Private and open-source alternatives to Mailchimp Transactional
5 email sending services rated against the same public privacy criteria as Mailchimp Transactional (Mandrill), with our picks first.
Why look for an alternative?
- Open source: no. Closed source.
- No trackers or telemetry: no. The Intuit privacy statement covers advertising cookies, pixels and session-replay tools, and the website loads Google Tag Manager.
- No ads or data sales: partial. Funded by subscriptions and states data is not sold, but personal information is shared with advertising networks for targeted ads unless users opt out.
- Independent audit: partial. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits are done, but the reports are only available through the Intuit compliance portal.
- Transparency report: partial. Publishes how it accepts legal process from governments, but no request counts.
- Tells users about requests: partial. Mailchimp reserves the right to notify customers of legal process, and some customer agreements require notice unless prohibited.
- Security headers: no. Grade C+ (60/100+)
- Message content deleted after delivery: partial. A copy of the HTML and text parts of each sent email is kept for 30 days.
- Open and click tracking off by default: partial. Click tracking is on by default for HTML and text email. Open and click tracking can be turned off in account settings or for each message.
- EU data location: no. Servers are located in the United States. No EU storage option is offered.
See the full Mailchimp Transactional rating.
The alternatives
Forward Email Grade B
Email service whose paid plans include outbound SMTP and an email API for sending from apps and websites with a custom domain. Message bodies are purged after delivery by default.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Forward Email scores 85 out of 100 (grade B) on the email sending services criteria. It meets 9 of 12 criteria: open source, no ads or data sales, independent audit, tells users about requests, TLS configuration, security headers, message content deleted after delivery, open and click tracking off by default and encrypted delivery can be enforced.
Resend Grade D
Email API for developers with SMTP support, React Email templates, broadcasts and webhooks.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Resend scores 46 out of 100 (grade D) on the email sending services criteria. It meets 4 of 12 criteria: no ads or data sales, TLS configuration, open and click tracking off by default and encrypted delivery can be enforced.
Brevo Grade F
Marketing and transactional email platform, formerly Sendinblue, with an SMTP relay, email API, SMS and a CRM. Data is hosted in the EU.
Based in France (Nine Eyes). Brevo scores 29 out of 100 (grade F) on the email sending services criteria. It meets 2 of 12 criteria: TLS configuration and EU data location.
MailerSend Grade F
Transactional email API and SMTP relay from the makers of MailerLite, with templates, inbound routing and SMS.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). MailerSend scores 27 out of 100 (grade F) on the email sending services criteria. It meets 2 of 12 criteria: TLS configuration and EU data location.
Postmark Grade F
Email API and SMTP service from ActiveCampaign for transactional and broadcast email, with separate message streams and 45 days of message history by default.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Postmark scores 27 out of 100 (grade F) on the email sending services criteria. It meets 2 of 12 criteria: TLS configuration and open and click tracking off by default.