The short version
Quick verdict
Keep MailReach if you already have mailboxes in a sending tool you like, need warmup that works with any provider, or want spam and placement testing as a standalone service.
Use TOM instead if the mailboxes are new anyway: TOM creates them, warms them automatically from 1 to 25 emails per day, cools them down when idle, distributes the sends randomly inside the window — and throws in verification, AI copywriting, campaigns and replies in the same $49/month plan.
This is an unusual comparison, because MailReach and TOM are not competitors in the strict sense. MailReach is a horizontal service: it sits next to any mailbox from any provider. TOM is a vertical one: it owns the mailbox, so warmup becomes an internal property of the system rather than an external subscription. Both approaches solve the same fear — landing in spam — from opposite directions.
What MailReach does well
- Provider agnostic. Google, Outlook, SMTP, SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES: if it has an inbox, MailReach can warm it. That flexibility is exactly what a consolidated platform cannot offer.
- Warmup as a standalone subscription. Priced per mailbox per month with volume discounts, with no requirement to change your sending tool.
- Spam and placement testing. Spam tests with included monthly credits, plus deliverability testing and SPF, DKIM and DMARC checkers — useful diagnostics that TOM does not provide.
- An API and an agency model. Warmup can be automated and resold, which matters to agencies managing dozens of client mailboxes.
- Maturity and focus. MailReach does warmup and reputation all day; there is no campaign builder, no CRM, no database competing for its attention.
Why warmup became an add-on in the first place
Warmup exists as a separate market because the sending tools assumed infrastructure would be bought elsewhere. If mailboxes come from five different providers, only an external service can warm them all — so the market produced exactly that. The cost of this arrangement is structural:
- Two systems must agree on the truth. Warmup settings live in one tool, daily sending limits in another, and the campaign schedule in a third. When a campaign pauses, both systems need to be told.
- Someone must remember the mailbox's age. A mailbox's safe daily volume is a function of its warmup history, not of the plan you bought.
- Warmup and campaign sending compete for the same inbox. If the warmup tool and the campaign engine do not coordinate, a mailbox can send 25 warmup emails and 25 campaign emails on the same day and burn the reputation it just built.
TOM's design removes that coordination problem by construction: the same engine that decides how many campaign emails a mailbox may send today also decides how warm it is.
How warmup works in TOM
- Every new mailbox starts at 1 email per day. No mailbox enters service at full volume, and nothing has to be configured to make that happen.
- The limit climbs one email at a time as the mailbox sends consistently, up to a maximum of 25 per day per mailbox.
- Sends are distributed randomly inside the campaign window — up to 20 hours — with a stable jitter per mailbox and day, so patterns never look mechanical.
- Idle mailboxes cool down. Each day without sending lowers the daily limit by 1, never below 1; when the mailbox resumes, it climbs back gradually.
- Inconsistent sends are recovered automatically by the engine, so a failed slot does not leave a mailbox in a strange state.
The philosophy is deliberately conservative: TOM would rather under-send in week one than gamble a domain for a slightly faster ramp. If you want to see the full pipeline this sits inside, the homepage section on deliverability describes verification thresholds, pre-flight checks and capacity distribution.
TOM vs MailReach, capability by capability
| Capability | TOM | MailReach |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A complete outreach platform: infrastructure, verification, copy, sending, replies | A warmup and deliverability service that sits next to your existing stack |
| Mailbox support | Mailboxes created in TOM (Google Workspace today; Microsoft in progress) | Any provider: Google, Outlook, SMTP, SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES |
| Warmup model | Automatic 1 to 25 emails/day per mailbox, idle cooldown, random distribution, capacity coordinated with campaigns | Configurable warmup with its own volume settings and network interactions |
| Warmup cost | Included in the $49/month plan | Per mailbox per month, volume-discounted |
| Spam and placement tests | Not included | Yes, with monthly test credits included |
| DNS diagnostics | SPF, DKIM and DMARC configured automatically for in-app domains | SPF, DKIM and DMARC checkers as standalone tools |
| Verification | Credits that never expire, per-address traffic light, per-campaign threshold, pre-flight check | Not the core product |
| Campaign sending | Included: brief, 12 copywriting frameworks, recipient-timezone windows, two follow-ups | None — it is not a sending tool |
| Billing | One subscription for plan, mailboxes, domains and credits | One subscription per warmed mailbox, on top of your sender and provider |
The stack question: one subscription or two
Warmup is cheap in isolation. The interesting number is the stack around it. An illustrative setup: 9 mailboxes, 5,000 emails per month, 3 domains.
| Line | TOM alone | Sender + MailReach |
|---|---|---|
| Sending platform | $49/month, unlimited sending, AI copy included | From $39-94/month (a comparable sending plan) |
| Warmup | Included | Per mailbox per month, volume-discounted — 9 mailboxes |
| Mailboxes | $44.91/month in blocks of 3 at $14.97, created in-app | Your provider; about $64.80 for 9 Google Workspace seats at list price |
| Domains | Bought in-app at live price, about $2.50/month amortized | Registrar, same order of magnitude, configured by hand |
| Verification | $6 one-off for 5,000 non-expiring credits | Separate verifier subscription or credits |
| Monthly total | About $96/month | About $106/month plus the warmup subscription and the verifier |
The point is not that stacking is irrational — for external mailboxes it is the only option, and MailReach does things TOM does not. The point is that two subscriptions require two renewals, two support inboxes and two systems that must agree about how warm a mailbox is today.
When MailReach is enough
You have a provider you trust and mailboxes with history. You do not want to rebuild infrastructure to warm it.
Outlook, Amazon SES, SendGrid or plain SMTP inboxes must be warmed — TOM warms only mailboxes it creates.
Spam scoring and inbox placement testing are part of your QA routine, and TOM does not offer them.
Warmup API and per-client tooling across providers are a genuine operational advantage.
Using both during a transition
- Keep MailReach on your existing mailboxes. Nothing about adopting TOM breaks your current sending stack.
- Create one new domain and three mailboxes in TOM. Buy the domain at its live price, create the mailboxes in a block, set the forwarding addresses. Warmup starts the same day at 1 email per mailbox.
- Run one campaign on the TOM side. Verify the imported list on credits, build the brief, pick a framework, set the recipient timezone and a sending window.
- Compare reply rates over three weeks. The TOM mailboxes will still be warming up during week one — that is the point. Judge the comparison from week three onward.
- Consolidate when the numbers agree. If the TOM side matches or beats the stacked setup, retire the external warmup subscription for those mailboxes and keep MailReach for any provider coverage you still need.
FAQ
Can TOM warm mailboxes I already own?
No. TOM's warmup applies only to mailboxes created inside TOM, which today means Google Workspace mailboxes on domains managed in the app — that ownership is exactly what lets one engine coordinate warmup, capacity and campaigns. For inboxes that live on other providers, a provider-agnostic warmer is still the practical answer.
How does TOM's warmup work exactly?
Every new mailbox starts at 1 email per day and increases gradually, one email at a time, up to a maximum of 25 per day. Sends are distributed randomly inside the campaign's sending window rather than fired in a burst, so the pattern resembles human behavior. If a mailbox goes a day without sending, its daily limit drops by 1, never below 1, and climbs back gradually when it resumes.
Does warmup cost extra in TOM?
No. Warmup and cooldown are behaviors of the sending engine included in the $49/month Core plan. There is no per-mailbox warmup subscription and no separate warmup provider to pay.
Does TOM include spam tests and inbox placement tests like MailReach?
No. TOM's deliverability tooling is different: verification with non-expiring credits, a green, yellow, red or gray traffic light per address, a minimum quality threshold per campaign, a pre-flight check before launch and per-mailbox sending capacity. Inbox placement testing and spam scoring are not part of the current product.
Is MailReach cheaper than TOM?
MailReach is priced per mailbox per month with volume discounts, and it does one job: warmup plus spam testing. TOM includes warmup and sending, verification, AI copywriting, campaigns, replies and billing at $49 per month, plus mailbox blocks at $14.97 per three mailboxes per month. If warmup is the only thing you need, MailReach is cheaper; if you need the process around it, TOM replaces several subscriptions at once.
Can I run MailReach and TOM at the same time?
You can, but for mailboxes created in TOM it is redundant: warmup is already automatic and included. Teams that keep external mailboxes in another sending tool sometimes run MailReach there while using TOM for new domains.
Start the beta
Warmup that ships with the mailbox
Create the domain, create the mailboxes, and let the engine warm them from 1 to 25 emails a day — no second subscription, no settings to coordinate. AI copywriting, verification and replies are in the same $49/month plan. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Start the beta at $49/monthThis guide is part of the TOM blog. MailReach's model was checked against its public pricing page in September 2026 and may change. Related reading: 12 cold email software alternatives compared, TOM vs Instantly, TOM vs Smartlead, TOM vs lemlist and the 12 cold email frameworks.