Mailjet
What is it? Pros, cons, and the best alternative
Mailjet is an email marketing and transactional email platform that helps businesses create, send, and track their email campaigns.
Founded in 2010, this service allows you to design newsletters using a drag-and-drop editor, segment audiences, automate email flows, and analyze campaign performance.
Essentially, Mailjet offers the basic tools for those looking to get started with email marketing.
However, as we will see below, it also has limitations in its basic plans that are worth considering.
In this article, we will analyze what Mailjet offers, its main pros and cons, and why Mailrelay, a free and professional email marketing tool, might be the best alternative to boost your email delivery.
What is Mailjet and what is it for?
Mailjet is a cloud-based email marketing service provider, geared towards both mass newsletter mailings and transactional emails (e.g., purchase confirmations or password resets).
Its value proposition is based on making it easy for companies and developers to send emails reliably, combining features for marketers (such as campaign creation and list management) with technical options for API or SMTP integration in web applications.
Among Mailjet’s main features, the following stand out:
· Intuitive email editor:
Like Mailrelay, Mailjet has a visual drag-and-drop editor for designing emails without needing to code.
It includes pre-designed templates (though somewhat limited in the free plan) that streamline the creation of professional-looking newsletters.
· Transactional email sending:
It allows you to send important automated emails (invoices, notifications, etc.) via its email API or through SMTP relay.
This is useful for integrating Mailjet into websites, apps, and corporate systems that need to trigger messages based on events (you can find the Mailrelay API here).
· Basic marketing automation:
Mailjet offers the ability to create simple automation flows, such as sending a welcome email upon user registration or an abandoned cart reminder.
These features help maintain contact with customers, although advanced automations are reserved for higher-tier plans.
· Analytics and tracking:
The platform tracks essential email marketing metrics, such as the open rate and click-through rate of each campaign.
You can view basic reports from its dashboard to measure results.
Paid plans add options like A/B testing to try different versions of an email before sending it to all your contacts (these options are available in the free Mailrelay account).
· Real-time collaboration:
A standout feature of Mailjet is that it allows multiple team members to work simultaneously on an email design.
This real-time collaborative editing facilitates coordination within marketing teams without overriding changes.
Due to these features, Mailjet serves both small businesses needing to send periodic newsletters and developers looking to integrate an email delivery system into their projects.
However, it is important to assess how well it fits your needs, as some limitations in advanced features and sending volume could affect the growth of your email campaigns.
Advantages offered by Mailjet
As a platform aimed at simplifying email marketing, Mailjet presents several attractive advantages for users and companies, especially those just starting out:
· Ease of use and email design
One of Mailjet’s greatest strengths is its ease of use.
The interface is clean and intuitive, designed so that even people without technical knowledge can create professional-looking emails.
Its visual editor, similar to Mailrelay’s, allows you to drag content blocks (images, text, buttons, etc.) and customize designs quickly.
Because of this simplicity, many SMBs and small teams value being able to design email campaigns without complications or the need for a designer.
Furthermore, the multi-user collaboration feature adds flexibility, allowing several team members to edit a campaign at once, something uncommon in other basic email marketing tools.
· Integration for developers and powerful API
Mailjet is not only geared towards marketers but also towards technical profiles.
It offers an email sending API and SMTP protocol support, which facilitates integration into applications, websites, and proprietary systems.
This feature is very useful if you need your web platform to send emails automatically (e.g., registration confirmations, purchase notices, etc.).
By having a transactional focus in addition to marketing, Mailjet becomes a versatile all-in-one solution.
Developers can take advantage of its documentation and webhooks to integrate email flows in a personalized way.
In short, it is a programmer-friendly platform for those wanting to add email functionality without setting up their own SMTP server (you can activate Mailrelay’s SMTP in Settings – SMTP Settings menu).
· Unlimited contacts and flexible pricing model
Unlike many tools that limit the number of contacts in free or basic plans, Mailjet allows you to store unlimited contacts even in its free plan.
The main restriction lies in the number of emails you can send per month (we will detail this point later), but the fact that it doesn’t impose a subscriber cap is an advantage if your database is large.
Likewise, its pricing model is based on the quantity of emails sent monthly (not on stored contacts).
· Additional multi-channel functions
Although Mailjet is primarily an email platform, it also incorporates additional channels.
For example, it offers the option to send transactional SMS, purchased separately, to complement your mobile communications.
Similarly, Mailjet has recently integrated innovative tools like an artificial intelligence text generator to help write email content faster.
While these extra features may not be the main focus, they show that the platform seeks to stay updated and offer complementary services, which can be useful for those who want to manage email and some SMS messages from the same place.
Ultimately, it is an evolving solution that covers more than just sending newsletters.
· Anti-spam measures and deliverability
Mailjet has strict anti-spam measures and cares about email deliverability.
It employs authentication via SPF, DKIM, and other configurations to improve sender reputation and avoid blocked emails.
Its cloud infrastructure is designed to send large volumes with a high inbox delivery rate, which is fundamental in any service of this type.
Furthermore, even in the free plan, it is possible to consult metrics on deliveries, bounces, and spam complaints, giving the user basic visibility into the health of their campaigns.
Disadvantages of Mailjet
While it offers conveniences, Mailjet also presents significant disadvantages or limitations that are worth noting before deciding if it is the right tool for your email marketing strategy:
· Very limited free plan regarding sending volume
The most notable limitation of Mailjet is in its free plan.
It allows you to send only 6,000 emails per month and, additionally, imposes a maximum of 200 emails per day.
This daily cap is quite restrictive for marketing: for example, you would not be able to send a newsletter to 500 subscribers all at once on the same day, as you would exceed the daily limit.
In practice, Mailjet’s free plan serves mostly for one-off tests or low-scale transactional emails, but it is not viable for mass campaigns.
As another downside, all emails sent in the free mode include Mailjet’s logo and branding, which gives a less professional image and can distract your readers.
In summary, although the free account exists, its real utility for marketing is reduced due to these limits.
· Advanced features only in paid plans
Another disadvantage is that many advanced features are available only in Premium plans.
For instance, advanced contact segmentation, complex automations, A/B testing, and even some email customization options are features reserved for higher-tier paid subscriptions.
In the basic paid plan, Mailjet offers only the essentials, falling short compared to other alternatives regarding the depth of marketing tools.
This means that as your strategy grows in sophistication, you might feel that Mailjet falls short unless you are willing to scale to a higher plan (which increases costs).
For a beginner user, this might not be a problem, but more advanced marketing teams might miss certain strategic functions from the start.
· Somewhat limited templates and customization
While Mailjet includes a set of ready-to-use email templates, several users have pointed out that the variety and flexibility of these templates are limited, especially in the free version.
Design options may fall short if you are looking for very specific styles or deep HTML customizations.
In general, compared to other email marketing tools, Mailjet offers fewer pre-designed templates and more basic customization options, which can be an obstacle if your brand requires highly tailored email designs.
Although Mailjet is easy to use, not everything in its interface is perfect.
Some users find that navigating through certain features is not as intuitive as it could be.
For example, accessing detailed reports or setting up automations may require more clicks than desirable.
The organization of menus and sections is sometimes confusing for beginners, implying a small learning curve to master all the options.
Some users may find it hard to find specific settings or understand how to apply certain advanced adjustments.
If we compare it with other platforms with more modern UX designs, Mailjet feels a bit simpler or basic, which is positive for the essentials but can leave an impression of a lack of polish in the user experience when exploring less common features.
· Customer support and documentation in other languages
Finally, it is worth mentioning that Mailjet’s customer support, while available via tickets or email, may not be as close or fast, especially for those using free or basic plans.
Priority support is usually reserved for advanced plans.
Additionally, although Mailjet offers its website and some resources in other languages like Spanish, it is possible that some of the more technical or immediate documentation is in English, which makes things difficult for users with less command of that language.
In comparison, there are alternatives that provide support in other languages in a more dedicated way (even by chat or phone) across all their plans.
If you want to receive support in your language in case of issues with your campaigns, Mailjet’s proposal in this area is not the most outstanding on the market.
Alternative to Mailjet: Mailrelay, the option for effective email marketing
If Mailjet’s limitations worry you or you are simply looking for a more complete email marketing solution without overspending, Mailrelay shapes up as the best alternative to Mailjet in the market.
Mailrelay is an email marketing platform that stands out for offering a huge free account and a set of advanced features without draconian restrictions for users.
Below, we will compare how Mailrelay can supplement and even surpass Mailjet in key aspects:
· Ease of use and simple interface
Like Mailjet, Mailrelay provides an intuitive and easy-to-use environment, even for beginners.
Its control panel is designed with simplicity, allowing you to create campaigns, manage lists, and review statistics clearly.
The learning curve is minimal: in a few steps, you can import your contacts, design a newsletter, and send it.
Additionally, Mailrelay includes a very user-friendly newsletter editor, with AI-assisted writing features to streamline content creation (even in free accounts).
This combination of usability and smart tools ensures that any marketing team (large or small) can make the most of the platform from day one, without technical hurdles.
· · Support in other languages available even in the free plan
One of Mailrelay’s great competitive advantages is its excellent customer support.
Unlike other providers, Mailrelay offers personalized support in Spanish (and other languages) to all its users, including the free plan.
You can contact via phone, live chat, or tickets, and receive fast help from email marketing experts for any doubt or problem.
This level of dedicated technical support provides peace of mind, especially if you are starting out and need guidance to optimize your sendings.
Fast support in your language makes a difference compared to platforms where, at free levels, you are practically on your own.
With Mailrelay, you will never feel neglected, as their team is ready to help you step by step with everything you need.
· Extremely generous free account and affordable prices
In terms of free capacity, Mailrelay far surpasses Mailjet.
The free plan allows you to send up to 80,000 emails per month to a maximum of 20,000 contacts – an offer unmatched in the market.
And best of all: without advertising or logos embedded in your emails, so your communications will be professional from the first campaign.
This means that with Mailrelay you can get your newsletter to tens of thousands of subscribers monthly without paying anything, something impossible under Mailjet’s restrictions.
When your list or sending frequency grows, Mailrelay continues to be very competitive: its paid plans are affordable and scalable, adapting to the volume you need to send, usually at a lower cost per subscriber than other solutions.
In short, Mailrelay removes cost barriers so you can focus your efforts on email marketing, giving you room to grow without worrying about high bills.
· Complete marketing features from the start
Another reason why Mailrelay stands out as an alternative is for offering all essential marketing features included, even in the free plan.
By working with custom fields, you will be able to use email automations (welcome sequences, follow-ups, drip campaigns, etc.), run A/B tests of your campaigns to optimize subjects or content, and segment your audience with advanced criteria.
You will also have email customization options to insert names or other data, and dynamic segmentation tools that allow you to send to the right audience at the right time.
In Mailrelay, you won’t have to pay extra to access features that are locked in premium plans in Mailjet.
This guarantees that your email marketing strategy can be as sophisticated as you need without hitting paywalls.
In a nutshell, with Mailrelay you have professional-level automation, segmentation, and customization from the very first moment, allowing you to get more out of every campaign.
· Deliverability, advanced analytics, and easy integrations
Finally, Mailrelay stands out in crucial technical aspects: email deliverability and integration options.
The platform has an excellent sending reputation, constantly working to ensure your emails reach the inbox (effectively implementing SPF, DKIM, white lists, etc., authentications).
Additionally, it offers very detailed real-time reports, including statistics on opens, clicks, and even click heatmaps in your newsletters, which is ideal for optimizing design and content according to your readers’ behavior.
Regarding integration, Mailrelay provides multiple avenues: from integration via Make.com to a robust REST API so developers can connect external applications or e-commerce sites easily with the platform.
It is also simple to bulk import contacts (it even automatically removes duplicates) and connect with other tools.
Ultimately, Mailrelay offers a complete and reliable solution: your deliverability will improve, you will have enough data to measure the ROI of your campaigns, and you will be able to integrate the service without complications into your digital ecosystem.
To sum up
If you are looking to maximize your email marketing without falling short due to sending limits or features, Mailrelay is the ideal alternative to Mailjet.
You will get a service in your language, an incomparable free plan, and all the advanced email marketing tools you need to grow your campaigns effectively.
In a landscape where connecting with your audience via email is key, choosing the right platform will make the difference.
Mailrelay offers you that extra power and confidence to take your campaigns to the next level, whether you are starting with a few hundred subscribers or managing lists of tens of thousands of contacts.
Get ready to boost your email marketing strategy with a tool designed to grow with you!