Compare

Mailgun vs Postmark

Focused on transactional email delivery with similar API features

Short answer: Pick Mailgun if you want transactional email delivery and validation; pick Postmark if you want fast, reliable transactional email. Mailgun has a free plan, paid from $15/month; Postmark has a free plan, paid from $15/month.

Which to pick

Pick Mailgun if you want…

  • Transactional email delivery and validation
  • Email API with tracking
  • Integrations with HTTP API, Webhooks or Email template builder (on Mailgun's list, not Postmark's)

Pick Postmark if you want…

  • Fast, reliable transactional email
  • Transactional email delivery for apps
  • Integrations with Python, Ruby or PHP (on Postmark's list, not Mailgun's)

Mailgun: Offers email sending, receiving and tracking with a different pricing model and no message-stream separation.

Side by side

What it is
Mailgun:Mailgun provides APIs for sending, receiving, validating and tracking transactional emails.
Postmark:Postmark is an email delivery service for sending transactional and marketing emails via API or SMTP.
Best for
Mailgun:Transactional email delivery and validation
Postmark:Fast, reliable transactional email
Who it’s for
Mailgun:Developers building email-enabled applications and services.
Postmark:Developers and teams needing reliable email delivery.
Pricing
Mailgun:Freemium
Postmark:Freemium
Starting price
Mailgun:$15/month (Basic)
Postmark:$15/month (Basic)
Free plan or trial
Mailgun:Free plan (Free) · Free trial
Postmark:Free plan (Free) · Free trial
Plans
Mailgun:Free $0/mo · Basic $15/mo per month · Foundation $35/mo per month · Scale $90/mo per month
Postmark:Free $0.00/mo · Basic $15.00/mo per month · Pro $16.50/mo per month · Platform $18.00/mo per month
Works with
Mailgun:HTTP API, SMTP, Webhooks, Email template builder
Postmark:Python, Ruby, PHP, cURL, SMTP

Mailgun features

  • RESTful Email API & SMTP relay. Send emails via HTTP API or SMTP with high reliability.
  • Email validation service. Real-time API and bulk upload to remove invalid addresses.
  • Analytics, tracking & webhooks. Detailed delivery, open, click data and event webhooks.
  • Inbox preview & accessibility checks. Preview emails before sending to ensure compliance and deliverability.
  • Dedicated IPs & IP pools. Control reputation with dedicated IPs, included in higher plans.
  • SAML SSO & multi-user access. Enterprise-grade security and role-based access control.
  • Log and message retention. Retention up to 30 days for logs and up to 7 days for messages.
  • Email template builder. Create and manage reusable email templates via API.

Postmark features

  • Industry-leading deliverability. Ensures emails reach inboxes quickly with vetted IPs and strict spam controls.
  • Message Streams. Separates transactional and marketing emails on parallel infrastructures.
  • Inbound email processing. Converts inbound emails to JSON and forwards via webhooks.
  • Detailed analytics. Provides bounce data, open/link tracking, and activity retention.
  • Official SDKs. Libraries for many languages (Node, Python, Ruby, PHP, .NET, etc.) for easy integration.
  • Sandbox mode. Test email sending without affecting real recipients.

Mailgun vs Postmark FAQ

What is the difference between Mailgun and Postmark?+

Postmark: Focused on transactional email delivery with similar API features. Mailgun: Offers email sending, receiving and tracking with a different pricing model and no message-stream separation.

Should I use Mailgun or Postmark?+

Pick Mailgun if you want transactional email delivery and validation, email API with tracking or integrations with HTTP API, Webhooks or Email template builder (on Mailgun's list, not Postmark's). Pick Postmark if you want fast, reliable transactional email, transactional email delivery for apps or integrations with Python, Ruby or PHP (on Postmark's list, not Mailgun's).

Is Mailgun or Postmark free?+

Mailgun has a free plan; paid plans start at $15/month (Basic). Postmark has a free plan; paid plans start at $15/month (Basic).

Which is cheaper, Mailgun or Postmark?+

They start at the same price: Mailgun's Basic plan ($15/month) and Postmark's Basic plan ($15/month) cost the same.

Do Mailgun and Postmark integrate with the same tools?+

Partly. Both list SMTP. Mailgun also lists HTTP API, Webhooks and Email template builder; Postmark also lists Python, Ruby, PHP and cURL.

On DevHunt

Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.