Mailgun vs ZeroBounce

Choose Mailgun if you run an app that has to deliver receipts, password resets and alerts. Choose ZeroBounce if you hold an email list and want catch-all, spam trap and safe addresses told apart before a send. Mailgun starts free and then bills monthly. ZeroBounce can also be bought as a one-time purchase.

A developer wiring email into a product is the buyer Mailgun is made for. Mail goes out over an API or an SMTP relay, and inbound replies get parsed into the application. Mailgun also tracks the reputation of sending IPs and domains over time, so a deliverability problem shows up in the same account. Subaccounts with their own sending domains, IPs and keys for each mail stream need a custom contract.

A marketer about to send to an aged or purchased list is the buyer ZeroBounce is made for. Catch-all or unknown results get a score of their own, and an email finder looks up a contact from a name. ZeroBounce also warms a new sending domain by engaging with mail across a network of inboxes. It never sends a campaign, so the list goes back to another platform.

Mailgun's users praise quick support that solves problems, free accounts included. Integration with an app is easy, and mail gets delivered well. Some report accounts or domains that get disabled or locked with little explanation. ZeroBounce's reviewers like accurate results, quick human support and a clear dashboard. Some find the price high on large lists, and credits can go on unknown or catch-all results.

In a Mailgun story, an online store marketing platform sends mail and verifies domains at scale. With Mailgun in place, the platform could drop an unneeded domain verification email flow entirely. ZeroBounce describes a small agency for direct-to-consumer brands that validates client lists through a connected email marketing platform. Bounce rates stay low in every client account, after being far higher before cleaning.