About to get working on a new publication, realised Mailgun has quietly removed their “pay as you go” offer, any new option to be integrated with Ghost’s native newsletter?
PS: I’m aware flex existed. I’m aware “pay as you go” existed. Flex no longer exists though. Every new account is charged $35/month after 1 month trial. Thus my question on whether any new integration for the native Ghost newsletters is to be expected.
See Why do I have to set up Mailgun for newsletters? …
Did you know Mailgun doesn’t have free accounts anymore??
Mailgun recently updated their pricing, including the removal of a free tier. However, under their new pricing, invoices are not sent if they total less than $0.50 - which is still more than 600 emails. For most people who are getting started Mailgun remains free, and subsequent rates are extremely generous. It would cost far, far more (money as well as time) to run your own bulk mail delivery infrastructure, or use most other providers.
Thanks. Had seen that. The changes I refer to are even more recent than that (the link you sent reflects Mailgun prices changes that happened back in 2020). Now any new Mailgun account costs $35/month after the first trial month. The “pay as you go” is gone. Hence my question on whether any new mail service is to be integrated soon by the Ghost team into the native newsletters.
This is incorrect. You need to sign up for their Flex plan, i.e., pay as you go.
Yes, had seen that. And from the bottom of the same link you have sent:
"For new users signing up, we offer a one-month Foundation Trial during which 5,000 emails are included for free. During the one-month trial, however, you actually can send up to 6,000 emails at no cost (due to our $1 minimum for payment processing). For example, if you send 6,000 emails or less during the trial month, you will be charged $0. However, if you send 6,001 emails, you will be charged the $1 minimum fee, and $1.00 per thousand emails sent over 6,001.
At the end of the one-month trial, the account will begin using the Foundation subscription plan which costs $35 per month (unless another subscription plan was selected during the one-month trial period)."
One can no longer sign up to Flex
Yes, you can. Start the trial, and then you can downgrade to the Flex pay as you go model.
Thanks a ton! Just confirmed this worked (despite not documented)
So I just went through this process and when I go to downgrade I’m not seeing any flex options available. Should I be looking somewhere else?
When I click unsusbribe, it asks me if I want to delete my account. Is that because I’m on the free plan and hence already count as flex?
That may be so. My screenshots are from a new account, where I initially signed up to pay.
I can confirm this worked for me. The images showed how to do it!
Thank you! It will probably take me 10 years to send a 1000 emails to my subscribers 
but thank you none the less. I’d rather pay $1 every X years than have no email service at all.
Yes I was able to configure the pay as you go service with Mailgun. However, I would like to see Ghost actively collaborating with other services, like Brevo (former Sendinblue) that offers a proper free plan with 300 email per day. I don’t think it’s right that there is just one service that it’s actually supported natively for a function that should be the usp of this cms.
This is discussed elsewhere. Ghost is free and open source software, with a small team that has to prioritize development resources. Nothing prevents you or others developing an alternative.
Don’t get me wrong, MailGun is nice and does the job pretty well. But I think there should be an alternative, especially that now their free tier is basically hidden and not so easy for the average joe to find. I understand Ghost has to make money with their Pro plan, that’s a very good way for an hassle free hosting. But I prefer to do everything by myself, and with 10 dollars I got the website up and running with Digital Ocean with an included backup every week, and with another 20 I get a Cloudflare Pro account…
Yet a Ghost(Pro) Creator subscription would cost less, and suits those who wish to write without thinking about technology. Indeed, it’s these subscriptions that give us Ghost for free, so I don’t think we have any grounds to complain.
Ghost Pro does not offer built-in GDPR Cookie Consent, which is legally required in Europe. Failure to display this consent and obtain explicit user consent for loading scripts like Google Analytics or other cookies could potentially result in legal consequences, including costly lawsuits worth thousands of euros. Given these risks, opting for Ghost Pro solely to save a few dollars may not be worth it. On the other hand, Cloudflare provides these necessary features for free through their service, Zaraz…
Thanks to your help, I was able to activate the flex mode.
Hi, is is possible to activate it during the trial? Or one has to pay $35 the first month?
You don’t have to pay them $35. Or at least, you didn’t, when I did it a couple months ago. :)
