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Email Marketing Comparison

Mailchimp vs. Mailgun

At a glance

At a glance

Mailchimp

Best for

Best for teams that want an email marketing platform with designed templates, automation and AI writing tools, and a Marketing API to connect their own data.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Mailgun

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 Mailchimp Mailgun
Starting price lower value From $13 / month Essentials plan; the price scales with the number of contacts. 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 Free plan available for up to 500 contacts Free tier: 100 emails per day
API Yes, a Marketing API for audiences, automations and data sync, plus more than 300 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 campaigns, with A/B testing and scheduling on paid plans 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, automation flows, up to 3 steps on Essentials and up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium 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, segmentation and dynamic content, with predictive segmentation on Premium 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, professionally designed templates and an editor, with custom-coded templates on Premium 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, A/B testing and scheduling on paid plans 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, audience data with tags and more than 300 integrations 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, a Marketing API for audiences, automations and data sync 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 Email helpdesk, Chat, Phone Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat
Onboarding Not stated Documentation and knowledge base
Company size Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations Not stated Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, SAP S/4HANA, Zapier, Make, n8n, Pipedream, Workato, Slack, Asana, Google Analytics, Datadog, Splunk, Heroku, GitHub Actions, Replit, Lovable

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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 Mailchimp From $13 / month Mailgun Free tier; Basic from $15 / month
  • Free trial Mailchimp Free plan available for up to 500 contacts Mailgun Free tier: 100 emails per day
  • Hosting Mailchimp Cloud (SaaS) Mailgun Cloud (SaaS), with data centres in the US and the EU
  • Support Mailchimp Email helpdesk, Chat, Phone Mailgun Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat
  • AI features Mailchimp Yes Mailgun No

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Mailchimp

Strengths

  • Generative AI writing and design tools on the Standard and Premium plans
  • Marketing API with webhooks and OAuth 2 for audiences and automations
  • More than 300 integrations
  • Free plan for up to 500 contacts

Limitations

  • Prices scale with the number of contacts
  • Predictive segmentation and custom-coded templates are reserved for the top plans

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

Mailchimp

  • Free $0 / month Up to 500 monthly sends and 250 contacts, with a limited set of templates.
  • Essentials From $13 / month Designed templates, A/B testing, scheduling and up to 3 automation flow steps. Scales with contacts.
  • Standard From $20 / month Adds AI writing and design tools and up to 200 automation flows. Scales with contacts.
  • Premium From $350 / month Adds unlimited contacts and seats, predictive segmentation, phone and priority support and custom-coded templates.
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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.
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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Mailchimp

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

Mailchimp https://mailchimp.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-19

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.