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Mailgun alternative: Irisend vs Mailgun
Mailgun's Scale plan lands on the same 100,000-emails-included price point Irisend lists, which makes for one of the cleanest like-for-like comparisons in this set. The bigger differences are in idempotency and how its sandbox-equivalent test mode works.
Facts below are sourced from Mailgun's own pricing, security and API reference pages, fetched 3 November 2026. Irisend is in early access: every team sends free today (capped at 10,000 emails/month); the Irisend price below is its listed launch pricing, not yet billed.
Information checked on ; see sources at the bottom of this page. Facts come from Mailgun's own pricing and docs pages, recorded in docs/research/2026-11-03-competitor-comparison.md.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Irisend | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free today (early access, 10,000 emails/mo cap, no credit card) · listed launch price from €20/mo | Free: $0/mo, 100 emails/day, 1-day log retention. Paid from Basic $15/mo (10,000 emails/mo, $1.80/1,000 overage). |
| Price at 100,000 emails/mo (listed) | €35/mo listed launch price (Pro plan, 100,000 emails/mo) — not yet billed; every team sends free during early access | $90/mo (Scale plan, 100,000 emails/mo included)Same included volume as Irisend's listed Pro plan; currencies differ (USD vs EUR) and Irisend isn't billing this yet (early access), so compare listed rates, not current invoices. |
| Free tier | 3,000 emails/mo, 100/day cap, no overage, once the listed plans take effect | 100 emails/day forever, 1 sending domain, 1-day log retention, 1 inbound route |
| SMTP relay | smtp.irisend.com, ports 465 (implicit TLS) / 587 (STARTTLS) | RESTful API and SMTP relay included at every tier |
| Idempotency key on send | Idempotency-Key header, 24h, checked against the request body (409 on a changed replay) | Only o:inbox-placement-test-key exists, and it only deduplicates Inbox Placement Tests — the message send itself has no idempotency key |
| Webhook signing | Standard Webhooks / Svix-compatible HMAC (byte-compatible with existing svix verifiers) | Not confirmed from the pages fetched |
| Sending regions | us-east-1, eu-west-1, sa-east-1, ap-northeast-1 — selectable per domain | Dual region — api.mailgun.net (US) and api.eu.mailgun.net (EU) — but a domain's region is fixed at creation; moving requires re-registering the domain |
| Dedicated IPs | Not offered | Access starts at 50,000 emails/mo; included only from 100,000+ volumes |
| Self-host on your own AWS | No — all sending runs on Irisend's own managed AWS SES; no bring-your-own-AWS option ships today | No bring-your-own-AWS option found on Mailgun's pages |
| DMARC monitoring | Built in: pass-rate summary, source breakdown, raw aggregate reports per domain | Not found on Mailgun's pricing/feature pages |
| Sub-accounts / multi-tenant | Built in: Connect sub-accounts with an embeddable React domain-verification widget | Listed as a feature-matrix row ("Subaccounts") but tier gating wasn't legible in the page fetched |
| SOC 2 Type II (own audit) | Not yet — publicly stated as a roadmap item, not claimed | Yes — SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001 certified, per Mailgun's own security page |
What Irisend does that Mailgun doesn't
An idempotency key that actually covers the send
Mailgun's only idempotency-flavored parameter, o:inbox-placement-test-key, deduplicates Inbox Placement Tests specifically — not the message send itself. Irisend's Idempotency-Key covers POST /emails and /emails/batch directly, for 24 hours, checked against the request body.
Sandbox events cover the full lifecycle, not just a send flag
Mailgun's o:testmode=yes processes a request without delivering it. Irisend's sandbox provider plus magic recipient addresses (bounced@, complained@, delayed@, opened@, clicked@) let you exercise bounce, complaint, delay, open and click events specifically during development.
DMARC monitoring is a built-in endpoint, not a DIY project
Per-domain DMARC pass-rate, source breakdown and raw aggregate reports via the API — not found on Mailgun's published pricing/feature pages.
Where Mailgun is honestly stronger
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, today
Mailgun's security page states both certifications directly. Irisend's security page states plainly it holds neither yet.
EU region on every tier, not gated behind a higher plan
Mailgun's api.eu.mailgun.net is available from the Free tier up; Irisend's own eu-west-1 region is available on every plan too, but Mailgun additionally guarantees the data never crosses into the US region once a domain is created there.
Live phone and chat support, and pricing that's live today
Mailgun's Scale plan ($90/mo, 100,000 emails/mo) includes live phone and chat support — a channel Irisend doesn't offer at any price point today — and that price is what customers actually pay right now. Irisend is still in early access (free for everyone, capped at 10,000 emails/month), and its listed price isn't billed yet.
Verdict
At the same 100,000-email price point, Mailgun is SOC 2/ISO-certified with live phone support, a hard US/EU data split, and pricing that's live today. Irisend's edge is a send-level idempotency guarantee and built-in DMARC monitoring Mailgun doesn't have — but its own listed price isn't billed yet.
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
Next
Read the full API reference, the Resend migration guide, or see pricing.
Sources (checked 3 November 2026)
- Mailgun pricing
- Mailgun webhooks (event types)
- Mailgun security & compliance
- Mailgun Send an email API reference
Mailgun is a trademark of its respective owner. Irisend is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mailgun. Spotted an inaccuracy? [email protected].