beehiiv vs Mailgun
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for beehiiv and Mailgun, verified . beehiiv is primarily email marketing; Mailgun is primarily transactional email.
beehiiv
- Starting price
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- 30 days
- Plans
- 4
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.
beehiiv
- Launch
Free up to 2,500 subscribers
Free - Scale
Monetize and grow
$43/mo - Max
Pro features for larger operators
$96/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 Scale (beehiiv) against Basic (Mailgun). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | beehiiv | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 100,000 subscribers | · |
| Emails / month | Unlimited | 10,000 |
| Team seats | 3 | · |
| Campaigns | 3 publications | · |
When beehiiv wins
- Newsletter operators who plan to monetize via ads, sponsorships, or paid subscriptions
- Solo creators who want one tool for newsletter, website, and podcast
- Publications under 100k subscribers that value growth networks (recommendations, boosts) over deep automation
Where beehiiv is the wrong fit
- B2B teams that need deep CRM integration or pipeline workflows
- Brands that need granular email design and dev-level template control
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend instead)
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 beehiiv cheaper than Mailgun?
- Both beehiiv and Mailgun have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does beehiiv or Mailgun have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. beehiiv: Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Mailgun: Hobby tier capped at 100 emails per day.
- Are beehiiv and Mailgun in the same category?
- No. beehiiv 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, beehiiv or Mailgun?
- Mailgun ships 5 plans; beehiiv 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 beehiiv or Mailgun?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/beehiiv for beehiiv and /alternatives/mailgun for Mailgun. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Disclosure: links labeled "sponsored" above are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up. Pricing is the same; nothing in this head-to-head is influenced by commercial relationships. How we rank.
beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing · Mailgun: https://www.mailgun.com/pricing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.