Elastic Email vs Mailgun
We give Elastic Email a 2.6 GPA and Mailgun a 2.4, out of 4.0. Elastic Email grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Elastic Email
Low-cost email API and SMTP relay priced by monthly email volume
Mailgun
Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAElastic EmailGood | 2.4GPAMailgunFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BGraded on 50,000 emails a month: Starter is $19 for exactly that, in the cheaper quarter of this category at that volume. But webhooks, which tell your app about bounces and complaints, and inbound email need Pro at $49. | 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 cheaper but stops at 10,000 emails, 1 domain and 1 day of logs. A dedicated IP means Scale at $90. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for good, no card: 3,000 emails a month, capped at 100 a day, with the API, SMTP, designer and 3 days of logs. Fine for testing, but a busy day on a live app will hit the cap. | 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 | BAPI and SMTP with libraries in seven languages, drag-and-drop and AI template design, suppressions, verification, inbound email, webhooks, private IPs and reseller tools. It covers the whole job across its plans, though the developer bits sit on Pro. | 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 whole job; inbox placement tests are a separate product. |
| Ease of use | CJudged on how fast a developer sends a first email: libraries for most languages and an SMTP relay, once your domain is verified. No rating on record. With 3 days of logs on Free and Starter, chasing a failed email has to be quick. | 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 | BWeb, with an API and SMTP, plus Zapier, WordPress, Cloudways, Lovable, Bolt, v0 and Replit. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. | 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 sending at 50,000 emails and up | 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: Elastic Email and Mailgun. How we grade
Price against what you get
Elastic Email starts at $19 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Mailgun starts at $15 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Mailgun starts $4 a month lower. Of the other email sending services on the chart, none scores higher than Elastic Email 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
- Elastic Email starts at $19 per month for 50,000 emails. Mailgun starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails.
- Elastic Email also covers email campaigns.
At a glance
| Elastic Email | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $19 per month for 50,000 emails | $15 per month for 10,000 emails |
| Free plan | Up to 3,000 emails a month, limited to 100 a day, with the API, SMTP relay, email designer and 3 days of email logs. No credit card needed. | 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 | Elastic Email Inc. | Mailgun |
| Price read from | elasticemail.com | mailgun.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Elastic Email
- Price-conscious senders of 50,000 emails a month or more
- Agencies reselling email under their own brand
- Developers who want a free tier for testing
Mailgun
- Developers sending and receiving email from an app
- Teams that want address validation from the same provider
- Companies that need email data kept in the EU
Worth knowing
Elastic Email
- The free plan is limited to 100 emails a day, and email logs are kept for 3 days on Free and Starter.
- Inbound email processing, webhooks and subaccounts need Pro, which costs $49 a month at 50,000 emails.
- Email Marketing is a separate product with its own account, priced by contacts: $29 a month for 2,500 on Starter, free up to 1,000.
- A private IP is an add-on at $40 or $50 a month, depending on the 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
Elastic Email
- HTTP API and SMTP relay
- Send through a REST API with libraries for languages including Go, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby and Rust, or through SMTP, with attachments.
- Email designer
- Drag-and-drop templates with responsive layouts, a raw HTML editor and an AI template designer: 10 prompts a month on Free, 40 on Starter, 100 on Pro.
- Suppressions and verification
- Unsubscribe and bounce handling, suppressed-contact export, and single or bulk email address verification on paid plans.
- Inbound email and webhooks
- Pro processes incoming email and sends webhook notifications for deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces and complaints.
- Reseller and white-label tools
- Pro adds subaccounts, white-label SMTP and HTTP API, and the app on your own domain for agencies reselling email.
- Private IPs
- Dedicated IPs with warm-up and IP pools, at $40 a month on Starter or $50 a month on Pro.
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
Elastic Email
Free$0
3,000 emails a month and 100 a day, API and SMTP relay, Starter's basic features, 3 days of logs.
Starter$19
per month for 50,000 emails
API and SMTP relay, email designer, suppressions, single and bulk verification, 3 days of logs. $29 a month at 100,000 emails.
Pro$49
per month for 50,000 emails
Adds inbound email processing, webhooks, subaccounts, user management, reseller features and 7 days of logs. $59 a month at 100,000 emails.
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.
