Mailgun still gives 100 emails/day free, but recent price increases lead many teams to compare. For Next.js apps, Resend offers a larger 3,000/mo free tier with type-safe sending; Postmark wins on deliverability; Amazon SES is cheapest at scale; and Brevo's 300/day is the most generous always-free option.
- Mailgun free tier: 100/day with only 1-day log retention.
- Resend: 3,000/mo free and the best Next.js developer experience.
- Amazon SES: $0.10 per 1,000 — lowest cost at volume.
- Brevo: 300 emails/day free, the largest no-expiry tier here.
Top Mailgun alternatives
| Provider | Free tier | Entry paid | Dedicated IP | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resend | 3,000 emails/mo (100/day). | $20/mo | $30/mo (Scale) | Best-in-class developer experience (React Email, type-safe) |
| Postmark | 100 emails/mo (no expiration). | $15/mo | From $50/mo (requires 300,000+/mo) | Industry-leading deliverability and speed |
| Amazon SES | 3,000 message charges/mo for the first 12 months only (not permanent). | usage-based | $24.95/mo (Standard) | Cheapest at scale ($0.10/1,000) |
| Brevo | 300 emails/day (no time limit, ~9,000/mo, shared with campaigns). | $9/mo | Higher / enterprise tiers | Generous no-expiry free tier (300/day) |
| Mailtrap | 4,000 emails/mo (150/day). | $15/mo | Higher tiers | Separate sending streams, modern integrations (Vercel/Supabase/MCP) |
Mailgun: current pricing
| Plan | Price / mo | Included | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100/day (~3,000/mo) | — |
| Basic | $15 | 10,000 / mo | $1.80 / 1k |
| Foundation | $35 | 50,000 / mo | $1.30 / 1k |
| Scale | $90 | 100,000 / mo | $1.10 / 1k |
Mailgun remains a capable, developer-oriented sender with flexible routing and inbound processing, and its 100 emails/day free tier is enough for early testing. The reason teams put it up for comparison in 2026 is cost creep: paid plans now start at $15/mo for 10,000 emails on Basic and climb to $90/mo for 100,000 on Scale, and the free tier keeps only one day of logs, which is thin for debugging delivery issues.
For a JavaScript or Next.js codebase, Resend is the most comfortable switch. You keep a free tier (3,000/mo versus Mailgun's ~3,000/mo by day cap) but gain a type-safe SDK and React Email templates, so the migration is mostly swapping the send call. If your priority is inbox placement for receipts and account emails, Postmark's transactional stream and deliverability reputation justify its smaller free allowance.
At higher volume, Amazon SES undercuts Mailgun substantially at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, in exchange for AWS setup overhead and self-managed bounce handling. If you would rather not pay at all for a while, Brevo's 300 emails/day (~9,000/mo) is the most generous no-expiry free tier in this set, and Mailtrap's 4,000/mo free tier pairs sending with built-in testing — useful while you validate a migration before cutting over production traffic.
// app/api/send/route.ts
import { Resend } from "resend";
const resend = new Resend(process.env.RESEND_API_KEY!);
export async function POST(req: Request) {
const { to, subject, html } = await req.json();
// was: mg.messages.create(DOMAIN, { from, to, subject, html })
const { data, error } = await resend.emails.send({
from: "noreply@yourdomain.com",
to,
subject,
html,
});
if (error) return Response.json({ error }, { status: 500 });
return Response.json({ id: data?.id });
}FAQ
- Is there a free Mailgun alternative with a bigger free tier?
- Yes. Brevo offers 300 emails/day (~9,000/mo) and Mailtrap offers 4,000/mo, both larger than Mailgun's 100/day free tier.
- What is the best Mailgun alternative for Next.js?
- Resend, thanks to its type-safe SDK, React Email templates, and a 3,000/mo free tier that make the send-call swap straightforward.
- Which Mailgun alternative is cheapest at scale?
- Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, if you can handle the AWS configuration and monitor deliverability yourself.