- Premium features included
- No hidden costs or usage limits
- Scale from startup to enterprise
Finding the perfect email marketing platform can make or break your customer connections and business growth. Let’s face it — with all the options out there, zeroing in on a solution that actually fits what you’re trying to do (and doesn’t drain your bank account) is crucial.
I’ve worked with both Mailjet and SendGrid extensively, and they’re definitely built for different types of users. Mailjet has carved out its niche with affordable pricing, a super user-friendly interface, and some great collaboration tools — perfect if you’ve got a marketing team working together on campaigns.
SendGrid takes a different approach, focusing on rock-solid transactional email delivery, scalability, and developer-friendly APIs — making it the go-to for dev teams and companies sending mountains of emails.
In this breakdown, I’m comparing how these platforms stack up on pricing (because budget always matters), features, ease of use, and overall performance. By the end, you should have a pretty good idea which one makes more sense for your email strategy.
Mailjet
SendGrid
Best For
Small to mid-sized businesses, marketing teams
Developers, high-volume email senders
Pricing
Free plan + paid plans from $15/month
Free plan + paid plans from $19.95/month
Ease of Use
Simple, intuitive interface for team collaboration
Developer-friendly with more technical setup
Value for Money
Affordable with unlimited contacts and basic features
Great for scalability, cost-effective for large senders
Overall Strengths
Overall Weaknesses
Mailjet
Affordable, real-time collaboration, simple setup
Limited advanced automation features
SendGrid
Powerful API, excellent for high-volume emails
Can be complex for non-developers; higher pricing for premium features
Mailjet
SendGrid
Email Campaigns
Automation
Landing Pages & Forms
Segmentation & Personalization
Reporting & Analytics
Integrations
Mailjet works perfectly for small and mid-sized companies looking for a straightforward email platform without the complexity.
What I particularly like is that they don’t restrict your email sends on paid plans, their campaign builder is genuinely easy to use, and their collaboration features are ideal if you’ve got multiple people working on your email campaigns.
The main drawback? It doesn’t have some of the more advanced features like landing page creation or sophisticated segmentation tools. It’s really designed for basic email campaigns rather than complex, hyper-personalized marketing strategies.
SendGrid shines if you’re technically inclined or need to send massive volumes of emails — especially transactional messages. Their API capabilities are genuinely impressive, letting you integrate email seamlessly into your existing systems.
The platform handles high-volume traffic beautifully and provides deep engagement tracking that helps you optimize performance. The downside? It’s definitely not the most beginner-friendly option.
The platform’s complexity and focus on API-driven workflows can be overwhelming if you’re just looking for a simple marketing tool that works out of the box.
Subscriber Count
Mailjet Pricing (Premium Plan)
SendGrid Pricing (Advanced Marketing Plan)
Key Differences
1,000
From $15/month
From $19.95/month
Mailjet is more affordable at the entry level.
2,500
From $25/month
From $29.95/month
SendGrid includes more advanced automation at this level.
5,000
From $35/month
From $49.95/month
Mailjet offers unlimited emails; SendGrid focuses on higher deliverability.
10,000
From $55/month
From $89.95/month
SendGrid’s higher pricing includes stronger analytics and segmentation.
25,000
From $125/month
From $149.95/month
SendGrid includes additional features like email validation and advanced reporting.
Mailjet is definitely the more wallet-friendly option if you’re running a small or mid-sized business that just needs solid email marketing without all the bells and whistles. The unlimited emails at reasonable rates is a big selling point, and their pricing stays competitive even as you grow.
SendGrid costs more across the board, but there’s a reason for that. You’re paying for more robust features — especially around deliverability, segmentation, and reporting. It makes the most sense for high-volume senders or companies that need specialized features for getting emails to actually reach inboxes.
The pricing scales up as your needs grow, and it gets significantly more expensive than Mailjet when you start accessing their advanced features.
Mailjet Free Plan
SendGrid Free Plan
Subscribers
Unlimited contacts
Up to 100 subscribers
Emails/Month
6,000 emails/month (200/day limit)
100 emails/day
Automation
Basic automation available
No automation available
Landing Pages/Forms
Signup forms only
No landing page builder, forms via API
Branding
Mailjet branding on emails
SendGrid branding on emails
Mailjet’s free option is surprisingly generous and works well for small businesses or teams that need to send a decent volume of emails and collect leads. The unlimited contacts with 6,000 monthly emails gives you room to experiment with basic campaigns, though you’ll hit the ceiling pretty quickly if you’re sending daily.
SendGrid’s free plan is clearly meant for developers or businesses just testing the transactional email waters. The 100 emails per day is pretty restrictive, and the lack of automation or user-friendly forms shows this isn’t meant for serious marketing work.
It’s more of a “try before you buy” option for companies evaluating SendGrid’s deliverability and API capabilities.
Mailjet
SendGrid
Mailjet makes the most sense if you’re running a small business or marketing team that needs a straightforward, affordable email tool. It’s especially valuable if you need collaborative features and a simple interface for creating campaigns quickly.
The unlimited contacts and reasonable pricing make it approachable for growing businesses, though you’ll need to accept some limitations on advanced features and integrations.
SendGrid is the better choice for larger operations, particularly those sending high volumes of emails or focusing on transactional messaging. If you have developers on your team, you’ll appreciate the robust API and deliverability focus.
It’s perfect for e-commerce companies, SaaS businesses, or any organization where email is mission-critical to operations. Just be prepared for a steeper learning curve and higher costs as you scale.
People consistently praise Mailjet for how approachable it is — the drag-and-drop editor gets a lot of love, and many appreciate how quickly they can get up and running with campaigns. The collaborative features are especially popular with marketing teams who need multiple people involved in email creation.
SendGrid users, particularly developers, rave about the platform’s API capabilities and reliability. It’s seen as the go-to for technical teams that need precision and scalability.
However, non-technical users often mention the steeper learning curve and note that it takes more time to master the platform’s capabilities.
Mailjet is about as easy as email marketing gets — most users report feeling comfortable with it within a day or two. The platform is intuitive even for beginners, and the straightforward approach to campaign creation means you don’t need to spend weeks figuring out complex features.
SendGrid definitely requires more time investment, especially for marketing teams without technical backgrounds. Its developer-focused approach means there’s more to learn upfront, but many users find the additional capabilities worth the initial hurdle.
Mailjet customers consistently highlight three things: affordable pricing, the ease of collaboration, and how simple it is to create campaigns. The main complaints tend to focus on limitations with advanced features and the need for more integrations with other marketing tools.
SendGrid users praise the deliverability rates, API flexibility, and scalability for high-volume sending. However, that shocking Trustpilot score (1.1/5) reveals serious customer frustrations around billing issues and the platform’s complexity for new users.
While many technical teams love the product, the customer experience appears to be hit-or-miss based on your technical background.
Ultimately, your choice between these platforms should depend on your specific needs — are you a marketing team looking for simplicity and collaboration, or a technical operation requiring robust API capabilities and scalability? Your answer to that question probably points to the better fit.