Rukham KhanSendGrid is a transactional email service provider for email marketing campaigns and transactional emails. It’s used by major enterprises like Uber, Spotify, and Airbnb. But SendGrid isn’t the only option available. And what works for these large businesses may not necessarily be the best fit for you.
In this article, we explore SendGrid alternatives that offer unique advantages and cater to different requirements for small businesses. But first, let’s take a look at SendGrid.
What is SendGrid?
SendGrid is an email service provider featuring an API and SMTP relay. It makes it easy to send transactional and marketing emails from your applications. With SendGrid’s email template editor, you can create dynamic, personalized email content. SendGrid’s powerful analytics give you valuable insights into the performance of your email campaigns, helping you optimize and improve your strategy.
SendGrid also provides a host of features aimed at improving email deliverability, including dedicated IP addresses and domain authentication. This makes it a strong contender for businesses looking for reliable email delivery.
It’s particularly favored by developers due to its customizable API and extensive documentation. But businesses seeking more specialized email marketing tools may want to consider alternatives.
The 7 Best SendGrid Alternatives
I collected a diverse selection of 7 SendGrid alternatives. These alternatives include SMTP servers, email marketing services, and platforms with both. Let’s dive into the details of each SendGrid alternative, exploring its features, pricing, and more.
We also recommend checking out this review of the best SendGrid alternatives for more details about each alternative, along with pros and cons.
1. SMTP.com
SMTP.com is an email delivery service catering to over 100,000 businesses for more than 20 years. It offers a combination of a cloud-based SMTP relay (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and an API. Making it a convenient choice for developers looking for simple and fast integration. Switching from another relay like SendGrid is hassle-free with migration templates by SMTP.com.
With SMTP.com, you can send both marketing and transactional emails easily. Whether it’s remarketing campaigns, win-back emails, notifications, registration emails, order confirmations, or status updates, SMTP.com has got you covered. One standout feature is its reputation defender, which identifies and suppresses invalid email addresses before you hit send. This maintains email list health and a high domain and IP reputation.
To compare, SMTP.com offers a customized SMTP relay service with features like event-triggered emails, email tracking, and reputation defense. In contrast, SendGrid is more comprehensive. It supports all types of email, allowing you to manage both transactional and marketing emails from one place.
Pricing
SMTP.com has 5 pricing tiers. Essential starts at $25/month with 50,000 emails/mo and email relay API. The Starter plan costs $80/month for 100,000 emails/mo and a dedicated IP.
2. Brevo
Brevo is a fantastic SendGrid alternative. It offers features for both email marketing and transactional. Brevo shines with its impressive collection of high-quality email templates. And not to forget its user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. Unlike SendGrid, Brevo has email marketing automation with conditional workflows. To send emails based on specific contact behavior.
Getting started with Brevo’s SMTP server is a breeze, thanks to its simple three-step setup process. You have the option to use their API for automated sending directly from your website. Once everything is configured, Brevo’s SMTP server tracks delivery rates, opens, clicks, and more.
Pricing
Brevo has 3 pricing plans to meet your email marketing needs. The Free plan offers 300 emails per day and transactional emails. The Starter plan, priced at $9 per month, includes 5,000 emails per month with the flexibility to scale up for additional sends. For more advanced features, the Business plan, available at $18 per month, includes marketing automation, A/B testing, and multi-user access.
3. SMTP2GO
SMTP2GO is a global email delivery service that helps your emails reach their destination. It keeps an eye on potential issues and provides detailed reports so you can see what’s happening with your emails. You can also preview how your emails will look in different email clients before sending them.
It has features to customize and track your email campaigns. Create custom unsubscribe templates, and detailed server logs for tracking and debugging. Create notifications that alert you when specific events occur.
SMTP2GO integrates webhooks into your emails to give real-time status updates. It also offers APIs for event tracking and mail sending. They also provide spam filter testing, custom tracking domains, and support for multiple domains. They offer sender reputation management to help maintain a positive domain reputation. SMTP2GO offers dedicated IP addresses, giving you more control over your sender reputation.
When comparing the two platforms, SMTP2GO is better at providing detailed tracking and reporting. With features like custom unsubscribe, detailed server logs, and event tracking API. If you like SMTP2GO, check out our review of the best drag-and-drop email template builders. You’ll need a tool to create HTML emails because SMTP2GO doesn’t have one.
Pricing
SMTP2GO has 3 pricing plans. The Free plan comes with 1000 emails per month and 5 days of email reporting. The Starter plan, priced at $10 per month, offers 10,000 emails per month, 30 days of reporting. The Professional plan, available at $75 per month, includes 100,000 emails per month and dedicated IP addresses for more control and deliverability.
4. MailerSend
MailerSend is a transactional email service from the markers of Mailerlite. It offers features designed to help you collaborate on marketing and transactional emails.
MailerSend handles the delivery process to help your emails reach the inbox. Developers can use the email API and SMTP relay to automate emails based on conditions. The platform also offers a drag and drop email builder to create and send transactional emails and marketing messages. Additionally, MailerSend enables people to respond to any event from your application, improving the customer experience.
When comparing MailerSend to SendGrid, MailerSend comes out on top in multiple areas. It is rated higher for ease of use, customer support, and value for money.
Pricing
The free plan includes 3,000 emails per month, with additional usage charged at $1.00 per 1,000 emails. For the Premium plan, priced at $24 per month and billed yearly, you get 50,000 emails and 100 SMS per month, with extra usage billed at $0.90 per 1,000 emails and $1.40 per 100 SMS.
5. Postmark
Postmark (by ActiveCampaign) is a transactional email platform designed for businesses and developers. It offers an infrastructure that handles the entire email delivery process, ensuring that your emails are directed to the intended inbox. Learn more about what is ActiveCampaign here.
Developers can use the Email API and SMTP relay to craft custom integrations for transactional emails. This allows for a more personalized approach to customer relationships through the use of dynamic email templates.
In addition to these features, Postmark includes email automation capabilities. These make it possible to establish advanced automation scenarios with ease. The platform’s campaign creator tool simplifies the process of selecting recipients, crafting engaging content, and conducting split tests.
Pricing
Postmark charges you according to your sending volume. It’s free for 100 emails a month. 10,000 emails cost $15/mo, 50,000 for $55/mo, and so on.
6. Mailgun
Mailgun is a direct competitor to SendGrid. Just like SendGrid, Mailgun offers an SMTP relay server and API as its core services. It also has an impressive lineup of big-name clients like Microsoft, Etsy, and Lyft.
In a head-to-head comparison between SendGrid and Mailgun for email marketing, SendGrid takes the lead. Unlike SendGrid, Mailgun lacks specific email marketing tools for sending marketing messages. If you’re looking for a full email marketing platform, check out our review of the best email marketing services.
But don’t count Mailgun out just yet! It fights back with its powerful InboxReady tools. This suite of deliverability features includes email verification, pre-send testing, and inbox placement. With the inbox placement tool, you can see where your messages will land, whether it’s in the Promotions tab of Gmail or the primary Inbox. These tools work together to improve your email deliverability and open rates. Find out more about all the important features in this full Mailgun review.
Pricing
MailGun provides 3 pricing options: Foundation at $35/month for 50,000 emails/mo with RESTful Email APIs, Scale at $90/month for 100,000 emails/mo and 5,000 Email Validations, and Enterprise with custom pricing, including dedicated support and early access to new features.
7. Elastic Email
Elastic Email is a user-friendly and reliable SendGrid alternative. With its SMTP relay API, you can easily send emails from your website or app. And here’s the best part: it comes packed with features to make sure your emails have high deliverability rates. They even offer email verification, dedicated IP addresses, and IP warm-up.
Elastic Email has in-depth analytics to help you understand your email performance. You’ll get insights into why contacts unsubscribe.
Whether you’re running an ecommerce business or need reliable email delivery, Elastic Email is a fantastic choice. It ensures your emails reach major email clients and gives the features and analytics you need to succeed.
Elastic Email is great for small businesses, freelancers, and nonprofits, offering lead generation tools. SendGrid is good for a wide range of users, from independent developers to large companies, but it might be a bit complex to use.
Pricing
Elastic Email has pricing plans, including a Free plan for up to 1,000 contacts and 100 emails/day. Starter and Pro plans, starting from $9/month and $60/month, catering to varying contact and email volume needs.
Conclusion
The right choice of tool can significantly influence the success of your campaigns. The choice between SendGrid and its alternatives largely depends on your specific requirements, budget, and comfort with the platform’s interface.
Whether it’s the user-friendly Mailgun, cost-effective Elastic Email, or the powerful SMTP.com, each service has its unique strengths. We recommend trying out a few platforms before committing to one.
Looking for free SMTP options? We’ve reviewed the best free SMTP servers to send emails on a budget. Do you know if you need email marketing or email automation? Learn the difference between both to make the right choice.
Yauhen Zaremba
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