Email marketing platforms like Mailjet and SendGrid are critical tools for business owners looking to engage with customers and drive growth. Choosing the right email service can be the difference between an ineffective campaign and successfully connecting with your audience.
In this article, we compare Mailjet and SendGrid across ten categories to help you determine the best platform for your needs.
With the right email marketing platform fueling your initiatives, you can increase brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, and loyalty. Use this side-by-side Mailjet vs SendGrid analysis as a guide to choosing the solution that aligns with your goals and sets your business up for the future.
1. Understanding the Basics
Mailjet was founded in 2010 by French entrepreneurs Wilfried Durand and Julien Tartarin. It has over 12,000 customers globally. Mailjet has a strong market presence in Europe but has been expanding worldwide.
SendGrid began in 2009, founded by Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez, and Tim Jenkins as an email delivery and tracking service. In 2022, Twilio acquired SendGrid in a $3 billion deal to expand its customer engagement offerings.
Both platforms have an active social media presence. The Mailjet Users Facebook group has over 3,300 followers. The SendGrid Community on Facebook has hundreds of engaged users.
Mailjet and SendGrid have been around for a while and established themselves as leading options. SendGrid currently edges out Mailjet in worldwide market share. However, Mailjet maintains a competitive presence.
2. Features and Functionality
Automation
Mailjet
Mailjet offers a visual drag-and-drop editor to build workflows and automation without needing to use code. You can create complex multi-step journeys by adding triggers, filters, delays, and emails across an intuitive canvas. For example, you can set up a welcome series for new contacts or an abandoned cart recovery flow to re-engage customers.
Advanced options include A/B testing email content, setting up RSS-to-email campaigns, and integrating third-party apps like Zapier or Shopify using webhook triggers. The platform supports real-time event data through APIs to react to customer behaviors quickly.
You can even build SMS workflows alongside email. Overall, Mailjet focuses on sophisticated segmentation and personalized cross-channel automation.
SendGrid
SendGrid has an easy-to-use visual workflow builder that allows you to string emails and actions together based on triggers and filters. You can set up lifecycle campaigns, subscribe customers to nurture streams and customize based on behaviors. Basic automation like welcome series, anniversary emails, and win-back flows are simple to establish.
More advanced options allow scoring customer engagement to determine messaging. SendGrid offers fan-out workflows to split contacts into different streams, as well as A/B testing capabilities. You can incorporate SMS along with the email.
Integration with Salesforce, Hubspot, and other platforms is also available. The focus tends toward email-centric journeys targeted at moving contacts through a conversion funnel.
Winner: Mailjet
Mailjet wins for best automation capabilities due to the highly visual canvas, sophisticated segmentation options, and unified approach across email and SMS. The versatility to create complex, personalized cross-channel customer journeys gives brands the tools they need to boost engagement.
SendGrid has great email automation, but Mailjet goes further with omnichannel messaging and customization powered by event and API integrations.
Email Templates
Mailjet
Mailjet offers hundreds of professionally designed email templates covering categories like marketing, lifecycle, e-commerce, and beyond. You can browse by theme, layout, industry or campaign goal to find the right starting point.
Drag-and-drop editing makes it simple to customize templates by adding/removing sections, tweaking colors, inserting images, and tailoring the copy. All templates are mobile-responsive out of the box.
Handy collaboration features let you gather feedback on draft emails internally before sending them. You also access millions of free stock photos through Unsplash integration.
For further customization, developers can leverage the Drag & Drop Editor API. Templates utilize dynamic content blocks pulled from customer data for personalization. Overall, beautiful templates and smooth editing streamline the creation of on-brand, engaging emails.
SendGrid
SendGrid offers a template library with 200+ free, professionally designed email templates optimized for opens and click-throughs. Options are sorted by category, campaign type, and layout style. You can preview mobile responsiveness and quickly swap in branding colors.
An intuitive drag-and-drop editor lets you customize templates by moving/adding/deleting elements easily. Useful templates utilize dynamic content and personalization powered by customer data.
While the library covers nicely designed templates for common uses, there are fewer specialized options compared to Mailjet. The built-in editor facilitates basic changes, but developers will need to leverage the API for coding deeper custom email templates tailored to unique brand needs. Solid templates and editor for standard use cases, but less versatility.
Winner: Mailjet
Mailjet wins for best email templates with 4x more designer templates covering a wider range of uses. Convenient browsing and collaboration options combined with smooth editing tools empower brands to quickly create stunning, effective emails.
SendGrid has great essentials, but Mailjet’s vastly larger library spanning specialty categories gives brands more diverse starting points to stand out while maintaining on-brand consistency.
Segmentation
Mailjet
Mailjet offers powerful segmentation options to divide contacts into targeted groups for personalized messaging. You can create segments based on a wide range of criteria like demographics, behaviors, purchase history, engagement metrics, device type, location, and more. Dynamic segmentation automatically syncs groups as new data comes in.
Granular multi-level nesting lets you combine criteria to reach hyper-specific audiences, while visual segment builders and presets simplify setup. Sophisticated tools like predictive modeling, machine learning journeys, and AI-powered email copy handle advanced personalization at scale. Mailjet makes it easy to leverage rich customer data for 1:1 messaging.
SendGrid
SendGrid focuses on behavioral email segmentation for dividing contacts based on actions like opens, clicks, conversions, etc. You can target groups with tailored content streams focused on moving them to the next funnel stage. Basic options exist for segmenting by location, purchase history, or sign-up date.
However, there is less flexibility compared to Mailjet when it comes to building highly customized combined segments. The level of segmentation relies more on developer expertise to leverage APIs for complex group creation and management. Out-of-the-box, SendGrid offers solid behavioral email segmentation but lags on granular multi-variable targeting.
Winner: Mailjet
Mailjet is the winner for the best segmentation tools. The immense flexibility to categorize contacts using any attribute combined with intelligent automation lifts email personalization to new heights.
SendGrid is simpler for behavioral email streams but lacks robust options for custom criteria combinations. For powering hyper-targeted, meaningful messaging at scale, Mailjet’s segmentation superiority is clear.
Analytics
Mailjet
Mailjet provides robust email analytics tracking key metrics like opens, clicks, conversions, unsubscribes, spam complaints, and more. Real-time dashboards offer campaign, global, and contact-level insights.
You can drill down to analyze performance by device, browser, location, link, and other factors. Sophisticated tools include predictive inbox placement testing, multi-variant A/B testing, message comparisons, and analytics AI revealing why contacts open or don’t open.
Beyond email, Mailjet ties offline and online data together for unified reporting on SMS, website, and advertising campaigns alongside email in one dashboard. Developed with marketers in mind, the platform delivers the integrated analytics needed to optimize performance across touchpoints.
SendGrid
SendGrid focuses specifically on email analytics for opens, clicks, deliveries, bounces, conversions, etc. Real-time dashboards display metrics globally or for individual campaigns, with filtering options and easy export. You can analyze email stats by location, link, device, and more to improve targeting. Basic A/B testing functionality is supported.
For those needing web analytics or cross-channel reporting, SendGrid integrates with third parties like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, and Heap rather than building inclusive proprietary tools. Solid for reviewing email campaign performance, but lacks advanced predictive analytics or unified cross-channel reporting under one platform.
Winner: Mailjet
Mailjet wins for best analytics due to the expansive integrated tracking and intelligence across email, SMS, web, advertising, and more.
Sophisticated modeling and testing enable granular optimization while unified dashboards give full visibility on cross-channel efforts for maximizing engagement. SendGrid narrowly focuses on solid email analytics. For actionable omnichannel insights, Mailjet has the edge.
Unique Features
Mailjet
Mailjet stands out for its Journey Orchestration tools that combine messaging channels, data flows, and intelligent automation within one visual canvas. You can orchestrate multi-step customer journeys across email, SMS, push notifications, on-site messaging, and more fueled by real-time data. Sophisticated automations triggered by behaviors then adapt the journey while AI optimizes content.
Other unique features include the SuitePOS partnership for sending transactional emails and SMS directly from POINT OF SALE systems and Global Verification Tools meeting international email regulations. Mailjet also offers free custom plug-ins and tools to integrate with popular e-commerce platforms. With a focus on omnichannel messaging, journey orchestration is a differentiated capability.
SendGrid
Unique SendGrid features center on email deliverability and security protected by proprietary antispam and inbox placement tools. SendGrid prioritizes getting emails to the inbox safely. The platform offers package tracking notifications where transactional emails automatically update customers on shipping status via an integrated shipping API.
SendGrid also stands out for its email activity feed. This allows developers to build custom apps receiving real-time alerts on email events like bounces, clicks, etc. While focused on email delivery and programmability more than journey building, antispam technology and the activity feed are special assets.
Winner: Tie
Both Mailjet and SendGrid offer exclusive capabilities suited for different needs. Mailjet stands out for those wanting to create unified cross-channel customer journeys across multiple touchpoints powered by data and automation. For email-centric use cases focused on guaranteed inbox delivery and API programmability, SendGrid takes the lead. Each has differentiated strengths warranting a tie.
3. Ease of Use
Mailjet
Mailjet prioritizes usability with an intuitive drag-and-drop visual editor requiring no coding knowledge. The clean, modern interface allows you to access key tools directly from the main dashboard to start building emails, automation, and more in minutes. Thoughtful features like pop-up tooltips, live preview, and undo shortcuts streamline creating seamlessly without guesswork.
Wizards guide beginners through initial setup while allowing advanced configuration for experts. Well-organized menus and visual workflow editors eliminate learning curves. Mailjet also offers free training resources like webinars, documentation, and video tutorials tailored to users of all skill levels to ramp up quickly.
SendGrid
SendGrid aims for simplicity with a clean, basic dashboard highlighting core email functionality without overwhelming users. Key options are accessible in the side toolbar while campaigns and contacts are managed through straightforward list views. The visual email builder and automation editor make creating without coding accessible for beginners.
However, the UI lacks drag-and-drop flexibility or advanced features in favor of keeping things simple. Less guidance is provided through the interface compared to Mailjet. While the platform is easy to initially start sending emails, scaling more complex initiatives may prove challenging without developer support or digging into documentation for guidance.
Winner: Mailjet
Mailjet wins for best ease of use. The highly visual drag-and-drop editor requires no prior experience to start creating effective emails and cross-channel automation.
Thoughtful interface design elements, extensive resources for ramping up knowledge, and intuitive workflow building provide a superior user experience compared to SendGrid. Both platforms aim to make email marketing accessible, but Mailjet goes further ensuring rapid mastery.
4. Email Deliverability
Mailjet
Mailjet offers excellent email deliverability with dedicated IP addresses and proprietary antispam technology protecting the sender’s reputation for fewer deliverability issues. Real-time monitoring flags issues before major impacts while automatic message testing optimizes inbox placement across providers.
Customized sender scoring helps identify the ideal sending domain and volume for your needs. Global inbox rendering checks also help accurately preview appearance across clients. For advanced users, this is a great option with granular IP and domain analytics that provide insight to fine-tune deliverability over time.
SendGrid
As an email-first platform, SendGrid prioritizes deliverability through integrated security protecting against spam, bounced messages, blacklisting and other issues threatening inbox delivery. Robust tools allow deep visibility into email reputation while automatic tests enhance placement.
Unique features like domain white-labeling and predictive inbox monitoring powered by machine learning give an added layer of deliverability insurance to get to the inbox. Long-standing domain sender reputation and dedicated IP expertise further bolster reliability.
Winner: Tie
Both Mailjet and SendGrid offer exceptional email deliverability rates thanks to advanced domain security, detailed analytics, blocked message protection, and automatic optimization testing.
SendGrid’s specialization provides a slight edge on inbox placement guarantees, but Mailjet still maintains strong protection. Considering that most major providers now offer excellent baseline protection, large businesses and startup companies can trust both platforms to safely deliver emails.
5. Customer Support and Community
Mailjet
Mailjet provides 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, and phone. As a premium-tier platform, users get dedicated account management and onboarding assistance. The company maintains an impressive < 15-minute time-to-response rate for each ticket. Beyond standard support, Mailjet offers access to email deliverability experts, campaign strategy consultants and more based on your account tier.
For community knowledge sharing, some options exist through Facebook groups like Mailjet Users with ~3,000 members. However, formalized community forums are one area lacking compared to competitors. However, extensive self-service resources in the Help Center, webinars, and blogs fill gaps.
SendGrid
SendGrid offers 24/7 live chat, email, and phone customer support with technical guidance as well as strategic campaign planning advice based on use cases.
In addition, they provide an online ticketing portal to track issues over time to ensure that you get your answer in a timely way. SendGrid reps respond in under 30 minutes for most tiers. Users also benefit from account management and exclusive access to deliverability consultants.
In terms of community, SendGrid hosts Forum Groups connecting over 7,500 involved members to discuss best practices. Feature requests can also be submitted for product consideration. Robust self-help content in the knowledge base accelerates troubleshooting and learning independently.
Winner: SendGrid
Both email services have much to offer, but SendGrid wins when it comes to the best overall customer support and community experience. Both platforms provide excellent 24/7 multi-channel assistance and account management at higher tiers.
However, SendGrid’s dedicated forum community and consolidated self-serve knowledge base for tackling questions independently or with peers gives them the advantage. The resources for getting quick help when needed elevate the experience.
6. Integrations
Mailjet
Mailjet emphasizes easy integration by connecting emails to other channels and apps through 6,000+ integrations. Out-of-the-box they integrate directly with leading CRM, ecommerce, analytics, and more. You also access one-click automation with Zapier, allowing you to connect Mailjet workflows with over 4,000 web apps.
Developers can add links to any powerful API from the platform’s 200+ APIs to build custom integrations, augment data flows from any source, and incorporate event-based triggers into campaigns. Mailjet also offers free plug-ins for e-commerce platforms like Magento allowing you to manage customer data, transactions, and messaging in one place.
SendGrid
SendGrid offers native integration with leading CRM, marketing, and analytics platforms to expand email capabilities. Key partnerships include Salesforce, Oracle, Adobe Marketo, and Zendesk. The platform has 300+ turnkey app integrations with Zapier and Workato.
While less open compared to Mailjet, SendGrid provides email activity and event webhooks that developers can leverage to build custom integrations with internal data sources and external apps. Integrations focus on expanding contacts, automation, and insights which means you don’t have to worry about being unable to use any tools in your tech stack.
Winner: Mailjet
Mailjet is the best fit for integrations thanks to the thousands of web interface and mail connectors bridging emails across platforms and channels.
Whether you want turnkey CRM automation or to build custom data flows fueled by proprietary APIs, Mailjet has wider capacity increasing functionality through integrations which can be correctly added with a few clicks. SendGrid is more limited yet still hits on the most popular app expansion email needs.
7. Pricing
Mailjet
Mailjet pricing follows a pay-as-you-go model based on the number of emails sent per month, starting free up to 6,000 emails. The Starter plan is $15/month for up to 15,000 emails. Volume tiers scale up with advanced features at each level including dedicated IP, behavioral messaging tools, and more.
Their high-volume custom plans offer the most value starting at 200,000 emails for $199/month. Overall costs per email range from less than 1 cent on high-tier plans to under 2 cents per email for smaller accounts. Costs scale linearly while adding capabilities. Discounts are also available for nonprofits and subscribers paying annually.
SendGrid
SendGrid’s pay-as-you-go pricing is similar to Mailjet’s for smaller accounts. The free tier allows 100 emails/day. From there, you can upgrade to a paid plan – the Essentials plan, which starts at $15 allowing 40,000 emails/month ($0.37 per 1,000 additional emails). Package options focus on scaling monthly send volume with some unlocked capabilities as you progress up tiers.
Enterprise-level custom plan solutions offer more pricing flexibility for large volume accounts with discounts available on annual plans. Overall per unit costs can drop below $0.001 per email at scale. Higher tiers provide quicker access to additional IP addresses and dedicated account management alongside volume.
Winner: Mailjet
The two companies offer lots of value, but Mailjet wins for having the most generous free plan and cost-effective pricing, especially for mid-tier customers.
Both providers charge reasonably as you scale monthly volume. However, Mailjet’s sliding pricing model injects advanced capabilities sooner without drastic per-unit price hikes between plans seen with SendGrid. For budget-friendly access to premium features alongside volume, Mailjet takes the lead on overall value.
8. Reviews and Reputation
Mailjet
Independent reviews of Mailjet highlight the visual email builder, sophisticated automation, and excellent deliverability as major assets.
Users praise the intuitive drag-and-drop editor requiring no coding expertise combined with advanced journey functionality for creating targeted campaigns and sending relevant marketing emails. Support responds in under an hour, and you can talk to a human at any time. Most reviews on platforms like G2 and Capterra give 4 or 5 stars.
Some negatives mentioned involve smaller community forums for peer discussions compared to competitors, which users hope will be resolved soon. Occasional remarks on the learning curve for more complex workflows. However, positive notes on responsive customer support offset these issues for most review options.
SendGrid
SendGrid earns consistent praise from reviewers on platforms like G2 and Capterra for reliable email delivery and easy-to-use UI. Users highlight great inbox placement powered by proprietary antispam tools protecting sender reputation. Intuitive creating and sending also get positive marks.
Less favorable discussion groups center on some limitations for advanced subscribers, including a lack of hyper-personalization options, more basic workflow functionality, and fewer integrated channels compared to competitors. But most agree that SendGrid excels at email essentials.
Winner: Mailjet
The winner for best reviews and reputation goes to Mailjet for earning outstanding feedback on critical email marketing capabilities from usability to deliverability. More well-rounded omnichannel functionality combined with slightly higher overall ratings give the software the winning edge. However, SendGrid still maintains a positive sentiment on delivering secure, effective email.
9. FAQ’s
Mailjet FAQs
- What types of email campaigns can I create?
With Mailjet, you can create all types of email campaigns from welcome series to promotional blasts, abandoning cart recovery flows, birthday messages, newsletter digests, and more. Sophisticated automation makes personalizing at scale simple. - How reliable is email delivery and inbox placement?
By default, Mailjet offers dedicated IPs with proprietary tools protecting sender reputation and optimizing inbox placement across providers to guarantee reliable 97%+ email deliverability. - Does Mailjet have free email templates?
Yes, Mailjet provides hundreds of free, professionally designed email templates that you can customize across industries, layouts, and campaign goals to accelerate creating consistent emails. - What support resources are available?
Mailjet offers 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support at all pricing tiers with additional access to deliverability experts and account management available on paid plans. Extensive self-help content also assists in troubleshooting independently.
SendGrid FAQs
- What types of email campaigns can I create in SendGrid?
SendGrid offers easy-to-build email campaigns from welcome automation and newsletters to customer re-engagement flows, promotional messaging, event notifications, and more focused on driving conversions. - How reliably does SendGrid deliver emails to the inbox?
As an email-first platform, inbox deliverability is a key strength with rates exceeding 99% across top providers thanks to security protections and optimization process testing getting emails through. - Do you integrate with CRM and marketing platforms?
Yes, native and API-level integrations connect SendGrid with popular platforms like Salesforce, Adobe Marketo, Zendesk, and Zapier among hundreds of other apps to enhance data and automation. - Is phone support available?
Yes, 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support is available across all SendGrid plans with additional access to deliverability consultants and account management at higher tiers.
Final Thoughts
Choose Mailjet if…
Mailjet is ideal for mid-market brands wanting to scale sophisticated cross-channel and email marketing automation while benefiting from advanced analytics and competitive pricing.
The powerful visual campaign builder and intuitive UI make expert-level functionality accessible to non-technical users. Mailjet is best suited for established businesses focused on crafting highly personalized customer journeys fueled by data.
Choose SendGrid if…
SendGrid hits the sweet spot for early-stage and scaling companies focused specifically on reliably delivering high-volume transactional and marketing email campaigns. The straightforward tools and UI simplify getting started quickly while proven inbox placement and security instill confidence during rapid growth phases.
Ideal users are email-first marketers focused on the fundamentals or developers wanting email infrastructure to build upon.
Ultimately selecting the best email and marketing automation platform depends entirely on your business goals, budget, team skills, and scalability requirements. Take time to carefully assess your priorities before committing long-term. Please ask any questions in the comments section and we are happy to provide personalized advice!