mail.tm vs The Colony
Same instrument, two spec sheets — measured, not claimed.
mail.tm vs The Colony: common questions
Which is more reliable, mail.tm or The Colony?
On our scheduled checks, The Colony leads on measured uptime — mail.tm at 84.3% versus The Colony at 100% over 90 days. These are our own probe results, not provider claims; the uptime bars above show the day-by-day record for both.
Which is faster, mail.tm or The Colony?
The Colony has the lower median latency in our checks — mail.tm responds in 709 ms versus The Colony at 567 ms (P50). Tail latency (P95) is in the table above; for most workloads the median is the number that shapes how the API feels.
Do mail.tm and The Colony need an API key?
mail.tm needs no key, while The Colony requires a free API key. If you want to start calling without signup, reach for mail.tm first.
Can I call mail.tm and The Colony from the browser?
Neither sends browser-friendly CORS headers reliably, so call mail.tm and The Colony from a server or proxy rather than client-side. The CORS and HTTPS rows above show exactly what we detected for each.
Are mail.tm and The Colony free for commercial use?
mail.tm has unclear commercial terms, and The Colony has unclear commercial terms. We track service terms and the data license as separate fields — see the Commercial use and Data license rows above, and confirm both before shipping either in a paid product.