10 Email template builders for easy, intuitive designs

Do your customers care about receiving well-designed emails?

Think about it. If you had to pick between these two emails, which one would you save for inspiration and which would see the inside of your spam folder?

If you said B, you’re not alone. Beautiful, easy-to-read, clean designs like this one are always going to stand out from the crowd.

Your email is an extension of your brand, and your design should reflect that. In addition, great design can engage your readers and help them navigate the content the way you want them to.
But often, the barrier to creating good-looking emails is not having enough resources to hire a designer or being reliant upon a less-than-stellar template builder.

There’s no reason you should be doomed to using email templates that look like they haven’t been updated since the last decade. So we’ve reviewed the best email template builders that can help you create easy, intuitive designs without breaking a sweat.

Email template builders get rid of designer’s block, help you save time and are just downright convenient—especially when you’re in a rush.

Most platforms offer drag-and-drop functionality, which means you can literally drag an image, video or block of text and drop it into your email design. Email template builders also have a library of ready-to-use email templates you can customize for your specific needs without compromising on quality.

Using a template or creating your own means you don’t have to worry about design consistency across your email campaigns. Plus, most email template builders also track and report open, click-through and conversion rates.

What should you consider when looking for a good email template builder? While features like built-in image editing and collaborative tools are good to have, your template builder should absolutely have these five features:

For this top 10 list, we’ve included both dedicated email template builders and ones built into an email service provider (ESP). These template builders help you easily create beautiful emails, are free or affordable for small businesses and have a great library of resources to give your campaigns every chance of success. 

We’ve also included the main features of each option so you can make an informed decision.

As the fastest-growing intuitive email marketing service provider, Flodesk is designed for business owners and creative small and mid-size businesses that want to send beautiful emails. Its builder lets you swiftly create on-brand emails that people love to receive.

You can try Flodesk for free for 30 days without a credit card. After that, if you choose Flodesk as your email template builder, you’ll be on an affordable flat rate plan.

Instead of navigating complicated pricing tiers or paying more for new subscribers, you can send unlimited emails to unlimited subscribers with full access to all Flodesk’s features for just $38 per month. Plus, if you choose the annual plan, you get a whole month free.

Flodesk is the best email template builder for anyone—beginner or expert—who is passionate about exceptional design and doesn’t want to break the bank paying for it. Ideal for ecommerce businesses, Flodesk offers comprehensive resources on the best practices for email design and how to create a powerful email marketing campaign.

Must Read: How to Write Good Email Subject Lines

SendPulse is a cloud-based marketing platform that lets users manage all their communications—email, SMS and push notifications—from one place. Its template builder is a drag-and-drop editor that helps you create adaptive and beautiful email templates.

SendPulse offers a free version of its platform that you can use to send 15,000 emails a month to 500 subscribers.

To unlock its full range of features and remove limitations on the number of emails you can send, you have to upgrade to a paid plan. Here is a sample of their price ranges if you have between 1-500 subscribers: 

As your email list grows, the prices for each tier increase. And if you have over 5 million subscribers, you have to contact their sales team for a quote.

SendPulse isn’t just an email template builder—it’s a multi-channel marketing platform. So if you plan to communicate with your audience through different channels, this could be the right solution for you.

Chamaileon is a visual email builder that helps you design responsive emails without coding. You can import your HTML template or build your email design system from scratch on the platform and then export it to an email provider.

Try all of Chamaileon’s features for free for 14-days without a credit card. After that, you have to switch to a paid plan.

The prices listed above are for the annual plans with limitations on the number of users and features.

Chamaileon is the best email template builder for bigger teams where designers and marketers have to collaborate in real time, optimize their processes and keep their assets organized. If you’re looking to create an email design system to ensure brand consistency and reduce production time, this is a great option.

Unlayer is a full-featured email design studio that helps you build beautiful, responsive designs. You can use their online platform and directly export the template to many leading ESPs.

You can sign up for Unlayer’s 14-day free trial without a credit card. You can then stay on a free version with limited features or switch to a paid plan to access more features. 

Unlayer’s set of features makes it the best email template builder for freelance designers, marketing teams and agencies. Depending on your needs, Unlayer can be affordable as compared to some other email builders on the list.

Sendinblue is an all-in-one digital marketing platform for B2B and B2C businesses, agencies and ecommerce sellers. Among its several features is an easy-to-use email builder that helps you create professional emails quickly.

Sendinblue offers a free version of its platform that you can use to send up to 300 emails per day to unlimited contacts. 

The prices are applicable for up to 20,000 emails a month. After that, the pricing increases as your monthly email volume rises.

Sendinblue is excellent for both individual marketers and marketing teams. Although the platform has many features, the pricing is quite affordable, so small businesses can consider this a serious contender.

Mailjet by Sinch is an email marketing tool that helps marketing and developer teams create and send beautiful, responsive emails without having to code. As a result, you can create email marketing campaigns, launch automated sequences and send newsletters in minutes.

Mailjet’s free version lets you send 6,000 emails per month to unlimited contacts, though there is a daily limit of 200 emails. 

To experience its full range of features, you have to upgrade to a paid plan.

The first two plans include 15,000 emails per month without a daily sending limit. The platform uses a pay-as-you-grow model. So to send a larger volume of emails every month, the pricing increases. Subscribing to annual plans will fetch you a 10% discount.

Mailjet is one of the only email service providers that let you send both transactional and marketing emails from its platform. While Mailjet is intended for both big and small businesses, the costs of paying for monthly email volume can quickly add up.

Klaviyo is an ecommerce marketing automation platform for email marketing and SMS. The email builder helps you create and send aesthetically pleasing and customizable emails to run high-converting email campaigns.

You can explore all of Klaviyo’s features in the free version, but you can only send 500 emails monthly. To send 15,000 emails per month, you have to upgrade to a paid plan, which starts at $45 per month for 1000-1500 subscribers. The pricing increases based on the size of your email list.

Read Next: 10 Ways To Build An Email List Without A Website – Flodesk University

Klaviyo is best for bigger ecommerce marketing teams with a sizable budget that want to invest in automation and robust analytics.

Mailchimp is an all-in-one email marketing automation and marketing tool. The email builder offers creative tools that allow you to design eye-catching emails either from scratch or through the power of automation.

You can get started with Mailchimp’s free version, which has a monthly send limit of 10,000 emails and a daily send limit of 2,000 emails.

Then, the price increases depending on the number of subscribers and the features you need.

The above prices are for 500 subscribers. As your subscribers grow, you will have to pay more.

Mailchimp is best for expert marketers or companies that know they’ll need a whole bunch of features beyond creating email templates, or for small businesses with less than 500 contacts.

Stripo is an email design platform that lets you create versatile emails with its drag-and-drop email editor. You can use the platform online or as a plug-in in your SaaS apps.

Stripo has a free version, but it’s quite limited in terms of features, number of users and email sends. The paid plans range from $12.50-$79 per month based on the features you need.

You can get two months free when you sign up for the annual plan.

Stripo has templates for almost every industry, making it a perfect recommendation for any business that wants to make the best use of pre-made templates. You can also order custom templates from Stripo if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for.

Moosend is an affordable email marketing software and marketing automation platform. Its email editor lets you create stunning emails without any coding knowledge.

You can try all of Moosend’s features free for 30 days without a credit card. The paid plan then starts at $7 per month, billed annually, for up to 500 subscribers. Of course, as your email list grows, you’ll have to pay more.

Moosend is designed to be an affordable solution for both small and large businesses. If you plan to use automation features and eventually want to send transactional emails, Moosend is a great option.

For a deeper dive, compare Moosend’s top alternatives!

So which is the best email builder? Unfortunately, there’s no single answer because it varies based on your needs, budget and email campaign goals.

Look for a platform that’s user-friendly, has all the features you’ll need as your business grows and offers support and resources to make your email marketing campaigns a success.

And while there are many great options out there, we recommend you give Flodesk a try. 
Flodesk is loved by solo entrepreneurs and small businesses alike because we help them create and send exceptionally beautiful and on-brand emails, landing pages, and pop-up forms. Also, we don’t penalize you for growth—you pay the same flat rate no matter how large your list grows.

Should you need help, you can always turn to our pre-made templates, customer support or our courses at Flodesk University.