AutoSend vs Mailgun (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Mailgun grades higher than AutoSend: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
AutoSend grades higher on value for money. Mailgun grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AutoSend
Transactional and marketing email API with volume-based plans
Mailgun
Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation
Which one is for you
Pick AutoSend if
- Fits if you send a few thousand app emails a month and want the lowest bill
- Works for small projects that only need transactional mail, not campaigns
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan or a trial, as the entry price is $1 a month
- Too light for webhooks on Hobby: they start on the $10 Starter plan
- Pricey if you go past your quota, with extra emails at $0.0020 each on the lower tiers
- Watch out: marketing is a paid add-on at every size, for example $5 instead of $1 on Hobby
- Watch out: refunds only cover paid plans with no usage, within 7 days, and Hobby isn't eligible
Pick Mailgun if
- Fits if your app needs to receive email and pass it on to a webhook
- Works for teams whose email data has to stay in the EU
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're on Free or Basic, with 1 sending domain and 1 day of logs
- Not for you if you want an editor to write and send campaigns, since it's all code
- Pricey if you need a dedicated IP, which starts with Scale at $90 a month, with extra IPs at $59 each
- Watch out: inbox placement tests and reputation monitoring are a separate product, Mailgun Optimize
- Watch out: Free stops at 100 emails a day, and Basic charges $1.80 per 1,000 past 10,000
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAAutoSendFair | 2.4GPAMailgunFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A$1 a month for 3,000 transactional emails. Email sending tools start at $9 for the cheaper quarter, so this is well under 60% of that. | CGraded on 50,000 emails a month: Foundation is $35 at that volume, toward the dear end of this category, with the first month free. Basic is $15 but stops at 10,000 emails, 1 domain and 1 day of logs. A dedicated IP means Scale at $90. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial. The vendor says the $1 price is there to keep abuse off shared IPs, and Hobby isn't refundable. | CFree for good: 100 emails a day through the API or SMTP, with 1 domain, 1 inbound route and 1 day of logs. Enough to build against, not to run a live app on. There's also a 30-day trial of Foundation and Scale. |
| Features | CEmail API, SMTP, domain warm-up and validation, and a marketing tier with campaigns. Hobby has no webhooks and only 7 days of data kept. | BAPI and SMTP with SDKs in six languages and an MCP server, inbound routing, webhooks, templates, address validation, US or EU regions and dedicated IPs. It covers the job; inbox placement tests are a separate product, Mailgun Optimize. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You add sending domains and set up DNS before anything goes out. | CJudged on how fast a developer sends a first email: grab an API key, use an SDK or SMTP, and verify a sending domain. No rating on record. There's no send button at all, so everything goes through code. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb dashboard with a REST API and SMTP. No integrations list on its pages. | BWeb, with an API, SMTP, SDKs and an MCP server, plus Zapier, Make, n8n, Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, WordPress and Datadog. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | cheap transactional email with an API | sending and receiving email from an app |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AutoSend and Mailgun. How we grade
Price against what you get
AutoSend starts at $1 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Mailgun starts at $15 a month and scores 2.7.
Mailgun scores higher, and starts $14 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email sending services on the chart, 1 scores higher than AutoSend for less, and none scores higher than Mailgun for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- AutoSend also covers marketing automation and email campaigns.
- Mailgun also covers email verification.
At a glance
| AutoSend | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $1 per month for up to 3,000 emails, transactional only | $15 per month for 10,000 emails |
| Free plan | None | 100 emails a day, 1 custom sending domain, 1 user, 1 inbound route, 1 day of logs and ticket support, through the API or SMTP. |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial of the Foundation and Scale plans |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Peerlist Inc. | Mailgun |
| Price read from | autosend.com | mailgun.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
AutoSend
- There is no free plan; the vendor says the $1 Hobby price is meant to deter abuse on shared IPs.
- Emails beyond the monthly quota are billed at $0.0020 each on the lower tiers, or packs of 1,000 can be bought.
- Refunds are available only on paid plans with no usage, requested within 7 days; Hobby is not eligible.
- Webhooks are not included on the Hobby plan.
Mailgun
- Free and Basic allow 1 sending domain and keep 1 day of logs; unlimited users and 1,000 domains start with Foundation at $35 a month.
- There is no send button: Mailgun sends through code, not a campaign editor.
- A dedicated IP comes with Scale at $90 a month; extra IPs are $59 each a month.
- Inbox placement tests and reputation monitoring are a separate product, Mailgun Optimize.
Key features
AutoSend
- Email API and SMTP
- A RESTful email API is included on every tier, with inbound email parsing and webhooks on plans above Hobby.
- Marketing campaigns
- The marketing-plus-transactional tier adds campaigns, lists and segments, automation and campaign analytics.
- Domain warmup and validation
- Domain warmup, email validation and suppression handling are listed with the plan features.
- Volume-based pricing
- Plans step up by monthly emails, from 3,000 to 1.5 million, and the marketing tier lists contact limits that rise with the step.
- Dedicated IPs
- Dedicated IPs are an add-on, offered to senders above 200,000 emails a month.
Mailgun
- Email API and SMTP relay
- Send from an app through a RESTful HTTP API or SMTP, with SDKs for Go, Node.js, PHP, Java, Ruby and Python, plus an MCP server.
- Inbound routing
- Receive email and forward it to your app or a webhook by rules called routes: 1 on Free, 5 on Basic and unlimited from Foundation.
- Email validation
- Check addresses by API or upload a whole list; Scale includes 5,000 validations and other plans pay from $1.20 per 100.
- US or EU data regions
- One account can send through either the US or the EU region, so message data can stay in the region you choose.
- Logs, analytics and webhooks
- Tracking, bounce classification and event webhooks on every plan, with log retention growing from 1 day on Free and Basic to 30 days on Scale.
- Dedicated IPs
- Scale includes a dedicated IP, IP pools and automated warm-up; more IPs cost $59 each a month.
Plans
AutoSend
Hobby$1
per month for up to 3,000 emails, transactional only
1 project, 3 sending domains, 50 templates, 7-day data retention and no webhooks. $5 a month adds marketing with 1,000 contacts.
Starter$10
per month for up to 10,000 emails, transactional only
5 projects, 10 domains, unlimited templates, webhooks and 30-day retention. $12 a month adds marketing; $22 covers 25,000 emails.
Growth$30
per month for up to 50,000 emails, transactional only
30 projects and domains, 60-day retention. $50 a month adds marketing; $80 covers 100,000 emails transactional only. Dedicated Slack support.
Scale$150
per month for up to 200,000 emails, transactional only
50 projects, 500 domains and Dedicated IP availability. $190 adds marketing; steps run up to $1,290 for 1.5 million emails with marketing.
EnterpriseCustom
For more than 1.5 million emails a month: custom pricing, a dedicated account manager and priority support.
Mailgun
Free$0
100 emails a day, 1 sending domain, 2 API keys, 1 inbound route, 1 day of log retention and ticket support.
Basic$15
per month for 10,000 emails
No daily limit, 1 sending domain, 5 inbound routes, 1 day of logs. Extra emails $1.80 per 1,000.
Foundation$35
per month for 50,000 emails
1,000 sending domains, unlimited users, template builder, 5 days of logs, full inbound routing. Extra emails from $1.30 per 1,000; first month free.
Scale$90
per month for 100,000 emails
Dedicated IP and IP pools, SAML SSO, 5,000 validations, send-time optimization, chat and phone support, 30 days of logs. Extra emails from $1.10 per 1,000.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Scale plus custom features, deliverability services and a burst sending SLA.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AutoSend or Mailgun?
As of Nov 13, 2026, AutoSend is cheaper to start with: $1 a month, against $15 a month for Mailgun. AutoSend starts at $1 per month for up to 3,000 emails, transactional only, and Mailgun starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails.
Which has a free plan, AutoSend or Mailgun?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Mailgun has a free plan. AutoSend does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.