If you’re looking to improve email deliverability on your WordPress site, you’re in the right place. For the past 18 months, I’ve been testing Mailgun to see how this popular transactional email service helps ensure order confirmations, password resets, contact form notifications, and other critical messages consistently reach your audience.
Here’s what you need to know: While Mailgun powers email for major tech companies like Microsoft, Lyft, and Wikipedia, what matters is whether it’s right for your WordPress website.
After implementing it on my own sites, in this Mailgun review I’ll share the honest truth about its pricing, deliverability, setup process, and how it compares to alternatives you might be considering.
The good news? If you use WP Mail SMTP, testing Mailgun is easy and free. WP Mail SMTP has built-in support for Mailgun, making setup quick and easy even if you have no technical experience. You can follow this Mailgun review, implement it on your site in under 20 minutes, and start seeing better email delivery right away.
Let’s explore whether Mailgun is the right solution for your WordPress email problems, or if there’s a better alternative for your specific needs.
Mailgun Overview
Before we get into the details, here’s a quick snapshot of what Mailgun offers:
From what I’ve seen, Mailgun works well for small WordPress sites and scales up to handle bigger operations too. That’s what makes it a good option for many users – it’s designed to work for both small blogs and major companies.
Throughout this review, I’ll share what I’ve learned about using Mailgun with WordPress, including how WP Mail SMTP makes setup much easier by handling all the technical connections for you.
Fix Your WordPress Emails With Mailgun
Let’s take a closer look at who this service is best for, and whether it might be the right choice for your WordPress site.
Who Should Consider Mailgun Email Service?
After using Mailgun myself and reading dozens of reviews from new and long term users, I’ve gotten a good sense of who will benefit most from this service.
Mailgun works well if you’re:
- Running a busy WordPress site where reliable email delivery is crucial
- Managing a WooCommerce store where order emails absolutely need to reach customers
- Using membership sites that send lots of automated emails
- Comfortable following technical setup instructions (or have help available)
- Someone who values detailed logs and tracking for troubleshooting
Mailgun has a strong reputation for reliability, which is important for business-critical emails.
You might want to consider alternatives if you’re:
- Looking for the most budget-friendly option (though Mailgun’s free tier is good for testing)
- Wanting a solution with more visual email builders and marketing features
- Preferring to avoid any technical setup whatsoever
Mailgun Features & Benefits
When it comes to choosing an email provider, certain features make a real difference in your day-to-day operations.
Here’s what makes Mailgun stand out as a transactional email service
Email API & SMTP Relay
Setting up Mailgun with WP Mail SMTP is super simple – it just works once you paste the key.
The plugin connects to Mailgun’s API, which is faster and more reliable than traditional SMTP methods. This approach helps you avoid host firewall issues and delivers better overall performance.
All you need to do is add your API key and select your region (US or EU) from a dropdown. No coding required!
Drag-and-Drop Template Builder
Mailgun does offer a drag-and-drop template builder that lets you design professional-looking emails without HTML knowledge. The tool includes blocks for logos, text, buttons, and images.
However, it’s important to note that these templates cannot be used with WordPress emails sent through WP Mail SMTP. The template feature is designed for developers using Mailgun’s API directly in custom applications.
For WordPress users looking to create beautiful emails, I recommend using a WordPress email customizer plugin that will give you tools within WordPress to use your own custom email templates.
Multi-Provider Flexibility (Inside WP Mail SMTP)
While Mailgun offers its own WordPress plugin, I highly recommend using WP Mail SMTP. While it offers many advantages over the Mailgun plugin, one major benefit is the ability to route email through multiple email providers or switch to a backup provider if your Mailgun service goes down.
Unlike the official Mailgun plugin that locks you into a single provider, our plugin lets you configure backup mailers like SendLayer, Amazon SES, or SMTP.com.
This flexibility is invaluable if you hit Mailgun’s sending limits or need to quickly switch providers without reconfiguring your entire site.
Analytics & 30-Day Logs
Tracking your emails becomes simple with Mailgun’s detailed analytics. You can see every email’s journey from send to delivery, and WP Mail SMTP shows this delivery status (sent, delivered, bounced) right in your WordPress dashboard.
Deliverability Suite (Optimize)
For users on paid plans, Mailgun offers a suite of deliverability tools. These include:
- DMARC reports for assessing your email authentication
- An email health score
- Built-in analytics from Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS
- Spam trap monitoring
- Blocklist monitoring
Before sending important emails to your customers, Mailgun has a tool that allows you to test inbox placement. This tool runs pre-flight tests to check if major email providers like Gmail or Outlook will mark your messages as spam.
This capability is particularly valuable before sending important emails from your website such as order confirmations or membership renewals. It’s crucial to make sure these critical messages actually reach your customers, so tools like this to optimize your email delivery can be really valuable.
Global Data Residency
For website owners concerned with data privacy regulations, Mailgun offers the ability to stay GDPR-friendly with EU servers. You can choose between US or EU endpoints, ensuring your email data never leaves the region that best meets your compliance requirements.
The best part is there’s no price difference between regions – just select the option closer to your audience or the one that satisfies your legal obligations.
Inbound Routing (Replies & Webhooks)
One of Mailgun’s unique features is its ability to catch customer replies automatically. The service can forward email replies to a URL on your site – perfect for automatically creating support tickets or adding comments without manual intervention.
Don’t worry if this sounds overly technical – this feature is completely optional and is only available to paid plans. If you only send outbound emails like order confirmations, you can simply ignore this capability.
Mailgun Pricing & Value for Money
Understanding email service pricing can be confusing, so I’ve broken down Mailgun’s plans for WordPress sites of different sizes.
Mailgun Plan Comparison
| Plan | Monthly Price | Emails Included | Notable Features | Overage Rate | Best For |
| Free | $0 | 100 emails/day | 1 domain, 1-day logs, ticket support | – | Testing & development |
| Basic | $15 | 10,000/month | No daily cap, 5 inbound routes | $1.80/1k | Small websites & blogs |
| Foundation | $35 | 50,000/month | Template builder, up to 1,000 domains, 5-day logs | $1.30/1k | Growing businesses |
| Scale | $90 | 100,000/month | Dedicated IP pool, phone & chat support, 30-day logs | $1.10/1k | High-volume sites & online stores |
Important Pricing Notes
Free Trial: The Foundation and Scale plans include a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. This gives you plenty of time to test Mailgun properly before committing.
Email Validation Costs: The email validation service (which checks if addresses are real before you send) is an add-on cost for all plans except Scale. This matters if you’re cleaning large contact lists.
How Mailgun Compares to Alternatives:
When comparing email providers, cost is often a deciding factor. Here’s what you’d actually pay to send around 1,000 emails per month with each service:
- SendLayer – $5 (Starter plan includes 1k emails)
- Brevo (Sendinblue) – $9 (Starter plan includes 5k emails)
- Mailgun – $0 if you stay under the 100-emails-per-day “Flex” free tier, otherwise $15 on Basic plan (includes 10k emails)
- Postmark – $15 (Basic plan includes 10k emails)
- SendGrid – $19.95 (Essentials plan includes 50k emails)
- SMTP.com – $25 (Essential plan includes 50k emails)
- Amazon SES – ≈ $0.10 pay-as-you-go ($0.10 per 1k emails) plus AWS setup overhead
If a plan bundles more emails than you need, you still pay the full monthly fee. That’s why SendLayer’s $5 Starter plan is the cheapest “plug-and-play” option for most WordPress users sending a low volume of emails.
Mailgun Deliverability & Performance
Email deliverability is arguably the most important factor for any WordPress site owner. After all, what’s the point of sending emails if they never reach your customers’ inboxes?
According to Mailgun’s 2025 State of Deliverability report, they maintain strict standards that help your emails reach inboxes:
- They require proper DMARC setup (an email authentication method)
- Accounts must maintain spam complaint rates below 0.1%
- Bounce rates must stay under 5%
These standards help to make sure your email reach inboxes. This is especially important as several major email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook now require emails to be authenticated and impose strict spam complaint thresholds.
Mailgun’s global infrastructure translates to quick email delivery. In my experience:
- Emails typically arrive within seconds of being sent
- Even during busy periods, I haven’t noticed any significant delays
- The service has been consistently reliable with minimal downtime
IP Reputation Management
One standout feature of Mailgun is how they handle sending reputation, which directly impacts whether your emails reach inboxes:
- Shared IP Pools: On Basic and Foundation plans, your emails share IPs with other Mailgun customers (still carefully monitored)
- Dedicated IPs: Available on the Scale plan ($90/month), giving you complete control over your sending reputation
- Automated Warm-Up: If you get a dedicated IP, Mailgun gradually increases your sending volume to establish a positive reputation
Mailgun WordPress Integration & Setup Walk-through
Getting Mailgun working with WordPress isn’t complicated, but it does require a few specific steps.
Integration Options
To connect WordPress to Mailgun you’ll need an SMTP plugin.
I recommend the WP Mail SMTP route for most site owners. It provides a clean interface and allows you to easily test other providers in the future without reconfiguring your entire setup.
Step-by-Step Setup with WP Mail SMTP
Here’s how to get Mailgun working through WP Mail SMTP:
- Install WP Mail SMTP: Add the plugin through your WordPress dashboard
- Create a Mailgun Account: Sign up at Mailgun.com (no credit card needed for the free tier)
- Add Your Domain: In Mailgun, add and verify the domain you’ll send from
- Set Up DNS Records: Add the provided SPF and DKIM records to your domain’s DNS settings
- Get Your API Key: Copy your API key from the Mailgun dashboard
- Configure WP Mail SMTP: Enter your API key and domain in the WP Mail SMTP settings
- Select Your Region: Choose US or EU based on your location/customers
- Send a Test Email: Verify everything works correctly
Refer to the WP Mail SMTP Mailgun setup guide for detailed step-by-step directions.
In my testing, the initial setup takes about 15-20 minutes, with most of that time spent waiting for DNS changes to propagate. WP Mail SMTP significantly streamlines the configuration process compared to setting up Mailgun manually.
The biggest hurdle for non-technical users is usually the DNS setup, but if you can follow instructions carefully (or have your host help), you’ll get through it fine.
Mailgun Support & Documentation
| Support Type | Free & Basic Plans | Scale Plan | Enterprise Plan |
| Email Tickets | Available 24/7 | Available 24/7 | Available 24/7 |
| Live Chat | Not available | Available 24 hours (weekdays only) | Available 24 hours (weekdays only) |
| Phone Support | Not available | US Business hours only | Available 24 hours (weekdays only) |
| Dedicated Manager | Not available | Not available | Included |
Every Mailgun plan (even the free Flex tier) gets round-the-clock email/ticket support. According to Mailgun, support tickets are monitored 24 hours a day and staffed across multiple shifts to ensure timely responses.
For users who need immediate assistance, real-time chat and phone support become available when you upgrade to the Scale plan or higher. Phone support operates during US business hours, while chat support is available 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Enterprise customers and those with Optimize bundles receive additional perks including a dedicated Technical Account and faster first-response SLA.
If you prefer self-help resources, Mailgun offers a searchable Help Center, comprehensive API documentation, and an active Stack Overflow tag where you can find code snippets and implementation examples.
If you’re using WP Mail SMTP and you’re having issues with Mailgun, you can also reach out to the trusted advisors in our support team. They can usually handle WordPress-specific issues and give you advice for what sort of support to request from Mailgun if this issue on on their side.
Mailgun Pros & Cons
Let’s break down what’s good and not-so-good about using Mailgun with WordPress:
👍 Pros
- Reliable Deliverability: Emails consistently reach inboxes rather than landing in spam
- Free Option Available: 100 emails/day forever is perfect for testing or small sites
- Helpful Logging: Makes it easy to troubleshoot when someone says “I never got that email”
- Rock-Solid Uptime: Very few outages or delivery delays
- Grows With Your Site: Works for both small blogs and busy e-commerce stores
- GDPR-Friendly: EU or US data centers help with privacy compliance
- Works Well With WP Mail SMTP: The WP Mail SMTP plugin makes setup much simpler
👎 Cons
- More Technical Interface: The dashboard isn’t as user-friendly as some other email services
- Premium Features Cost More: Dedicated IPs and phone support require the $90+ Scale plan
- Logs Limited on Free Plan: Email logs only retain for 1 day on the free tier
- Learning Curve: Takes a bit more time to understand all the features compared to simpler solutions
Mailgun is good at one thing that matters for WordPress sites: delivering your important emails like password resets, contact form notifications, and order confirmations.
The WP Mail SMTP plugin helps make setup quick and easy, making Mailgun much more accessible to WordPress users without developer experience. And with the free tier, you can test it thoroughly before deciding if it’s right for your site.
Mailgun might be a good choice for you if:
- Email deliverability is critical to your business
- You’re comfortable with some technical configuration (or using WP Mail SMTP to simplify it)
- You want detailed logs and diagnostics for troubleshooting
- You need a solution that can scale as your website grows
- You’re looking for a free email provider and while you’re testing or your site sends fewer than 100 emails a day
Consider alternatives if:
- You want the absolute simplest setup possible (try SendLayer or another provider and take advantage of the White-Glove setup service)
- You need built-in marketing tools
- You’re on a tight budget
Ready to try out Mailgun for your WordPress emails? Here’s how to get started:
- Download WP Mail SMTP (the free Lite version works with Mailgun)
- Sign up for Mailgun’s free tier (no credit card required)
- Follow the step-by-step setup guide to connect everything
- Send a test email to make sure everything is working correctly
And that’s it! Within 15-20 minutes, you can be sending emails reliably from your WordPress site and ensure your important messages reach their destination every time.
Next, Compare SMTP Providers
Unsure if Mailgun is the right transactional email provider for you? Take a look at our guide to choosing the right SMTP provider for your WordPress site for more advice and comparison of different mailers.
Ready to fix your emails? Get started today with the best WordPress SMTP plugin. If you don’t have the time to fix your emails, you can get full White Glove Setup assistance as an extra purchase, and there’s a 14-day money-back guarantee for all paid plans.
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