… Really, this is really confusing. Thank you for pointing out this. I may try adding a credit card later and see what happens.
The just time a client complained about this I opened a ticket with them and told them that it s confusing (and I think I linked to a discussion very much like this one here).
They didn’t seem to care.
Maybe they just don’t want to waste their ressources on customers like me haha. “You don’t wanna subscribe? Then get away, I’m not going to beg for your pennies.”
When I signed up for Mailgun, (nearly a year ago, some stuff has definitely changed in that time) they made it clear that I could not add my own domain and had to use their sandbox domain until I added a payment method.
It didn’t need to take payment and I didn’t need to select a plan that would eventually cause a payment to be taken, I just needed to add a valid payment method. At the time, the wording was clear that this was to:
a) provide some reassurance that I am a real person not trying to use their system for mass spam; and
b) provide a means of taking payment if I went over the limits
As I understand it, things have since moved around in a confusing and somewhat obscure way but it is still possible to start a trial for the paid plan, (“Foundation”?) then downgrade it to Flex / pay-as-you-go, then add a payment method to unlock own-domains for the same reasons above.
If it has not changed since February, then you just have to start the trial which is the Flex plan. It’s just not obvious.
Yes indeed, this is exactly how it works now. I added a credit card today (which got me out of the sandbox), and subscribed to Foundation Trial plan, then I saw the option to downgrade to Flex / Pay as You Go. They are still offering Flex choice to new customers.
Apologies to Mailgun, I’ve misunderstood you. 
And I’m grateful for you all helping clarify the mechanism of Mailgun. I guess this is the charm and power of communities. 
I’ve edited the first post I posted here to reflect the fruit of discussions and avoid potential misguidance.
(Mailersend’s 12,000 free emails are still attractive though
Yeah, it’s pretty confusing. I set up a trial and was automatically upgraded to the USD 35 per month plan. I couldn’t find a way to downgrade to the Flex plan, so I decided to switch to another provider instead. But then, when I tried to cancel my Mailgun account, I was presented with this:
So maybe that’s just the way to do it. They keep the Flex option well hidden it seems.
Hello. May I ask if its 1000 emails per month or in total?
It’s 1000/month, but their web site makes it impossible to tell that. It looks like their cheapest plan is $35/month, but that’s not the case. I’ve complained a number of times that my clients couldn’t make sense of their site, but they don’t seem to care.
Mailgun을 조사하고 계신 분들을 위해: 이 글을 작성하는 시점 기준으로 Mailgun Flex 플랜은 더 이상 제공되지 않는 것 같습니다.
현재 가격 정책에 따르면 무료 플랜은 하루 100건까지 가능하며, 그 다음 단계 요금제는 월 15달러입니다.
100통/일이라는 제한은 실제로 Flex의 무료 이메일 수보다 약 3배나 많다는 점을 주목할 만합니다. 다만, 평소 사용량이 낮은 상태에서 갑작스러운 큰 피크를 허용하지는 않습니다.
이 스레드에서 월간 유지비용을 최소화하거나 Mailgun의 대안을 찾고 있는 분들에게 이 제안이 흥미로울 것 같습니다:
개인적으로는 Zoho Zeptomail을 사용하고 있습니다. 크레딧당 2.50달러만 들며, 크레딧 1개당 6개월 동안 유효한 10,000통의 이메일을 보낼 수 있습니다. ZeptoMail은 트랜잭션 메일에 전용 IP를 제공하지만, 대부분의 사용자는 공유 IP를 사용합니다. 하지만 대부분의 경우, 특히 Discourse 포럼을 운영하는 데에는 문제가 되지 않습니다. ZeptoMail을 사용하면서 어떤 문제도 겪지 않았고, 비용 대비 효율이 매우 좋습니다.
이전에는 트랜잭션 메일에 MailJet의 무료 플랜을 사용했습니다(MailJet은 사실 마케팅 메일을 위한 서비스입니다). 무료 플랜의 한계를 느끼게 되면서 ZeptoMail로 전환하게 되었습니다.
포럼 운영에 ZeptoMail을 사용하시는 다른 분들 계신가요? 사용 경험은 어땠는지 궁금합니다.
