Comparison
Jan 23, 2026
CEO and co-founder
Mailreef Pricing Breakdown: Real Cost Analysis for 50, 100, and 200 Inbox Agencies
Mailreef pricing tiers: Understanding the base fee and server limits
Mailreef operates on a server-based subscription model. The Agency Flex Plan costs $249/month per server plus $0.001 per email sent. According to Outreach Almanac's Mailreef analysis, users get 50 domains and 200 mailboxes per server with a 100,000 email monthly sending cap.
Here is what the $249/month base plan includes:
Domains | 50 per server |
Mailboxes | 200 per server |
Monthly sends | 100,000 |
Per-email fee | $0.001 |
Dedicated IP | Yes |
Warmup included | No |
The "unlimited" marketing claims break down quickly when you examine the actual server caps. AsWoodpecker's Mailreef reviewnotes, this platform is not truly unlimited because caps exist on sends, domains, and mailboxes per server.
The per-email fee compounds fast at scale. Sending 100,000 emails per month adds $100 to your $249 base, bringing real monthly costs to $349. For agencies running high-volume campaigns across multiple clients, those per-send charges create unpredictable monthly bills that complicate margin forecasting.
Mailreef does include dedicated server infrastructure, which provides isolation from other senders' behavior and better control over deliverability. However, the cost structure means you pay a premium for that isolation compared to flat-rate alternatives.
The hidden costs of "exclusive" access and application approvals
Mailreef requires an application process for all customers. According to their About page positioning, they screen and approve every customer to maintain deliverability standards across their network.
The friction creates several operational problems for agencies:
Time delay: Applications take 2-3 business days for review, delaying campaign launches when you need infrastructure immediately.
No trial period: As Salesforge's Mailreef review highlights, users have to commit $249 for one month to see if the platform meets their needs with no option of trying it out before the annual commitment.
Approval uncertainty: There is no transparency around what criteria Mailreef uses to accept or reject applications.
For an agency founder who just signed a new client and needs 20 inboxes operational by Friday, waiting 2-3 days for application approval burns valuable time. Compare this to Inframail's instant setup approach where you can purchase domains and provision inboxes immediately after signup.
The Smartlead integration offers a workaround. According to Smartlead's help documentation, purchasing Mailreef through their marketplace removes the mandatory onboarding call requirement. But you still pay the same $249/month base.
Total cost of ownership: Mailreef vs. Google Workspace vs. Inframail
Platform fees tell only part of the story. Real TCO includes domains, warmup tools, and sender platform subscriptions. Let me break down actual costs across three agency sizes.
For domain costs, I am using an average of $11-15/year through Namecheap as the baseline. Warmup tool costs average $32-39/month for basic plans through services like Smartlead or Instantly's built-in warmup.
Cost scenario 1: Running 50 inboxes for lead generation
At 50 inboxes, most agencies are managing 3-5 active clients with rotation domains. Here is the monthly breakdown:
Platform fee | $249 | $0 | $129 |
Per-inbox cost | $0 | $8.40 × 50 = $420 | $0 |
Domain costs (amortized) | ~$46 | ~$46 | ~$46 |
Warmup tool | ~$35 | ~$35 | ~$35 |
Monthly total | ~$330 | ~$501 | ~$210 |
Inframail saves $120/month over Mailreef and $291/month over Google Workspace at this scale. Over 12 months, that is $1,440 in savings versus Mailreef or $3,492 versus Google Workspace.
The calculation assumes you stay within Mailreef's 50-domain cap. Exceeding that limit triggers a second server purchase. As Mailforge's analysis explains, when you hit domain or inbox limits, you need a second server at another $249/month because you cannot just upgrade your plan.
For a detailed walkthrough of how to calculate your email sending capacity, our help center covers the math for matching inbox counts to campaign volumes.
Cost scenario 2: Scaling to 100 inboxes
At 100 inboxes, agencies typically manage 8-12 clients. This is where scaling economics diverge sharply. You can see this infrastructure scaling in action through Bhavesh Kumar's user interview, where he discusses booking 200+ appointments per month using Inframail's flat-rate model.
Platform fee | $249 | $0 | $129 |
Per-inbox cost | $0 | $8.40 × 100 = $840 | $0 |
Additional servers | Likely $249 (exceeds 50 domains) | $0 | $0 |
Domain costs (amortized) | ~$92 | ~$92 | ~$92 |
Warmup tool | ~$60 | ~$60 | ~$60 |
Per-email fees (80K sends) | ~$80 | $0 | $0 |
Monthly total | ~$730 | ~$992 | ~$281 |
The gap widens dramatically. Inframail delivers $449/month in savings over Mailreef at 100 inboxes. That is $5,388 annually, enough to cover a contractor for 50+ hours of work.
Google Workspace becomes increasingly painful at this scale. Email Vendor Selection's pricing analysis confirms Business Starter runs $6-8.40 per user depending on billing cycle. For agencies managing multiple clients, per-seat charges compound faster than revenue growth.
Watch how cold email infrastructure setup works in practice to understand the operational differences between these platforms.
Cost scenario 3: The 200 inbox agency margin impact
At 200 inboxes, you are running a serious operation with 15-25 active clients. Infrastructure decisions at this scale directly impact whether you can hire or whether you stay stuck doing operational work yourself.
Platform fee | $249 | $0 | $129 |
Per-inbox cost | $0 | $8.40 × 200 = $1,680 | $0 |
Additional servers | $249 (2nd server required) | $0 | $0 |
Domain costs (amortized) | ~$184 | ~$184 | ~$184 |
Warmup tool | ~$97 | ~$97 | ~$97 |
Per-email fees (150K sends) | ~$150 | $0 | $0 |
Monthly total | ~$929 | ~$1,961 | ~$410 |
Annual cost comparison at 200 inboxes:
Mailreef: ~$11,148/year
Google Workspace: ~$23,532/year
Inframail: ~$4,920/year
Inframail saves $6,228 annually versus Mailreef and $18,612 versus Google Workspace. That $18K difference covers a part-time account manager or funds three quarters of warmup tool subscriptions.
The math is clear when you watch agencies discuss their infrastructure decisions in this breakdown of building cheap cold email infrastructure.
Feature comparison: What you get for the monthly spend
Price matters, but so does what you actually receive. Both Mailreef and Inframail offer dedicated infrastructure, but the delivery model differs significantly. Check our unlimited email hosting guide for context on how flat-rate models work.
Dedicated IPs vs. shared pools
Both Mailreef and Inframail provide dedicated IP addresses, distinguishing them from Google Workspace (which uses shared infrastructure) and competitors like Maildoso (which uses shared IP pools).
Why does this matter? As Smartlead's dedicated IP guide explains, with a shared IP, deliverability depends on the behavior of everyone sharing that IP. If one sender spams or violates email guidelines, it can damage the IP's reputation and lead to blacklisting.
Think of dedicated IPs like private highway lanes. Your sending behavior alone determines your reputation with Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. You are not affected by other users in a shared pool who might be spamming. Watch Inframail's dedicated IP explanation for a visual breakdown.
Here is how dedicated IP allocation compares:
Mailreef | 1 per server | Full isolation |
Inframail Unlimited | 1 US-based IP | Full isolation |
Inframail Agency Pack | 3 US-based IPs | Full isolation |
Google Workspace | None (shared) | No control |
Inframail's Agency Pack at $276/month provides 3 dedicated IPs for the same price as one Mailreef server with one IP. That is triple the IP distribution capability for the same cost.
One important caveat from Mailchimp's dedicated IP resource: dedicated IPs work best when sending consistently high volumes. If only sending 100-300 emails/day, the dedicated IP will not have enough activity to build reputation. Plan for at least 150,000+ emails monthly to maximize dedicated IP benefits.
Setup time and DNS automation differences
Setup speed determines how fast you can onboard new clients. Manual DNS configuration for 50 domains consumes 12-15 hours. Automated setup cuts that to minutes.
Inframail automates SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration entirely. Watch this 2-minute setup demonstration showing DNS records configured automatically across 10+ inboxes. The platform handles record creation without requiring you to log into Namecheap, GoDaddy, or Cloudflare DNS panels.
The full workflow looks like this:
Purchase domains through Inframail or transfer existing domains
Platform auto-configures SPF/DKIM/DMARC records
Create inboxes in bulk with generated IMAP/SMTP credentials
Export to CSV and import to Instantly, Smartlead, or other sending platforms
For a complete walkthrough, watch how to send 1000+ cold emails per day using this setup process. Customer testimonials report setting up 10 inboxes in 2 minutes.
Mailreef requires manual DNS configuration. While they provide dedicated servers, you still manage record setup yourself, adding hours to each client onboarding. Learn more about DNS setup best practices and why automation matters for agency operations.
Our help center covers warming up inboxes after migration for agencies transitioning from other platforms.
When to choose Inframail over Mailreef for agency growth
The decision matrix comes down to three factors: cost predictability, access speed, and scaling economics.
Choose Mailreef if:
You need API-heavy custom server configurations
You are comfortable with application wait times
Per-email tracking matters more than flat-rate predictability
You are running under 50 domains and 100,000 sends monthly
Choose Inframail if:
You need infrastructure operational today, not in 2-3 days
You manage 50+ inboxes and want predictable monthly costs
You value flat-rate pricing over per-email charges
You prefer Microsoft-backed infrastructure with enterprise partnership
You want to scale from 50 to 500 inboxes without cost multiplication
For agencies prioritizing margin protection, the math favors flat-rate models. As GMass's infrastructure comparison notes, Inframail was the first private cold email infrastructure company, registering their domain back in November 2022, establishing first-mover credibility in this category.
The real question is whether $249/month base plus per-email fees delivers proportionally more value than $129/month flat. For most agencies running standard cold email campaigns, the answer is no.
Watch Kirsty's user interview about closing a $50,000 client and Ethan generating 20+ real estate leads daily to see how agencies use flat-rate infrastructure to scale without infrastructure cost scaling linearly.
Protect your margins with predictable infrastructure costs
Infrastructure should not be a growth bottleneck. When platform costs scale linearly with inbox count, every new client compresses margins instead of expanding them.
Mailreef offers legitimate dedicated server infrastructure at $249/month per server. But the hard caps at 50 domains and 200 mailboxes, combined with per-email fees and application gatekeeping, create friction that flat-rate alternatives eliminate.
For agencies running 50-200 inboxes, Inframail's $129/month unlimited model saves $120-520 monthly compared to Mailreef, depending on scale. That is $1,440-6,240 annually reinvested into hiring, warmup tools, or campaign optimization.
Sign up to Inframail and get started today. Scale to 200 inboxes for the same $129/month that covers 10 inboxes. No application required. No per-email fees. No server caps.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Mailreef cost for agencies?
Mailreef's Agency Flex Plan costs $249/month per server plus $0.001 per email sent. Each server supports 50 domains, 200 mailboxes, and 100,000 monthly sends. Exceeding limits requires purchasing additional servers at $249/month each.
Does Inframail require an application like Mailreef?
No. Inframail offers instant signup with no application or approval process. You can purchase domains and provision inboxes immediately after creating an account.
What is the cost difference between Mailreef and Inframail at 100 inboxes?
At 100 inboxes, Mailreef costs approximately $730/month (including likely second server and per-email fees), while Inframail costs approximately $281/month. The annual difference is roughly $5,388.
Does Mailreef include email warmup?
No. Mailreef does not include inbox warmup. You need third-party warmup tools like Warmbox, Instantly, or Smartlead, adding $32-97/month to your infrastructure costs.
What happens if I exceed Mailreef's server limits?
You must purchase another server at $249/month. There are no intermediate upgrade options. The "unlimited" marketing refers to mailbox creation within server capacity limits, not true unlimited scaling.
Key terms glossary
Dedicated IP: An IP address used exclusively by one sender to isolate sending reputation. Your deliverability depends only on your behavior, not other users sharing the same IP pool.
Flat-rate pricing: A billing model where cost does not increase with the number of users or inboxes. Inframail charges $129/month whether you create 50 or 500 inboxes.
DNS propagation: The time it takes for DNS record changes (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to update across the internet. Typically 24-48 hours for manual configuration, but automated platforms can reduce functional setup time to minutes.
TCO (Total Cost of Ownership): The complete cost of using a platform, including base fees, per-unit charges, domain costs, warmup tools, and time spent on configuration.
Server-based pricing: A billing model where you pay per server unit with fixed resource caps. Scaling requires purchasing additional servers rather than upgrading capacity on existing infrastructure.
