How to Use GoHighLevel Mailgun Setup PLUS SendGrid & SMTP Providers (and Which to Choose)

By Damian Qualter | GoHighLevel Expert | 200+ Implementations

GoHighLevel Mailgun Setup. Email deliverability determines whether the workflows you’ve built actually reach your contacts. A perfectly written automated follow-up sequence is worthless if the emails land in spam. And unlike SMS — where a failed send generates a visible error — a spam delivery fails silently. Emails go out, open rates are zero, and the platform reports successful delivery because, technically, the email left GoHighLevel; it just arrived in a folder your contact never opens.

GoHighLevel offers three email-sending options: LC Email (their built-in email service), Mailgun (natively integrated), and custom SMTP (via any third-party provider). The right choice depends on your sending volume, your existing setup, and the level of deliverability control you need. This guide covers all three, what the DNS setup looks like, and the configuration steps that determine whether your emails get read or filtered.

Option 1: LC Email — GoHighLevel’s Built-In Service

LC Email is GoHighLevel’s proprietary email-sending service, included with the platform. For new accounts or businesses with low to moderate email volume, it’s the path of least resistance: no third-party accounts, no API keys, billing through your GHL wallet.

What LC Email handles well:

• Transactional emails: booking confirmations, form acknowledgements, workflow follow-ups
• Moderate volume: a few hundred to a few thousand emails per month
• Simple setup: no DNS configuration required to get started

Where LC Email has limitations:

• Shared sending infrastructure: your emails share IP reputation with other GHL users on the same sending pool. If other accounts on the pool have poor sending practices, it can affect your deliverability. This is a fundamental shared infrastructure limitation — not unique to GHL, but worth understanding.
• Less granular deliverability visibility: you don’t have access to the same level of bounce, complaint, and suppression data as a dedicated Mailgun or SendGrid account.

For most service businesses starting out with GoHighLevel, LC Email is sufficient. Get the DNS records set up (covered below), monitor open and bounce rates via GHL’s reporting, and switch to Mailgun if you encounter persistent deliverability issues.

Option 2: Mailgun — Recommended for Volume and Control

Mailgun is GoHighLevel’s primary recommended email integration and offers the deepest native support. It’s a transactional email API provider — used by large-scale senders who need reliable delivery, detailed analytics, and control over sending reputation.

Why Mailgun over LC Email for growing businesses:

• Dedicated IP options: once you’re sending sufficient volume (typically 100,000+ emails per month), you can use a dedicated IP with a reputation built entirely by your own sending practices
• Detailed delivery analytics: bounces, complaints, suppressions, and per-domain delivery data at a granularity that LC Email doesn’t provide
• EU data centres: Mailgun operates EU-region infrastructure — important for UK GDPR data residency preferences. Confirm DPA availability at setup.
• Separate billing: Mailgun costs are billed separately from GHL, providing a clearer picture of email infrastructure spend. Mailgun’s Flex (pay-as-you-go) plan starts at $0.80/1,000 emails (approx. £0.63/1,000). The Foundation plan is $35/month (approx. £28/month) and includes 50,000 emails — sufficient for most service businesses. Verify current pricing at mailgun.com before committing.

Connecting Mailgun to GoHighLevel:

1. Create a Mailgun account at mailgun.com. Select the EU region if you’re a UK or EU-based business.
2. In Mailgun: Sending → Domains → Add New Domain. Use a subdomain of your business domain: mg.yourdomain.com or mail.yourdomain.com. Using a subdomain rather than your root domain protects your root domain’s email reputation.
3. Mailgun provides four DNS records to add to your domain registrar: two TXT records (SPF and DKIM) and two MX records. Add all four.
4. In Mailgun, verify the domain once DNS propagation is complete (typically within an hour, sometimes up to 24 hours). The domain status should show “Active.”
5. In GoHighLevel: Settings → Email Services → Mailgun. Enter your Mailgun API key (found in your Mailgun account under Settings → API Keys → Private API Key) and select your Mailgun domain.

Option 3: SendGrid and Other SMTP Providers

GoHighLevel supports custom SMTP, so you can use any SMTP-compatible email provider, including SendGrid, AWS SES, Postmark, or your own mail server.

When to use SendGrid over Mailgun:

If you’re already using SendGrid for your business email marketing — through a separate email marketing platform — it may make sense to consolidate on SendGrid rather than manage a separate Mailgun account. SendGrid’s transactional email infrastructure is comparable to Mailgun’s for service business volumes. SendGrid’s Essentials plan starts at $19.95/month (approx. £16/month) for up to 50,000 emails. A free tier is available for up to 100 emails per day — adequate for testing but insufficient for live automations.

Connecting via SMTP in GoHighLevel:

Settings → Email Services → SMTP Service. Enter:

• SMTP Host (e.g., smtp.sendgrid.net for SendGrid)
• SMTP Port (587 for TLS, 465 for SSL — 587 recommended)
• Username and password (for SendGrid: “apikey” as username, your API key as password)
• From name and from email

[SCREENSHOT: GoHighLevel Settings → Email Services → SMTP showing configuration fields]

DNS Configuration: The Non-Negotiable Setup Step

Regardless of which sending option you choose, correct DNS configuration is essential for deliverability. Emails sent from an unauthenticated domain are increasingly rejected or filtered by modern email clients.

The three records you need:

SPF (Sender Policy Framework): A TXT record on your domain that specifies which servers are authorised to send email from your domain. Format varies by provider — Mailgun, LC Email, and SendGrid each provide the specific SPF record to add.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): A TXT record that adds a cryptographic signature to your emails, allowing receiving servers to verify the message hasn’t been tampered with in transit.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication): A TXT record that tells receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM checks fail — reject, quarantine, or allow. A basic DMARC policy (v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]) starts with monitoring mode before moving to enforcement.

Verify your setup: Use MXToolbox (mxtoolbox.com) to check SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records after adding them. GoHighLevel also has a built-in domain verification step in the email settings that confirms whether DNS records are correctly configured.

Custom Sending Domain in GoHighLevel

Beyond the email provider integration, configure a custom sending domain in GoHighLevel so your automated emails appear from [email protected] rather than a generic GoHighLevel sender address.

Settings → Email Services → Dedicated Domain & IP

Add your custom domain and follow GoHighLevel’s DNS verification steps. Once verified, set this domain as the default sending domain for the sub-account. All workflows and campaigns that don’t specify a from address will default to this domain.

This step is separate from the email provider integration. It controls how your from address appears to recipients. The email provider integration controls how the email is delivered. Both are necessary.

Monitoring Deliverability

After setup, monitor these metrics monthly:

Bounce rate: Percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered. Rates above 2–3% indicate list quality problems — invalid addresses, outdated contacts — that will damage your sending reputation over time. Clean your list quarterly.

Spam complaint rate: Percentage of recipients who mark your email as spam. Rates above 0.1% in Gmail (the 2024 threshold change) trigger increased filtering across the entire sending domain. Every contact who shouldn’t be on your list is a complaint waiting to happen.

Open rate: A directional indicator of deliverability. If open rates drop suddenly without a corresponding change in content, it’s often a signal of increased filtering.

Unsubscribe compliance: Every marketing email must include an unsubscribe mechanism. Under UK PECR, failing to include one is a regulatory violation, not just a deliverability risk. GoHighLevel’s email editor includes an unsubscribe link element — use it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What email provider should I use with GoHighLevel? LC Email (built-in) is sufficient for most service businesses starting out. Mailgun is recommended once you need volume, deliverability control, or EU data residency. Custom SMTP (SendGrid or similar) is the right choice if you’re already using that provider or need specific infrastructure. All three require correct DNS setup for good deliverability.

How do I connect Mailgun to GoHighLevel? Create a Mailgun account (select EU region for UK businesses), add a sending subdomain, add Mailgun’s four DNS records to your domain registrar, verify the domain in Mailgun, then in GoHighLevel, go to Settings → Email Services → Mailgun and enter your Mailgun API key and domain.

How do I set up a custom sending domain in GoHighLevel? Go to GoHighLevel Settings → Email Services → Dedicated Domain & IP. Add your domain and complete the DNS verification steps GoHighLevel provides. Once verified, set it as the default sending domain. This ensures your automated emails are sent from your business domain rather than a generic GoHighLevel address.

What is LC Email in GoHighLevel? LC Email is GoHighLevel’s own email sending infrastructure, available without a third-party provider account. It’s billed through your GHL wallet and included in most plans. It works on shared IP infrastructure, which is sufficient for typical service business volumes but gives less deliverability control than a dedicated Mailgun or SendGrid account.

Does GoHighLevel work with SendGrid? Yes, via SMTP integration. In GoHighLevel Settings → Email Services → SMTP Service, enter your SendGrid SMTP credentials (host: smtp.sendgrid.net, username: “apikey”, password: your SendGrid API key, port: 587). Verify DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for your sending domain in SendGrid’s dashboard.

How do I improve email deliverability in GoHighLevel? The highest-impact steps: configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC DNS records for your sending domain, use a custom from domain rather than a generic GoHighLevel address, keep your list clean (remove bounces and inactives quarterly), keep spam complaint rates below 0.1%, and include unsubscribe links in all marketing emails as required by PECR.

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