Best Mailgun alternatives in 2026

Mailgun is built for high-volume sending, with validation and inbox placement testing, but its free plan is 100 emails a day on one domain with a day of logs, and marketing needs another tool. The best Mailgun alternative for app teams is Unitpost: a 5,000-email free plan, campaigns on the same API and a one-key import. SendGrid and Amazon SES suit very high volume.

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	Free plan	Score
1	Unitpost	app teams sending both kinds of email	5,000 emails a month, 200 a day, no card	4.3
2	Brevo	marketers who want a full suite	300 emails a day	3.7
3	Resend	developer-first transactional email	3,000 emails a month, 100 a day	3.6
4	Postmark	mail that must reach the inbox	100 emails a month	3.1
5	SendGrid	enterprises and multi-tenant platforms	None: a 60-day trial at 100 emails a day	3.0
6	MailerSend	a cheap first paid plan	500 emails a month, card required	2.7
7	Amazon SES	lowest cost at very high volume	None for SES; new AWS accounts get up to $200 in credits	2.5

Why teams look for a Mailgun alternative

The free plan is 100 emails a day on one domain, with logs kept for a day.
Marketing campaigns need another product.
The API authenticates with HTTP Basic auth rather than a bearer token.

When Mailgun is still the better choice

You need email address validation as part of your pipeline
You need EU data residency for compliance reasons
You want inbox-placement testing and detailed deliverability analytics

What moves when you leave Mailgun

With Unitpost's Migration Assistant and one Mailgun key:

Contacts: imports. Mailgun keeps addresses only as mailing list members, so the importer reads every list's members with their name and vars (as custom fields). An address on several lists imports once.
Unsubscribes and consent: partly imports. Each domain's unsubscribes import as unsubscribe suppressions, tag-level ones included, and become a full marketing opt-out here. A member unsubscribed from any one list imports unsubscribed from all marketing.
Suppressions (bounces and complaints): imports. Bounces and complaints from every domain in the region import with their reason, merged into one workspace list.
Mailing lists: imports. Each list becomes a static segment named after the list (or its address), with its members.
Topics: rebuild. Mailgun has no topics. Create them here if you want per-category opt-outs on campaigns.
Templates: partly imports. Domain templates import the active version's HTML as drafts in code mode. Account-level templates and subjects are not read, and a template whose content fails to load arrives empty without a warning.
Sending domains: partly imports. Every domain in the region the importer reads is recreated as verifying with a new DKIM key.
Webhooks: partly imports. Domain-level webhooks are merged per URL and recreated switched off with a new signing secret. Account-level webhooks are not read.
API keys and SMTP credentials: rebuild. Your Private API key and per-domain SMTP credentials stay at Mailgun. Unitpost SMTP logs in with an API key.
Routes: rebuild. Not read. Unitpost receives mail per verified domain, stores it and fires email.received; there is no forwarding, so a forward() route becomes a webhook handler.

The Mailgun migration plan

The picks

#1 · 4.3 / 5

Unitpost

Best for app teams sending both kinds of email

Transactional and marketing email on one API, one contact list and one bill, with a permanent free plan and an importer for six providers.

Pros

Permanent free plan, no card
Imports contacts, suppressions (bounces and complaints), mailing lists from Mailgun with one key
REST API, SMTP relay, MCP server and nine SDKs on every plan
Unlimited contacts on paid plans, priced by sends

Cons

A newer sender, without a long public track record
No sub-accounts, and dedicated IPs are not launched yet
SMS is on paid plans only

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

Start free See pricing

#2 · 3.7 / 5

Brevo

Best for marketers who want a full suite

A marketing suite with email, SMS, WhatsApp, a CRM and automation, plus a transactional API and SMTP relay. Its free plan sends the most email here.

Pros

The largest free volume: 300 emails a day
CRM, landing pages and automation built in
Paid plans sized by email volume, from $9 a month

Cons

SMS and WhatsApp credits are bought separately
A large step in price from Standard to Professional

Free plan: 300 emails a day
Paid from: $9 a month for 5,000 emails
Priced by: Emails sent

Unitpost vs Brevo Visit Brevo

#3 · 3.6 / 5

Resend

Best for developer-first transactional email

A clean, modern email API from the team behind React Email, with inbound email and an official MCP server on every plan. Marketing contacts are billed on a separate plan.

Pros

A modern API with clear errors and many SDKs
Inbound email on every plan, free included
React Email for building templates in code

Cons

Marketing is a second plan, priced by contacts ($40 a month for 5,000)
Free sending is capped at 100 emails a day

Free plan: 3,000 emails a month, 100 a day
Paid from: $20 a month for 50,000 emails
Priced by: Sends and contacts

Unitpost vs Resend Visit Resend

#4 · 3.1 / 5

Postmark

Best for mail that must reach the inbox

Transactional email known for fast, reliable inbox placement, with bulk mail kept on separate broadcast streams. It costs more, and the free plan is for testing.

Pros

The best-regarded deliverability record here
Transactional and bulk mail kept on separate streams
45 days of message content and good debugging tools

Cons

The free plan is 100 emails a month
No audience or campaign tools, and no inbound on Basic

Free plan: 100 emails a month
Paid from: $15 a month for 10,000 emails
Priced by: Emails sent

Unitpost vs Postmark Visit Postmark

#5 · 3.0 / 5

SendGrid

Best for enterprises and multi-tenant platforms

The long-running email API, now part of Twilio, with Marketing Campaigns as a separate product. Strong at scale; there is no free plan any more.

Pros

Proven at very high volume
Sub-accounts for multi-tenant platforms
Dedicated IPs from the Pro plan

Cons

No free plan: a 60-day trial, then from $19.95 a month
Marketing Campaigns is a separate product and plan

Free plan: None: a 60-day trial at 100 emails a day
Paid from: $19.95 a month (Essentials)
Priced by: Sends and contacts

Unitpost vs SendGrid Visit SendGrid

#6 · 2.7 / 5

MailerSend

Best for a cheap first paid plan

A transactional email API with an official hosted MCP server and a $7 first paid plan. The free plan is small.

Pros

Hobby is $7 a month for 5,000 emails
API and SMTP on the free plan
An official hosted MCP server

Cons

500 emails a month on free
No audience or campaign tools

Free plan: 500 emails a month, card required
Paid from: $7 a month for 5,000 emails
Priced by: Emails sent

Visit MailerSend

#7 · 2.5 / 5

Amazon SES

Best for lowest cost at very high volume

Amazon's sending service, inside AWS: the lowest price per email here. You build the rest yourself, from bounce handling to templates and dashboards.

Pros

$0.10 per 1,000 emails on pay-as-you-go pricing
Runs inside your AWS account and IAM
Inbound email as well as sending

Cons

No campaign builder or audience tools
Bounce handling, dashboards and reputation work are yours

Free plan: None for SES; new AWS accounts get up to $200 in credits
Paid from: $0.10 per 1,000 emails (new accounts start on a $0.16 plan)
Priced by: Emails sent

Visit Amazon SES

Scores side by side

Product	Free plan20%	Developer experience20%	Transactional + marketing20%	Switching15%	Deliverability15%	Scale10%	Total
Unitpost	5	5	5	4	3	2	4.3
Brevo	5	3	5	2	3	3	3.7
Resend	4	5	3	3	3	3	3.6
Postmark	2	4	2	3	5	3	3.1
SendGrid	1	3	3	3	4	5	3.0
MailerSend	2	4	2	2	3	3	2.7
Amazon SES	2	3	1	2	3	5	2.5

How we scored

This list is for teams sending app email through Mailgun who are weighing a switch. What matters to them: a free or cheap way to keep sending, a modern API, marketing email in the same place, and a move that keeps suppressions.

Free plan (20%). A permanent free plan large enough to run a small app on, with no card.
Developer experience (20%). A clear REST API, current SDKs, readable errors and docs.
Transactional + marketing (20%). Both kinds of email in one product, on one contact list and one bill.
Switching (15%). An importer, or a documented path, that moves Mailgun contacts, suppressions and templates.
Deliverability (15%). A long public record of inbox placement, and the tooling to protect it.
Scale (10%). Proven at very high volume, with dedicated IPs and enterprise plans.

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 4.3

Free plan: 5/5. 5,000 emails a month free for good, 200 a day, no card.
Developer experience: 5/5. Bearer-token REST API, nine SDKs, a CLI and an MCP server, with idempotency keys on sends.
Transactional + marketing: 5/5. Campaigns, segments and topics share the contact list and the bill with API sends.
Switching: 4/5. The Migration Assistant imports contacts, suppressions (bounces and complaints), mailing lists from Mailgun with one key; the guide covers the rest.
Deliverability: 3/5. Guided SPF, DKIM and DMARC with continuous checks, but a short public record so far.
Scale: 2/5. No sub-accounts, and dedicated IPs are not launched yet.

Checked November 2, 2026 against unitpost.com/pricing, unitpost.com/sms, registry.npmjs.org/unitpost.

Why Brevo scored 3.7

Free plan: 5/5. 300 emails a day, about 9,000 a month, on a permanent free plan.
Developer experience: 3/5. A full API and SMTP relay, shaped by the marketing suite rather than built for developers first.
Transactional + marketing: 5/5. Campaigns, automation and transactional sending in one account.
Switching: 2/5. No importer or guide for Mailgun found; contacts move by CSV and the rest by API.
Deliverability: 3/5. An established sender, without Postmark's public time-to-inbox record.
Scale: 3/5. Professional plans from 150,000 emails; the focus is marketing teams more than high-volume APIs.

Checked November 2, 2026 against brevo.com/pricing/, developers.brevo.com/docs/mcp-protocol, help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/7959631848850, help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021533839, registry.npmjs.org/@getbrevo/brevo.

Why Resend scored 3.6

Free plan: 4/5. 3,000 emails a month free, capped at 100 a day.
Developer experience: 5/5. The API many newer providers copy, with SDKs across most languages.
Transactional + marketing: 3/5. Broadcasts exist, but marketing contacts sit on a second plan and bill.
Switching: 3/5. A published guide for moving from Mailgun; no importer, so data moves by CSV and API.
Deliverability: 3/5. A shorter public record than SendGrid or Postmark.
Scale: 3/5. Higher-volume plans above Pro; less proven at the very largest volumes.

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 Postmark scored 3.1

Free plan: 2/5. 100 emails a month free, enough to test, not to run an app.
Developer experience: 4/5. A mature, well-documented API with official libraries.
Transactional + marketing: 2/5. Broadcast streams send bulk mail, but there are no audience or campaign tools.
Switching: 3/5. A published guide for moving from Mailgun; no importer, so data moves by CSV and API.
Deliverability: 5/5. A long public record of time-to-inbox, protected by separate streams.
Scale: 3/5. Handles large volume; dedicated IPs from 300,000 emails a month on Pro and above.

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 3.0

Free plan: 1/5. No free plan: a 60-day trial at 100 emails a day, then from $19.95 a month.
Developer experience: 3/5. A large API with SDKs, shaped by a decade of backwards compatibility.
Transactional + marketing: 3/5. Marketing Campaigns is a separate product with its own plans.
Switching: 3/5. A published guide for moving from Mailgun; no importer, so data moves by CSV and API.
Deliverability: 4/5. A long track record, with dedicated IPs from the Pro plan.
Scale: 5/5. Proven at very high volume, with sub-accounts and enterprise support.

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.

Why MailerSend scored 2.7

Free plan: 2/5. 500 emails a month on one domain.
Developer experience: 4/5. A modern REST API, SMTP and an official MCP server.
Transactional + marketing: 2/5. Built for transactional email; bulk sending comes on paid plans, without audience tools.
Switching: 2/5. No importer or guide for Mailgun found; contacts move by CSV and the rest by API.
Deliverability: 3/5. An established sender, without a long public inbox-placement record.
Scale: 3/5. Plans for growing volume; fewer enterprise tools than the incumbents.

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 Amazon SES scored 2.5

Free plan: 2/5. No SES free tier; new AWS accounts get up to $200 in credits.
Developer experience: 3/5. AWS SDKs and IAM: powerful, with more setup than an email API.
Transactional + marketing: 1/5. A sending service; it has no campaign builder.
Switching: 2/5. No importer or guide for Mailgun found; contacts move by CSV and the rest by API.
Deliverability: 3/5. Good infrastructure, but reputation monitoring is your job.
Scale: 5/5. AWS-scale throughput and dedicated IPs.

Checked November 2, 2026 against aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/, docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/smtp-connect.html, docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/smtp-credentials.html, docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/vdm-dashboard.html, registry.npmjs.org/@aws-sdk/client-sesv2, docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/receiving-email-notifications-contents.html.

Frequently asked questions

Does Mailgun have a free plan?

Yes: 100 emails a day on one domain, with one inbound route and one day of logs. Paid plans start at $15 a month for 10,000 emails.

How do I move off Mailgun?

Copy suppressions first, so nobody who bounced or complained gets mail from the new provider. Unitpost's Migration Assistant imports contacts, suppressions (bounces and complaints), mailing lists with one Mailgun key, and the migration plan lists what you rebuild by hand.

Go deeper: Unitpost vs Mailgun · Migrate from Mailgun · Best free email APIs

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