MailerLite vs Mailgun
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for MailerLite and Mailgun, verified . MailerLite is primarily email marketing; Mailgun is primarily transactional email.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
MailerLite
- Free
Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month
Free - Growing Business
Most popular paid tier, starts at 500 subscribers
$10/mo - Advanced
Power features for active senders
$20/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Mailgun
- Free
Hobby tier capped at 100 emails per day
Free - Basic
Entry paid tier with 10,000 emails/month included
$15/mo - Foundation
50,000 emails/month with template builder and full inbound routing
$35/mo - Scale
100,000 emails/month with SAML SSO, dedicated IP, and live support
$90/mo - Enterprise
Custom contracting for high-volume senders
Custom
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares Growing Business (MailerLite) against Basic (Mailgun). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | MailerLite | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 500 subscribers (anchor; scales up) | · |
| Emails / month | Unlimited | 10,000 |
| Team seats | 3 | · |
When MailerLite wins
- Solo creators and small businesses replacing Mailchimp
- Teams that want one tool for emails, landing pages, and a small website
- Nonprofits (30% discount on paid plans)
Where MailerLite is the wrong fit
- B2B teams needing deep CRM and pipeline workflows (use HubSpot or ActiveCampaign)
- Operators wanting native ad network or paid subscriptions (use beehiiv)
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend)
When Mailgun wins
- Developers integrating receipts, notifications, and password-reset emails
- Teams already on a marketing ESP that need a separate transactional channel
- High-volume B2B applications with strict deliverability requirements
Where Mailgun is the wrong fit
- Marketing teams seeking campaign tooling (use Mailchimp or Kit)
- Creators sending newsletters (use Kit or beehiiv)
- Free-tier hobbyists with low total volume but spiky daily-cap-bumping use cases
Common questions
- Is MailerLite cheaper than Mailgun?
- Both MailerLite and Mailgun have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does MailerLite or Mailgun have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. MailerLite: Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month. Mailgun: Hobby tier capped at 100 emails per day.
- Are MailerLite and Mailgun in the same category?
- No. MailerLite is primarily a email marketing tool; Mailgun is primarily a transactional email tool. They overlap on use case but sit in different primary categories, so the comparison is between adjacent tools rather than direct competitors.
- Which has more plans, MailerLite or Mailgun?
- Mailgun ships 5 plans; MailerLite ships 4. Mailgun's longer ladder gives more granular upgrade steps, which can mean smoother price escalation as your team scales.
- Where can I see alternatives to MailerLite or Mailgun?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/mailerlite for MailerLite and /alternatives/mailgun for Mailgun. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing · Mailgun: https://www.mailgun.com/pricing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.