MailerZ vs Migadu is a store decision, not a sticker contest. MailerZ is inbound MX plus optional authenticated SMTP around the Gmail or Outlook inbox you already use. Migadu is standards mail hosting: SMTP, IMAP4, POP3, and webmail on a flat account. Keep Gmail and add a forwarder, or move the archive to IMAP. Do not run both MX sets and call it redundancy.
Quick answer for MailerZ vs Migadu
Choose MailerZ when the job is “print hello@ on this domain, keep Gmail, prove inbound, maybe send-as later.” Free is one domain, ten aliases, a 14-day store, send-as disabled, SMTP and API disabled. Solo is $40 per year when the domain must leave as From. Starter is $8 or $80. Business is $19 or $190. Agency is $39 or $390. Unlimited is $99/month or $990/year. Confirm MailerZ pricing. Limits are not an inbox-placement SLA.
Choose Migadu when the job is “I want stored mailboxes, IMAP clients, and webmail, priced per account instead of per seat.” Their public card on 9 September 2026 listed Micro at $19 per year (200 messages in per day, 20 out per day, 5 GB++ storage, some features unavailable, no monthly option); Mini at $9 per month or $90 per year; Standard at $29 or $290; Maxi at $99 or $990. They describe unlimited addresses and, on most plans, unlimited domains, with a soft domain caution on Micro. Quote migadu.com/pricing the day you buy. This page does not invent a plan they do not list.
Transport still follows IETF RFC 5321 — Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Someone publishes MX. Senders connect. Content transfers. The difference is where the body lives after 250. MailerZ stores what it needs for the hop, then forwards into Gmail or Outlook. Envelope SRS may rewrite the return path. Header From, Subject, Date, Message-ID, body, and MIME stay as received. Migadu stores the message as a mailbox object you open with IMAP, POP3, or their webmail. That is hosting. It is a valid product. It is not a forwarder with extra steps.
ImprovMX is closer to MailerZ’s class than Migadu is. If you are comparing inbound routers, read their live card at ImprovMX pricing and compare leftover-MX handling, From rewrite policy, and send-as. Do not rank Migadu as “the cheaper forwarder.” It is selling a store.
Google’s people-first guidance is about pages, not SMTP; see creating helpful, reliable, people-first content. A comparison that only stacks yearly integers without naming the store is a brochure. Product surface for the forwarder path: MailerZ features.
The user problem and the decision criteria
People search MailerZ vs Migadu after a registrar offered “email hosting,” a friend praised unlimited aliases, or Gmail started to feel like the wrong place to leave a company archive. Those are three different jobs. Unlimited addresses on a host are cheap when the host is the store. Unlimited leftover FORWARD on a forwarder is spam risk. Gmail as the archive is a choice you already paid for with attention, search, and filters.
| Question | If yes | If no |
|---|---|---|
| Is Gmail or Outlook already the system of record? | A forwarder can be enough. | You are shopping for hosting. |
| Do people need IMAP or webmail on the domain? | Quote Migadu or another host live. | Do not buy IMAP to print three aliases. |
| Must replies show the domain from Gmail? | MailerZ paid SMTP. Free cannot. | Inbound-only forwarding is a valid setup. |
| Can leftover MX be deleted? | Cutover is possible on either path. | Stop. Split MX looks random on both vendors. |
| Need Calendar, Drive, lockable suite admin? | Buy a suite. Neither vendor is Workspace. | Do not buy seats for printed aliases. |
Migadu’s homepage pitch is consolidate addresses and domains at a flat price, with standards protocols and no per-mailbox fee. That pitch is honest for hosting. MailerZ’s pitch is receive, reply, and send as your domain without replacing Gmail. Mixing those pitches produces a fake winner. If you keep Gmail, Migadu’s IMAP store is a second archive you will forget to search. If you want IMAP, MailerZ will look incomplete because it is not a mailbox.
Catch-all is a trap in this comparison. Migadu supports catch-alls and says they do not recommend them. MailerZ Free holds unknowns; paid plans can FORWARD when you enable it. Neither product makes leftover strings into send-as identities. If you came here because you want every guess to land, read the spam-risk article on catch-all before you pick a vendor. Convenience is still a policy.
Agency and family use cases diverge. Migadu markets agencies hosting many client domains under one account, with multi-admin on higher plans. MailerZ Agency is $39 or $390 for 100 domains, 500 aliases, and 50 operator seats. Those seats are dashboard logins, not IMAP users. If the agency’s clients need webmail, Migadu or a suite is the object. If the agency’s clients already live in Gmail, a forwarder plus leftover-MX discipline is the object.
Support quality is real and hard to fake in a blog. Migadu describes email and ticketing support from postmasters, with office-hours or 24x7 depending on plan. MailerZ does not claim an inbox SLA or a named support tier on this page. Demand evidence you can keep: a hop with a remote SMTP response, a hold queue, public MX from two resolvers. If a vendor can only say “check spam,” you will debug either product the same way.
Technical mail flow
On MailerZ, the sending server looks up MX, connects, offers MAIL FROM, names recipients, and transfers content. MailerZ accepts for a verified domain and a matching alias, stores required content, then forwards to the destination you verified. Envelope SRS may rewrite the return path. Header From stays the author. Unknown local-parts on Free are held. Paid plans can forward them when you enable catch-all FORWARD.
On Migadu, the same SMTP conversation ends in a mailbox they host. IMAP4, POP3, and webmail read that store. They also describe forwarding a copy to up to 25 secondary addresses, aliases, SIEVE filtering, and optional catch-alls. That forwarding is a host feature, not the same product as a dedicated forwarder that never offered IMAP. Quote their live docs if you need the exact copy limit the day you configure it.
Outbound on MailerZ is paid authenticated SMTP. The session checks the From identity, applies hourly and monthly caps, and submits. Unauthorized or unhosted recipients get 550 / 550 5.7.1. MailerZ is not an open relay. Free cannot finish this hop. Do not paste a Free dashboard into Gmail Send mail as.
Outbound on Migadu is mailbox SMTP from their hosted identity. Their pricing meters incoming and outgoing messages per day per account, with a stated 25 percent tolerance before deferral or reject. That is a hosting quota model. MailerZ meters monthly outgoing and hourly send-as on paid plans. Do not convert their daily integers into MailerZ monthly caps. They are different ceilings on different objects.
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC evaluate authorization. IETF RFC 7208 — Sender Policy Framework (SPF), IETF RFC 6376 — DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and IETF RFC 7489 — Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) are the documents. They do not move mail into Primary. A forwarder that rewrites Header From can make the hop authenticate as the relay. MailerZ does not rewrite Header From, Subject, Date, Message-ID, body, or MIME. A host that sends as the mailbox From is a different alignment story: the host is the originating system. Pick one originating system per identity.
Recovery on MailerZ is 14 days on Free and 90 days on paid. That store is hop evidence, not a second archive and not legal hold. Gmail or Outlook remains the system of record you search next year. Migadu describes continuous mailbox backups and soft storage limits that they may ask you to reduce or upgrade around. That is host storage. Do not treat MailerZ recovery as IMAP backup, and do not treat Migadu backup as MailerZ delivery history.
Leftover MX is a hard stop on both paths. Old Google, Microsoft, registrar, MailerZ, or Migadu records beside the new set split inbound. Some senders reach Exchange. Some reach the new host. It looks random. Treat leftover MX as a hard stop before you debate features.
Self-send from Gmail to the same Gmail account can short-circuit. Budget an external mailbox. On MailerZ, match history to the destination. On Migadu, open the hosted store. The probe is part of choosing a vendor, not optional polish.
Campaign mail is out of scope for MailerZ. Solo’s 2,500 outgoing and 20 send-as per hour, Starter 5,000 and 40, Business 12,000 and 60, Agency 20,000 and 60 are stop signs. Migadu’s daily out caps are also not a newsletter platform. If the domain is a list, buy a campaign vendor. Do not crown either side “best for marketing.”
Plus addressing and privacy aliases are third products. A Gmail plus tag is a filter. A disposable identity hides a personal inbox. Neither is IMAP hosting and neither is custom-domain forwarding. Do not rank Migadu higher because it can create many addresses if your job was three printed roles into Gmail.
Step-by-step setup and decision path
Write the job in one line
Example A: “Keep Gmail. Print hello@ and billing@. Reply as the domain.” That line selects MailerZ paid send-as and excludes a host if nobody will open IMAP. Example B: “Five people need webmail and Thunderbird on this domain.” That line selects hosting. Quote Migadu live. Do not force MailerZ to grow IMAP.
Reject dual MX
You cannot prove MailerZ vs Migadu while both answers are published. Recreate aliases or mailboxes first. Then publish one set. Delete the other. Paying does not merge two inbound owners.
If you keep Gmail, add one MailerZ domain
Verify TXT. Map destinations. Free allows ten aliases. Solo allows twenty-five. Do not start a hosting bake-off on Free if you already printed twenty roles and still want Gmail as the store. Upgrade the alias card, or admit you need a host.
If you want IMAP, create the Migadu account and quote the card
Micro, Mini, Standard, or Maxi are usage tiers, not mailbox seats. Confirm daily in/out and storage on their pricing page the day you start. Their trial copy said no credit card required. That is their offer. It is not a MailerZ claim.
Publish exclusive MX and delete leftovers
Copy the dashboard MX from the vendor you chose. Read the public set from two resolvers. Remove obsolete Google, Microsoft, registrar, and the vendor you did not choose.
Prove inbound from another mailbox
Unique subject. On MailerZ, Header From intact and delivery history present. On Migadu, the body in IMAP or webmail. If you also need branded replies from Gmail, add MailerZ paid SMTP only after inbound works. Confirm pricing the day you buy.
Failure modes and proof
| What you see | Likely cause | Proof |
|---|---|---|
| Some senders hit the old host | Leftover MX. | Public MX from two resolvers. Delete the extra set. |
| Gmail empty, Migadu also empty | Split MX or the alias/mailbox was never created. | Exclusive MX. Recreate the local-part. External probe. |
| You search Gmail for mail that lives on Migadu | You bought a second store and kept old habits. | Open IMAP/webmail, or move MX back to a forwarder. |
| Gmail Send mail as will not verify | Still on MailerZ Free, leftover MX, or inbound unproven. | Plan send-as flag, history, spam folder. |
| Self-send never appears | Client short-circuit. | Repeat from another provider. |
| History delivered, empty inbox | Destination filter on the forwarder path. | Spam, promotions, remote 250. No inbox SLA. |
| 550 on MailerZ send | Unauthorized From, unhosted domain, or cap. | SMTP response, hourly and monthly counters. |
| Migadu defers inbound | Their daily in cap plus tolerance, per their docs. | Quote their pricing/limits page. Upgrade or wait for the next day. |
Proof is a header block plus a store you can open. Do not send SMTP passwords. Do not publish verification tokens. A MailerZ vs Migadu argument that cannot show exclusive MX and one external probe is still a sticker debate.
Shared Microsoft 365 mailboxes and Google Groups look like role addresses and still follow suite MX. A MailerZ alias follows MailerZ MX. A Migadu mailbox follows Migadu MX. Dual MX is not a clever hybrid. It is split delivery. Pick one inbound owner.
MailerZ workflow and product boundary
MailerZ is a custom-domain delivery layer operated by Secuno LLC. Point MX at MailerZ. Mail for a verified domain lands in Gmail or Outlook. Paid plans add SMTP. Site: mailerz.net. App: mail.mailerz.net.
- Free $0: 1 domain, 10 aliases, 14-day store, send-as disabled, SMTP and API disabled.
- Solo $40/yr: 5 domains, 25 aliases, 90-day, 2,500 outgoing, 20 send-as/hr.
- Starter $8/$80: 8 / 50 / 5 seats, 5,000 outgoing, 40/hr.
- Business $19/$190: 25 / 200 / 25, 12,000 outgoing, 60/hr.
- Agency $39/$390: 100 / 500 / 50, 20,000 outgoing, 60/hr.
MailerZ is not IMAP, not a suite, not an open relay, not an inbox SLA, not SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / HIPAA. Controls: Security and Trust Center. Unauthorized send returns 550 / 550 5.7.1. Annual Starter, Business, and Agency include two months free versus monthly. Solo has no monthly option. Dashboard seats are operators, not Gmail logins. MailerZ will not become Migadu webmail because a comparison page named both.
Leaving another vendor: migration planner. Confirm cards on pricing the day you buy.
Cost, alternatives, and trade-offs
A bake-off that only compares “$19 versus $40” will pick the wrong object. Migadu Micro at $19 per year (live card, 9 September 2026) is hosted mail with tight daily caps. MailerZ Solo at $40 per year is send-as on top of Gmail, not five gigabytes of IMAP. MailerZ Free is $0 inbound proof. Those three stickers are not substitutes.
| Approach | You get | You give up |
|---|---|---|
| MailerZ Free | Inbound proof, ten aliases, Header From intact. | Send-as, 90-day store, extra domains, IMAP. |
| MailerZ paid | SMTP, longer store, higher ceilings, optional catch-all FORWARD. | Still no mailbox, no inbox SLA. |
| Migadu Micro–Maxi | IMAP/POP3/webmail, flat account, many addresses. Quote live. | Gmail is no longer the only store unless you forward copies. |
| Another inbound router | Sometimes enough if send-as is out of scope. | Their rewrite rules and logging. Read their docs. |
| Suite | Hosted store, admin, Calendar. Quote the vendor live. | Per-user cost if Gmail already held the mail. |
Migadu’s Mini $9/$90, Standard $29/$290, and Maxi $99/$990 (same live check) scale daily traffic and storage, not per-user seats. That can be cheaper than fourteen Microsoft 365 mailboxes if fourteen people truly need IMAP on one account. It is more expensive than MailerZ Free if two people already live in Gmail and you only printed three roles. Do the job math before you fall in love with unlimited addresses.
Time is a line item. Leftover MX costs more than Solo. A Free-plan branded-reply promise costs more than the upgrade. A second archive you forget to search costs more than Micro. Budget one external inbound test as part of cutover.
Registrar cost sits next to either vendor. A .com renewal is often tens of dollars. Quote your registrar. DNS at the same registrar is usually included. That line does not change when you move from MailerZ Free to Solo, or from Migadu Micro to Mini.
Monthly versus yearly is cash flow. MailerZ Starter, Business, and Agency yearly cards include two months free versus twelve monthly payments. Solo is $40 per year only. Migadu’s yearly cards, on their page, save at least one month versus monthly; Micro has no monthly option. Quote them again before you prepay Maxi because a roundup used a large integer.
Open a body for break-glass recovery and expect an audit row. That is a control, not a SOC 2 badge. MailerZ does not claim SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA. Do not invent those badges for Migadu either unless their live site states them. The artifacts that close a MailerZ vs Migadu argument are the dated pricing cards, exclusive public MX, and one hop you can open in the store you chose.
If every teammate needs a hosted mailbox, Migadu or a suite is the honest product. A forwarder will look incomplete because it is incomplete for that job. If two people need seats and twelve printed names are routes, price two Gmail habits plus MailerZ, not fourteen IMAP seats.
Thunderbird, Apple Mail, and phone IMAP stacks are the reason people pick a host. Those clients talk to Migadu. They do not talk to MailerZ as a store. If your team already opens Gmail in a browser, adding Thunderbird against a forwarder is the wrong object. If your team refuses Gmail, do not force MailerZ SMTP into a client that expected IMAP folders.
Switzerland hosting and “no ads” are Migadu’s own claims on their homepage. Treat them as vendor copy. MailerZ is operated by Secuno LLC. Controls live on /security. Neither sentence is an inbox SLA. Do not convert a jurisdiction paragraph into a deliverability badge.
A last cash check: count domains you will actually verify this year. MailerZ Free is one domain. Solo is five domains. Starter starts at eight. Migadu’s account model is usage, not domain stickers, with a soft caution on Micro. If you onboard twenty client zones and each zone only needs three Gmail routes, MailerZ Agency is the card that matches the object. If those twenty zones need IMAP seats, quote Migadu Maxi or a suite live. Do not mix the two counts in one spreadsheet cell.
FAQ
What is the safest way to handle MailerZ vs Migadu?
Name the store first. If Gmail or Outlook is already the archive, keep it and add a forwarder with one MX set. If you need IMAP, POP3, and webmail seats, quote Migadu’s live pricing and move the store. Do not publish both MX sets. Prove inbound from another mailbox before you print the domain.
Does this require a new mailbox?
MailerZ does not. It is not IMAP. Gmail or Outlook remains the store. Migadu is mail hosting: SMTP, IMAP4, POP3, and webmail on their account. You create mailboxes there if that is the job. Buying both and pointing leftover MX at both is split delivery, not a hybrid.
Will it work with Gmail or Outlook?
MailerZ yes for inbound to a verified Gmail or Outlook destination. Paid send-as uses Gmail Send mail as or a manual Outlook SMTP identity. Free has no send-as. Migadu can coexist with Gmail only as a separate store or as a forward target you configure on their side. Quote their docs. Dual MX is still a hard stop.
What DNS records are involved?
Either path needs exclusive MX for one inbound owner. MailerZ also needs a verification TXT and, if you send, the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC values shown in the dashboard. Migadu publishes its own MX and related records. Leftover Google, Microsoft, registrar, or the other vendor’s MX splits mail before either product can help.
What should I test before production?
Write the job in one line. Recreate aliases or mailboxes. Publish one MX set. Delete leftovers. Send a uniquely titled message from an unrelated provider. On MailerZ, match delivery history to Gmail. On Migadu, open the IMAP or webmail store. Self-send from Gmail to the same Gmail account can hide both paths.
Key takeaways
- MailerZ vs Migadu is keep-Gmail versus buy-IMAP, not a sticker race.
- MailerZ Free proves inbound. Solo $40/yr starts send-as.
- Quote Migadu live: Micro $19/yr, Mini $9/$90, Standard $29/$290, Maxi $99/$990 as of this check.
- One MX set. Leftover MX is a hard stop on both paths.
- Envelope SRS only on MailerZ. Header From untouched. Not an inbox SLA.
- Not IMAP, not a suite, not an open relay, not SOC 2.
- Self-send lies. Probe from another mailbox.
- ImprovMX is the closer forwarder class. Migadu is hosting.
Conclusion and next action
If you came here for MailerZ vs Migadu, skip the logo table. Write the store. Keep Gmail and add a forwarder, or move the archive to IMAP hosting. Publish one MX set. Delete leftovers. Prove inbound from somewhere else. Pay for MailerZ send-as only if the domain must leave as From. MailerZ fits the first sequence. It does not replace Migadu’s mailboxes or file Primary.
Ready to keep Gmail
Start free with one domain and prove inbound.
Inbound on Free. Solo when send-as is the job. Sign in if the domain is already there.
Review quarterly, or sooner if MailerZ limits or Migadu’s public pricing changes. Author: MailerZ editorial, Secuno LLC. Migadu prices checked 9 September 2026 on their pricing page.