Mailchimp vs Twilio SendGrid
An honest side-by-side comparison of two of our top email marketing picks — pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and who each one is really for.
Mailchimp
Ranked #2 of 17 in this directory
The all-in-one marketing platform for growing businesses
Twilio SendGrid
Ranked #6 of 17 in this directory
Email delivery API trusted by 80,000+ businesses
Our pick: Mailchimp. Our editors rank Mailchimp higher overall in Email Marketing — but Twilio SendGrid can be the better fit depending on your budget and use case below. How we review
Compare the details
| Mailchimp | Twilio SendGrid | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | See website | See website |
| Category | Email Marketing | Transactional Email |
| Editorial rank | #2 of 17 | #6 of 17 |
Strengths
Mailchimp
- ✓Easiest email tool for beginners
- ✓Free up to 500 contacts
- ✓Good template library
- ✓All-in-one with CRM and landing pages
Twilio SendGrid
- ✓Industry-leading deliverability
- ✓Powerful API with extensive documentation
- ✓Free 100 emails/day
- ✓Email analytics and tracking
Watch out for
Mailchimp
- !Expensive as list grows
- !Automation is less powerful than Klaviyo
- !Removed free plan features over time
Twilio SendGrid
- !Support can be slow on free plans
- !Marketing email product is basic
- !Account suspension issues have been reported
Best use cases
Mailchimp
- →Small business email marketing
- →Newsletter sending
- →Simple automation for beginners
- →Event email campaigns
Twilio SendGrid
- →App notification emails
- →Password reset emails
- →Receipt and order confirmation emails
- →Large-scale email delivery
About each tool
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the world's most popular email marketing platform with over 13 million users. It's the go-to starting point for small businesses and entrepreneurs, offering email marketing, automation, landing pages, and CRM in one tool. Known for its user-friendly interface and generous free plan.
Twilio SendGrid
Twilio SendGrid is the most widely used transactional email API, trusted by companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Spotify to reliably send billions of emails — password resets, notifications, receipts, and more. It offers a powerful API, SMTP relay, email templates, and a marketing email product, all on a foundation of world-class email deliverability.
Still deciding? Browse all 17 options with honest pros, cons, and pricing.
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