For a thorough understanding of what each option offers, a simplified comparison table isn't enough to grasp all intricacies that come with each tool, so let's dive deeper into what makes Mailscale vs Mailforge unique.

Mailscale vs Mailforge: Email Infrastructure Overview

Mailscale’s central pitch is straightforward: generate many email accounts fast so you can send large-scale outreach without paying Google or Microsoft mailbox pricing.

Their messaging claims up to 1,000 email inboxes, which makes it attractive when your main constraint is the number of sending accounts and per-account cost.

That emphasis naturally leads to a use case where users want many users, many mailboxes, and instant creation of new accounts - a scenario where Mailscale holds clear appeal for agencies or teams chasing volume.

Mailforge and the rest of the Forge Stack take a different view: cold email success is as much about technical infrastructure, DNS setup, warmup, and sender reputation as it is about account count.

Mailforge advertises automated setup of SPF, DKIM, DMARC, bulk DNS updates, mailbox slots (billing by slots rather than active mailboxes), and shared infrastructure tuned for deliverability.

The Forge presents a broader stack that combines email and LinkedIn outreach, unified reply inboxes (Primebox), AI personalization, and integrated infrastructure products like Infraforge (private/dedicated IPs) and Primeforge (Google & Microsoft mailboxes optimized for cold outreach).

The philosophical split is therefore clear:

• Mailscale = many email accounts, less initial friction to create inboxes.
• Mailforge = affordability, automated setup, deliverability-first technical infrastructure, and tooling for the entire process.

Pricing Structure

Mailforge provides flexible, usage-based pricing for shared IP email infrastructure (you buy domains + mailbox slots). A handy on-page calculator estimates your exact costs. Annual billing for mailboxes gives 2 months free.

• $14/year per .com domain. Use the calculator to see how many domains you’ll need for your sequences.
• $3/Mailbox Slot/month. Minimum purchase: 10 mailbox slots.
• With annual billing the effective cost for 10 slots is $25/month.

Add-ons & extras

• SSL & Domain Masking: $2/domain/month or $0.5/domain/month when billed yearly.
• Forge Expert Double Session: $500 for two 1:1 consulting sessions

Mailscale provides packaged plans that charge by number of inboxes (plus domains you buy inside the app).

• Solopreneur - $79/month (up to 10 inboxes)
• Business - $119/month (up to 30 inboxes)
• Enterprise - $249/month (up to 95 inboxes)
• Unlimited - $1000+/month (unlimited inboxes)
• Domains are purchased inside Mailscale, .com ≈ $15 / year
• Pre-warmed inboxes add-on: $99/month for 20 pre-warmed inboxes (upgradeable)

Technical Setup & DNS Records

One of the single biggest sources of headaches in cold outreach is manual setup of DNS records - SPF, DKIM, DMARC - plus correct custom tracking and CNAMEs so links don't trigger spam filters.

• Mailforge offers automated setup for every domain you add (SPF, DKIM, DMARC and custom tracking) and bulk DNS updates to reduce the friction when buying domains or connecting many sending domains, which mitigates the “technical setup” pain for most users.
• Primeforge, part of the same stack, highlights free automated setup for Google Workspace and MS365 mailboxes, saying they handle DMARC, SPF and DKIM as part of that onboarding.
• Infraforge similarly emphasizes automated DNS setup, pre-warmed domains, and dedicated IP management as part of its private infrastructure offering, which is relevant when teams need multi-IP provisioning or API-driven control.

Mailscale focuses on fast generation of inboxes and does not lead with detailed claims about automated per-domain DKIM/DMARC setup the way Mailforge/Primeforge/Infraforge do.

That’s an important distinction: if you rely on automated DNS setup, the vendor actively reduces manual setup errors and helps ensure best deliverability practices are in place from day one.

The difference is not merely convenience: correct DNS records and tracking are central to avoiding spam folder placement and achieving best deliverability.

Creating Inboxes & Mailbox Management

When your outreach plan requires many users and many mailboxes - for example agencies running multiple client campaigns or a sales team using multiple sending domains - the mechanics of creating inboxes and managing multiple email accounts becomes operationally critical.

• Mailforge shows a model based on mailbox slots: you buy slots and can create or delete mailboxes without additional per-mailbox charges inside the purchased slots.

That model simplifies churn and experiments (create many test mailboxes, then delete and create new ones) while keeping costs low and predictable.

• Mailscale’s promise is raw velocity: generate large numbers of inboxes quickly so you can scale sending domains and mailboxes fast.

The tradeoff to be aware of is that creating more email accounts without tying them to proper DNS, warm-up routines, and monitoring increases the chance you’ll face deliverability issues. The spam folder and sender reputation are not magically solved by having more accounts.

• If your operational need is simply “many new accounts instantly” and you have your own warmup and DNS routines, Mailscale’s approach is compelling.
• If you prefer a platform that helps manage the entire lifecycle of those mailboxes, then Mailforge is positioned to reduce manual overhead for many users and agencies.

Deliverability

You can have unlimited email accounts and perfectly written sequences, but if messages land in the spam folder or are throttled by email providers, outreach fails.

• Mailforge emphasizes shared infrastructure optimized for cold outreach and automated warmup procedures.
• Infraforge, by contrast, is the Salesforge family’s private infrastructure option that gives dedicated IPs and multi-IP provisioning- features that appeal when teams need maximum control across many sending domains.
• Primeforge’s Google and Microsoft mailboxes offer brand-name sending addresses, combined with automated domain and tracking setup, which can improve initial inboxing versus plain provider-less mailboxes.
• Mailscale’s value prop is scale - more inboxes and more sending capacity - but their pages position that scale as an enabler to send more cold emails faster rather than a substitute for careful warmup or reputation management.

If you want the best deliverability outcomes and are not comfortable manually creating long warmup schedules for hundreds of new accounts, a stack that includes Mailforge, Infraforge and Primeforge will typically yield fewer deliverability issues than a pure-volume play.

Customer Support

When you’re running critical outreach for revenue, access to expert support can be the difference between a quick fix for a DNS misconfiguration and days of deliverability loss.

Mailforge advertises consultative services and add-ons - such as expert sessions to diagnose outreach challenges - along with deliverability resources and onboarding that reduces setup time

Besides that, Mailforge also offers:

• 24/7 email and live chat support
• Extensive documentation
• Youtube tutorials
• And even weekly AMA sessions

Mailscale’s help resources and knowledge base cover domains and new accounts and provide onboarding documentation for connecting their generated inboxes to sending tools, as well as a 24/7 in-app chat.

Final Verdict - Which Infrastructure Should You Choose For Your Cold Email Outreach?

Both Mailscale and Mailforge serve important niches in cold outreach.

Mailscale offers strong capabilities when your primary goal is to generate many email accounts fast.

It’s a decent choice for high volume, low-friction account creation and for teams that already know how to manage deliverability, DNS records, and sending domains without depending on their provider for automation.

However, for most users who care about best deliverability, fewer issues, simplified DNS setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), integrated warmup periods, and the ability to manage multiple domains and mailboxes with minimal manual setup at an affordable price, then Mailforge is the better alternative.

For buyers deciding between “more email accounts” vs “a fully managed technical infrastructure,” if you want to guarantee deliverability and reduce the manual technical burden across the entire process - Mailforge, and the rest of the Salesforge stack, is the more complete, future-proof choice.

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