When Should You Choose Mailercloud?

Mailercloud makes sense if you're budget-conscious and need high-volume email sending without premium design features. At $50/month with unlimited sends, it's one of the most affordable platforms for newsletters, announcements, and basic promotional campaigns.

The platform works well for small businesses, B2B companies, content creators, and anyone who prioritizes cost over design sophistication. If you're sending 5-10 emails per subscriber per month, unlimited sends saves money compared to volume-based platforms.

AMP email support is a unique technical feature that lets you add interactive elements like carousels and forms directly in emails. Campaign Monitor doesn't support this, so if you want cutting-edge interactivity, Mailercloud has an advantage.

The 1,000 contact free tier lets you test the platform without a credit card, which is more generous than Campaign Monitor's 5-contact trial period.

When Should You Choose Campaign Monitor?

Campaign Monitor is the right choice if design quality matters to your brand. The platform is known for beautiful, professionally designed templates that look great across all email clients. If your brand has high design standards or you're in a visually driven industry, the template library alone justifies the cost.

Agencies particularly benefit from Campaign Monitor's client management features. You can create unlimited client accounts, white-label the interface, bill per client, and generate branded reports. Managing multiple brands from one account is seamless compared to juggling separate logins on other platforms.

The advanced analytics go beyond basic open and click rates. Campaign Monitor shows engagement maps that visualize where subscribers click within emails, helping you optimize layout and content placement. Custom reports can be exported and shared with stakeholders or clients.

Transactional email is handled through a separate API that's more robust than Mailercloud's basic transactional support. If you need reliable delivery for order confirmations, password resets, or account notifications, Campaign Monitor's infrastructure is enterprise-grade.

At $111/month for 10,000 contacts, Campaign Monitor costs 2x more than Mailercloud. You're paying for premium design, agency features, and advanced analytics that matter for certain businesses but may be overkill for others.

What Mailercloud Does Better

Unlimited email sends is Mailercloud's biggest advantage. Campaign Monitor limits you to 150,000 sends per month on the Premier plan, which works for most businesses but can be restrictive for high-frequency senders. Mailercloud removes this constraint entirely.

The platform is more affordable at $50/month vs $111/month for comparable contact counts. If budget is your primary concern and you don't need premium design or agency features, Mailercloud delivers reliable email marketing at half the cost.

AMP email support is a technical feature Campaign Monitor lacks. Interactive emails with live content updates or in-email forms can increase engagement, though most businesses don't use this advanced functionality.

Setup is simpler for basic email marketing. You can create and send campaigns in minutes without navigating through advanced design tools or client management features that you may not need.

What Campaign Monitor Does Better

Design quality is Campaign Monitor's strongest advantage. The 400+ templates are professionally designed and regularly updated. Each template is tested across dozens of email clients to ensure consistent rendering. If you've ever seen a beautiful email newsletter and wondered what platform created it, there's a good chance it was Campaign Monitor.

Brand consistency tools help maintain visual standards across all emails. You can create style guides, lock brand colors and fonts, and ensure that everyone on your team follows design guidelines. This is critical for agencies managing multiple brands or companies with strict brand standards.

Client management features make Campaign Monitor the obvious choice for agencies. You can create separate accounts for each client, white-label the interface with your agency branding, and bill clients individually. Branded reports show campaign performance with your agency logo rather than Campaign Monitor's.

The visual journey builder for automation is more sophisticated than Mailercloud's basic workflow tool. You can create complex customer journeys with multiple paths, delays, and behavioral triggers. Engagement maps show exactly where subscribers interact with your emails, helping you optimize content placement.

Advanced segmentation uses behavioral data, engagement history, and custom fields to create precise audience segments. This level of targeting is important for brands that send highly personalized campaigns.

Consider Sequenzy If You're Running a SaaS Business

If neither platform fits because you're running a subscription business, Sequenzy was built specifically for SaaS companies. Native Stripe integration syncs customer data automatically so you can trigger emails based on subscription events like trial expiration or payment failures.

AI email generation lets you describe what you want ("trial conversion sequence for analytics platform") and Sequenzy writes the full campaign. Neither Mailercloud nor Campaign Monitor offer this level of AI-powered content creation.

The platform combines transactional and marketing email in one tool at $49/month. You don't need separate services for password resets and promotional campaigns, which simplifies your stack and reduces costs compared to Campaign Monitor's separate transactional API.

Learn more about Sequenzy's features or see how it compares to other email marketing platforms.