AWeber vs SendGrid – which email marketing software is the best choice for you and your business?
In this article, we seek to answer this question, but not before going over the various functions, features, pros, cons and subscription options that each software has to offer.
Why use an email marketing software like AWeber or Twillo SendGrid?
The results are in: If you are a website owner, and particularly if you are someone selling either services or products on the internet, one of the most important components of your business is the ability to build a solid bond with your customers. Beyond social media, this is largely achieved through email marketing.
Email marketing allows you to establish a bond of trust between yourself (or your brand) and the customers you are trying to reach. Email marketing also gives you a direct channel for talking about and selling whatever products or services you have to offer.
There are many reasons why you should be leveraging technology like AWeber or Twillo SendGrid (as SendGrid has recently been rebranded) in your business.
First and foremost, writing email newsletters, landing page copy, autoresponder messages and more are essential but incredibly time-consuming. Softwares like AWeber or SendGrid can help you generate compelling email sequences in a fraction of the time it normally takes.
Email marketing softwares like AWeber and SendGrid can save you even more time – and help you build a stronger connection with your audience and potential customer base – by automating your newsletters and campaigns.
By providing you with detailed analytics that track open rates and engagement, email marketing softwares like AWeber and Twillo SendGrid can even help you discover how to better connect with and engage your followers.
AWeber
Let us begin by taking a closer look at AWeber.
Founded in 1998, AWeber has been around for over 20 years and has built up a solid reputation as a reliable email marketing software with a proven track record of being able to adapt and roll with the times.
AWeber provides its users with a rather impressive suite of features that go above and beyond email marketing. In addition to a wealth of email marketing templates and automation tools, Aweber also provides you with landing page templates, ecommerce pages, web push notifications and analytics.
AWeber functions and features
AWeber comes with a rather stunning array of tools. Here’s an overview (this is by no means an exhaustive list):
- A/B testing
- API
- Activity dashboard
- Activity tracking
- Alerts/Notifications
- Auto-responders
- Automated scheduling
- CRM
- Campaign analytics, management, scheduling and segmentation
- Click tracking
- Content management
- Customizable branding
- Customizable CTAs
- Customizable templates
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Sales reports, analytics and trend analysis
- Over 100 integrations, including Big Cartel, Ecwid and Facebook for Business)
- And more!
AWeber pricing and subscription models
AWeber offers two different subscription models, Free and Pro.
AWeber’s Free plan is suitable if you have anywhere between 0-500 subscribers.
The Free plan gives you 1 list profile and 3,000 monthly email sends. You also get access to many of the features that are also available to members on the Pro plan, including the drag-and-drop email builder, email automation tools, the ability to sell products and services through AWeber ecommerce, integrated Google Analytics and Facebook pixel tracking, and so much more.
The Pro plan starts at $19.99/month and goes all the way up to $149.99/month, depending on how many email subscribers you have.
The Pro plan gives you unlimited list profiles and unlimited email sends, as well as access to a number of advanced features that are not available on the Free plan, including email split testing, behavioral automation, cart abandonment tagging, branded click-tracking links (Rather than the AWeber branded links you have to contend with on the Free plan), custom segments, advanced message, audience and account analytics, webpage and email sales tracking, lower transaction fees, and unlimited sign-ups and message sends.
AWeber pros
AWeber is best known as an email marketing software, but it is so much more than that. Truly, AWeber combones email marketing software with advanced visitor behavior analytics and e-commerce capabilities. If you are looking for a one-stop digital marketing service, AWeber isn’t a bad choice at all – particularly not with prices starting at $19.99/month for a professional plan.
Another Pro that becomes obvious when you start using AWeber is how userfriendly and intuitive the software is, despite its many advanced tools and features.
AWeber cons
Although AWeber is an all-round robust marketing software, it does have a few limitations.
While the software itself is both powerful and user friendly, it lacks some features that would be very useful to have, such as refined audience targeting tools, contact database and chat/messaging, delivery tracking and data recovery.
Twillo SendGrid
We’ve taken a good look at AWeber – now let’s take the magnifying glass to Twillo SendGrid and see how this software measures up to its competitor.
Twillo SendGrid gives you the tools you need for flexible and intuitive email creation using the easy-to-use drag and drop editor, streamlined automation, detailed analytics, A/B testing and more.
Twillo SendGrid functions and features
Twillo SendGrid comes with a very decent selection of tools and features. Here’s an overview.
- A/B testing
- Drag and drop editor
- API
- Audience targeting
- Catch-all server detection
- Chat/messaging
- Campaign analytics, management, scheduling and segmentation
- Contact database
- Customizable branding and templates
- Data recovery
- Delivery tracking
- Design management
- Form builder
- Forms management
- Geolocation tracking
- Landing pages and web forms builder
- Real-time monitoring and reporting
- SMS messaging
- And more!
Twillo SendGrid pricing and subscription models
Twillo SendGrid offers tailor-made subscription plans, starting at $14.99/month. In order to get a personalized plan that fits your business and budget, you will have to contact Twillo SendGrid for a personalized quote.
Twillo SendGrid pros
Twillo SendGrid offers a satisfying array of features – including some that AWeber is missing, including SMS messaging options, contact database and real-time monitoring and reporting.
Another pro of using Twillo SendGrid is the very comprehensive support that is included. In fact, Twillo SendGrid assures you that, when you sign up, you’ll always have a dedicated team of expert email marketers in your corner, ready to help you hone and polish the quality of your email marketing efforts.
Twillo SendGrid cons
An obvious drawback associated with Twillo SendGrid is the lack of transparency when it comes to subscription options. I’m sure most people would rather see the price tag displayed upfront.
Another potential con of choosing Twillo SendGrid is the fact that its focus is more purely on email campaigns and landing pages. If you want to integrate an ecommerce store, you have to use a third-party integration such as Ecwid or Business for Facebook.
AWeber Vs SendGrid: Conclusion
Now that we have taken a rather detailed look at both AWeber and SendGrid, you might already have reached your own conclusion along the way.
Which software you choose should ultimately be guided by what the nature of your business is and which email marketing tools it requires. Because while AWeber and SendGrid share many of the same capabilities, each software also includes tools that the other one lacks.
If you are looking for an affordable all-in-one ecommerce and marketing solution for your business, AWeber is a stellar choice. If, on the other hand, you require SMS messaging capabilities, fine-grained tracking and targeting capabilities and a data recovery safety net, Twillo SendGrid is a good option.
Having said that, it is clear that AWeber comes with the most extensive range of tools and features, so if you are not going to miss fine-grained targeting and the ability to send SMS text messages, AWeber is the better choice overall. Particularly if you like to have a highly intuitive platform at your fingertips where everything from the pricing to what you get with your subscription is transparent and upfront, AWeber is the email marketing software for you.
