Mailtrap vs Postmark
We give Mailtrap a 2.6 GPA and Postmark a 2.2, out of 4.0. Mailtrap grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Mailtrap
Email API and SMTP for sending, with a sandbox for testing emails
Postmark
Transactional email API and SMTP, with broadcasts on a separate stream
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAMailtrapGood | 2.2GPAPostmarkFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BGraded on 50,000 emails a month: Basic is $20 at that volume, in the cheaper quarter of this category, with 3 users and 5 domains. There's no yearly discount on sending, and dedicated IPs, SSO and live chat need Business at $85. | DGraded on 50,000 emails a month: $55 on Basic or $60.50 on Pro, billed monthly only. That's the dearest in this category at that volume, roughly twice the middle. Bootstrapped companies can ask for $75 of credit, which helps a bit. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for good: 4,000 emails a month, but only 150 a day, with 1 user, 1 domain and 3 days of logs, and no extra emails allowed. Handy for a side project, tight for a live app. | CA free developer plan that never expires and needs no card, but it's 100 emails a month with no way to buy more. That's for testing an integration, not running an app. |
| Features | BAPI and SMTP with SDKs, templates, webhooks, a separate bulk stream, inbound email, analytics by mailbox provider and a sandbox for test emails. It covers the whole job, though the sandbox is a separate plan and no address validation is on record. | BAPI and SMTP with SDKs, separate streams for app and bulk email, inbound email turned into JSON, templates, 45 days of message history and DMARC reports as an add-on. It covers the whole job; inbound needs Pro. |
| Ease of use | CJudged on how fast a developer sends a first email: SDKs for five languages and SMTP, once a domain is verified, and the sandbox lets you test without emailing anyone. No rating on record. | CJudged on how fast a developer sends a first email: official SDKs, a sandbox mode, ready-made templates for resets and receipts, and migration guides. You'll still verify a domain first. No rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with an API, SMTP and SDKs, plus Supabase, Vercel, Claude, Cursor, Windsurf and Antigravity. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. | BWeb, with an API and SMTP, plus Zapier, WordPress, Stripe, Slack, Supabase, Bubble, Netlify and Datadog. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | testing and sending email from one provider | app email kept apart from marketing sends |
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: Mailtrap and Postmark. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mailtrap starts at $15 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Postmark starts at $15 a month and scores 2.7.
On this chart the two sit in the same place: the same score for the same starting price. Of the other email sending services on the chart, none scores higher than Mailtrap for less, and none scores higher than Postmark 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
- Mailtrap starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails. Postmark starts at $15 per month for 10,000 emails.
- Mailtrap also covers email campaigns.
- Postmark also covers dMARC.
At a glance
| Mailtrap | Postmark | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per month for 10,000 emails | $15 per month for 10,000 emails |
| Free plan | 4,000 emails a month, limited to 150 a day, 1 user, 1 sending domain and 3 days of email logs, through the API or SMTP. | Free developer plan: 100 emails a month with no expiry and no overages, for testing an integration or a small side project. No credit card needed. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Railsware | ActiveCampaign, LLC |
| Price read from | mailtrap.io | postmarkapp.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Mailtrap
- Developers who want testing and sending from one provider
- Small teams sending up to 4,000 emails a month for free
- Companies moving from SendGrid, Mailgun or Amazon SES
Postmark
- Software teams whose password resets and receipts must arrive fast
- Apps that need to receive and parse incoming email
- Bootstrapped founders, who can ask for $75 of credit
Worth knowing
Mailtrap
- Basic has no dedicated IP and keeps 5 days of logs; dedicated IPs, SSO and live chat support start with Business at $85 a month.
- The free plan caps sending at 150 emails a day and allows no overage.
- Email Sandbox for testing and Email Marketing for campaigns are priced separately; marketing starts at $15 a month for 10,000 contacts.
- Overages are capped, so senders far above their plan's volume are told to upgrade.
Postmark
- There is no tier between the free 100 emails a month and the 10,000-email paid plans.
- Billing is monthly only; the FAQ says annual plans are not offered yet.
- Basic has no inbound email processing and caps users at 4 and sending domains at 5.
- Dedicated IPs start at $50 a month per IP, need Pro or higher and 300,000 emails a month or more.
Key features
Mailtrap
- Email API and SMTP
- Send through a REST API with SDKs for Python, PHP, Ruby, Node.js and Java, or through SMTP, with hosted templates and webhooks for opens, clicks and bounces.
- Bulk stream
- Bulk and marketing email goes out on a separate stream, by API or SMTP, so it does not affect the reputation of transactional sending.
- Email Sandbox
- A fake SMTP server catches emails from dev, QA and staging, with HTML and spam checks, sold as separate plans from free for 50 test emails a month.
- Inbound email
- Dedicated inbound addresses, real-time webhooks and API access let your app or AI agents receive email.
- Deliverability analytics
- Stats for each mailbox provider, bounce categories and feedback-loop complaint data, with reputation alerts and dedicated IPs from Business.
- Security and accounts
- Two-factor sign-in and API key permissions on every plan, IP allowlisting from Basic, and SSO and subaccounts from Business.
Postmark
- Email API and SMTP
- Send through a REST API with official SDKs or through SMTP, with batch sending, a sandbox mode and migration guides from other providers.
- Message streams
- Transactional and bulk or broadcast email run on separate sending infrastructure, so marketing sends do not affect password resets and receipts.
- Inbound email processing
- Pro and Platform turn incoming email into a JSON object and post it to a webhook URL your app handles.
- Templates
- Responsive templates for welcome emails, password resets and receipts, with a template editor and import tool.
- Message history and analytics
- 45 days of full message content by default, adjustable from 7 to 365 days, with bounce details, open and link tracking and a stats API.
- DMARC monitoring
- DMARC Digests reports show authentication problems and who is sending with your domain, sold as an add-on from $14 a month per domain.
Plans
Mailtrap
Free$0
4,000 emails a month and 150 a day, 1 user, 1 domain, 3 days of logs, no extra emails.
Basic$15
per month for 10,000 emails
3 users, 5 domains, 5 days of logs, email support on weekdays. Extra emails $1 per 1,000. $20 a month at 50,000 emails and $30 at 100,000.
Business$85
per month for 100,000 emails
100 users, 100 domains, 15 days of logs, dedicated IP with warm-up, SSO, subaccounts, 24/7 chat. Extra emails $0.88 per 1,000.
Enterprise$750
per month for 1,500,000 emails
Unlimited users and domains, 30 days of logs, priority support. Extra emails $0.55 per 1,000; $1,250 at 2.5 million, custom above.
Postmark
Free$0
100 emails a month, never expires; extra emails cannot be bought on this plan.
Basic$15
per month for 10,000 emails
5 sending domains, 4 users, 45 days of history, no inbound email. Extra emails $1.80 per 1,000; $55 a month at 50,000 emails.
Pro$16.50
per month for 10,000 emails
10 domains, 6 users, inbound email, retention up to 365 days. Extra emails $1.30 per 1,000; $60.50 a month at 50,000 emails.
Platform$18
per month for 10,000 emails
Unlimited domains, servers, streams and users, with inbound email. Extra emails $1.20 per 1,000; $66 a month at 50,000 emails.
High volumeCustom
Custom pricing for large senders, arranged through sales.
Ways to pay less
Mailtrap
No public discounts listed.
Postmark
- Startups
$75 credit for bootstrapped companies
Companies that have launched, are charging for their product and have taken no outside investment can ask support for $75 of account credit.
