Email marketing is an undeniably powerful strategy for lead acquisition and customer retention — in fact, 59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI, and 93% use email as a major channel for content distribution.
Of course, creating an email marketing campaign isn’t easy, and it might require you to build a template using HTML so you’re not designing and altering every new email from scratch.
Thankfully, there are dozens of email template builders available, all of which can help you intuitively and quickly create new email templates for your upcoming campaigns.
Then again, the fact that there are dozens of tools available can pose a challenge — how are you supposed to know which template builder will best suit your needs?
Fortunately, you’re in luck. We’ve done the homework for you, compiling a list of our 13 favorite email template builders, complete with pricing, screenshots, and a general overview of each app’s unique features. Keep reading to choose the best email template builder for your company.
But first — why do you need an email template builder, anyway?
Why You Need an Email Template Builder
Email marketing remains one of the highest-ROI marketing strategies, in part because of how easy and inexpensive it is to create a campaign, but if you’re designing and sending emails on a frequent basis, you’ll need additional support to work efficiently—and maximize your results.
An email template builder grants you several advantages:
- Better design features. Without a template builder, you may struggle to arrange your content in blocks as you want, or add videos to your email.
- Initial time savings. Most email template builders rely on intuitive mechanics, like drag-and-drop editors, so you can design your emails faster.
- Long-term time savings. Creating a library of email templates can save you a ton of time long-term, allowing you to quickly choose and lightly edit past templates for new emails.
- Replicability. Did you see impressive results with your most recent campaign? With an email template builder, you can easily replicate it with some minor tweaks in the future.
- Analytics. Most email template builders also feature built-in analytics, which you can use to study your past email marketing efforts and make improvements to your approach.
Additionally, depending on the email template builder you’re using, you may have access to even more features. Let’s dive into some of the best builders, next.
The Best Email Template Builders
1. HubSpot
HubSpot offers a comprehensive, start-to-finish solution for all your marketing needs. You can create a sleek, on-brand email campaign using HubSpot’s drag-and-drop editor, and customize the template to match your brand and align with your goals.
Additionally, you can customize each email depending on your recipient’s lifecycle stage, list membership, or any information in their contact records to ensure each email is designed for optimal conversions. Best of all, the email tool provides top-notch analytics and A/B testing tools so you can continue to refine your marketing strategy over time.
Unique Features
- Analytics to provide deep insights into your email success rates, including open-rate, most popular links clicked in an email, who engages with each email, when and on which device, and what emails perform best.
- Tailor each email to individual subscribers based on lifecycle stage, list membership, or any other contact information to serve the best calls-to-action to segmented groups.
- Ability to run A/B tests to improve open-rates and clickthroughs.
- More than 100 email templates available by default.
- Custom landing page creation tools.
- Advanced social sharing options.
- Integrations with other marketing tools (more than 300 third-party apps).
- 24/7 support from customer service reps.
Pricing
You can get started with HubSpot’s email tool for free. Alternatively, if you’re already a HubSpot customer (professional or enterprise), the email tool is already included.
2. MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the top names in email marketing, in part because of its accessibility. It’s super easy to learn and build your first few email templates, and you can get started right now with a free plan. As you scale your business, you’ll find additional options, features, and tools for your needs.
Unique Features
- More than 100 email templates available by default.
- Custom landing page creation tools.
- Advanced social sharing options.
- Integrations with other marketing tools (more than 300 third-party apps).
- 24/7 support from customer service reps.
Pricing
MailChimp offers a free plan that provides basic templates, marketing CRM, surveys, and even website creation. At $9.99 per month, you’ll get additional support, custom branding, A/B testing, and all email templates.
To get access to custom templates, retargeting ads, and better audience insights, you’ll need the Standard plan at $14.99 per month. Advanced plans, including a Premium tier at $299.00 per month, are also available, and offer features like advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, and more.
3. BEE Free
BEE Free is a free online email editor that has been used by more than a million people. In just a few clicks, you can get started designing your first email template — or use one of the 150 templates currently available by default. It also offers free design ideas on its own blog.
Unique Features
- 150 predesigned templates (and additional paid templates).
- Full responsiveness for mobile friendly designs.
- Integration with many SaaS apps.
- Options to pick up where you left off.
Pricing
BEE Free, as you might have guessed, is free. You can drag-and-drop to create emails without even needing to sign up. However, you may eventually want to upgrade to one of three BEE Pro packages, which are targeted to freelancers, marketing teams, and agencies. Pro plans start at $15 per month.
4. Mosaico
Mosaico.io is an open source email template builder, which is something of a rarity. You won’t find any predesigned templates, as you would with other email template builders, but you will be able to alter the tool however you see fit.
Unique Features
- A unique click-based design tool, abandoning the traditional “drag-and-drop” model.
- Community support, due to its open source nature.
- Infinite flexibility, if you’re willing to put in the work to customize it.
Pricing
Mosaico is currently completely open source, so you can use it for free. In fact, the entire code base is available on GitHub.
5. Email Monster
Email Monster is another free email template builder, with a simple, easy-to-grasp approach. You can choose any of its 100+ base kit templates and edit the template as you see fit. You can also install the free Chrome extension if you want to integrate directly into Gmail.
Unique Features
- Template designs are immediately available, so you can start in mere minutes.
- A free Chrome plugin so you can use the tool directly in your browser.
- The ability to save and download templates for future use.
Pricing
Email Monster is free, with no upgrades or paid plan options available at this time.
6. AWeber
AWeber is specifically designed for small businesses eager to get started with email marketing, but who might have trouble knowing where to begin. Predesigned templates, custom designs, and email automation are all available.
Unique Features
- A drag and drop AMP carousel, which allows you to add AMP image carousels to your emails.
- AWeber’s Smart Designer, which uses AI to construct and recommend email templates.
- A campaign marketplace that allows you to design and launch full email campaigns.
- 24/7 customer service.
Pricing
Pricing scales based on the number of subscribers you’re emailing. Plans start at $19 per month, which covers you up to 500 subscribers. The top tier, for 10,000 to 25,000 subscribers, is $149 per month. Pricing options for businesses with more than 25,000 subscribers are available upon request. You can also choose to be billed quarterly or annually to reduce your per-month costs.
7. Unlayer
Unlayer allows you to build email templates from scratch, but also utilize merge tags and embed customizable, dynamic content into the body of your messages. It’s designed for SaaS companies, but could feasibly be used by any industry.
Unique Features
- Dynamic content that changes based on defined conditions.
- Large-scale template management.
- Developer friendliness, with full support documentation, for unique customizations.
- Options for landing pages and further marketing support.
Pricing
The basic plan option is free. Premium packages are available at $99 for startups, $199 for businesses, and $399 for growing businesses.
8. Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is primarily focused on email marketing, but has other features you can use for a variety of other marketing and ecommerce purposes. Because it’s designed to work for teams, it’s ideal if you have many people working together on your campaigns.
Unique Features
- Template management and collaboration for teams.
- Built-in support for surveys with unlimited questions.
- 80 predesigned email templates.
Pricing
Pricing varies based on how many subscribers you have. You can get started for free, but if you want access for more features, or if you need more support, you’ll need the Basic plan for $9 per month, the Unlimited plan for $29 per month, or the Premier plan for $149.
9. Chamaileon.io
Chamaileon.io is a cleverly-named email template builder that allows your team to design emails collaboratively, complete with drag-and-drop mechanics so you never have to worry about coding. You can also design and follow a set email campaign workflow, simplifying your efforts in the future.
Unique Features
- Collaborative email design for teams working together on the same templates.
- Unique and flexible account roles for multiple levels of access.
- Replicable testing settings to allow for easy testing of new designs.
Pricing
The free plan gives you much of what you need as an individual, but as you start adding seats and getting access to more features, the cost goes up. Premium plans start at $20 per month, with the Pro plan at $40 per month, and the Pro Team plan at $200 per month.
10. Designmodo
Designmodo‘s email builder is designed to bring teams together for the email template building process. You can use it to design emails however you like, then export as HTML, or to a full email service provider like Mailchimp.
Unique Features
- Modular designs that help you stack, customize, and rearrange your options.
- Long-term content management to help you revisit previous successes.
- Unlimited exports, which is ideal if you’re exporting to other services frequently.
Pricing
For a single user and 10 modules, you can use Postcards for free. Business plans start at $15 per month, and an agency plan starts at $25 per month.
11. Stripo.email
Stripo.email helps you create responsive email templates without any HTML coding skills necessary. It also features innate dynamic AMP support, and a robust testing tool to help you preview your email in more than 90 popular environments, including variants for devices and browsers.
Unique Features
- Drag-and-drop AMP blocks for image carousel and/or accordion support.
- Thorough testing in nearly 100 different environments.
- A customizable module library, allowing you to reuse past successful elements.
- Integration with many ESPs and third-party tools.
Pricing
The free plan is all you’ll need to get started. Billed yearly, the Business plan is $125 (or $10.42 per month), and the Agency plan is $400 (or $33.33 per month).
12. Taxi for Email
Taxi for Email provides scalable email template creation, as well as the ability to create email workflows. It also allows you to assign various tasks and permissions to your team, so each of your marketers can play a role in perfecting your email campaign.
Unique Features
- Team dynamics, including collaborative tools, access assignment, and user permissions.
- Robust testing on-demand as you design.
- Support for multiple languages and email segmentation.
Pricing
Taxi for Email doesn’t publish their pricing, but you can submit a short contact form on their website to get a free quote.
13. SendGrid
SendGrid is an email service that provides support for email template designs — additionally, it offers email functions like automatic shipping notifications and password resets. It also boasts an open API, which you can use to integrate with just about anything.
Unique Features
- A wide variety of tools, including email design, automation, signup forms, and more.
- APIs, SMTP Relay, and Webhooks.
- Delivery optimization tools so you can increase delivery rates.
Pricing
The basic version of the tool is free, and paid plans start at $14.95 per month for the essentials, or $89.95 per month for the Pro plan. Rates increase as you send more emails per month.
Choose the Best Email Template Builder for Your Needs
While it’s arguable that some of these email template builders are superior to some of the others, all of them have strengths and weaknesses. The best email template builder will be the one that most closely aligns with your organization’s goals — giving you all the tools you need, at a price within your budget.
When you narrow the list down to a few options, give each one a try (since most of these tools either offer a free trial, or a free version altogether), and get a hands-on feel for which tool might serve your organization best.