The best Mailgun alternative depends on how you use it. If you only send, any email API, or your own mail server, can replace it. If you also rely on Mailgun's inbound routing, your own Postfix server can take over both sides: receive and forward mail for your domains and send your app's mail from your own IP. At low volume, Mailgun is often still the cheaper option.
What Mailgun does well
Mailgun, now part of Sinch, is built for developers. Its inbound routing, detailed logs and flexible API are genuinely useful, and it's been a common choice for apps that need to both send and receive mail. Setup is quick and documentation is thorough.
Mailgun pricing as of October 2026
Figures are from third-party pricing trackers; confirm on Mailgun's pricing page. Sources disagree on Mailgun's higher tiers, so we don't quote them here.
| Plan | Monthly emails | Price per month | Overage (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 100/day | $0 | — |
| Basic | 10,000 | $15 | ~$1.80 per 1,000 |
| Foundation | 50,000 | $35 | ~$1.30 per 1,000 |
| Scale | 100,000 | $90 | ~$1.10 per 1,000 |
| Dedicated IP add-on | — | ~$59–60 | — |
Overage rates are where costs can creep. Sending past your plan's limit is billed per 1,000, so a busy month costs more than the headline price.
Your options for replacing Mailgun
Another hosted API
- Resend for a modern developer experience.
- SendGrid for a large, established platform. See SendGrid vs Mailgun.
- Postmark for transactional-only sending; inbound is included on its Pro plan.
- Amazon SES for the lowest raw price per email.
These swap one vendor for another. Pricing at small volume is broadly similar.
Open-source platforms
Postal (MIT license) is the closest open-source equivalent to Mailgun: a full self-hosted mail platform that runs its own SMTP server. It has no hosted version, so you run it yourself, or we can install and run it for you. See our open-source alternatives roundup.
Your own Postfix server, managed
We build a Postfix server on a VPS you own, with OpenDKIM, SRS for forwarding, TLS and fail2ban. Outbound, your apps relay over authenticated SMTP on port 587. Inbound, virtual aliases accept mail for your domains and forward it where you want, with SRS keeping SPF intact. DMARC reports land in a local mailbox. On the Managed Server plan we watch it daily.
We moved off Mailgun ourselves
In August 2026 we moved three of our own production domains off Mailgun (inbound) and Resend (outbound) to one self-hosted Postfix server. Inbound mail now forwards to Gmail through SRS. Apps relay over submission on 587 with SASL. We kept the old providers as a fallback and kept volume low for about two weeks of warm-up. The per-email bills went away; the VPS was one we already ran. The full write-up is in moving off Resend and Mailgun.
Cost comparison: Mailgun vs your own server
Mailgun prices as of October 2026; confirm on their pricing page. Our prices are on the pricing page. VPS cost is yours, typically $5–20 a month.
| Monthly emails | Mailgun (as of Oct 2026) | Mailgun + dedicated IP | Managed Server | Server Setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $15 (Basic) | ~$74–75 | $99 + VPS | VPS only |
| 50,000 | $35 (Foundation) | ~$94–95 | $99 + VPS | VPS only |
| 100,000 | $90 (Scale) | ~$149–150 | $99 + VPS | VPS only |
| One-time | none | none | $499 setup | $499 |
Being straight about it: on shared IPs, Mailgun is cheaper than a Managed Server at every volume in this table. Once you add a dedicated IP, a Managed Server costs slightly more at 50k and less at 100k. Above that, Mailgun's pricing keeps scaling with volume while ours stays flat; across providers, self-hosting generally wins on cost above roughly 200k emails a month. Model your own numbers with the email cost calculator.
Server Setup ($499 one-time) has no monthly fee from us. You run the server after handover using the runbook we write for you.
Sending 250,000+ a month: Scale plans
If you'd rather not run a server at all, our hosted Scale plans include a dedicated IP at no extra charge: $149 a month for 250,000 emails, $249 for 500,000 and $399 for 1,000,000, with warm-up and monitoring included. Scale plans are in early access; see high-volume email sending.
Many domains on one server
If you send for several domains, one Postfix server can handle all of them. That's how ours works: two domains on two IPs on one server. Postfix picks the outbound IP for each sender domain using sender_dependent_default_transport_maps, with a separate smtp transport per IP that sets its own bind address and HELO name. Each domain gets its own DKIM key.
That keeps each domain's reputation separate. A newer domain can also be rate-limited on its own transport, for example one connection per destination and a 30-second delay between messages, without slowing down your established domain.
When to stay on Mailgun
- Low volume on shared IPs where the bill is $15–35 a month.
- You parse inbound mail into your app via Mailgun's routes and webhooks and don't want to rebuild that.
- You don't want to own infrastructure at all.
- Your problem is spam placement, not cost. A deliverability fix on Mailgun may solve it without moving.
Reasons to move
- One server for inbound and outbound across several domains.
- Your own IP without a monthly add-on. Read about shared vs dedicated IPs for the trade-offs.
- Your data on your server.
- Flat cost at higher volume.
What moving looks like
- Build the server and check your VPS provider allows outbound port 25.
- Publish DNS: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, a PTR record, and update MX when you're ready to move inbound.
- Move outbound first. Point apps at SMTP on 587; keep Mailgun as a fallback.
- Move inbound by switching MX to your server and setting up forwarding.
- Warm up over two to six weeks and monitor blocklists and DMARC reports.
Prefer us to handle it? Our email migration service covers the move end to end.
What to look for in a Mailgun alternative
Start by listing what Mailgun does for you today:
- Outbound only, or inbound too? If you receive mail through Mailgun routes, make sure the replacement can accept mail for your domains and either forward it or hand it to your app.
- How do you parse inbound? Simple forwarding to a mailbox is easy on Postfix. Parsing mail into your app needs a script or a platform like Postal.
- Dedicated IP? Price it in from the start; on many services it's an add-on.
- How many domains? If you send for several, check plan limits or choose a setup where one server serves them all.
- Who watches it? DNS drift, expiring certificates and blocklist listings need someone's attention.
What you take on with your own server
Owning the server means owning its problems. The ones we've actually run into:
- DNS mistakes. A DKIM TXT record pasted twice, or with the host name as its value, causes "multiple DNS replies" and DKIM fails. Our DKIM guide shows the right format.
- Config quirks. Postfix
virtualfiles don't allow a trailing# commenton an entry line; the words are read as extra recipients. - Misleading blocklist checks. UCEPROTECT level 3 lists entire provider networks, for example all of OVH. That isn't a listing of your IP.
- Warm-up. New IPs and quiet domains have no reputation, so start low and build up over two to six weeks.
With Server Setup you handle these using our runbook. With Managed Server we do.
The bottom line
Mailgun is a solid developer tool, especially for inbound. If you want inbound and outbound on infrastructure you own, with your own IP and a flat cost, a self-hosted Postfix server does both jobs.
Want it done for you? See Managed Server and Server Setup on the pricing page, or email hello@ownmailserver.com.