Best for
Best for small businesses and creators that want straightforward email newsletters, automation and landing pages with an AI writing assistant.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Email Marketing Comparison
AWeber vs. Mailgun
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for engineering teams sending at high volume that need an API and SMTP relay, with the option of an EU data centre.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | AWeber | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $15 / month Lite plan billed monthly; annual billing lowers it to $12.49 / month, and the price scales with the number of subscribers. | Free tier; Basic from $15 / month Basic $15 per month for 10,000 emails, Foundation $35 for 50,000 and Scale $90 for 100,000, then Enterprise on request. Overage is $1.80 per 1,000 on Basic and Foundation and $1.10 on Scale. Foundation and Scale are free for the first month. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial | Free tier: 100 emails per day |
| API | Yes, an email marketing API and hundreds of integrations | Yes, RESTful email API and SMTP relay, with official SDKs for Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, C#, Node.js and Go |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Cloud (SaaS), with data centres in the US and the EU |
| Campaign types | Yes, email newsletters and automated email campaigns, with signup forms and landing pages | Transactional and bulk sending over the RESTful API or the SMTP relay, batch sending of up to 1,000 personalised messages per call, scheduled messages, and inbound routing that parses received mail into UTF-8 JSON |
| Automation and journeys | Yes, automated email campaigns; 3 automations on Lite and unlimited automations on Plus | No journey builder. Sends are triggered by your own application, with message scheduling and Send Time Optimization placing individual messages when a recipient is most likely to engage. |
| Segmentation and personalisation | Yes, subscriber tagging and segmentation | Per-recipient personalisation through batch sending, which substitutes recipient variables for up to 1,000 addresses in a single API call; mailing lists are documented in the user manual. |
| Templates and editor | Yes, a drag-and-drop builder with templates and a Smart Designer that auto-generates branded templates, plus a Canva integration | Reusable templates, documented in the user manual alongside mailing lists, batch sending and scheduling; there is no drag-and-drop campaign designer in the sending product |
| Deliverability and testing | Yes, split tests of up to three emails covering subject lines, preview text, content and send times, with the segments and split percentages chosen rather than fixed at 50/50, plus an in-house reputation system that monitors sending signals around the clock and a dedicated deliverability team | Authentication covers SPF, DKIM, DMARC and BIMI, with suppression management and an email validation API. Deeper tooling sits in Mailgun Optimize, priced separately: inbox placement testing down to the tab or folder, blocklist and spam trap monitoring with Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS integration, preview rendering on 100+ devices and clients, and deliverability consulting. One dedicated IP is included from Foundation; extra IPs are $59 per month. |
| Ecommerce and CRM data | Yes, sell products and take payments through Stripe, with integrations for Shopify, PayPal and WordPress | No store or CRM data model of its own; orders and customer records stay in the system they come from. The integrations directory connects Salesforce, Salesforce Agentforce Marketing, HubSpot, SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition and WordPress, whose free Mailgun plugin also carries the mail from plugins running on it such as WooCommerce. Shopify runs through Zapier rather than a Shopify app, triggering on events such as a new order to send a message or add the customer to a Mailgun list. |
| Integrations and API | Yes, an email marketing API and hundreds of integrations, including Shopify, PayPal, WordPress and Zapier | Yes, RESTful email API and SMTP relay, plus an SMTP API for finer sending control, webhooks for real-time event data and an email validation API. Official SDKs for Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, C#, Node.js and Go. |
| AI features | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat, 24/7, Community forum | Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Guided onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, PayPal, Stripe, Zapier, Calendly, Salesforce, HubSpot, Squarespace, Wix, ClickFunnels, Etsy, Zoom, Typeform | more entries Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, SAP S/4HANA, Zapier, Make, n8n, Pipedream, Workato, Slack, Asana, Google Analytics, Datadog, Splunk, Heroku, GitHub Actions, Replit, Lovable |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price AWeber From $15 / month Mailgun Free tier; Basic from $15 / month
- Free trial AWeber 14-day free trial Mailgun Free tier: 100 emails per day
- Company size AWeber Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Mailgun Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Hosting AWeber Cloud (SaaS) Mailgun Cloud (SaaS), with data centres in the US and the EU
- Support AWeber Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat, 24/7, Community forum Mailgun Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
AWeber
Strengths
- AI writing assistant and subject line generator help draft copy
- Smart Designer auto-generates branded templates, plus a Canva integration
- Sell products and take payments through Stripe
- Email marketing API and hundreds of integrations
Limitations
- Lite plan limits automations and landing pages to three each
- Pricing scales with the number of subscribers
- No permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial
Mailgun
Strengths
- RESTful API and SMTP relay as two routes into the same sending infrastructure
- Batch sending of up to 1,000 fully personalised messages in one API call
- Data centres in both the US and the EU
- Official SDKs for seven languages
- Inbound routing parses received mail into UTF-8 JSON for other systems
Limitations
- Log retention is one day on Free and Basic and five days on Foundation
- Deliverability tooling sits in Mailgun Optimize and is priced separately from sending
- No journey or campaign builder; marketing automation lives in the sibling product Mailjet
- Additional dedicated IPs cost $59 per month each
- Phone and chat support require the Scale plan
- Messages sent in test mode are still charged
Plans
Pricing
AWeber
- Lite From $15 / month Up to 3 automations and 3 landing pages, with monthly email sends up to 10x the subscriber count. Billed monthly; $12.49 / month billed annually. Scales with subscribers.
- Plus From $30 / month Adds unlimited automations and landing pages and monthly sends up to 12x the subscriber count. Billed monthly; $19.99 / month billed annually.
- Done For You $20 / month A full email system built by AWeber's experts within 7 days, billed annually plus a $79 setup fee, with 30 days of unlimited edits.
Mailgun
- Free $0 100 emails per day, with one day of log and message retention and knowledge centre support only.
- Basic $15 Per month for 10,000 emails, overage $1.80 per 1,000. One day of log and message retention, ticket support.
- Foundation $35 Per month for 50,000 emails, free for the first month, overage $1.80 per 1,000. Five days of log retention and one dedicated IP included.
- Scale $90 Per month for 100,000 emails, free for the first month, overage $1.10 per 1,000. 30 days of log retention, up to seven days of message retention, phone and chat support.
- Enterprise Not stated Custom pricing on request.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
AWeber
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Mailgun
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
AWeber https://www.aweber.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-20
Mailgun https://www.mailgun.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-09
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.