5 Best Email API for PHP Developers Tested & Compared: Here’s What I Found

Ivan Djuric

4 days ago

The best email APIs for PHP developers are Mailtrap, SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, and Postmark.

I researched and tested each of these APIs with the help of Mailtrap email deliverability experts, security team, and developers who work on our very own infrastructure.

We created a demo application, integrated each API, and tested the most common use cases, such as sending transactional and marketing emails, trying out webhooks, etc. The differences between deliverability, setup speeds, and other comparison criteria were more than clear, to say the least.

To dive straight into complete results or individual reviews of the email APIs, feel free to click on some of the following links:

A snapshot of the platforms
Comparison and criteria
Detailed reviews of each platform

Disclaimer: Our aim is to provide you with an unbiased review and comparison of the best PHP email APIs for developers. We don’t want to present one or another API in a positive or negative light.

Best email API for PHP: a snapshot

Click on a platform name to jump ahead to the detailed review.

Mailtrap is the best PHP email API for developers and product teams who need high deliverability rates, a developer-friendly experience, and reliability.
SendGrid is for enterprises that need to send transactional and marketing emails at the same time from a single ecosystem.
Mailgun is for teams who want to send mass emails while also being able to automatically validate their recipients’ addresses.
Amazon SES is for experienced developer teams who are working with the AWS infrastructure and have spare time to set it up.
Postmark is for businesses that want to focus on sending transactional emails from a highly configurable API with a clean interface.

For your skimming convenience, I’ve compiled a little table that compares the essential info for the best PHP email APIs out there:

Email API	Free plan	Pricing	PHP Frameworks
Mailtrap	Up to 4,000 emails/month	From $15 The most popular plan is from $85	Laravel, Symfony, PSR-18 clients
SendGrid	100 per day	From $15	Laravel, Symfony, Yii, raw PHP, PHPMailer
Mailgun	100 per day	From $19.95	Laravel, Symfony, Yii, PHPMailer, Swift Mailer, PEAR, raw PHP
Amazon SES	3,000 per month (during the first year)	$0.10 per 1,000 emails	Laravel, Symfony, raw PHP
Postmark	100 emails per month	From $15	Laravel, Symfony, ZendMail, PHPMailer, raw PHP

The ratings, features, and prices are up-to-date at the time of writing this article, but they may be different when you’re reading it, as they’re prone to change.

PHP email API comparison: comparison criteria

For easier navigation, we broke down our comparison criteria into the following categories:

SDK quality
Frameworks compatibility
Developer experience
Webhooks
Email infrastructure
Pricing comparison
Customer support

SDK quality

When it comes to SDK quality, I noted down the most important information any developer could use before adopting it, such as unpacked size and minimum PHP version.

SDK	Adoption	Unpacked size	PHP version
mailtrap/mailtrap-php	593K+ installs	~50 KB	PHP 8.1+ (recommended)
sendgrid/sendgrid-php	44M+ installs	~800 KB	PHP 8.0+ (7.4+ works but is legacy)
mailgun/mailgun-php	27M+ installs	~200 KB	PHP 8.0+ (min 7.4)
aws/aws-sdk-p hp	480M+ installs	~80 MB (full SDK)	PHP 8.1+
ActiveCampaign/postmark-php	8.6M+ installs	~100 KB	PHP 7.4 – 8.4 (8.1+)

Frameworks compatibility

Since we’ve included only the best APIs on this list, you can rest assured that they all offer well-maintained SDKs for major frameworks, such as Laravel and Symfony. This makes it straightforward to plug into most modern PHP apps, since you can keep your existing mailers and just swap the transport layers when integrating them.

Provider	Supported frameworks	Mailers / libraries
Mailtrap	Laravel, Symfony	PSR-18 HTTP clients
SendGrid	Laravel, Symfony, Yii	PHPMailer, raw PHP
Mailgun	Laravel, Symfony, Yii	PHPMailer, Swift Mailer, PEAR, raw PHP
Amazon SES	Laravel, Symfony	Raw PHP
Postmark	Laravel, Symfony	Symfony Mailer, ZendMail, PHPMailer, raw PHP

Developer experience

Setup time & learning curve

All five providers offer Composer-installable SDKs, clear quickstarts, and sample code, so a basic integration can usually be completed in under an hour once your account and domain are verified.

However, there are a few nuances, namely:

Mailtrap provides very simple PHP integration with ready-made code samples and environment-based configuration, making it easy to drop into existing apps for email sending.
SendGrid and Mailgun both rely on official PHP SDKs installed via Composer and require API key management plus some familiarity with their message models, but their quickstart guides and examples keep initial setup relatively straightforward.
Amazon SES adds extra steps around AWS SDK configuration, IAM permissions, and understanding SES-specific sending limits and regions, so PHP developers who are new to AWS may spend more time on initial setup and troubleshooting.
Postmark’s official PHP client is distributed via Composer and comes with simple helper methods for sending transactional messages and handling templates, which keeps the integration surface small and easy to reason about for most PHP projects.

Note: The differences in setup time and learning curve surface when you start using platform-specific features like AWS IAM for SES, or simply advanced features like templates and webhooks. Here’s what you can expect from the setup time and complexity of each provider, after you’ve been verified as a sender:

Email API	Setup time	Complexity
Mailtrap	5 mins	Easy
SendGrid	10 – 15 mins	Medium
Mailgun	10 – 15 mins	Medium – Complex
Amazon SES	15 – 20 mins	Complex
Postmark	5 mins	Easy

Documentation & developer guides

Pretty much all email API providers on this list offer robust and comprehensive documentation to help you get started and integrate without a headache. However, some go a step or two ahead by providing knowledge bases, blog articles, and even YouTube videos.

So, here are all the useful links we managed to find:

Provider	Knowledge base	API documentation	Blog articles	YouTube videos
Mailtrap	Link	Link	PHP, Laravel, Symfony	PHP, Laravel, Symfony
SendGrid	Link	Link	PHP	PHP
Mailgun	Link	Link	PHP, Laravel, Symfony	N/A
Amazon SES	N/A	Link	N/A	PHP
Postmark	Link	Link	Laravel	N/A

MCP server support

MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers are the new kids on the AI block, allowing you to interact with email APIs while developing your apps. You can manage email templates, retrieve analytics, and more, without leaving your favorite IDE or AI assistant.

All five API providers from this article provide this little quality-of-life feature, but they differ in their capabilities. Check them out:

MCP Server	Summary	Capabilities
Mailtrap MCP	Official MCP server based on existing APIs	Email sending (including multiple recipients), template management, and sandbox management
SendGrid MCP	Community-created MCP servers	Campaigns, contacts, stats. Complex API surface (may require manual tuning)
Mailgun MCP	Official open-source MCP	Send emails, retrieve analytics
Amazon SES MCP	Sample SESv2 MCP server using official AWS APIs	AI-assisted sending with a technical setup
Postmark MCP	Official MCP server	Email and template management, stats, and tracking

Webhooks

Webhooks allow you to set up instant notifications on key events like deliveries, bounces, unsubscribes, etc. You can use them to monitor engagement, debug and trigger workflows in your system, and more.

Here’s what you can do with webhooks offered by the email API providers from this article:

Provider	Events	Retry logic	Implementation notes
Mailtrap	Delivered, opened, bounced, etc., with full payload data.	40 retries every 5 minutes	Includes retry logic and high reliability.
SendGrid	Opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, spam reports.	For 24 hours	Free tier limited to 1 endpoint; Pro allows up to 5.
Mailgun	Delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, complained, unsubscribed.	For 8 hours on a specific schedule	Includes message IDs for debugging.
Amazon SES	Delivery, bounce, complaint, open, and click events.	Default 3 retries with 20-second delays; customizable up to 50 attempts over 1 hour max	Extra AWS setup required; strong reliability features.
Postmark	Opens, clicks, bounces, spam complaints.	For 6 hours with a specific schedule	Limited to supported events; very stable delivery.

Email infrastructure

A quality email API needs to cover the following essentials: deliverability, reliability and uptime, scalability and throughput handling, IP pools, and email streams.

Deliverability

For you to reach the best deliverability rates, API providers need to use a combination of dedicated IPs, proper warmup protocols, and more.

However, there’s a noticeable discrepancy in deliverability rates between different providers. To illustrate our point, we sent emails to Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and Apple Mail using API providers on this list. Here are the results:

Email service provider	Email placement result
Mailtrap	Inbox: 78.8% Tabs: 4.8% Spam: 14.4% Missing: 2.0%
SendGrid	Inbox: 61.0% Tabs: 1.0% Spam: 17.1% Missing: 20.9%
Mailgun	Inbox: 71.4% Tabs: 3.8% Spam: 23.8% Missing: 1.0%
Amazon SES	Inbox: 77.1% Tabs: 1.9% Spam: 20.0% Missing: 1.0%
Postmark	Inbox: 83.3% Tabs: 1.0% Spam: 14.3% Missing: 0.9%

Methodology: We used free plans, shared IPs, and identical email templates for all providers, so rest assured, the tests were fair for everyone. For more information, check out our deliverability comparison guide. 🧑‍🔬

Scalability

If you want to increase your sending volume without delays, deliverability, or infrastructure performance issues, your email API needs to be scalable. In short, you need dedicated IPs, multiple MTAs, a deliverability expert by your side, and maybe even an SLA.

Email service provider	Scalability
Mailtrap	Cloud-based infrastructure, multiple MTAs, and deliverability experts for custom setup
SendGrid	Cloud-based infrastructure, distributed load balancers across the globe, scaling with multiple dedicated IPs
Mailgun	Cloud-based infrastructure, Rapid Fire Delivery SLA
Postmark	Cloud-based infrastructure, multiple load balancers in different regions
Amazon SES	Cloud-based infrastructure (AWS), auto-scaling sending quotas, and multi-region availability

Reliability and uptime

I’ve checked status pages with real-time uptime metrics like this one, for example, and service-level agreements (SLAs) from providers that offer them. This allowed me to get a better idea of whether a provider is reliable or not, without having to be a long-term user.

And here’s what I found:

Best SLAs: Mailtrap and Mailgun offer 99.99% uptime guarantees with compensation.
Most stable: Postmark and Mailtrap show no major incidents in the past 12 months.
Occasional issues: SendGrid had multiple outages during peak periods.
Region-dependent: Amazon SES reliability matches AWS regional performance.

Bottom line: All providers are production-ready. For compliance or customer SLA requirements, choose Mailtrap or Mailgun’s 99.99% guarantees.

IP pools and email streams

Here’s an overview of what each email infrastructure provider on this list offers in terms of separate sending streams:

Email service provider	Separate sending stream
Mailtrap	✅ Has a dedicated bulk stream and a bulk-aware email API
SendGrid	☑️ Not a separate sending stream, but it’s doable via IP pools or subusers
Mailgun	☑️ Not a separate sending stream, but it’s doable by using different domains
Postmark	☑️ Not a separate sending stream, but it’s doable via dedicated IPs and configuration
Amazon SES	✅ Uses Message Streams to separate the two sending streams

Tip: If you want to send mass emails or different types of emails, using a separate sending stream can make or break your sender reputation. The best option is to use a true separate stream, but having a separate infrastructure through IP pooling and dedicated IPs is also viable.

Pricing comparison

Since all email providers structure plans differently (e.g., bundled tiers, credits, pay-as-you-go, etc.), it is hard to compare them just by looking at their pricing pages. To make things easier, the table below shows approximate monthly costs at common sending volumes, plus the effective overage price per 1,000 emails.

Platform	10,000 emails	50,000 emails	100,000 emails	250,000 emails	Overage per 1,000 emails
Mailtrap	$15	$20	$30	$200	~$1.00
SendGrid	$19.95	$35	$60	$200	~$0.90 – $1.33
Mailgun	$15	$35	$75	$215	~$1.80
Amazon SES*	$1,00	$5,00	$10,00	$25,00	~$0.10
Postmark	$15	$50	$100	$250	~$0.85 – $1.25

Customer support

The type and level of support you receive from email API providers depend on your pricing plan. For instance, Mailtrap provides 24/7 ticket-based customer support to all users, including those on the free plan, while Mailgun restricts direct support to paying customers.

Provider	Free plan support	Paid plan support	Response time	Availability
Mailtrap	Ticket	Chat (Business)	<2 hours (Priority)	24/7
SendGrid	Ticket	Chat (Pro+)	Varies by tier	3 AM to 7 PM EST, Monday through Friday
Mailgun	Ticket	Chat/phone (Scale+)	48 hours (Basic)	1 PM to 12 AM GMT, Monday through Friday
Amazon SES	AWS Forums	AWS Support plans	Depends on AWS tier	Varies by AWS Support tier
Postmark	Stamp (AI agent)	Stamp & ticket	Under 3 hours	3 AM to 7 PM EST, Monday through Friday

Note: Mailtrap offers free Expert migration assistance for customers exceeding 200K monthly volume. Additionally, Mailgun’s response times improve to same-day on higher plans, although they’re quite slow for free users.

Mailtrap: Best PHP email API

G2: 4.8 🌟 Capterra: 4.8 🌟

Mailtrap offers the best email API for PHP developers and product teams. It is a modern email platform with a focus on high inboxing rates, fast delivery, and industry-best analytics.

Some of the companies that use Mailtrap for their email infrastructure include PayPal, Atlassian, Adobe, Calendly, and others.

Email deliverability test results: Mailtrap delivered 78.8% of sent emails to the primary inbox.

Platform	Email placement results	Spam filter rating	Inbox email delivery with top providers
Mailtrap	Inbox: 78.8% Tabs: 4.8% Spam: 14.4% Missing: 2.0%	Google Spam Filter: Not spam; Not phishy Barracuda: Score 0 Spam Assassin: Score: -3.8	Gmail: 67.50% Outlook: 77.78% Hotmail: 100% Yahoo: 55.56%

Source

Why is Mailtrap the best for PHP developers?

Official PHP SDK: Built for PHP 8.0+ with full type hints for better IDE support, auto-completion, and runtime error checking.
Flexible email API: No rate limits with customizable throttling, 500 messages per batch call, and up to 10MB payload support for attachments.
Straightforward integration: Clean API design with intuitive REST principles that lets you go from Composer install to your first sent email in under 5 minutes.
Actionable analytics: Helicopter-view and drop-down dashboards for you to track key metrics, such as opens, clicks, bounces, and delivery.
Separate email streams: Dedicated API endpoints to send both transactional and bulk emails with no drops in performance.
Automatic DKIM rotation: Mailtrap email API improves security and solves email authentication for you by generating the DNS records for your domain registrar and rotating them every four months.

PHP SDK integration

Useful links:

The official Mailtrap PHP client receives 32,746 weekly downloads with 54 GitHub stars.

It uses PSR-18 HTTP client abstraction, which means it can be integrated out of the box with any PHP framework that can make HTTP requests (i.e., Guzzle). Furthermore, Mailtrap PHP SDK has a dedicated Laravel bridge/driver and an official Symfony integration, allowing you to connect without writing code.

Code example:

<?php

use Mailtrap\Helper\ResponseHelper;
use Mailtrap\MailtrapClient;
use Mailtrap\Mime\MailtrapEmail;
use Symfony\Component\Mime\Address;

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$mailtrap = MailtrapClient::initSendingEmails(
    apiKey: getenv('MAILTRAP_API_KEY') // your API key here https://mailtrap.io/api-tokens
);

$email = (new MailtrapEmail())
    ->from(new Address('sender@example.com'))
    ->to(new Address('recipient@example.com'))
    ->subject('Hello from Mailtrap PHP')
    ->text('Plain text body');

$response = $mailtrap->send($email);

// Access response body as array (helper optional)
var_dump(ResponseHelper::toArray($response));

Pros & cons

Pros	Cons
99.99% uptime SLA provides reliability for critical emails	No SMS sending (email-only platform)
Clean, developer-friendly email API with excellent developer documentation	Smaller community compared to SendGrid or AWS
Extended email log retention on higher plans for debugging and compliance
Detailed analytics dashboards track opens, clicks, bounces, spam
Automatic DKIM key rotation every four months
24/7 expert support (mail, ticket, live chat)

Security & compliance

Useful links:

Security	Compliance
Strong TLS enforcement, MTA-STS support	GDPR compliant
SPF, DKIM, DMARC alignment	Based in EU, but the servers are in the US
Granular API keys, IP whitelisting	Compliant with ISO and HIPAA, SOC 2 is in progress
MFA, RBAC, detailed audit logs	DSAR support & data deletion upon request
Robust reputation management, real-time security monitoring	Detailed logs, exportable
Detailed logs, customizable alerts	DPA Available on request

Pricing

Mailtrap offers quite a generous free plan and three scalable pricing plans primarily based on monthly email volume. As of writing this article, the Business plan is the most popular since it’s in the golden middle.

Plan	Monthly cost	Email limit
Free	$0	Up to 4,000 emails
Basic	From $15	10,000+ emails
Business (the most popular)	From $85	100,000+ emails
Enterprise	From $750	1,500,000 emails
Custom	Custom	From 1,500,000

For more details, please consult the official Mailtrap pricing page.

Testimonials

Overall, users like the flexibility of the Mailtrap email API, the ease of integration, and high inboxing rates.

On the other hand, some like its performance and reliability:

Send Emails with Mailtrap

SendGrid: Best for enterprises

G2: 4 .0 🌟 Capterra: 4.2 🌟

SendGrid’s email API is best for businesses that need to send transactional and marketing emails in one platform with extra comprehensive features at the cost of increased complexity and setup time.

Email deliverability test results: SendGrid delivered 61.1% of sent emails to the primary inbox.

Platform	Email placement results	Spam filter rating	Inbox email delivery with top providers
SendGrid	Inbox: 61.0% Tabs: 1.0% Spam: 17.1% Missing: 20.9%	Google Spam Filter: Not spam; Not phishy Barracuda: Score 0 Spam Assassin: Score: -0.1	Gmail: 75% Outlook: 0% Hotmail: 0% Yahoo: 33.33%

Why PHP developers choose SendGrid

Dynamic template support: Built-in helpers for sending transactional emails from PHP using IDs and variables defined in SendGrid’s Dynamic Templates UI.
Fluent mail builder: Object-oriented SendGrid\Mail\Mail helper lets developers construct HTML, plain text, and attachment-rich messages with method chaining instead of hand-rolling JSON payloads.
Full API surface in PHP: The same SendGrid client instance can access Mail Send, Marketing, Contacts, and suppression endpoints, so transactional and campaign use cases share one configuration and HTTP client.
Deliverability insights: When you send emails via SendGrid’s PHP SDK, all messages automatically feed into SendGrid’s Deliverability Insights dashboard for detailed monitoring.
Production diagnostics: Typed response objects expose status codes, headers, and bodies for logging and alerting, helping teams monitor deliverability, handle rate limits, and debug errors in live PHP environments.

PHP SDK integration

Useful links:

The official SendGrid PHP package is maintained by Twilio and targets PHP 7.3+ with support for modern frameworks and tooling. It exposes a fluent OO interface for building messages, handling attachments, and accessing advanced REST endpoints beyond mail.send.

Composer installation integrates cleanly into existing build pipelines, and the SDK plays well with PSR-4 autoloaders and common dependency managers.

The SDK supports key SendGrid features like message sending, personalization, templates, categories, and attachments, all via dedicated methods on the mail object and a single SendGrid client instance.

Code example:

$email = new \SendGrid\Mail\Mail();
$email->setFrom("test@example.com", "Example User");
$email->setSubject("Sending with Twilio SendGrid is Fun");
$email->addTo("test@example.com", "Example User");
$email->addContent("text/plain", "and easy to do anywhere, even with PHP");
$email->addContent(
    "text/html", "<strong>and easy to do anywhere, even with PHP</strong>"
);
$sendgrid = new \SendGrid(getenv('SENDGRID_API_KEY'));
try {
    $response = $sendgrid->send($email);
    print $response->statusCode() . "\n";
    print_r($response->headers());
    print $response->body() . "\n";
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo 'Caught exception: '. $e->getMessage() ."\n";
}

Pricing

SendGrid keeps its Email API pricing simple with several different plans and a slider for email volume. However, if you’re interested in some of its Email Marketing features along with the PHP SDK, you’ll have to pay extra.

Plan	Monthly	Email volume
Free	$0	100 emails/day
Basic	$15	10,000 emails
Foundation	$35	50,000 emails
Scale	$90	100,000 emails

For more details, please consult the official SendGrid pricing page.

Pros & cons

Pros	Cons
High sending throughput	Reports of unresponsive customer support
Comprehensive documentation	Verification issues and user suspension
Email validation functionality
Pre-warmed up IPs
Widely integrated across services and frameworks

Security & compliance

Useful links:

Security	Compliance
Enforced TLS, MTA-STS	GDPR compliant
SPF, DKIM, DMARC	EU region selectable, US default
Scoped API keys, IP access management	SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA certified
MFA, RBAC, SSO	Supports DSARs, deletion, data export
Real-time spam feedback, proactive monitoring	Logging via Twilio’s security tools
Activity feed, email event webhooks	DPA available

Testimonials

Although people praise SendGrid’s email API for its functionality, documentation, etc., most positive reviews end with a remark towards the platform’s customer support. Like this one, for example.

Wherever I looked, it was the same story. So again, we have a user praising SendGrid’s API and deliverability, while saying they didn’t get enough help while setting up the account.

Further reading: I Tested 6 SendGrid Alternatives: Here’s What I Found 🔍

Mailgun: Best for validation

G2: 4.2 🌟 Capterra: 4.3 🌟

Mailgun is a developer-focused platform for transactional and marketing email sending that offers an API with a focus on batch sending, scalability, list quality, and validation.

Email deliverability test results: Mailgun delivered 71.4% of emails in the primary inbox.

Platform	Email placement results	Spam filter rating	Inbox email delivery with top providers
Mailgun	Inbox: 71.0% Tabs: 3.8% Spam: 23.8% Missing: 1.0%	Google Spam Filter: Not spam; Not phishy Barracuda: Score 0 Spam Assassin: Score: -5.3	Gmail: 100% Outlook: 66.67% Hotmail: 40% Yahoo: 33.33%

Why PHP developers choose Mailgun

Robust PHP SDK: A PHP client with clear methods, full IDE auto-completion, and helpful exceptions for faster, safer integration.
Email validation API: Pre-send check your addresses against Mailgun’s email database. This includes DNS and MX record checks, disposable address lookups, etc.
Deliverability insights: Track the most important deliverability metrics, and see what’s causing your emails to bounce.
Batch sending at scale: Send to up to 1,000 recipients per API call using recipient variables for personalized bulk campaigns without exposing recipient addresses.
Event logging: Capture deliveries, opens, clicks, and bounces with structured webhooks and searchable logs retained for up to 30 days, depending on your subscription plan.

PHP SDK integration

Useful links:

Mailgun’s PHP SDK is the first SDK for the Mailgun API, so it’s been out there for quite a while. More precisely, it had first appeared in 2013 on Packagist. Now, it has over 1.3 million weekly installations and an active community support on GitHub.

According to the documentation, Mailgun’s API uses the PSR-18 client abstraction, giving you the flexibility to choose what PSR-7 implementation and HTTP client you want to use. Furthermore, it integrates smoothly with major PHP frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter.

The SDK includes native support for Mailgun features like message sending, template management, email validation, and event logs, all with clear object-oriented structures and comprehensive inline type hints for modern IDEs.

Code example:

// First, instantiate the SDK with your API credentials
$mg = Mailgun::create('key-example'); // For US servers
$mg = Mailgun::create('key-example', 'https://api.eu.mailgun.net'); // For EU servers

// Now, compose and send your message.
// $mg->messages()->send($domain, $params);
$mg->messages()->send('example.com', [
  'from'    => 'bob@example.com',
  'to'      => 'sally@example.com',
  'subject' => 'The PHP SDK is awesome!',
  'text'    => 'It is so simple to send a message.'
]);

Pricing

Mailgun has a limited free plan that you can use to test the platform’s API and basic features, as well as three pricing plans that start from $15. Additionally, although they are all scalable, I should note that they get a bit expensive if you want to send high volumes of email.

Plan	Monthly cost	Email limit
Free	$0	100 per day
Basic	From $15	10,000+
Foundation	From $35	50,000+
Scale	From $90	100,000+

For more details, please consult the official Mailgun pricing page.

Pros & cons

Pros	Cons
EU and US data centers	Pricing can become expensive at scale
Scalable infrastructure	Reports of email issues and account blocks
Email validation	Steep learning curve for junior devs
Onboarding support
Inbound email support

Security & compliance

Useful links:

Security	Compliance
Mandatory TLS, MTA-STS	GDPR compliant
SPF, DKIM, DMARC	EU region sending & storage
Manage API keys, IP restrictions	SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA (with BAA) certified
MFA, granular user permissions	User data deletion & subject access
Spam detection, bounce handling	Logging & audit trails
Detailed event logs, webhooks for notifications	DPA available

Testimonials

Generally, Mailgun sees a lot of positive reviews and remarks from its users, most of them commenting upon its documentation and easy-to-integrate API. One of the few downsides mentioned concerns the cost of its advanced features and the technical setup.

Again, another user praises Mailgun’s email API and its functionalities, but doesn’t like the fact that you need some technical knowledge to set up email authentication, for instance.

Further reading: I Tried & Compared 6 Best Mailgun Alternatives: My Findings 💡

Amazon SES: Best for AWS users

G2: 4.3 🌟Capterra: 4.7 🌟

Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) is a cloud-based email service provider that offers an email API for developers who are already deep into the AWS ecosystem. In other words, go for SES if you have experience with AWS, since this API is all about connecting to other services like Lambda, CloudWatch, and others.

Email deliverability test results: Amazon SES delivered 77.1% of emails to the primary inbox.

Platform	Email placement results	Spam filter rating	Inbox email delivery with top providers
Amazon SES	Inbox: 77.1% Tabs: 1.9% Spam: 20.0% Missing: 1.0%	Google Spam Filter: Not spam; Not phishy Barracuda: Score 0 Spam Assassin: Score: -4.3	Gmail: 87.50% Outlook: 100% Hotmail: 100% Yahoo: 44.44%

Why PHP developers choose Amazon SES

Mature AWS SDK for PHP: The official AWS SDK for PHP with dedicated Ses Client and SesV2Client provides typed methods for sending, templating, configuration sets, and event publishing while handling retries, credentials, and serialization for you.
Framework‑friendly integration: Drop the SDK into popular PHP frameworks (Laravel, Symfony, Laminas, Slim) via community packages and service providers, so mailers, queues, and config can live in native PHP dependency injection containers.
AWS ecosystem for PHP: From the same SDK, you can wire SES to S3 for attachments, DynamoDB or RDS for template data, SNS for notifications, EventBridge for routing, and CloudWatch for metrics and log insights, all from familiar PHP code.
Infrastructure as code ready: Define SES identities, configuration sets, dedicated IP pools, and IAM policies in CloudFormation or CDK, then deploy them alongside the PHP app infrastructure so email configuration is version‑controlled and reproducible.
Pay-as-you-go pricing model: Amazon SES is by far the most affordable option out there, offering 1,000 emails for $0.10. Moreover, if you’re sending from EC2 instances, you get 62,000 free monthly emails.

PHP SDK integration

Useful links:

Considering the number of AWS services out there and their users, it’s no wonder that AWS SDK for PHP receives millions of weekly downloads. The SDK can easily be integrated with all of the popular frameworks and modules, although its API key authentication and a few other nuances are a bit technical.

If you have experience with the AWS ecosystem, you’ll find setting up Amazon SES easy, especially since it offers a plethora of code snippets for more or less every use case possible.

Code example:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Aws\S3\S3Client;
use Aws\Exception\AwsException;

// Create an S3 client
$s3 = new S3Client([
    'version'     => 'latest',
    'region'      => 'us-west-2',          // change to your region
    'credentials' => [
        'key'    => 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID',
        'secret' => 'YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY',
    ],
]);

try {
    // Simple upload example
    $result = $s3->putObject([
        'Bucket' => 'your-bucket-name',
        'Key'    => 'example.txt',
        'Body'   => 'Hello from AWS SDK for PHP!',
        'ACL'    => 'public-read',
    ]);

    echo "File uploaded. URL: " . $result['ObjectURL'] . PHP_EOL;
} catch (AwsException $e) {
    echo "Error uploading: " . $e->getMessage() . PHP_EOL;
}

Pricing

As I’ve mentioned previously, Amazon SES has a pay-as-you-go pricing model instead of the usual volume-based tiers you can see from other providers. Just note that, although the monthly email allowance is quite affordable, you need to pay extra for features like dedicated IPs ($24.95/month).

Emails per month	Cost
1,000	$0.10
10,000	$1
100,000	$10

For more details, please consult the official Amazon SES pricing page.

Pros & cons

Pros	Cons
Highly configurable email API and infrastructure	Requires some experience and technical knowledge
Can be natively integrated with the rest of the AWS ecosystem	Takes some time to set up due to the sandbox mode configuration
Strong and reputable IPs
Supports data residency for EU, US, and Asia

Security & compliance

Useful links:

Security	Compliance
Opportunistic / forced TLS, MTA-STS (manual setup)	GDPR compliant
SPF, DKIM, custom MAIL FROM, DMARC	Region-specific data storage (EU/US/Asia)
IAM policies, granular access control	SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA certified
IAM, MFA, CloudTrail integration	IAM-level controls & data export tools
Reputation dashboards, feedback loops	CloudTrail logging
Extensive logs via CloudWatch/ CloudTrail	DPA available through AWS DPA

Testimonials

As it could have been expected, users love Amazon SES for its affordability and reliability, while they mention its sandbox limits, support, and technical configuration as downsides.

Some also don’t like the fact that you need to manually set up a domain, DNS records, and IAM permissions, but overall, again, they love the low cost.

Further reading: 6 Best Amazon SES Alternatives: Which One Is Worth Switching To 👀

Postmark: For transactional emails at a higher cost

G2: 4.6 🌟Capterra: 4.9 🌟

Postmark is best for developers who need a robust email API geared for sending transactional emails with inbound email capabilities.

Email deliverability test results: Postmark delivered 83.3% of emails to the primary inbox in our tests.

Platform	Email placement results	Spam filter rating	Inbox email delivery with top providers
Postmark	Inbox: 83.3% Tabs: 1.0% Spam: 14.3% Missing: 0.9%	Google Spam Filter: Not spam; Not phishy Barracuda: Score 0 Spam Assassin: Score: -4.3	Gmail: 100% Outlook: 100% Hotmail: 80% Yahoo: 77.78%

Why PHP developers choose Postmark

Separate message streams: Similar to Mailtrap, Postmark has true dedicated sending streams that allow you to keep deliverability rates high while sending different types of emails.
Inbound email processing: Besides allowing you to send emails, Postmark also lets you receive emails on a pre-made inbound address or a custom one with your own domain.
Extensive email logs: Postmark stores and displays the email content you sent or received for 45 days by default, regardless of the plan. You can also extend it up to 365 days with the retention add-on.
Flexible email API: With the Postmark email API, you can also handle bounces, inbound webhooks, and more. All of this without manual HTTP requests.
Transparent deliverability status: On Postmark’s status page, you can see everything from system and API availability to inbox rates and speeds for major mailbox providers.

PHP SDK integration

Useful links:

Postmark PHP SDK boasts 170+ GitHub stars and over 8 million total installs on Packagist with 46 dependents.

It requires the Guzzle HTTP client, making integration easy if your project already uses Guzzle. If not, you’ll need to work around that dependency.

Additionally, Laravel includes a native Postmark driver, and Symfony Mailer offers an official Postmark transport.

Code example:

<?php

// Import the Postmark Client Class:
require_once('./vendor/autoload.php');
use Postmark\PostmarkClient;

$client = new PostmarkClient("POSTMARK-SERVER-API-TOKEN-HERE");

// Send an email:
$sendResult = $client->sendEmail(
  "sender@example.com",
  "recipient@example.com",
  "Hello from Postmark!",
  "This is just a friendly 'hello' from your friends at Postmark."
);

?>

Pricing

As you can notice for yourself from the table below, Postmark is slightly costlier than other email API providers on this list. However, at least you don’t have to pay extra for features such as extended logs.

Plan	Monthly cost	Email limit
Free	$0	100
Basic	From $15,00	10,000+
Pro	From $60,50	50,000+
Platform	From $138,00	125,000+

For more details, please consult the official Postmark pricing page.

Pros & cons

Pros	Cons
Reliable email API focused on delivering emails to inboxes	More expensive than some competitors like Mailtrap or Amazon SES
Clear, practical documentation with a plethora of examples	Support is limited to an AI agent and ticket system
Ability to receive emails on top of being able to send them	Reports of slow response times from the customer support team
True separate sending streams for improved deliverability	Dedicated IPs come at a price of $50/month and a requirement of 100k emails/month
Provides EU data residency options for users who want to stay within specific regions

Security & compliance

Useful links:

Security	Compliance
TLS 1.2+ enforced	GDPR compliant
SPF, DKIM, DMARC	All data hosted in US
Restricted API tokens, IP whitelisting.	SOC 2, ISO 27001 and certified, no HIPAA
MFA, team roles, activity feed	Data subject rights support
Proactive spam filters, bounce management	Granular activity logging
Detailed activity logs, webhooks	DPA available upon request

Testimonials

‘User-friendly,’ ‘reliable,’ and ‘hassle-free’ are the usual phrases I found among Postmark user reviews. Generally, people enjoy the platform’s email API, although some find that its analytics could be more detailed.

Others praise its documentation, delivery speed, and the extended email logs. On the other hand, users also often say that Postmark is not as inexpensive as other competitors on the market.

Further reading: I Tested 6 Postmark Alternatives: Here’s What I Found ⬅️

Wrapping up

We researched, integrated, tested, and demoed the best solutions in the industry based on the most relevant comparison criteria for developers, and presented our findings in this article. Now, it’s up to you and your team to see which is the best solution for you based on priorities, budget, etc.

Here’s a nice little table for you that sums up the best email APIs for PHP developers:

Email API	Best for	Frameworks/Clients	Pricing
Mailtrap	High-volume developer teams and product companies	Laravel, Symfony, PSR-18 clients	From $15 (The most popular plan is from $85)
SendGrid	Enterprise users who need to send both transactional and marketing emails	Laravel, Symfony, Yii, raw PHP, PHPMailer	From $15
Mailgun	Developer teams with sending expertise who need logs and validation API	Laravel, Symfony, Yii, PHPMailer, Swift Mailer, PEAR, raw PHP	From $19.95
Amazon SES	Developers with experience in the AWS ecosystem	Laravel, Symfony, raw PHP	$0.10 per 1,000 emails
Postmark	For teams that want to send transactional emails without any over-the-top features	Laravel, Symfony, ZendMail, PHPMailer, raw PHP	From $15

Frequently asked questions

What is the best email API for PHP developers?

The best email API for PHP developers is Mailtrap for most use cases since it provides fast delivery, high inboxing rates, and expert customer support. All of this on top of offering a well-maintained email API with an official SDK for PHP that you can easily integrate.

How to integrate email API with PHP application?

To integrate an email API with PHP, first install the provider’s SDK using Composer (e.g., composer require mailtrap/mailtrap-php symfony/http-client nyholm/psr7), then initialize the client with your API key from environment variables, and use the send method to dispatch emails.

Furthermore, when storing API keys, never hardcode them. Instead, use environment variables. Most providers offer similar patterns with object-oriented clients for modern PHP integration.

What features should I prioritize when choosing an email service for PHP?

When choosing an email service for PHP, you should watch out for:

SDK quality – Go for an email service that offers a regularly updated and maintained email API with a strong community and a PHP version that suits your use case.
Framework compatibility – Make sure the email service for PHP you choose works with the frameworks you use.
Developer experience – Search through the documentation and see if it’s clear enough to allow you and your team to integrate and maintain the setup.
Email infrastructure – Look for services with SLAs, true dedicated streams, and high inbox placement rates.
Customer support – Avoid services that have AI instead of support teams that consist of humans who can actually help you.
Transparent pricing – Check for hidden costs, overages, and, most importantly, make sure the service cost fits your team’s budget.

Which email service is most cost-effective for PHP developers?

Amazon SES is the most cost-effective email service, offering 1,000 emails per $0.10. However, due to its infrastructure complexity, it’s only ideal for AWS users. If you’re looking for another simpler, yet also affordable alternative, Mailtrap offers solid value (10,000 emails for $15/month). With it, you get high deliverability rates by design and a superb developer experience.