Mailgun vs Resend
Two transactional API options for transactional email. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.
MailgunTransactional APIIn Lovable
ResendTransactional APIllms.txtIn Bolt, Lovable, ReplitWhich fits you
- Your app also needs to receive and parse email that users send to it
Use it whenUsers need to reply to or email into your app, and you need to route and parse those messages.
Trade-offIts dashboard and API are older and busier than newer services, and the free tier is small.
- You write React or TypeScript and want email templates as components in the same codebase
Use it whenYou're setting up sign-up and reset emails in a TypeScript app and want templates to live next to your UI code.
Trade-offA younger service than Postmark or SES, and costlier than SES at very high volume.
At a glance
| Used by | 47 makers' products · 11 open-source projects | 942 makers' products · 54 open-source projects |
|---|---|---|
| Cost at default usageemails 50k emails | $35/mo Foundation 50k | $20/mo Pro 50k |
| Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 2024 | fewer than 3 | 3 from Mailgun |
| Downloads | 1.1M/wk−23% vs npm | 9.4M/wk4.1× vs npm |
| Pricing | Free tier; paid plans by volume. · paid from $15/mo | Free tier for small volume; paid plans by monthly emails. · paid from $20/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | No |
| Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status page | 12 (5 major) | no public status feed |
Cost as you grow
Both cost $0 up to 1k emails; from 5k emails Mailgun costs less ($15 vs $20); from about 25k emails Resend does ($20 vs $35); from about 5M emails Mailgun does ($2,250 vs $2,300).
The numbers, plan by plan
| Emails per month | Mailgun | Resend |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $0 Free | $0 Free |
| 5,000 | $15 Basic | $20 Pro 50k |
| 10,000 | $15 Basic | $20 Pro 50k |
| 25,000 | $35 Foundation 50k | $20 Pro 50k |
| 50,000 | $35 Foundation 50k | $20 Pro 50k |
| 100,000 | $75 Foundation 100k | $35 Pro 100k |
| 250,000 | $215 Scale 250k | $170 Pro 100k |
| 500,000 | $400 Scale 500k | $350 Scale 500k |
| 1,000,000 | $700 Scale 750k | $650 Scale 1M |
| 5,000,000 | $2,250 Scale 2.5M | $2,300 Scale 2.5M |
Who moves from one to the other
Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Mailgun to Resend" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.
- feat(mail): switch transactional email from Mailgun to ResendLaixer/FunderMapsApi · 2026-09-02
- Migrate email provider from Mailgun to Resendpawanshukla500/consignment-youthnic · 2026-08-11
- chore: switch mail transport from Mailgun to ResendFasttrade-Ventures/accounting-system · 2026-06-08
What makers say
Makers on using it for transactional email, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.
Common integrations include: ● Payment: Stripe , Paypal ● Newsletter Sending: Mailgun ● CRM: Salesforce ● Analytics: Google Analytics and Tag Manager ● Videos: YouTube, Vimeo…
I love using Plausible for analytics, LogSnag for event tracking, NewRelic for application monitoring, MailGun for emails, Render for hosting, Stripe for billing.
MailGun is one of the best services I’ve ever used for Transactional email (like sending important emails related to a customer’s account).
SendGrid and Mailgun still work but feel like 2015. Resend has the cleanest API and React-based email templates, so all my transactional mail took an afternoon instead of a sprint.
Resend handles all of MusicLib's transactional emails — verification, password resets, reservation confirmations. Clean API, great deliverability, took about 15 minutes to integrate.
Here’s what we use for marketing and operations: Stripe (payments) ConvertKit & Resend (email marketing) Plausible Analytics & Mixpanel (web and product analytics) Senja (testi…
Loved and watch-outs
Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.
- Reliable transactional email that gets a SaaS sending within days or weeks of starting. PHStarter Story
- The API is a cost-effective choice for transactional mail next to a separate marketing tool. Starter StoryPH
- Works as an SMTP relay for self-hosted servers, with a free tier for low volumes. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4