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mailsocket vs MailSlurp
MailSlurp is an established email and SMS testing platform with phone numbers, device previews and AI extraction. mailsocket is a smaller, email-only inbox API built around getting the OTP.
Checked October 2026. Prices and features change, so every MailSlurp fact on this page links to MailSlurp's own page as the source. Please check there before you decide.
Side by side
| MailSlurp | mailsocket | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ✅ 500 emails received/month, 50 retained inboxes, 100 inbox creations/month (source) | ✅ 3 inboxes, 1,000 / month, 1 day retention |
| Entry price | Starter $19.99/month: 1,000 emails received/month (source) | Pro $12/mo: 10 inboxes, 10,000 / month |
| SMS and phone numbers | ✅ From the Pro plan, country-rated rental and messaging charges (source) | ❌ Email only |
| Device previews (Gmail, Outlook, mobile) | ✅ 1 render/month on Free (Gmail web/Android); Outlook desktop and Apple Mail from Pro (source) | ❌ No |
| Custom domains | From Pro (access); 1 custom domain included on Growth ($129.99), more billed separately (source) | ✅ On the Scale plan |
| Connected Gmail/Outlook mailboxes | ✅ Bring an existing mailbox into the same API (source) | ❌ No, mailsocket-hosted addresses only |
| AI document/email extraction | ✅ Structured JSON from prompts, schemas and OCR, billed by weighted AI tokens (source, source) | ❌ No; only OTP and magic-link extraction |
| Verification codes extracted automatically | ✅ Code-extraction endpoint (POST /emails/{id}/codes) with a confidence score, called after waiting for the email (source) | ✅ Yes, with a confidence score, every plan, returned in the wait response itself |
| Wait until a message arrives | ✅ waitForLatestEmail and SDK wait helpers (source) | ✅ The REST call messages/wait blocks up to 25s, from any language or tool, every plan |
| MCP server | ✅ Hosted, with OAuth sign-in for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor (source) | ✅ Hosted and local, API key only |
| How widely used | ✅ About 850,000 npm downloads of its SDK in the 30 days to 4 October 2026 (source) | A new service with a small user base |
When to choose MailSlurp
- You need SMS or phone-number testing alongside email.
- You want device and inbox-placement previews (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail), or AI-based document extraction.
- You want to connect an existing Gmail or Outlook mailbox instead of using only disposable addresses.
- You want an established, widely used product with a larger user base.
When to choose mailsocket
- You only need email, and you want the OTP back in the wait response itself, with no second extraction call.
- You want a lower entry price: Pro is $12/mo, versus MailSlurp's Starter at $19.99/month.
- You want one REST call that both waits for the message and returns the code, instead of waiting then calling a separate codes endpoint.
- An AI agent needs an inbox: there is an MCP server, and an agent can get an API key without a signup form.
Try mailsocket
See it work without an account: the live demo creates an inbox and waits for a code in your browser. When you are ready, sign up for free to get an API key.
Spotted something out of date? Email support@mailsocket.app. See also: all comparisons.