SendGrid and Mailburger both send email, but they start from different places. SendGrid grew up as an API for developers and sells a separate marketing tool next to it. Mailburger is a marketing tool from the first screen. Here is how the two compare in October 2026, using each vendor's public pricing.
The short answer
If your developers need a high-volume API and SMTP relay for app email, SendGrid's Email API is built for that, and Mailburger does not offer one. If you mainly send newsletters and automated campaigns, Mailburger gives you automations, A/B tests and single sign-on at a lower monthly price, and only counts subscribed contacts. You can also use both: SendGrid's Email API for receipts and password resets, and Mailburger for marketing.
For the quick version with plan-by-plan tables, see Mailburger vs SendGrid.
What each one is
Twilio SendGrid sells two products that are billed separately on one account. The Email API is a REST API and SMTP relay for transactional and bulk email, priced by emails sent. Marketing Campaigns is a no-code tool with design and code editors, lists, segments, signup forms and, on the Advanced plan, automation. It is priced by contacts stored plus emails sent.
Mailburger is an email marketing tool for newsletters, signup forms and automations, running on its own delivery engine. Plans are priced in euros by subscribed contacts, billed monthly with no contract. Every plan includes a drag-and-drop editor, templates, signup forms with double opt-in, segments and campaign reports. Paid plans add automations, A/B tests, contact scoring, AI help and a REST API for syncing contacts. It does not send app email.
Features side by side
| Feature | Mailburger | SendGrid Marketing Campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, 500 contacts and 2,500 emails a month | No, a 60-day trial once per account |
| Drag-and-drop editor | All plans | All plans |
| Automations | Grow and up, from €5 | Advanced and Custom, from $60 |
| A/B tests | Grow and up, up to 4 variants with automatic winner | All plans |
| Signup forms | Embedded, hosted page, popup, banner, slide-in | 5 on Basic, 15 on Advanced |
| Team members | 1 on Free, 3 on Grow, unlimited on Pro | 1 extra on Basic, up to 1,000 on Advanced |
| SAML single sign-on | Pro, €20 | Advanced |
| Dedicated IP | No | Included on Advanced |
| Transactional API and SMTP | No | Separate Email API plan |
| Agency client workspaces | Up to 25 on Agency, unlimited on Agency Plus | Subusers on Advanced, up to 15 |
Pricing at 1,000, 10,000 and 50,000 contacts
| Contacts | Mailburger | SendGrid Basic (no automation) | SendGrid Advanced (automation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | €5 (Grow, up to 5,000 contacts) | $15 (Basic 5K) | $60 (Advanced 10K) |
| 10,000 | €20 (Pro, up to 50,000 contacts) | $25 (Basic 10K) | $60 (Advanced 10K) |
| 50,000 | €20 (Pro, up to 50,000 contacts) | $120 (Basic 50K) | $250 (Advanced 50K) |
Monthly list prices. SendGrid quotes US dollars and Mailburger euros.
How SendGrid bills. Each Marketing Campaigns tier bundles a contact cap with a send cap. Basic allows about three sends per contact a month (30,000 emails on Basic 10K) and Advanced about five (50,000 on Advanced 10K). Going over either cap is billed per contact or email, from $0.0023 to $0.0075 depending on the tier. Contacts stored and contacts uploaded both count, deleting a contact does not lower that month's count, and teammates count as contacts too. If you also need app email, the Email API is a separate plan with its own send count: Essentials starts at $19.95 for 50,000 emails a month.
How Mailburger bills. Plans count subscribed contacts and contacts pending double opt-in. Unsubscribed and bounced contacts do not count, and test sends and confirmation emails do not use your email allowance. Grow includes 5,000 contacts and 50,000 emails a month for €5. Pro includes 50,000 contacts and 500,000 emails for €20. You can cancel any time. The full menu is on our pricing page.
The free plan question. Twilio retired SendGrid's free plans in May 2025. Free accounts storing more than 100 contacts lost them after a 60-day wind-down. New accounts get a 60-day trial at up to 100 emails a day, and only one trial per account. SendGrid's own Marketing Campaigns FAQ still mentions a free plan with 2,000 contacts, which contradicts the changelog. Mailburger's Free plan covers 500 contacts and 2,500 emails a month with one team member.
Deliverability and sending
SendGrid includes Deliverability Insights, suppression management, link branding and SPF and DKIM on all plans. Marketing Campaigns Advanced includes one dedicated IP, and extra IPs cost $30 a month each; Basic sends from shared IPs. Email content testing for inbox rendering, spam and links comes with 10 credits a month on Basic and 60 on Advanced. Email address validation is limited to Email API Pro and Premier.
Mailburger sends through its own delivery engine. You verify your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, every campaign carries one-click unsubscribe headers, and signup forms support double opt-in, business-email validation and spam protection with a built-in proof-of-work check or Cloudflare Turnstile. Segments on engagement and a contact score that decays over time help you send to people who still read your email. Mailburger does not offer dedicated IPs, so if your volume calls for one, SendGrid has it.
Team, security and agencies
SendGrid Advanced allows up to 1,000 teammates with Admin, Read-only and Restricted roles, SAML 2.0 single sign-on and up to 15 subusers. Basic includes one extra teammate and no SSO. SendGrid also offers multi-account access, which lets one Twilio login switch between several SendGrid accounts.
Mailburger includes 3 team members on Grow and unlimited members on Pro, along with SAML single sign-on and a workspace audit log. Agencies get their own plans: Agency at €49 pools 100,000 contacts and 1,000,000 emails across up to 25 client workspaces, and Agency Plus at €149 pools 500,000 contacts and 5,000,000 emails with unlimited clients. Both are white label, with your own logo, colour, sign-in link and system emails.
Support
SendGrid's trial gets ticket support. Paid plans add 24/7 live chat, and phone callbacks are available on Email API Pro and Marketing Campaigns Advanced and above. Personalised support and expert services are paid add-ons.
Mailburger offers email support on every plan, with priority support on Pro.
Who should choose which
Choose SendGrid if:
- your developers send app email at volume and want an API and SMTP relay from the same vendor as your marketing tool,
- you need a dedicated IP or more than a handful of separately managed subusers,
- you need hundreds of teammates on one account.
Choose Mailburger if:
- you mainly send newsletters, welcome series and other automated campaigns,
- you want automations and A/B tests without moving to a $60 plan,
- you would rather not pay for contacts who unsubscribed or bounced,
- you run an agency and want white-label client workspaces under one plan.
Switching from SendGrid
Export your Marketing Campaigns contacts as a CSV, recreate your custom fields and import the file into an audience. SendGrid's {{first_name}} tags work as they are, and fallbacks become {{first_name|there}}. Rebuild your automations, verify your sending domain and warm it up with your most engaged contacts. The full checklist is on Mailburger vs SendGrid.
Prices checked on 13 October 2026 from each vendor's public pricing pages.