Postmark vs Mailgun
A comparison of Postmark and Mailgun built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- 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.
6 sourced criteria separate them:
- 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.
- Mailgun: $15/month for Basic, described as a starting price.
- 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.
- Mailgun: Monthly plan by volume with per-1,000 overage, and email validations billed separately at around $1.20 per 100.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Log retention
- Postmark: 45 days on Basic. Pro and Platform default to 45 days and can be raised to 365.
- Mailgun: 1 day on Free and Basic; 5 days of logs and 1 day of message retention on Foundation.
- Inbound email
- Postmark: Limited
- Mailgun: Supported
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Postmark 0
Mailgun 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Postmark | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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.
- Mailgun
- $15/month for Basic, described as a starting price.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Postmark ↗
“How many emails do you send and receive each month? 10,000 emails [...] Basic $15.00/mo”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Mailgun ↗
“Basic Starting at $15/mo 10,000 emails/mo included”
Read 2026-09-06 · official 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.
- Mailgun
- Monthly plan by volume with per-1,000 overage, and email validations billed separately at around $1.20 per 100.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Postmark ↗
“How many emails do you send and receive each month? [...] Basic $15.00/mo [...] Pro $16.50/mo [...] Platform $18.00/mo”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Mailgun ↗
“Extra emails & validations from $1.80 / 1,000 emails from $1.20 / 100 validations”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Postmark ↗
“10,000 50,000 125,000 300,000 700,000 1,500,000 More [...] Basic $15.00/mo [...] Test your integration with 100 emails/month”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Mailgun ↗
“Basic Starting at $15/mo 10,000 emails/mo included [...] $35/mo 50,000 emails/mo included [...] Free [...] 100 emails/day included”
Read 2026-09-06 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Postmark ↗
“Extra emails @ $1.80 / 1,000 [...] Extra emails @ $1.30 / 1,000 [...] Extra emails @ $1.20 / 1,000 [...] No overages allowed in this plan.”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Mailgun ↗
“Extra emails & validations from $1.80 / 1,000 emails [...] from $1.30 / 1,000 emails”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Postmark ↗
“45-day data retention [...] Customizable data retention up to 365 days (45-day default)”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Mailgun ↗
“1 day log retention [...] 5 days log retention 1 day message retention”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Inbound email
- Postmark
- Limited
- Mailgun
- Supported
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Postmark ↗
“Pro [...] Inbound email processing [...] Platform [...] Inbound email processing”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Mailgun ↗
“1 inbound route [...] 5 inbound routes”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Which should you choose?
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- 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.