Mailgun vs SendGrid
Mailgun publishes four plans with dollar amounts and lets one account send from the US or the EU. SendGrid states a 60-day trial and says price follows volume, but the pages we read show no plan table. Both end up with Texas or Delaware-based American owners, so the choice rests on price transparency and what each plan includes.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderVendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Choose Mailgun ifyou want to read a monthly price before signing up, need an EU sending region, and can live with one day of logs on the lower plans.
Choose SendGrid ifyou want a long trial to finish an integration first, already buy other Twilio services, and accept that cost is worked out from your sending volume.
Mailgun and SendGrid side by side
| Mailgun | SendGrid | |
|---|---|---|
| Our transactional email services rank | #9 of 13 | #10 of 13 |
| Established in | United States | United States |
| List price, 3 November 2026 | Free (100 emails a day); Basic from $15 a month for 10,000 emails; Foundation $35 for 50,000; Scale $90 for 100,000 | 60-day trial of 100 emails a day, then a paid plan priced by volume; no list price shown on the pages we read |
| Free tier | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Developers who want to choose between EU and US sending regions | Teams already buying Twilio services who want one supplier for messaging |
| Not for | Small senders who need more than one day of logs | Buyers who need a price list before signing up |
Both are reviewed in full in our transactional email services ranking: Mailgun and SendGrid.
Where they differ
Mailgun 2 · SendGrid 0 · open 2- 01
Can you read a price before creating an account?
Mailgun's pricing page lists Basic from $15 a month for 10,000 emails, Foundation at $35 for 50,000 and Scale at $90 for 100,000. The SendGrid pages that loaded show no plan table or prices, only that pricing scales with the volume sent. For budgeting in advance, Mailgun is the one you can actually work with.
Edge: Mailgun
- 02
Is a 60-day trial better than a permanent free tier?
SendGrid's trial gives 100 emails a day for 60 days over SMTP relay, SMTP API and Web API, then you must pay. Mailgun's free plan also allows 100 emails a day, with one custom domain, and does not expire. A short project fits SendGrid's trial; a hobby sender who never wants to pay fits Mailgun's.
Edge: Mailgun
- 03
How long can you look back at a failed message?
Mailgun keeps logs for 1 day on Free and Basic, 5 on Foundation and 30 on Scale, which is a real limit when a user reports a problem days later. We read no retention period for SendGrid in the sources we used, so we cannot score it. Check that figure before you pick either.
Depends on the buyer
- 04
Which one gives you a dedicated IP, and when?
SendGrid's docs allocate one dedicated IP with the Pro Email API plan, charge monthly for each extra one, and let the console add a single IP a month. Mailgun lists dedicated IP pools only on Scale, its top published plan. SendGrid's rule is clearer about quantity; Mailgun's is clearer about which plan unlocks it.
Depends on the buyer
When neither fits
If you want a published price and longer log history than either lower tier gives, look at Postmark, which keeps 45 days by default. Resend is a younger option if a simple developer API matters more than a bundled parent company.
Mailgun or SendGrid: questions
3 answersDoes SendGrid publish its prices?
On the Twilio pages we could load, no. They describe a 60-day trial and volume-based pricing without a plan table.
Can Mailgun send from Europe?
Yes. Its pricing page says the service is hosted in both the US and the EU, and one account can send through either region.
Who owns each service?
Mailgun sits under Sinch Email, and its terms with Mailgun Technologies, Inc. are governed by Texas law. SendGrid is presented as part of Twilio Inc., a Delaware corporation.
Sources
Checked 3 November 2026- Mailgun pricing page: plan prices, free plan, log retention by plan, dedicated IP pools on Scale, US and EU hosting.
- Mailgun terms: Sinch Email umbrella brands, Texas governing law.
- SendGrid email API page on Twilio: 60-day trial, volume-based pricing, no plan table, part of Twilio.
- SendGrid site (redirects to Twilio): vendor domain that redirects to the Twilio-hosted SendGrid pages.
- SendGrid dedicated IP docs: one IP with Pro Email API, monthly charge for extras, one IP a month in the console.
- Twilio terms of service: Twilio Inc. as a Delaware corporation.