Designing a professional email requires aesthetic and strategic skill. A separate, more technical obstacle involves consistent rendering across diverse platforms like Gmail, Outlook, and various mobile applications. These inconsistencies directly compromise a campaign’s integrity and impact.
Email template builders address this issue directly. They offer a standardized framework to maintain a consistent appearance and proper function across all email clients and devices. This transforms email production from an unpredictable, manual effort into an efficient, repeatable workflow.
The right builder improves team efficiency and ensures technical compatibility. In this review, we’ll examine five leading platforms to help you select the one that fits your team’s operational methods, technical skills, and business objectives.
Top 5 Email Template Builders: Detailed Comparison
A proficient email template builder enhances productivity across the complete email development cycle. Modern organizations depend on these tools for collaborative features, A/B testing capabilities, and marketing platform integration.
Superior solutions accommodate diverse user needs through both visual editors and code-based environments. They maintain user-friendly interfaces while supporting complex email program requirements.
We examine five leading builders, assessing their core strengths, ideal users, and pricing. Our comparison provides a practical framework to help you select a solution that aligns with your team’s technical skills, collaboration needs, and budget.
1. Stripo.Email
Stripo is an email design platform that enables sales teams to create professional emails without coding. Its drag-and-drop editor and full HTML mode support the creation of simple outreach messages and dynamic, interactive AMP emails.
Stripo.Email launched in 2017 and has a team of about 70. Users consistently rate it highly, giving it a 4.9 out of 5 on both Capterra and Software Advice.
The platform specializes in the entire email production lifecycle. Teams can create, test, and hand off finished HTML for marketing and sales communications.
Beyond the core builder, key features ensure professional results. The platform guarantees a responsive design that renders correctly on all devices and email clients, supported by a mobile preview function and a dark mode editor.
Stripo equips teams with core collaboration tools like user roles, permissions, and approval workflows. Its advanced features also deliver deep insights. These include automation with dynamic content, A/B testing, and performance analytics for understanding email engagement and deliverability.
Key capabilities include:
- Flexible Editing: Easily drag-and-drop elements or code the HTML directly for total control.
- A Massive Template Collection: Instantly spark your creativity with 1,600+ ready-to-go designs.
- Interactive AMP Emails: Go beyond static messages by adding engaging elements like carousels.
- Built-in Teamwork: Work together efficiently using comments, version history, and shared assets.
- Smart Optimization: Refine every send with dynamic content, A/B tests, and clear deliverability analytics.
The platform is designed for roles where communication is critical, including sales directors, marketing unit leaders, and client relationship managers. Its collaborative features also make it suitable for agency teams and developers who coordinate on campaign production.
Pricing
Stripo offers a flexible pricing structure that scales with the needs of any sales team.
- Free: Start with 4 free exports/month.
- Basic (~$15): 50 exports & premium templates.
- Medium (~$45): 300+ exports & team collaboration.
- Pro (~$95+): Advanced security, roles, & API.
- Enterprise: Custom solutions & white-label options.
All paid plans allow for one-click exports to over 80 major ESPs and CRMs like Mailchimp and HubSpot, and annual commitments typically receive a 20% discount.
Case Study
Martim Mariano, co-founder of Tudo Bem Escrito, improved his newsletter production by switching from MailChimp to Stripo. Writing 2,500–4,000 words weekly, he needed a simple, GDPR-compliant tool that would save time and prevent data loss.
Stripo’s drag-and-drop editor, flexibility, and real-time auto-save allowed him to format long newsletters quickly, keep them consistent, and work without the risk of losing progress, making his email workflow more reliable and efficient.
2. Topol
Topol.io provides a simple, code-free email template builder. Its central feature is an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. This tool enables fast and straightforward template creation. Designers, marketers, and freelancers find it particularly useful for rapid email production.
Founded in 2017, Topol employs a team of 11 to 50 professionals. It holds user ratings of 4.7 on G2 and 4.4 on Capterra.
Users can build reusable custom blocks and employ merge tags for dynamic personalization. The platform also offers a library of more than 150 responsive templates. A key limitation is its reliance on pre-defined components, which can constrain the implementation of unique, non-standard designs.
Collaborative functions allow teams to share and edit templates jointly. The system supports adding products to emails through XML feeds. For deployment, Topol.io permits users to download HTML or export directly to platforms like Mailchimp and Brevo. These export features, however, require a Pro or Team subscription.
The platform’s interface may seem basic next to more advanced systems. Furthermore, its limited free plan often lacks the functionality needed for a thorough evaluation.
Pricing
Topol.io offers a freemium model to accommodate different user needs.
- Free: Unlimited template creation; excludes template library access
- Pro: $15/month – Full template library, email integrations, and image assets
- Team: $15/month (first 3 users) + $10/additional user – All Pro features
The free plan’s lack of essential features—such as integrations and professional image libraries—severely limits its utility for professional purposes.
Case Study
A European digital agency integrated the Topol Plugin into its custom CRM to improve email production. Their previous workflow involved manual coding, PDF exports, and multiple feedback rounds, delaying approvals to three or four days.
Using Topol enabled clients to edit templates, add comments, and preview emails directly. This cut approval time to under 24 hours, reduced total production time by 70%, and allowed developers to focus on more valuable tasks instead of routine coding.
3. MJML
MJML (MailJet Markup Language) is an open-source framework that simplifies the creation of responsive email templates. It uses a dedicated markup language to streamline the notoriously difficult task of coding HTML emails. This approach ensures consistent rendering across diverse email clients and screen sizes, offering a technical alternative to visual drag-and-drop builders.
MJML was established in 2016 and currently employs 150 people. It has earned a 4.0 rating on Trustpilot and a 4.2 on Capterra.
The primary limitation is that MJML requires coding knowledge. It’s just not built for non-technical folks. And while it’s way more reliable for responsiveness than writing HTML by hand, you still have to test your emails:
- Some components might act up in certain inboxes.
- Checking your work on target platforms is non-negotiable before any campaign goes out.
This makes it a tool strictly for developers and technical teams who want absolute control over their email code and need that bulletproof reliability. Marketers or designers looking for a point-and-click interface should look elsewhere.
On the features side, it gives you a responsive grid system with ready-made components—think rows and columns. It compiles into clean, mobile-friendly HTML, and you can build your own custom, reusable components.
However, this component-based structure can feel restrictive for developers who need to implement highly unconventional or complex layouts that fall outside the framework’s intended design patterns.
There’s also a free online editor to play with, about twenty free responsive templates to start from, and it seriously cuts down the time it takes to build an email from scratch.
Pricing
MJML is completely free and open-source, with no paid plans or subscription tiers. This eliminates cost barriers for development teams and individual developers who need to create responsive email templates.
Case Study
J!NX, a US-based e-commerce fashion brand, adopted Mailjet to make email production faster and more consistent. Before, the team had to code every email to ensure responsiveness, which slowed down updates and limited design flexibility.
Using Mailjet’s drag-and-drop editor and MJML framework, designers can now create branded, responsive emails without developer support. This reduced production time, improved brand alignment, and made collaboration between marketing and technical teams more efficient.
4. Sender
Sender operates as a comprehensive email marketing platform with core capabilities including visual drag-and-drop editing, automation workflows, SMS marketing, and analytics.
Sender, founded in 2012, employs a team of 11 to 50 people. The service has earned high ratings, achieving a 4.7 out of 5 on both G2 and Capterra.
The system enables businesses to execute professional campaigns without developer support. Users initiate creation through the visual editor, while retaining the option to implement custom HTML for advanced customization needs.
The platform supports organizations at various growth stages, from startups to large enterprises. It delivers advanced functionality at competitive price points.
The intuitive interface successfully serves novice users, yet this same simplicity may constrain established corporations. Their complex, multi-layered campaigns often require more sophisticated workflow management than the platform provides.
Core tools and features include:
- A drag-and-drop editor with advanced blocks for countdown timers and product displays.
- A vast template library and reusable content blocks for efficient design.
- Built-in image editing and automation workflows.
- Subscriber segmentation and detailed analytics with heatmaps.
- Integrated SMS marketing that works alongside email functions.
A significant limitation involves the platform’s more restricted catalog of third-party integrations compared to industry leaders.
Organizations maintaining complex technological infrastructures might need to establish custom connections through its API, potentially creating constraints for entities that rely heavily on pre-configured integration solutions.
Pricing
Sender’s pricing is straightforward and tiered to grow with your needs:
- Free Plan: Supports 2,500 subscribers with 15,000 monthly emails, offering substantial capacity for new operations.
- Paid Plans: Start at $19 monthly for equivalent subscriber volumes, while adding full automation capabilities, detailed analytics, and priority support access.
Case Study
Icons8 improved its email marketing with Sender by using segmentation, automation, and regular list cleaning. They divided subscribers by product use, interests, and engagement level, which made emails more relevant and increased open rates by 33% and click-through rates by 200%.
Testing new subject lines also helped boost engagement. By automatically removing bounced and spam-marked addresses, they reduced their bounce rate by 80%, making campaigns more effective and reliable.
5. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign features a drag-and-drop email builder that enables coding-free creation of professional communications. Users assemble layouts using modular content blocks for text, images, and buttons.
ActiveCampaign, founded in 2003, employs approximately 1,000 people. The platform maintains a 4.5 out of 5 rating on G2.
The platform integrates contact management, lead tracking, and sales pipeline oversight. These unified capabilities serve eCommerce, SaaS, and agency clients requiring sophisticated workflow automation.
Features include template versioning, 258 responsive templates, and reusable content blocks. The system combines a full CRM with A/B testing and behavior-based automation. However, this extensive functionality requires substantial training investment. New users commonly find the interface more complex than alternative solutions.
The email designer is probably its weakest point. The building blocks are pretty basic, so if you’re coming from a dedicated design tool, it might feel restrictive.
There’s also no getting around the learning curve—this is a complex platform that takes time to learn properly, even with the help guides. But if you put in the work, you’ll end up with a reliable system for managing detailed marketing automation and maintaining customer relationships.
Pricing
ActiveCampaign is a premium marketing automation platform, and its pricing reflects its extensive feature set.
- Free Plan: Not available.
- Trial: A 14-day free trial is offered to new users.
- Entry Cost: Paid plans start at $39 per month for the Lite tier.
This pricing structure creates a substantial entry barrier for budget-conscious organizations, including startups, solopreneurs, and small businesses.
Case Study
Parrish Law Firm replaced Mailchimp with ActiveCampaign to improve its marketing. The firm used segmentation and personalization for targeted communications and deployed automation for community programs like teacher awards.
This shift saved over ten hours per month. It also doubled email open rates from under 20% to a consistent 35-40%, strengthening client engagement.
Conclusion
Select an email template builder that aligns with your team’s operational needs and technical skill level. The platform must ensure reliable email rendering across clients while remaining cost-effective. This choice directly impacts production speed and communication effectiveness.
Evaluate builders systematically. Prioritize automation, personalization, collaboration tools, and analytics. The solution should integrate with your existing marketing technology through native integrations or API support.
Choose a platform that supports current workflows while scaling for future complexity. It should be immediately usable without significant training. Analyzing these factors against strategic goals will identify the most effective solution for your marketing objectives.
Of the platforms reviewed, Stripo.Email demonstrates the strongest overall capabilities. Its combination of an extensive template library, robust integrations, and collaborative features provides a superior balance of power and usability. For teams prioritizing a comprehensive and efficient email design workflow, Stripo represents the optimal choice.