11 SendGrid Alternatives & Competitors (for Devs, Marketers)

Chances are you were once interested in SendGrid for its reputation as a transactional email service provider or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) service provider. While it’s true that big-name brands are still putting aside leaving the platform, SendGrid has been a questionable choice for small to medium businesses (SMBs) for a while now.

Read on to learn about the best SendGrid alternatives and what they have to offer. But before we start, let’s see why people consider switching from SendGrid in the first place.

SendGrid Insights

SendGrid, the renowned cloud-based email service provider, empowers larger enterprises to streamline their email communication and marketing efforts with its reliable email delivery and user-friendly marketing automation capabilities.

With SendGrid, users can easily manage their email campaigns and ensure messages reach recipients’ inboxes promptly and efficiently.

• Robust email delivery infrastructure. SendGrid offers a powerful infrastructure optimized for delivering emails at scale, ensuring high deliverability rates and minimal chances of emails ending in spam folders;
• Email marketing automation. Businesses can leverage SendGrid’s marketing automation features to create personalized email campaigns, automate follow-ups, and nurture leads effectively, enhancing customer engagement and conversions;
• Advanced analytics and reporting. SendGrid provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools, allowing users to track email performance metrics, monitor engagement rates, and gain valuable insights to optimize future campaigns;
• Easy integration and APIs. SendGrid offers seamless integration with popular platforms and APIs, enabling businesses to integrate email functionality into their existing systems and workflows effortlessly.

SendGrid Pricing

SendGrid provides a Free Forever plan that includes 100 emails per day, while their paid options begin at $20 per month. For those seeking enhanced features like dedicated IP address, the Pro and Premier plans are available, starting from $90 per month and offered at custom prices respectively.

Why Consider SendGrid Alternatives?

SendGrid might look attractive to its famous clients. After all, if something like Yelp is using it, it must be good, right? Unfortunately, SendGrid seems to keep riding on the same wave, offering little improvements over time, prioritizing the big names, and getting rather costly.

Let’s look at some ecommerce businesses’ reasons for leaving SendGrid in more detail:

6 Best SendGrid Alternatives for Marketers & Developers

If you’re searching for email marketing software like SendGrid, you should consider the following tools: 

• Sender
• Postmark
• Amazon SES
• Mailchimp Transactional Email
• Mailgun
• SMTP.com

1. Sender – Best SendGrid Alternative That’s Affordable

Sender is on the top of our SendGrid alternatives list for a good reason – it’s a powerful email and SMS marketing tool with excellent automation capabilities.

Sender stands out as a candidate for your omnichannel campaigns due to its human-friendly interface, robust features, and exceptional deliverability. It’s all you need to reach and engage your customers effectively.

• Email and SMS automation;
• Smart segmentation and personalization; 
• High-converting popups and forms;
• Drag-and-drop email builder with free premade templates;
• 24/7 customer support over LiveChat & email.

Sender offers many features for your business growth for far smaller pricing than SendGrid. With Sender’s Free Forever plan, you can easily set up automation campaigns based on smart segmentation: abandoned carts, winback emails, follow-ups, cross-selling, etc.

Be sure that your email will hit the target, too, as Sender has dedicated IPs and complete GDPR compliance resulting in maximum deliverability.

If you want to optimize your email marketing efforts even more, Sender’s drag-and-drop builder with its premade template library can do wonders. In no time, you can create professional, well-designed emails with your brand’s spirit.

With easy-to-understand, detailed analytics features, you can also expect better insights into your email marketing campaigns’ performance.

Finally, doesn’t SendGrid’s customer support cut it anymore? With Sender’s pro and enterprise plans, your dedicated customer success manager will be responsible for your total satisfaction.

Pros & Cons

Pricing: 

• Forever-free pricing plan for up to 2,500 subscribers; 
• Paid plans start at $15 monthly for sending up to 30,000 emails. 

2. Postmark – Best Transactional Email Service Provider

Postmark is a top-tier transactional email service provider explicitly tailored for applications like SaaS platforms and tech-focused ventures. It prioritizes transactional email delivery to major email clients, ensuring exceptional performance and reliability. 

• Tailored for applications;
• Detailed reporting;
• 45-day log retention;
• Separate infrastructure for transactional and bulk emails;
• Message Streams feature;
• Reliable SMTP server;
• Comprehensive REST APIs.

With detailed reporting and a 45-day log retention period, Postmark provides users valuable insights into their email campaigns. Additionally, it offers superior customer support, cementing its position as the best choice for transactional email needs.

While lacking campaign-building features, Postmark maintains a separate infrastructure for transactional and bulk emails, ensuring high-quality delivery. The Message Streams feature prevents email mixing, improving traffic management and deliverability. Pre-made email templates streamline communication processes. Postmark’s reliable SMTP relay server ensures fast delivery to popular email clients.

Its REST APIs facilitate seamless integration with applications. With extensive documentation and accessible customer support, Postmark emerges as the ultimate solution for businesses prioritizing performance, reliability, and exceptional customer service.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

• Free developer tear, which includes up to 100 emails monthly;
• Paid plans start at $15/month and include all Postmark’s features.

3. Amazon SES – Cheapest Dedicated IP Addresses

Amazon SES, standing for Simple Email Service, caters to businesses seeking a reliable and affordable solution for service emails. Trusted by industry giants like Reddit and Netflix, SES offers core metrics and scalability, making it ideal for enterprises of varying sizes. 

• Core metrics tracking;
• Virtual Deliverability Manager;
• Mailbox Simulator;
• Pay-as-you-go pricing;
• Authentication options (SPF, DKIM);
• Activity monitoring;
• Reputation monitoring.

While lacking advanced email marketing features, SES compensates with essential tools such as the Virtual Deliverability Manager for automated inbox optimization and a Mailbox Simulator for scenario testing.

Amazon SES stands out from its competitors, emphasizing simplicity and cost-effectiveness. It operates on a pay-as-you-go pricing model that adjusts to users’ needs, ensuring affordability. Its authentication options, including SPF and DKIM, ensure high deliverability rates, while activity and sender reputation monitoring features enable effective email performance tracking.

With its robust infrastructure and focus on reliability, Amazon SES remains a compelling choice for businesses prioritizing affordability and scalability in their email solutions.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

• Free 1-year tier allowing to send up to 3,000 emails monthly;
• The pricing operates on a pay-per-use basis, beginning at $0.10 for every 1000 emails sent.

4. Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) – Good Alternative for Transactional Email

Mailchimp Transactional Email, formerly Mandrill, emerges as a robust alternative to SendGrid for transactional email requirements.

• Dynamic content (merge tags);
• Conditional rules;
• Webhooks;
• Click tracking;
• A/B testing;
• SMTP server solution.

Boasting a comprehensive feature set that encompasses dynamic content, conditional rules, webhooks, click tracking and A/B testing, Mailchimp Transactional Email caters to diverse needs for effective email communication. Like other solutions, it offers an SMTP server solution, simplifying the process of sending and managing inbound emails.

Distinguished by its user-friendly email builder and visual workflow editor, Mailchimp empowers users to craft targeted emails based on recipient actions and funnel stages. Furthermore, it facilitates lead generation through form and landing page builders and email segmentation features for efficient contact management.

With advanced multi-step sequences available at higher-tier plans, Mailchimp Transactional Email stands out as a versatile solution for businesses seeking a reliable platform for transactional email needs.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

• 1-month free trial of the Standard or Essentials plan.
• The pricing structure operates on blocks of 25,000 emails each, with rates beginning at $10 per block.

5. Mailgun – Email Deliverability Services

Various applications often integrate Mailgun as a white-labeled solution. It offers a comprehensive suite of email deliverability tools, including inbox placement, verification, and transactional SMS capabilities. These services are designed to enhance the effectiveness of your email campaigns.

• API-first solution;
• Email deliverability services;
• Inbox placement tracking;
• Email verification;
• SMTP relay server;
• RESTful API integration.

While Mailgun’s functionality may initially seem complex for marketers, requiring developer assistance for email sending, the platform has become more accessible. This is thanks to Mailgun’s integration with Mailjet, which provides marketers with an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder. This expansion of Mailgun’s usability beyond the developer realm significantly benefits marketers.

One of the key features that sets Mailgun apart is its InboxReady toolkit. This toolkit enhances email deliverability through verification, pre-send testing, and precise inbox placement tracking. Despite not having dedicated email marketing tools, Mailgun compensates with these robust deliverability features.

Its seamless integration with Mailjet’s platform also empowers users to optimize their email campaigns for maximum impact and compliance with regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

• There’s a free 30-day trial.
• After that you can choose a paid plan starting from $35 for up to 50,000 emails.

6. SMTP.com – Cloud SMTP Relay With an API

SMTP.com, a trusted and reliable email delivery service, has been serving over 100,000 businesses for over two decades, ensuring their emails reach the right inbox at the right time.

• Cloud-based SMTP relay;
• API integration;
• Reputation defender;
• Integration with various applications;
• Experienced support team.

SMTP.com provides a cloud-based SMTP relay and an API, offering a seamless transition for developers seeking efficient solutions. Moving from other relays like SendGrid is a breeze, thanks to SMTP.com’s migration templates, designed to simplify users’ processes.

A notable feature of SMTP.com is its versatility in handling various emails, including marketing and transactional ones. Whether remarketing campaigns, win-back emails, notifications, or order confirmations, SMTP.com supports many email types. It includes a reputation defender tool, which identifies and suppresses invalid email addresses pre-send, ensuring list health and maintaining a positive domain and IP reputation.

Moreover, SMTP.com offers comprehensive support from a team of experienced email delivery experts, ensuring users have reliable assistance whenever needed. This support will make you feel valued and confident in your email delivery processes.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

• There’s no free plan or trial;
• Paid plans start at $25/month and allow you to send up to 50,000 emails monthly.

SendGrid Alternatives for Email Marketing Campaigns

Are you thinking of moving your email marketing campaigns away from SendGrid? Here are a few more good destinations:

1. Brevo – Good Alternative for CRM Features

Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is a compelling European alternative to traditional email marketing services, boasting extensive customer relationship management (CRM) features tailored for businesses. It offers both marketing and transactional emails via its email marketing API and SMTP relay beyond basic email delivery services. 

• Transactional emails via email marketing API and SMTP relay;
• Automated triggers for transactional emails based on events;
• Unlimited logs for email history;
• 99% email deliverability rate;
• Contact management tools;
• Email segmentation capabilities.

Regarding email analytics, Brevo is a top performer, offering users comprehensive insights into key metrics. But what truly sets it apart is its commitment to reliability. Unlike many other services, Brevo keeps unlimited logs, ensuring access to the complete history of emails sent to each recipient.

With a 99% deliverability rate backed by a dedicated team of email deliverability experts, Brevo prioritizes ensuring emails reach the inbox. But Brevo isn’t just about email delivery. It offers a comprehensive CRM suite that includes a wide range of tools.

From contact management tools to customizable newsletter signup forms, a sales CRM, and email segmentation, Brevo has it. Its intuitive workflow builder empowers users to set up automated sequences, streamlining communication workflows and enhancing customer engagement. 

Pros & Cons

Pricing

• Free plan allows you to send up to 300 emails/day;
• Paid plans start at a monthly price of $19 for up to 20,000 monthly emails.

2. HubSpot – Best in Terms of Feature-Richness

HubSpot offers one of the most extensive ranges of features, interesting for any size business looking to diversify its email marketing efforts. Though their pricing is similar to SendGrid, it’s a better bang for the buck.

• All-in-one marketing automation platform with email marketing capabilities;
• Personalization features for tailored email campaigns;
• Powerful CRM system for managing customer interactions;
• Landing page builder and conversion tracking.

Unlike SendGrid, which mainly specializes in transactional email delivery service and API functionality, HubSpot is a trusted all-in-one marketing platform. It offers a comprehensive suite of marketing tools beyond email marketing, including CRM, lead generation, social media management, content management, and analytics. This integrated approach allows for a seamless marketing experience and better coordination of your marketing efforts.

With HubSpot, you can trust to have your marketing campaigns fully optimized as they offer robust capabilities such as advanced automation with visual workflow builder, powerful contact management tools, and dynamic content possibilities. Another great strength of HubSpot is its high flexibility in your marketing stack due to extensive integrations with other marketing tools, CRMs, and platforms.

Pros & Cons

Pricing: 

• Paid plans start at $18 per month for up to 1000 email subscribers; 
• Limited-time free trial is also available with feature restrictions. 

3. ActiveCampaign – Best Competitor for Email Templates Design

Are you looking for fresher-looking email templates than the ones SendGrid currently offers? You’ll find a vast library at ActiveCampaign accompanied by advanced email marketing features.

• Drag-and-drop email designer with a library of customizable templates;
• Advanced automation workflows and personalization options;
• CRM system for managing customer interactions;
• Personalization & dynamic content customization.

If you’re a marketer who knows how vital conversion is for a marketing campaign’s success, ActiveCampaign is your tool. It offers advanced lead scoring capabilities, allowing you to assign scores to leads based on their interactions and engagement. This information can be used to segment your audience and send targeted emails to those most likely to convert.

You can also count on their personalization assets across multiple channels. While SendGrid primarily focuses on email, ActiveCampaign supports multi-channel marketing, including SMS marketing, social media integration, and the ability to create personalized ads on platforms like Facebook and Google.

Pros & Cons

Pricing: 

• Paid plan starts at $49 monthly for email marketing and automation features; 
• Free trial account is available with feature restrictions and limits. 

5. DRIP – Best Alternative with Advanced Automation

DRIP’s focus on advanced automation and personalization sets it apart from SendGrid as an ideal choice for businesses that require sophisticated email marketing workflows. You need it to create meaningful customer relationships and conquer new engagement grounds.

• Visual workflow builder for creating complex automation sequences;
• Personalization features for dynamic email content;
• Behavioral tracking and segmentation for targeted marketing campaigns;
• Integration with e-commerce platforms for automated sales funnels;
• Robust analytics and reporting.

DRIP perfectly understands marketers’ struggle in automation and offers an almost too-good-to-be-true solution – a powerful workflow builder for creating complex and highly customized automation sequences. Its segmentation options are also pleasantly surprising, enabling precise targeting based on specific criteria, such as demographics, behavior, or engagement.

Switch from SendGrid and benefit even more in managing advanced email marketing operations, whether it’s leads nurture, abandoned carts recovery, or email marketing streamline you are after.

Pros & Cons

Pricing: 

• Paid plan starts at $39 per month for 2500 subscribers and unlimited emails; 
• Free 14-day trial is available. 

6. Mailjet – User-Friendly UI & Email Designs Builder

If you’ve been in the email marketing game for a while now, chances are you’ve crossed Mailjet’s name at least once. It is considered one of the most user-friendly interfaces and intuitive email design builders appreciated by beginners and professionals.

• Drag-and-drop email builder with responsive templates;
• Collaboration tools for team-based email creation;
• Powerful email personalization options;
• Real-time monitoring and delivery optimization;
• A/B testing and analytics for campaign optimization.

Mailjet is designed with a hassle-free experience in mind. It nicely combines the simplicity of usage with powerful features that meet all your marketing needs. Be sure that with Mailjet, your email campaigns will be effectively targeted, personalized, and efficient without investing much energy in setting them up.

Mailjet might also be the best competitor to SendGrid regarding transactional emails. On the platform, you’ll find an array of pre-made, customizable templates, from account creation notifications to password resets. Mailjet also allows to use our SMTP relay or send API (Application Programming Interface) for transactional emails, meaning that there’s one big thing to think about less. Finally, the tool has a strong reputation for high deliverability rates, ensuring that your emails reach recipients’ inboxes effectively.

Pros & Cons

Pricing: 

• Paid plans start at $15 and up to 15,000 emails per month; 
• Free plan is also available with a limit of 200 emails per day.

SendGrid Alternatives: Price & Feature Comparison Table

Key Takeaways

Also read: 

• The 20 Best Marketing Automation Tools & Platforms in 2024
• 11 Best Email Newsletter Software (Incl. Free Services)

Author’s bio

Vesta Oldenburg is a content writer specializing in email marketing strategies. In her daily work, creativity intertwines with a strategic mindset to create content that captivates its readers.