Ghost’s email features are tightly tied to Mailgun. If you want subscription emails, password resets, member notifications, or newsletters to work properly in Ghost, a Mailgun account is close to essential.

The good part is that Mailgun’s free plan is available again: up to 100 emails per day, which is more than enough for most personal blogs. It also no longer requires credit card verification just to get started.

The difficult part is that Mailgun’s risk control is still strict. For users in mainland China, the registration and account recovery process can be frustrating, even when the use case is completely legitimate. Here’s a practical walkthrough of the issues that can appear and how to handle them.

Where registration usually breaks

Mailgun’s website can be opened directly from mainland China, but the signup flow often runs into two major problems.

1. No VPN: the verification widget may not load

If you register without a proxy or VPN, the verification component on the signup page may fail to appear. When that happens, the registration button cannot be used normally.

2. With a VPN: phone number and IP mismatch can trigger fraud checks

Mailgun requires mobile verification during signup. If the IP location from your VPN exit node does not match the region of your phone number, the system may treat the account as suspicious and temporarily disable it.

That means both paths can cause trouble: without a VPN, the page may not work; with one, the account may be flagged.

If you can’t receive the verification code

A common issue is getting blocked during phone verification after too many attempts or other prompts that stop the process. In that case, the most direct solution is to open a support ticket.

Use the ticket system and choose:

• Category: Account Management
• Subject example: I can’t verify my email

You can send the following message as-is, replacing the phone number with your own:

I can’t verify my email because I clicked the link to enter my mobile phone number, and when I sent the verification code, it reminded me that I sent too many times and other reminders. This is my phone number: +86 XXX XXXX XXXX

Even if the wording is not perfect, support can usually understand it.

If the account is temporarily disabled

One of the more common lock messages is:

Your account is temporarily disabled. (Account disabled)
Please contact support to resolve.

If this happens, contact support by email or through a ticket and clearly explain three things:

• your usage is legitimate;
• you understand their verification process and are willing to cooperate;
• your network environment in mainland China may have caused abnormal signals in automated checks.

The following template can be used directly:

Request for Account Review and Reactivation

Hello Mailgun Support Team,

My account was disabled shortly after registration with the message: “Your account is temporarily disabled. (Account disabled) Please contact support to resolve.” I believe this may have been triggered by the automated fraud prevention system.

I am located in mainland China, where network routing and IP geolocation may sometimes cause unusual patterns in automated checks.

My intended usage is legitimate:

• Purpose: Sending transactional emails (password resets, notifications) and newsletters for my Ghost-based personal website/blog.
• Domain: [yourdomain.com]
• Website: https://yourdomain.com
• Recipients: 100% opt-in subscribers, no purchased or scraped mailing lists.
• Sending volume: Low to moderate.

I am happy to:

• Provide ID or domain ownership proof.
• Bind a valid credit card for verification.
• Comply fully with Mailgun’s Acceptable Use Policy and anti-spam requirements.

Could you please review and reactivate my account?

Thank you for your understanding and assistance.

Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Email Address] [Your Website Name]

The key is to make it clear that you are using Mailgun for a normal Ghost site, that your recipients are opted-in users, and that you are prepared to provide proof if needed.

What happens after support reactivates the account

Getting the account restored does not always mean full sending access returns immediately.

After manual review, support may reactivate the account but keep a sending restriction in place because there is no verified domain yet and no sending history tied to that domain. Based on information shared in the Ghost community, this limited state may mean only 9 emails can be sent at the same time.

Support may ask you to first verify a domain and then send normal email traffic for 3 to 5 days before requesting a full review again. During that period, recipients should be organically collected users who completed double opt-in.

In practice, that means there is a short “warm-up” phase even after the account is unlocked.

The 3–5 day warm-up period

To move from a reactivated account to a more normal sending state, the process usually looks like this:

1. Add and verify your domain by configuring the required DNS records.
2. Send normal email traffic such as real transactional messages or legitimate subscription emails.
3. Build some sending history gradually instead of sending a large batch at once.
4. Contact support again and ask for the restriction to be lifted.

This part matters. If the account has just been restored, sending too aggressively right away is a bad idea.

What to prepare before registering

It helps to have the basics ready before you even create the account:

• a stable domain name for verification;
• a mobile number that can reliably receive verification codes;
• a relatively clean IP address.

If anything goes wrong, open a ticket early instead of repeatedly retrying the same step. Repeated verification attempts can make the situation worse.

Practical advice for Ghost users

For a personal Ghost blog, Mailgun’s free quota of 100 emails per day is usually enough. That covers common needs like password resets, member notifications, and a modest newsletter schedule.

The difficult part is not daily usage but getting through registration and risk review smoothly, especially from mainland China. If the account is flagged, explain your purpose clearly, mention the network environment, verify your domain as soon as possible, and spend a few days warming the account before requesting full removal of limits.

Once the account stabilizes, Ghost’s mail features can run without much trouble.