Hyvor Relay vs Mailgun (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Mailgun grades higher than Hyvor Relay: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Mailgun grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Hyvor Relay
Open-source email API you can self-host
Mailgun
Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation
Which one is for you
Pick Hyvor Relay if
- Fits if you can run your own mail servers and want no per-email fee
- Works for teams that need the open-source license for compliance
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not run servers, as self-hosting leaves deliverability to you
- Watch out: the hosted cloud plan is a waitlist and its €30 a month is an estimate, not final
- Pricey if you need to avoid the AGPL-3.0, since the Enterprise License starts at €10,000 a year
- Tight if you need long logs, with delivery logs kept for 30 days
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
| 1.8GPAHyvor RelayWeak | 2.4GPAMailgunFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CFree only if you host it yourself, which needs servers and IPs, so it sits in the middle. The Enterprise License starts at €10,000 a year, and the cloud plan is an unconfirmed estimate. | 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 | CThe open-source edition is free with unlimited usage, but you must run it yourself, and there is no hosted free tier. | 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, DKIM domains, webhooks, bounce and complaint handling, projects and observability. Delivery logs last 30 days. | 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 | DNo rating on record. Self-hosting means servers, DNS, IP reputation and deliverability are yours to run. | 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 interface and API, with Prometheus, Grafana and Docker Swarm hooks. No apps. | 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 | self-hosted open-source email sending | 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: Hyvor Relay and Mailgun. How we grade
Price against what you get
Hyvor Relay starts at about $931 a month and scores 1.7 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 $916 a month lower. Of the other email sending services on the chart, 41 score higher than Hyvor Relay 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
- Hyvor Relay is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Mailgun also covers email verification.
At a glance
| Hyvor Relay | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | €10,000 per year and up (Enterprise License) | $15 per month for 10,000 emails |
| Free plan | Self-hosted open-source edition: free with unlimited usage under AGPL-3.0 and community support. | 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 | Hyvor | Mailgun |
| Price read from | relay.hyvor.com | mailgun.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hyvor Relay
- The cloud plan is on a waitlist, listed at an estimated €30 per month for 300,000 emails and not yet final.
- Self-hosting means running servers, IPs and deliverability yourself.
- Delivery logs are kept for 30 days.
- The page states the Enterprise License starts at €10,000 a year and is priced by volume.
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
Hyvor Relay
- Email API
- A REST API with idempotent sends, HTML and plain text, attachments, custom headers and multiple recipients.
- Domains and DKIM
- Multiple sending domains with enforced DKIM signing and an in-built DNS server.
- Webhooks
- Event webhooks for deliveries, bounces and domain verification.
- Bounce and complaint handling
- Bounces, complaints and suppressions are managed automatically.
- Projects
- Isolated projects each with their own domains, keys and webhooks.
- Observability
- Prometheus and Grafana integrations and health checks for servers, DNS and IP reputation.
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
Hyvor Relay
Self-Hosted Open-Source$0
You host it yourself under AGPL-3.0, with all features and community support.
Enterprise License€10,000
per year and up
The same features without AGPL-3.0 obligations, with volume-based pricing, enterprise support and SLA options.
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, Hyvor Relay or Mailgun?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Mailgun is cheaper to start with: $15 a month, against about $931 a month for Hyvor Relay. Hyvor Relay starts at €10,000 per year and up (Enterprise License), and Mailgun starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails.
Which has a free plan, Hyvor Relay or Mailgun?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Hyvor Relay and Mailgun have a free plan.
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.