A Mailgun alternative for people with their own Gmail
When a transactional SMTP provider is overkill and the mail should come from your own address.
Mailgun is infrastructure: its own servers, its own IPs, an API
and an SMTP gateway. You hand it a message, it delivers on its own behalf, and you
pay for volume. MailSharks works the other way round: it does not send mail itself,
it drives sending from your Gmail. Different tools for different
jobs — and that, not price, is what to choose on.
MailSharks
Mailgun
Where mail leaves from
Your Gmail
Mailgun servers
Sender address
Your own
Your domain, someone else's servers
DNS to configure
None
SPF, DKIM, a sending domain
Domain and IP warmup
Not needed — Gmail's reputation
Needed, and it is on you
Price depends on
The plan, not the volume
Message count
Beyond sending
Lists, campaigns, unsubscribes, statistics
API, webhooks, delivery analytics
Other services change their features and pricing — check their own sites before deciding.
When MailSharks fits better
Mail from a person, not from a system. A reply arrives in the
same mailbox the message left from — not in a webhook, not in a separate inbox.
No domain of your own, or nobody to look after it. Mailgun
means setting up a sending domain, SPF and DKIM, and watching its reputation
yourself.
Hundreds of messages, not hundreds of thousands. One Gmail
mailbox gives about 500 a day, Workspace up to 2000. If that is enough, there is
nothing to pay infrastructure for.
You need lists and campaigns, not just an API. Mailgun is
transport; sheets, suppression lists, unsubscribes and per-campaign statistics stay
with you.
When it will not fit
Honestly: if any of this applies, stay on Mailgun.
Application mail: sign-up confirmations, receipts, password resets. They need
delivery in seconds with no human involved.
Volumes that do not fit into Gmail's quota.
You need your own IPs, your own sending domain and control over its reputation.
You need webhooks for every delivery event and detailed analytics on them.
We do have an HTTP API, and a single
message takes one request — but it still leaves from your Gmail and hits the same
quota. It is not a replacement for a transport provider.
What changes when you move
No sending domain. Mail goes from your normal address, and that is what
the recipient sees.
No DNS work. Google maintains SPF and DKIM for a Gmail address. If you
run your own domain on Workspace the records are already there; check them with the
SPF checker.
Pace matters more than volume. Instead of “how much you bought”
comes “how much is safe per day”: the pause between messages and the daily
cap are configurable, and they are what protects reputation. Numbers in
Gmail limits.
Mail from your own address, without your own infrastructure
A list from a Google Sheet, a pause between messages, one-click unsubscribe and open statistics. No DNS to configure.
Open the appFree plan, no card needed. Google access can be revoked in one click.
