Mailjet

What Is Mailjet?

When a Berlin-based SaaS startup needed to send both password reset emails and a weekly product newsletter, they faced the typical dilemma: use two separate services (one for transactional, one for marketing) or compromise on one platform that does both poorly. Their CTO chose Mailjet. Six months later, their three-person marketing team was collaborating on email templates in real time — editing simultaneously, leaving comments, iterating on designs without stepping on each other's work. Their backend was firing transactional emails through the same API. And their compliance officer was satisfied because everything ran through French data centres.

That story captures what makes Mailjet distinctive. Founded in Paris in 2010, Mailjet combines transactional email delivery and marketing email campaigns in a single platform, connected by a clean REST API and unified by a genuinely innovative collaborative email editor. Think Google Docs, but for email templates — multiple team members can work on the same email design simultaneously, with real-time cursors, commenting, and version history.

Mailjet was acquired by Mailgun in 2019, and both are now part of the Sinch group. Despite the acquisition, Mailjet continues to operate as an independent product with its own brand, infrastructure, and — crucially — European data processing. The Paris-based team maintains the product, and email data is processed in EU data centres.

With a generous free tier (6,000 emails per month), affordable paid plans, and a developer experience that does not require a dedicated email infrastructure team, Mailjet occupies a practical middle ground between basic email tools and enterprise-grade platforms like Brevo or Postmark.

Key Features

Collaborative Email Editor

This is Mailjet's signature feature and the reason many teams choose it over competitors. The drag-and-drop email builder supports real-time collaboration — multiple team members can edit the same template simultaneously, see each other's cursors, leave comments, and lock sections to prevent conflicts. For marketing teams that iterate on email designs through feedback rounds, this eliminates the inefficient cycle of exporting HTML, emailing it for review, collecting feedback in a document, and applying changes. The editor also supports MJML, Mailjet's open-source responsive email framework, for teams that prefer code-based templates.

Unified Transactional and Marketing Email

Most email platforms force a choice: use a transactional service (like Postmark or Amazon SES) for order confirmations and password resets, or use a marketing platform (like Mailchimp) for newsletters. Mailjet handles both through a single platform and API. Transactional emails use the same sending infrastructure, analytics, and deliverability monitoring as marketing campaigns. This simplifies the stack, reduces vendor management overhead, and provides a single dashboard for all email performance data.

REST API and SMTP Relay

Mailjet's API is well-documented and follows REST conventions cleanly. Client libraries are available for PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, Java, Go, and C#. For teams that prefer not to integrate an API, Mailjet also supports standard SMTP relay — point your application's email configuration at Mailjet's SMTP server and start sending. The API supports templating with variables, conditional content, batch sending, and real-time event webhooks for bounces, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes.

Segmentation and Automation

Mailjet's paid tiers include contact segmentation (filter by engagement, properties, or behaviour) and marketing automation workflows. These features are functional but not as sophisticated as dedicated marketing automation platforms like ActiveCampaign or HubSpot. You can build triggered email sequences, segment your audience by engagement level, and personalize content with dynamic variables. For teams that need basic automation alongside transactional email, this covers the fundamentals. Teams with complex multi-channel automation needs will outgrow these features.

Deliverability and Analytics

Mailjet provides real-time analytics on delivery rates, open rates, click rates, and bounce rates. The platform includes built-in support for DKIM, SPF, and DMARC email authentication, which directly impacts deliverability. Paid plans offer A/B testing for subject lines and content. Dedicated IP addresses are available on enterprise plans for businesses that want full control over their sending reputation. The free and lower tiers use shared IP pools, where deliverability can be affected by the sending behaviour of other users on the same IP.

Pricing

Mailjet's pricing is structured around email volume, with features unlocking at higher tiers. The free plan includes 6,000 emails per month (capped at 200 per day) with access to both the transactional API and marketing features — a generous starting point for development, testing, and small-scale production.

The Essential plan starts at approximately €17 per month for 15,000 emails, removing the daily sending limit and Mailjet branding. The Premium plan at approximately €27 per month adds marketing automation, A/B testing, segmentation, and dynamic content. Enterprise pricing is custom and includes dedicated IP addresses, a dedicated account manager, and priority support with SLAs.

Compared to competitors: SendGrid's free tier is more generous on volume (100 emails/day) but the paid plans escalate quickly. Postmark offers better transactional email deliverability but lacks marketing features. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue, also French) offers a more complete marketing suite but at a higher price point. Mailjet's sweet spot is teams that need both transactional and marketing email at a reasonable price, with EU data processing as a non-negotiable requirement.

EU Compliance & Data Privacy

Mailjet's EU compliance story begins with its origins. As a French company (Mailjet SAS) headquartered in Paris, Mailjet operates under full EU jurisdiction. Email data — including contact lists, message content, and engagement analytics — is processed in European data centres.

The platform provides GDPR-compliant tools for consent management, including double opt-in subscription forms, unsubscribe management, and data export capabilities for subject access requests. Mailjet offers Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) to customers as required by GDPR.

Mailjet supports DKIM, SPF, and DMARC email authentication, which beyond deliverability, helps organisations comply with anti-spoofing requirements. For businesses in regulated industries that need to demonstrate their email infrastructure processes data within the EU, Mailjet provides a clean compliance narrative without the caveats that apply to US-headquartered alternatives like SendGrid or Mailchimp.

Who It's Best For

Small to mid-sized teams that send both transactional and marketing email and want a single platform instead of managing two services. The unified API and dashboard simplify operations significantly.

Marketing teams that collaborate on email design and find the review-and-feedback cycle frustrating. The real-time collaborative editor is a genuine workflow improvement that no major competitor matches.

Developers who need a clean email API with EU data processing for applications subject to GDPR. Mailjet's REST API and SMTP relay are straightforward to integrate, with good documentation.

Startups and growing businesses that want to start free and scale affordably without migrating to a new platform as volume increases.

The Verdict

Mailjet does two things well that rarely coexist: it provides a genuinely developer-friendly email API and a marketing email platform that non-technical team members can use effectively. The collaborative editor is a unique feature that solves a real workflow problem. The EU data processing commitment is solid, and the pricing is fair. The limitations — basic automation compared to dedicated marketing platforms, inconsistent deliverability on shared IPs, and uncertainty about the Sinch acquisition's long-term impact on the product — are real but manageable for most teams. If you need transactional and marketing email from a single EU-based platform, Mailjet is the most practical choice available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Mailjet GDPR compliant?

Yes. Mailjet is a French company (Mailjet SAS) headquartered in Paris. Email data is processed in EU data centres. Mailjet provides GDPR-compliant consent management tools and Data Processing Agreements.

How much does Mailjet cost?

Mailjet offers a free tier with 6,000 emails per month. Paid plans start from approximately €17/month (Essential, 15,000 emails) and €27/month (Premium, with automation). Enterprise pricing is custom with dedicated IPs and support.

How does Mailjet compare to SendGrid?

Mailjet is EU-headquartered with European data processing, making it stronger for GDPR compliance. SendGrid (Twilio) has a larger ecosystem and more advanced analytics. Mailjet's collaborative editor and combined transactional/marketing platform are features SendGrid lacks.

Can I use Mailjet for both transactional and marketing emails?

Yes. This is Mailjet's core value proposition. A single API and platform handles order confirmations, password resets, newsletters, and promotional campaigns, with unified analytics across both types.

What happened after Mailgun acquired Mailjet?

Mailjet was acquired by Mailgun in 2019, now part of the Sinch group. Mailjet continues as an independent product with its own brand, API, and EU-based infrastructure. The European data processing commitment remains unchanged.