GUIDE 03 · MAILGUN PRICING · VERIFIED SEP 2026
Mailgun pricing: $15/10k · $35/50k · $90/100k
Mailgun prices by included volume with declining overages as you commit higher. Official source: mailgun.com/pricing.
| Tier | Price | Included | Overage / 1k | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial | $0 | 100 emails/day | — | API integration |
| Basic | $15/mo | 10,000 | $1.80 | Small transactional apps |
| Foundation | $35/mo | 50,000 | $1.30 | Growing SaaS notifications |
| Scale | $90/mo | 100,000 | $1.10 | High-volume platforms |
Rule: pick the tier whose included volume covers your P75 month; let overages absorb spikes.
Break-even checks
Basic vs Foundation
At 20k monthly sends: Basic costs $15 + 10k × $1.80 = $33. Foundation at $35 is effectively parity with more headroom and better features. Cross to Foundation once you exceed ~19k sends for two consecutive months.
Foundation vs Scale
At 80k sends: Foundation costs $35 + 30k × $1.30 = $74. Scale at $90 only wins past ~92k sends — but buys deliverability services and IP options that justify early migration for placement-sensitive senders.
Validations and hidden costs
Email validations are the main add-on to model: validating imports and signup flows reduces hard bounces that would otherwise cost reputation and overages. Budget validation spend as insurance — see validation discussion. Dedicated IPs and deliverability services on upper tiers are optional but material at scale.
Fit check
- Choose Mailgun when logs, routes, and webhook observability are daily tools, not quarterly audits.
- Choose Sequenzy instead when billing-triggered lifecycle and AI sequences dominate — see Sequenzy guide.
- Choose SendGrid Pro when subuser/multi-client isolation matters more than route-level control — see SendGrid guide.