SendGrid or Mailgun: which should you pick?

Two email APIs for high volume. Free plans, pricing basis, automation and transactional email from each vendor's pricing page, plus who should pick which.

SendGrid free plan: 60-day trial; SendGrid free plan
Mailgun free emails: 100/day; Mailgun free emails
Lumail free emails: 3,000/mo; Lumail free emails

TL;DR

Mailgun keeps a free plan (100 emails a day) and Basic from $15 for 10,000 emails, with inbound routing, validation and US or EU regions. SendGrid has only a 60-day trial, an Email API from $19.95 and a separate marketing product. Both offer dedicated IPs. Pure API sending: Mailgun is cheaper to start. Twilio stack or marketing from the same vendor: SendGrid.

SendGrid vs Mailgun side by side

Every SendGrid and Mailgun cell comes from the vendor's public pricing page, verified on August 17, 2026. Lumail is the third column, as the alternative.

SendGrid vs Mailgun comparison with Lumail
	SendGrid	Mailgun	Lumail (alternative)
Free plan	No free plan; 60-day trial with 100 emails/day	100 emails/day on the free plan	$0, 3,000 emails/month
Paid from	Marketing from $15/month; Email API from $19.95/month	Basic from $15/month for 10,000 emails	$20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000
Pricing basis	Two separate subscriptions: the API priced by volume, Marketing by contacts	Monthly email allowance plus overage per 1,000; not billed by subscribers	Unlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume
Automation	Welcome and drip series on Marketing Campaigns Advanced, from $60/month	No visual journeys; sends are triggered from your app	Graph workflows with triggers, branches, goals, exits, and A/B paths
AI and developer access	Read-only Twilio docs MCP; REST API and official SDKs	Local MCP server with 50+ operations; no hosted MCP	ChatGPT OAuth, MCP, skills, CLI, SDK, REST API, and visual editor
Transactional email	Core product, via REST API or SMTP	Core product, via REST API or SMTP, in US or EU regions	Included through API, SMTP, SDK, CLI, and agent tools
Publishing	Single sends with drag-and-drop and code editors, plus signup forms	Templates and mailing lists; no newsletter editor or hosted pages	Capture pages and custom web domains; not a general website builder
Best for	Engineering teams that need high-volume email through API or SMTP	Developers sending app email who need inbound routing, validation, and dedicated IPs	Teams that want campaigns, workflows and transactional email priced by volume

Choose SendGrid if

You already use Twilio for SMS, WhatsApp or voice
You want Marketing Campaigns from the same vendor
You need subusers and IP pools

Choose Mailgun if

You want a free plan of 100 emails a day
You need inbound routing and email validation
You want Mailgun's local MCP with 50+ operations

Where Lumail fits

Neither includes a journey builder on its API product. If you want sending plus campaigns and workflows in one account, Lumail does both.

Lumail prices by emails sent, with unlimited subscribers on every plan: $0 for 3,000 emails a month, Premium at $20 a month for 40,000 emails then $0.60 per 1,000, and Business at $200 a month for 400,000 emails then $0.40 per 1,000. Campaigns, graph workflows and transactional email (API and SMTP) live in one account, and agents can run it through MCP, the CLI or the SDK.

Read the full Lumail vs SendGrid and Lumail vs Mailgun breakdowns, or the long-form SendGrid and Mailgun articles.

Start for free See Lumail pricing

Sources

Twilio SendGrid Email API pricing, verified on August 17, 2026
Mailgun pricing, verified on August 17, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Is Mailgun cheaper than SendGrid?

At entry, yes: Mailgun Basic is $15 a month for 10,000 emails; SendGrid's Email API starts at $19.95 a month.

Does Mailgun or SendGrid have a free plan?

Mailgun's free plan allows 100 emails a day. SendGrid has no free plan, only a 60-day trial with 100 emails a day.

Do SendGrid and Mailgun include transactional email?

SendGrid: Core product, via REST API or SMTP. Mailgun: Core product, via REST API or SMTP, in US or EU regions.

Is there an alternative to SendGrid and Mailgun that prices by emails sent?

Lumail. It is $0 for 3,000 emails a month, then $20 a month for 40,000 emails and $0.60 per extra 1,000, with unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, workflows and transactional email share one account.

Where do these numbers come from?

From each vendor's public pricing page (Twilio SendGrid Email API pricing and Mailgun pricing), last verified on August 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.

Keep comparing

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3,000 emails a month free. Unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, automations and transactional email on one domain.

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