MailToAPI vs Mailgun Routes
Mailgun Routes is a mature inbound email + pattern-matching primitive. It delivers raw parsed emails to your webhook. MailToAPI sits on top and gives you the extracted JSON fields instead. Here's the split.
TL;DR
- Mailgun Routes matches inbound emails by recipient pattern or expression and POSTs the parsed email to your webhook (from, to, subject, body html/text, headers, attachments). You write your own field extraction.
- MailToAPI takes you the next step: you describe the JSON shape, the LLM extracts those fields from the body, and the structured JSON is POSTed to your destination.
- Choose Mailgun Routes if you already use Mailgun for sending or want raw email payloads to do your own thing. Choose MailToAPI if "extract these fields" is the actual job and you don't want to maintain a parser.
Feature comparison
MailToAPI
Mailgun Routes
Webhook payload
Your declared JSON shape, typed fields
Raw parsed email (from, to, subject, html/text body, headers, attachments)
Body field extraction
Built-in LLM against your schema
You write it yourself
Routing / matching
One inbox = one extraction schema (multiple inboxes for multiple shapes)
Pattern matching on recipient with expressions; can chain forwards
Setup
5 minutes (describe schema, send sample)
Set up MX, configure route, write parser (hours)
Attachments
Not in v1
Yes
Pricing
$39/mo for 1,000 deliveries
Bundled with Mailgun; pay-as-you-go inbound on top of plans
Audience
Developers who want JSON shape, not raw email
Developers who want the raw email and full control
Where each one wins
Choose MailToAPI when
- You want extracted fields, not a parsed-email payload to parse further
- Email formats vary across senders and your parser would break monthly
- You want an AI agent to set up inboxes via API
- You don't already pay for Mailgun
- You prefer simple per-run credit pricing with replayable delivery attempts
Choose Mailgun Routes when
- You already use Mailgun for sending (one vendor, one bill)
- You need recipient-pattern routing and chained forwards
- You need attachments forwarded as part of the webhook
- You want fully deterministic, raw-MIME-level access
- Volume is high enough that Mailgun's bundled inbound is cheaper
Quick decision
If you would be building a body parser on top of any inbound provider — MailToAPI eliminates that work. If your downstream code already has a robust parser, Mailgun Routes is a more flexible and cheaper foundation.