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Transactional Email

Mailgun

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Panel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars

Category median

Sovereignty: not determined

0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.

by Mailgun Technologies, Inc. · www.mailgun.com

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Mailgun: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai Mailgun: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai (dark)

Add ?theme=dark to the image address for dark backgrounds. The badge shows the category and the month of the latest evaluation, and EU-Made where that is the product’s provenance. It never shows a score.

Mailgun at a glance

Vendor
Mailgun Technologies, Inc.
Headquarters
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
Data hosting
Default not stated; pages mention the US, the EU, United States and Europe source, captured 1 Nov 2026
Free plan
Yes, per the vendor’s own page source, captured 1 Nov 2026
Starting price
“Send 100 emails/day free, with packages starting at just $15/month.” (vendor’s words) source, captured 1 Nov 2026
Panel verdict
The AI panel rates Mailgun 2/5, the mean of 6 judges. Mailgun is a transactional email API and SMTP relay from Mailgun Technologies, Inc., part of Sinch AB. how scores are made
As of
Vendor pages captured 1 Nov 2026; evaluated by the panel 1 Nov 2026. all sources

Mailgun alternatives, European ones first →

Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.

The Skeptic

Weighted verdict

Has seen "99% deliverability" with no method behind it, "dedicated IPs" that shared a pool with bulk senders, "EU hosting" that covered the API endpoint but not the logs, and seven days of log retention discovered during an incident on day eight. Reads that a vendor is "trusted by thousands of developers" and asks how bounces are suppressed, what is stored per message, which entity signs the DPA — and what moving away would cost.

Same scores as the panel view — this lens weights them the way this judge cares.

Scored by The Skeptic

Panel median The Skeptic This judge’s scores over the panel median. Each label opens its reasoning below.
Scores per criterion, in stars out of 5
Criterion Panel median The Skeptic
Sending API, SMTP & developer experience 3 of 5 0 of 5
Deliverability & sender reputation 3.5 of 5 0 of 5
Message logs, events & webhooks 3.5 of 5 0 of 5
Message data, retention & security 3.5 of 5 0 of 5
Reliability, accounts & support 3 of 5 0 of 5
European sovereignty 2.5 of 5 0 of 5
Pricing transparency 4 of 5 0 of 5

Sending API, SMTP & developer experience

How this is scored

How an application sends mail: a REST API and an SMTP relay with their limits stated, official SDKs and drivers for named languages and frameworks (PHP and Laravel, Node, Python, Ruby and Rails, Java, Go, .NET), stored templates with variables and versions, batch sending, attachments, idempotency keys, scheduled sending, a test or sandbox mode that does not deliver, inbound email parsed into a webhook, and the quality of the API reference and guides.

0 — Not a sending service; an application cannot send email through it by API or SMTP.

3 — An API or SMTP credentials to send a message; SDKs, templates, limits and a test mode are basic or not described.

5 — A documented REST API and SMTP relay, official SDKs for several named languages, stored templates with variables, attachments and batch sending, rate limits stated, a sandbox or test mode, and quick-start guides for named frameworks.

8 — An API reference with every endpoint and error code, idempotency keys, scheduled sending, template versions and a template language documented, inbound email parsed to a webhook, an OpenAPI specification or official CLI, framework drivers maintained by the vendor, and a migration guide from named competitors.

10 — An API a team builds its product on: versioning and deprecation policy published, backward compatibility stated, full parity between API and SMTP features, local or staging test tooling that mirrors production, and every limit, timeout and retry behaviour documented.

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The Skeptic

The captured pages document a REST API and an SMTP relay on ports 25, 465 and 587, official SDKs for Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, C#, Node.js and Go, batch sending of up to 1,000 personalized emails in one call, scheduled sending, a sandbox domain for test sends, and inbound routing parsed to UTF-8 JSON. We found no public information on idempotency keys, rate limits, an error-code reference, template versioning or a migration guide from named competitors, which keeps this short of the higher anchors. 2 3 6 8 14 21

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Deliverability & sender reputation

How this is scored

What the vendor does so the mail reaches the inbox: guided SPF, DKIM and DMARC set-up with a custom return path and tracking domain, shared IP pools and how senders on them are vetted and policed, dedicated IPs with automatic warm-up, transactional and bulk mail kept on separate streams or IP pools, bounces, complaints and unsubscribes turned into suppressions automatically, feedback loops with mailbox providers, blocklist and DMARC monitoring, compliance with the Gmail and Yahoo bulk-sender rules, and published delivery times or inbox placement with their method.

0 — No sender authentication and no bounce handling; mail goes out from shared addresses with no reputation management at all.

3 — SPF and DKIM can be set up and bounces are recorded; IP policy, stream separation and suppressions are basic or not described.

5 — Guided SPF, DKIM and DMARC set-up with a custom return path, shared IPs with a stated sender vetting policy, dedicated IPs available, automatic suppression of hard bounces and complaints, transactional and marketing mail separated by stream or IP pool, and deliverability guidance in the documentation.

8 — Dedicated IPs with automatic warm-up and pool management, a stated acceptable-use and vetting process for shared pools, feedback loops and blocklist monitoring, DMARC reports, BIMI or custom tracking domains, compliance with the Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements stated, delivery times published, and access to deliverability experts.

10 — Deliverability that can be verified: delivery time and bounce rates per mailbox provider published continuously with their method, inbox placement testing included, pool reputation shown to the customer, and a documented escalation path with mailbox providers.

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The Skeptic

SPF, DKIM and DMARC support, automated recording of hard bounces, complaints and unsubscribes into a suppressions list, dedicated IPs with automated warm-up starting on the foundation plan, and a stated policy of enforcing bounce, complaint and list-sourcing rules are all documented, alongside seed-list inbox placement testing and access to deliverability experts. We found no public information on feedback loops, DMARC reports, a statement of compliance with the Gmail and Yahoo bulk-sender rules, or published delivery times — and blocklist monitoring and bounce classification sit in Mailgun Optimize, which the pricing pages say is priced separately. 2 3 5 7 13 14 15 16

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Message logs, events & webhooks

How this is scored

What the team can see about each message once the application has handed it over: a message log searchable by recipient, subject, tag or message ID, the full event history (processed, delivered, deferred, bounced with the remote server's answer, opened, clicked, complained), how long logs and message content are kept, event webhooks with retries and a signature, an events API, dashboards and statistics per stream, tag or domain, alerts on bounce or complaint spikes, and access for a support team without developer rights.

0 — Nothing can be seen after sending; no logs, no events and no webhooks.

3 — Totals of sent and bounced messages; per-message logs, webhooks and retention are basic or not described.

5 — A searchable message log with per-message event history and the bounce reason, log retention stated, event webhooks for delivery, bounce, open, click and complaint, statistics per tag or domain, and an API to fetch events.

8 — Webhooks signed and retried with their schedule documented, the raw SMTP response and the rendered message viewable per send, log retention configurable or extended by plan, alerts on bounce, complaint or delivery-time thresholds, export or streaming of events to a named log or data tool, and read-only roles for support staff.

10 — Full traceability: every message traceable from API call to the receiving server's final answer, events streamed in real time with ordering and delivery guarantees stated, long retention with search across the whole history, and observability features documented with their limits.

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The Skeptic

Logs are searchable by sender, recipient, subject, tag, list name and message ID, with retention stated per plan — from one day of log retention on the free and basic tiers to 30 days on Scale — message bodies kept up to seven days, and webhooks for delivered, bounced, opened, clicked, unsubscribed, complained and stored events signed with HMAC-SHA256 and retried automatically; events are also fetchable by API and can be forwarded to Splunk or Datadog. We found no public information on the raw SMTP response or rendered message per send, a documented retry schedule, alerts on bounce or complaint thresholds, or read-only roles for support staff. 3 7 11 17 18 21

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Message data, retention & security

How this is scored

What is stored about each message and what the customer controls: whether message bodies are stored or only metadata, retention periods and the setting to shorten them, deletion of a recipient's data on request, open and click tracking that can be switched off per stream or message, TLS for delivery with an option to require it, encryption at rest, API keys with scopes and per-domain restrictions, IP allow-listing, two-factor authentication and SSO for the dashboard, an audit log, a vulnerability disclosure programme, and security certifications or audits with their scope. Where the data is processed and by whom is scored under sovereignty.

0 — Stores every message indefinitely with no controls, and the vendor states it uses message content for its own purposes.

3 — A privacy policy and a statement that data is encrypted; what is stored, retention and access controls are basic or not described.

5 — What is stored per message documented, retention periods stated, open and click tracking switchable, TLS used for delivery, API keys with restricted permissions, two-factor authentication for the dashboard, and a data processing agreement offered.

8 — Message content retention configurable down to none or metadata only, enforced TLS per domain or message, encryption at rest stated, scoped API keys and IP allow-listing, SSO (SAML) and roles, an audit log, deletion of recipient data by API, and ISO 27001 or SOC 2 stated with its scope.

10 — Data minimisation that can be verified: every stored field and its retention listed, content never stored unless the customer opts in, customer-managed encryption keys or equivalent, independent audits published with their scope, and every security control the customer has listed with its effect.

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The Skeptic

The pages document what is stored per message — bodies up to seven days, metadata thirty days, suppressions until removal — plus hashed recipient addresses, AES-256 encryption at rest, two-factor authentication, IP access management, SAML SSO, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, a bug bounty, and APIs to search event data, suppressions and message content; staff may access message bodies for troubleshooting and that access is audited. Two things temper this: the terms say content may be transmitted even if the recipient does not also support TLS, resulting in an unencrypted transmission, and they reserve the vendor's right to view and use message routing data for general business purposes; we found no public information on switching off open and click tracking per stream or on API key scopes. 2 8 10 11 12 19 20

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Reliability, accounts & support

How this is scored

Whether the platform can be relied on and run by a team: a public status page with incident history, uptime SLA and service credits published, redundancy or failover across data centres described, queueing and retry of mail during outages, sub-accounts or servers per application, client or tenant, team members with roles, separate environments, support channels and response times per plan, named migration help, and integrations with platforms that send mail on the customer's behalf (WordPress, Shopify, Shopware, Supabase, Vercel and similar).

0 — No status page, no support channel and no way to separate users or applications.

3 — A support contact and a single account; status page, SLA, sub-accounts and roles are basic or not described.

5 — A public status page with incident history, an uptime SLA on at least one plan, sub-accounts or separate servers per application, team members with roles, support by email or chat with stated hours, and plugins or guides for several named platforms.

8 — An SLA with service credits published, redundancy across data centres or regions described, mail queued and retried during incidents, sub-accounts with their own keys, domains and limits manageable by API, granular roles, support response times per plan, and migration assistance offered.

10 — Reliability that can be verified: uptime history published for years, post-mortems for incidents, multi-region failover documented, an SLA covering delivery latency as well as API availability, and white-label or reseller tooling for agencies and platforms.

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The Skeptic

There is a status page, a 99.99% monthly uptime guarantee covering API, SMTP and outbound delivery with credits of 5% of the monthly fee per thirty minutes of downtime capped at 50% and claimable by support ticket within thirty days, five user roles with unlimited users from Foundation upward, 24/7 support that varies by plan, and plugins for WordPress, Shopify, Heroku and many other named platforms. We found no public information on incident history, redundancy across data centres, queueing of mail during outages, sub-accounts, or support response times per plan. 1 7 8 13 21 22

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European sovereignty

How this is scored

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where messages, logs and recipient data are processed and stored, whether an EU region can be chosen and what it covers, and who the subprocessors are (cloud hosting, sending infrastructure, logging, support and payment tools). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; every message carries personal data, so the whole sending chain counts, not only the dashboard.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.

3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.

5 — An EU region available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (sending infrastructure, logs, support, payment) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard, or the EU region does not cover logs and account data.

8 — EU processing of messages, logs and account data on named infrastructure, an EU contracting entity, subprocessors listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting, sending infrastructure and every subprocessor, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.

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The Skeptic

An EU region can be selected for sending, a data processing agreement is published carrying the 2021 standard contractual clauses with Swedish governing law and the Swedish authority as supervisor, and the terms name Mailgun Technologies, Inc. under Texas law as the contracting entity for Mailgun, with Mailjet SAS under French law as an alternative — the parent being Sinch AB of Stockholm. We found no public information on where messages, logs and account data are stored, on the locations of the named subprocessors, or on what the EU region covers beyond sending, and transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework certified for the US entity. 8 9 10 11 14 20

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Pricing transparency

How this is scored

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per tier by monthly message volume, the price per additional thousand messages, the free tier and its limits, what dedicated IPs, extra log retention, sub-accounts, SSO and support plans cost, minimum term, and whether unused volume carries over.

0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or a free tier exists, but how cost scales with volume or which features cost extra is unclear.

5 — Tiers are public with their monthly volume and price, but at least one commonly needed piece (overage rate, dedicated IP, longer log retention, SSO, support plan) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with its volume and overage rate per thousand messages, dedicated IPs and add-ons priced, log retention per tier stated, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.

10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given monthly volume, number of domains and sub-accounts and feature set, with every add-on, support and overage fee and the cancellation terms published.

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The Skeptic

Every self-service tier is public with volume and overage — free at 100 emails/day, paid beginning at $15/month for 10,000 emails, Foundation at $35/mo with 50,000 emails/mo and 'from $1.30 / 1,000 emails', Scale at $90/mo with 100,000 emails/mo and 'from $1.10 / 1,000 emails' — plus dedicated IPs at $59/IP/month, log retention of 1, 1, 5 and 30 days by tier, a one-month term with 30-day non-renewal notice, and amounts exclusive of VAT. Enterprise is request-a-quote only, the Optimize add-on's own price is not shown, the overage figures all carry the word 'from', and we found no public information on whether unused volume carries over. 2 7 8 14

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European sovereignty — proven facts

0 of 6 dimensions proven

Built only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.

Hosting location Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Hosting options Not determined — uncited Report an error
Open source Not determined — uncited Report an error
Data processing agreement Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Transfer impact assessment Not determined — uncited Report an error

Questions about Mailgun

Is Mailgun European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Mailgun as Rest of world.

Where does Mailgun store data?

The default storage location for customer data is not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026. The vendor’s pages mention the US, the EU, United States and Europe as hosting locations, per the vendor’s page captured 1 Nov 2026.

Does Mailgun have a free plan?

Yes. Mailgun has a free plan, per the vendor’s page captured 1 Nov 2026.

What are the best alternatives to Mailgun?

As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates Lettermint (3.5/5), Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) (3/5) and Postmark (3/5) highest among the other 15 Transactional Email products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is Lettermint (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Mailgun alternatives.

Where this could be wrong

What we left out

A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.

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Sources (22)

The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.

  1. 1 Vendor homepage www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  2. 2 Features page (email API) www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  3. 3 Features page (SMTP relay) www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  4. 4 Features page (transactional email) www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  5. 5 Features page (inbox placement) www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  6. 6 API documentation documentation.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  7. 7 Pricing page www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  8. 8 Terms of service www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  9. 9 Privacy policy www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  10. 10 Data processing agreement (dpa) sinch.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  11. 11 Security / trust page (GDPR) www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  12. 12 Security / trust page trust.sinch.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  13. 13 Sending API, SMTP & developer experience — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  14. 14 Sending API, SMTP & developer experience — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  15. 15 Deliverability & sender reputation — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  16. 16 Deliverability & sender reputation — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  17. 17 Message logs, events & webhooks — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  18. 18 Message logs, events & webhooks — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  19. 19 Message data, retention & security — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  20. 20 Message data, retention & security — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  21. 21 Reliability, accounts & support — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →
  22. 22 Reliability, accounts & support — found from sitemap www.mailgun.com Checked 1 Nov 2026 Details →