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@veljkoristic ・ Apr 08,2024 ・ 7 min read ・ 544 views ・ Originally posted on mailtrap.io
I took the time to test out Mailchimp Transactional Email alternatives so I’ll give you a detailed guide through the top contenders and what to look for when migrating from Mandrill.
The main focus is on email delivery services that can provide reliable inbox placement. But as a lot of contenders evolved into platforms, I’ll detail other features you could find useful without burning a hole in your pocket.
Disclaimer: The reviews include feature descriptions, software catalog ratings, and references to pricing. These were valid at the time of writing but could be subject to change.
I identified four key criteria based on the critical parameters such as deliverability and potential desire to scale beyond just sending transactional emails. Here’s what they are:
The core function of a transactional email service is to ensure your emails get sent and also successfully land in your recipients’ inboxes, avoiding the spam folder.
Note: Keep in mind that email deliverability also depends on your domain and sender reputation.
Your chosen email service should seamlessly integrate with your current systems, whether it’s your WordPress website, CRM, e-commerce platform, or custom-built applications.
An ideal Mandrill alternative will offer a pricing plan that’s competitive and also scales with your business.
It means the service should provide transparent pricing, without hidden upsales. Plus, the price needs to correlate with the sending volume (the more you send the incrementally higher the price).
Tip: Check the number of emails per plan 🙂 Compare the cost per thousand emails sent across different providers to understand which offers the best value for your specific email volumes.
The availability and quality of customer support can make a significant difference. Ideally, you’d get 24/7 access to support to resolve urgent issues. Or, at least, something close to the ability to get a response at any time.
Free plan: Available
Pricing from: $10
G2: 4.8 Capterra: 4.9
What is Mailtrap?
Mailtrap is an Email Delivery Platform designed for both businesses and individuals. It is an all-in-one solution to seamlessly Test, Send, and Control your email infrastructure.
Here, I’ll mainly focus on Mailtrap Email Sending as it’s the closest comparison to Mandrill. But, I’ll also briefly cover Mailtrap Email Testing as a key pre-production solution to ensure your emails land in recipients’ inboxes, not the spam folder.
Mailtrap Email Sending is designed to provide developers with a robust infrastructure, boasting high deliverability rates by default and design.
Plus, Mailrap Email Sending offers two sending streams – Transactional and Bulk. It allows you to send bulk emails (newsletters, product offers, marketing emails) at the price of transactional. And both streams have a dedicated SMTP server and API.
Note that sending marketing emails with Mandrill is not an option. You’d have to purchase an additional Mailchimp plan for that.
Key features:
Pros
Cons
Free plan: Available
Pricing from: $14.95
G2: 4.0 Capterra: 4.2
What is it?
SendGrid, now part of Twilio, is a cloud-based platform that offers transactional and email marketing services. At its core, SendGrid provides an API and SMTP relay for developers looking to integrate email functionality into their applications.
Known for its scalability, SendGrid can cater to businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. However, it requires a certain level of technical expertise to integrate it into your email delivery infrastructure.
Pros:
Cons:
Free plan: Available
Pricing from: $0.10 per 1000 emails
G2: 4.3 Capterra: 4.7
What is it?
Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) is a cloud-based email-sending service designed to help
app developers send marketing, notification, and transactional emails. It’s known for its cost-effectiveness and reliable mail servers, making it a popular choice for startups and large enterprises.
However, I need to discuss SES use cases in greater detail to give you a better understanding of what it takes to integrate it and what to expect.
While Amazon SES is the service for high-volume email sending and applications requiring robust email functionality, its limitations lie in its user interface and lack of built-in advanced marketing features.
So, it’s best suited for developers and businesses that already use AWS services and are comfortable with technical setups or those with bespoke needs that require custom development.
In other words, you need to factor in the cost of extra dev time to set up, test, and run everything with SES. Also, if you want more comprehensive email marketing tools with detailed analytics, you’ll need to integrate Amazon SES with third-party applications or services.
Note: Similar to Mailchimp, AWS services also support SMS.
Pros:
Cons:
Thank you for reading a snippet of the Mailtrap blog post on Mailchimp Transactional Email Alternatives, you will find more information in the original post.
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Content Manager, Mailtrap
@veljkoristicInfluence
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