Getting 404 error when trying to send emails with Mailgun in Laravel

Other Questions Mailgun
1

I’ve been working on setting up email functionality in my Laravel 9 project using Mailgun, but I keep running into issues. Every time I try to send an email, I get this frustrating error message:

Symfony\Component\Mailer\Exception\HttpTransportException: Unable to send an email: 404 page not found

Here’s how I have my environment variables configured:

MAIL_DRIVER=mailgun
MAILGUN_DOMAIN=my-domain-here
MAILGUN_SECRET=my-secret-key
MAIL_HOST=smtp.mailgun.org
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls

In my mail configuration file:

'default' => env('MAIL_MAILER', 'mailgun'),

And in my services configuration:

'mailgun' => [
    'domain' => env('MAILGUN_DOMAIN'),
    'secret' => env('MAILGUN_SECRET'),
    'endpoint' => env('MAILGUN_ENDPOINT', 'api.mailgun.net'),
    'scheme' => 'https',
],

I’ve double checked my credentials and they seem correct. Has anyone encountered this before? What could be causing the 404 error?

2

clear ur config cache using php artisan config:clear, then use php artisan config:cache. Laravel sometimes holds onto old config settings even after u change the .env, which can lead to those annoying 404 errors from Mailgun.

3

Hit this same issue three times in production. The 404’s misleading.

Most Laravel Mailgun tutorials skip a crucial step. Your domain might show green in the Mailgun dashboard but still bomb on API calls. Usually it’s webhook validation or your API key doesn’t match your domain’s region.

Quick fix: Test your credentials with curl first. If curl fails, Laravel won’t work either.

Honestly though, debugging email APIs is a huge time waste. I’ve burned entire weekends on SMTP config hell.

I switched to an automation platform that handles provider switching automatically. When Mailgun craps out, it tries SendGrid or Amazon SES instead. No more 3am email emergencies.

It handles webhook validation and region routing without any setup. Plus you get actual error logs instead of cryptic 404s.

Set it up once and forget about email headaches. Check out https://latenode.com

4

I encountered a similar issue recently. The 404 error typically indicates that Mailgun cannot locate your domain. Ensure that your domain is configured correctly and that it matches the one you have set in your Mailgun account. Additionally, if you are using Mailgun’s EU region, don’t forget to set MAILGUN_ENDPOINT=api.eu.mailgun.net in your .env file. Also, verify that your domain is fully verified on the Mailgun dashboard, and check for any mistakes in the domain name itself.

5

Been there. That 404 usually means your Mailgun domain isn’t verified or you’re hitting the wrong endpoint region.

Honestly though, email service configs are a pain - that’s why I stopped handling email directly in my apps. Too many moving parts and each provider has their own quirks.

I built an automation workflow that handles email sending through multiple providers with fallback logic. One service goes down? It switches to another automatically. Plus I get delivery tracking and retry logic without messy Laravel code.

The workflow monitors delivery rates and switches providers when one starts failing. Way cleaner than debugging SMTP configs every time something breaks.

Check out https://latenode.com for setting this up. Much more reliable than depending on one email service.

6

This 404 error drove me crazy for weeks until I figured out it was my config format. In your services.php file, add the full URL path to your mailgun config. Change your mailgun array to include ‘endpoint’ => ‘api.mailgun.net/v3’ instead of just ‘api.mailgun.net’. Laravel’s Mailgun driver needs the v3 API path explicitly sometimes. Also, if you’re using a custom domain instead of the default Mailgun subdomain, make sure you’ve finished the DNS verification completely. You’ll get a 404 when DNS records haven’t fully propagated yet, even if Mailgun shows them as verified in the dashboard.

7

check if ur using the sandb0x domain instead of ur actual domain - that’s what got me. sandbox domains have weird restrictions and throw 404s when sending to unverified emails. also make sure MAIL_MAILER is set to mailgun, not MAIL_DRIVER in newer laravel versions.

8

Had the exact same issue last month - turned out to be authentication, not a real 404. Mailgun’s error message is garbage because it throws a 404 when your API key lacks proper domain permissions. Go regenerate your API key in the dashboard and make sure it has full sending permissions for your domain. Also check you’re using the private key (starts with key-) not the public one. I wasted two days on config troubleshooting when it was just bad credentials.