Lumail vs Plunk
Lumail
Plunk
Open-source email platform
Lumail and Plunk pricing and feature comparison
Free emails / month
Lumail
3,000
Plunk
1,000
Unlimited subscribers · $0
Unlimited subscribers · $0
Paid entry
$20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000
$0.001 per email, no monthly fee
Pricing basis
Unlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume
Pay per email sent or received; no contact or feature tiers
Automation
Graph workflows with triggers, branches, goals, exits, and A/B paths
Workflows on every plan, triggered by events, schedules, or manually
AI and developer access
ChatGPT OAuth, MCP, skills, CLI, SDK, REST API, and visual editor
REST API and a Node library; no official MCP
Transactional email
Included through API, SMTP, SDK, CLI, and agent tools
Yes, via API with templates or SMTP
Publishing surface
Capture pages and custom web domains; not a general website builder
Scheduled campaigns with a drag-and-drop or Markdown editor
Choose Lumail if…
- You want 89 MCP tools, CLI, SDK, and REST API on one account
- You prefer included volume: $20 for 40,000 emails, then $0.60 per 1,000
- You need capture pages and a newsletter workspace, not a self-hosted stack
Choose Plunk if…
- You want to self-host and pay only for your own infrastructure
- You send modest volume and prefer pay-as-you-go with no base fee
- You need inbound email, SMTP, and workflows in one open-source tool
Weighing more than two tools? Read the best Plunk alternatives guide, which compares the options side by side.
Where Plunk is strong
A real alternative, not a straw man.
Plunk is an open-source email platform for transactional email, campaigns, and workflows. The hosted service costs $0.001 per email, and you can also self-host it. People pick Plunk when they need developers who want one open-source tool for receipts, newsletters, and automations.
- Open source and self-hostable; the hosted cloud runs in the EU
- Simple pricing: $0.001 per email, no tiers, with spend caps
- Transactional email, campaigns, inbound email, and workflows in one place
Don't trust the table. Run one journey.
Checklists lie by flattening the work. Build one real path: a trigger, a wait, a branch, a goal, an exit. Then open one subscriber and see what actually happened. That tells you more than any feature row.
- 1. Import a small, consented sample. Not the whole list.
- 2. Recreate one campaign and the audience it actually hits.
- 3. Publish one automation with a goal you can measure.
- 4. Fire a test and read every event on one person.
- 5. Compare the weekly work, not the setup afternoon.
Try it on a real send
Keep the whole list. Pay when you send.
3,000 emails free, no card. Rebuild one campaign, one workflow, and one transactional message before you move anyone. If it feels worse than Plunk, stay.
The questions people actually ask
Is Lumail cheaper than Plunk?
Sometimes. Lumail is $0 for 3,000 emails, then $20 for 40,000. Plunk's number only makes sense after you know what they cap: contacts, seats, a daily send limit, or a feature they hide behind a paid plan. Read the honest take above, then price a normal month and a launch month on both pages.
What is the main difference between Lumail and Plunk?
Choose Plunk for open-source, self-hostable email with transactional sends, broadcasts, and workflows at $0.001 per email. Choose Lumail for agents that run the whole account, capture pages, and included email volume instead of pure pay-as-you-go.
Can I migrate from Plunk to Lumail?
Yes. Don't move the whole list on day one. Export a small consented sample, rebuild one campaign and one automation, authenticate your domain, then watch one subscriber go through the run. If that feels right, move the rest.