SendGrid vs Mailchimp (2025): A Comprehensive Comparison Guide

Thinking about SendGrid vs Mailchimp?
Well, you’re not alone. Choosing the right email platform can feel kinda overwhelming. But don’t worry—we’re breaking it all down for you.

Both tools are popular, sure.
But they serve pretty different needs. One’s better for creators and marketers, while the other is built for developers and serious scale.

So which one’s right for you?
That depends on where you’re at—and where you’re going. Stick with us, and we’ll help you figure it out.

Let’s get into it.
From design to deliverability, we’re covering every major difference. So you can finally stop guessing and start sending.

Wondering which email platform is right for you?

Both SendGrid and Mailchimp are powerful in their own ways. Mailchimp is widely used for its intuitive email editor, marketing templates, and ease of use. SendGrid, on the other hand, dominates the deliverability space, giving developers and marketers full control of transactional and marketing email with superior scalability.

If you’re a creator or small business owner just starting out, Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop builder and free plan might be enough. But if you’re scaling fast and email reliability matters to your brand, SendGrid gives you the power to control every piece of the email pipeline.

Let’s take a closer look at both platforms and help you decide.

SendGrid: The Developer’s Choice for High-Deliverability Email at Scale

Founded in 2009 and acquired by Twilio in 2019, SendGrid is one of the leading cloud-based email delivery platforms. It’s widely used by SaaS companies, e-commerce brands, and growing startups to send marketing, transactional, and notification emails reliably at scale.

Unlike most email marketing tools that are geared toward drag-and-drop marketers, SendGrid is developer-first—built for flexibility, control, and serious deliverability. With its robust API, email infrastructure, and real-time analytics, you can fine-tune every part of your email lifecycle.

Why Choose SendGrid?

• World-class deliverability powered by Twilio’s infrastructure
• API-first platform that integrates seamlessly into your stack
• Full support for both transactional and marketing email
• Built-in A/B testing, real-time stats, and detailed logs
• Scales with your business — no matter how fast you grow

What to Expect with SendGrid

• 95.1% deliverability rate
• Over 140 email templates (fully customizable with HTML)
• API + SMTP access
• 25k–100k+ email sends/month even on lower tiers
• Live support & deliverability consulting on higher plans

Whether you’re building a fintech app, running an online store, or managing millions of notifications, SendGrid has the infrastructure to support you—and the tools to help your email land exactly where it should: the inbox.

Mailchimp: An All-in-One Email Platform for Beginners and Small Businesses

Launched in 2001, Mailchimp has become one of the most well-known email marketing tools around. It’s particularly popular among small business owners, creators, and agencies who need an easy way to build newsletters, run campaigns, and design emails without writing a single line of code.

Mailchimp shines when it comes to usability and beautiful templates, offering a generous free plan and a highly visual interface. It also provides built-in landing pages, automation flows, audience analytics, and even social ad tools.

Why Choose Mailchimp?

• Beginner-friendly email editor
• Attractive templates with flexible branding options
• Built-in marketing tools beyond email
• Free plan available for up to 500 contacts
• All-in-one marketing dashboard for campaigns, ads, and more

What to Expect with Mailchimp

• 92.6% deliverability rate
• 100+ email templates
• Drag-and-drop editor
• SMS and social ad features
• Ecommerce support + Stripe integrations

Mailchimp is a good fit for entrepreneurs who want a simple, visual tool to start growing their audience, send out basic newsletters, and automate light workflows—all without needing a technical background.

How do SendGrid and Mailchimp compare?
Let’s break down how both platforms stack up on the most important features.

Deliverability: SendGrid wins with higher inbox placement rates

Let’s start with what matters most—deliverability.

SendGrid consistently ranks as one of the top performers in third-party deliverability tests. In the latest EmailToolTester study, SendGrid achieved a 95.1% deliverability rate, one of the highest in the industry. Mailchimp, by comparison, scored 92.6%, still strong but slightly behind.

Why does this matter? Because even a 1–2% difference in deliverability can mean thousands of missed emails as your list grows.

SendGrid’s platform is built with deliverability in mind—featuring dedicated IPs, domain authentication, suppression management, and bounce handling. And if you’re on a higher plan, you can get expert deliverability support to improve your sender reputation.

SendGrid Deliverability Advantages:

• Domain warm-up tools
• Dedicated IP options
• Real-time analytics for delivery performance
• Advanced suppression management
• Proactive support on scaling deliverability

Automation: Mailchimp wins for visual ease, but SendGrid wins on power

If you’re a marketer, you’ll love Mailchimp’s visual Customer Journey Builder, which lets you create basic automations like welcome sequences, cart recovery, and product recommendations. It’s easy to drag, drop, and connect emails based on user actions. But it’s also limited in complexity.

SendGrid offers automation through Marketing Campaigns, as well as event-driven email via its API and SMTP relay. You can trigger emails based on real-time app or site behavior—perfect for developers who want logic-driven automation outside the drag-and-drop world.

In short:

• Choose Mailchimp for visual, beginner-friendly automation
• Choose SendGrid for developer-grade automation via API and webhook triggers

Audience Management & Segmentation: Deeper on SendGrid, simpler on Mailchimp

Mailchimp shines when you’re managing lists visually. You can build segments based on engagement, purchase history, or basic demographics using pre-built filters. It’s intuitive and beginner-friendly.

However, Mailchimp charges you twice for contacts that appear in multiple audiences—a frustrating cost issue for growing brands.

SendGrid lets you create custom contact fields, manage suppression lists, and build dynamic segments via its API. You can create segments based on engagement, geography, or any custom tag. Though less visually polished, SendGrid gives you more freedom for granular targeting, especially when you’re managing large volumes or syncing from external databases.

Key Segmentation Features in SendGrid:

• Custom fields and dynamic segment conditions
• API and CSV-based list imports
• Contact activity filtering
• Multiple list management without double charges
• Real-time updates via integrations

Email Design: Mailchimp templates win on visuals, but SendGrid gives devs control

Mailchimp has over 100 beautiful templates and one of the easiest drag-and-drop editors on the market. You can create campaigns in minutes, add images, format text, drop in buttons, and preview mobile versions on the fly.

SendGrid has fewer pre-made designs, but offers full HTML editing, custom branding, and dynamic content blocks. It’s perfect if you’re a designer or developer who wants precise control or is working with an in-house brand team.

If you value ease and speed, Mailchimp may be better. If you want total creative freedom, go with SendGrid.

Email Builder: Customization vs. Convenience

Mailchimp’s editor is made for non-coders. You can choose from pre-made layouts, use drag-and-drop modules, and see live previews. It’s great for solo marketers or content teams without dev support.

SendGrid’s editor gives you both WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) and code-based editing, including JSON, handlebars, and conditional logic. You can also use the API to send dynamic content to different contacts within the same campaign—a massive win for personalization at scale.

Landing Pages: Mailchimp has the edge—SendGrid doesn’t offer native builders

If you need a basic landing page for collecting emails or promoting a product, Mailchimp has you covered with built-in landing page templates, form blocks, and tracking integrations.

SendGrid does not offer a native landing page builder, although you can connect your favorite third-party tools like Unbounce, Instapage, or your own custom pages via forms or the API.

So if landing pages are a key part of your strategy, Mailchimp is the more convenient option.

Reporting & Analytics: SendGrid wins for technical detail, Mailchimp for simplicity

Both platforms let you track standard metrics like opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes. Mailchimp adds some ecommerce-focused reporting, which can be useful for online stores.

But SendGrid takes things deeper with real-time analytics, device-level reporting, geolocation tracking, and advanced stats accessible via API. You can break down performance by IP, browser, or region and build custom dashboards.

If you’re a data nerd or have a dev team that likes SQL-style queries and log access, SendGrid offers more control.

Forms: Simplicity from Mailchimp, Flexibility from SendGrid

Mailchimp gives you a visual form builder that’s easy to use and supports embedded forms, popups, and contact forms. You can add them to your website or landing pages without touching a line of code.

SendGrid offers form creation through custom HTML and JavaScript or third-party tools. It’s not as plug-and-play as Mailchimp, but it gives developers full control over styling, form behavior, and backend handling via API. If you’re already using a frontend framework or custom CMS, SendGrid integrates smoothly.

Use Mailchimp if you need forms fast without development.
Use SendGrid if you want fully custom logic and styling.

CRM: Mailchimp offers basics, SendGrid relies on integrations

Mailchimp includes basic audience management features, tags, and contact profiles, but it’s not a full CRM. You can’t manage deals or build sales pipelines—only track user engagement and behavior within your campaigns.

SendGrid doesn’t offer a native CRM, but it integrates easily with major CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, and others. With its developer-first approach, it’s designed to work alongside whatever CRM you already use—not replace it.

Verdict:

• Choose Mailchimp if you want built-in list management with light CRM features.
• Choose SendGrid if your CRM is already in place and you want deep data syncing.

Integrations: SendGrid connects to more tools

Mailchimp supports 250+ integrations, including Shopify, Squarespace, Stripe, and social platforms. Most are easy to set up with just a few clicks.

SendGrid supports 950+ integrations through Zapier, native apps, and its RESTful API. Whether you’re connecting to Slack, PostgreSQL, Webhooks, AWS, or proprietary software, SendGrid scales further with technical tools and data platforms.

SendGrid wins when you need to integrate deeply or across a wider variety of tools.

AI Features: SendGrid is catching up, but Mailchimp leads with beginner AI

Mailchimp has more visible AI for beginners:

• AI content recommendations
• Subject line helper
• Send time optimization
• Pre-built automation journeys

These tools are ideal for marketers who want fast answers without digging into data.

SendGrid’s AI is more developer-friendly. You get predictive email engagement scoring, API-level A/B testing, and advanced analytics to optimize subject lines and send windows. You can even build custom ML models using SendGrid’s raw event data and reporting logs.

Pricing Breakdown: SendGrid offers more flexibility at scale

Mailchimp charges by contact list size, while SendGrid charges based on email volume. If you email infrequently but have a large list, Mailchimp could cost more over time. SendGrid is ideal for transactional emails and businesses sending frequent campaigns to many users.

Why do people switch from Mailchimp to SendGrid?

Businesses switch to SendGrid when:

• Deliverability becomes a priority
• They outgrow Mailchimp’s automation features
• They need better developer tools or API support
• They want to manage both transactional and marketing email in one place
• They want control over branding, design, and list management at scale

From SaaS startups to ecommerce brands, SendGrid’s reliable infrastructure and flexible API give teams confidence that their emails are hitting inboxes—and making an impact.

What Are Real Users Saying?

“SendGrid’s email API is unmatched. We’ve sent over 20 million emails with near-perfect deliverability.”
— CTO, B2B SaaS Company

“Mailchimp is great when you’re starting out. But once you need control, segmenting, or logic, you hit a wall.”
— Digital Marketer, Ecommerce Brand

“We moved to SendGrid after struggling with Mailchimp’s deliverability. It was night and day.”
— Growth Manager, Startup Agency

Final Verdict: Which Should You Choose?

Choose Mailchimp if:

• You’re just starting out
• You want easy templates, drag-and-drop editing, and built-in tools
• You don’t have developer resources or prefer low-code solutions

Choose SendGrid if:

• Deliverability is a top priority
• You send a lot of transactional or dynamic content emails
• You want API access, developer tools, or control at scale

Still Not Sure?

Try SendGrid for free with 100 emails/day.
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FAQ

Does SendGrid have a free plan?
Yes! SendGrid’s Free Email API plan lets you send up to 100 emails/day.

Does Mailchimp support transactional emails?
No, Mailchimp is strictly for marketing emails. You’ll need Mandrill (a Mailchimp add-on) or a platform like SendGrid for transactional email.

Can I use both platforms together?
Yes. Some businesses use Mailchimp for marketing emails and SendGrid for transactional or developer-triggered messages.

Is SendGrid hard to use?
SendGrid is more technical, but once set up, it’s powerful and scalable. It’s ideal for teams with dev support.

Does SendGrid offer templates?
Yes—over 140 templates plus full HTML and dynamic content support.