Best offer on record: Mailgun Free plan (Email). 8 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Mailgun Free plan (Email) high confidence
Standing $0/mo tier: 100 emails/day (~3,000/mo), 1 custom sending domain, 2 API keys, 1 user per account, 1 day log retention, 1 inbound route, ticket support only. No expiry; it is the permanent entry tier. Overage/extra pricing starts on paid Basic ($1.80/1,000 emails, from). Page states 'It's free to sign up and easy to get started'; signup page is titled 'Sign Up Free', but the page does not explicitly say 'no credit card'.
Eligibility
Anyone — no .edu, no startup check, no funding cap, no region limits stated on the pricing page. Free account limited to 1 user.
How to claim
Sign up at signup.mailgun.com/new/signup (or app.mailgun.com/signup); account starts on the Free plan automatically. No separate claim flow.
Expiry
Never expires; 100 emails/day cap is permanent. Log retention only 1 day.
Gotchas
Daily cap: sending is limited past 100/day with no overage on Free. 1 user, 1 domain, 2 API keys. Higher volume requires the paid 'free 30-day trials' (Foundation/Scale below). Paid plans bill monthly in arrears (after the first partial month, charges are at the start of each month for the previous month). Card requirement for the Free plan not explicitly confirmed on the page.
Mailgun Foundation - 1-month free trial medium confidence
'Free for 1 month, then $35/mo'. Includes 50,000 emails/mo, up to 1,000 custom domains, 5-day log retention, 1-day message retention, full inbound routing, template builder, webhooks. Overage from $1.30/1,000 emails; email validation from $1.20/100. FAQ: paid plans offer 'free 30-day trials that provided unlimited access to higher tier features'.
Eligibility
Anyone; no student/startup eligibility stated. Page does not state whether a credit card is required to start the trial (hence medium confidence).
How to claim
On the pricing page select Foundation 'Start free trial' -> 30 days, then auto-converts to $35/mo.
Expiry
Trial ends after 1 month; renews to recurring $35/mo automatically.
Gotchas
Trial, not free tier - auto-converts to paid subscription at month end; cancel before end of trial to avoid the first invoice. Dedicated IPs only at 50k+ volume; SSO is a higher-tier feature.
Mailgun Scale - 1-month free trial medium confidence
'Free for 1 month, then $90/mo'. Includes 100,000 emails/mo, SAML SSO, 5,000 email validations, 1 dedicated IP plus dedicated IP pools, 30-day log retention, up to 7-day message retention, live phone & chat support. Overage from $1.10/1,000 emails; validation from $0.80/100.
Eligibility
Anyone; no student/startup eligibility stated; card requirement not stated on page (hence medium confidence).
How to claim
On the pricing page select Scale 'Start free trial' -> 30 days, then auto-converts to $90/mo.
Expiry
Trial ends after 1 month; renews to recurring $90/mo automatically.
Gotchas
Trial, not free tier; auto-converts to paid; cancel before end of trial to avoid the first monthly invoice.
Official pages (sinch.com/build/, /apis/, /messaging/) state: 'trial credit, a default project, and API keys the moment your account is created, with no credit card required' and 'Trial credit lands in your account the moment you sign up.' Exact trial-credit amount, message cap, and expiry duration are NOT published on any page found - the build page points to developers.sinch.com docs, which also do not publish the figure (hence medium). Post-trial pricing is pay-as-you-go: US SMS $0.0078 (10DLC/toll-free) and $0.009 (short code) + carrier fees; MMS $0.018-0.02; number rentals $1-2/mo plus setup. 'Sinch Push' and 'Sinch Live Chat' are usage-based channels in the same Conversation API, with no separate free quota stated.
Eligibility
Anyone creating a Sinch Build account - no .edu, no startup check, no funding cap, no region limit stated. No credit card required to start (explicit on official pages).
How to claim
Sign up at dashboard.sinch.com/signup -> trial credit + default project + Service Plan ID + API token provisioned automatically; send a test SMS in the quickstart against a Sinch test number.
Expiry
Trial-credit expiry not disclosed; after credit runs out, pay-as-you-go continues (number rental fees accrue separately).
Gotchas
Trial credit is a starter bucket, NOT a recurring free tier - there is no perpetual free SMS/Push/Chat plan. 'Sinch Push' and 'Sinch Live Chat' have no standalone free offer; they ride on the same Sinch Build signup. Rich channels (WhatsApp, RCS) may need a verified business profile. Legacy 'Mailgun SMS' free offerings no longer appear on mailgun.com - the SMS front is sold entirely under the Sinch brand.
'Give Sinch Engage (formerly MessageMedia) a try for 14 days. No credit card required.' Limited trial: 'explore the platform and send test messages to yourself'. Post-trial plans: Basics $99/mo (3,000 SMS), Conversations $249/mo (10,000 SMS), Pro $799/mo (40,000), Pro Plus $1,799/mo (100,000), Advanced $2,399/mo (150,000); annual billing saves 16%. No free tier; lowest paid tier is $99/mo.
Eligibility
Anyone; no student/startup eligibility; no credit card required for the trial (stated on official pricing page).
Trial is 'limited' (test messages to yourself, not production volume). Product was formerly branded MessageMedia - older 'MessageMedia free trial' references are the same program.
Sinch Engage education industry offering (for schools, not students) high confidence
Sinch markets 'Education texting for schools & colleges' via Engage: 'Plans start at just $99/month for up to 3,000 messages' with a free 14-day trial. This is a paid vertical aimed at K-12/higher-ed institutions; it is NOT a student license or discount.
Eligibility
Schools and colleges (institutional). Not a .edu-student offer; no student discount found on Sinch or Mailgun sites.
How to claim
Institution signs up for Sinch Engage (14-day trial, no card), then $99/mo Basics plan.
Expiry
Standard Engage plans; 16% discount for annual billing.
Gotchas
Do not confuse with a student/education license - no such program exists; this is just Engage's entry plan marketed to the education vertical.
Startup program - not found (negative finding) medium confidence
No dedicated Mailgun or Sinch startup program (free credits, funding-cap gate, mentorship, accelerated eligibility) found on any official page checked today: mailgun.com (pricing, home, about) and sinch.com (home, pricing, apis, messaging, build, and /startup/, which is only a GOMEEP case study). No 2025-2026 launch or sunset of such a program was locatable; web search was unavailable this session (budget exhausted), so this is page-check based, not an exhaustive site crawl (hence medium).
Eligibility
n/a - no program exists to claim.
How to claim
n/a - no program exists to claim.
Expiry
n/a
Gotchas
If a startup discount is advertised in third-party 'best free email APIs' listicles, it does not match any official Mailgun/Sinch page found today.
Education license / student offer - not found (negative finding) high confidence
mailgun.com/education/ returns 404; sinch.com has no student license or .edu discount (only the Engage education-vertical page above, which is a paid institutional product). Mailgun's Free plan (100 emails/day, 1 domain, 2 API keys, no card) is the only de-facto student-friendly offer.
Eligibility
n/a - no .edu gate or license found on either brand.
How to claim
n/a. Students use the general Mailgun Free plan (signup.mailgun.com/new/signup) or Sinch Build trial credit (dashboard.sinch.com/signup, no card).
Expiry
n/a
Gotchas
The only 'education' asset is Engage's schools-industry marketing page - a paid $99/mo product with a 14-day trial, not a license for learners.
Branding/product sunset: Mailgun's site is now email-only (Send/Optimize/Validate/Inspect/Enterprise). The legacy Mailgun SMS offering has fully migrated to the Sinch brand - SMS/Push/Chat are sold as Sinch Conversation API channels ("Sinch Push", "Sinch Live Chat") plus the Sinch Engage SaaS (formerly MessageMedia). There is no longer a "Mailgun SMS free trial"; free SMS/Push/Chat access is only the unpublished-amount Sinch Build trial credit (no card required). No startup program or education license exists on either brand; those categories return negative findings. If any third-party-advertised "Mailgun for startups" offer once existed, it has no official home today. 2025-2026 change caveat: web search was unavailable for this session (budget exhausted), so the "changed in 2025-2026" check is based on today's official pages only - Sinch Build trial-credit amounts and the card policy for Foundation/Scale trials are not published and could differ in the signup flow.