Choosing the right email marketing platform is crucial for engaging customers and growing your small business.
Flodesk and TinyEmail are two popular options, each with unique features and benefits. Both email marketing platforms have powerful built-in tools to help you create professional, effective campaigns that acquire new subscribers, drive sales, and build lasting relationships with customers.
In this Flodesk vs TinyEmail comparison, we evaluate these platforms across several key criteria such as market position, ease of use, templates, analytics, integrations, customer support, and pricing to help you determine which solution best fits your needs.
1. Understanding the Basics
Flodesk was founded in 2019 by Martha Bitar and Rebecca Shostak as a simpler alternative for more complex email marketing platforms. It has quickly grown in popularity, with over 50,000 users as of 2022.
TinyEmail entered the market in 2020, founded by Seamas Egan. It has a smaller but fast-growing user base.
Flodesk has an active Facebook community of over 25,000 members where users can get questions answered and connect with other users. TinyEmail’s Facebook group has a few thousand members and is also very active.
Both platforms aim to provide easy-to-use email marketing and landing page builders for small businesses.
Flodesk has been around longer and has more brand recognition, while TinyEmail is newer but gaining traction as a budget-friendly option. Understanding their origins and current market position provides helpful context for this email marketing software comparison.
2. Features and Functionality
Automation
Flodesk
Flodesk enables users to create automation based on subscriber actions or inactions. You can set up welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, subscription confirmations, birthday messages, and more.
Automations are configured through a visual workflow builder that lets you set triggers, filters, and actions. For example, you could send an automated email to customers who abandoned their cart after 1 day, then follow up again if no purchase after 3 days.
Flodesk has robust segmentation options to target automation. You can filter by location, purchase history, engagement metrics, custom fields, and more. Automation can also be scheduled based on relative dates like “3 days after signup” or fixed dates like cart abandonment.
Overall, Flodesk provides a full-featured automation toolset to streamline workflows, encourage engagement, and enhance your email marketing efforts. The workflow builder is intuitive yet powerful enough for complex multi-step automation.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail also enables the creation of automated email campaigns based on subscriber actions. You can set up sequences for onboarding, re-engagement, abandoned carts, and more.
The workflow builder allows you to visually map trigger-based sequences with branches and conditions. For example, you could send different abandoned cart emails for carts over $50 vs under. Filters segment contacts based on attributes like location, purchase data, and email engagement.
One limitation is automation workflows max out at 5 emails currently. So you can’t create elaborate 10+ email journeys like in Flodesk. The scheduling options are also more basic—you can’t set relative send dates like “3 days after signup.”
Overall, TinyEmail has capable automation features for basic email sequences. However, the functionality lags behind Flodesk for complex multi-step workflows and advanced scheduling/segmentation.
Winner: Flodesk
Flodesk wins for automation capabilities due to its robust workflow builder, unlimited automation steps, and flexible scheduling options. It offers more features compared to TinyEmail and other email marketing platforms in the same category.
Marketers who want to create sophisticated behavioral-based campaigns with precision targeting will get more value from Flodesk. TinyEmail automation is decent for basic sequences but lacks more advanced options.
Email Templates
Flodesk
Flodesk provides hundreds of professionally designed email templates covering categories like welcome sequences, promotions, newsletters, and more. Templates are mobile-optimized and easy to customize.
The template editor lets you swap images, colors, and text on any template. You can also use Flodesk’s pattern library to maintain brand consistency. Dynamic content blocks pull in subscriber data to personalize emails.
Templates are organized into categories which makes finding the right design for your campaign easy. And if you want something completely custom, you can build emails from scratch with the drag-and-drop editor.
Overall, Flodesk’s large template library coupled with customizability provides ample options for crafting emails that align with your brand. The editor is intuitive enough for beginners but also gives advanced users the flexibility they need.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail offers around 100 free, pre-designed templates for most email campaign types. The templates are mobile-friendly and cover categories like drip campaigns, promotions, newsletters, and more.
While the selection is decent, it’s smaller compared to Flodesk’s extensive template library. However, TinyEmail makes up for this with easy customization. You can modify colors, fonts, and design elements on any template. Dynamic content blocks pull in subscriber info.
The email marketing tool has a user-friendly interface and a drag-and-drop editor that provides flexibility for building custom templates from scratch. Images, text boxes, buttons, and more can be added with ease. But those wanting more structured templates may need to get creative.
In summary, TinyEmail provides a solid set of customizable templates to choose from, though not as many options out of the box as Flodesk. However, the flexibility to craft custom emails is excellent.
Winner: Tie
We declare this a tie between the two popular email marketing tools. Flodesk offers far more templates for easier plug-and-play email creation. But TinyEmail provides more design flexibility for fully custom emails. For those wanting lots of polished templates, Flodesk is better. For maximum creative freedom, TinyEmail excels. Both platforms make professional email design accessible for small businesses.
Segmentation
Flodesk
Flodesk provides powerful segmentation options to target specific groups of contacts. You can create segments based on email engagement, purchase history, survey data, custom fields, and more.
Segmentation is easy to set up. Simply choose filtering criteria like “Opened Email” or “Made Purchase”, select an operator like “Greater Than” or “Contains”, and enter the value to filter. Complex segments can be created using multiple filters.
Saved segments automatically update as subscriber data changes, ensuring you always target the most relevant contacts. Flodesk lets you combine saved segments with groups for incredibly precise targeting.
With such robust segmentation, Flodesk makes it easy to hyper-target campaigns and optimize engagement. The visual segment builder provides flexibility for both basic and advanced audience targeting.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail enables segmenting your list based on attributes like email opens/clicks, purchase activity, survey responses, and more. You can target subscribers who clicked but didn’t open, abandoned their cart, etc.
The interface for creating segments is user-friendly but lacks some of Flodesk’s features. You can’t combine multiple criteria in one segment, for example. The operators for filters are also more limited—you can’t filter by “Contains” or “Greater Than”.
An advantage is dynamic segments that update automatically when data changes. This ensures targeting accuracy. However, the inability to combine segments limits how specialized your targeting can get overall.
In summary, TinyEmail has capable segmentation tools for basic filtering but lacks more advanced options compared to Flodesk. Marketers with complex segmentation needs may find it limiting.
Winner: Flodesk
Both email marketing services Flodesk is the winner for its powerful segmentation builder, flexible filtering options, and ability to combine segments. Marketers who want to slice and dice their audience into highly targeted lists will find that Flodesk provides them with more options. TinyEmail segmentation covers the basics well but is less robust.
Analytics
Flodesk
Flodesk provides powerful email analytics to help you optimize campaigns. You get real-time stats on opens, clicks, unsubscribes, spam reports, and more. Charts visualize trends over time.
Drill-down filters allow analyzing metrics by campaign, segment, template, link, and other parameters. You can see which subject lines, “from” fields, and lists perform best. Or identify low-engagement segments.
Flodesk integrates with Google Analytics to understand subscriber behavior beyond email opens/clicks. See page visits, conversions, ecommerce data, and more.
Advanced options like A/B testing emails and tracking engagement by device are available. You can also export reports for deeper analysis.
Overall, Flodesk equips you with comprehensive analytics to gain insights that improve email performance, targeting, and content. Both beginners and experts will find value in the toolset.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail provides basic email analytics covering opens, clicks, unsubscribes, and more. You can view real-time stats or trends over time.
The toolset is easy to navigate but lacks some advanced features offered by Flodesk. There are no segmentation filters for analyzing metrics by campaign, list, etc. And no A/B testing capabilities.
TinyEmail does integrate with Google Analytics, so you can connect subscriber email behavior with website activity. However, the scope of email analytics is limited compared to Flodesk.
In summary, TinyEmail covers the essentials well for understanding open and click rates. But marketers wanting more advanced insights around email optimization will find the analytics capabilities quite basic.
Winner: Flodesk
Flodesk wins for its powerful email analytics that helps optimize every aspect of your campaigns. The advanced segmentation, A/B testing, and integration with Google Analytics provide invaluable insights you can’t get with TinyEmail’s more basic reporting. For in-depth email analytics, Flodesk is the clear choice.
Unique Features
Flodesk
A standout feature of Flodesk is its built-in CRM. It syncs contact data across email, landing pages, and the CRM. Key info like name, email, location, and custom field data is unified.
This enables seamless transitions between emailing a subscriber and viewing their full profile in the CRM. You get a holistic view of each contact for more personalized, targeted messaging based on their attributes and engagement.
Other unique aspects include built-in sales funnels, the ability to schedule social media posts natively, and integration with Meetup to turn events into email acquisition tools.
Overall, Flodesk combines robust email marketing with CRM and other features to provide an all-in-one solution tailored to ecommerce businesses. The unified data and workflows create a streamlined experience.
TinyEmail
One of TinyEmail’s unique features is its focus on speed and deliverability. The platform uses a proprietary sending infrastructure optimized for inboxing.
TinyEmail also enables sending SMS messages in addition to emails. Subscribers can be targeted across both channels, or you can send purely SMS campaigns.
Finally, TinyEmail integrates with various messaging apps like WhatsApp, allowing you to extend campaigns to these platforms.
While TinyEmail doesn’t have quite the breadth of features as Flodesk, its SMS capabilities and optimized deliverability engine differentiate it in the market.
Winner: Flodesk
We give the edge for unique features to Flodesk for its unified email marketing, CRM, and social media capabilities in one platform. The integration and synchronization create a seamless workflow for ecommerce marketers. TinyEmail has some nice extras like SMS and messaging app integration but lacks the unified scope of Flodesk’s all-in-one toolkit.
3. Ease of Use
Flodesk
Flodesk has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that makes creating emails, landing pages, and automations visual and easy. The platform uses bold colors, clean designs, and clear navigation focused on simplicity.
The workflow guides you step-by-step so even beginners can start sending professionally designed emails in minutes. However, advanced users have access to more complex functionality when needed.
Flodesk provides live chat support right within the app for quick help. Active community forums and a library of tutorials offer additional resources for learning the platform.
Overall, Flodesk strikes a great balance between simplicity for new users and depth for power users. The learning curve is low thanks to guided workflows and visual builders.
TinyEmail
Like Flodesk, TinyEmail also provides a drag-and-drop editor for easy email and landing page creation. The interface is clean and intuitive overall.
The platform offers tips and prompts to guide beginners through designing their first campaign. But occasionally you may need to dive into advanced settings that can feel overwhelming.
TinyEmail’s community forums and knowledge base provide useful self-help resources. Though more limited compared to Flodesk’s extensive support ecosystem. Live chat is not available.
In summary, TinyEmail offers a user-friendly experience for simple email and landing page design. But less guidance for complex workflows means the learning curve is steeper than Flodesk.
Winner: Flodesk
Flodesk wins for its extremely intuitive interface coupled with more hand-holding and resources for beginners. The guided workflows, live chat support, and robust community make getting started with email marketing frictionless. TinyEmail is decent for basic needs but lacks the polished UX and learning resources of Flodesk.
4. Email Deliverability
Flodesk
Flodesk takes a multi-pronged approach to maximize email deliverability. The platform uses proprietary algorithms to maintain accurate and clean lists. Bounces and spam complaints are handled promptly.
Emails are sent through dedicated IPs with solid sender reputations. Flodesk monitors these IPs closely and rotates as needed to avoid issues. Templates follow best practices for spam filtering avoidance.
For subscribers, Flodesk offers granular opt-in preferences and single-click unsubscribe. You can enable address authentication like SPF as an added layer of protection.
Overall, Flodesk makes email deliverability a top priority through stringent list management, high-reputation infrastructure, and subscriber-friendly practices.
TinyEmail
Deliverability is a major focus for TinyEmail. The platform uses a proprietary delivery engine optimized for inbox placement across major ISPs.
Like Flodesk, TinyEmail handles bounces swiftly and follows sender guidelines. Subscribers can easily opt-out or update preferences to maintain clean, engaged lists.
One advantage is TinyEmail’s deliverability guarantee. If not satisfied with inbox rates, you can request an audit and recommendations from their deliverability experts. If issues persist, they will refund you pro rata.
Overall, TinyEmail provides excellent deliverability through optimized sending technology, stringent list management, and a satisfaction guarantee.
Winner: Tie
We declare this section a tie. Both Flodesk and TinyEmail offer robust, proactive deliverability practices ranging from list management to infrastructure monitoring. TinyEmail’s deliverability guarantee provides peace of mind, while Flodesk offers more overall email marketing capabilities. For inbox placement, both platforms perform admirably.
5. Customer Support and Community
Flodesk
Flodesk provides 24/7 live chat and email support. Agents are knowledgeable and responsive, with average wait times of under a minute. Phone support is also available during business hours.
Extensive self-help resources include tutorials, docs, webinars, and more. Flodesk’s active user community provides peer-to-peer education.
- Flodesk Facebook Group – 16,8K+ member community
Overall, Flodesk’s stellar support ecosystem ensures you can easily get help through live chat, email, content libraries, or fellow users.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail offers email-based support with fairly fast response times during business hours. Phone and live chat support are not available currently.
The knowledge base provides useful articles and tutorials for self-service. And TinyEmail’s community forum enables asking questions and engaging with peers.
- TinyEmail Facebook Page – 1,100+ followers
While TinyEmail’s email support and community resources are decent, the lack of live chat or phone limits real-time assistance compared to Flodesk.
Winner: Flodesk
Flodesk wins for its reliable customer support through live chat, extensive help documentation on how to run effective email marketing campaigns, and vibrant user community. The ability to get real-time expert help around the clock gives Flodesk the edge. TinyEmail’s email support and forums are still useful but can’t match Flodesk’s robust ecosystem.
6. Integrations
Flodesk
Flodesk integrates with over 1,000+ apps via Zapier including top tools like WordPress, Shopify, Stripe, and more.
Key integrations allow capturing leads from landing pages, syncing online store data, tracking email performance on your website, and connecting your CRM.
Flodesk also offers an open API for building custom integrations. Developer docs and resources provided.
With its vast integration options, Flodesk enables connecting your marketing, sales, and operations stacks into one seamless workflow.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail offers over 500 native integrations with tools like WordPress, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, and more. Zapier extends options for connecting another 1,000+ apps.
By integrating your store, CRM, analytics, and other tools, you can capture subscriber data across systems for targeted messaging and better reporting.
One limitation is that TinyEmail doesn’t provide API access currently. So the ability to build custom integrations is lacking compared to Flodesk.
Overall, TinyEmail covers the major integrations small businesses need but falls behind Flodesk in the breadth of options and API extensibility.
Winner: Flodesk
Flodesk wins for its vast 1,000+ integrations, open API, and developer resources for building custom connections. For small businesses wanting an integrated toolkit with marketing automation, CRM, and other stacks, Flodesk is best suited to sync everything seamlessly.
7. Pricing
Flodesk
Flodesk uses a flat monthly pricing model based on the number of contacts. Plans range from free for up to 500 contacts to $35/month for unlimited contacts.
The free plan includes basic features for unlimited subscribers. But if you want features like popup forms, embedded forms, and hosted forms, then you’ll have to upgrade to one of the paid plans.
The e-commerce plan for $24/month includes additional features such as third-party integrations, custom fonts, personalized links, and custom domains.
Flodesk’s flat fee structure makes costs simple and easy to budget and discounts are offered for annual billing. Overall, Flodesk is affordably priced for small businesses but becomes more costly at higher contact tiers.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail is free to send automated emails to up to 500 contacts and access the platform’s visual automation builder. Paid plans start at $15/month for unlimited contacts.
The Pro plan is $65/month and comes with additional resources and advanced email automation features like pre-built segments, custom segments, unlimited emails, and an AI subject line assistant.
Volume discounts are not available, so the per-contact price is higher with TinyEmail for larger lists compared to Mailchimp.
For small lists under 500, the TinyEmail free plan provides strong value. However, experienced marketers and businesses that outgrow those limits may find better long-term pricing with Flodesk.
Winner: TinyEmail
TinyEmail wins on pricing due to its low-cost Basic plan covering 1,000 contacts. This provides great value for very small businesses. Flodesk is also fairly priced but you pay more for fewer contacts on its Starter plan. For those with tight budgets, TinyEmail provides robust features at a very competitive price point.
8. Reviews and Reputation
Flodesk
Flodesk earns positive reviews for its easy-to-use interface, visual workflow builders, and excellent customer support. Users praise the platform’s intuitiveness and robust feature set tailored to ecommerce (see Capterra).
Common downsides mentioned include the higher pricing at higher contact tiers and occasional slowness during peak traffic. But most agree that compared to other email marketing services like TinyEmail or Constant Contact, Flodesk provides excellent value for the money.
TinyEmail
Reviews for TinyEmail highlight the affordable pricing, simple interface, and solid deliverability as winning features. Users mention the platform is intuitive yet powerful for small business needs (see Trustpilot).
Potential drawbacks brought up include occasional glitches and slower support compared to rivals. But overall, TinyEmail garners positive feedback as a cost-effective email marketing solution.
Winner: Flodesk
We give a slight edge in reviews and reputation to Flodesk. While both platforms receive positive feedback, Flodesk gets more praise for its user experience, support, and value for ecommerce businesses specifically.
TinyEmail also satisfies customers, especially with its low pricing, though some report hiccups. For well-rounded email marketing, Flodesk’s stellar reputation as one of the most popular email marketing platforms stands out.
9. FAQ’s
Flodesk FAQs
- What kind of email campaigns can I create with Flodesk?
Flodesk enables sending all types of emails including newsletters, promotions, automated sequences, re-engagement campaigns, onboarding flows, and more. The platform is versatile for any email campaign needs. - Does Flodesk offer landing pages?
Yes, Flodesk provides an intuitive drag-and-drop landing page builder to easily create landing pages, coming soon pages, sales pages, and more to complement your emails. - What CRM features does Flodesk include?
Flodesk’s built-in CRM enables organizing contacts, syncing data from email campaigns, adding custom fields, scoring leads, and more. It provides robust CRM capabilities tailored for email. - Does Flodesk integrate with my ecommerce store?
Yes, Flodesk offers deep integrations with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce to sync store data into your emails for segmentation and personalization. - How much do Flodesk plans cost?
Flodesk has a free plan for up to 500 contacts. The premium plan costs $35 and allows you to send emails to unlimited subscribers. More advanced plans are available that add more features.
TinyEmail FAQs
- What types of email can I send with TinyEmail?
The platform supports all core email campaign types like newsletters, promotions, sequences, broadcasts, automated workflows, and more. - Does TinyEmail have landing pages?
Yes, TinyEmail provides a simple drag-and-drop landing page builder to create landing pages to complement your emails. - What ecommerce platforms does TinyEmail integrate with?
TinyEmail integrates seamlessly with Shopify, WooCommerce, and other leading ecommerce platforms to bring store data into your emails. - How many contacts can I have on the Basic plan?
TinyEmail’s Basic plan includes unlimited contacts for only $15/month, making it very affordable for early-stage businesses. - Is there a free trial?
Yes, TinyEmail offers a 15-day free trial to test out the platform. No credit card is required.
Final Thoughts
Choose Flodesk if…
Flodesk is a great choice if you want a unified platform with email marketing, landing pages, CRM, and other features tailored for ecommerce businesses. It’s ideal for those seeking robust automation, advanced analytics, and powerful segmentation capabilities.
While pricing is higher at higher tiers, you get seamless workflows and stellar support. Flodesk shines for users wanting an integrated toolkit optimized for selling online.
Choose TinyEmail if…
TinyEmail is ideal if you want straightforward email marketing with basic automation and landing pages at an affordable price. It’s a great budget-friendly option for early-stage businesses.
While TinyEmail lacks some of the more advanced automation features of Flodesk, it covers email essentials well, making it ideal for small business owners that want to run basic campaigns. Its optimized deliverability is also a big plus. For simple email needs, TinyEmail provides tremendous value.
If you aren’t sure if TinyEmail is right for you, consider reading my favorite TinyEmail Alternatives.