Mailgun Pricing: Did They Kill the Free Tier? Complete History (2012-2026)

Prices verified: March 23, 2026 | Source: mailgun.com/pricing | Data: 134 Archive.org snapshots + our daily monitoring

Short answer: Mailgun removed its free tier in November 2023 — then brought it back four months later. That removal pushed developers to Amazon SES and SendGrid, and Mailgun reversed course in March 2024. The free tier is back, but it is not what it used to be.

I have tracked Mailgun's pricing across 140 snapshots spanning 14 years. In that time, Mailgun changed ownership twice, completely restructured pricing five times, and went from a $499/month "First-Class" tier to a $15/month "Basic" plan. No other email API provider has rewritten its pricing page this many times.

What follows is the most complete Mailgun pricing timeline available anywhere — sourced from Archive.org captures and our automated monitoring system.

What Does Mailgun Cost Right Now?

All plans include the RESTful email API, SMTP relay, tracking, analytics, and webhooks. The real differentiation happens at scale: Foundation and Scale add more sending domains, longer log retention, and priority support channels.

How Has Mailgun Pricing Changed Over 14 Years?

Mailgun has gone through five distinct pricing eras. Each one was tied to a change in ownership or a shift in market strategy. Two acquisitions triggered the biggest price swings. Rackspace pushed the cheapest paid plan to $79/month. Then Sinch cut it to $35/month — a 56% drop. Here is the full timeline from our 134 Archive.org snapshots.

What Did Mailgun Cost at Launch? (2012-2013)

When Mailgun launched, it offered five clearly-priced tiers based on sending volume. Our earliest Archive.org snapshot from July 2012 shows:

• Free: $0 — Limited sending
• Standard: $19/month
• Express: $59/month
• Priority: $199/month
• First-Class: $499/month (or custom pricing in some snapshots)

This era lasted until mid-2013. The plan names were memorable — "First-Class" and "Express" borrowed from postal terminology, fitting for an email delivery service. By September 2013, Mailgun simplified to just "Free" and "Custom Contract," signaling a pivot toward enterprise sales.

When Did Mailgun Switch to Pay-As-You-Go? (2014-2017)

From 2014 to 2017, Mailgun kept it simple. There were two options: a Free Tier and Pay As You Go. No fixed plans. No monthly fees. You paid only for emails you sent. This model attracted startups and solo developers who hated upfront commitments.

Our Archive.org snapshots show this structure held steady for nearly four years — the longest stable pricing period in Mailgun's history. The free tier included 10,000 emails per month, making it one of the most generous free email API offerings at the time.

What Happened After Rackspace Acquired Mailgun? (2018-2019)

Rackspace bought Mailgun around 2017. By March 2018, the pricing page looked completely different. Our Archive.org snapshots show a new tier system with much higher prices:

• Concept: $0/month — Free tier for development
• Production: $79/month — For live applications
• Scale: $325/month — High-volume sending
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

This was a massive price jump. The cheapest paid plan went from pay-as-you-go to $79/month — a hard pill for small teams. The Scale plan at $325/month was 6.5x more expensive than today's Scale plan at $90/month. This pricing lasted through all of 2018 and most of 2019.

How Did the Sinch Acquisition Change Pricing? (2020-2022)

Sinch acquired Mailgun in 2020 and slashed prices immediately. Our February 2020 Archive.org snapshot shows the new structure:

• Flex: $0/month — Replaced "Concept"
• Foundation: $35/month — Down from $79 (56% drop)
• Growth: $80/month — New mid-tier
• Scale: $90/month — Down from $325 (72% drop)

The Scale plan dropped from $325 to $90 — a 72% price reduction overnight. Foundation went from $79 to $35. These cuts were clearly designed to win back developers who had left during the Rackspace-era price hikes. The "Flex" name replaced "Concept," and a new "Growth" tier filled the gap between Foundation and Scale.

In March 2022, Mailgun renamed "Flex" to "Trial," dropping the pretense of a permanent free tier. Everything else stayed the same. This subtle rename was the first hint that the free tier's days were numbered.

When Did Mailgun Remove and Restore the Free Tier? (2023-2026)

March 2023 brought the first major cut: the Growth tier ($80/month) was removed. The pricing simplified to Trial, Foundation $35, Scale $90, and Custom.

Then in November 2023, Mailgun removed the Trial/Free tier entirely. For the first time in over a decade, there was no free option. The cheapest way to use Mailgun was Foundation at $35/month. Our Archive.org snapshots confirm that from November 2023 through February 2024, only Foundation, Scale, and Enterprise plans existed.

The reversal came fast. By March 2024, the Free tier was back. And in July 2024, Mailgun added a new Basic plan at $15/month — a tier that had never existed before. This four-plan structure (Free, Basic $15, Foundation $35, Scale $90) has remained stable through March 2026.

Why Did Mailgun Keep Changing Prices?

Two acquisitions explain most of the volatility. When Rackspace acquired Mailgun, they pushed prices up to match enterprise positioning (Production at $79, Scale at $325). When Sinch acquired Mailgun from Rackspace, they dropped prices to compete with SendGrid and Amazon SES on value.

The 2023 free tier removal was a profitability play. Free users consume support resources without generating revenue. But the move backfired — developers evaluating email APIs default to the one with a free tier for testing. Four months without a free plan was enough to push trial users toward competitors.

The July 2024 addition of the $15 Basic tier was the final piece. It bridges the gap between free (100 emails/day) and Foundation ($35/month with 50,000 emails). Similar to how Notion added its Plus plan to capture users between free and business tiers.

How Does Mailgun Compare to Alternatives?

Amazon SES remains the cheapest option for pure volume. But Mailgun and SendGrid offer better developer experience with built-in tracking, template builders, and inbound routing. Postmark focuses on deliverability over price.

Complete Pricing Timeline

Data sourced from 134 Archive.org snapshots (2012-2025) and our automated daily monitoring (2025-2026). Each row represents a confirmed pricing change verified against at least two consecutive snapshots.

What Should You Expect Next?

Mailgun's pricing has been stable since July 2024 — the longest stretch without changes since the 2014-2017 Pay-As-You-Go era. The current four-tier structure (Free, Basic $15, Foundation $35, Scale $90) covers the full range from hobbyist to mid-scale sender.

If history is a guide, the next change will come from competitive pressure — not another acquisition. Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails undercuts everyone on volume pricing. Resend, a newer competitor, is gaining traction with developers who want a modern API experience. Mailgun's response will likely be feature additions to justify its price premium, not another restructure.

We track Mailgun's pricing page daily. When the next change happens, our Mailgun monitor will catch it first.