# Mailtrap

> Email API and SMTP for sending, with a sandbox for testing emails

Mailtrap, from Railsware, sends transactional and bulk email through an API or SMTP, and is also known for its Email Sandbox, which catches test emails from development and staging so they never reach real people. It adds inbound email for apps and AI agents, a separate bulk stream and analytics by mailbox provider. Sending plans are priced by emails a month, with 4,000 a month free.

- **Category:** Email Sending Services
- **Made by:** Railsware
- **Website:** https://mailtrap.io
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 18, 2026

## Pricing

Mailtrap has a free plan. Paid plans start at $15 per month for 10,000 emails.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **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 trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Read from https://mailtrap.io/pricing/ on Oct 18, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Mailtrap before buying.

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- 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

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 18, 2026. Mailtrap is best known for its sandbox, which catches test emails from development so they never reach real people, and it sends real email too, by API or SMTP. 50,000 emails is $20 a month on Basic, among the cheapest at that volume. The sandbox and marketing are priced separately, and dedicated IPs wait for the $85 Business plan.

- **Value for money: B.** Graded 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.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** Free 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.
- **Features: B.** API 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.
- **Ease of use: C.** Judged 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.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, with an API, SMTP and SDKs, plus Supabase, Vercel, Claude, Cursor, Windsurf and Antigravity. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Mailtrap's own pages on 18 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among email sending services

- Mailtrap's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 6 of the 11 other email sending services we grade, and level with 4.
- It stands best on value for money (B, above 6 of 11) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $15 a month, against a middle price of $15 for the category: 2 of the 10 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/email-sending

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Mailtrap you would be making mail servers with a good name among inbox providers. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $180 a year.

- You could not: Mail servers with a good name among inbox providers.
- You could not: Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Supabase, Vercel and Claude among them, and has an API.
- You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: single sign-on and roles and permissions.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Supabase, Vercel, Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity

**Tags:** Transactional email, Public API, Email campaigns

## Alternatives

- [Twilio SendGrid](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sendgrid): Twilio's email API and SMTP service, priced by monthly email volume. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailtrap-vs-sendgrid)
- [Mailgun](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailgun): Email API and SMTP relay for developers, with list validation. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailgun-vs-mailtrap)
- [Postmark](https://toolgpa.com/tools/postmark): Transactional email API and SMTP, with broadcasts on a separate stream. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailtrap-vs-postmark)
- [Resend](https://toolgpa.com/tools/resend): Developer email API with React Email templates and a free tier. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailtrap-vs-resend)
- [MailerSend](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailersend): Transactional email and SMS API from the team behind MailerLite. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailersend-vs-mailtrap)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 18, 2026:

- https://mailtrap.io/pricing/
- https://mailtrap.io/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailtrap
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).