TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    SparkPost (discontinued)

    Score2.8 out of 10
    N/ASparkPost offered real-time analysis of email delivery and customer engagement as well as personalized email templates. The service has been discontinued.

    $30

    per month

    Telegram

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/ATelegram is an open source and free messaging app with a focus on speed and security. Telegram can be used on all devices at the same time — messages sync across any number of phones, tablets or computers. Telegram boasts over 500 million monthly active users and is one of the 10 most downloaded apps in the world.N/A
    Pricing
    SparkPost (discontinued)Telegram
    Editions & Modules
    Starter
    $30
    per month
    Premier
    $75
    per month
    Enterprise
    Contact sales team
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SparkPost (discontinued)Telegram
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    SparkPost (discontinued)Telegram
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Open Source
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    SparkPost (discontinued)Telegram
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    WhatsApp Business
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    WhatsApp Business
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    WhatsApp Business
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    SparkPost (discontinued)Telegram
    Likelihood to Recommend
    1.0
    (6 ratings)
    9.9
    (8 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SparkPost (discontinued)Telegram
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Open Source
    Telegram has been very well suited for family video calls and conversations where detailed and private information is being shared. Video calling is fantastic and I'm so thrilled that they added group video calls now! The video quality is also so good that I've been able to use it to make virtual portrait sessions happen. I just don't use this for sending out formal contracts and things like that. I feel like email still needs to be used for those scenarios, but any client that just wants a secure way of communicating with me about their private family matters...this is THE app to use!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • When you don't want to spent time writing your own code to send emails from your apps
    • When you're looking for a product which provides all that you need regarding email features to make it part of your software
    • When you want to use a product which includes templates that can be re-used instead of writing your own and all the required effort to do that
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Open Source
    • Easy to use and user friendly
    • Collaborating application
    • File sharing
    • Audio and video calling feature
    • Instant messaging
    • Channel and group formation
    • Data security
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • When I first implemented SparkPost, I did not take advantage of the sub-account feature, and my account was suspended on New Year's Eve. It took two days until I could speak with a support representative to get my account re-activated. I am now using sub-accounts to alleviate the underlying problem, but I was disappointed that my account was suspended by an automated system with no notice.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Open Source
    • It is so safe to use that many users can share anything, including private pictures of anyone, even nudity as well. That is horribly disgusting.
    • They should restrict those users who run nudity in the Telegram groups and community.
    • Otherwise, I don't have any problem[s with] Telegram. I am a very satisfied user of Telegram.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    Mailchimp and sendgrid are giving good services and good customer support 24/7 and ROI is increased with this as transition is very smooth. SparkPost is very expensive and not good as much as we think and they will least worried about your mails, tickets, call and messages. Highly not recommended this SparkPost to any one
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Open Source
    I used WhatsApp Business but it's limited. I can add only 250+/- members to the WhatsApp group. But in Telegram, it's 200000. So this is a big opportunity to promote my event. Telegram has much more user data privacy and company transparency than Signal. I am using both but telegram for vas communication
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • 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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Open Source
    • Easy spread of information and updates among customers.
    • Easier and faster communication among colleagues.
    • Groups may accumulate a huge number of people.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots