How Much Does Mailgun Cost? The Honest 2026 Price Breakdown
Short answer: Mailgun's published plans are Free at $0 (100 emails/day, 1 domain), Basic at $15/month for 10,000 emails, Foundation at $35/month for 50,000 (first month free), Scale at $90/month for 100,000, and custom-quoted Enterprise — verified on Mailgun's own pricing page in September 2026, with 30-day free trials on paid plans. Three things move the real bill: sending above your tier triggers per-email overages (from $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic down to $1.10 at Scale), email address validation is metered separately (from $1.20 per 100 on Foundation), and the conveniences are trimmed low — 1-day log retention on Free and Basic, chat and phone support only from Scale up, and deliverability services sold as the separate Optimize product line.
The one-paragraph answer
Mailgun's entry price is $15/month on Basic for 10,000 emails — but the free plan at $0 (100 emails/day) is the actual floor, Foundation runs $35/month for 50,000 with the first month free, and Scale is $90/month for 100,000. Enterprise is custom-quoted. Every number below comes from Mailgun's own pricing page, checked September 2026 and matching our earlier verified snapshot from two days prior — no price movement.
The official plans, verified September 2026
| Plan | Price | Included volume | Notable limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 emails/day | 1 sending domain, 1-day log retention, 1 inbound route |
| Basic | $15/mo | 10,000 emails/mo | No daily sending cap, overages from $1.80 per 1,000 |
| Foundation | $35/mo | 50,000 emails/mo | First month free, 1,000 domains, template builder, 5-day logs, overages from $1.30 per 1,000, validations $1.20 per 100 |
| Scale | $90/mo | 100,000 emails/mo | Overages from $1.10 per 1,000, validations $0.80 per 100, chat + phone support |
| Enterprise | custom | custom | Talk to sales |
Paid plans carry a 30-day free trial. Note what scales with the tiers beyond volume: log retention (1 day on Free/Basic, 5 on Foundation), allowed sending domains (1 vs 1,000) and human support channels.
Where the bill actually moves: overages
Exceed your plan's monthly volume and each extra email bills at a per-tier rate: from $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic, $1.30 on Foundation, $1.10 on Scale. The published phrasing is "from", which historically means the per-unit rate improves at higher volume commitments — treat the tier rate as the ceiling and confirm the exact rate for your volume before budgeting.
What that means in practice:
- Send 50,000 emails on Basic (10k included): 40,000 extra × $1.80/1,000 = $72 of overage, about $87 total that month. The Foundation plan at $35 would have been the cheaper route from roughly 19,000 emails upward — sizing down and paying overage is the expensive way to run Mailgun.
- The Free plan simply stops at 100 emails/day with 1 domain and a 1-day log window — fine for a side project, not for production.
Email validation is metered separately
Cleaning your recipient list is not included: validations bill from $1.20 per 100 on Foundation and $0.80 per 100 on Scale. A one-off 10,000-address list clean on Foundation costs about $120 — more than the plan itself. Budget for it if bounce-rate hygiene is part of your workflow (it should be).
What the base price leaves out
- Log retention is 1 day on Free and Basic. Investigating last Tuesday's delivery complaint means paying for Foundation's 5-day window or better.
- Chat and phone support only appear at Scale. Below it, you're on docs and email tickets.
- Deliverability services are a separate product line (Optimize) — inbox placement, monitoring and expert help are bought, not bundled.
- EU data centers exist as an option, but Mailgun's public pricing page documents no per-plan residency tier — if EU data residency is a hard requirement, get it confirmed in writing for your specific plan before committing.
Is Mailgun good value?
Being fair: the API is mature and developer-loved for good reasons — solid docs, generous domain allowances (1,000 sending domains on Foundation), self-serve published pricing and 30-day trials. For an engineering team with stable volume and someone watching the meters, it's a sound choice.
The sticker comparison against its historic rival is less flattering than it looks: Mailgun's $15 entry undercuts SendGrid's $19.95, but at 50,000 emails/month Mailgun needs Foundation ($35) or Basic plus $72 of overage — while SendGrid's Essentials 50K tier is $19.95, and its Pro plans include 2,500 free validations a month where Mailgun meters every one. Our SendGrid pricing breakdown reads that ladder in detail, and the head-to-head ZUI Email Suite vs Mailgun compares it against a managed EU platform where warm-up, reputation and compliance are included rather than staffed.
In short
Mailgun costs $15/month to start (Basic, 10k emails), $35 for Foundation (50k, first month free) and $90 for Scale (100k) — plus per-email overages above your tier, metered validations, short log windows on the cheap tiers, support channels that open at Scale and deliverability services sold separately as Optimize. Price your real monthly volume against the overage table before signing: the $15 sticker is the intro, not the bill. And if you want sending delivered as managed infrastructure — multi-tenant reputations, GDPR-native compliance on EU infrastructure by default, no meters to watch — that's what ZUI Email Suite does for every product in the ZUI universe. And if Mailgun's friction points — meters, trimmed support, an undocumented EU residency story — are what got you here, our Mailgun alternatives comparison walks through nine options with September 2026 pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Mailgun cost per month?+
Verified September 2026 on Mailgun's pricing page: Free at $0 (100 emails/day, 1 domain), Basic $15/month for 10,000 emails, Foundation $35/month for 50,000 (first month free), Scale $90/month for 100,000, Enterprise custom-quoted. Paid plans include a 30-day free trial.
What happens if I go over my Mailgun plan's email limit?+
Extra emails bill per tier: from $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic, $1.30 on Foundation, $1.10 on Scale. For example, 40,000 emails over Basic's 10k allowance adds about $72 in a month — at that point the Foundation plan ($35 for 50k) is the cheaper route. The Free plan caps hard at 100 emails/day.
Is Mailgun cheaper than SendGrid?+
At the entry sticker, yes: Mailgun Basic is $15 for 10,000 emails vs SendGrid Essentials from $19.95. At 50,000 emails/month the flip flips: Mailgun needs Foundation at $35 (or Basic plus ~$72 overage) while SendGrid Essentials 50K is $19.95. SendGrid's Pro tiers also include 2,500 email validations monthly, where Mailgun meters validations from $1.20 per 100. Compare at your real volume, not the entry price.
Does Mailgun include EU data residency?+
Mailgun offers EU data centers as an option, but its public pricing page documents no per-plan residency tier — which plan gets EU residency and how it's contracted isn't spelled out. If EU data residency is a hard requirement, confirm it with sales in writing for your specific plan, or consider EU-native managed platforms where GDPR compliance is the default, not an option.