Mailgun alternative
Mailgun costs $49 a month for 2,500 verifications, metered as monthly validation allowance, overage from $1.20 per 100. SimpleVerifier starts at $9 a month for 2,500 emails a month, and Pro is $39 a month with email verification that is never cut off (the first 100,000 a month run at full speed), plus the email finder and enrichment. The first 100 checks are free with a Google sign-in. Both run real SMTP mailbox checks. Keep Mailgun if you send through Mailgun and want validation, inbox placement and reputation tooling on the same account as your sending.
Prices read from mailgun.com · prices checked
What is a cheaper Mailgun alternative?
SimpleVerifier is a flat monthly alternative to Mailgun's metered pricing, with a real SMTP mailbox check on every address. Monthly plans: $9 for 2,500 emails, or Pro at $39 with 100,000 a month at full speed, never cut off. Mailgun's prices are on this page, checked October 12, 2026. The first 100 checks are free.
- What it is
- Email verification with a real SMTP mailbox check: each address comes back valid, risky or invalid with a reason. Includes an email finder on Pro and up.
- Price per check
- Starter $9/mo for 2,500 ($3.60 per 1,000); Pro $39/mo, 100,000 a month at full speed ($0.39 per 1,000 when used), then slower, never cut off. Business $99/mo with 300,000 at full speed; Agency $249/mo with 750,000 at full speed.
- One-time packs
- 10,000 for $15 ($1.50 per 1,000); 25,000 for $29 ($1.16 per 1,000); 50,000 for $49 ($0.98 per 1,000); 100,000 for $79 ($0.79 per 1,000); 250,000 for $169 ($0.68 per 1,000). Credits never expire, run at standard speed, CSV verification only (no API or finder).
- Free checks
- First 100 email checks free with a Google sign-in, no card, once per account. Single checks on the free email checker need no account.
- Billing
- Monthly subscription, cancel anytime (yearly billing optional). One-time packs are listed above. Starter allowances reset monthly and do not roll over.
- Speed today
- One sending IP today, shared by every customer: about 13,000 mailbox checks a day in the standard lane. Bad syntax, dead domains and disposable addresses return at once; a list of 100,000 takes days, not hours, and each job shows its estimated finish time.
- Catch-all handling
- Catch-all (accept-all) addresses stay risky, never valid, and are graded higher, medium or lower likelihood with the reasons. Anything a mail server does not confirm is risky.
- API and MCP
- REST API on Pro, Business and Agency (Pro includes 10,000 calls a month, then $1.50 per 1,000). Remote MCP server with 6 tools for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code. No API on Starter.
- Integrations
- Connects to Instantly, Smartlead, HubSpot and Mailchimp by API key: verifies a campaign or list and tags each contact with its result. CSV in and out for any other tool.
- Phone
- Free phone format checks (country, type range). Live carrier and line-type lookups come with Pro + Phone at $49.99/mo (5,000 a month). It never says a number is in service.
- What it does not do
- No sending, warmup or inbox placement tests. No published accuracy benchmark against other verifiers. Catch-all domains, Yahoo and AOL cannot be confirmed, and Outlook.com and Hotmail mailboxes are not probed while Microsoft refuses checks from our server's network: all of these come back risky, never valid.
SimpleVerifier facts from our pricing page and product. Last updated .
| Mailgun | SimpleVerifier | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest route | $49/mo | $9/mo2,500 emails a month; Pro $39/mo, 100,000 a month at full speed |
| Per year | $588 | $390 yearly plan · $468 paid monthly |
| Verification limit | Monthly validation allowance, overage from $1.20 per 100 | Never cut off on Pro: 100,000 a month at full speed, then slower |
| Try before paying | See their pricing page | First 100 checks free, no card |
| Real SMTP mailbox check | ||
| Re-verifying a list costs again | cached 14 days | |
| Email finder included | Varies by plan | Yes, fair use, never cut off |
What it actually costs, by list size
One pass over a list, on Mailgun’s cheapest available route versus one month of the smallest SimpleVerifier plan that covers it. Where Mailgunsells both a subscription and pay-as-you-go, the cheaper of the two is used.
| List size | Mailgun | SimpleVerifier | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $49.00One month of the 2,500/mo plan | $9.00one month of Starter, 2,500 emails a month | SimpleVerifier |
| 10,000 | Not publishedPlan for this size not priced on their page | $15.00a one-time pack of 10,000 email checks that never expires | Unknown |
| 50,000 | Not publishedPlan for this size not priced on their page | $39.00one month of Pro | Unknown |
| 100,000 | Not publishedPlan for this size not priced on their page | $39.00one month of Pro | Unknown |
One pass only. Every figure in the Mailgun column recurs each time you re-verify. On Pro a re-check costs nothing extra; on Starter it uses that month’s allowance, and unused emails don’t roll over. Adjust for your own pattern in the cost calculator.
Test SimpleVerifier against Mailgun on a real address
Type any address. It gets the same check the paid plans run: syntax, the domain’s mail servers and, where the provider allows it, a live mailbox check. Nothing is sent to the address.
Five checks a minute, no account needed. Nothing is sent to the address — we ask its mail server whether the mailbox exists, then disconnect.
Have a list? Sign in with Google and the first 100 addresses are checked free, with results to download. No card.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Where Mailgun’s pricing bites
Mailgun charges $49 a month for 2,500 verifications, and past the allowance, validations are billed as overage from $1.20 per 100 on the Pilot plan, so a big list clean is mostly overage. That is not a criticism of the product — it is how per-address pricing works, and it is fine when your volume is small and steady. It stops being fine the month you acquire a list, inherit a CRM export, or want to re-check something you verified in the spring.
The reason we don't bill per address is narrow and worth stating plainly: a mailbox check is a DNS lookup plus a short SMTP conversation, so its cost per address is small. What is limited is how fast mail servers accept checks, so Pro runs the first 100,000 a month at full speed and big lists past that in a slower lane, never refused and never billed extra. Lead sourcing, which has a real per-record cost, carries a published fair-use limit of 10,000 a month.
Who should stay with Mailgun
Keep Mailgun if you send through Mailgun and want validation, inbox placement and reputation tooling on the same account as your sending. A dedicated verifier replaces one part of that, not the whole thing, and switching to shave a few dollars a month while losing a workflow you depend on is a bad trade.
Test both before you decide
Do not take either vendor’s word on accuracy. Invent an address at a real domain and verify it on both. A tool doing real mailbox checks returns invalid; one checking only syntax and MX returns valid. Run the same test on any tool you are considering, ours included.
Common questions
- How much does Mailgun cost?
- Mailgun costs $49 a month for 2,500 verifications, metered as: monthly validation allowance, overage from $1.20 per 100. Prices read from mailgun.com on 2026-10-12.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Mailgun?
- SimpleVerifier starts at $9 a month for 2,500 emails a month, and Pro is $39 a month and never cuts you off (the first 100,000 emails a month run at full speed), against $49 a month for 2,500 verifications for Mailgun. Which is actually cheaper depends on your volume and how often you re-verify — past the allowance, validations are billed as overage from $1.20 per 100 on the Pilot plan, so a big list clean is mostly overage. Keep Mailgun if you send through Mailgun and want validation, inbox placement and reputation tooling on the same account as your sending.
- Should I switch from Mailgun?
- Keep Mailgun if you send through Mailgun and want validation, inbox placement and reputation tooling on the same account as your sending. Switch if your verification volume is spiky or large and you would rather pay one monthly price than manage an allowance.
- Can I try SimpleVerifier free before switching from Mailgun?
- Yes. Sign in with Google and the first 100 email checks are free, with no card. Run the same addresses through both tools and compare the results before you pay for either.
- Does SimpleVerifier do real SMTP mailbox checks like Mailgun?
- Yes. Every address gets a syntax check, an MX lookup and an SMTP conversation with the recipient's mail server to confirm the specific mailbox. Anything the probe cannot confirm is returned as risky rather than valid, and 9,913 disposable domains are blocked outright.
Try it against your own list
The first 100 checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card. After that, plans start at $9 a month, and Pro is $39 a month: verification never cut off (the first 100,000 a month at full speed) and 10,000 API calls a month included. Cancel anytime.