I have been relying on Mailgun for email delivery from my applications for several years now, mainly for authentication tokens and account verification messages. Recently I made the decision to completely move away from Mailgun and removed all my domains from their service.
I decided to go with a self-hosted approach using Postal as my email server. Before settling on Postal, I also tested Billionmail but ran into significant issues with both the user interface and initial configuration process.
I deployed Postal on my existing Contabo server that I have been using for years. Before installation, I made sure to check that the server IP address has a clean sending reputation.
So far the results have been great. My Postal setup has already processed more than 6000 outgoing emails successfully. I am really happy with this change and do not plan to return to Mailgun.
Nice move! I’ve been thinkng about ditchng Mailgun too since their pricing keeps going up. How’s the deliverability compared to Mailgun so far? Any issues with emails ending up in spam folders or is it working just as well?
Postal’s great for self-hosting. I switched from SendGrid 18 months ago and love it. The DNS setup is crucial - get your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records perfect or you’ll have deliverability issues. Don’t blast high volumes right away. I started with 50-100 emails daily for the first week, then slowly increased. The interface feels clunky compared to commercial services, but you get way more control. Best part? No more worrying about sudden policy changes or price hikes from third-party providers.
Self-hosting email rocks once you get through the initial setup pain. I made the switch two years ago when managed services got too expensive. Here’s what I wish I knew: watch your server reputation like a hawk. Even with a clean IP, things go south fast if you mess up bounce handling or feedback loops. Set up proper logging in Postal from day one - troubleshooting delivery problems without logs is hell. Don’t forget monitoring alerts for your mail queue and server resources since uptime’s on you now. But honestly? The freedom from vendor lock-in makes it worth it, especially for high-volume apps with predictable sending patterns.