear.
The best price per message past 50,000/month with a real UI, taxed by a manual approval gate.

Where MailerSend and Mailgun actually differ

Time to first send: 1440minMailgun: 30 min
Log retention: 43200minMailgun: 1440 min
Funding: bootstrappedMailgun: subsidiary
Price / 1k emails: $0.56/1kMailgun: $1.5 /1k
React Email / MJML: handlebarsmjmlMailgun: handlebars
GA year: 2020Mailgun: 2010

MailerSend profile Compare in Email APIs

6.Mailtrap

Mailtrap, Email testing sandbox that grew a production sending product.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on Log retention (43200 min against 1440 min), DKIM/DMARC friction (2 against 3) and GA year (2013 against 2010).
What you give up: Inbound parsing (No, where Mailgun records Yes) and Funding (bootstrapped, where Mailgun records subsidiary).
Best for catching and inspecting outbound mail in staging.
Worth having for the best-in-class testing sandbox; the sending product is fine, not distinctive, and younger than its competitors.

Where Mailtrap and Mailgun actually differ

Inbound parsing: NoMailgun: Yes
Log retention: 43200minMailgun: 1440 min
Funding: bootstrappedMailgun: subsidiary
DKIM/DMARC friction: 2Mailgun: 3
Event webhooks: deliveredopened+4Mailgun: delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, complained, deferred, unsubscribed, inbound
Free tier: 1,000emails/moMailgun: 3,000 emails/mo

Mailtrap profile Compare in Email APIs

7.Plunk

Plunk, Open-source email console you self-host on top of your own AWS SES account.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on GA year (2023 against 2010), Multi-domain sending (Yes against Partial) and Price / 1k emails ($1 /1k against $1.5 /1k).
What you give up: IP warmup (No, where Mailgun records Yes) and Inbound parsing (No, where Mailgun records Yes).
Best for teams who already run SES and want a UI over it.
The cheapest honest dashboard over SES pricing with data in your own database, if you take on deployment and SES onboarding.

Where Plunk and Mailgun actually differ

IP warmup: NoMailgun: Yes
Inbound parsing: NoMailgun: Yes
GA year: 2023Mailgun: 2010
Funding: bootstrappedMailgun: subsidiary
React Email / MJML: –Mailgun: handlebars
BIMI: NoMailgun: Partial

Plunk profile Compare in Email APIs

8.Postmark

Postmark, Transactional-only sender with the best-policed shared IP pool in the category.
It meets Mailgun in Email APIs.
It is ahead on Log retention (64800 min against 1440 min), Shared pool quality (5 against 3) and React Email / MJML (mjml, handlebars against handlebars).
What you give up: Free tier (100 emails/mo, where Mailgun records 3,000 emails/mo) and Data residency (us, where Mailgun records us, eu).
Best for password resets, receipts and anything a support ticket follows.
The deliverability benchmark, with pool quality as a deliberate business decision, expensive and worth it for mail that must arrive.

Where Postmark and Mailgun actually differ

Log retention: 64800minMailgun: 1440 min
Shared pool quality: 5Mailgun: 3
React Email / MJML: mjmlhandlebarsMailgun: handlebars
DKIM/DMARC friction: 2Mailgun: 3
Multi-domain sending: YesMailgun: Partial
BIMI: YesMailgun: Partial

Postmark profile Compare in Email APIs

How this list was built

There is no editorial ranking on this page and no sponsorship behind it. The order is mechanical: every tool that shares a comparison category with Mailgun, sorted by how many categories the two overlap in. A tool that meets Mailgun in three rosters sits above one that meets it in a single roster, because more overlap means the comparison is more like-for-like.

The rationale under each entry is composed from the two tools' own cells. Where they differ on a field we score, the sentence names both values and the unit. Where they don't differ, it says so instead of manufacturing a distinction, which is why some entries are short.

Values, sources and verification dates all live on the category tables: Email APIs. If a figure here disagrees with a vendor's current pricing page, the vendor is right and we are stale.

Still deciding whether to move at all? The Mailgun profile has the when-to-use and when-not-to-use blocks, and the Mailgun timeline has the dated changes that usually trigger a migration.