Mailgun vs SMTP.com
We give Mailgun a 2.4 GPA and SMTP.com a 1.8, out of 4.0. 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.
Mailgun
Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation
SMTP.com
SMTP relay and email API sold in monthly volume plans from 50,000
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAMailgunFair | 1.8GPASMTP.comWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 cheaper but stops at 10,000 emails, 1 domain and 1 day of logs. A dedicated IP means Scale at $90. | CGraded on 50,000 emails a month: Essential is $25 for exactly that, on a shared IP, which is the middle of this category at that volume. Reputation Defender and Insight Engine add $5 a month each, and a dedicated IP means Starter at $80 for 100,000. |
| 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. | FNothing free: no free plan and no trial. The smallest plan is $25 a month, so you pay before you've sent a single email. |
| 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 whole job; inbox placement tests are a separate product. | CSMTP relay and an email API, detailed delivery reports, dedicated IPs from the $80 plan, and paid add-ons that weed out bad addresses as you send. It handles the sending, but nothing on record covers templates, webhooks or inbound email. |
| 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. | CJudged on how fast a developer sends a first email: you choose a plan and pay before you get to send, then use SMTP or the API. No rating on record. Managed onboarding and migration help are there if you're moving from another provider. |
| 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. | BWeb, with an SMTP relay and an email API, plus WordPress, Shopify, Google Forms, Google Docs, Wufoo, Airtable, Trello and Slack. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | sending and receiving email from an app | senders already past 50,000 emails a month |
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 SMTP.com. 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. SMTP.com starts at $25 a month and scores 2.3.
Mailgun scores higher and starts $10 a month lower. Of the other email sending services on the chart, none scores higher than Mailgun for less, and 9 score higher than SMTP.com 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 starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails. SMTP.com starts at $25 per month for 50,000 emails.
- Mailgun has a free plan. SMTP.com does not.
- Mailgun also covers email verification.
At a glance
| Mailgun | SMTP.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $15 per month for 10,000 emails | $25 per month for 50,000 emails |
| 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 | J2 Global Canada, Inc. |
| Price read from | mailgun.com | smtp.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Mailgun
- Developers sending and receiving email from an app
- Teams that want address validation from the same provider
- Companies that need email data kept in the EU
SMTP.com
- Senders who already need 50,000 emails a month or more
- Businesses that want a dedicated IP at a low monthly volume
- Very high-volume senders wanting their own instance of the platform
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.
SMTP.com
- There is no free plan or free trial; the smallest plan is $25 a month for 50,000 emails.
- Reputation Defender and Insight Engine each cost 20% of the plan price; on Essential that is $5 a month each.
- Essential sends from a shared IP; a dedicated IP starts with the $80 Starter plan.
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.
SMTP.com
- SMTP relay and email API
- Send from an app or another platform through SMTP or the email relay API, with documentation for developers and help with custom API integrations.
- Dedicated IPs
- Every plan from the $80 Starter plan up sends from a dedicated IP address; Essential uses a shared one.
- Reputation Defender add-on
- Checks addresses at the moment of sending and suppresses invalid ones, to cut hard and soft bounces and protect your domain and IP reputation.
- Insight Engine add-on
- A daily report with extra data about the people on your lists, meant for building customer profiles and new segments.
- Migration help
- Managed onboarding and help moving over from providers such as SendGrid and Mailgun, with in-house support on every plan.
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.
SMTP.com
Essential$25
per month for 50,000 emails
Shared IP, email relay API, support and detailed reporting. Overage is $0.000625 per email ($0.63 per 1,000).
Starter$80
per month for 100,000 emails
Adds a dedicated IP address, with the same API, support and reporting.
Growth$300
per month for 500,000 emails
Dedicated IP, email relay API, support and detailed reporting.
Business$500
per month for 1,000,000 emails
Dedicated IP, email relay API, support and detailed reporting.
High Volume SendersCustom
At least 250 million emails a month: a dedicated instance of the platform, its own IP and mail server, and a dedicated account manager.
