MailgunvsBrevo

Mailgun vs Brevo

Developer API vs marketing platform

TL;DR

Mailgun is a developer-focused transactional email API with reliable infrastructure. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is an all-in-one marketing platform with email, SMS, CRM, and automation. Mailgun for pure transactional. Brevo for marketing needs.

Key Differences

The main things that set these tools apart

Platform Scope

Mailgun focuses purely on email delivery infrastructure. Brevo is a full marketing suite with CRM, SMS, automation, and more. Different tools for different needs.

Developer Focus
Mailgun wins

Mailgun is built for developers with comprehensive APIs, SDKs, and detailed webhooks. Brevo is built for marketers with visual tools. Developers prefer Mailgun.

Marketing Features
Brevo wins

Brevo includes campaigns, automation, SMS, CRM, and landing pages. Mailgun has basic campaign features but is not a marketing platform. For marketing, Brevo wins.

Transactional Depth
Mailgun wins

Mailgun has more transactional email features: validation, detailed analytics, suppression management. Brevo handles transactional but lacks depth.

Pricing Comparison

At 100,000 emails/month

Mailgun
$75/month

Scale plan with validation, analytics, 5-day retention.

Visit Mailgun
Brevo
$65/month

Starter plan. Higher tiers for more features.

Visit Brevo
Sequenzy

The SaaS alternative

$49/month

Unified transactional + marketing, unlimited sends.

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side feature breakdown

Feature
Mailgun
Brevo
Sequenzy
Transactional Email
REST API
Comprehensive
Good
SMTP Relay
Email Templates
Template storage
Visual builder
Visual builder
Webhooks
Native, detailed
Basic
Email Validation
Built-in
Add-on
Marketing Features
Email Campaigns
Basic
Full featured
Marketing Automation
Visual workflows
SMS Marketing
Built-in
CRM
Built-in
Landing Pages
Deliverability
Deliverability Tools
Comprehensive
Good
Good
IP Reputation
Detailed dashboard
Basic metrics
Managed
Dedicated IPs
Available
Available
Shared
Email Analytics
Developer-focused
Marketer-focused
Balanced
Developer Experience
SDKs
8+ languages
Multiple languages
Node.js, Python, Go
Documentation
Excellent
Good
Clear
API Design
Developer-first
General purpose
Developer-friendly

Best For

When to choose each tool

Choose Mailgun if you...
  • Developers needing reliable transactional email API
  • Teams requiring detailed email analytics and webhooks
  • Companies with existing marketing tools needing just email delivery
  • Organizations needing email validation
Choose Brevo if you...
  • Businesses needing marketing and transactional in one platform
  • Teams wanting CRM and email together
  • Companies needing SMS marketing capabilities
  • Marketers wanting visual automation builders
Choose Sequenzy if you...
  • SaaS companies wanting unified transactional and marketing
  • Founders building on Stripe who need payment automation
  • Teams seeking simple pricing without volume calculations

When to Consider Sequenzy Instead

Unified Platform

Sequenzy combines transactional and marketing email without the complexity of Brevo or the marketing gaps of Mailgun.

Native Stripe Integration

Trigger emails from Stripe events. Neither Mailgun nor Brevo offers this natively.

Simple Pricing

No volume-based pricing surprises. Per-subscriber pricing with unlimited sends.

Try Sequenzy Free

Overview

Mailgun and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) serve different purposes. Mailgun is a developer-focused transactional email API. Brevo is an all-in-one marketing platform with email, SMS, CRM, and automation. See our Mailgun comparison and Brevo alternatives for more options.

Different Tools for Different Needs

Mailgun excels at email delivery infrastructure. Reliable API, detailed webhooks, email validation, and comprehensive analytics. It is what developers want for transactional email.

Brevo excels at marketing. Visual campaign builders, automation workflows, SMS marketing, and built-in CRM. It is what marketers want for customer engagement.

Choosing between them depends on what you need, not which is better.

Transactional Email Comparison

For pure transactional email, Mailgun has the edge. Better API design, more SDKs, detailed webhook events, built-in validation, and deeper deliverability tools.

Brevo handles transactional email adequately but lacks Mailgun's depth. Brevo's transactional is good enough for most use cases but not its primary focus.

Marketing Features

Brevo includes full marketing capabilities: campaigns, automation, landing pages, SMS, and CRM. All in one platform with one login.

Mailgun has basic campaign features but is not a marketing platform. If you need marketing automation, you will need another tool alongside Mailgun.

Pricing Comparison

At 100,000 emails/month, Mailgun costs $75 and Brevo costs $65. Both are reasonable for the value provided. Brevo includes marketing features in that price. Mailgun's price is for infrastructure only.

For unified email marketing and transactional at simpler pricing, consider Sequenzy.

Making the Decision

Choose Mailgun for developer-focused transactional email with deep infrastructure tools. Choose Brevo for all-in-one marketing with adequate transactional capabilities. For SaaS with Stripe integration, Sequenzy offers a unified approach.

The Sequenzy Alternative

For SaaS companies, Sequenzy combines transactional and marketing email with native Stripe integration, smart segmentation, and AI sequences in one platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

Mailgun for pure transactional. It has better APIs, webhooks, validation, and deliverability tools. Brevo handles transactional but focuses more on marketing.

Brevo for marketing. It includes campaigns, automation, SMS, and CRM. Mailgun is not a marketing platform.

Yes, some companies use Mailgun for transactional and Brevo for marketing. This adds complexity but gives best-of-both-worlds.

Both have good deliverability. Mailgun has more deliverability management tools. Brevo is solid but less configurable.

Brevo is slightly cheaper at most volumes. At 100,000 emails, Brevo is $65/month vs Mailgun's $75. Feature needs matter more than price difference.

Both offer Zapier integrations. Neither has native Stripe integration. For payment-triggered emails, consider Sequenzy.

Update your sending code to use Brevo's API. Verify your domain in Brevo. Migration is straightforward as both use standard email protocols. You will gain marketing features but may lose some transactional depth.

Update your code to use Mailgun's API. Verify your domain. You will gain developer tools but lose CRM, SMS, and marketing automation features.

Not sure which to pick?

If you're a SaaS founder who needs Stripe integration and unified email, try Sequenzy free. No credit card required.

Start Free TrialSee All Features

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Sequenzy - Complete Pricing Guide

Pricing Model

Sequenzy uses subscriber-based pricing. You only pay for subscribers active in sequences (automations). Inactive subscribers are free to store.

All Pricing Tiers

  • 0-100 subscribers: Free (Free annually) - 2k emails/month
  • 101-1,000 subscribers: $19/month ($205/year annually) - 15k emails/month
  • 1,001-5,000 subscribers: $29/month ($313/year annually) - 60k emails/month
  • 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $49/month ($529/year annually) - 120k emails/month
  • 10,001-25,000 subscribers: $99/month ($1069/year annually) - 300k emails/month
  • 25,001-50,000 subscribers: $199/month ($2149/year annually) - 600k emails/month
  • 50,001-100,000 subscribers: $349/month ($3769/year annually) - 1.2M emails/month
  • 100,000+ subscribers: Custom pricing (Custom annually) - Unlimited emails/month

Yearly billing: All plans offer a 10% discount when billed annually.

Free Plan Features (0-100 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Paid Plan Features (1,000 - 100,000 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy)
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Enterprise Plan Features (100,000+ subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Important Pricing Notes

  • You only pay for subscribers who are active in automations/sequences
  • Storing inactive subscribers is free
  • No hidden fees - all features included in the price
  • No credit card required for free tier

Contact

  • Pricing Page: https://sequenzy.com/pricing
  • Sales: hello@sequenzy.com