Mailgun
Email sending API for developers: transactional and bulk messages with delivery tracking. Free plan with 100 emails a day; the Basic plan starts at $15 a month for 10,000 emails.
Sending an email is easy; getting it to the inbox is not. Deliverability depends on the reputation of sending addresses, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), handling of bounces and complaints, and warming up an address, which a provider does across thousands of customers. You can host your own sender (Postal), but a new server often lands in spam. For a few transactional emails, a provider's free plan is usually the better choice.
What you lose
- The reputation of established sending addresses
- Handling of bounces and complaints
- Delivery tracking and logs
- Support for deliverability problems
Existing alternatives to Mailgun
- PostalOpen source
Self-hosted email delivery platform (MIT); you handle server reputation and deliverability yourself.
Frequently asked questions
- Can Mailgun be replaced by a custom-built tool?
- casevibecode verdict: Not replaceable. Sending an email is easy; getting it to the inbox is not. Deliverability depends on the reputation of sending addresses, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), handling of bounces and complaints, and warming up an address, which a provider does across thousands of customers. You can host your own sender (Postal), but a new server often lands in spam. For a few transactional emails, a provider's free plan is usually the better choice.
- What is Mailgun used for?
- Email sending API for developers: transactional and bulk messages with delivery tracking. Free plan with 100 emails a day; the Basic plan starts at $15 a month for 10,000 emails.
- What alternatives to Mailgun already exist?
- Postal (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.
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