Elastic Email was established in 2010, and over the years, it has occupied the 6th highest market share among email market platforms. With all the features Elastic Email offers, it seems an affordable tool for beginner email marketers. The software is best known for email delivery services through its API integrations and is often used to send bulk emails.
If you're here, you're probably contemplating whether Elastic Email is the right tool for your business. To help you, we have written this Elastic Email review based on our experience using the tool and analysis of its customers' feedback.
What is Elastic Email?
Elastic Email was founded in 2010 as an email marketing and delivery platform that helps users create, send and analyze their email campaigns. One distinguishing feature is its API integrations that allow users to connect Elastic Email with 15+ apps and websites to fetch data and send targeted automated emails.
What are Elastic Email's core features?
Some of the core features Elastic Email is known for are as follows:
• Drag-and-drop email editor
Elastic Email template editor has basic and essential features and is suitable for getting the job done. The UI is easy to understand, but the options at the top (tags, preview) aren't that intuitive.
There are limited layout blocks as visible in the image, and customization is also limited. But a good factor is you have 116 pre-made templates, even if you're on a free plan.
• Landing page builder
The landing page builder looks similar to its template builder, which might sometimes get confusing. The features are limited, but you can create landing pages even if you're on a free plan.
There are also 26 pre-made landing page templates to get started with yours.
• Form builder
You can also build forms such as sign-up and registration forms using Elastic Email form builder. The editor is quite basic, and there is limited customization you can do, no matter which plans you opt for.
You can customize the fields and change the design of the form to a limited extent. It's useful if you want to create and embed basic forms, but Elastic Email might not be a good choice if you want to build compelling forms.
• Email automation
The email automation builder is quite simple and easy to use. To start, you need to select one out of these four triggers:
- Contact joins a list
- Contact opens an email
- Contact clicks a link
- The contact status has been changed
After you add the trigger, you can add an email, delay, condition, or action. You get two condition options: if the recipient has opened the email or a contact's status is changed.
Overall the automation feature is so intuitive that if you're a beginner, you will easily learn how to create a marketing email journey. Still, the feature fails when it comes to triggering options, as those are very limited.
• Email API
Elastic Email offers RESTful API and SMTP relay integration to decapitalize emails to millions of users. It has API documentation and libraries to help developers set up everything quickly. By setting up webhooks, you'll be able to receive notifications for your email performance.
With its inbound email routing feature, you can anonymize your inbox by automatically forwarding these emails to an email address of your choice.
Elastic Email pricing details
No free trial is available, but you can get a free plan if you send up to 100 emails/ day for its email marketing and API services.
Email marketing pricing plans
| Number of Contacts | Marketing | Marketing Pro |
|---|---|---|
| 5k | $18/ month | $60/ month |
| 10k | $42/ month | $60/ month |
| 30k | $108/ month | $162/ month |
| 50k | $174/ month | $258/ month |
| 75k | $264/ month | $354/ month |
| 100k | $318/ month | $420/ month |
| 350k | $780/ month | $990/ month |
| 500k | $1050/ month | $1290/ month |
| 1000k | $1800/ month | $2178/ month |
Get a complete analysis of Elastic Emails' pricing plans.
Email API pricing plans
Plan | Email API | Email API Pro
| Plan | Email API | Email API Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $0.10/ 1000 emails and $0.50/ day/ email | $0.15/ 1000 emails and $1/ day/ email |
| Features | - Email API and SMTP relay - Email Designer - Suppressions Management - Tracking and Analytics - SMS API - Customer Support |
Everything in Email API plan plus: - Inbound Email Processing - Webhooks - Reseller Features - User Management - Sub Accounts - Custom rDNS |
Elastic Email also offers many add-ons (cost extra), such as email list verifications, private IPs, email attachments, SMS API, extended logs, and dedicated support. Check out their Email API pricing plan in detail.
Elastic Email's key strengths and weaknesses
Based on Elastic Email's customer review, we have highlighted the pros and cons of the tool:
Elastic Email pros
- User-friendly interface: The tool has a trouble-free UI; even first-time users can seamlessly navigate and set up their campaigns.
- Send bulk emails with ease: Elastic Email is known for its service to send bulk emails.
One of the best ways to send bulk emails under elastic it's very easy to create HTML under elastic and send emails; they can send one thousand emails, and the software doesn't even get hung.
- Transactional emails: With Elastic Email API, you can set up transactional emails and send them in bulk.
Sending transactional emails is easy for the company; this software is very beneficial; with cost reduction and increased productivity, our business performance increased by 50 %. - Johana M., Small-Business owner
Elastic Email cons
- Basic email automation: Advanced email automation is a core feature most users look for in an ESP. Elastic Email falls behind as the triggers are limited and you cannot build complicated email journeys.
- Bad customer support: Due to the unavailability of live chat and chat support, it might take a long to get your queries resolved.
What I don't like about Elastic Email software is the lack of customer service. There isn't a live chat or phone support option, and the response time can be slow.
Is Elastic Email the right tool for you?
Now, the biggest question. Should you use Elastic Email as your email service provider? We've jotted down key pointers to help you decide:
When it's recommended
- If you're a beginner email marketer: Elastic Email is a good tool to step your foot in email marketing as you can explore the tool on its free plan if you send 100 emails/day. The cost is low, and you can access almost all its features, including automation, template creator, and email API.
- If you are a freelancer or small/midsize business: Again, the cost is low, and for a small/midsize business, the tool is affordable and useful to create and analyze campaigns.
- If you send mass or bulk emails: By integrating your CRM tools with Elastic Email's API, you can trigger bulk emails, one of its best features.
When it's not
- If marketing automation is vital to your campaigns: Elastic Email's automation isn't that advanced, and you can't access it if you're on a free plan. Besides, the trigger options are also limited.
- If you want to create engaging and dynamic emails: The template builder is limited to a basic email layout, and you cannot add dynamic email content blocks such as RSS feeds or forms inside the Email.
This is not the best choice for those who want highly customized, dynamic content, design template variants, and high input fields for making the campaign close to the target audience. - Irfanuddin S., Senior Academic Counselor
Elastic Email alternatives
Check out these Elastic Email alternatives that are much more affordable and might be the right choice.
Mailmodo
Mailmodo is one of the emerging and best email marketing platforms that help you create and send interactive AMP emails, build automated journeys, and send transactional emails. The tool is much cheaper than Elastic Email and is known for its excellent customer support team, advanced automation, and high deliverability, a major concern among Elastic Email users.
💡Check out the comparison between Mailmodo and Elastic Email
Elastic Email vs. Mailmodo: Which one should you use?
| Criterion | Mailmodo | Elastic Email |
|---|---|---|
| No-code email builder | For both AMP and HTML emails with 200+ pre-made templates | For HTML emails, only with 116 pre-made templates. |
| Transactional emails | Available on all plans | Different pricing plan for transactional emails. |
| Email automation | Yes, with 12 trigger options | Yes, with 4 trigger options. |
| Dynamic Email & personalization | Can add dynamic content such as RSS feed | No dynamic email support is available. |
| Custom support | Email, chat & phone support 24/7 and available on all plans | Only Email and knowledge base support on all plans. |
| List Management | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reports and Analysis | ✅ | ✅ |
| Subject line A/B testing | ✅ | ✅ |
| Supported integrations | 20+ integrations | 19 integrations |
| AMP email support | ✅ | ❌ |
| Pricing | For 100k contacts: $459/mo and $639/mo | For 100k contacts: $318/mo and $420/mo |
When should you choose Mailmodo over Elastic Email?
There are various reasons for choosing Mailmodo over Elastic Email:
- When you want to get an extensive email performance rating
The analytics dashboard gives a 360-degree view of your email marketing campaigns. You get everything in a single dashboard, from important metrics such as click rate to the recipient's email client breakdown.
- When you want advanced email automation
Mailmodo's email automation offers 12 trigger options and webhook and API integration to create targeted and personalized email journeys. You can create a custom API event and send emails based on that trigger.
- If you want to send interactive AMP emails
AMP emails are the future of email marketing as they allow you to reduce friction and let your recipient take action inside the Email. Mailmodo is the only ESP that helps you create and send responsive and engaging AMP emails with its no-code editor. So, if you want to use both AMP and HTML email, go for Mailmodo.
Other Elastic Email alternatives
| Mailchimp | MailerLite | Constant Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp vs. Elastic Email | MailerLite vs. Elastic Email | Constant Contact vs. Elastic Email |
MailerLite
Mailerlite is a good email marketing tool for beginner email marketers and is way more affordable than Elastic Email. You can begin your email marketing campaign for free or opt for their paid plan starting from $19/month. Its customer support is available for free and paid users, unlike Elastic Email, which offers good support only to paid users.
💡Read our in-depth MailerLite review
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a better alternative if you are looking for top-notch brand experience and have a high budget to perform advanced analysis and automation.
💡Deep dive into our Mailcimp review
Constant Contact
Constant Contact offers value for money only if you have a small list size; otherwise, it's more expensive than Elastic Email. But if you want to run and manage events and SMS campaigns, you can try this tool.
💡Check out our in-depth Constant Contact review
Elastic Email's rating overview
| Feature | Ratings | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | The software is easy to use as the UI is simple, and even a beginner can master it soon. |
| Customer support | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Customer support is available through Email, in-app, and a dedicated knowledge base. But you don't get any live chat or call support which might cause a delay in response time. |
| Landing page builder | ⭐⭐ | A landing page builder isn't that advanced, but it does come with even a free plan. The customization options are limited too. |
| Email deliverability | ⭐⭐⭐ | Email deliverability might be lower due to a bad IP reputation, especially if you're on a shared IP address. (which is often the case as you have to pay an extra amount to get a dedicated IP) |
| A/B testing | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | You can run A/B split testing and see the results for opens and click rates. Initially, the tool sends a test variant to 105 chosen contacts; after the winning campaign is decided, it sends that Email to the rest of the contacts. |
| Email template editor | ⭐⭐⭐ | Template builder is a drag-and-drop editor and offers all required options, such as pre-made content blocks and style customization. Although the test and preview options might be hard to locate for a newbie as the tags used aren't that clear. |
| Reporting/Analytics | ⭐⭐⭐ | The dashboard gives you email metrics such as opens, click, and unsubscribe. Apart from this, you also get a detailed analysis of your contacts and their engagement over time. |
| Email automation | ⭐⭐⭐ | Email automation has very few (only 4) trigger options, limiting personalization and targeting. |
| List management | ⭐⭐⭐ | There are two options to add your contact list - copy, paste, or upload a file. You can segment your email database based on campaign activity. |
| Integrations | ⭐⭐⭐ | The integrations are limited to only 19, and most are useful for sending transactional emails. |
| Sign-up forms | ⭐⭐⭐ | The form builder is simple, and you can make slight customization such as changing color, font size, etc. You cannot add background images or interactive widgets such as a timer. |
| Pre-made templates | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | There are 116 pre-made email templates and 20+ landing pages and form templates. The form and landing page templates aren't that creative, but the email templates are. |
| Overall rating | - 4.4/5 stars (G2) - 3.6/5 stars (Capterra) |
Elastic Email is best to send bulk emails, and it's easy to use. But, it lacks advanced features such as multiple trigger options. |
The verdict
Elastic Email is a good tool for a beginner email marketer as the starting plans are affordable with access to all its features. It's well-known for its email API, using which you can scale your Email send volume. But, the problem that often arises is its low deliverability rate. Based on our research, it was a common concern of Elastic Email users.
So, this might not be a good choice from a deliverability perspective, a non-negotiable feature in an ESP. It will hurt your domain and IP reputation, negatively affecting your email performance.
