Best Email Template Builders
Effective email design boosts user engagement and conversions. Yet, achieving consistent visual rendering across different email clients and devices remains technically difficult. Modern email template builders solve this problem directly. They allow marketing teams to create responsive, professional emails without writing code.
Selecting the right tool from many options demands a clear strategy. We evaluate all platforms against identical core features. This consistent, practical methodology grounds our recommendations.
Our analysis focuses on each platform’s primary purpose, supported email types, and available features. We also assess integration capabilities, testing tools, and pricing models.
Critical Criteria for Your Email Template Builder
Selecting an email template builder requires a strategic assessment. The best platform depends entirely on your team’s specific needs, size, and goals. Use these core criteria to guide your decision.
Ease of Use vs. Design Control
Determine the primary users of the platform. A simple drag-and-drop interface supports rapid creation, while advanced customization and HTML access enable unique designs.
Template Quality and Flexibility
Scrutinize the library of pre-built templates. They should be modern, responsive, and industry-appropriate. Confirm that you can customize them to reflect your brand without confronting restrictive design frameworks.
Integration with Your Tools
The builder must interoperate effectively with your current marketing technology. Prioritize platforms that offer direct export to your primary Email Service Provider or CRM. If this is unavailable, ensure the tool produces clean, reliable HTML code for use in external systems.
Collaboration Features
Team-based workflows require specific functionalities. Commenting, version history, user roles, and shared asset libraries streamline review cycles and preserve brand consistency.
Testing and Preview Capabilities
The platform must provide robust testing tools. Accurate previews across various devices, screen sizes, and email clients are necessary to identify rendering issues prior to deployment.
Pricing and Scalability
Analyze the pricing model thoroughly. A free plan is sufficient for basic needs. Assess whether paid tiers can accommodate growth in email volume and team size while offering critical exports, features, and support at a sustainable cost.
Top 6 Email Template Builders Compared
Creating professional emails that display consistently across different platforms remains challenging. Email template builders solve this by letting teams create responsive, polished emails without coding knowledge.
We’ve evaluated six leading platforms based on key features, integrations, testing capabilities, and pricing to help you choose the right solution.
1. Stripo.Email
- Year of foundation: 2017
- Number of employees: ~70
- Rating: Capterra 4.9 / Software Advice 4.9
Stripo is an all-in-one email design platform that functions as both a template builder and design studio. It aims to make email creation efficient by providing a straightforward drag-and-drop editor alongside a full-featured HTML editor for direct code access.
It is particularly useful for HR professionals who create recruitment and internal emails. Designers benefit from the no-code builder and HTML control. The platform also supports team functions like sharing, reusing, and approving email content.
For anyone seeking a builder that combines ease of use with advanced features and collaboration tools, Stripo is a comprehensive option on the market.
Email Types & Features
Stripo helps create diverse email types with its comprehensive feature set. The platform supports basic newsletters, promotional campaigns, and transactional messages. It also facilitates advanced interactive AMP emails featuring dynamic elements like carousels, surveys, and accordions.
Users access these capabilities through multiple pathways. The platform offers over 1,600 responsive templates alongside a drag-and-drop editor with full HTML access.
Dynamic content features include auto-populating modules such as product cards, while multilingual support allows for global campaign management. Integrated testing tools provide mobile previews and dark-mode optimization, ensuring professional rendering across all viewing environments.
Integrations & Ecosystem
Stripo integrates directly with existing marketing technology to enhance workflow efficiency. Its one-click export feature transfers completed emails to over 80 Email Service Providers and CRMs, such as Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Klaviyo.
Users can also download designs as standard HTML for external systems or as PDF files for archival purposes. The platform supports team collaboration through commenting, version history, shared modules, and centralized brand guidelines. For advanced needs, Pro plans provide API access, enabling custom integrations and automated multi-step workflows.
Testing & Optimization
Stripo facilitates comprehensive email quality assurance prior to deployment. A centralized library allows users to store and reuse proven content blocks and templates. This system accelerates production and enforces visual consistency.
Medium-tier plans introduce a Design Systems feature, which standardizes brand elements across team outputs. The platform’s in-editor previews accurately simulate mobile and dark-mode displays, enabling thorough testing of subscriber rendering across key viewing environments.
Pricing & Plans
Stripo structures its pricing across multiple service tiers.
- Free Plan: Provides 4 monthly exports with core features for testing.
- Basic ($15/month): Offers 50 exports with unlimited projects and premium templates.
- Medium ($45/month): Includes 300+ exports with collaboration tools and design systems.
- Pro/Business ($95+/month): Adds advanced permissions, premium modules, and API access.
- Enterprise (Custom): Features white-label options, SSO, dedicated support, and custom limits.
Paid tiers expand functionality with more exports, advanced collaboration, and access to premium templates and integrations.
Note: Annual subscriptions typically include a 20% discount.
Case Study
JSTN Consulting, led by Justin Williames, improved its email marketing by using Stripo’s modular design system. Before, email production was slow, costly, and dependent on HTML developers.
With Stripo, they reduced build time by 80%, creating emails in minutes instead of days. The modular setup ensured consistent branding, made it easy for non-technical teams to create campaigns, and allowed CRM teams to focus on strategic tasks while maintaining quality and scalability.
2. Tabular
- Year of foundation: 2023
- Number of employees: <25 employees
- Rating: Trustpilot 3.7 /G2 4.8
Tabular is a web-based email template builder that supports collaborative creation of mobile-responsive emails. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface utilizes pre-built blocks to streamline design workflows.
The platform prioritizes team efficiency and brand consistency, making it particularly suitable for small to medium-sized businesses and marketing teams. Non-designers can effectively produce professional emails through this system.
Email Types & Features
The platform maintains a template library more limited than leading competitors, constraining creative possibilities. Its drag-and-drop editor functions through predefined blocks that reduce layout flexibility and frequently produce generic email designs.
While outputs are technically responsive, automated optimization can generate rendering inconsistencies across certain devices and email clients. The Team Block library enforces brand consistency but demands significant configuration time and inherently limits creative expression.
Integrations & Ecosystem
While the platform offers integrations with several major email marketing services, including Klaviyo, Brevo, Mailchimp, HubSpot, and SendGrid, its integration capabilities don’t extend to all of the top email marketing platforms preferred by small businesses.
Testing & Optimization
The platform’s email client preview feature has notable limitations. Its rendering may not be 100% accurate compared to actual email clients, which can allow display issues to remain undetected.
Additionally, the previews typically cover only the most popular email clients, creating testing gaps for less common but still important email applications.
Pricing & Plans
Tabular offers email template plans:
- Free: 3 exports/month.
- Plus ($29): 100 exports, 2 members.
- Pro ($39): Unlimited exports, 3 members.
- Organization ($99): Unlimited exports, 5 members, secret teamspaces.
3. Postcards
- Year of foundation: 2010
- Number of employees: 11-25 employees
- Rating: Website Planet 4.0 / Trustpilot 4.1
Postcards employs a modular block system that enforces a rigid design structure, which can inhibit unique layouts. Its extensive typography and responsive controls offer flexibility but present a steep learning curve for non-designers.
The platform’s library of full, ready-made templates is also more limited than those of its competitors. Consequently, users often devote significant time to constructing even common campaigns from individual blocks.
Postcards primarily targets marketing agencies, enterprises, and designers building conversion-focused emails. It further serves teams that need a simple interface with deep customization, unlimited projects, and exports beyond free-tier restrictions.
Email Types & Features
The modular design system restricts layout creativity and locks users into predetermined structures. The complex typography controls can overwhelm non-designers, while the responsive features require manual adjustments.
A major limitation is the scarce selection of ready-made templates, forcing extensive time investment in building basic emails from individual blocks.
Integrations & Ecosystem
The platform generates clean HTML for reliable export to various marketing systems. It supports direct transfer to major ESPs, including Mailchimp and HubSpot.
Collaboration tools permit team member invitations with distinct editor or viewer permissions. This permission structure supports a coordinated workflow.
Testing & Optimization
Postcards enables basic testing through multi-device previews and generates functional HTML code. It integrates with email platforms for A/B testing of subject lines and content, with performance tracking dependent on those external systems.
The platform lacks built-in analytics, limiting optimization capabilities for users who don’t utilize connected marketing tools.
Pricing & Plans
Postcards offers a straightforward pricing structure based on project and export limits.
- Free Plan ($0/month): Includes unlimited editors and viewers, but is limited to 10 template projects and 5 exports.
- Paid Plan ($16/month): Offers unlimited users, unlimited projects, and unlimited exports (with annual billing).
4. Chamaileon
- Year of foundation: 2013
- Number of employees: <25
- Rating: Capterra 4.5/5 | G2 4.3/5
Chamaileon is a business email design platform for brand governance and team workflow. It merges modular design tools with real-time collaborative workspaces. The system enables larger marketing teams and agencies to enforce strict brand consistency. It also streamlines their structured approval processes.
Chamaileon is best suited for large marketing teams, enterprises, and agencies that manage multiple client brands.
Email Types & Features
Chamaileon’s modular design system restricts creativity by limiting designers to pre-approved components. Real-time co-editing can cause conflicts and confusion during simultaneous work.
While the platform generates responsive HTML, results often render inconsistently across email clients. Strict brand controls further slow down the design process and complicate simple template adjustments.
Integrations & Ecosystem
The platform’s integration capabilities are notably limited, offering only a small selection of direct ESP and CRM connections. This restricted ecosystem often forces users to rely on manual workarounds.
The primary export method involves generating HTML code or .zip files, requiring manual implementation in external systems, which increases workflow complexity and creates potential points of failure in the email deployment process.
Testing & Optimization
Its strength lies in pre-send optimization through structured approval workflows, version control, and brand asset management, ensuring compliance before deployment.
Pricing & Plans
Chamaileon adopts a premium pricing model targeting enterprises.
- Free Trial: A 14-day free trial is available.
- Paid Plans: Start from $300 per month for 3 seats, which includes unlimited exports, standard support, and access to its available integrations.
Case Study
Charity: water improved its email process by using Chamaileon instead of coding emails manually. What once took 4–6 hours of coding and testing now takes 20–60 minutes with reliable rendering.
Designers can build emails directly, freeing developers and allowing more frequent A/B testing. This efficiency led to a 48% increase in click-through rates and helped the nonprofit raise more funds.
5. Beefree
- Year of foundation: 2014
- Number of employees: ~80
- Rating: Trustpilot 4.2 /Capterra 4.8
Beefree is an online email builder for fast email creation and deployment. The product centers on a drag-and-drop editor and a large library of ready-made templates.
Its intuitive builder lets users make and customize responsive emails quickly without coding. This offers an efficient, low-cost option for freelancers, small to medium-sized businesses, and nonprofits.
The tool fits these users and any team that needs a quick, template-based method to produce professional emails efficiently.
Email Types & Features
Beefree’s primary limitation is its tendency to produce generic-looking emails. The platform’s templates and basic editing tools provide minimal support for distinctive brand development. While simple personalization remains possible, the system excludes advanced dynamic content.
Furthermore, its multi-workspace collaboration model often complicates team workflows rather than streamlining them.
Integrations & Ecosystem
The platform offers one-click export functionality to major Email Service Providers, including Mailchimp, HubSpot, Brevo, Gmail, and ActiveCampaign. Users have flexible download options, allowing them to export designs as clean HTML for immediate use or as PDF files for presentations and archival purposes.
Testing & Optimization
All templates feature a responsive design for correct display on mobile devices. The platform also provides a pre-export preview, allowing users to review their email designs before sending them.
Pricing & Plans
Beefree operates on a freemium model.
- Free Plan: Includes a stock image gallery and HTML export. It limits reusable content and adds BeeFree branding.
- Paid Plans: Start at $30/month. These remove branding and unlock custom fonts, user roles, and more projects.
Case Study
SaaStanak, a major SaaS community in Central and Eastern Europe, adopted Beefree to enhance its email design and maintain brand consistency. The team’s previous editor restricted creative options and complicated sponsor integration.
Using Beefree, the team imported its brand guidelines to create clearer newsletters. This improved communication with both attendees and sponsors. The platform now drives nearly 60% of ticket sales. SaaStanak continues using Beefree for its flexibility, simple integration process, and dependable brand management.
6. Topol
- Year of foundation: 2017
- Number of employees: 11-50 employees
- Rating: G2 4.7 / Capterra 4.4
Topol.io is a streamlined email builder that prioritizes speed. Its simple drag-and-drop editor creates responsive templates without coding, which users can export for use in any email service. It is best for beginners, small teams on a budget, and those who need a clean HTML export over complex integrations.
Email Types & Features
A paid subscription unlocks the complete template library. The editor’s limited customization options restrict sophisticated design control. This constrained functionality frequently results in generic email layouts that lack distinctive brand character.
Integrations & Ecosystem
Topol.io relies heavily on HTML export for platform compatibility. Paid plans include some ESP integrations, though this selection remains narrower than industry-leading platforms provide. This export-focused approach demands manual workflow implementation for many marketing systems.
Testing & Optimization
You can preview designs directly in the platform before exporting. Be aware that some rendering variances between email clients may still occur, as this is a common industry-wide challenge.
Pricing & Plans
Topol.io uses a simple, affordable pricing structure.
- Free Plan: Unlimited template creation with 5GB data traffic. Excludes the pre-made template library.
- Pro Plan: $10/month. Unlocks the template library and integration features.
- Team Plan: Starts at $15/month for 3 users. Additional seats cost $10/month each.
Case Study
Faced with a cumbersome email process that took 3-4 days for approvals, a digital agency turned to the Topol plugin. Embedding it in their CRM let clients edit and comment on emails directly. The result was a 70% reduction in production time and sub-24-hour approvals, allowing developers to abandon routine coding.
Conclusion
Our analysis concludes that Stripo.Email offers the most comprehensive feature set. It successfully merges usability with a large template library and powerful integrations. This combination delivers high efficiency, making Stripo the optimal choice for teams prioritizing a balance of simplicity and advanced collaborative features.