Mailgun vs MailPace (2026): which should you pick?

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

Pick MailPace if

• Fits if you want your mail handled in the EU with no open tracking
• Works for Rails, Laravel or Node apps that want one flat plan

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you need a dedicated IP, as there is no such tier
• Watch out: received emails count toward the monthly volume along with sent ones
• Tight if you want a free plan, because 100 emails a month is given only on request
• Watch out: email content is kept for 30 days unless you ask for longer
• Not for you if you want open and click tracking, which it leaves out

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.

MailPace

• There is one paid plan, so there is no tier with a dedicated IP address.
• Received emails count toward the monthly volume, as well as sent ones.
• The free plan of up to 100 emails a month is not advertised; the pricing page says to email the company.
• Email content is kept for 30 days, and a longer period has to be requested.

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.

MailPace

HTTP API and SMTP server

Mail can be sent through a JSON HTTPS API or an SMTP server, with client libraries listed for Rails, Laravel, Node.js, Python, Go and more.

Inbound email

Incoming mail is received over SMTP and converted into HTTP webhooks that an application can process.

Idempotent requests

A request can carry an idempotency ID, so a retry does not send the same message twice.

No open or click tracking

MailPace says it never tracks email opens or clicks. It reports delivery acceptance rates instead.

Bounce and blocklist handling

Bounces are tracked automatically and bounced addresses are kept on a blocklist, with anti-spam checks on outgoing mail.

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.

MailPace

• Pay as you grow$10

  per month for the first 10,000 emails sent and received

  One plan with every feature included. The price follows monthly volume, set on a slider from 100 to 1,000,000 emails; extra emails are added to the bill.