# Postmark vs Mailgun

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/postmark-vs-mailgun/

Every value below is read from Postmark's and Mailgun's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Postmark | Mailgun |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $15.00/month for Basic at the 10,000-email tier. Postmark prices by volume, so the figure rises with the slider. | $15/month for Basic, described as a starting price. |
| Pricing model | One monthly price per volume tier, chosen on a slider, covering both sent and received email. Overage rates improve as the plan gets larger. | Monthly plan by volume with per-1,000 overage, and email validations billed separately at around $1.20 per 100. |
| Emails included | 10,000 a month at the $15 Basic tier. The plan price scales with volume — 50,000, 125,000, 300,000, 700,000 and 1.5M are the published steps. The free tier is 100 a month. | 10,000 a month on Basic; 50,000 on Foundation at $35. The free plan is capped at 100 a day rather than a monthly figure. |
| Price per 1,000 over | $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic, $1.30 on Pro and $1.20 on Platform. The free tier allows no overage at all. | From $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic and from $1.30 on Foundation. Mailgun writes "from", so these are floors rather than fixed rates. |
| Log retention | 45 days on Basic. Pro and Platform default to 45 days and can be raised to 365. | 1 day on Free and Basic; 5 days of logs and 1 day of message retention on Foundation. |
| Inbound email | Limited | Supported |

## Where they differ

### Entry paid plan

- Postmark: $15.00/month for Basic at the 10,000-email tier. Postmark prices by volume, so the figure rises with the slider. ([source](https://postmarkapp.com/pricing))
- Mailgun: $15/month for Basic, described as a starting price. ([source](https://www.mailgun.com/pricing))

### Pricing model

- Postmark: One monthly price per volume tier, chosen on a slider, covering both sent and received email. Overage rates improve as the plan gets larger. ([source](https://postmarkapp.com/pricing))
- Mailgun: Monthly plan by volume with per-1,000 overage, and email validations billed separately at around $1.20 per 100. ([source](https://www.mailgun.com/pricing))

### Emails included

- Postmark: 10,000 a month at the $15 Basic tier. The plan price scales with volume — 50,000, 125,000, 300,000, 700,000 and 1.5M are the published steps. The free tier is 100 a month. ([source](https://postmarkapp.com/pricing))
- Mailgun: 10,000 a month on Basic; 50,000 on Foundation at $35. The free plan is capped at 100 a day rather than a monthly figure. ([source](https://www.mailgun.com/pricing))

### Price per 1,000 over

- Postmark: $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic, $1.30 on Pro and $1.20 on Platform. The free tier allows no overage at all. ([source](https://postmarkapp.com/pricing))
- Mailgun: From $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic and from $1.30 on Foundation. Mailgun writes "from", so these are floors rather than fixed rates. ([source](https://www.mailgun.com/pricing))

### Log retention

- Postmark: 45 days on Basic. Pro and Platform default to 45 days and can be raised to 365. ([source](https://postmarkapp.com/pricing))
- Mailgun: 1 day on Free and Basic; 5 days of logs and 1 day of message retention on Foundation. ([source](https://www.mailgun.com/pricing))

### Inbound email

- Postmark: Limited ([source](https://postmarkapp.com/pricing))
- Mailgun: Supported ([source](https://www.mailgun.com/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Postmark if Teams that need to answer "what happened to this message" weeks later — 45 days of retention as standard, extendable to a year, is the longest window in this set.

Pick Mailgun if Senders who want inbound routing included from the free plan up, and who treat the message log as a debugging tool rather than a record.

Consider something else: Postmark — The included volume is small for the price and overage is the most expensive here at $1.80 per 1,000 on the entry plan.

Consider something else: Mailgun — One day of log retention on the entry plan is the shortest here by a wide margin, and the overage rate is quoted as "from", so the number you plan against is a floor.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Postmark or Mailgun?**

Postmark: $15.00/month for Basic at the 10,000-email tier. Postmark prices by volume, so the figure rises with the slider.
Mailgun: $15/month for Basic, described as a starting price.

**Should I choose Postmark or Mailgun?**

Pick Postmark if Teams that need to answer "what happened to this message" weeks later — 45 days of retention as standard, extendable to a year, is the longest window in this set.
Pick Mailgun if Senders who want inbound routing included from the free plan up, and who treat the message log as a debugging tool rather than a record.