For businesses in need of email marketing services, specifically for transactional email, Mandrill, an email API from MailChimp, may come to mind. But there are lots of Mandrill alternatives worth considering that don’t involve being tied to a MailChimp account, and Mailgun is one that stands out.
With a suite of services for developers, top-notch features, and a free plan and premium pricing model that’s hard to beat, Mailgun rivals any of the transactional email services on the market.
If you want to ramp up your transactional email program, then you’ll want to work with an email service that is 100 percent focused on robust email delivery, offers a dedicated IP, and simplifies your marketing automation.
While many of the email service providers have some features in common, understanding the standout features of each solution is the best way to decide which Mandrill alternative is the right choice for your needs. Here’s why clients are choosing Mailgun as the best alternative to Mandrill.
Mandrill is an API-driven email service, but it requires clients to have an active Mailchimp account. While it used to be a standalone service, the fact that users must now be Mailchimp customers has caused some to explore Mandrill alternatives.
While there are a few major players in the space, from Sendgrid to Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) to Mailjet to ElasticEmail, Mailgun is the only one that offers email validation, which is designed to improve open rates and protect your sender reputation. This helps ensure transactional email delivery, and keeps you from getting blacklisted or throttled by Google’s gmail and others.
Mandrill users do have access to various support options, but that does not include phone support. This can be discouraging if you’re trying to send emails and are hitting a snag for some reason. Mailgun, on the other hand, boasts a 96 percent happiness rating with its customer support team, because of its 24/7/365 accessibility.
Each Mailgun user gets assigned a dedicated email expert who oversees the account. Clients can also get one-on-one consultations to customize their email marketing program.
Choosing Mandrill for your transactional emails means you have to be signed up for MailChimp. It also mean there is no free service available. This may not be budget-friendly depending on the number of emails/month you wish to send.
With Mailgun, whether you want to send 1,000 or one million emails, there’s a pricing plan to match your needs. Mailgun even has a free plan in which first 100 email validations and the first 10,000 emails are free. The free tier also includes advanced email analytics and the ability to submit unlimited customer service support tickets. This is ideal if you are just starting out, or if you’re exploring the best alternatives for your transactional email needs
With its Mailchimp affiliation, Mandrill is more known for its email marketing tools, such as its drag and drop editors. However, when it comes to a service that supports transactional emails and is developer friendly, Mailgun is a strong Mandrill alternative.
The Mailgun platform focuses on both simplicity and meeting compliance standards.
If you’re ready to try a Mandrill alternative that can take your transactional email and email marketing to the next level, start your free trial with Mailgun today.
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More than just sending email
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Ensure every email hits the inbox
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Read how other companies are using Mailgun
What will you accomplish with 10,000 free emails and 100 free validations every month?