Mailjet vs Mailgun: How to Pick the Right Choice For You?

Mailjet is a marketing automation platform that offers services such as email marketing and landing page creation. The platform provides businesses with the tools to send both transactional and marketing emails.

Mailjet offers tools like SMTP relay and an API that supports programming languages such as PHP, Ruby, Python, Node.js, and more. It also supports email list validation and real-time analytics.

Mailgun is an API-only (Application Programmable Interface) email platform focused on offering email automation services for developers. As a result, it’s not as user-friendly as Mailjet, but it does offer more powerful features. Mailgun would be more suited for businesses that require advanced email management and delivery solutions.

What’s interesting about this comparison is that Mailgun and Mailjet are owned by the same parent company. First, Mailgun bought out Mailjet in 2019, and then it was acquired by Sinch AB in 2021. The same company also owns Email on Acid.

If you’re stuck deciding between these two, this Mailjet vs Mailgun comparison aims to highlight the differences in features and clearly outline what advantages each platform offers.

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Mailjet vs Mailgun: Which One to Pick?

There are minor differences (and some obvious ones) between these two platforms that you should be aware of before you pull the trigger. Below, we study the features closely to help you make the right choice.

User Interface vs API

Mailjet has a clean and intuitive interface designed to be user-friendly, even for non-technical users. The email editor lets users easily create and customize email marketing templates and supports real-time collaboration for team members. With drag-and-drop functionality, users can add various elements to create emails. The platform lets you add dynamic email content with ease.

Comparatively, Mailgun doesn’t have a traditional graphical user interface. As it’s an API-driven platform, you’ll need to use coding or an alternative tool to create email content and then use Mailgun’s API to send it.

If you choose to go down the coding route, you can utilize Python or Ruby to define the email content (text, HTML, attachments) and recipient information. You can then send the email via an API call. 

Email creation tools such as Beefree or Chamaileon integrate with Mailgun’s API. These email builders allow you to design your email using a drag-and-drop interface. The tool converts your design into a format Mailgun’s API understands and sends it on your behalf. 

As a result, there is no template library on Mailgun; whatever a third-party tool offers is all you get.

But this isn’t a con for Mailgun; the platform doesn’t claim to be user-friendly, as it is focused on offering powerful functionalities for developers and advanced users. Its strength is its ability to allow users to have granular control, which is ideal for high-volume sending and extensive customization.

Mailjet offers API access, too; it is designed to be more user-friendly for developers. In comparison, Mailgun’s API offers more features and functionalities but comes with a steeper learning curve.

Mailjet vs Mailgun: Comparing Usability

This is how Mailjet stacks up against Mailgun in terms of user interface and user experience:

Functionality	Mailjet	Mailgun
User interface	✅	❌
API access	✅	✅
API functionality	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Drag-and-drop email editor	✅	❌
Template library	✅	❌
Variety of programming languages for API	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Granular customization	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Verdict: For an email marketer with no coding background, Mailjet would be suitable. But for developers looking to fine-tune various aspects of email marketing, Mailgun is a better fit. This round is a tie, as it comes down to personal preference.

Deliverability

Both Mailjet and Mailgun are highly committed to email deliverability.

This helps authenticate incoming messages and prevent email spoofing. Additionally, the platform offers dedicated IP addresses for users with higher sending volumes. This can help improve deliverability by isolating their reputation from other senders using the same IPs. 

Mailjet also has email list segmentation and hygiene tools to manage contact lists effectively. Users also get access to an email validation tool that removes invalid email addresses, reducing bounce rates. Mailjet also offers a paid “Deliverability Experts” service to help customers struggling to get their emails into inboxes.

Mailgun offers the same features as Mailjet plus a bit more. For example, you have an “inbox placement testing” tool that works as a spam tester. “Mailgun Optimize” promises to track blacklists and monitor the reputation of email domains and IP addresses. 

Besides this, Mailgun’s campaign reporting features are more detailed, which lets email marketers analyze and decipher potential deliverability issues. Email log files allow users to view errors in email delivery and overall deliverability.

While we couldn’t find any numbers to assess Mailgun’s deliverability rates, Mailjet manages a modest 78.92 %, according to Email Deliverability Report.

Let’s tally the two platforms’ inbox placement capabilities: 

Feature	Mailjet	Mailgun
Reputation monitoring	✅	✅
Implementation of authentication protocols	✅	✅
Deliverability tracking	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
IP warming	✅	✅
Email validation tools	✅	✅

Verdict: Both platforms are tied regarding inbox placement measures. It’s not clear how good the deliverability rates of Mailgun are (due to a lack of credible sources) but the winner is whichever platform offers better deliverability.

Analytics and Reporting

Mailjet’s Statistics Dashboard gives you insight into critical campaign metrics.

Mailjet also offers a tool called “Click Map,” which shows users where email subscribers spend their time and what content appeals the most.

Mailgun’s API model allows users to customize their analytics dashboards in any way they like. The platform collects a wide range of analytics data, and depending on coding capabilities, marketers can access highly comprehensive campaign reports. 

Mailgun even lets customers set up webhooks to receive real-time notifications for specific email events. The platform offers email professionals extensive data on email interactions, including opens by device, clicks by link, geo-location tracking, and more. 

Unlike Mailjet, Mailgun does not offer A/B testing features — but users can still split-test campaigns and elements by coding custom programs.

Comparing the analytics and reporting capabilities of Mailjet vs Mailgun:

Features	Mailjet	Mailgun
Built-in analytics dashboard	✅	❌
A/B testing	✅	❌
Custom dashboard	❌	✅
Advanced analytics	❌	✅

Verdict: Mailgun offers better reporting but no A/B testing, as Mailjet does. It’s a tie.

Customer Service

We referred to sites like G2, GetApp, Reddit, and Trustpilot to uncover customer sentiment about using either platform, and here’s what we found.

Mailjet does a strictly okay job at customer service. Some Reddit users mention trouble resolving problems. A few reviews on Trustpilot highlight issues with the tech support team, with customers saying they received zero help. Many of the reviews are recent, too.

As for Mailgun, it fares only slightly better than Mailjet; the online reputation of its customer care team isn’t great. Most of the negative comments on G2 specifically criticized the apathetic customer support. One customer explicitly stated that customers looking for good tech support should go elsewhere.

Features	Mailjet	Mailgun
Chat support	✅	✅
Email support	✅	✅
Call support	✅	✅
Quality of tech support	⭐⭐	⭐⭐

Verdict: Both platforms are tied in this section due to issues with customer care.

Automation

Users on Mailjet’s platform can access email automation features for email. Customers get a range of built-in automation templates to choose from; they can customize and deploy these at critical points in the customer journey. 

Users can set up conditional logic within workflows to send different emails based on subscriber behavior. Mailjet also allows email personalization with dynamic tags that insert subscriber information like name, location, or past purchases.

Comparatively, Mailgun itself doesn’t offer a pre-built visual workflow builder for email automation. However, developers can write code to define triggers and actions for automated emails. This code can integrate with Mailgun’s API to send emails based on specific criteria.

Mailgun also allows integration with a range of marketing tools; any of these can trigger emails using webhooks or custom actions. The API model gives developers complete control over the branching logic and email content, making it far more suitable for businesses with complex automation needs.

Automation features	Mailjet	Mailgun
Advanced automation	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Automation templates	✅	❌
Advanced branching logic	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pre-built integrations	✅	❌
Custom integrations	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Webhooks	✅	✅

Verdict: While Mailjet offers templates and simple controls, Mailgun offers much more customization; this round is a draw.

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Mailjet vs Mailgun: Pricing Analysis

Both Mailjet and Mailgun charge customers as per the number of emails they send each month. 

Given the differences in features, the two platforms are also priced differently. Mailjet offers a lifetime-free plan that lets you send 200 emails a day, while Mailgun offers a free plan that’s only valid for a month.

Mailjet Pricing Plans

These are the Mailjet pricing plans you can choose from:

Mailjet plan	Cost	Feature
Free	$0	‣ 1500 Contacts ‣ 6,000 Emails/month ‣ Send API ‣ API Access ‣ SMTP Relay ‣ Webhooks ‣ Email Templates ‣ Advanced Email Editor ‣ Basic Statistics ‣ Form Builder ‣ GDPR-Compliant Subscription Forms ‣ Personalization
Essential	$17/month	‣ All of the above + ‣ Unlimited contacts ‣ 15,000 emails/month ‣ Online customer support ‣ No Mailjet logo ‣ 500 Email Previews per month ‣ 500 Email address validations ‣ Segmentation ‣ 1 Subaccount ‣ AI Copy Generator ‣ AI Subject Line Generator ‣ Online Customer Support Statistics
Premium	$27/month	‣ All of the above + ‣ 15,000 emails/month ‣ Advanced Statistics ‣ Marketing Automation ‣ Dynamic Content ‣ A/B Testing ‣ Landing Pages ‣ 2000 Email Previews per month ‣ Multi-user Access and Role Management ‣ Up To 20 Subaccounts ‣ Real-time Collaboration on templates ‣ Locked And Linked Sections ‣ Priority Support ‣ Chat And Phone Support (For 50k+ Plans) ‣ 1 Dedicated IP (For 100k+ Plans) ‣ 2000 Email Address Validations included (For 100k+ Plans) ‣ Single Sign-On (SSO) (For 100k+ Plans)
Custom	Custom pricing	‣ All of the above + ‣ Dedicated Technical Account Manager ‣ Comprehensive Onboarding ‣ Dedicated IP Strategy ‣ IP Performance Monitoring and Management ‣ Blocklist Monitoring ‣ Deliverability Reports ‣ Strategic Deliverability Consulting ‣ Training ‣ Custom number of users & advanced permissions ‣ Custom number of sub-accounts ‣ Activity logs ‣ Custom number of email address validations ‣ Custom number of Email Previews

If you opt for an annual plan, you get a 10% discount on all Mailjet plans.

Mailgun Plans: Details

Mailgun plans are more affordable than Mailjet:

Mailgun plan	Cost	Feature
Free	$0	‣ 100 emails per day ‣ 1 custom sending domain ‣ 1 API key ‣ Email analytics and reporting ‣ 1-day log retention ‣ 1 inbound route ‣ SMTP relays ‣ RESTful email API ‣ Mailing lists ‣ Recipient variables ‣ Email templates ‣ Webhooks ‣ 2-Factor authentication ‣ Comprehensive SDKs ‣ Ticket support
Basic	$15/month	‣ All of the above + ‣ 10,000 emails/month ‣ No daily email limit ‣ Monthly email overage options
Foundation	$35/month	‣ All of the above + ‣ 50,000 emails/month ‣ Full access to RESTful email APIs and SMTP relays ‣ 1,000 custom sending domains ‣ Email template builder and API5 days log retention ‣ 3 days message retention ‣ Full access to inbound routing ‣ Extra emails from $1.30 for 1,000 emails ‣ Extra validations at $1.20 per 100 validations ‣ Guaranteed uptime SLA ‣ Automated dedicated IP warm-up ‣ Authentication protocols ‣ Link tracking ‣ Dedicated IPs (Access at 50k, included at 100K+ volumes) ‣ Multi-user access ‣ User roles & permissions
Scale	$90/month	‣ All of the above + ‣ 100,000 emails/month ‣ SAML SSO ‣ 5,000 email validations ‣ Dedicated IP pools ‣ Send time optimization ‣ Live phone & chat support ‣ 30 days log retention ‣ Up to 7 days message retention ‣ Reputation Monitoring available as add-on

Users can try all Mailgun plans for free for a month, but that’s just a sales ruse. You will barely achieve any traction or ever understand platform performance in 30 days, which means you end up opting for a paid plan. 

In this scenario, you may be better off choosing a free email marketing tool or joining an ESP that charges a flat fee but is transparent, like Campaign Refinery.

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Mailjet vs Mailgun: Choosing the Right ESP

Mailjet and Mailgun have an obvious difference; one is fully API-run whereas the other is a more traditional email platform with tools and features for email marketers without coding knowledge. 

But if you were looking beyond this and comparing them by common features such as automation, deliverability, pricing, and similar features — which one should you pick? 

Compare features before you take a call:

Aspect	Mailjet	Mailgun
Deliverability	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
UI	Graphical interface	API
Email list validation	✅	✅
Email templates	✅	❌
Automation	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Advanced automation	❌	✅
Personalization	✅	❌
Third-party integration	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Custom analytics	❌	✅
Page builders	✅	❌

Seeing how these two platforms were tied in all sections above, this Mailjet vs Mailgun comparison is a tie as well. It comes down to a simple choice: Do you want to code email features into your own marketing tool or would you prefer a non-technical email service provider? 

In the first case, Mailgun is the right choice, whereas, for email marketers looking for a simple email platform and no coding challenges, Mailjet would be more suitable. If you’re leaning towards Mailgun and still researching, check out our guide on Mailgun alternatives or read our Mailgun vs Sendgrid comparison.

We also recommend reading our guide on the best email marketing software for small businesses.

But before you make a decision, we’d like to suggest a third option that offers all the qualities of the above competitors: Campaign Refinery.

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Why Choose Campaign Refinery Over Mailgun and Mailjet

Plus, there’s lots more!

Is Campaign Refinery a Better Choice Than Mailjet and Mailgun?

The biggest reason to choose Campaign Refinery is our laser focus on deliverability. 

Our platform is built around achieving the best inbox placement rates; this vision is supported both technically and by following best practices.

And all of this happens without breaking the bank.

Campaign Refinery: Affordable Pricing Plans

At Campaign Refinery, the more you send — the less you pay. 

On our platform, we offer a simple credit-based system where you pay for the emails you send with credits; if you ever run out, you can just buy additional credits. 

Campaign Refinery’s paid tiers:

Campaign Refinery Plans	Price per month	Credits	Features
Business	$99	50,000	‣ Unlimited contacts ‣ Campaign library ‣ Segmentation tools ‣ Automatic list cleaning ‣ Gamification ‣ Evergreen Flash Sales ‣ Advanced automation features
Growth	$299	200,000	‣ All of the above + ‣ Disable Campaign Refinery branding ‣ Higher volume of API access
Enterprise	>$1,000	1 million	‣ All of the above + ‣ Dedicated Success Manager ‣ Custom API volumes

Migrating to Campaign Refinery: Complicated?

No, moving to Campaign Refinery from a different platform is not complicated. The time it takes, however, will depend on the platform you’re migrating from and the volume of data.