---
title: Mailgun
slug: mailgun
url: "https://toolweight.com/tools/mailgun"
homepage: "https://www.mailgun.com"
categories: email-sending-apis
last_verified: 2026-11-07
dataset_version: 0738be72
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Mailgun

> Long-running transactional API with strong routing and inbound handling.

- Developer-first before the phrase existed; inbound Routes are among the best mail-as-webhook implementations
- Now part of Sinch, alongside Mailjet and the wider messaging stack
- Log retention on the cheapest tier is short enough to matter
- Deliverability add-ons (validation, optimisation, dedicated IPs) are where pricing actually lands

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Mailgun |
| Company | Sinch |
| One-liner | Long-running transactional API with strong routing and inbound handling. |
| Site | https://www.mailgun.com |
| Docs | https://documentation.mailgun.com |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Funding | Subsidiary (Sinch, acquired 2021) |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Email APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis)
Ranked **#7 of 13** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | Permalink |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Time to first send | 30min | Community-reported | - | - | Fast once a payment card is on file. Without one you are restricted to authorised recipients, which does not count as a first send under our definition. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--time_to_first_send |
| Product scope | transactional-first | Inferred | - | - | Marketing lives in Mailjet, its Sinch stablemate. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--product_scope |
| Inbound parsing | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-05-18 | https://documentation.mailgun.com/docs/mailgun/user-manual/receive-forward-store/ | Routes are the strongest inbound implementation in the category. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--inbound_parsing |
| Event webhooks | delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, complained, deferred, unsubscribed, inbound | Vendor-claimed | 2026-05-18 | https://documentation.mailgun.com/docs/mailgun/user-manual/events/ | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--event_webhooks |
| Hosted templates | visual-editor | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--hosted_templates |
| React Email / MJML | handlebars | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--react_email_mjml |
| Log retention | 24h | Inferred | - | - | Cheapest paid tier only. Retention extends to around 30 days higher up, this is a real upsell lever. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--log_retention |
| Throughput ceiling | - | Unknown | - | - | No published figure. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--throughput_ceiling |
| Multi-domain sending | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Custom domain count is capped on the entry plan. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--multi_domain |
| Data residency | us, eu | Vendor-claimed | 2026-05-18 | https://documentation.mailgun.com/docs/mailgun/user-manual/sending-messages/ | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--data_residency |
| Shared pool quality | 3 | Inferred | - | - | Large and mixed, but Sinch polices it more actively than SendGrid does. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--shared_pool_quality |
| IP warmup | ● | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--ip_warmup |
| DKIM/DMARC friction | 3 | Inferred | - | - | Four records including a tracking CNAME and a custom return-path subdomain. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--dkim_dmarc_friction |
| BIMI | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--bimi_support |
| Suppression list | ● | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--suppression_management |
| Bounce handling | ● | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--bounce_complaint_handling |
| Price / 1k emails | $1.5/1k | Inferred | - | - | Approximate: the entry paid plan is around $15/mo for 10,000 emails, and the rate improves sharply with volume. | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--price_per_1k |
| Free tier | 3,000 emails/mo | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-06 | https://www.mailgun.com/pricing/ | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--free_tier |
| Dedicated IP | $59/mo | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-06 | https://www.mailgun.com/pricing/ | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--dedicated_ip_cost |
| Pricing model | volume-tiers | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--pricing_model |
| MCP server | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://documentation.mailgun.com/docs/mailgun/mcp.md | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--mcp_server |
| llms.txt docs | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--llms_txt_docs |
| Funding | subsidiary | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--funding_stage |
| Positioning | "Email API for developers." Was the developer-first option a decade before that was a category; the deliverability add-ons are where the real pricing lives. | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--positioning |
| GA year | 2010 | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/email-sending-apis#mailgun--ga_year |

**Verdict.** Pick it for inbound: Routes and the events API are best-in-class, though one-day entry-plan retention is a real problem.

## Alternatives

- [AhaSend](https://toolweight.com/tools/ahasend), Small indie transactional API competing on price and instant signup.
- [Amazon SES](https://toolweight.com/tools/amazon-ses), The cheapest way to send email at scale, and the least finished product.
- [Brevo](https://toolweight.com/tools/brevo), EU-hosted marketing platform with a competent transactional API attached.
- [Loops](https://toolweight.com/tools/loops), Lifecycle and marketing email for SaaS, priced on contacts rather than sends.
- [MailerSend](https://toolweight.com/tools/mailersend), Transactional sibling of MailerLite, bootstrapped and cheap at mid volume.
- [Mailtrap](https://toolweight.com/tools/mailtrap), Email testing sandbox that grew a production sending product.
- [Plunk](https://toolweight.com/tools/plunk), Open-source email console you self-host on top of your own AWS SES account.
- [Postmark](https://toolweight.com/tools/postmark), Transactional-only sender with the best-policed shared IP pool in the category.
- [Resend](https://toolweight.com/tools/resend), Developer-first email API built around React Email components.
- [Scaleway TEM](https://toolweight.com/tools/scaleway-tem), EU-sovereign transactional email from Scaleway, deliberately minimal.
- [SendGrid](https://toolweight.com/tools/sendgrid), The incumbent: enormous scale, enormous shared pool, everything bolted on.
- [SparkPost](https://toolweight.com/tools/sparkpost), High-volume sender with deep analytics, now folded into Bird's platform.

## Logo & brand colours

SVG files: https://toolweight.com/teams/mailgun/logo.svg and https://toolweight.com/teams/mailgun/mono.svg. JSON: https://toolweight.com/api/v1/brands/mailgun.

| Hex | oklch |
| --- | --- |
| #f06b66 | oklch(68.9% 0.165 24.5) |

## Licence and attribution

Data from Toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/tools/mailgun
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/tools/mailgun.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- Toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements.