Mailgun vs Nodemailer (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Nodemailer grades higher than Mailgun: 2.6 against 2.4 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. Nodemailer grades higher 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.
Mailgun
Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation
Nodemailer
Free Node.js library for sending email over SMTP and other transports
Which one is for you
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 Nodemailer if
- Fits if you write Node.js and want to send mail from your own code
- Works for apps that already have an SMTP server and need a way to talk to it
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't write code, since it's a library with no screen
- Too light for deliverability, tracking or analytics, none of which it includes
- Not for you if you're on an older Node.js: version 10 needs Node.js 20 or later
- Watch out: you supply the SMTP server or other transport yourself
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAMailgunFair | 2.6GPANodemailerGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | AFree under the MIT-0 license, including for commercial use. Anyone can download it, so it earns the top mark. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | AEverything is free with no limits, no account and no trial to run out. |
| Features | 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. | CSends over SMTP, Sendmail, SES or streams, with attachments, DKIM, OAuth2 and test accounts. It does that job fully, but it's a small job: no analytics, no deliverability tools. |
| Ease of use | 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. | DNo store rating on record. It's a code library, so you write the code and supply the transport. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | CA Node.js library only, with Amazon SES and Ethereal listed. No app, no dashboard. |
| Best for | sending and receiving email from an app | sending email from Node.js code |
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: Mailgun and Nodemailer. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mailgun starts at $15 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Nodemailer has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Mailgun scores higher, and starts $15 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email sending services on the chart, none scores higher than Mailgun for less, and none scores higher than Nodemailer 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
- Nodemailer is open source, according to its own site.
- Mailgun also covers email verification.
At a glance
| Mailgun | Nodemailer | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $15 per month for 10,000 emails | Free |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of the Foundation and Scale plans | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Mailgun | Andris Reinman |
| Price read from | mailgun.com | nodemailer.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Nodemailer
- It is a library only: you supply the SMTP server or other transport, and it adds no deliverability tooling or analytics.
- Nodemailer 10 requires Node.js 20 or later; older Node.js versions stay on the 9.x line.
- The site says development is sustained by EmailEngine licenses, and the library itself is MIT-0 licensed.
Key features
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.
Nodemailer
- Zero runtime dependencies
- Installs with npm install nodemailer and includes TypeScript definitions, with both ES module and CommonJS builds.
- Multiple transports
- Sends through SMTP, Sendmail, Amazon SES or streams, using a reusable transporter object.
- Messages and attachments
- Builds multipart messages from HTML and plain-text bodies, with attachments, embedded images and full Unicode support.
- Security options
- TLS and STARTTLS are handled automatically, and DKIM signing, OAuth2 authentication and proxy support are included.
- Test accounts
- Integrates with Ethereal, a fake SMTP service, to generate test accounts for local development.
Plans
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.
Nodemailer
Nodemailer$0
Free under the MIT-0 license, including commercial use, with no attribution required.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Mailgun or Nodemailer?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Nodemailer is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $15 a month for Mailgun. Mailgun starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails, and Nodemailer is free.
Which has a free plan, Mailgun or Nodemailer?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Mailgun and Nodemailer 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.