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Mailgun — Transactional email infrastructure that just keeps delivering

Email Deliverability

Mailgun is an email API for transactional sending — receipts, password resets, notifications. It handles deliverability plumbing (SPF, DKIM, dedicated IPs, reputation monitoring) so your app's critical emails reach the inbox instead of the spam folder. Boring, battle-tested infrastructure used by thousands of engineering teams.

Best for

  • +Developers sending transactional email from an app
  • +Teams with deliverability problems on self-hosted SMTP
  • +Products where a missed password reset costs a customer
  • +Engineering teams that want logs and webhooks, not a marketing UI

Not ideal for

  • −Marketing newsletters and campaigns (use an ESP instead)
  • −Non-technical users who need a drag-and-drop email builder
  • −Very low volume senders who fit inside a free tier elsewhere

Illustrative Case Study

Based on realistic usage patterns and typical results reported by users — not a verified customer story. Numbers are illustrative.

✗

The Problem

A SaaS company sending 40,000 password resets and receipts a month was using their app server's built-in SMTP. Roughly 12% of emails landed in spam or bounced silently. Support handled about 60 tickets a month from users who never received a reset link, and two enterprise trials stalled because onboarding emails vanished.

→

The Solution

They moved transactional sending to Mailgun's Foundation plan. Proper SPF/DKIM authentication, a warmed sending domain, real-time bounce and complaint webhooks, and log retention meant they could finally see what happened to every message.

✓

The Result

Inbox placement went from ~88% to over 99% within three weeks. Support tickets about missing emails dropped from ~60/mo to under 5. The two stalled enterprise trials both converted once onboarding emails actually arrived.

💡 ROI Estimate: Tool costs $35/mo. Eliminates ~55 support tickets/mo (~$690 in support time at $12.50/ticket), plus recovered trial conversions. ROI: roughly 20x on support savings alone.

— Frequently asked questions about Mailgun

Mailgun vs Postmark: which is better for transactional email?+
Postmark has a stronger reputation for raw inbox placement on transactional mail and simpler pricing. Mailgun offers broader infrastructure — email validation, inbound routing, more granular API control, and better economics at higher volumes. For under ~50k emails/month Postmark is often the easier choice; above that Mailgun's pricing and tooling tend to win.
How much does Mailgun cost?+
The Basic plan starts at $15/month for 10,000 emails, with Foundation around $35/month for 50,000 including a dedicated IP option and longer log retention. There's a 30-day trial rather than a permanent free tier.
Does Mailgun improve deliverability on its own?+
Partly. It gives you the infrastructure that matters — authenticated sending domains, IP reputation management, bounce and complaint handling, and detailed logs. But deliverability still depends on your list hygiene and content; Mailgun removes the technical excuses, not the behavioural ones.
Can I use Mailgun for marketing emails?+
You can, but it isn't the point. Mailgun is built for transactional API sending. For campaigns and newsletters you want an ESP with templates, segmentation, and automation — Mailgun is the plumbing under your app, not a marketing tool.
Browse all Email Deliverability tools →

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— See also in Email Deliverability

P

Postmark

Transactional emails that actually arrive in the inbox — not the spam folder

S

SendGrid

Reliable email delivery at scale — 100B+ emails sent per year

💰 Your ROI Calculator

Personalize the estimate — what's your time worth?

$/hr

Mailgun saves ~9 hrs/mo on Support tickets and debugging for undelivered transactional email.

Time value (9 hrs × $50)$450/mo
Tool cost−$35/mo
Net monthly savings$415/mo
ROI multiple13x return

* Estimate based on typical usage. Your actual results will vary.

Pricing

Starting from$15/mo (Basic, 10k emails)
✓ 30-day free trial

Quick facts

CategoryEmail Deliverability
Headquarters🇺🇸 USA
◆5.0/ 5.0Boring Score

💡 Tool costs $35/mo. Eliminates ~55 support tickets/mo (~$690 in support time at $12.50/ticket), plus recovered trial conversions. ROI: roughly 20x on support savings alone.

Visit Mailgun