When should you choose Sequenzy?
1. You're a SaaS Founder or Small Team
Customer.io is built for companies with engineering resources. Their documentation even states it's "ideal for SaaS companies with developers on staff." If you're a founder or small team without dedicated engineers for marketing tooling, Sequenzy is more approachable. You can set up campaigns in minutes, not days.
2. You Need Simple, Affordable Pricing
Customer.io starts at $100/month for just 5,000 profiles. At 10,000 profiles, you're looking at $100-150/month or more. Sequenzy costs $49/month for 10,000 subscribers. If you don't need Customer.io's multi-channel capabilities, you're paying for functionality you don't use.
3. You Want Native Stripe Integration
Sequenzy connects directly to Stripe and syncs customer data, MRR, subscription status, and churn signals automatically. Customer.io requires you to manually track events and send them via their API. If your billing is in Stripe, we make it effortless.
4. You Want Separate Transactional Limits
Sequenzy treats transactional emails separately—they don't count toward your marketing limits. Customer.io counts all emails toward your limit, including transactional. At high volume, this can get expensive.
When should you stick with Customer.io?
1. You Need Multi-Channel Messaging
Customer.io supports email, push notifications, SMS, in-app messages, and webhooks—all from one platform with unified workflows. We only do email. If you need to reach users across multiple channels, Customer.io is the obvious choice.
2. You Have Complex Behavioral Workflows
Customer.io's automation engine is genuinely powerful. You can trigger campaigns based on any event, with complex branching, loops, and conditions. Need to wait until someone's trial expires unless they upgrade first? Want different messages based on which features they've used? Customer.io handles this elegantly. Our automation is simpler.
3. You Have Engineering Resources
Customer.io shines when you have developers who can integrate it deeply with your product—sending custom events, setting up data pipelines, building sophisticated segments. If you have the engineering bandwidth, Customer.io's power is worth unlocking.
4. You Need HIPAA Compliance
Healthcare companies and others with strict compliance requirements need Customer.io's Premium plan, which includes HIPAA compliance. We don't offer HIPAA compliance.
5. You Need Data Objects for B2B
Customer.io lets you create relationships between people and objects (like accounts, workspaces, or products). This is powerful for B2B SaaS with complex data models. We don't have this feature.
Honest Limitations of Sequenzy
- Email only: We don't support push notifications, SMS, or in-app messages.
- Simpler automation: Customer.io's behavioral workflows are more sophisticated.
- No data objects: We don't support complex B2B relationship modeling.
- No HIPAA: Healthcare companies should use Customer.io Premium.
- Less mature API: Customer.io's API and data pipelines are more developed.
- No landing pages: We don't have a landing page builder.
Honest Limitations of Customer.io
- Expensive: $100/mo starting price for just 5,000 profiles. Premium is $1,000/mo.
- Steep learning curve: Multiple users describe the UI as "overwhelming initially."
- Requires engineering: Getting full value requires developer integration work.
- Transactional emails count: All sends count toward your limit, including password resets.
- No free tier: Only a 14-day trial. If you need more time to evaluate, you're out of luck.
- Auto-upgrade pricing: Exceed your profiles and you're charged $0.009 per extra profile.