---
title: "SendGrid vs Mailgun"
description: "SendGrid vs Mailgun — free tiers, pricing shape, API design, and deliverability posture compared, with an honest note on where each one wins."
url: https://www.unitpost.com/compare/sendgrid-vs-mailgun
section: Comparisons
updated: 2026-07-27
---
# SendGrid vs Mailgun

## SendGrid vs Mailgun

> Neutral head-to-head for developers comparing SendGrid and Mailgun. Unitpost appears only under an explicit disclosure. Facts verified on 2026-07.

### SendGrid

The Twilio-owned incumbent, processing billions of emails a month across transactional and marketing with deep enterprise tooling.

**Free tier:** None — a 60-day trial at 100 emails/day, then a paid plan (their free tier was retired in 2025)

**Pricing shape:** Monthly plans by volume, competitive at high throughput, with marketing contacts and add-ons like email validation billed separately.

**Strongest at:**

- Proven at a scale we have not operated at, with enterprise support to match
- The broadest integration catalogue in the category
- Sub-account management for multi-tenant platforms, which we do not offer
- Advanced IP management and dedicated IP pools for high-volume senders

### Mailgun

Sinch-owned email infrastructure aimed at developers, with strong validation and deliverability tooling.

**Free tier:** 100 emails/day on the trial

**Pricing shape:** Volume tiers with noticeable jumps between them, plus paid add-ons for validation and dedicated IPs.

**Strongest at:**

- Email validation is a genuinely good, widely used product we do not offer
- Deep deliverability tooling, including inbox placement testing
- Log retention and analytics depth aimed at high-volume senders
- EU data residency, which we do not offer yet

## Side-by-side

| Capability | SendGrid | Mailgun |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | None — 60-day trial at 100/day, then paid. The free plan was retired in 2025 | Trial only, 100 emails/day |
| Price at high volume | Volume discounts make them cheaper at high throughput | — |
| Sub-accounts / multi-tenant sending | Sub-user management on Pro and above | — |
| Scale track record | Billions of messages per month | — |
| API design | Mature but complex, with v2/v3 legacy surface area to navigate | — |
| from display name | A separate from.name field | — |
| Idempotency keys | Not offered | Not offered |
| Complaint suppression handling | Removable with a warning | — |
| Integrations | Extensive first-party catalogue | — |
| Idempotency keys on send | — | — |
| Webhook secret rotation without dropped deliveries | Rotation replaces the secret immediately | Rotation replaces the secret immediately |
| Hybrid template editing | Varies | Varies |
| One-key import from SendGrid | n/a | — |
| Authentication | — | HTTP Basic auth with api:key |
| Email validation | — | A mature, widely used validation product |
| EU data residency | — | EU region available |
| IP allowlisting | — | Supported |
| Pricing curve | — | Tier jumps can be steep between volume bands |
| One-key import from Mailgun | — | n/a |

## Disclosure

Unitpost publishes this comparison to answer the searcher's actual question. For Unitpost vs either provider, see the alternatives pages.

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