Inboxroad vs Mailgun (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Mailgun grades higher than Inboxroad: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Mailgun grades higher on value for money and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Inboxroad
SMTP relay and campaign email with dedicated IPs included
Mailgun
Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation
Which one is for you
Pick Inboxroad if
- Fits if you send 100,000 emails or more a month and want a dedicated IP
- Works for senders who need per-provider send-rate control on Email Pro
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you send under 100,000 emails a month, because SMTP is not sold below that
- Skip it if you want a small, cheap API, as the campaign plan starts at $68 for 10,000 emails
- Watch out: plan fees are charged monthly and usage over the limit is billed the month after
- Watch out: Email Pro is $384 a month at 100,000 emails
- Watch out: the page shows euros first; dollar prices sit behind a currency switch
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
| 2.0GPAInboxroadFair | 2.4GPAMailgunFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$68 a month for 10,000 emails on the campaign plan and $84 for 100,000 on SMTP, against a category whose dearest tenth starts at $25. The SMTP price does include a dedicated IP. | 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 | C1,000 emails a month free, a cap a small app will pass quickly, and no free tier beyond that. | 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 | BSMTP relay, an email API, a campaign builder, IP pools, per-provider send-rate control and feedback loops. Nothing in the listing is missing from the job. | 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 verify a sending domain with DNS records and wire up SMTP credentials or an API key before the first email 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 | CA web dashboard and an API with webhooks; the listing names no integrations and 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 | SMTP relay with dedicated IPs for bigger senders | 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: Inboxroad and Mailgun. How we grade
Price against what you get
Inboxroad starts at $68 a month and scores 2.3 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 $53 a month lower. Of the other email sending services on the chart, 14 score higher than Inboxroad 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
- Inboxroad also covers email campaigns.
- Mailgun also covers email verification.
At a glance
| Inboxroad | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $68 per month for 10,000 emails; SMTP from $84 for 100,000 | $15 per month for 10,000 emails |
| Free plan | 1,000 emails free every month, per the pricing page FAQ. | 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 | Inboxroad | Mailgun |
| Price read from | inboxroad.com | mailgun.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Inboxroad
- The SMTP and Email Pro plans are not offered below 100,000 emails a month, so small senders only see the campaign plan.
- The pricing page shows euros by default; dollar prices are behind its currency switch.
- Plan fees are charged monthly, and usage over the limit is billed the following month.
- The 100,000-email step of SMTP and Email includes 1 sending domain; Email Pro includes 2.
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
Inboxroad
- SMTP relay and email API
- Send application mail through an SMTP relay or the API, with domain statistics and webhooks with multiple endpoints.
- Dedicated IPs by tier
- The plans shown at 100,000 emails a month include a dedicated IP, with custom warm-up; higher volumes add IPs and sending domains.
- Campaign builder
- A drag-and-drop builder and HTML editor, templates, lists, segmentation and unlimited contacts on the Email plan.
- IP pools and send-rate control
- Email Pro adds routing across IP pools by stream, brand or region, ISP-aware warm-up and per-provider rate limits for Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft.
- Multiple SMTP connections
- The site lists switching between several SMTP providers as a feature.
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
Inboxroad
Free$0
1,000 emails a month to try the product.
Email$68
per month for 10,000 emails
Campaign builder, templates, segmentation and unlimited contacts. $277 a month at 100,000 emails, which includes 1 dedicated IP.
SMTP$84
per month for 100,000 emails
SMTP relay and APIs with a dedicated IP and one sending domain; not offered below 100,000 emails a month. $169 at the next step up.
Email Pro$384
per month for 100,000 emails
Campaigns plus SMTP and APIs, 2 sending domains, multiple IP pools, per-provider send-rate control and feedback loops. Not offered below 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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Inboxroad or Mailgun?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Mailgun is cheaper to start with: $15 a month, against $68 a month for Inboxroad. Inboxroad starts at $68 per month for 10,000 emails; SMTP from $84 for 100,000, and Mailgun starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails.
Which has a free plan, Inboxroad or Mailgun?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Inboxroad 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.