Mailgun validation alternative
Mailgun validates addresses as part of a sending platform. That is convenient inside the platform and awkward outside it.
Published prices
Mailgun
$1.2
for 100 credits
BounceIntel
$15
a month for 10,000 credits
Mailgun figures from their pricing page, checked September 10, 2026.
Also compared
Short answer
If you send through Mailgun and validate occasionally, their add-on is the path of least resistance. BounceIntel is the alternative when you want verification that survives changing your sending provider.
01Published prices
Only figures each vendor publishes on its pricing page. If they do not list a figure, we say so. Confirm on their site before you buy.
No free credits listed
100 on signup, no card
$1.2 for 100 credits
$15 a month for 10,000 credits
$0.0120 per credit
$0.00065 per credit at 1,000,000 a month
Sold as an add-on
Issued with any paid plan
| What is compared | Mailgun | BounceIntel |
|---|---|---|
| Free credits | No free credits listed | 100 on signup, no card |
| Smallest paid plan | $1.2 for 100 credits | $15 a month for 10,000 credits |
| Lowest listed rate | $0.0120 per credit | $0.00065 per credit at 1,000,000 a month |
| API access | Sold as an add-on | Issued with any paid plan |
Mailgun figures from their pricing page, checked September 10, 2026.
September 12, 2026
Mailgun is a sending platform first. Validation exists there because bouncing hurts their infrastructure as much as it hurts your reputation, and offering it as an add-on is a sensible thing for an ESP to do.
The trouble starts when validation is a requirement of its own: verifying at signup before anyone is ever mailed, cleaning a list you will send from somewhere else, or running verification for clients whose mail you do not touch.
Proximity. If your mail already goes through Mailgun, validation is one more call against an account you already have, with one bill and one set of credentials. That is a real advantage and it is why people use it.
It also fits naturally at the point of sending, which is a legitimate place to check, even if it is not the only one.
Verification tied to a sending platform inherits every decision you make about sending. Change ESP and the validation goes with it, along with any thresholds and rules built on its output.
It also puts the check in the wrong place for some jobs. Verifying at registration is about protecting your database, and it should not require a relationship with whoever sends your mail. Agencies have the sharper version of this: cleaning a client list should not depend on which platform that client sends from.
We do not send mail, so verification is independent of your sending stack and stays put when the rest of it changes.
The response carries a verdict, a 0 to 100 score, documented reason codes and a recommended action, from a single check, a bulk job or the API. Bulk works on files rather than on platform objects, which matters when the list did not come from your ESP.
Keeping Mailgun for sending and verifying here is a normal arrangement, and the two do not conflict. Verify at signup through our API, clean lists in bulk before they reach a campaign, and let Mailgun do what it is good at.
If you already validate through Mailgun, run a sample through both and compare the inconclusive rows. That is where a dedicated verifier tends to earn its place.
02FAQ
No. We verify, they send. Most people comparing this page keep both, because the two products do genuinely different things.
Yes, and it is the better place for it. One API call at registration stops the typo before it reaches your database, which is cheaper than discovering it in a bounce log later.
A verdict, a score from 0 to 100, documented reason codes and a recommended action, in the same shape whether it came from the API, a bulk job or the dashboard.
Yes, a CSV in and the same file back with the verdict, score, reasons and recommended action appended, plus a PDF summary. No sending account required.
You pay Mailgun to send and us to verify, which is two products rather than a duplicated bill. The saving is on the bounces you no longer take, and on not tying verification credits to a sending plan you may outgrow.
Yes. Signup credits, no card, and no Mailgun account required. A free BounceIntel account verifies in the dashboard, which is enough to see the response shape before you write against it.
Keep comparing
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BounceIntel is the alternative when you want email validation that is not a feature of a sending plan: an API key with any paid plan, a bulk workflow that takes files, and results you can read.
Read the comparisonBounceIntel is the alternative once email validation stops being one field in a form: mailbox-level checks, a real bulk workflow, documented reason codes and support from people who only work on verification.
Read the comparisonBounceIntel is a Kickbox alternative for teams that want the reason codes behind each verdict in the file, rather than a single quality score, and want API access without moving up a plan.
Read the comparisonMailgun is a trademark of its owner and is named here only to describe what this page compares. This page is not written, reviewed or endorsed by them, and their plans change, so confirm the current terms on their site before you decide.
Sign up, run a real sample, and hold the verdicts up against whatever you use today.