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Top 10 Mailjet Alternatives for Sending Transactional and Marketing Emails 

Mailjet alternatives

Mailjet is a popular email marketing platform for creating and sending tailored marketing campaigns or transactional emails. Though it has multiple useful features, it may not be the best match for everyone. 

If you’re considering migrating to another solution, we’ve compiled a list of great Mailjet alternatives. We’ll provide detailed descriptions of each, evaluate the pros and cons, and compare them side by side. 

How to find the best Mailjet alternative: criteria to consider

We know that finding the best alternative can be a headache. One thing that can make it easier is defining your needs and preferences right from the beginning. The following criteria will help you in that process. 

Functionality 

Before diving into specific features, it’s vital to identify your goals. For example, marketers may need a tool that will help them plan, customize, and execute email campaigns. The reason for migration from Mailjet can be just that – they prefer to have a dedicated tool for marketing-related needs. 

Similarly, companies that don’t use email marketing may prefer software that only deals with transactional emails. As a platform that has both solutions, Mailjet won’t be the best option for them. 

Let’s move on to the functionality. For transactional email providers, you should look for the following features: 

For email marketing software, you may also need additional features such as: 

Reliability 

To evaluate the reliability of the email service provider (ESP), you should check their deliverability rates. You can also look through the public reviews to see how satisfied their customers are and why some of them decided to migrate to a different ESP. 

Another important factor to consider is the privacy and security protocols of the provider and its protection mechanisms against spam. This information will help you decide whether it can be trusted with your and your customers’ data. 

Finally, you should examine ESP’s delivery speed and the frequency of server downtimes. The latter impacts the stability of the infrastructure. For example, if the servers of your ESP are down for even 5 or 10 minutes, your business will be impacted directly. You won’t be able to reach your customers in time, causing delays and dissatisfaction among your users. So, the servers of the ESP should be stable and run without any downtime. 

Ease of integration 

The sending provider you select should be easy to integrate with your app or project. Most ESPs come with REST API and SMTP integration options. In the best-case scenario, they will have ready-made integrations and SDKs for various programming languages. For maximum simplicity, they should provide easy-to-follow setup guides or tutorials. 

Make sure the interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate.  

Pricing 

No matter how perfect the provider is, you won’t be able to use it unless their pricing meets your budget. Most SaaS email-sending solutions have multiple pricing tiers depending on the sending volume. Some even offer pay-as-you-go options. 

You should also examine what’s included in these pricing plans. Some ESPs limit customer or technical support to paid plans. This means that customers are unable to get guidance or help if they are using free or lower-limit tiers. Naturally, this will have a negative impact on your business. Make sure you choose the ESP that offers support to everyone regardless of their subscription. 

Another important factor to keep in mind is the features. All the ESPs have different pricing plans based on the available features. It’s only natural that free/lower-limit plans don’t include all the shiny functionalities, yet it’s crucial that every user has access to the necessary features for sending and delivering emails. 

Here are the pricing plans Mailjet offers:

Scalability 

If you’re planning to grow your business, we advise choosing a provider that can handle a large volume of emails and can easily be scaled. You should be able to access higher sending limits simply by upgrading the plan. 

We’ll use the mentioned criteria to describe and compare Mailjet alternatives in the following sections. 

Mailjet alternatives for sending transactional emails 

Mailjet is primarily an email marketing service, which is why its transactional functionalities are quite limited. Luckily, there are multiple great alternatives that allow users to send transactional emails in bulk. 

Optimal alternative: Mailtrap 

Mailtrap is an Email Delivery Platform for businesses and individuals that allows users to test, send, and control their email infrastructure in one place. It combines Email Testing, an Email Sandbox to debug emails in staging, and Email Sending, an infrastructure with high deliverability rates by design. 

Mailtrap Email Sending is suitable for startups, small to medium businesses, as well as large enterprises that send millions of emails per month. It has both solutions, Email API and SMTP service, to allow for easy and smooth integration. 

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The key benefits of Email Sending include: 

Additionally, Mailtrap allows you to test your emails in a safe environment with Email Testing before sending them to your users. With the Email Sandbox, users can easily validate HTML/CSS, view lines of code that won’t be supported by email clients, check the spam score, see if any of their domains have been blacklisted, and view tech info to validate email headers. 

The selling point of Mailtrap is the fact that it’s a single platform for all your email-related needs. You can test your emails in staging with Email Testing. Once your app is ready for production, send your emails with Email Sending, and then monitor the performance of your email infrastructure with actionable analytics. Unlike Mailjet, Mailtrap has every feature required for delivering transactional emails to the recipients’ inboxes. 

Mailtrap Email Sending has transparent pricing plans that are suitable for different business needs: 

Pros: 

Cons: 

Feature Mailtrap Mailjet 
Deliverability alerts YesNo 
Domain authenticationSPF, DKIM, and DMARCSPF and DKIM
Transactional email templatesYesYes 
Helicopter-view dashboardsYesNo
Access to deliverability experts Offered to everyone regardless of their plan, free of charge Custom plans only 
Dedicated IPYes (1 starting at 100,000 emails and multiple for custom plans)Yes (1 starting at 100,000 emails, additional on request)
Multi-user accessUp to 1,000 for business and enterprise, more than 1,000 for customUp to 15 for premium or custom for the custom plan
Email marketingComing soonYes

Alternative 2: Postmark 

Postmark is an email delivery service for all application emails, be it transactional notifications or broadcast messages. It can be integrated with your app using the API or SMTP server credentials.

Postmark allows users to send transactional emails and monitor their delivery with troubleshooting and analytical features. It maintains logs for 45 days, which makes it easy to go back and examine previous sending issues. This tool also comes with responsive templates for your transactional emails. 

Postmark has multiple useful features such as: 

Postmark is mainly suitable for small businesses and large enterprises that require a simple tool that will successfully deliver all application emails. While Mailjet is known for its high deliverability rates, Postmark is more reliable and less susceptible to spam complaints. 

Postmark has flexible pricing options for different sending limits:

Pros:

Cons: 

Feature PostmarkMailjet 
Free trial Yes (doesn’t expire, 100 emails per month)No (free tier with 6,000 emails per month)
Dedicated IPYes (on-demand for an additional fee, 1 starting from 300,000 emails, additional if needed) Yes (1 starting at 100,000 emails, additional on request)
Ready-made integrations with other tools and services YesYes 
Transactional email templatesYesYes 
Annual plans NoYes (with a 10% discount)
Live support Yes (from Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm EST)Yes (for premium starting at 50,000 emails and custom)

Alternative 3: Amazon SES

Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) is cloud-based sending solution that focuses on sending and delivering transactional emails. While other providers usually include additional features (such as templates, for example), Amazon SES only has the functionalities required to send transactional notifications in bulk. 

Amazon SES has the following features: 

Amazon SES integrates with any app through API or SMTP. It’s a developer-centered platform that is quite complicated to configure for businesses that don’t have strong technical teams. On the other hand, it’s a cost-effective solution for businesses that are looking for scalability and can afford to invest in additional required resources. 

In that context, Mailjet may be a better alternative if you’re looking for simple dashboards, easy-to-use templates, and quick integration. 

Amazon SES offers pay-as-you-go pricing: 

However, you’ll have to pay extra for dedicated IPs that can be: 

Pros: 

Cons: 

Feature Amazon SES Mailjet 
Free trial No (free tier with up to 62,000 emails/month)No (free tier with up to 6,000 emails/month) 
Transactional email templates NoYes 
Integrations Yes (integrates with AWS and other services with API) Yes (integrates with popular platforms such as Magento, Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics CRM) 
Analytics Yes (only basic data)Yes 
Dedicated IPYes (from $24.95)Yes (included in the pricing from the 100,000 plan)
Easy to scale Yes (pay-as-you-go pricing)Yes (requires switching the plan manually or contacting the platform for more than 500,000 emails)

Alternative 4: Mandrill (now Mailchimp Transactional Email)

Mandrill is Mailchimp’s transactional email add-on. Unlike other email service providers we discussed earlier, Mandrill can’t be accessed without a Mailchimp subscription (only available for Standard and Premium plans). So, it’s particularly useful for businesses or individuals who are already using Mailchimp for their email marketing campaigns and need a service to send transactional notifications. 

Similar to other sending solutions, Mandrill can be integrated with your app with API (SDKs for PHP, Node, Python, and Ruby) or SMTP. The documentation is quite detailed and includes a guide to get started. The in-app interface is simple but a bit outdated. 

The main features of Mandrill include:

While comparing Mailjet and Mandrill, it’s clear that the latter offers more transactional-oriented features as it’s a service dedicated to transactional emails. However, Mailjet has ready-made templates that are easier to customize for non-dev users. 

Mandrill has block-based pricing, with each block constituting 25,000 emails (+ your monthly Mailchimp subscription). 

If you need a dedicated IP, you should purchase it separately for $29.95/month. 

Pros: 

Cons:

Feature Mandrill Mailjet 
Free trial Yes (up to 500 emails, ends when you reach the limit)No (free tier up to 6,000 emails/month) 
Analytics Yes (basic)Yes (basic)
Integration with third-party servicesNoYes
Domain authenticationSPF, DKIMSPF, DKIM
WebhooksYesYes 
Dedicated IP Yes (for an additional fee)Yes (included in 100,000+ plans) 

Alternative 5: Mailgun

Both Mailgun and Mailjet are owned by Sinch – a communication platform that unifies various messaging, email, or voice & video-related services. So, Mailgun and Mailjet are the two sides of the same coin – Mailgun for transactional sending and Mailjet for marketing sending and email automation. 

Mailgun comes with both RESTful API and SMTP relay for easy integration along with standard features, such as:

As a scalable infrastructure, Mailgun has the following pricing plans:

Pros:

Cons: 

Feature Mailgun Mailjet 
Email address verificationYesYes 
SupportYes, 24/7Yes (live support for premium starting at 50,000 emails and custom)
Deliverability experts YesNo
Transactional email templatesYesYes 
A/B testingNoYes 
Third-party integrationsYesYes 
Email editorYesYes 

Alternative 6: SendGrid

Last but not least, a great Mailjet alternative for transactional sending is SendGrid (though it offers email marketing as well). It’s one of the most popular cloud-based email services with decades of experience. 

SendGrid focuses on improving deliverability and it does so with its MTA and anti-spam technology. It’s also highly secure with support for 2-factor authentication, privacy policy compliance, data protection, and single-sign-on (SSO). Compared to Mailjet, SendGrid has more features for transactional emails, some of which are: 

SendGrid has four pricing tiers:

Pros: 

Cons: 

Feature SendGrid Mailjet 
Delivery trackingYesNo 
Detailed statistics YesNo 
Email MarketingYesYes 
Activity logs Yes (up to 7 days)Yes (only for custom plans)
SSOYes (Pro and Premier plans)Yes (only for custom plans)
WebhooksYes Yes

Mailjet alternatives for sending marketing emails 

Though Mailjet has useful email marketing tools, it’s not an all-in-one marketing automation platform. It lacks some additional functionalities that other providers may offer, such as CRM, landing pages, integration with social media, etc. 

We’ve listed down four alternatives that will satisfy all your marketing-related needs. 

Alternative 1: Mailchimp 

Mailchimp is an email marketing solution for businesses of all sizes. It comes with free CRM, website and landing page builder, as well as automation tools for planning and executing marketing campaigns (such as email newsletters, cart abandonment, etc.). 

Unlike Mandrill, Mailchimp’s interface is modern and easy to navigate, with all the main features listed in the left panel. This tool has a campaign manager that allows users to schedule multi-channel campaigns, create a content calendar, and deliver messages on the right day with send-day optimization. It has other useful features, such as: 

Compared to Mailjet, Mailchimp seems to deliver more tools for planning, creating, and executing your email marketing campaigns. 

Mailchimp has a contact-based pricing structure:

Pros: 

Cons: 

Feature MailchimpMailjet 
Email address validationNoYes 
Marketing templates Yes (custom-coded and pre-built) Yes (custom-coded and pre-built) 
Campaign comparisonNoYes 
A/B testingYesYes 
CRM Yes (included in the pricing) No 
Social media marketing YesNo

Alternative 2: Sendinblue

Similar to Mailchimp, Sendinblue is also a complete marketing platform with email marketing, sign-up forms, WhatsApp campaigns, Facebook ads, free CRM, and landing pages. 

With Sendinblue, you can easily create and send marketing campaigns and analyze the results with open and click rates, unsubscribes, replies, and bounce rates. You can also build drip campaigns with ready-made workflow automation templates. 

The main difference between Mailjet and Sendinblue is the fact that Sendinblue offers more features and has higher sending limits for the free plan. 

The main features of Sendinblue include: 

Sendinblue is a great tool for individuals and businesses of all sizes with its customizable and generous pricing plans: 

Keep in mind that additional fees apply for dedicated IPs, transactional emails, adding users, landing pages, push notifications, and SMS or WhatsApp campaigns. 

Pros:

Cons: 

Feature Sendinblue Mailjet 
SMS marketingYesYes 
CRMYesNo 
Transactional emails with templatesYesYes 
Sign up form builderYes Yes 
List management and segmentationYesYes 
Social media marketingYesNo

Alternative 3: ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is another all-in-one marketing platform designed to help businesses automate their marketing and sales processes. With this tool, users can create and manage email marketing campaigns, build and manage contact lists, and track customer behavior and engagement.

ActiveCampaign has an intuitive interface suited for users without a tech background. You can easily integrate it with your business and even request free migration if you’re switching from another marketing platform. 

Creating campaigns is also quite simple with ready-made templates that can be customized for free on request. Available templates and campaign types are selected depending on the industry of your business. Of course, the platform allows you to create marketing automations from scratch or by modifying existing workflows. 

Other useful features of ActiveCampaign include (but aren’t limited to): 

Unlike Mailjet, ActiveCampaign doesn’t allow sending transactional emails from the platform. You’d need to sign up for Postmark to complete that task. Yet, ActiveCampaign is a more feature-rich product. 

ActiveCampaign offers contact-based pricing plans: 

Pros:

Cons:

Feature ActiveCampaignMailjet 
Free trialYes (14-day)No (free tier with up to 6,000 emails)
Autoresponders YesNo 
Trigger-based campaigns YesNo 
Email schedulingYesYes 
Email testing Yes (enterprise plans only)No 
Responsive emails YesYes 

Alternative 4: MailerLite

The last tool we have on this list is MailerLite – a simple platform for managing subscribers, creating automated workflows, or sending marketing campaigns to your contacts. 

The interface is user-friendly with an easy-to-navigate dashboard. Users can create A/B tests, regular, RSS, or Autoresponder campaigns. The email template selection is quite extensive along with drag-and-drop, text, and HTML editors. Automation templates are also available. 

MailerLite has other useful features such as: 

MailerLite is comparable to Mailjet in terms of features but still offers more options such as a website builder, for example. However, MailerLite has a separate pricing plan for transactional emails. 

Overall, Mailjet is an affordable tool for small to medium-sized businesses, as well as large enterprises. Their pricing plans include four tiers: 

Pros: 

Cons: 

Feature MailerLiteMailjet 
Free tier or free trialBoth (30-day free trial and free tier with up to 12,000 emails)Free tier (up to 6,000 emails)
Workflow automationYesYes 
List segmentationYesYes 
Campaign performance trackingYesYes 
HTML, text, and drag-and-drop editors Yes Yes (HTML, drag-and-drop, and MJML)
Website builderYesNo

Summing up 

To wrap up, the choice between Mailjet alternatives comes down to the specific needs of your business and priorities. All of the platforms we mentioned are reliable, but not all of them offer the same features and functionalities. Narrow down your choices by determining your goals and budget, and trying out several tools with free tiers or trials. That way, you’ll be sure that the provider you choose matches your needs perfectly. 

We’ve created a general comparison table for all 10 providers we discussed. 

Criteria Transactional sending and related featuresPricing (cheapest plan)Marketing emails and related features Free tier or free trial 
Mailjet$15 for 15,000 emails/month ✓ (free tier with 6,000 emails/month)
Mailtrap $10 for 10,000 emails/monthComing soon ✓ (free tier with 1,000 emails/month)
Postmark$15 for 10,000 emails/monthX✓ (free trial with 100 emails/month)
Amazon SESPay-as-you-go (for more than 62,0000 emails – $0.10/1,000 emails)X✓ (free tier with 62,000 emails/month)
Mandrill$20 for 25,000 emails/monthX✓ (free trial with 500 emails )
Mailgun $35 for 50,000 emails/monthX✓ (free trial with 5,000 emails for 1 month)
SendGrid $19.95 for 50,000 emails/month✓ (free tier with 100 emails/day)
MailchimpX$13 for 500 contacts and 5,000 emails/month✓ (free tier with 500 contacts and 1,000 emails)
Sendinblue✓ (for an additional fee)$25 for 20,000 emails/month✓ (free tier with 300 emails/day)
ActiveCampaignX$39 for 1,000 contacts✓ (free trial with 100 contacts and 100 emails)
MailerLite ✓ (a separate plan)$9 for 1,000 subscribers ✓ (free tier with 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails/month and a free trial)

If you’re interested in the topic, check out our guides on SendGrid and Mailgun alternatives for more recommendations or have a look at Sendgrid vs Mandrill vs Mailgun for in-depth comparisons.

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