Skip to main content

Empower marketers and save time with Mailchimp transactional instead of SendGrid

Compare Mailchimp transactional and SendGrid. Learn how a unified transactional API for email and SMS helps your team launch faster without creating bottlenecks.

Get started
Contact sales

  • 300 billion+ sent

    with Mailchimp Transactional Email since 2018

  • 99.99% uptime

    with Mailchimp Transactional Email*

  • <1 second delivery

    with Mailchimp’s median transactional email speed

  • >99% email delivery rate

    Average for Mailchimp emails

  • Three mobile email screens showing notifications from a fitness app: workout completion, review confirmation, and account setup messages

    Maintain brand consistency

    Gain control over transactional templates and rely less on developers by editing them right in Mailchimp

  • A person in black working at a modern desk with plants, laptop, and office supplies shown in a series of connected images

    Easy configuration

    REST API is easily configured to your code base, so you can get set up and make changes quickly.

  • Person in blue jacket using smartphone while walking outdoors on sunny day, shown in multiple connected photos

    Reliable infrastructure

    Send up to 157 billion emails/month on a scalable platform that fits startups and enterprises alike.

How do SendGrid and Mailchimp compare?

  • Mailchimp

    ✅ Unified API for transactional email and sms sends.

  • SendGrid

    ❌ Developer-first transactional email. SMS available on a separate API through Twilio Messaging with separate pricing and set up.

  • ✅ Infrastructure to send up to 157B emails/month. 300B emails sent since 2018. <1 second median delivery speed with 99% delivery rate.

  • ❌ Median delivery speed of 1.9 seconds with 99% delivery rate.

  • ✅ Dedicated support team with delivery expertise. Designed to reduce bottlenecks and enable faster collaboration.

  • ❌ Advanced support and services may vary by plan and can require higher tiers/add-ons.

  • ✅ Dashboard analytics with activity search for opens, clicks, and bounces. A/B testing, tagging for tracking webhooks, and export API.

  • ❌ Offers engagement statistics, link click tracking, real-time analytics, and other insights. A/B testing available.

  • ✅ API-based transactional sending. Marketers can edit templates without relying on engineers for small content changes while developers maintain stable API integration.

  • ❌ API-based sending infrastructure. All template management, content updates, and workflow operations require developer involvement.

  • ✅ Priced in blocks of 25,000 emails with tiered pricing. Mailchimp Transactional requires a paid Mailchimp plan. No overage fees, when blocks run out sending stops.

  • ❌ Overages apply when plan volume is exceeded, billed after the period.

Fast, dependable transactional SMS messages

With Mailchimp’s updated transactional API, businesses can send critical 1:1 text messages via SMS as well as email.

Learn More
Close-up of hands holding a gold iPhone with triple camera, red nail polish visible on fingers

Businesses like yours trust Mailchimp

BodyArmor corporate logo C3 Presents corporate logo Canva corporate logo ReMax West Realty corporate logo Spotify corporate logo Subway corporate logo Gap Inc corporate logo Rainbow Sandals corporate logo University of Miami logo The Onion company logo World Central Kitchen logo
Collection of popular tech company logos including Instagram, Shopify, Wix, Salesforce, Canva, Google, Photoshop and QuickBooks arranged in rows

Do more with Mailchimp’s 300+ app integrations

Mailchimp’s open API makes it easy to consolidate data across platforms—so you can keep using the tools you love.

Explore integrations

Switching to Mailchimp is easy

Ready to make the jump? Let us help with personalized onboarding through your first 90 days and award-winning customer support.

Talk to Sales

FAQs

  • The biggest difference between Mailchimp and SendGrid is the target user. SendGrid's transactional email API is built for developers who want full control over transactional email infrastructure through code.

    Mailchimp Transactional is designed for teams where marketers need to manage templates and content without waiting on engineering for every change, reducing bottlenecks and speeding up execution.

  • Mailchimp Transactional is built for mission-critical messages with speed and reliability designed to protect reputation. We deliver median time to inbox under 1 second compared to SendGrid's 1.9 seconds, with 99.99% uptime and over 99% average delivery rate.

    For time-sensitive notifications like password resets, OTPs, order confirmations, and fraud alerts, that speed difference matters. Mailchimp Transactional is designed for critical notifications with reliability claims and a delivery posture built to protect reputation, so you spend less time troubleshooting day-to-day.

  • SendGrid offers SMS through a separate API with Twilio Messaging at an additional cost and set up.

    Meanwhile, Mailchimp offers a single unified API for both transactional email and transactional SMS; allowing you to manage both marketing and transactional messages from the same platform.

*Disclaimers

  1. 99.99% Uptime: Uptime past performance is not a guarantee of future performance and may be affected by factors outside of our control.