Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) vs Emarsys

by Gralio Feb 24, 2025

Mailchimp Transactional Email focuses on transactional emails with strong deliverability and tracking, while Emarsys offers broader marketing automation and personalization for larger businesses. Mailchimp is ideal for developers and smaller businesses needing reliable transactional email sending, while Emarsys suits larger businesses focused on omnichannel marketing and customer engagement.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 613 reviews and 40 websites, saving 3 hours, 44 minutes of reading.

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill)

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Emarsys

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About

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) is a tool designed for developers to send personalized, automated emails like order confirmations or password resets. This reliable service ensures fast email delivery and provides detailed tracking and analytics. You can easily manage your brand's emails with customizable templates. Mailchimp Transactional Email integrates seamlessly with your existing systems, making it a powerful solution for businesses of all sizes.

Emarsys, an SAP company, is a marketing platform designed for medium to large businesses. It helps you personalize marketing messages across multiple channels such as email, text, app notifications, and your website. Emarsys aims to improve customer engagement and loyalty through automated, data-driven campaigns. It is heavily focused on data analytics and uses AI to improve marketing outcomes.

Summary

Main difference

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) is better for you if you need a reliable and developer-friendly platform for sending transactional emails with detailed tracking and analytics. Emarsys is better for you if you are a medium to large business seeking a comprehensive marketing platform with omnichannel personalization and AI-powered optimization.

Relative strengths of Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) (compared to Emarsys)

Easy implementation and integration with existing systems.
Detailed email tracking and analytics for performance monitoring.
Reliable email delivery infrastructure.

Relative weaknesses of Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) (compared to Emarsys)

Limited email template customization options.
Higher-tier paid accounts needed for full functionality.
Pricing can be expensive for smaller organizations, especially with growth.

Who should use Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) VS. Emarsys

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) is a developer-focused tool for sending automated emails like order confirmations and password resets. Known for reliable delivery and detailed analytics, it integrates seamlessly with existing systems. Users appreciate its ease of implementation and robust tracking, but some find the pricing challenging and template customization limited.

Emarsys is a robust marketing platform specializing in personalized, omnichannel campaigns. Users praise its intuitive interface and powerful segmentation, especially the "tactics" feature and pre-built automation programs. However, some find the cost prohibitive and building complex workflows challenging. Consider Emarsys if your business seeks advanced marketing automation but be prepared for a learning curve and potentially higher expenses.

Best for small to medium-sized businesses needing automated, personalized emails.
A good fit for e-commerce, retail, finance, and other industries requiring transactional emails.

Best fit for medium to large businesses.
Ideal for e-commerce, retail, and consumer goods companies.

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) and Emarsys features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Drip Campaigns

Not supported

Drip campaigns are supported in Mailchimp's main platform, not its transactional email service.

Unknown

Drip campaigns are not explicitly mentioned in the documentation.
Performance analytics

Supported

Mailchimp Transactional Email offers robust analytics and reporting features for tracking email performance.

Supported

Emarsys offers robust email campaign performance analytics, including AI-powered insights.
Segmentation Integration

Partially supported

Predefined segments can be integrated via the broader Mailchimp ecosystem and tools like Zapier.

Supported

Emarsys supports creating segments and integrating them with email marketing.
Campaign tracking

Partially supported

Campaign performance tracking is supported via integration with Google Analytics.

Supported

Emarsys supports campaign tracking with features like external analytics integration and AI-powered analytics.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

No data

No data
Customer Service

No data

No data
Ease of Use

No data

No data
Reliability and Performance

No data

No data
Ease of Implementation

No data

No data
Scalability

No data

No data

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) and Emarsys Pricing

Mailchimp offers a free plan and three paid plans: Essentials, Standard, and Premium. The Essentials plan starts at $13/month, the Standard plan starts at $20/month, and the Premium plan starts at $350/month. Mailchimp also offers a 15% discount for nonprofits and charities.

Plans

See full Pricing page

No data

We couldn't find a pricing page for Emarsys.

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) and Emarsys review insights

Users love

Easy to implement and configure.
Automates email campaigns and workflows.
Reliable email delivery.
Detailed tracking and analytics.
Seamless integration with other systems, especially Mailchimp.

Easy to use interface and implementation
Strong segmentation capabilities
The "tactics" function is useful.
Helpful pre-built automation programs

Users dislike

Higher-tier paid accounts are required for full access to all tools.
Limited customization for email templates.
Pricing can be expensive, especially for smaller organizations.
Occasional syncing issues with e-commerce platforms like Prestashop.
Mobile app is lacking.

The cost can be a downside, especially for smaller organizations.
They mention that it is inconvenient to build intricate processes inside of Emarsys.
The platform also lacks the ability to precisely pinpoint a customer's position within their journey at any given time.
Emarsys only supports a single brand.

Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) and Emarsys Ratings

G2

4.2/5

(168)

G2

4.3/5

(438)
Capterra

4.3/5

(12)
Glassdoor

4.1/5

(321)

Company health

Employee growth

4% increase in the last year

5% increase in the last year

Web traffic

11% decrease in the last quarter

27% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

March 2018 - $0

July 2016 - $55M

How do Mailchimp Transactional Email and Emarsys compare for smaller e-commerce businesses?

For smaller e-commerce businesses, Mailchimp Transactional Email is likely a better fit than Emarsys. Mailchimp's pricing, while having expensive upper tiers, offers a more accessible entry point for smaller businesses. Emarsys caters to medium to large businesses and its pricing reflects that, likely making it cost-prohibitive for smaller operations. Additionally, Mailchimp integrates well with its broader marketing platform, potentially streamlining marketing efforts for smaller businesses that might also utilize Mailchimp for other marketing activities. While Emarsys offers more advanced features like AI-powered analytics, these are often unnecessary for smaller businesses and add complexity. Mailchimp's focus on ease of use and simple integration for transactional emails directly addresses the core needs of a smaller e-commerce business.

Which platform provides better integration with existing CRM systems for personalized campaigns?

Emarsys provides better integration with existing CRM systems for personalized campaigns. While Mailchimp Transactional Email integrates well, especially with the broader Mailchimp ecosystem, Emarsys is specifically designed for larger businesses and emphasizes data-driven, AI-powered personalization across multiple channels. Its focus on integrating with existing systems for personalized campaigns makes it the stronger choice for this specific need.

What are the advantages of Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill)?

Mailchimp Transactional Email focuses on reliable and automated transactional email delivery, like order confirmations and password resets, with detailed tracking and analytics. Its seamless integration with other systems, especially the broader Mailchimp marketing platform, makes it advantageous for users already within that ecosystem. Users praise its ease of implementation and reliable delivery.

What are the disadvantages of Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill)?

Mailchimp Transactional Email has some limitations. Users have reported that higher-tier paid accounts are needed to unlock full functionality, and customization options for email templates are somewhat restricted. Pricing can be a concern, especially for smaller businesses. Some users have experienced occasional syncing problems with certain e-commerce platforms, and the mobile app has been criticized.

Alternatives to Mailchimp Transactional Email (formerly Mandrill) and Emarsys

Netcore Customer Engagement and Experience Platform

Netcore Cloud is an AI-powered marketing platform designed to improve how businesses connect with their customers. It allows you to gather and understand customer data, personalize messages, and reach customers across multiple channels like email, SMS, and push notifications. The platform's focus is on helping mid-size to large businesses, particularly in industries like e-commerce and retail, create more effective marketing campaigns that lead to increased customer engagement and, ultimately, higher sales. Netcore promises to deliver relevant content to the right customer at the right time through automation and data analysis.

Brevo Transactional Email

Brevo Transactional Email helps businesses send important emails like order confirmations and password resets. It offers easy email design tools, integrates with existing business systems, and automates sending based on customer actions. You can track if emails are opened or clicked and the service is secure for your customer's data. Brevo Transactional Email is suitable for both small and large businesses.

Elastic Email

Elastic Email is an email platform designed for businesses to send transactional emails, like password resets and order confirmations. They offer an email marketing tool, but their strength is their reliable delivery engine and API, allowing easy integration with your existing systems. They focus on providing cost-effective solutions for small to medium businesses and pride themselves on strong customer support.

MailEngine

MailEngine is a self-hosted email marketing software that focuses on improving email deliverability, especially for small and medium businesses. It allows you to send marketing emails using your Gmail or GSuite account for a more personal touch. It offers features like content spinning, unique URL generation for each email, and spam word detection to help your emails reach the inbox. MailEngine is hosted on your own WordPress site, giving you control over your data and ensuring your service won't be interrupted by issues affecting other users on a shared platform.

Insider

Insider is a software platform designed for large companies that need sophisticated marketing tools. It helps you gather all your customer data in one place and then uses artificial intelligence to personalize the experience for each customer. This means that whether a customer is on your website, using your mobile app, reading your emails, or interacting through other channels like SMS, you can target them with consistent and relevant messages. Insider is highly regarded in the industry and used by many well-known brands.

iContact

iContact is an email marketing software designed for small to midsize businesses. It offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for building emails, managing contact lists, and setting up automated email sequences. iContact helps you create and send professional emails with features like pre-designed templates and a spam checker. It also provides reporting and analytics so you can track the effectiveness of your email campaigns. iContact is known for its helpful customer support.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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