Mailer To Go vs Mailgun (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Mailgun grades higher than Mailer To Go: 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 the free plan and features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Mailer To Go
Managed SMTP sending for developers and Heroku apps
Mailgun
Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation
Which one is for you
Pick Mailer To Go if
- Fits if you run an app on Heroku and want SMTP email
- Works for developers who are fine with SMTP and no REST API yet
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a free plan, as there isn't one
- Skip it if you need a REST API, which is still in development
- Tight if you add a dedicated IP, which is $30 a month on Growth and Scale
- Watch out: plans bought through Heroku, Addons.io or Build.io are billed and priced separately
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
| 1.8GPAMailer To GoWeak | 2.4GPAMailgunFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $15 a month for 25,000 emails, the middle of this category's prices. Extra email is $1.00 per 1,000, and a dedicated IP is $30 a month. | 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 | FNothing free: there is no free plan or trial, so every plan is paid from day one. | 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 | CSMTP sending, delegated DNS, suppression handling, delivery webhooks and inbound routing. The REST API is still in development, so sending today is SMTP only. | 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. It takes sending domains and DNS to set up, but it is a plain SMTP service. | 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, SMTP, and Heroku, Addons.io and Build.io add-ons, plus Rails, Django, Laravel and Nodemailer guides. 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 sending for developers on Heroku or anywhere | 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: Mailer To Go and Mailgun. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mailer To Go starts at $15 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 for the same starting price. Of the other email sending services on the chart, 7 score higher than Mailer To Go 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
- Mailgun also covers email verification.
At a glance
| Mailer To Go | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per month for 25,000 emails | $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 | Sidebored.io, Inc. | Mailgun |
| Price read from | mailertogo.com | mailgun.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Mailer To Go
- There is no free plan; every plan is paid.
- The pages say a REST API is in development, so sending today is over SMTP.
- A dedicated IP is a $30 per month add-on on Growth and Scale, on request.
- Plans bought through Heroku, Addons.io or Build.io are billed there and priced separately from the direct plans.
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
Mailer To Go
- SMTP sending
- Standard SMTP on port 587 (STARTTLS) or 465 (SSL), so framework mailers work by pointing them at the dashboard credentials.
- Delegated DNS
- Publish one NS record and the service publishes and rotates SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for a dedicated sending subdomain.
- Suppression handling
- Hard bounces and spam complaints are added to a suppression list automatically.
- Delivery webhooks
- Webhook URLs receive delivered, bounced, opened and clicked events.
- Inbound routing
- Inbound mail can be forwarded by rule or delivered to an app as a webhook.
- Marketplace add-ons
- Available as an add-on on Heroku, Addons.io and Build.io, which sets SMTP credentials as config variables.
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
Mailer To Go
Starter$15
per month for up to 25,000 emails, billed monthly
5 sending domains, 30 days of event history, email support. Extra email is $1.00 per 1,000.
Growth$50
per month for up to 250,000 emails, billed monthly
25 sending domains, 90 days of event history, priority support. Extra email is $0.60 per 1,000.
Scale$150
per month for up to 1,000,000 emails, billed monthly
Unlimited sending domains, 12 months of event history, priority support. Extra email is $0.40 per 1,000.
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.
Ways to pay less
Mailer To Go
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
The plans page says annual billing saves 20% on the direct plans.
Mailgun
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Mailer To Go or Mailgun?
As of Nov 13, 2026, they start at the same price. Mailer To Go starts at $15 per month for 25,000 emails, and Mailgun starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails.
Which has a free plan, Mailer To Go or Mailgun?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Mailgun has a free plan. Mailer To Go 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.