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It's a split decision.
Choose Mailgun if you need a lower-cost paid entry plan, email validation, inbound parsing or email previews alongside sending. Its Basic plan is $15/month for 10,000 emails. Choose Twilio SendGrid if you want a listed 50,000-email Essentials tier, marketing campaign tools or published Pro tiers up to 2.5 million emails per month. Both provide an Email API and SMTP service. Compare your expected volume, overages and migration needs before choosing.
01Side by side
| Mailgun | Twilio SendGrid | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $15 monthly entry; usage add-ons after included volume. | $19.95 monthly entry; tiered email-volume plans. |
| Free tier | 100 emails/day; Free plan includes one custom domain. | 100 emails/day for 60 days; Free Trial. |
| API and SMTP | Email API, SMTP, inbound parsing and validation. | Email API and SMTP service. |
| Docs and SDKs | Documentation and SDKs listed. | Up-to-date API documentation. |
| Integrations | CRM data connections and a Cursor plugin. | Partners support integrations and custom solutions. |
| Deployment model | Hosted transactional email API and SMTP service. | Twilio-hosted Email API, SMTP and campaign tools. |
| Platforms | Web. | Web. |
| Limits and scaling | Plans list 10,000–100,000 monthly; Enterprise offers custom services. | Plans list 50,000–2,500,000 monthly; Premier has custom volume. |
Mailgun Choose Mailgun if
- Choose Mailgun if your paid sending volume starts near 10,000 emails monthly.
- Choose Mailgun if you need inbound parsing or email validation tools.
- Choose Mailgun if CRM connections or its Cursor plugin fit your workflow.
Twilio SendGrid Choose Twilio SendGrid if
- Choose Twilio SendGrid if you need a listed 50,000-email Essentials tier.
- Choose Twilio SendGrid if you need marketing campaign tools alongside delivery.
- Choose Twilio SendGrid if published Pro tiers match your higher email volume.
02Pricing at real usage
Mailgun’s Free plan includes 100 emails per day, one custom sending domain, two API keys and one day of log retention. Basic is $15/month for 10,000 emails, with no daily limit; Foundation is $35/month for 50,000, and Scale is $90/month for 100,000. Extra email rates start at $1.80, $1.30 and $1.10 per 1,000 on Basic, Foundation and Scale, respectively.
SendGrid’s 60-day Free Trial also allows 100 emails/day. Essentials starts at $19.95/month for 50,000 emails; the 100,000-email Essentials plan is $34.95/month. Pro starts at $89.95/month for 100,000 emails and adds one dedicated IP. Listed Pro tiers extend to 2.5 million emails at $1,099/month; Premier is custom. SendGrid overage rates are not listed on its primary pricing page. Compare expected monthly volume and overages, not just entry prices: Mailgun starts lower, while SendGrid’s listed paid entry includes five times the volume. Both list monthly prices; annual prices are not published.
03API, SDKs and integration
Mailgun provides an Email API and SMTP services to send, receive and track email. Its tools also cover real-time API or bulk-list validation, incoming email parsing and email previews. The homepage links to documentation and SDKs, and describes CRM data connections and a Cursor plugin. It does not name SDK languages or CLI workflows on the product page.
Twilio SendGrid provides an Email API and SMTP service, plus separate tools for creating marketing campaigns. Its site points developers to up-to-date API documentation and to partners who can help integrate the API, optimize deliverability or build custom solutions. The product page does not identify SDK languages or CLI workflows. Both fit applications that need email delivery through an API or SMTP; Mailgun lists more adjacent email tools, while SendGrid also presents campaign features. Check the current vendor documentation for language-specific setup and integration details.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Both products are hosted email services: Mailgun is a transactional email delivery service and API, while SendGrid’s email products are available through Twilio.com. Neither vendor publishes whether the service is open source, whether it can be self-hosted, or what data-export formats and migration tools it offers.
Treat both as external dependencies in your sending path. Moving providers may require adapting API calls or SMTP configuration and rebuilding provider-specific settings. Before committing, ask each vendor what you can export, including templates, suppression data, message history and event records, and how domains, routing rules and account credentials transfer. Confirm whether you can retrieve the data your application needs before ending an account. These answers affect migration effort more than the shared API-and-SMTP model.
Questions people ask
Is Mailgun cheaper than Twilio SendGrid?
Mailgun has the lower listed paid entry price: $15/month for 10,000 emails. SendGrid starts at $19.95/month, which includes 50,000 emails. The plans cover different volumes, so compare the tier closest to your sending needs and account for extra email charges or overages.
Which service is better for transactional email?
Both offer an Email API and SMTP service for delivery. Mailgun also lists incoming email parsing, validation and email previews. SendGrid pairs delivery with marketing campaign tools. Choose based on the features your application needs and verify that the plan’s volume and account limits match your sending pattern.
Can I send email through SMTP with both services?
Yes. Mailgun lists API and SMTP services for sending, receiving and tracking email. Twilio SendGrid also offers an Email API and SMTP service. Check each provider’s documentation for configuration details and confirm how your current mail client or application handles the provider’s SMTP setup.
Which service supports higher published monthly volumes?
SendGrid lists Pro plans up to 2.5 million emails per month, with a Premier plan for custom email volume. Mailgun’s listed Scale plan includes 100,000 emails per month, and its Enterprise plan offers custom features and services. Ask vendors about pricing and limits for volumes beyond their published tiers.