Best inbound email parsing services in 2026
For apps that receive email and want it as JSON, Unitpost ranks first: receiving on the free plan, signed webhooks retried for about 19 hours, and the message with its SPF, DKIM and DMARC verdicts through the API. Postmark and CloudMailin send the richest parsed payloads, CloudMailin has the largest free volume, and AgentMail suits AI agents with their own inboxes.
Updated November 2, 2026. We make Unitpost, and it is on this list. Every score has a reason and the weights are published below, so you can re-rank it for your own needs. How we scored
| # | Product | Best for | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unitpost | apps that send and receive on one domain | 4.7 |
| 2 | AgentMail | AI agents with their own inboxes | 4.1 |
| 3 | CloudMailin | parsing only, at a large free volume | 4.0 |
| 4 | Resend | developers already sending with Resend | 4.0 |
| 5 | Mailgun | routing rules on many addresses | 3.7 |
| 6 | MailerSend | small projects sending with MailerSend | 3.7 |
| 7 | Postmark | the richest parsed payload | 3.4 |
| 8 | SendGrid | teams already on Twilio SendGrid | 3.4 |
How inbound parsing works everywhere
- Point an MX record for a subdomain (such as in.example.com) at the service, so your main domain's mail is untouched
- The service receives each message and posts it, or a notice of it, to your webhook
- Verify the signature, dedupe on the event id, answer 2xx at once, and do the work in the background
- Treat the content as untrusted input, above all if a model reads it
The picks
#1 · 4.7 / 5
Unitpost
Best for apps that send and receive on one domainReceiving on your verified domain on every plan, a signed email.received webhook, and the message, headers and SPF, DKIM and DMARC verdicts through the API.
Pros
- Receiving on the free plan
- Signed webhooks retried for about 19 hours
- Replies thread with in_reply_to
Cons
- The webhook carries metadata; the body comes from the API
- No spam score in the payload
- Free plan
- 5,000 emails a month, 200 a day, no card
- Paid from
- $10 a month for 20,000 emails
- Priced by
- Emails sent
#2 · 4.1 / 5
AgentMail
Best for AI agents with their own inboxesInboxes for agents, with text and the new reply extracted, spam and prompt-injection verdicts, and delivery by webhook or WebSocket.
Pros
- Reply text extracted from quoted history
- WebSockets, no public endpoint needed
- Prompt-injection scanning
Cons
- No custom domains on the free plan
- Built for agents' mailboxes, not app mail
- Free plan
- 3 inboxes, 3,000 emails a month, 100 a day
- Paid from
- $20 a month for 10 inboxes
- Priced by
- Inboxes and sends
#3 · 4.0 / 5
CloudMailin
Best for parsing only, at a large free volumeAn inbound-only service: normalized JSON with text, HTML, reply text and attachments, and 10,000 emails a month free.
Pros
- 10,000 emails a month free, no card
- Normalized JSON or the raw message
- Attachments inline or in your own storage
Cons
- It doesn't retry; the sending server does
- 512 KB per message on the free plan
- Free plan
- 10,000 inbound emails a month, up to 512 KB each
- Paid from
- $25 a month (Starter)
- Priced by
- Emails sent
#4 · 4.0 / 5
Resend
Best for developers already sending with ResendInbound on every plan with a Svix-signed webhook; the body, headers and raw MIME come from the API.
Pros
- Inbound on the free plan
- Svix-signed, retried for about a day
Cons
- Each received email counts toward the sending quota
- No spam verdicts documented
- Free plan
- 3,000 emails a month, 100 a day
- Paid from
- $20 a month for 50,000 emails
- Priced by
- Sends and contacts
#5 · 3.7 / 5
Mailgun
Best for routing rules on many addressesRoutes that match recipients and forward to a URL as form data, JSON or raw MIME, signed with HMAC.
Pros
- JSON, form or raw MIME
- Stripped reply text
- HMAC-signed
Cons
- One route on Free, five on Basic
- Spam headers are off by default
- Free plan
- 100 emails a day on one domain
- Paid from
- $15 a month for 10,000 emails
- Priced by
- Emails sent
#6 · 3.7 / 5
MailerSend
Best for small projects sending with MailerSendInbound routing on every plan, forwarding parsed JSON with SPF and DKIM checks to a webhook or an address.
Pros
- Inbound routing on the free plan
- HMAC-signed webhooks
Cons
- A forward counts as a sent email
- No spam score
- Free plan
- 500 emails a month, card required
- Paid from
- $7 a month for 5,000 emails
- Priced by
- Emails sent
#7 · 3.4 / 5
Postmark
Best for the richest parsed payloadParsed JSON with text, HTML, the stripped reply and attachments inline, plus SpamAssassin headers, on Pro and Platform.
Pros
- Attachments inline, up to 35 MB
- Stripped reply text
- Raw MIME on request
Cons
- Not on Basic or the free plan
- Basic auth instead of a signature
- Free plan
- 100 emails a month
- Paid from
- $15 a month for 10,000 emails
- Priced by
- Emails sent
#8 · 3.4 / 5
SendGrid
Best for teams already on Twilio SendGridInbound Parse posts multipart data with text, HTML, SPF, DKIM and an optional spam score, signed with ECDSA.
Pros
- Up to 30 MB a message
- ECDSA-signed
- Retried for up to 3 days
Cons
- Multipart, not JSON
- The free option is a 60-day trial
- Free plan
- None: a 60-day trial at 100 emails a day
- Paid from
- $19.95 a month (Essentials)
- Priced by
- Sends and contacts
Scores side by side
| Product | Parsed message35% | Delivery to you35% | Inbound on free30% | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unitpost | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.7 |
| AgentMail | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4.1 |
| CloudMailin | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4.0 |
| Resend | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4.0 |
| Mailgun | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3.7 |
| MailerSend | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.7 |
| Postmark | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3.4 |
| SendGrid | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3.4 |
How we scored
This list is for developers who receive email in an app: support replies, reply-by-email, forwarded receipts, or an AI agent's inbox. What matters is the parsed message, deliveries you can trust and retry, and what receiving costs.
- Parsed message (35%). Text, HTML, headers, attachments and authentication or spam verdicts as JSON, with the raw MIME available.
- Delivery to you (35%). Signed webhook deliveries, retried for hours when your endpoint is down.
- Inbound on free (30%). Receiving included on a free plan, on your own domain.
Each product gets 1 to 5 per criterion, from its own pricing and docs pages. The total is the weighted mean, so changing a weight re-ranks the list.
Why Unitpost scored 4.7
- Parsed message: 4/5. Text, HTML, headers and SPF, DKIM and DMARC verdicts through the API, raw MIME on a signed link; the webhook carries metadata only.
- Delivery to you: 5/5. Signed (svix-compatible) and retried 8 times over about 19 hours.
- Inbound on free: 5/5. Receiving on the free plan, on your verified domain.
Checked November 2, 2026 against unitpost.com/pricing, unitpost.com/sms, registry.npmjs.org/unitpost.
Why AgentMail scored 4.1
- Parsed message: 4/5. Text, HTML and the new reply text extracted, attachments through the API, raw message by link; spam and prompt-injection verdicts.
- Delivery to you: 5/5. Svix-signed, with 8 attempts over about a day, or WebSockets.
- Inbound on free: 3/5. On the free plan, with 3 inboxes but no custom domains.
Checked November 2, 2026 against agentmail.to/pricing, docs.agentmail.to/integrations/mcp, docs.agentmail.to/imap-smtp, docs.agentmail.to/idempotency.md, docs.agentmail.to/llms.txt, docs.agentmail.to/overview.
Why CloudMailin scored 4.0
- Parsed message: 5/5. Normalized JSON with plain text, HTML, reply text, headers, envelope SPF and base64 attachments, or the raw message.
- Delivery to you: 2/5. A custom Authorization header; it doesn't retry itself, a 5xx makes the sending server retry.
- Inbound on free: 5/5. 10,000 emails a month free, no card, up to 512 KB each.
Checked November 2, 2026 against cloudmailin.com/plans, docs.cloudmailin.com/http_post_formats/json_normalized/, docs.cloudmailin.com/receiving_email/http_status_codes/, docs.cloudmailin.com/receiving_email/securing_your_email_url_target/.
Why Resend scored 4.0
- Parsed message: 3/5. Webhook metadata only; text, HTML, headers and raw MIME through the API, with no spam verdicts documented.
- Delivery to you: 5/5. Svix-signed, with 8 attempts over about a day.
- Inbound on free: 4/5. On every plan, free included; each received email counts toward the quota.
Checked November 2, 2026 against resend.com/pricing, resend.com/migrate, resend.com/docs/dashboard/receiving/introduction, github.com/resend/mcp-send-email, resend.com/docs/send-with-smtp, resend.com/docs/api-reference/api-keys/create-api-key, registry.npmjs.org/resend, resend.com/docs/dashboard/webhooks/retries-and-replays.
Why Mailgun scored 3.7
- Parsed message: 4/5. Form or JSON with the body, stripped reply text and headers, or raw MIME; spam headers when switched on.
- Delivery to you: 4/5. HMAC-signed, retried for up to 8 hours.
- Inbound on free: 3/5. One inbound route on Free, five on Basic, all routes from Foundation.
Checked November 2, 2026 against mailgun.com/pricing/, mailgun.com/resources/guides/migrating-from-sendgrid-to-mailgun-email-api/, documentation.mailgun.com/docs/mailgun/mcp, documentation.mailgun.com/docs/mailgun/user-manual/sending-messages/send-smtp, registry.npmjs.org/mailgun.js, documentation.mailgun.com/docs/mailgun/user-manual/receive-forward-store/receive-http.
Why MailerSend scored 3.7
- Parsed message: 3/5. JSON with text, HTML, headers, raw MIME and SPF and DKIM checks; no spam score.
- Delivery to you: 4/5. HMAC-signed, with webhook retries for up to about 3 days.
- Inbound on free: 4/5. Inbound routing on every plan, free included; a forward counts as a sent email.
Checked November 2, 2026 against mailersend.com/pricing, developers.mailersend.com/mcp, mailersend.com/help/smtp-relay, mailersend.com/features/inbound-emails, developers.mailersend.com/api/v1/webhooks.html, registry.npmjs.org/mailersend, developers.mailersend.com/api/v1/inbound.
Why Postmark scored 3.4
- Parsed message: 5/5. JSON with text, HTML, the stripped reply, headers and attachments inline, raw MIME optional, SpamAssassin headers.
- Delivery to you: 3/5. Basic auth in the URL rather than a signature; 10 retries from 1 minute to 6 hours.
- Inbound on free: 2/5. Inbound processing on Pro and Platform, not Basic or the free plan.
Checked November 2, 2026 against postmarkapp.com/pricing, postmarkapp.com/migration-guides, postmarkapp.com/lp/mcp, postmarkapp.com/developer/user-guide/send-email-with-smtp, registry.npmjs.org/postmark, postmarkapp.com/developer/webhooks/inbound-webhook.
Why SendGrid scored 3.4
- Parsed message: 4/5. Multipart with text, HTML, headers, SPF, DKIM and an optional spam score; raw MIME optional; up to 30 MB.
- Delivery to you: 4/5. ECDSA-signed or OAuth; 5xx responses retried for up to 3 days.
- Inbound on free: 2/5. Inbound Parse on every plan, but the free option is a 60-day trial.
Checked November 2, 2026 against twilio.com/en-us/products/email-api/pricing, twilio.com/docs/sendgrid/for-developers/sending-email/integrating-with-the-smtp-api, twilio.com/docs/sendgrid/ui/analytics-and-reporting/email-activity-feed, registry.npmjs.org/@sendgrid/mail, twilio.com/docs/sendgrid/for-developers/parsing-email/inbound-email.
Frequently asked questions
What is inbound email parsing?
Should the webhook carry the whole message?
Go deeper: Reply to inbound email from an agent · Email APIs for AI agents · Inbound email
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