The Mailgun Alternative With Simpler Pricing
Mailgun costs $35 a month for 50,000 emails. Mailfully costs $19 for the same 50,000 and has a free plan of 5,000 a month, where Mailgun's stops at 100 a day.
5,000 emails a month free, then plans from $19/mo, with $0.40 per 1,000 emails past a paid plan's allowance.
Why Teams Look for an Alternative
Mailgun allows 1,000 sending domains from its $35 plan and has SAML single sign-on on its Scale plan. Scale also includes phone support, and Mailgun has a self-serve EU region.
The free plan is 100 a day
Mailgun's free plan tops out at about 3,100 emails a month. Mailfully's free tier is 5,000 a month with a 200-a-day cap and no card.
Plans under $35 keep logs for one day
Foundation, the $35 plan, keeps logs for 5 days. Free and Basic keep 1 day, and 30 days means the Scale plan, which starts at $90. Mailfully keeps 30 days or more on every plan, Free included.
Test sends are billed
Mailgun's test-mode documentation says it charges for messages sent in test mode. A Mailfully test key sends through a mailbox simulator and is never metered or billed.
Mailfully Compared With Mailgun
| Mailfully | Mailgun | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 5,000 emails a month, 200 a day | 100 emails a day, one custom domain |
| 50,000 emails a month | $19 | $35 (Foundation) |
| Overage per 1,000 | $0.40 per 1,000 on every paid plan; Free stops at 5,000 | $1.80 on Basic, falling to $0.50 at 1 million; it can't be switched off |
| Log retention | 30 days, 60 on Growth, 90 on Scale | 1 day on Free and Basic, 5 on Foundation, 30 on Scale |
| Test mode | Never metered or billed | Billed like a real send |
| Sending domains | 3 on Free, 10 on Starter, 25 on Growth, unlimited on Scale | 1 on Free and Basic, 1,000 from Foundation |
| Single sign-on | Not offered | SAML on Scale |
Mailgun figures checked in October 2026 from its own published pricing and documentation. Published prices change; check both before you commit.
What the Same Volume Costs
| Emails a month | Mailfully | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | $0 | $15 |
| 50,000 | $19 | $35 |
| 100,000 | $39 | $75 |
| 150,000 | $49 | $130 |
| 300,000 | $109 | $260 |
| 500,000 | $149 | $400 |
| 1,000,000 | $349 | $700 |
Mailgun's Free plan is 100 emails a day, so 5,000 a month needs the $15 Basic plan. At 150,000 and 300,000 the Mailgun figure is the nearest plan plus Mailgun's overage. Prices are for monthly billing, and Mailgun publishes no annual discount.
What Mailfully Does Better
- Best in Class Pricing
- Straightforward plans, published in full. Past a paid plan's allowance, extra emails are a flat $0.40 per 1,000 at any volume.
- Get Real Human Support
- Every paid plan includes support from a real person. When an email goes missing, our team pulls up the message, reads the log, and tells you what happened.
- Detailed Logging and History
- Every email keeps a complete history, down to the exact reply from the receiving mail server. When a customer says a receipt never arrived, you see what Gmail said about it. Logs are kept for 30 days on Free and Starter, 60 on Growth and 90 on Scale, available from the API and the dashboard. Mailgun keeps logs for 1 day on Free and Basic.
Moving Over
Mailgun's API takes multipart/form-data at /v3/{domain}/messages with Basic auth, where the username is api and the password is your key. Mailfully takes JSON with a Bearer key.
// Before
// const form = new FormData();
// form.append("from", "you@yourdomain.com");
// form.append("to", "customer@example.com");
// form.append("subject", "Welcome aboard");
// form.append("html", "<p>Thanks for signing up!</p>");
//
// await fetch(`https://api.mailgun.net/v3/${domain}/messages`, {
// method: "POST",
// headers: {
// Authorization: "Basic " + btoa("api:" + process.env.MAILGUN_API_KEY),
// },
// body: form,
// });
import { Mailfully } from "mailfully";
const mailfully = new Mailfully({
apiKey: process.env.MAILFULLY_API_KEY ?? "",
});
const { data, error } = await mailfully.emails.send({
from: "you@yourdomain.com",
to: "customer@example.com",
subject: "Welcome aboard",
html: "<p>Thanks for signing up!</p>",
});
if (error) throw new Error(`${error.type}: ${error.message}`);Questions
- Does Mailfully have a Flex-style pay-as-you-go plan?
- No. The free plan covers 5,000 emails a month. Paid plans start at $19 for 50,000 emails, with $0.40 per 1,000 past the allowance. Mailgun's Flex plan, which charged $1.00 per 1,000 after the first 1,000 a month, is marked deprecated in Mailgun's help center.
- Do test sends cost anything?
- No. A test key sends through a mailbox simulator, and Mailfully never meters or bills it. On Mailgun a test-mode message is billed like any other.
Send the First One Free
5,000 emails a month on the free tier, no card. Paid plans start at $19/mo, with $0.40 per 1,000 emails beyond the allowance.
Start free