There are over 4.5 billion active internet users globally, of which roughly 4 billion are using emails. So it is not surprising why businesses of all shapes and sizes target email marketing to reach their clients. On top of that, email marketing also has the highest return on investment (ROI) over all other forms of marketing. For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $36. Therefore, there is no doubt why email marketing is so popular among digital markets.
When it comes to email marketing, SendinBlue and GetResponse are two of the most popular options. They are both simple to use and have many features to help marketers eke out the most out of their marketing efforts. But, which one is the best? Let’s find out in our comprehensive review.
Key Differences between SendinBlue and GetResponse
Although both SendinBlue and GetResponse are mature platforms, they still have some key differences that distinguish them from the other.
- SendinBlue has a generous unlimited free package where you can have unlimited contacts and send up to 300 emails a day, GetResponse also introduced a free package recently but allowed up to 500 contacts only but includes features like Website Builder and custom domain support.
- On paper, GetResponse also has a much more comprehensive feature set, including options like built-in image editor, webinars, and integrations with google ads but Sendinblue emphasis tools needed specifically for email marketing with features like transactional emails.
- GetResponse is a much-matured platform established in 1998, whereas Sendinblue is a much newer tool established in 2012.
- Both SendinBlue and GetResponse have affiliate programs to promote their platforms, but SendinBlue offers 5€ for referring to creating a (free) account and up to 100€ if they are a paid subscriber.
- SendinBlue starts at $25/month, which is $10 more than GetResponse, which starts just at $15. However, the higher pricing models are expensive in GetResponse compared to SendinBlue.
Don’t have much time? Here is a quick overview of the features each platform provides.
| SendinBlue | GetResponse | |
| Free Package | Unlimited Contacts (300 Emails/Day) | Unlimited Emails ( 500 Contacts) |
| Design Template | Around 100 ++ | Around 500 ++ |
| SMS marketing | Yes | No |
| Pay per email plan | Yes | No |
| CRM | Yes | No |
| Sales Funnel | No | Yes |
| Webinars | No | Yes |
| Built-in Photo editor | No | Yes |
| Website Chat | Yes | No |
| SMTP Service | Yes | No |
| Page builder | Yes | Yes |
| Premium customer support | Yes | Yes |
| Automation | Basic | Advanced |
SendinBlue vs GetResponse: User Interface
You can have all the features in the world, but if the user interface is awful, users will not be able to find any of the features. Fortunately, both Sendinblue and GetResponse have an intuitive and simple user interface that is easy to navigate. You do not require any technical skills to create a campaign and get started with your email marketing.
SendinBlue, in particular, prefers simplicity over customization, which is evident in its interface. You have an easy-to-use drag and drop builder where you can craft your email exactly the way you intend it to be. You can also conduct AB testing and see exactly how your email will look on different devices before sending them out.
SendinBlue also has deep integration with machine learning in its interface. This allows Sendinblue to learn from your usage and adapt accordingly by suggesting features you generally use. It can also predict the best time for sending out emails from its historical data, but we have to wait and see how credible their claims are.
GetResponse, on the other hand, has an array of features that marketers may require some time to get used to. Being a full-fledged email marketing and automation tool, GetResponse has options to edit your photo, create webinar funnels to convert more leads, or track your marketing efforts through Facebook ad tracking; you have a lot more customization in Getresponse.
Luckily, the basic features are all easy to find, and Getresponse also has a vibrant community and a great support team to help you during the learning curve. But once you get a hold of the basics, you can do a lot more in Getresponse because of the platform’s customization.
SendinBlue vs. GetResponse: Email Marketing Campaigns
Sendinblue and GetResponse both offer additional features, but ultimately, it boils down to how well they perform for the primary task they intended to use: Email Marketing Campaigns.
SendinBlue
SendinBlue relies heavily on email marketing, and all of the other characteristics are linked to it in some way. This is where SendinBlue is expected to shine, and they do not disappoint. SendinBlue has put in a lot of work to develop its main characteristics.
SendinBlue’s Email Marketing Campaigns are simple yet precise. You get a ton of customization options and can test all your email before you send them out, and in short, SendinBlue performs remarkably well in creating a complete and efficient system.
Credibility is extremely important when it comes to email marketing, as being fagged by spam will significantly halt your success rate. SendinBlue has a good track record and is well accepted in the community, and we have not found any of our email marketing efforts to go in the spam box, which is imperative when it comes to email marketing.
GetResponse
GetResponse is the jack of all trades, and it has tons of automation in place that can be used to create some of the best email marketing campaigns on the market. From advanced features like sending emails to everyone who has an abundant cart to thanking customers for visiting a certain page, the sheer number of customization GetResponse offers is truly remarkable.
One downside, though, is the steep learning curve, and it lacks the same kind of fluidity that we get in Sendinblue. But once you get over the initial phase, GetResponse will provide you with a complete experience.
SendinBlue vs GetResponse: Automation
The sole purpose of email marketing tools is to automate the workflow so that you or your team can simplify the act of engaging to the customers. You spend less time doing repetitive work and focus on other important aspects of the business. Therefore, automation is another key factor in deciding between Sendinblue and Getresponse.
Fortunately, both the platforms have automation built right into their system, but they both take a different approach while doing so.
Sendinblue
SendinBlue has an array of tools to help group contacts and manage emails right from the dashboard. They made it extremely easy to automate your workflow without having to tinker too much within the setting. You can set rules and dictate when an email will be sent based on an external event like a user getting bounced off your website, you can create an automated email asking the user to share their experience. However, Sendinblue only offers basic automation, and you can not set complex rules. This is a great place to start, but experienced marketers would miss some of the more complex automation they can set up using other tools like Mailchimp lite or ActiveCampaign.
GetResponse
GetResponse offers all the basic automation features that SendinBlue has on offer and builds on it. It has a drag and drop editing tool for automation that SendinBlue currently does not offer. With GetResponse, users can create complex workflows which is currently not possible with SendinBlue.
GetResponse can create detailed workflows using actions, filters, and conditions. You can set complex rules and target specific customers with greater freedom. GetResponse gives you much more flexibility and allows you to create rules for subscriptions, page visits, and so much more. But it does need some prior knowledge to take advantage of the platform.
SendinBlue vs GetResponse: Design and Templates
Most of us receive multiple emails every day, and to stand out from the bunch, your email marketing tool needs to create an everlasting impression.
Thankfully both SendinBlue and GetResponse have an array of design templates that you can use to speed up your design process and create powerful email marketing campaigns that look visually appealing. But which of these tools makes your brand more memorable?
SendinBlue
SendinBlue has a simple drag and drop interface to help you design the email the way you intended it to be. You do not require any coding skills for this, and with the built-in interface, anyone can create beautifully crafted emails in no time. You also have the option to use one of the premade templates and quickly get started without the need to work your way from scratch every time. You have a handful of templates to choose from and, of course, can customize them as much as you want.
GetResponse
GetResponse also has a similar approach and allows drag and drop editors where you can carefully craft your design. But where GetResponse pulls ahead is that you can do advance editing right from the GetResponse platform. You also have some advanced features in GetResponse, like using custom HTML to design templates exactly the way you intended, which you do not get in Sendinblue.
Overall, GetResponse gives you much more freedom and has additional features that Sendinblue currently does not have. You also get a much wider selection of templates when using GetResponse.
SendinBlue vs. GetResponse: Pricing
Pricing is an important differentiating factor when choosing either of the platforms. To be honest, both offer great value by offering competitive prices compared with other market-leading email marketing tools. But which one is better for pricing? Let’s find out.
SendinBlue
SendinBlue stands out among all other email marketing platforms for being one of the few that offer a completely free package. Yes, that’s right, each month, you can send up to 300 emails for free using the SendinBlue platform. Sure, you will miss out on many of the more premium features, but using email marketing tools for free is great news for small businesses.
But there is a catch. Let’s first talk about all the available features at SendinBlue’s free package.
Unlimited contacts: You can have an unlimited list of contacts saved, so unlike other email marketing tools, you have no restriction on the number of contacts you can save on the platform.
Up to 300 emails per day: You can send up to 300 emails a day. The number sounds huge, but small businesses will know that they need to send more than 300 emails most days. But we still think it’s a good balance and a fair deal, considering it’s completely free.
Chat (1 user): One user can chat while logging in. Given that most businesses are fine with it, we have no complaints here.
Now, let’s talk about things they do not offer on the free version.
There is no way to remove the SendinBlue logo: This one is our biggest complaint. Yes, you can send 300 emails per day, but they will all have the sendinBlue logo attached. This greatly hampers the brand value from a business perspective, even for small businesses. I would rather have 100 emails per day than have SendinBlue’s logo attached to them.
Lack of other premium features: As expected, you will not have any of the premium features that you get otherwise on the more expensive packages. Here is a brief overview of what the packages offer:
Free Plan – $0 per month.
- Unlimited contacts
- 300 emails per day ( with Sendinblue logo on them)
Lite Plan – $25 per month billed monthly or $22.50 per month billed annually.
- No daily sending limit
- Email support
- Lite+ add-on: A/B testing, advanced statistics
- No SendinBlue logo in emails
Essential Plan – $65 per month billed monthly.
- Marketing Automation
- Facebook ads
- Landing pages
- Multi-user access
- Telephone Support
Enterprise – depends on your usage.
- The custom volume of emails
- Priority sending
- 20+ landing pages
- Access for 10+ users
- SSO (SAML)
- Customer success manager
- Priority support
The above pricing is for 20,000 emails per month. If you need to send more emails, consider a 30% price hike on the existing Plan. For example for sending 40,000 emails for the lite plan you have to pay a total of ( 25 + ( 30% * 25)) = $32
GetResponse
GetResponse is a great example of how competition can change business decisions in large companies. Although Getresponse never had a free package until recently, they had to introduce one last year because of the market demand. Besides a free package, GetResponse also gives a 30-day free trial for you to check their services and get a feel about their platform.
Let’s dig deep into the GetResponse free package.
Unlike SendinBlue, RetResponse does not have an unlimited contact feature. Instead, you can only have 500 contacts on your list. Where GetResponse shines, though, is they allow you to send unlimited emails to these 500 contacts and do not limit to 300 emails a month like Sendinblue.
GetResponse also adds other marketing features like a really versatile page builder to create your website and allows you to connect your website to your custom domain for free. You also have access to the GetResponse contact form to collect and store clients’ contacts details.
Here is a brief overview of what the packages offer:
Free Plan – $0 per month.
- 500 contacts
- Unlimited Emails can be sent to these 500 contacts ( no logo attached )
BASIC Plan – $15 per month billed monthly or $12.3 per month billed annually.
- Autoresponders
- Unlimited landing pages
- Unlimited Website Builder
- Basic segmentation
- Email scheduling
PLUS Plan – $49 per month billed monthly or $41.18 per month billed annually.
- Marketing automation
- Webinars
- Three team members
- Contact scoring and tagging
- Advanced segmentation
- Five sales funnels
PROFESSIONAL Plan – $99 per month billed monthly or 81.18 per month billed annually.
- Unlimited automation
- Paid webinars
- Five team members
- Ecommerce features built-in
- Web push notifications
- Unlimited funnels
Overall, both SendinBlue and GetResponse offer great value. They both have a free package that would help small businesses test the magical world of email marketing. While you miss out on some premium features like automation and advanced landing page design, you still get more than enough at the free package.
But medium to large businesses would definitely benefit from the automation and other marketing tools both platforms offer.
The fundamental difference between the pricing is Sendinblue charges you for emails sent while Getresponse charges on the number of contacts you have. So for businesses that need to send a ton of emails to each client, Getresponse would be a better choice for them. While businesses that need fewer emails but are required to be sent to a wider demographic, SendinBlue would be a better choice for them.
SendinBlue vs. GetResponse: Community and Customer support
No matter how well a platform works, it is inevitable that you will run into issues, and therefore, customer support and help from the community becomes a differentiating factor.
SendinBlue
SendinBlue was launched in 2007 and consistently built up a community, so if you run across any issues, you are most likely to find articles or videos on the internet to solve the problem. You also get premium customer support for higher packages, but in our testing, they have been a bit slow to reply to emails, and their social media channels were not responsive to customer queries.
GetResponse
GetResponse has been around for a significantly longer time and has an array of active online communities that are always there for help. There are separate articles explaining the issues customers face and are quick to respond to customer queries.
They, too, have premium support for customers on paid plans but, similar to Sendinblue, takes a while to reply to emails and is not particularly responsive in social media channels.
Overall, both sendinBlue and Getresponse have decent customer support but nothing to write home about.
SendinBlue vs. GetResponse: Final Verdict
Your personal tastes and company goals will determine whether Sendinblue or GetResponse is better suited to your needs. Sendinblue provides you with a terrific way to send messages and follow-up emails if you’re new to the email marketing world. Startups may use Sendinblue to create a large and memorable brand in conjunction with SEO.
However, GetResponse is a much more complete platform and has an array of features, especially automation tools, that can redefine your business. It also has a generous free package along with a 30-day free trial to check out the platform before buying into it.
We recommend you test out the free packages of both SendinBlue and GetResponse to get a feel for the platform before investing heavily into it.
