MailjetvsCustomer.io

Mailjet vs Customer.io

Budget-friendly all-in-one vs event-driven behavioral platform

TL;DR

Mailjet is a budget-friendly email platform offering transactional and marketing starting at $15/month, known for real-time collaboration features. Customer.io is a behavioral messaging platform starting at $100/month for 5,000 profiles, built for tech companies with event-driven automation. Mailjet for budget simplicity, Customer.io for sophisticated behavioral campaigns.

Key Differences

The main things that set these tools apart

Behavioral vs Traditional Email
Customer.io wins

Customer.io is built for event-driven automation. It triggers campaigns based on what users do in your product. Mailjet is traditional email with time-based automation. If you track product events, Customer.io is far more powerful.

Budget Friendliness
Mailjet wins

Mailjet is significantly cheaper. At 10k contacts, Mailjet costs $35-50/month vs Customer.io at $145+/month. For teams prioritizing cost over behavioral depth, Mailjet offers more value per dollar.

Multi-Channel Messaging
Customer.io wins

Customer.io supports email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messages. Mailjet is email-only. For unified multi-channel messaging, Customer.io wins handily.

Team Collaboration
Mailjet wins

Mailjet Passport enables real-time collaborative email editing like Google Docs. Customer.io has no equivalent. For marketing teams collaborating on emails, Mailjet is unique.

Pricing Comparison

At 10,000 contacts

Mailjet
~$35-50/month

Premium plan with automation. Essential $15/mo for basic sending.

Visit Mailjet
Customer.io
$145/month

Essentials plan at $100 base + overage for profiles over 5k limit.

Visit Customer.io
Sequenzy

The SaaS alternative

$49/month

10k contacts, unlimited sends, marketing + transactional unified.

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side feature breakdown

Feature
Mailjet
Customer.io
Sequenzy
Core Platform
Primary Focus
Transactional + marketing email
Behavioral automation
SaaS email automation
Target Audience
SMBs, startups
Tech companies, SaaS
SaaS founders
Pricing Model
Email volume
Per profile
Per contact
Product Structure
Unified platform
Messaging platform
Unified platform
Automation & Workflows
Automation Type
Time-based
Event-driven behavioral
Event + Stripe-driven
Conditional Logic
Basic
Very advanced
Good
Behavioral Triggers
Limited
Core strength
Good
Multi-Channel
Email only
Email, SMS, push
Email only
AI Sequences
Built-in
Developer Experience
API Quality
Good REST API
Comprehensive
Good REST API
Event Tracking SDK
Built-in
Built-in
Webhooks
Available
Advanced
Available
Documentation
Good
Developer-focused
Developer-focused
SMTP Relay
Limited
Marketing Features
Visual Email Builder
Passport (real-time collab)
Basic
Visual builder
A/B Testing
Premium plan
Available
Available
Segmentation
Good
Event-based (advanced)
Attribute + event
Real-time Collaboration
Yes (unique feature)

Best For

When to choose each tool

Choose Mailjet if you...
  • SMBs needing budget transactional + marketing email
  • Teams wanting real-time email collaboration
  • European companies (EU-based, GDPR-friendly)
  • Startups with simple automation needs
Choose Customer.io if you...
  • Tech companies with product event tracking
  • SaaS needing behavioral user engagement
  • Teams with developers for integration
  • Companies requiring multi-channel messaging
Choose Sequenzy if you...
  • SaaS founders wanting behavioral + Stripe integration
  • Subscription businesses needing payment triggers
  • Teams wanting budget alternative to Customer.io
  • Companies wanting unified marketing + transactional

When to Consider Sequenzy Instead

65%+ Cost Savings vs Customer.io

Sequenzy costs $49/month at 10k contacts vs Customer.io at $145+. You get behavioral automation and SaaS-focused features at a fraction of the price.

Native Stripe Integration

Neither Mailjet nor Customer.io has native Stripe OAuth. Sequenzy triggers emails based on Stripe payments, subscriptions, and billing events automatically.

Unified Platform Simplicity

Mailjet lacks behavioral depth. Customer.io lacks transactional on lower tiers. Sequenzy combines marketing, transactional, and behavioral automation in one platform.

Try Sequenzy Free

Overview

Mailjet and Customer.io serve fundamentally different purposes. Mailjet (owned by Sinch) is a budget-friendly email platform combining transactional email and marketing campaigns. Customer.io is a behavioral messaging platform for tech companies, triggering campaigns based on product events and user actions. See our Customer.io alternatives for more options.

Different Approaches to Email

Mailjet thinks in campaigns and lists. Send this email to these subscribers. Customer.io thinks in behaviors. When a user does X, send email Y. Both are valid approaches, but they suit different business models. E-commerce and newsletters fit Mailjet. SaaS and product-led growth fit Customer.io.

Behavioral Depth

Customer.io's core strength is event-driven automation. Advanced conditional logic, custom objects, deep segmentation based on user actions. If you track product events like feature usage, page views, and purchases, Customer.io can trigger sophisticated campaigns based on that behavior. Mailjet has basic automation but nothing approaching this depth.

Budget Reality

The cost difference is substantial. At 10k contacts, Mailjet costs $35-50/month while Customer.io costs $145+/month. That's a 3-4x price difference. If behavioral automation isn't critical to your business, Mailjet delivers more value per dollar.

Multi-Channel Messaging

Customer.io supports email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messages across all plans. Mailjet is email-only. For tech companies wanting unified multi-channel messaging from one platform, Customer.io is the only choice between these two.

Unique Mailjet Feature

Mailjet Passport enables real-time collaborative email editing. Multiple team members working on the same email simultaneously. Customer.io has no equivalent. For marketing teams with designers and copywriters collaborating on campaigns, this is genuinely useful.

The SaaS Alternative

SaaS companies often need behavioral automation but find Customer.io expensive. Sequenzy offers behavioral automation with native Stripe integration at $49/month. That is 65%+ cheaper than Customer.io with SaaS-specific features neither platform offers.

Making the Choice

Choose Mailjet for budget-friendly email with real-time collaboration and simple automation. Choose Customer.io for sophisticated behavioral automation and multi-channel messaging. For SaaS with Stripe integration and behavioral automation at lower cost, consider Sequenzy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Customer.io is better for SaaS if you need behavioral automation based on product events. Mailjet works for SaaS but lacks the behavioral depth. Consider Sequenzy for SaaS-specific features with Stripe integration.

Only basic time-based workflows. Mailjet is not built for event-driven behavioral campaigns. For sophisticated behavioral automation, Customer.io or Sequenzy are better choices.

Mailjet is much cheaper. At 10k contacts, Mailjet costs $35-50/month vs Customer.io at $145+/month. The price gap widens with scale. Customer.io also only counts active profiles, while Mailjet counts by email volume.

Only on Premium plans ($1,000/month minimum with annual contract). Essentials plan is marketing-only. Mailjet includes transactional on all plans. This is a significant limitation for Customer.io at lower tiers.

Both have good deliverability. Mailjet has been around since 2010 with solid reputation. Customer.io focuses on behavioral messaging with good delivery. Neither is known for deliverability issues.

Yes, Customer.io supports SMS, push notifications, and in-app messages across all plans. Mailjet is email-only. For multi-channel messaging, Customer.io is the clear choice.

Passport is Mailjet's real-time collaborative email builder. Multiple team members can edit the same email simultaneously, like Google Docs. Customer.io has no equivalent feature.

Customer.io has better developer experience with event tracking SDK, comprehensive API, and developer-focused documentation. Mailjet's API is good but more suited for simple integration needs.

Export contacts from Mailjet. Set up Customer.io and configure event tracking SDK in your product. Import contacts and rebuild automations as behavioral workflows. Expect 2-4 weeks for proper migration with event tracking setup.

Export contacts from Customer.io. Set up Mailjet and verify domain. Import contacts. Rebuild automations in Mailjet workflow builder. Note that behavioral triggers will need to be replaced with simpler time-based logic.

Not sure which to pick?

If you're a SaaS founder who needs Stripe integration and unified email, try Sequenzy free. No credit card required.

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Sequenzy - Complete Pricing Guide

Pricing Model

Sequenzy uses subscriber-based pricing. You only pay for subscribers active in sequences (automations). Inactive subscribers are free to store.

All Pricing Tiers

  • 0-100 subscribers: Free (Free annually) - 2k emails/month
  • 101-1,000 subscribers: $19/month ($205/year annually) - 15k emails/month
  • 1,001-5,000 subscribers: $29/month ($313/year annually) - 60k emails/month
  • 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $49/month ($529/year annually) - 120k emails/month
  • 10,001-25,000 subscribers: $99/month ($1069/year annually) - 300k emails/month
  • 25,001-50,000 subscribers: $199/month ($2149/year annually) - 600k emails/month
  • 50,001-100,000 subscribers: $349/month ($3769/year annually) - 1.2M emails/month
  • 100,000+ subscribers: Custom pricing (Custom annually) - Unlimited emails/month

Yearly billing: All plans offer a 10% discount when billed annually.

Free Plan Features (0-100 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Paid Plan Features (1,000 - 100,000 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy)
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Enterprise Plan Features (100,000+ subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Important Pricing Notes

  • You only pay for subscribers who are active in automations/sequences
  • Storing inactive subscribers is free
  • No hidden fees - all features included in the price
  • No credit card required for free tier

Contact

  • Pricing Page: https://sequenzy.com/pricing
  • Sales: hello@sequenzy.com