Email service providers (ESPs) can do a lot of things, but they can’t do everything. So instead of trying to find the perfect ESP, find tools that can easily integrate and work well with your tech stack.
Whether you’re looking for more flexibility over your email designs, more protection for your email domains, or collaborate with your team members, there are professional email marketing tools that are specifically built for these use cases.
In this article, you’ll find top choices organized by category. Huge thanks to founders for building and maintaining these products 💛
Don't wait for the muse. Apply this step-by-step method to write high-performing email campaigns in hours, not weeks.
Email coding
When drag and drop editors feel too limited, coding tools give you the flexibility and control over your email design.
Parcel: code, preview, and collaborate
Parcel is a platform that lets you code in HTML, Text, and AMP. It lets you preview renders of the email on various devices, collaborate with your team members, and more.
They offer a free community plan that lets you code up to 50 emails with limited features. Parcel’s paid plans start at $29/user per month that removes the email limit and gives you access to more features.
Maizzle: build HTML emails fast
Maizzle is a free open source framework for HTML email development powered by Tailwind CSS, letting users quickly style their emails. It gives you flexibility on how you like to code your emails: from their Bring Your Own HTML feature, responsive variants, and more.
MJML by MailJet: making responsive email building easy
MJML is Mailjet’s free-to-use markup language that was designed to reduce the struggles with coding responsive emails. This framework is easy and straightforward to use, speeds up development time, and lightens the email codebase.
Email validation, checker, and verification
Bounced emails not only take up your resources, but they also hurt your sender’s reputation. Keep your email list clean with email validation and verification tools.
Real Email on Heroku: validate emails against MX records
Real Email on Heroku is an add-on that reduces bounced emails and errors by validating the addresses against MX records. The tool lets you fix typos, identify higher quality email signups, detect disposable emails, and more.
You can get started with this Heroku add-on for free that includes 100 validation requests per month. Their paid plans start at $0.049/hour with a limit of 5,000 requests per month.
ZeroBounce: clean your email list to boost click rates
ZeroBounce is a tool that keeps your email list clean so you don’t hurt your email marketing. With features like their disposable email check, toxic domain verifier, and spam trap detection, users can ensure that your emails reach your customers.
You can get started with ZeroBounce for free to get 100 validations. Their monthly plan starts at $18/month, giving you 2,000 monthly email verifications. They also have pay-as-you-go rates that start at $20 for 2,000 verifications.
EmailListVerify: reliable and affordable email verification
EmailListVerify is another tool that cleans your email list. Simply upload your email list on their platform, and download the cleaned list. They use several validation methods like spam trap checker, disposable emails cleaner, syntax error validators, and email duplicate removers. The tool also has integrations with a few popular ESPs, making it easier to add to your existing tech stack.
EmailListVerify’s paid monthly plans start at $139/month, giving you 5,000 verifications per day. Their pay-as-you-go rates start at $4 that already gives you 1,000 verifications.
NeverBounce: verify emails in bulk, real-time, or automatically
NeverBounce offers three solutions to keep your email list clean:
- Bulk email list cleaning – upload your existing email list and download the cleaned one.
- Real-time email verification – verify emails with an integration into lead pages, registration forms, and more.
- Automated list cleaning – NeverBounce cleans and syncs the email addresses on your CRM/ESP so you can focus on what matters to your business
Their paid basic plans start at $8 that already includes 1,000 verifications. Their auto-clean plans start at $10/month that gets you 1,000 verifications a month.
Kickbox: simple email list verification
Kickbox cleans your email list using different methods and filters like their disposable domain checker, role address identification, syntax issues and typo detector, and more. Simply upload your email list on the platform and download the cleaned version. They also have an API integration so you can instantly catch and correct email signup errors.
Kickbox gives you 100 verifications for free. Their paid rate starts at $5 for 500 verifications.
Email templating
These tools let you create custom templates so you stay consistent and on brand.
Palladio: email templating for Kit
Palladio was created to give Kit (formerly ConvertKit) users more flexibility and freedom over their email templates. The platform has a “Webflow-for-email” visual editor so you can get started on your own template, Liquid personalization so you can customize and personalize your email, and more.
You can try Palladio for free. But if you’re going to use your first template, you’d have to pay the one-time $299 lifetime license fee.
Mailviews: HTML email templates and components
Mailviews is an upcoming templating tool from the creators of Maizzle. It gives users access to responsive and easy-to-use HTML email templates and components.
Stripo: create templates with drag and drop or code it yourself
Stripo lets you design your templates from scratch with its HTML and CSS code editor, or start with their drag and drop builder. It also lets you see how your email looks on different devices, collaborate with teammates in real time, and more.
Stripo has a free plan that includes 2 users, 5 test emails/day, and 10 stored emails. Their paid plans start at $20/month that gives you access to premium templates.
BeeFree: user-friendly HTML email builder
BeeFree is an easy to use email and landing page builder. It lets your team easily design emails with their drag and drop builder. It also makes collaboration a breeze, letting team members co-edit in real time, manage user roles and permissions, reviews for approval, and more.
BeeFree has a free Starter plan that already includes 1,700+ free templates and integration with your favorite ESP. Their paid plan starts at $25/month.
Knak: no-code email builder
Knak is an email builder that lets your team create templates with little to no code. You can simply drag and drop elements to create your emails easily. It also lets you store brand assets, manage permissions and approvals, and preview how your email will look like on different devices.
Postcards: intuitive email builder
Postcards is a tool that lets you create email templates without needing to code with its drag and drop builder. It also lets you customize the mobile version of the email, export the email to your ESP easily, and collaborate with your team members in real time.
Postcards has a free forever plan that includes 10 template projects and 5 monthly exports. Their paid plans start at $19/month.
Stensul: create on-brand marketing assets
Stensul is a marketing creation platform built with enterprise teams in mind. Teams can make sure that everyone stays on brand with Stensul’s built-in brand guardrails. Their intuitive drag and drop builder also eliminates developer bottlenecks.
Sponsorships
Reaching out to potential advertisers for your newsletters is tedious work. It could also be very difficult if you don’t know where to start. The platforms below can help you find the right fit faster.
Paved: connecting brands with newsletters
Paved is a marketplace that helps brands connect with newsletters. It simplifies email sponsorship by giving you leads about potential advertisers and sponsors for the next edition of your newsletter.
While they don’t charge anything for the use of their platform, Paved does take a percentage of a publisher’s earnings for completed campaigns. This would depend if the campaign was done via their marketplace, ad network, or AI-powered booking tool.
inboxAds: programmatic native ads in your newsletters
inboxAds lets you monetize your newsletters by placing native ads in your email. Users can easily create newsletters with its drag and drop builder, and preview what the live ad and newsletter would look like on the actual email.
The platform is free to use for email publishers.
Google Ad Manager 360 (beta feature): Google ads in your newsletter
Google Ad Manager 360 has a “manage email newsletters” feature (beta) that lets you place ads in your newsletters. Users can place tags in their emails where the ad should appear.
Referrals
Referrals are a win-win for you and your newsletter subscribers: you grow your audience and your fans get incentivized for their successful referrals.
SparkLoop: referral platform specifically for newsletters
SparkLoop is a tool that is specifically designed to grow your newsletter subscribers. Users can easily integrate the tool with their ESP in just a 2 clicks and kickstart your referral program right away. It makes reward fulfillment easy and automated, and has an optimized anti-fraud protection specifically for newsletters.
You can start with SparkLoop for free. However, you’ll only get access to certain features like their partner network and free recommendations.
Viral Loops: turn happy customers to brand advocates
Viral Loops lets you create referral programs for your newsletter, product waitlist, and more. You can customize their referral program widget so it’s consistent with your brand. And with a simple code copy-paste, you can connect your referral program to your ESP. The platform also has advanced algorithms that help detect scammy participants from entering your referral program.
Viral Loops only has paid plans and starts at $49/month.
Deliverability
No one wants their emails to end up in the spam folder. These tools help you check your sender score and how to increase it.
Revli: increase sender score with insights
Revli has a free email spam test that checks your email on multiple parameters. It also checks the content of your email and gives you recommendations on how to increase your sender reputation.
Litmus: pre-send spam testing
Litmus has a spam filter test feature to help you get unstuck in the spam folder. The platform tests your email against major spam filters, helps you determine if you’re blocklisted, gives you suggestions on fixing deliverability issues, and more.
The spam testing feature is available for their Litmus Plus plan ($199/month) and higher.
Don't wait for the muse. Apply this step-by-step method to write high-performing email campaigns in hours, not weeks.
Email testing
Not all ESPs might offer a responsive email layout, so testing and previews before hitting send is key.
Inbox Monster: land every email
Inbox Monster provides visual renderings for over 80+ modern email clients. With link validation, dark mode views, HTML editing, and a true deliverability check, you can make sure that your email is ready to go before you hit send.
Testi: screenshots of email previews
Testi allows users to preview their email in different email clients and devices, and capture a screenshot of how the email will look to recipients.
They have a free plan that includes 1 user, 2 email clients, and 1,000 email previews monthly. Their paid plan starts at £16 for 1 user, unlimited email previews and more.
Email on Acid: build, test, optimize, and collaborate
Email on Acid lets your team build emails, test and optimize at every step of the creation process. It gives you unlimited email previews on 100+ modern devices and clients, test against the latest accessibility guidelines, avoid spam traps, and more.
The platform only has paid plans which start at $99/month that includes basic features like email previews and partial content checking.
Litmus: send error-free emails
Litmus’ email testing features help you stay on-brand and send error-free emails. You can preview and test your emails on 100+ popular email clients, catch and fix errors with their comprehensive QA checklist, and more.
You can access the email testing features with their Basic plan which comes at $99/month.
Mailosaur: send emails with confidence
Mailosaur is a testing platform that helps you create error-free emails, build automated tests, validate email content, and preview your emails in different clients. You can also take screenshots of your emails but this comes at an additional price.
They only have paid plans which start with their Starter plan ($11.25/month) which includes 50 daily email tests, API for test automation, and more.
Email Preview Services: four ways to test your email design
Email Preview Services is another tool that lets you preview your email in various email clients and devices. It lets you test your email designs in four ways:
- A simple copy-paste to the platform
- API integration
- Direct HTML upload
- Send as email
The tool only has paid plans which start at $25/month which includes 1 user and unlimited email previews.
Mailtrap: test emails in staging, dev, and QA environments
Mailtrap lets your team do various email tests before you hit send which includes experimenting with email sending functionalities, running automated checks via their testing API, comparing email versions, and more.
You can start testing emails for free but only include 100 test emails per month and 1 project. Their paid plans start at $14.99/month.
Email competitor tracking
Whether you’re tracking your own email or your competitors emails, email tracking tools help you gather data to make informed and strategic business decisions.
SendView: track your competitor’s email marketing
SendView helps email marketers track their competitors. The platform lets you sign up for your competitor’s email marketing list so you can view their spam score, ESP, the content of their email, and more.
SendView only has paid plans and it starts with their Standard plan that comes at $69/month. This includes 1 user and lets you track 10 competitors.
Email deliverability and monitoring
Bad actors might use your domain for unauthorized purposes, which in turn could hurt you and your customers. The tools below can help protect your reputation and your users from spoofing and phishing attacks.
Dmarcian: protect domains from unauthorized use
Dmarcian helps users by protecting their domain from unauthorized use. The platform visualizes DMARC data so users can quickly identify authentication gaps and unauthorized use of domains.
Dmarcian offers a free plan that includes 1 user and monitoring for up to 2 active domains, limited for personal use. Their paid plan starts at $24/month for commercial/non-profit use.
Skysnag: securing emails to build customer trust
Skysnag is a platform that protects domains from email delivery failure, email spoofing, and blacklists. They send users reports about their outbound activity and suggest ways to fix issues with your email send reputation.
DMARC Digests: monitoring to protect email deliverability
DMARC Digests is a platform that lets you monitor your email domains so you can protect your brand and your customers. Users can see how much email was sent using the domain, find sources sending unauthenticated email, actionable insights on resolving issues, and more.
The platform charges $14/month per domain.
DMARC Weekly: free weekly DMARC monitoring
DMARC Weekly is a free weekly DMARC monitoring from Postmark. Users get weekly reports in their inboxes about their domain’s DMARC alignment from major ISPs.
Google Postmaster Tools: free email deliverability tool for Google users
Google Postmaster Tools lets users troubleshoot email deliverability issues. It gives you insights into things like spam rate, IP reputation, domain reputation, delivery errors, and more.
GlockApps: protecting your email reputation
GlockApps’ DMARC analytics tool helps protect your brand from phishing and spoofing. It protects your domain by detecting suspicious activity, eliminates dubious emails that lack authentication, prevents any emails that can destroy your domain and brand safety, and more.
Their DMARC analytics tool has a free version that already gives you 10,000 DMARC messages and unlimited domains. Their paid plans start at $55/month that gets you 1,000,000 DMARC messages and other features.
MailMonitor: diagnose email deliverability problems
MailMonitor gives users inbox delivery insights and helps with email reputation monitoring. It lets you track DMARC authentication, diagnose deliverability issues across different mailbox providers, clean your email list in real time, and more.
MailMonitor has a free DMARC service that includes 1 user and 5 active domains. Their paid plans start at $49/month.
Validity: reinforced security for email domains
Validity’s sender domain monitoring (beta) goes beyond outbound email authentication and inbound mail protection. It offers 24/7 domain monitoring, gives users alerts and notification directly to their security operations center, and more.
Valimail: inbound and outbound email protection
Valimail is a service that offers a complete solution for both inbound and outbound email protection against phishing attacks. Whether you’re just protecting your domain from impersonation attacks or have more control over your sending services, this platform has a ton of features for any of your DMARC use cases.
Valimail has a free DMARC monitoring solution that already gives you full visibility across your domains.
Email collaboration
Doing the back and forth for that marketing email could be such a pain. Email collaboration platforms help your team work together more efficiently, speeding up your production.
ProofJump: quicker reviews and approvals
ProofJump lets teams streamline their email campaign review process by making feedback and approval easy all in one platform. Reviewers can simply click on any area or element in the email and annotate, making it easy for team members to understand the feedback and act on the comment. It also has features like version control so that everyone is aligned about the most current version of the email.
ProofJump’s plans start at $49/month, which includes 1 user and 25 proofs per month.
Pastel: turn actual emails into commenting canvasses
Pastel is a platform that lets teams review and approve marketing collateral like websites, image files, emails, and more.
This tool lets reviewers comment on the actual emails so team members can easily understand and take action. Pastel also helps you keep versions separate, and lets you upload actual emails to turn them into a commenting canvas.
They have a free forever plan that includes 1 user and access to free canvases, unlimited guest reviewers, and unlimited versions. Their paid monthly plan starts at $35/month.
Stensul: built for enterprise teams
Stensul is a marketing creation platform built with enterprise teams in mind. It allows multiple team members to collaborate on email directly on the platform. Team members can leave comments on the design and copy elements so revisions are faster.
Taxi for Email: collaborative email production
Taxi for Email is a platform that helps your team better collaborate on your emails. Users can start a chat-based thread in any area of the email, leave comments and suggestions on the exact area of the email, and more.
Knak: speedier email creation for teams
Knak is a builder that lets your team create emails with little to no code. Aside from letting teams work together, team leaders can view the status of each asset from a specific team member. You can also see how your email campaign performed via the dashboard, and more.
Blocks Edit: HTML design to drag and drop
Blocks Edit is a content production platform that can turn your HTML design into point and click editing. Aside from letting team members focus on what they do best (design, coding, or copy), the platform makes it easy for stakeholders to do peer editing and review of the email.
They have a free Solo plan that gives you 5 GB storage space. Their paid Team plan comes at $25/user per month and gives you access to all team features and 250 GB storage space.
Postcards: built for collaboration
Postcards is a tool that lets you create email templates without needing to code with its drag and drop builder. Users can invite their colleagues to work on email templates (either as an editor or viewer) and see real-time updates.
Postcards has a free forever plan that includes 10 template projects and 5 monthly exports. Their paid plans start at $19/month.
Supercharge your email marketing tech stack
Most professional email marketing tools already integrate seamlessly with popular ESPs so you wouldn’t need to go through the pains of migrating tools. Adding specialized tools to your current email marketing tech stack can definitely improve your email production.
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