Mailgun vs Brevo(2026)
Mailgun is better for teams that need powerful inbound routing. Brevo is the stronger choice if send volume-based pricing (not contacts). Mailgun is freemium (from $15/month) and Brevo is freemium (from $25/month).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
By Bikram NathLast updated
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Mailgun
Mailgun is a developer-focused email API service for sending transactional and marketing emails with robust tracking.
Starting at $15/month
Visit MailgunBrevo
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a marketing and transactional email platform with CRM, SMS, and automation features.
Starting at $25/month
Visit BrevoHow Do Mailgun and Brevo Compare on Features?
| Feature | Mailgun | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | $15/month | $25/month |
| Transactional API | ✓ | — |
| Email validation | ✓ | — |
| Email routing | ✓ | — |
| Inbound parsing | ✓ | — |
| Analytics | ✓ | — |
| Suppressions | ✓ | — |
| Transactional email | — | ✓ |
| Marketing campaigns | — | ✓ |
| SMS marketing | — | ✓ |
| CRM | — | ✓ |
| Automation workflows | — | ✓ |
| Live chat | — | ✓ |
Mailgun Pros and Cons vs Brevo
Mailgun
Brevo
Deep dive: Mailgun
When to choose Mailgun
Mailgun is best for developers who need advanced email infrastructure: inbound routing, email validation, SMTP + API choice, and serious webhook flexibility. Choose it if you're building an internal notification system, need email-to-webhook integration, or require powerful regex-based inbound rules. It's RIGHT for teams of 3-15 developers, projects with complex email workflows (e.g., parse incoming replies, auto-route to support), and budgets $15-100/month. It's WRONG for non-technical teams (UI is developer-first, not business user-friendly), applications prioritizing deliverability above all (Postmark wins), if you want React template support or drag-and-drop builders, or if you need marketing automation. Also wrong for speed-critical applications; Mailgun's average delivery is 10-20 seconds. Use Mailgun when you value developer control and flexibility over polished product interfaces and need inbound email handling.
Real-world use case
A SaaS helpdesk tool (handling 500k emails/month) chose Mailgun for its inbound routing: emails arriving at support@company.com auto-parsed for sender, subject, body, then routed to internal webhooks that created tickets. Mailgun's regex routing meant no custom middleware; emails matched patterns (bug report, refund request, urgent) and went to different internal endpoints automatically. Cost: $50/month (volume pricing). Their developer spent 15 hours building the inbound webhook handler, which automatically labeled tickets. Tradeoff: SendGrid doesn't have this feature (would require Twilio Logic Apps, expensive add-on); they'd have built custom polling. Email validation API saved them from typos in customer imports (Mailgun rejected 12% as invalid before bounce). Real complexity: SMTP vs API choice required decision (chose API for logging, SMTP for legacy systems). Total: $50/month Mailgun + 15 dev hours initial + 2 hours/month maintenance.
Hidden gotchas
Mailgun's free tier ($0) allows 100 emails/day permanently, but accounts become unpredictable after 30 days—support tells you to upgrade 'for reliability,' but docs don't say why. Inbound routing via regex requires URL encoding in the admin panel; failures are silent (no error, rule just won't match). Webhook retries are aggressive (36 hours of attempts) but randomly offset, so your consumer might get duplicate payloads if you don't idempotency-check. Bounce management is automatic but hidden: hard bounces suppress immediately, soft bounces suppress after threshold, but the threshold isn't in docs (support says 'varies by ISP'). Message variables in templates use `%recipient%` not `{{recipient}}`—different syntax than everyone else, causing migration headaches. Storing inbound emails is expensive if enabled: first 100 stored free, then $0.50 per message. No bulk delete API; if you need to purge test data, you're scraping the UI. SMTP credentials are per-domain; teams often commit the wrong credentials to staging. Deliverability tracking (opens, clicks) require specific configuration per domain and aren't retroactive—enable late and you'll miss all past data.
Pricing breakdown
Mailgun's free trial includes 5,000 emails for the first month (then it expires). The Foundation plan at $35/mo includes 50,000 emails. The Scale plan at $90/mo includes 100,000 emails with dedicated IP, email validation, and advanced analytics. Additional emails cost $0.80 per 1,000. At 500K emails/mo, expect $350-500/mo. The advantage: powerful API for complex sending scenarios (batch sends, MIME manipulation, recipient variables). The cost trap: the Foundation plan has limited log retention (1 day), forcing most production users to Scale. Deliverability has improved since the Sinch acquisition but still trails Postmark.
Deep dive: Brevo
When to choose Brevo
Brevo fits companies needing ALL-IN-ONE marketing + transactional email, SMS, and CRM automation in one platform, especially EU-focused businesses (GDPR advantage). Choose it if you have an aggressive email budget (<$25/month cap is your floor), send high volumes (Brevo's volume-based pricing beats contact-based competitors), need SMS alongside email, or want basic marketing automation bundled. It's RIGHT for European SaaS, SMBs doing email campaigns + transactional sends, and teams consolidating three tools into one. It's WRONG if deliverability is critical (Postmark/SendGrid win), if you need <10-second delivery, if you want modern UI (Brevo's interface feels dated vs Resend), or if you're a US-only business paying extra for EU compliance features you don't need. Also wrong if you prioritize support speed (slow, non-technical support team). Use Brevo when consolidation matters more than optimization and you're price-conscious.
Real-world use case
An EU e-commerce platform sending 2M marketing emails/month + 500k transactional (order confirmation, shipping updates) + SMS notifications chose Brevo at €25/month vs SendGrid ($180) + Mailchimp ($100) + Twilio ($200). Brevo included marketing automation (drip campaigns), transactional API, SMS, and contact list CRM all in one. Deliverability was acceptable (94% inbox rate, acceptable for e-commerce). Tradeoff: setup took 2 weeks (more complex workflows than SendGrid), support response was slow (3 days typical), and contacts are usage-based (each email counts, not unique recipients), so mass-sending campaigns inflates costs unexpectedly. At month 4, they hit €75/month (volume spike), and realized Brevo's 'simple' pricing model actually costs more at scale than SendGrid's per-email rate. Real cost: €25/month baseline + €50+ at scale + 40 hours initial setup. Verdict: saved upfront costs vs three separate tools, but operational complexity was higher.
Hidden gotchas
Brevo's freemium model allows 300 emails/day but severely throttles inbound validation, webhooks, and API features until paid. Contacts are counted by every send (not unique), so your bill explodes with list size; marketing emails to 10k contacts = 10k units, even if same person. Volume-based pricing seems simple until you realize SMS, email, and transactional counts are separate; billing dashboard doesn't itemize clearly. Transactional email requires separate API key but shares contact rate limits with marketing (one limit for all sends), so marketing campaigns can choke transactional delivery during peak times. Template editor is clunky (no drag-drop, basic HTML only); React templates not supported. DMARC/DKIM setup requires Route53 or manual DNS with minimal guidance (support calls it 'advanced'). Bounce/complaint handling is automatic but invisible—addresses hard-bounce, but soft bounce threshold isn't documented. Webhooks are retry-on-failure for 5 days only (vs SendGrid's 72 hours), so older logs are lost. Data residency: Brevo's free tier and standard plans store emails on US servers despite EU branding (DPA required separately). Support is non-technical; escalations require ticket queues with 3-7 day waits.
Pricing breakdown
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) offers a free plan with 300 emails/day and unlimited contacts. The Starter plan at $25/mo includes 20,000 emails/mo with no daily sending limit. Business starts at $65/mo for 20,000 emails with marketing automation, A/B testing, and advanced statistics. Additional emails cost $1 per 1,000. At 100K emails/mo, expect $75-120/mo. The unique advantage: Brevo bundles transactional email, marketing campaigns, SMS, and WhatsApp messaging in one platform. The limitation: email template builder is less flexible than dedicated tools, and deliverability for transactional emails is not as strong as Postmark or SES.
Should You Use Mailgun or Brevo?
For most teams, Mailgun is the better default: it offers powerful inbound routing and is freemium (from $15/month). Choose Brevo instead if send volume-based pricing (not contacts) matters more than less polished dx than resend. There is no universal winner — the right pick depends on your budget, team size, and whether you value powerful inbound routing or send volume-based pricing (not contacts) more.
Choose Mailgun if…
- •Powerful inbound routing
- •Email validation API
- •Good deliverability
Choose Brevo if…
- •Send volume-based pricing (not contacts)
- •Marketing + transactional in one
- •Good free tier (300/day)