Email sending services
SendGrid privacy rating
Email API and SMTP relay from Twilio for transactional and marketing email, with open and click tracking, event webhooks and an activity feed.
Summary
SendGrid scores 52 out of 100 (grade D) on the email sending services criteria. It meets 4 of 12 criteria: transparency report, tells users about requests, message content deleted after delivery and encrypted delivery can be enforced. It partly meets no ads or data sales, independent audit, TLS configuration, open and click tracking off by default and EU data location. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry and security headers. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A- and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade D-.
Score 52 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- No
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No
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
The website loads Google Tag Manager, Segment, Adobe Launch and VWO.
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Partial
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Funded by paid plans and states data is not sold, but website tracking for targeted advertising counts as sharing under some US state laws.
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Partial
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits and a SendGrid penetration test report are listed, but reports are only available on request through the Twilio Trust Center.
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Yes
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
Twilio publishes annual transparency reports with government request counts, responses and how often users were notified.
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Yes
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
Twilio uses reasonable efforts to notify customers of requests for their information unless prohibited by law.
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Yes
Message content deleted after delivery Weight 3 of 3
Is the content of sent mail deleted once it has been delivered?
Message content is not stored. Delivery data such as addresses, timestamps and engagement events is kept.
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Partial
Open and click tracking off by default Weight 2 of 3
Are open tracking pixels and click tracking links off unless the sender turns them on?
Open tracking is turned on by default for Marketing Campaigns. Open and click tracking can be turned off in the account's tracking settings.
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Yes
Encrypted delivery can be enforced Weight 2 of 3
Can outbound mail be kept from being delivered without TLS?
Enforced TLS settings can require TLS and a valid certificate. Mail to servers that do not meet them is dropped.
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Partial
EU data location Weight 1 of 3
Can message content and delivery logs be processed and stored only in the European Union?
EU data residency is available only on Pro, Premier and Custom plans.
Automated tests
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Partial
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade A-
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No
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade D- (25/100+)
-
Not tested yet
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Not tested yet.