SendGrid and Mailgun both promise reliable email delivery, but which one actually delivers when scaling from a startup to a growth stage?
There’s nuance to this decision.
As an email deliverability consultant who has helped hundreds of businesses recover from spam folder disasters and build rock-solid email infrastructures, I’ve prepared this comprehensive comparison covering:
- Developer experience & API quality
- Setup complexity and time-to-reliability
- Customer support quality and response times
- Marketing features and automation capabilities
- Pricing structures at 50k-100k monthly volumes
- Actual deliverability performance and inbox placement rates
Let’s help you understand exactly which platform fits your technical stack and growth trajectory (and how to avoid the common pitfalls that sink email programs).
Quick skim — SendGrid vs Mailgun
Don’t have the time to read the entire piece? Here’s a quick overview based on current data and testing:
| Factor | SendGrid | Mailgun | Winner |
| Inbox Placement | 61.0% (Mailtrap test) | 71.4% (Mailtrap test) | Mailgun |
| Developer APIs | Varies by endpoint; some at 600 rpm | Account-specific limits | Complex |
| 50k emails/month | $19.95+ (Essentials) | $35 (Foundation) | SendGrid |
| 100k emails/month | $89.95+ (Pro) | $90 (Scale) | Tie |
| Setup Complexity | Easier for mixed teams | More technical setup | SendGrid |
| Marketing Features | Built-in automation | Limited (via Mailjet) | SendGrid |
| Customer Support | 7.6/10 (G2 rating) | 8.1/10 (G2 rating) | Mailgun |
| Log Retention | 3 days (paid add-on for 30) | 5 days Foundation; 30 days Scale | Mailgun |
One thing to note is:
Inbox placement rates come from Mailtrap’s March 2025 deliverability study — results vary based on sender setup, list quality, content, and timing.
What outshines both platforms in question — Maxify Inbox
You can opt for either platform, but if you want your emails to land in your recipient’s inbox (and not be classified as spam), you need to properly implement domain authentication, IP warming strategies, list validation, and ongoing reputation monitoring.
Now, you could spend weeks figuring this out on your own, or let experts handle it while you focus on building features. Maxify Inbox by EmailWarmup takes care of everything:
- Dedicated IP address included by default
- 24/7 reputation monitoring and protection
- Automated email warmup for your domains and IPs
- Unlimited deliverability consultations with specialists
- Integration with any ESP (SendGrid, Mailgun, or others)
- Email list validation and automatic address replacement
We’ll set up your entire email infrastructure within 24 hours and optimize your inbox placement for better results. Want to see how?
Which is better for transactional emails — SendGrid or Mailgun?
Both platforms handle the heavy lifting, but they take dramatically different approaches to getting your emails delivered.
Mailgun
Mailgun positions itself as “the email service for developers” with APIs designed for programmatic control.
Your engineering team gets granular visibility into every email event, detailed error codes, and flexible routing options.
The platform handles very high burst throughput with its Rapid Fire Delivery SLA (99% of accepted messages attempted within 5 minutes, supporting up to approximately 15 million emails per hour under optimal conditions).
SendGrid
SendGrid offers a broader developer experience with robust APIs plus user-friendly interfaces for non-technical team members.
The platform processes 148+ billion emails monthly with a median delivery speed of 1.9 seconds, backed by an AI-powered engine that adapts to ISP rule changes automatically. They maintain a 99.99% uptime SLA.
API quality and developer experience
When you’re integrating email into your application, the API becomes your daily reality.
SendGrid
SendGrid provides high-throughput APIs with endpoint-specific rate limiting. Some endpoints commonly see 600 requests per minute limits, though this varies by endpoint and account type.
The documentation is comprehensive, and the Mail Send API integrates smoothly with most application stacks.
However, some developers find the interface occasionally confusing (especially when configuring advanced features that should be straightforward).
Mailgun
Mailgun’s APIs offer deep control over email processing, parsing, and routing. The platform uses automatic rate limiting and sender-level throttling rather than fixed global caps.
The documentation is technical but thorough, with excellent code examples for Python, Node.js, PHP, and other languages.
The learning curve is steeper, but you get more flexibility for complex email workflows (think custom bounce handling or advanced routing rules).
Webhook reliability and event tracking
Both platforms provide robust webhook support for tracking:
- Spam complaints
- Bounce notifications
- Delivery confirmations
- Email opens and clicks
Both SendGrid and Mailgun offer comprehensive event webhooks with different schemas and approaches.
Each provides the granular event data developers need for tracking and debugging, though the specific implementations and data structures vary between platforms.
Additionally, log retention differs significantly. SendGrid includes 3 days of searchable Email Activity on Free/Essentials plans, with a 30-day history available as a paid add-on.
Mailgun offers 5-day logs on Foundation and 30-day retention on Scale plans.
SendGrid vs Mailgun deliverability rates: what the tests show?
Deliverability performance varies significantly between these platforms, and the differences could impact your bottom line more than you realize.
| Metric | SendGrid | Mailgun |
| Inbox placement | 61.0% | 71.4% |
| Spam folder | 17.1% | 23.8% |
| Missing/lost | 20.9% | 1.0% |
| Promotional tab | 1.0% | 3.8% |
According to Mailtrap’s March 2025 deliverability study, Mailgun achieved an inbox placement rate of 71.4%, compared to SendGrid’s 61.0%.
Moreover, 20.9% of SendGrid emails went completely missing in tests versus only 1.0% for Mailgun. When you’re sending order confirmations or account verification emails, losing one in five messages is unacceptable.
Now, these results come from a single vendor-run test. Actual deliverability varies based on sender setup, list quality, content, and timing — use these as one benchmark among many, not a universal truth.
Authentication and reputation management
Both platforms support modern authentication protocols with comprehensive implementation:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) validation
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) signatures
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication) policies
Both SendGrid and Mailgun provide detailed DNS configuration guidance and support custom DKIM signatures and selector rotation.
SendGrid automates much of the authentication process, which helps non-technical users, while Mailgun offers equally robust flexibility for advanced configurations.
Additionally, SendGrid’s Adaptive Communications Engine uses machine learning from billions of monthly emails to adjust sending patterns automatically.
However, automation can sometimes work against you if the AI makes decisions that don’t align with your specific sending patterns or audience behavior (machine learning isn’t mind-reading, after all).
Mailgun’s approach gives you direct control over:
- Sending rate limits
- IP warming schedules
- List validation processes
- Reputation monitoring alerts
IP warmup and dedicated IPs
Both platforms now offer automated IP warmup capabilities.
SendGrid provides automated IP warmup for dedicated IPs (available on Pro plans and above), gradually increasing sending volume to build a reputation with ISPs. The process typically takes 2-4 weeks and includes monitoring and adjustments based on performance metrics.
Mailgun offers automated IP warmup through both UI and API, with their Scale plan including dedicated IP pools.
Both platforms support automated warmup processes, though Mailgun also exposes warmup functionality via API for developers who need programmatic control.
Both platforms offer shared IP pools for lower-volume senders.
Still, deliverability can suffer if other users on your shared IP engage in poor sending practices (you’re essentially sharing email reputation with strangers).
Instead of mere IP warmup, the real impact comes from email warmup (where the entire domain goes through a natural, ramp-up process). You can try Maxify Inbox by EmailWarmup for automated domain warmup.
Feature-by-feature breakdown: SendGrid vs Mailgun for developers
The technical implementation details often determine which platform works better for your development workflow and application architecture. Let’s break down what matters most for engineering teams.
Email logs and debugging capabilities
Mailgun provides stronger logging at higher tiers with 30-day log retention on Scale plans (Foundation offers 5-day retention).
The logs include detailed event data, error codes, and message content, making it easier to troubleshoot delivery issues and maintain compliance records.
SendGrid’s logging includes 3 days of searchable Email Activity on Free/Essentials plans, with a 30-day history available as a paid add-on.
The analytics dashboard provides good high-level metrics but requires upgrades for extended retention and the granular detail developers need for debugging complex issues.
Template systems and dynamic content
SendGrid offers 60 customizable templates, even on free plans, plus drag-and-drop and HTML editors.
The template system is user-friendly for marketing teams, but sometimes lacks the flexibility developers need for complex transactional emails with conditional content.
Mailgun provides basic template functionality with more focus on programmatic content generation.
You get better control over dynamic content insertion and conditional logic, but the interface is more technical and requires coding knowledge to use effectively.
Integration ecosystem
SendGrid supports over 320 integrations, including Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, and major CRM platforms. The marketplace approach makes it easy to connect with existing business tools without custom development work.
Mailgun offers fewer pre-built integrations but provides deeper API access for custom implementations.
The platform integrates well with business intelligence tools like Google Data Studio and Mixpanel for advanced analytics and custom reporting dashboards.
Rate limits and performance
SendGrid handles massive volume (148+ billion emails monthly) with proven performance during high-traffic events like Black Friday.
The infrastructure is globally distributed and built for reliability, though some users report occasional slowdowns during peak periods. Rate limits are endpoint-specific and vary by account type.
Mailgun processes over 400 billion emails annually for 225,000+ businesses.
The platform’s Rapid Fire Delivery SLA supports very high burst throughput with automatic rate limiting that adjusts based on sender behavior and account status.
SendGrid vs Mailgun pricing comparison 2025
Cost considerations become critical when you’re planning for growth from 50k to 500k+ emails monthly. The pricing structures differ significantly, and hidden costs can surprise you later.
Entry-level pricing breakdown
SendGrid’s Essentials plan starts at $19.95/month for up to 100k emails, making it more affordable for growing startups. ‘
The plan includes basic deliverability features but lacks dedicated IPs and advanced analytics (which you’ll likely need as you scale).
Mailgun’s Foundation plan costs $35/month for 50k emails, then $90/month for 100k emails on the Scale plan. While more expensive upfront, you get better log retention and validation features from the start.
Hidden costs and upgrade requirements
SendGrid charges extra for several features:
- Additional dedicated IPs
- Premium analytics and insights
- Advanced deliverability consulting
- Extended log retention ($12-$95 depending on volume)
Mailgun includes more features in base plans, but has its own considerations:
- Email validation credits (though more generous than SendGrid)
- Support response times on cheaper plans
- Endpoint-specific API rate limiting
Volume pricing considerations
At 100k emails monthly, both platforms cost roughly $90.
However, SendGrid typically requires upgrading to the Pro tier for dedicated IPs, while Mailgun includes dedicated IP pools in the Scale plan (a significant value difference).
For higher volumes (500k+ monthly), Mailgun’s “Pay As You Grow” model often becomes more cost-effective than SendGrid’s tier-based pricing jumps. The flexibility matters when your email volume fluctuates seasonally or with product launches.
Choosing between Mailgun and SendGrid for a new app?
Your choice depends heavily on your team composition and technical requirements. Getting this decision wrong can cost weeks of migration work later.
Setup complexity and time-to-first-send
SendGrid offers a smoother onboarding experience with clearer domain verification steps and automated configuration.
Most developers can send their first email within 30 minutes of signup (though proper configuration for production takes longer).
Mailgun requires more technical setup, including DNS configuration and authentication protocol implementation.
The process can take several hours, but it gives you more control over the final configuration and a better understanding of what’s actually happening.
Team requirements and skill levels
SendGrid works well for mixed teams with both developers and marketers.
The interface accommodates non-technical users while providing strong APIs for developers (though the dual personality sometimes creates confusion in the interface).
Mailgun targets technical teams comfortable with API-first approaches.
Marketing team members may struggle with the interface unless they have development support or are willing to learn technical concepts.
Long-term growth planning
SendGrid’s all-in-one approach simplifies management as you grow, but it can become expensive when you need advanced features. The platform works well if you plan to use marketing automation and advanced analytics within the same tool.
Mailgun’s developer-focused approach works better for applications that need deep email integration and custom workflows.
However, you’ll need separate tools (like Mailjet) for advanced marketing features, which adds complexity but also flexibility.
What about analytics and reporting capabilities?
Data visibility becomes critical when optimizing deliverability and user engagement across your email program.
The quality and depth of analytics can make or break your troubleshooting efforts (especially at 3 AM when emails aren’t delivering).
| Analytics feature | SendGrid | Mailgun | Winner |
| Dashboard Quality | Modern, polished | Functional but dated | SendGrid |
| Log Retention | 3 days (30 via add-on) | 5 days Foundation; 30 Scale | Mailgun |
| Technical Detail | Marketing-focused | Developer-focused | Mailgun |
| Real-time Data | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Premium Add-ons | Required for advanced | More included at Scale | Mailgun |
SendGrid provides customizable dashboards with real-time metrics:
- Client-specific data (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail)
- Geographic breakdowns by country and region
- Device categorization (mobile, desktop, tablet)
- Campaign performance tracking
However, advanced analytics require paid add-ons, and historical data retention is limited on lower-tier plans. The reporting focuses more on marketing metrics than the technical details developers need for troubleshooting delivery issues.
Meanwhile, Mailgun offers more granular technical data, including:
- Performance metrics by domain
- Detailed event logs with timestamps
- Error codes and bounce classifications
- Subscriber demographics and behavior
The analytics dashboard has been criticized as somewhat outdated compared to SendGrid’s more polished interface, but the underlying data is more comprehensive for technical analysis (sometimes substance matters more than style).
Customer support — who actually helps when things break?
Support quality can make the difference between quick problem resolution and days of email delivery issues. Response times and expertise levels vary dramatically between these platforms.
Response times and technical expertise
Based on G2’s Quality of Support ratings, Mailgun receives higher scores (8.1/10 versus SendGrid’s 7.6/10).
Users report faster response times and more knowledgeable technical support staff who understand deliverability concepts beyond basic troubleshooting.
SendGrid’s support has faced challenges since the Twilio acquisition, with users reporting slower responses and less personalized service, especially for smaller accounts.
The focus seems to have shifted toward enterprise customers at the expense of smaller businesses.
Support channel availability by plan
SendGrid offers:
- 24/7 ticket support (all plans)
- Live chat (Basic plan and above)
- Phone support (Advanced/Pro plans)
- Expert Services for deliverability consulting (additional cost)
Mailgun provides:
- 24/7 email support (all paid plans)
- Live chat (Growth plan and above)
- Phone support (Scale plan and above)
- Deliverability experts are included with higher-tier plans
The key difference is that Mailgun includes deliverability expertise at higher tiers, while SendGrid charges extra for Expert Services that should arguably be part of any serious email platform.
However, if you’re looking for a service that provides unlimited access to an email deliverability consultant, without any caps or premium pricing, Maxify Inbox is the best option.
Documentation quality and self-service
Both platforms maintain comprehensive documentation, but SendGrid’s is more accessible for non-technical users.
Mailgun’s documentation is more technical but provides better code examples and integration guides for developers who prefer learning from working examples.
Email marketing capabilities — built-in vs bolt-on
Marketing feature availability determines whether you need separate tools or can manage everything within your ESP. The approaches couldn’t be more different.
SendGrid’s integrated marketing approach
SendGrid offers built-in Marketing Campaigns designed to work alongside transactional emails:
- Signup form builder
- A/B testing for subject lines
- Basic segmentation and targeting
- Welcome series and drip campaigns
- Template library with drag-and-drop editor
However, the automation features are limited compared to dedicated marketing platforms.
You can only use single triggers (like “contact joins list”) and simple time delays, lacking complex conditional logic or behavioral targeting that modern marketing requires.
Mailgun’s transactional focus
Mailgun focuses primarily on transactional emails with limited native marketing features.
Advanced marketing capabilities are available through Mailjet (the sister platform), but require separate account setup and management. Native Mailgun features include:
- Basic bulk email sending
- Simple template system
- List management tools
- Real-time analytics
For sophisticated marketing automation, you’ll need to integrate with dedicated marketing platforms or use Mailjet alongside Mailgun (which adds complexity but also gives you access to more advanced features).
Security and compliance — meeting regulatory requirements
Both platforms meet modern security and compliance requirements, with comprehensive certifications that matter for regulated industries.
Mailgun’s comprehensive compliance approach
Mailgun provides extensive security certifications, including:
- ISO 27001 certification
- SOC 2 Type I & II compliance
- PCI-compliant SAQ-A merchant status
- GDPR compliance with data processing agreements
- HIPAA compliance with BAA for healthcare applications
The platform uses TLS encryption, HTTPS connections, and AES 256 encryption for data protection. Mailgun also offers enforced TLS for additional security requirements (important for financial services or healthcare communications).
SendGrid’s security implementation
SendGrid offers solid security foundations with:
- GDPR compliance and data export capabilities
- Two-factor authentication for account access
- SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication
- TLS encryption (opportunistic)
- SOC 2 Type II compliance
- SSO capabilities
Both platforms provide robust security frameworks appropriate for most business applications, with Mailgun offering additional certifications like ISO 27001 and HIPAA/BAA that may be important for specific regulated industries.
Reliability and uptime — when email must work
Email infrastructure reliability directly impacts critical business communications like order confirmations and password resets. Downtime isn’t just inconvenient — it’s revenue-killing.
Mailgun’s Rapid Fire Delivery SLA guarantees 99% of accepted messages attempted within 5 minutes for up to approximately 15 million messages per hour under optimal conditions. The platform’s infrastructure handles massive volume spikes without degradation.
SendGrid maintains a 99.99% uptime SLA and has proven capable of handling extreme loads (processing billions of emails during peak events like Black Friday).
However, some users report occasional performance issues and slower customer support response during outages (when you need help most).
Both platforms maintain globally distributed infrastructure, but their approaches to reliability guarantees differ in specificity and scope.
Pros and cons — the complete picture
Understanding each platform’s strengths and limitations helps you match capabilities with your specific requirements — No platform is perfect for every use case.
SendGrid’s advantages
SendGrid works well for teams that need marketing features integrated with transactional email:
- Streamlined onboarding process
- AI-powered deliverability optimization
- Better marketing automation features built in
- More user-friendly interface for mixed teams
- Extensive integration marketplace (320+ apps)
- Lower entry-level pricing ($19.95 vs $35/month)
- Comprehensive SDK support across programming languages
SendGrid disadvantages
The platform struggles with some fundamental considerations:
- Lower inbox placement rates in the Mailtrap study (61.0% vs 71.4%)
- Higher percentage of missing emails in testing (20.9% vs 1.0%)
- Advanced features require expensive plan upgrades
- Customer support quality concerns post-acquisition
- Limited log retention without paying extra
Mailgun’s advantages
Mailgun excels at the technical aspects of email delivery:
- Comprehensive security certifications
- Flexible “Pay As You Grow” pricing model
- More granular control over email processing
- Excellent email validation and list hygiene tools
- Higher customer support ratings (8.1 vs 7.6 on G2)
- Better log retention on Scale plans (30 days vs paid add-on)
- Superior inbox placement rates in the Mailtrap study (71.4% vs 61.0%)
Mailgun disadvantages
The developer-first approach creates some limitations:
- Interface can be overwhelming for non-developers
- Higher entry-level pricing for comparable features
- Limited marketing automation without Mailjet
- Fewer pre-built integrations available
- More technical setup required
When should you consider alternatives?
Neither SendGrid nor Mailgun might be perfect for your specific use case. Sometimes the right answer is to look elsewhere entirely.
Choose Postmark
— If you need the highest possible deliverability rates (83.3% inbox placement in the Mailtrap March 2025 study) and send primarily transactional emails.
Postmark separates transactional and marketing infrastructure completely, protecting critical communications from marketing-related reputation issues.
Choose Amazon SES
— If cost is your primary concern, and you have the technical expertise to handle a more complex setup and configuration. SES offers the lowest per-email costs but requires more development work and lacks many convenience features.
Choose Mailtrap
— If you want combined email testing and sending capabilities with high deliverability (78.8% inbox placement in their March 2025 study).
The platform offers both SMTP/API services and marketing tools in a single plan, which simplifies management.
Choose Brevo
— If you’re an e-commerce business needing strong marketing automation with transactional email support.
The platform integrates well with Shopify and WooCommerce and offers more advanced marketing features than either SendGrid or Mailgun.
Which platform should you choose?
The right choice depends on your team composition, technical requirements, and growth plans. Getting this wrong means migration headaches later.
Choose Mailgun if you’re:
- Sending primarily transactional emails
- Planning to grow gradually with flexible pricing
- Needing detailed logs and debugging capabilities
- Prioritizing maximum deliverability and inbox placement
- A developer-first team comfortable with technical setup
- Working in regulated industries requiring advanced compliance
Choose SendGrid if you’re:
- Planning to send both transactional and marketing emails
- Prioritize extensive integrations and marketplace apps
- Working with mixed technical and marketing teams
- Comfortable with tier-based pricing structures
- Need built-in marketing automation features
- Want faster setup and easier onboarding
For most B2B SaaS companies with a monthly email volume of 50k-150k, Mailgun’s superior deliverability performance and developer-focused features outweigh SendGrid’s marketing conveniences.
However, if your team includes non-technical marketers who need to manage campaigns directly, SendGrid’s all-in-one approach might justify the deliverability trade-offs.
The biggest mistake is choosing based solely on price.
Poor deliverability costs more in lost customers and revenue than the difference between ESP pricing plans (a $100 customer who never receives your onboarding emails is worth more than saving $50/month on email service).
Why Maxify Inbox beats both platforms
While both SendGrid and Mailgun offer solid email infrastructure, they still require setup, ongoing maintenance, and expertise in deliverability. Most businesses lack dedicated email specialists on staff, resulting in configuration mistakes that impact inbox placement.
Maxify Inbox eliminates these problems by providing expert-managed email infrastructure that works with any ESP. So, instead of choosing between platforms with different weaknesses, you get professional deliverability management that optimizes the performance of any platform.
Our professional email management includes:
- 99% inbox placement guarantee through managed warmup and reputation monitoring
- Automatic list cleaning with real-time validation and address replacement
- Expert consultations whenever you need guidance or troubleshooting
- Full setup service, so we configure everything properly from day one
- Dedicated IP included with professional email warmup sequences
- 24/7 deliverability monitoring with instant alerts and fixes
Instead of spending weeks figuring out domain authentication, IP warming, and reputation management, let our deliverability specialists handle the technical details while you focus on growing your business. We work with SendGrid, Mailgun, or any other ESP you choose.
Ready to guarantee your emails reach the inbox?
Frequently asked questions
Here are some frequently asked questions on this topic.
Both SendGrid and Mailgun offer solid Node.js SDKs. SendGrid handles high-frequency applications well with endpoint-specific rate limits. Mailgun offers enhanced webhook events and debugging capabilities for complex integrations. Choose based on deliverability needs rather than SDK quality.
Amazon SES costs ~$10/month but requires heavy technical setup. SendGrid ($89.95) and Mailgun ($90) are nearly identical at 100k volume. Consider hidden costs, though — SendGrid charges extra for log retention while Mailgun includes more features upfront.
Set up Mailgun authentication while keeping SendGrid active. Export your suppression lists and import them into Mailgun. Use Mailgun’s validation service during migration. Gradually shift traffic over 2-3 weeks, starting with non-critical emails. Test with seed lists first.
Check docs.mailgun.com for comprehensive guides and code examples. The official mailgun-python SDK covers sending, webhooks, and validation. GitHub has community examples for Django and Flask integrations.
Based on Mailtrap’s March 2025 study, Postmark leads at 83.3% inbox placement, then Mailgun at 71.4%. Both separate transactional from marketing emails. Mailgun offers better e-commerce integrations and analytics. Choose platforms that prioritize transactional reputation.
Postmark wins for transactional-heavy startups with superior deliverability across all plans. SendGrid works better if you add marketing campaigns later — it’s all-in-one but has lower deliverability rates. Choose Postmark for reliability, SendGrid for convenience.
Mailgun doesn’t advertise a non-profit discount, but sometimes offers custom pricing. Contact their sales team with proof of status. Consider Google for Nonprofits or MailChimp for Nonprofits as alternatives. Many ESPs offer discounts if you ask.
