Litmus vs. SparkPost

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
SparkPost
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
The SparkPost Email Delivery Platform is built to help businesses deliver more value. Its features include real-time analysis of email delivery and customer engagement as well as personalized email templates. Users can also pick from any of the numerous APIs to integrate into communication. SparkPost is designed to provide all users need to power businesses for greater growth.
$30
per month
Pricing
LitmusSparkPost
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Starter
$30
per month
Premier
$75
per month
Enterprise
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
LitmusSparkPost
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsLitmus 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
LitmusSparkPost
Considered Both Products
Litmus
Chose Litmus
Email on Acid is the other system that I've used that is similar.
SparkPost

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
LitmusSparkPost
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Litmus
5.2
296 Ratings
44% below category average
SparkPost
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor7.318 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content7.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.8187 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages2.63 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing1.84 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization9.2288 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting7.7207 Ratings00 Ratings
List management1.82 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Litmus
6.8
190 Ratings
14% below category average
SparkPost
-
Ratings
Dashboards5.610 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.2189 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports6.7130 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Litmus
8.5
285 Ratings
0% above category average
SparkPost
-
Ratings
URL Validation8.1209 Ratings00 Ratings
Link Tracking8.4178 Ratings00 Ratings
Spam Testing8.3211 Ratings00 Ratings
Email Previews9.1283 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
LitmusSparkPost
Small Businesses
ReachMail
ReachMail
Score 10.0 out of 10
Twilio SendGrid
Twilio SendGrid
Score 7.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Everest (Return Path + 250ok)
Everest (Return Path + 250ok)
Score 7.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 8.6 out of 10
Everest (Return Path + 250ok)
Everest (Return Path + 250ok)
Score 7.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
LitmusSparkPost
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(308 ratings)
1.1
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(22 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.7
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.4
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.7
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.2
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
LitmusSparkPost
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
Read full review
SparkPost
Our early experiences with SparkPost were great; we were looking for a low-cost (or no-cost) solution to our email messaging needs, and SparkPost had the best low-cost option: 100,000 messages per month for free, guaranteed for life. Even though our team has experience with other APIs, we chose SparkPost because it felt like the best value. Our experience with it was great. Two years ago, they discontinued their free option but sent the existing users the following message: "When you signed up, we promised that if we ever changed the terms of our 100K free plan, we would continue to honor the original plan for the life of the account. I would like to reaffirm this promise: while this plan is no longer available to new customers, you are grandfathered into this level of free sending volume." The following year, apparently following a change in leadership, they decided to "deprecate" existing free plans, dropping us down from 100,000 messages per month to 500, the lowest of any email API service I'm aware of. No recognition of the broken promise, the reneged guarantee, just a 20% off coupon. This atrocious behavior that reeks of a new culture of squeezing as much money as possible out of its users and has coincided with a steady deterioration of functionality and customer service. At this point, I have no idea why anyone would pay more for a worse service that treats its users so poorly when you could use SendGrid or a similar competitor for a lower price and way more features.
Read full review
Pros
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
SparkPost
  • Good Documentation
  • Developer focused
  • Supports sub-accounts
  • Good support
  • Integrates with Laravel out of the box
Read full review
Cons
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
SparkPost
  • I really like SparkPost, it was really useful to achieve our goals
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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!
Read full review
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Usability
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.
Read full review
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
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
Read full review
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Performance
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
Read full review
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Litmus Software
No answers on this topic
SparkPost
Would give it a zero if I could. Their customer service used to be incredible; fast response times, really hands-on with their users, and a pretty regular feedback process. They sent me an awesome t-shirt that became part of my go-to climbing gear. But for the past year, their response times went way down, their customer service was less helpful and generally a lot more rude, and they haven't asked for customer input once since their leadership change
Read full review
In-Person Training
Litmus Software
It was very informative one on one session for me. I was able to use Litmus without any issues.
Read full review
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Litmus Software
It has all the required information.
Read full review
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
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.
Read full review
SparkPost
ExactTarget, Marketo CRM. These are completely different types of systems, but their email element is similar.
Read full review
Scalability
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
Read full review
SparkPost
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
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
SparkPost
  • It has helped us with our IP health and making sure that we avoid spam traps
  • Very high deliverability and automatic retrying once they have the event
Read full review
ScreenShots

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.