Customer.io vs. Litmus

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Customer.io
Score 8.3 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Customer.io is a customer engagement platform that enables marketers to build sophisticated automated messaging campaigns. With access to real-time behavioral data, users can create personalized and relevant messages to engage and retain customers. This includes sending emails, push notifications, SMS, in-app messages, and more through a visual building experience. Built for scale, Customer.io boasts users among over 5,300 companies, sending over 17 billion messages per year.
$100
per month
Litmus
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
As a core component of an organization's marketing tech stack, Litmus allows users to create, personalize, test, review, and analyze every email sent.
$99
per month
Pricing
Customer.ioLitmus
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Customer.ioLitmus
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEssentials: For startups and small teams engaging customers on their mobile and web apps. - Up to 5,000 profiles*, Send Emails, Push, In-App, and SMS, Visual Workflow Builder, Segmentation, Two Workspaces, Email Support, Customer Community Premium: For high-growth companies looking for greater control over their messaging outcomes. - Everything in Essentials, Custom Data + Message Volume, Premium Product Features, Additional Workspaces, 90-day Onboarding Program, Premium Email & Chat Support, Managed Deliverability, Dedicated IPs, Parcel Pro Licenses, HIPAA Compliance Enterprise: For at-scale companies looking to create world-class customer experiences. - Everything in Premium, Managed Infrastructure*, Customer Success Manager, Quarterly Success Reviews, Technical Account Manager*, Audit Logging & Data Governance*, Parcel Business Licenses, Migration Support*, *Available by consultation.Litmus offers different plan types to fit various needs, offering monthly and annual plans, as well as fully customizable Enterprise plans.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Customer.ioLitmus
Considered Both Products
Customer.io
Chose Customer.io
Customer is much more flexible and enables a greater amount of personalization.
Litmus
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Customer.ioLitmus
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Litmus
5.2
296 Ratings
44% below category average
WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings6.119 Ratings
Dynamic content00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings8.5187 Ratings
Landing pages00 Ratings2.63 Ratings
A/B testing00 Ratings1.84 Ratings
Mobile optimization00 Ratings9.2288 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings7.6207 Ratings
List management00 Ratings1.82 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Litmus
6.8
190 Ratings
13% below category average
Dashboards00 Ratings5.610 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings8.2189 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings6.6130 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Litmus
8.2
285 Ratings
4% below category average
URL Validation00 Ratings7.7209 Ratings
Link Tracking00 Ratings7.9178 Ratings
Spam Testing00 Ratings8.1211 Ratings
Email Previews00 Ratings9.1283 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Customer.ioLitmus
Small Businesses
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Score 7.8 out of 10
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Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Bright Pattern Contact Center
Bright Pattern Contact Center
Score 10.0 out of 10
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Conversica
Conversica
Score 9.5 out of 10
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Customer.ioLitmus
Likelihood to Recommend
9.8
(8 ratings)
9.2
(308 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(22 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.8
(18 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(6 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.4
(6 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(10 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(4 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(6 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Customer.ioLitmus
Likelihood to Recommend
Customer.io
This tool is well-suited for companies looking to run email marketing campaigns or send out newsletters regularly to their users/customers. The workflow setup is especially useful for companies who want to send specific emails based on user behavior - i.e. they've not logged in recently, have bought a specific product, haven't opened any emails, etc. This could also be useful for freelancers like me since you can create different workspaces within Customer.io. I have configured it this way to handle email marketing for a few of my clients, and the software keeps everything organized and separate. This might not be the best tool for small businesses, considering the price. It may be better to start out with a cheaper email marketing tool, and then if/when necessary, scale-up with a tool like Customer.io.
Read full review
Litmus Software
It is nice to be able to double-check the HTML code easily. However, that being said, once we have the template structure and modules coded and rendered, we often do not feel that Litmus is as helpful because we have already verified that the HTML is functioning as intended.
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Pros
Customer.io
  • Managing users, attributes and events. You are easily able to modify any user, based on their ID, and add or remove attributes, assign events to them. That makes it very easy to segment later and to assign them to several campaigns based on behavior. Just a warning: this integration isn't so easy (at least it wasn't for us).
  • Creating workflows of campaigns is very easy. You can quickly create behavioral campaigns based on attributes, segments and add elements to the workflow. You can send an email, then wait, then send another, then exit the campaign if they converted, etc. The workflow is easy to configure and very powerful for automation.
  • We don't use many email templates (we make them in MJML) but it's very easy to add senders, to change templates and in general to test designs.
  • Deliverability works very well, at least for us. It sends emails pretty fast and without issues.
  • Exporting is very quick and easy. Importing wasn't a feature until recently, but it works well too.
  • Seeing activity it's also useful. In general, logs are awesome (be it of a customer, of activity on the site, email sends, etc.).
  • We don't use environments, but it might be very useful for a bigger company.
Read full review
Litmus Software
  • Emulation of 100s of email clients by pasting HTML email code into their builder
  • The UI for navigating the build tools, analytics, and other functions are intuitive and easy to learn.
  • They have amazing weekly newsletters that go deep into email trends, benchmarks, and very practical tips. They are well-written.
Read full review
Cons
Customer.io
  • Push notifications are very rudimentary. Everything has to be done by hand unless you're sending an extremely simple message.
  • A bit too email centric.
  • Lacks an ability to schedule messages on a daily, weekly, etc. basis.
Read full review
Litmus Software
  • It would be great if there was an integration where we could make necessary changes in Litmus and update Klaviyo.
  • A better understanding of ways to optimize - things may be good as is, but what are ways that we can improve it for a better-sending reputation?
  • Sometimes the app in Chrome is clunky.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
It's offering me more than any other email proof software I've heard of! I also really appreciate how Litmus gives back to the email development community via their content creation. I want better marketing and marketing email in the world, and Litmus is working towards that goal. So, yeah, they're good folks with a good product!
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Usability
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
Litmus has integrations that make the software an integrated part of my work every day. Being able to test right within my email builder is just brilliant. Daily I also use the web interface to review analytics and spam testing. Overall it is one of the pieces of software I use daily without any complaints or issues.
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Reliability and Availability
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
We have never had a problem with Litmus being unavailable so I would say their availability is fantastic. There might have been one time years ago that the site was down briefly but it also might have been a server issue on my end. Either way, Litmus was back up and running in a very short time
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Performance
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
As with all technology, there are inevitably use-cases where you are unable to get to your original goal without some good old-fashioned experimenting. Some situations will (and are) more urgent which complicates an effective integration of a new process or a new team using an existing process but the "issues" are regularly resolved by re-starting the process specific to when Litmus is introduced to a project. If it doesn't come out the way you're anticipating, run it again and verify there is an issue before declaring all is lost
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In-Person Training
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
It was very informative one on one session for me. I was able to use Litmus without any issues.
Read full review
Online Training
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
It has all the required information.
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Implementation Rating
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
It was quick and easy to get up and running. We were able to use the platform not long after getting it up and running.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Customer.io
Customer.io was really the first pure, full-featured drip email program on the market and as far as I know, it's still the simplest and best overall for that specific function. SendGrid has also added drip campaign features, but I would seriously evaluate Customer.io against any other drip email provider because they really have all the key elements you need to make it work.
Read full review
Litmus Software
For more in-depth QA and personalization needs, Litmus is the way to go. I believe that Litmus should be used in conjunction with a product like Mailchimp or Constant Contact to support your email development efforts. I would not use any one of these by itself if you really want to create an end product that can provide the greatest ROI and use for your end consumer.
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Scalability
Customer.io
No answers on this topic
Litmus Software
With our enterprise account, scalability is not an issue. I have not yet seen or heard of significant issues with user access, API connections for integrations etc. This includes down time for "Scheduled Maintenance" as some providers call them, Litmus has the technology backing to support a global team with a 24-hour workday across regions
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Return on Investment
Customer.io
  • Fast testing for new products to specific groups. It saves a lot of time and money.
  • Removed workload from marketing = more time to make it better.
  • Better contact with specific groups, seeing a increase in sales because of this.
Read full review
Litmus Software
  • Litmus has positively helped us to be able to measure email performance metrics and provide stakeholders insights on what email content is resonating with clients
  • Litmus has helped us to ensure our emails are error free by providing us with an overview of whether each email meets the requirements for optimal email performance and delivery
Read full review
ScreenShots

Customer.io Screenshots

Screenshot of data-driven or manual segments that can be created in the no-code builder for recipient lists, campaign triggers, filters, and conversion goals.Screenshot of the code editor for email, that helps navigate code and iterate.Screenshot of account performance, visible at a glance from the Dashboard view.Screenshot of drag and drop messages, time delays, and branches where desired, to build cross-channel campaigns.Screenshot of triggered campaigns based on forms submissions, customer attributes, customer actions, and dates.Screenshot of localization for global audiences. One message can be delivered in multiple languages.

Litmus Screenshots

Screenshot of Litmus Personalize Essentials, with live polls to give subscribers a voice and drive email engagement.Screenshot of Litmus Email Guardian, featuring 24/7 link monitoring to safeguard emails.Screenshot of Litmus' integrated insights reports, that can automatically combine metrics from Salesforce Marketing Cloud with subscriber engagement insights from Litmus.Screenshot of campaign preview, available in 100+ popular email clientsScreenshot of Litmus' inbox previewing and feedback tools, that help users to spot and fix issues early.