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If you run a website that sends transactional emails to your users, such as order confirmations, password resets, welcome messages, etc., you need a reliable SMTP service to ensure your emails reach the inbox and not the spam folder.
SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which is a standard for sending and receiving email messages over the Internet. SMTP services provide you with the tools and features to send transactional emails with high deliverability, speed, and security.
There are many SMTP services available on the market, but not all of them are suitable for your needs. In this article, we will compare the 8 best SMTP transactional email services for 2023 and help you choose the one that fits your website and budget.
1. SMTP
SMTP is one of the most powerful and popular email delivery services in the world. It allows you to send and track millions of emails with ease and efficiency. It has a highly responsive infrastructure that ensures fast and smooth email delivery without any delays.
SMTP supports both transactional and marketing emails, so you can use it for any type of email communication with your users. You can send automated emails like order confirmations, shipping notifications, order status updates, user authentication, password resets, and more.
SMTP also comes with a Reputation defender (add-on) that monitors your email list health and protects you from both soft and hard bounces. This helps you maintain a good sender reputation and avoid spam filters.
SMTP is easy to set up and integrate with your website. It also provides you with detailed reports on your email delivery and engagement performance. SMTP is suitable for all kinds of businesses and it allows you to scale your email volume as your website grows. It is undoubtedly the best SMTP relay and email delivery service in the world.
Price: The basic plan costs $25 per month. You can try out the service for free for 30 days with a limit of 50,000 emails.
2. SendinBlue
SendinBlue is a popular email marketing platform that also offers SMTP transactional email service. With SendinBlue, you can send transactional emails to your users’ lists and track their open rate, bounce rate, click rate, etc.
SendinBlue also offers SMS marketing service to send promotional and transactional messages to your users’ phones.
One of the unique features of SendinBlue is that they manage SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) signatures through their domain names. These are technical standards that help protect email senders and recipients from spam, spoofing, and phishing.
Other notable features include drag and drop email builder, welcome emails, confirmation emails, A/B testing for emails, and advanced reporting for an optimized email marketing campaign.
Price: 300 emails/day with unlimited contacts are free. Starting cost for the basic plan is $25 per month.
3. Mailgun
Mailgun is a powerful email service provider for professional developers. It offers high email deliverability, and with its powerful APIs, you can send, receive and track transactional emails easily.
Mailgun also has advanced email validation to increase your conversions by reducing bounce rates and spam complaints.
Mailgun supports both transactional and marketing emails, so you can use it for any kind of email communication with your users. You can send automated emails like order confirmations, shipping notifications, order status updates, user authentication, password resets, and more.
Mailgun is easy to set up and integrate with your website. It also provides you with detailed analytics on your email delivery and engagement performance. Mailgun is suitable for developers who want more control and flexibility over their email service.
Price: The first 10,000 emails/month are free. Starting cost for the basic plan is $35 per month.
4. SendGrid
SendGrid is another popular email service provider that offers both transactional and marketing email solutions. With SendGrid, you can send transactional emails to your users with high deliverability, speed, and security.
SendGrid also has a powerful email marketing platform that lets you create and send beautiful newsletters, promotions, announcements, and more. You can use the drag and drop email builder, the code editor, or the design library to create your emails.
SendGrid also has a robust API that allows you to integrate with your website and applications. You can use the API to send, receive, and track transactional emails programmatically.
SendGrid also provides you with detailed analytics on your email performance, such as opens, clicks, bounces, spam reports, etc. You can also use the email validation feature to verify your email list and improve your deliverability.
Price: The first 100 emails/day are free. Starting cost for the basic plan is $14.95 per month.
5. Mailjet
Mailjet is an email service provider that specializes in transactional and marketing emails. With Mailjet, you can send transactional emails to your users with high deliverability and scalability.
Mailjet also has a powerful email marketing platform that lets you create and send engaging newsletters, campaigns, and automation. You can use the drag and drop email builder or the code editor to create your emails.
Mailjet also has a flexible API that allows you to integrate with your website and applications. You can use the API to send, receive, and track transactional emails programmatically.
Mailjet also provides you with real-time analytics on your email performance, such as opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, etc. You can also use the email segmentation feature to target your users based on their behavior and preferences.
Price: The first 6,000 emails/month are free. Starting cost for the basic plan is $9.65 per month.
6. Amazon SES
Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) is an email service provider that is part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. It allows you to send transactional emails to your users with high deliverability, scalability, and security.
Amazon SES also supports marketing emails, but you need to request production access and comply with the AWS Service Terms.
Amazon SES has a simple and flexible API that allows you to integrate with your website and applications. You can use the API to send, receive, and track transactional emails programmatically.
Amazon SES also provides you with detailed metrics on your email performance, such as opens, clicks, bounces, complaints, etc. You can also use the email authentication feature to verify your domain and identity with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Price: The first 62,000 emails/month are free if you use Amazon EC2. Otherwise, the cost is $0.10 for 1,000 emails.
7. Mailchimp Transactional Email
Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) is an email service provider that is part of the Mailchimp platform. It allows you to send transactional emails to your users with high deliverability, speed, and reliability.
Mailchimp Transactional Email also supports marketing emails, but you need to have a paid Mailchimp account to use it.
Mailchimp Transactional Email has a powerful and easy-to-use API that allows you to integrate with your website and applications. You can use the API to send, receive, and track transactional emails programmatically.
Mailchimp Transactional Email also provides you with detailed analytics on your email performance, such as opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, etc. You can also use the email templates feature to create and customize your emails.
Price: The cost is $20 for 25,000 emails. You also need a paid Mailchimp account to use it.
8. Postmark
Postmark is an email service provider that focuses on transactional emails only. It claims to have the fastest email delivery and the best inbox rates in the industry.
Postmark does not support marketing emails, so you can only use it for transactional emails like order confirmations, password resets, welcome messages, etc.
Postmark has a simple and elegant API that allows you to integrate with your website and applications. You can use the API to send, receive, and track transactional emails programmatically.
Postmark also provides you with real-time analytics on your email performance, such as opens, clicks, bounces, spam reports, etc. You can also use the email testing feature to preview and debug your emails before sending them.
Price: The first 100 emails/month are free. Starting cost for the basic plan is $10 for 10,000 emails.
Conclusion
Transactional emails are an essential part of your website communication with your users. They help you build trust, loyalty, and engagement with your users.
To ensure your transactional emails are delivered to the inbox and not the spam folder, you need a reliable SMTP service that offers high deliverability, speed, security, and scalability.
In this article, we have compared the 8 best SMTP transactional email services for 2023. Depending on your needs and budget, you can choose the one that suits you best.
Here is a quick summary of our comparison:
- SMTP is the best SMTP relay and email delivery service worldwide. It lets you send and track high volumes of transactional and marketing emails with ease and efficiency.
- SendinBlue is a popular email marketing platform that also offers SMTP transactional email service. It lets you send and track transactional and marketing emails with high deliverability and features.
- Mailgun is a powerful email service provider for professional developers. It lets you send and track transactional and marketing emails with high deliverability and APIs.
- SendGrid is another popular email service provider that offers both transactional and marketing email solutions. It lets you send and track transactional and marketing emails with high deliverability and features.
- Mailjet is an email service provider that specializes in transactional and marketing emails. It lets you send and track transactional and marketing emails with high deliverability and features.
- Amazon SES is an email service provider that is part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. It lets you send transactional emails with high deliverability, scalability, and security.
- Mailchimp Transactional Email is an email service provider that is part of the Mailchimp platform. It lets you send transactional emails with high deliverability, speed, and reliability.
- Postmark is an email service provider that focuses on transactional emails only. It claims to have the fastest email delivery and the best inbox rates in the industry.
We hope this article has helped you choose the best SMTP transactional email service for your website. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below.
