In today's fast-paced digital world, having a reliable and user-friendly email design is crucial, and that's where the best email template builder steps in. Streamlining the process of creating visually stunning emails, these builders offer a range of easy-to-use templates, customization options, and integration features to bring your campaigns to life. Dive into our blog to discover the best tools that could revolutionize your email campaigns and provide a significant boost to your email design skills.
What Is An Email Template Builder?
Email template builders provide a visual interface for designing and customizing email templates without requiring extensive coding knowledge. These tools often include pre-designed templates, drag-and-drop functionality, and the ability to add dynamic content like personalized fields. Email template builders can help ensure consistent branding and design across an organization's email communications.
They typically offer features like responsive design, A/B testing, and integration with email service providers to streamline the email creation and deployment process. Email template builders are an essential tool for marketers, designers, and business owners looking to streamline their email marketing efforts. These tools allow users to create professional-looking emails without the need for extensive coding knowledge.
Email template builders are a godsend for my time. Let's face it: crafting an HTML email template from scratch is no small task. Even when you know what you're doing, it's a time-consuming process that demands a lot of effort.
That's where a dedicated email template builder comes in. With the right tool, I can transform an email template in minutes. If I need to make an edit, I simply load the template, apply the changes, and save it. I'm thrilled that I don't have to draft templates from scratch anymore. This way, I can focus on other tasks and improve my overall efficiency.
Crafting Advanced Templates with Email Template Builders
When it comes to email templates, I yearn for the most advanced, visually appealing design. Some template builders offer extensive features that help make that possible. Features like drag-and-drop editors, stock images, and custom design elements make it easy to create visually stunning email templates.
With these powerful features at my disposal, I can create an email that will wow my customers and improve my brand image. Plus, with all these tools, I don't need to be a design expert to make it happen.
Ease of Starting with Email Templates
One of the most significant advantages of using email template builders is how easy it is to get started. These platforms typically offer a wide range of ready-made templates that can be customized to fit my brand.
From seasonal templates to sale announcements – the selection is impressive. All I need to do is choose a template that fits my brand image, make the necessary tweaks, and hit send. It's that simple. This ease of use makes me happy and saves me a lot of time in the process.
Email Template Compatibility with Email Clients
When I send emails, I want them to look good no matter what email client my subscribers use. The last thing I want is for my email to look funky because of compatibility issues. That's where email template builders come in.
These platforms optimize the generated HTML code to ensure your templates look good on every email client. This feature is a lifesaver; I no longer need to worry about compatibility issues, improving the overall user experience.
Teamwork and Email Template Builders
In the world of email marketing, collaboration is key. Bringing together marketers and designers can lead to some incredible campaigns. Many email template builders recognize this need for teamwork, offering collaborative features that facilitate better communication and collaboration. With these tools, my team can seamlessly work together to create engaging campaigns that drive conversions. The result? A more unified team and better email marketing strategies.
Accessibility of Email Template Builders
I don't always want to lug my laptop around every time I need to make an edit to an email template. Email template builders solve this issue by offering online platforms that autosave my work. This means I can access my templates from any device at any time.
Whether I'm on the go, at home, or in the office, I can easily make edits and send them out to my subscribers. The convenience and flexibility of this accessibility make it a go-to tool for me.
Mailsplash All-in-one Email Solution
Mailsplash is an AI-powered tool to create stunning email templates that convert. Design and create stunning/converting emails (campaigns, flows, all of it) in minutes. Send with any email service provider (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, etc.). We enable freelancers, brands, and agencies to rapidly create personalized, converting email campaigns at lower cost than traditional marketing agencies, from email copywriting, to personalized branded email template design.
The user interface should be intuitive, enabling quick dragging and dropping of blocks. This makes it easy to create an engaging email template.
Feature-Rich
A good template builder must have a variety of features to meet creative needs, allowing you to create email templates as you desire.
Supports Responsive Design
The email template designer should allow you to create responsive designs that look great on any device, be it a desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet.
Customizable
The email template maker should enable you to customize emails based on your branding guidelines. You should easily be able to add logos and images in various sizes and positions.
Offers Various Templates
The email builder should have an email template library categorized into various sections. This makes it easy for you to find an email template that suits your occasion.
Allows Effortless Branding
The email template creator should make it easy to add your branding so that recipients can recognize your brand whenever you send an email. Typically, this involves the addition of your brand logo, color palette, and text in your brand voice.
16 Best Email Template Builders For Creating Effective Emails
1. Mailspalsh
Mailsplash is an AI-powered tool to create stunning email templates that convert. Design and create stunning/converting emails (campaigns, flows, all of it) in minutes. Send with any email service provider (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, etc.). We enable freelancers, brands, and agencies to rapidly create personalized, converting email campaigns at lower cost than traditional marketing agencies, from email copywriting, to personalized branded email template design.
Stripo is an HTML email template builder that integrates with over 70+ ESPs and offers a pretty generous free plan. Stripo is always adding new email marketing services and templates to its selection. One very helpful thing about the Stripo email editor is that it tells you if there are any errors, for example, if you forget to add content to a particular block.
Pros of Stripo
Stripo offers around 1,500 prepared HTML email templates, most of which look really good. They are also neatly categorized so it’s easy to find something that fits your needs quickly.
In terms of customization options, there are tons. So you should have your template looking just as you want it without too much trouble. For example, you can edit and opt to include or omit certain content depending on if it’s being displayed on mobile or desktop. You can also upload custom fonts.
The content blocks available are probably sufficient and you can even use AMP for Email, which allows you to add dynamic content like image carousels and accordions. Stripo also recently launched an AI content improver for subject lines and hidden preheaders.
Cons of Stripo
You need the Medium plan to add multiple users (3 users with the Medium plan. 10 users with the Pro plan and 100 users with the Prime plan).
You can only create Brand Guidelines on paid plans.
Stripo is free to start and the Basic plan will cost you $15/month and gives you 50 stored templates per project, 50 exports to your email service provider per month and the ability to test your template on 2 email clients.
3. Tabular
Tabular is an email template builder that allows you to create responsive HTML email templates without any coding experience. It's perfect for anyone who wants to create professional-looking emails quickly and easily. One of the standout features of tabular is its email testing functionality. With the core focus of saving you time, you can test your templates in multiple email clients to make sure they display correctly.
This is an extremely helpful feature as different email clients can interpret HTML code differently, and you don't want your email to appear broken and end up looking unprofessional. Tabular also offers a free version, so you can get started with creating some email templates and see if it's the right tool for you. There's also a paid plan with additional features, including access to more pre-built blocks and the ability to import your own HTML code.
Pros of Tabular
The drag-and-drop email builder is very easy to use and you can choose from a variety of pre-built “blocks” including text, images, buttons, and more. You can also save these as “team blocks” so that your team can easily access them later, helping your brand to stay consistent and save time.
The platform also offers responsive design options, ensuring that your emails will look great on any device.
They offer 37 modern email templates for free, the templates are categorized as transactional, relational, and promotional.
Cons of Tabular
Although they integrate with Klaviyo, Brevo, Mailchimp, Hubspot, SendGrid, and a few more, they don’t integrate with all top email marketing platforms yet.
Tabular offers a free forever plan that let's you create and download 3 custom emails per month with access to 37 free email templates. There's also a $89 one-time payment that gives you lifetime access to it's features. You can alternatiely pay $42/month.
4. Unlayer
Unlayer is another powerful drag-and-drop email template builder with several advanced features for ecommerce store owners and small businesses. The drag-and-drop + HTML email builder offers several beautiful templates for emails and landing pages that you can use without paying a penny. Advanced features like reusable custom blocks, dynamic exports to email providers, and essential functions like saving your work are only available on a paid plan.
Pros of Unlayer
Custom file storage, unique design blocks, and undo-redo functionality within the drag-and-drop editor
Collaboration and sharing of templates among teammates
Merge tag features to capture/pull dynamic info for personalizing emails
Place your online store products within your emails.
Unlayer of free plan available with limited functionality and feature restrictions on standard features. Paid plan starts at $15 per month for unlimited email template generations.
5. Dyspatch
Dyspatch is a popular no-code email creator that allows users to speed up the email template-building process. You can use its free email template designs that it offers as HTML files to be used anywhere. You can use the drag-and-drop builder within Dyspatch or export the templates to your existing ESP to make the most out of these templates. The drag-and-drop builder by Dyspatch is an advanced template builder that can add interactive content blocks like email surveys, lie product data, and more.
Pros of Dyspatch
Easy to integrate for large-scale email template designs
Supports AMP for interactive campaign
Template localization and standardization capabilities
Cons of Dyspatch
Not many public reviews or a support community
Costly pricing plan
Steep learning curve
Free trial plan with limited capabilities. Paid plan starts at $150/month for 10 email templates.
6. Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is a well-known email marketing tool featuring a user-friendly email template creator for crafting responsive emails. The email template builder offers all the standard features you need, and it seamlessly integrates with Unsplash, allowing you to discover stock images for your email campaigns. You can effortlessly customize the email to match your brand’s style, incorporate your logo, and align it with your website theme with just a single click.
Pros Campaign Monitor & Cons
Amazing email template testing and dummy campaign capabilities
Large and flexible template library
Responsive design blocks
Cons of Campaign Monitor
Costly, in case you have a large email list
Obsolete UI and functionalities at places
Lack of deep reporting integrations with CRM suites
Campaign Monitor has a free plan with a restriction of sending email campaigns to just 5 subscribers. Paid plan starts at $11 per month, supports 500 subscribers, and allows sending 2,500 emails a month.
7. Postcards
Postcards is built by Designmodo to help business owners create emails with ease and efficiency. The online email template software offers an extensive library of templates and is compatible with all major email marketing tools. The great thing about using Postcards is its support for all major email tools. So, you can directly export your email template to Sender or other tools in the market.
Unfortunately, the huge block libraries used in this WYSIWYG editor are behind a paywall. The free plan has a limited array of template blocks (one for each email element). That will severely limit the email creation possibilities. You do get unlimited exports in the free version. Postcards is pretty responsive as an email builder but has some limitations and shortcomings.
Pros
Modular design system; unique design blocks and layouts for templates
Project backup and management among large teams
Supports Retina’s ready images & 900+ Google Fonts
Cons of Postcards
Costly when you want to use it for unlimited templates
Design and template library is restrictive to only higher paid plans (or behind a paywall)
Dependent on other ESPs for full marketing functionality
Postcards pricing plans allow you to test out everything, as there’s a free trial plan. But the paid plan is recommended if you want full functionality. Free trial plan with limited features and projects and the paid plan starts at $16 per month with full features and functionality for one brand/business.
8. Beefree
Apparently, over 1,000,000 people have built emails on the Beefree platform, and with over 370 responsive templates available, you can imagine why. But how easy is it to use and what options might it be missing?
Pros of Beefree
Beefree has some pretty decent image editing options, plus you’ll have over 500,000 stock images and tons of fun GIFs and stickers to choose from.
You can add ESP-specific merge tags in order to add a personal touch to your content.
Once your design is ready to go you can export it directly to your ESP (Mailchimp, HubSpot, Brevo, Gmail and ActiveCampaign are just some of those supported).
As well as the option to download the email template in HTML, you can also download your design as a PDF, which could be handy if you need to print it.
Cons of Beefree
On the free plan, you’ll only be able to save and re-use limited content, for example, the header or the footer.
You can't export as a PDF on free plan and you’ll have to put up with the Beefree branding.
Free plan comes with a stock image gallery and the ability to export the HTML email template with images. Paid plans from $30/month for 3 projects and designs. You’ll also be able to set user roles and permissions, remove Beefree's branding and use custom fonts.
9. Topol.io
Topol is yet another free newsletter builder designed to help you save time as an email newsletter templates creator, marketer, or design professional. The drag-and-drop email generator can be used as a standalone system or be integrated into your existing tool/SaaS platform as a plugin. You get all the features and functionalities you’d find in any other visual email builder on this list. Its interface is as intuitive as any other and supports different design blocks, making it suitable for beginners and newsletter creators.
Topol Pros
Easy and intuitive to use, even for beginners
Great library of readymade templates and design elements
Amazing developer panel and integrations
Topol Cons
Limited design customization capabilities
Limited design library
No email clients integration
Topol has a free plan with limited features, exports, and access. Paid plan starts at $10 per month for generating unlimited templates.
10. Mailchimp
You would already have tried or known MailChimp before. It’s a beginner-friendly email marketing solution with a great template builder with all the essential features you need. MailChimp’s email newsletter builder is a drag-and-drop style system that helps you create visually appealing email newsletters for your campaigns. You can add different design blocks, customize the style, or choose from a library of templates based on your requirements.
Pros of Mailchimp
Vast template library
Deep integration capabilities
Drag and drop interface
Cons of Mailchimp
Predatory pricing plan
Limited features and options on starter plans
Outdated UI/UX of the builder
Mailchimp has a free plan that can be used to manage 500 subscribers and send 1000 emails per month. Paid plans start at $13 monthly for up to 500 subscribers and send 5000 emails monthly.
11. Litmus
Litmus is a professional email template software that allows you the convenience of a drag-and-drop editor and the sophistication of a complex marketing campaign automation tool. It has powerful features to design, test, optimize, personalize, and improve all your email templates.
Litmus supports an HTML code editor and a visual drag-and-drop editor, so you can create any way you like. The template library helps you get started quickly, and you can use the in-built design library to add brand guidelines and create reusable blocks and templates quickly. The in-built email preview feature that supports 100+ email clients is also an excellent add-on for marketers and entrepreneurs who love perfection and responsiveness.
Pros of Litmus Pros
Spam check feature while designing emails
Simple and intuitive UI
Test responsiveness across platforms/email clients on a single screen
Cons of Litmus
Costly pricing plans
Lack of preview header/subject line testing features
Lack of adequate collaboration features
Litmus has a steep pricing model and just has a 7-day trial if you want to test out its capabilities. Paid plans start at $79 monthly for one user and 1000 email previews monthly.
12. HubSpot
HubSpot’s email drag-and-drop builder is an accessible, affordable, and easy tool when it comes to creating email templates. Instead of struggling with complicated coding or relying on pre-made templates that lack customization options, HubSpot allows you to easily customize every aspect of your email, from the layout and color scheme to the font and images.
The drag-and-drop functionality makes it a breeze to add and rearrange elements, ensuring that your email template perfectly matches your brand identity and message. HubSpot’s email builder is designed with mobile responsiveness in mind, meaning your emails will look great on any device. The best part is that HubSpot’s email tools are integrated with their all-in-one solution, letting you connect your emails with your website, customer service, sales, and operation features.
Pros of HubSpot
Free suite of tools for small businesses and start-ups
Easy to scale as your business needs to grow
No CSS or HTML needed
Cons of HubSpot
Premium plans become a bit pricey
Integrated tools require a bit of training and practice to fully leverage the tools
HubSpot's free suite tools come with the email builder along with the other free marketing, sales, service, CMS, and operation tools. Starter plan provides the essential marketing tools expanding to the live chat, forms, landing pages, payments, and more features for $20 per month.
13. Mosaico
Mosaico is free to use under General Public License and has several unique email template designs to help you get started. The drag-and-drop email editor within Mosaico allows you to completely customize an email design. The best thing about this free email editor is that it automatically resizes all your images to promise responsive email designs. You can try it for free and even download its code to self-host it on your server to get complete control of your data.
Pros of Mosaico
Fast and easy to use with minimum dependencies
Minimalist approach to template designs
Completely free (no paid plans or limits)
Cons of Mosaico
Basic layout bugs (alignment issues with templates)
Limited customization capabilities
As-is usage (no prompt support)
Mosaico is available under a public license which means it is completely free to use this solution for your business. But it also has a commercial plan. Commercial plan is based on monthly active users.
14. Chamaileon
Chamaileon claims that its email builder feels like Sketch & Google Docs combined. Having used both of these tools, to me, that sounds like a great combination of design freedom and ease of use. But how does it actually shape up?
Pros of Chamaileon
You’ll have access to 100+ email templates – this isn’t as many as Stripo and Beefree, but the templates are attractive and modern-looking, and they’re all responsive.
Though it doesn’t provide you with any stock images, editing your own images is made easy with its built-in editor that allows you to add filters, text, adjust the exposure, and much more.
If you want to share your design with a colleague or client, you can simply generate a shareable link (like in Google Docs) – this is really convenient.
Cons of Chamaileon
Its list of direct integrations is quite limited, with just a few ESPs and CRMs. This means that when exporting, you’ll be given the HTML code to paste into your ESP or you’ll need to download it as a .zip file, which some might not find ideal.
Unless you check the Keep me Logged in box, the platform will log you out if there is no activity. This can be a little frustrating as it doesn’t wait very long (maybe 30 minutes).
We're quite perplexed as to why this email template builder is so expensive – it's like they didn't do any market research. Its high prices make it difficult to recommend over the rest.
Chamaileon has a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start from $300/month for 3 seats, unlimited exports/month, email and chat support, and a handful of integrations.
Other email template builders
15. SendPulse
A worthy Mailchimp alternative, SendPulse is a rather capable multichannel marketing automation platform with email marketing at its core. Everything from email subscription forms to a dedicated SMTP server for transactional emails is available on this platform and an email template builder is no exception.
Streamlining Email Template Inspiration with SendPulse's Chrome Extension
A unique feature of SendPulse is the free Chrome extension for email templates. Let’s say you came across an email that you really liked and you want to use it as an inspiration for your next email campaign. With this Chrome extension, you can save any email from your Gmail inbox as a PDF, a full-length screenshot, or an HTML template.
Effortless Customization with SendPulse's Email Template Builder
Now when it comes to the email template builder itself, like many of its counterparts it offers intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. There is also a gallery of over 100 pre-made email templates that you can alter to your liking and adapt to your marketing needs. It goes without saying that all the email templates created with SendPulse’s template builder are adaptive and will look good on both big and small screens.
Price. Free. Paid plans start at $9 per month.
16. Moosend
Moosend is an all-in-one platform for email marketing. It’s suitable for businesses of any calibre, both small and large. It offers a lot of different features, such as A/B testing, data analytics, and list segmentation. The feature that deserves particular attention is the service’s built-in drag and drop email template builder.
Control at Your Fingertips
If you like to have absolutely everything under control, you’ll find this feature as hot as we do! You can preview all of your templates in real-time, on different devices, simply by clicking on the button of the device that interests you - a mobile phone, a tablet, a computer.
Moosend's Forever-Free Plan and Extensive Template Library
One of the best things about Moosend is that it offers a forever-free plan for you to nail HTML email template creation. All you need to do to access this offer is create an account. The email template builder is famous for its extensive email template library, filled with a variety of ready-made, responsive templates designed to be compatible on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.
Crafting Stunning Emails with Moosend's Drag-and-Drop Builder
Browse the different categories of the template catalogue and find a template that suits your needs. Then use the editor to add more personality to your chosen template, making it brand-specific. The drag-and-drop template builder is equipped with a heap of different elements that help you create a gorgeous, stand-out email campaign. Moosend email template builder offers an image picker that integrates with Stock Photos, Google Drive, and social media platforms, providing some great visuals for your template!
You can store all your templates in the custom library, exporting them as HTML files to use in your next email marketing campaign.
Price. Free. Paid subscription starts at $8 per month.
Complete Step-by-Step Guide On How To Use Mailsplash’s Free Email Template Builder
Getting Started: Uploading Brands and Products
Before you can generate an email, you’ll need to upload a brand and product.
Navigate to the “Brands” tab and select “Add a Brand”. Once you’ve defined the brand’s name, logo(s), font(s), and color(s), you can upload your product(s).
You can do so by simply pasting in the product link, which will auto-populate the product description, name, and images, as seen below. Now you’re ready to design and write stunning emails with Mailsplash.
Design & Write Emails with Mailsplash: A Guide
Generate with AI
Not sure where to start? From your dashboard, click “Generate with AI” to get to ideating. Simply select the brand(s) and product(s) you’ve uploaded and describe the email you’re looking for (e.g. an email campaign promoting new pants on sale for 25% off). You can even define the design style you’re looking for!
If you’re feeling like a pro, click “Advanced Setup” to get more detailed access to other parameters such as your target audience, the type of email, and so on. Once you’re happy, click generate and watch the magic happen! In 30 seconds or less, you’ll have a email custom-tailored to your input.
Start from Template
Already know what kind of email you’re looking to create? You can then click “Start from Template” and browse through our gallery of templates, curated for the most common use cases. We currently support 21 templates for 7 different categories, but will be continuing to update this based on your feedback! Once you select an email type, you’ll be prompted to select a brand and product and be taken straight to the builder.
Sending Emails: Integrate with Any ESP
When exporting your email generation, you’ll be able to integrate with Klaviyo by inputting your API key. It’s as simple as that. We’re working on adding support for other major ESPs!
Now you should be well-equipped to save time and money on your email marketing.
Still confused? Have feedback? Let us know by sending us an email.
Selecting The Best Email Template Builder For Your Needs
The best email template builder for you will depend on your specific needs, budget, and email campaign goals. Look for a platform that’s user-friendly, has all the features you’ll need as your business grows, and offers support and resources to make your email marketing campaigns a success. Here are some factors to consider when choosing the best email template builder for your needs.
Quality of Templates
When choosing an email template builder, one of the first things to consider is the quality of the templates provided. Look for a platform that offers a wide variety of high-quality, professionally designed templates that are easy to customize to match your brand.
Ease of Use
A good email template builder should be user-friendly, allowing you to easily create and customize email templates without the need for coding or design skills. Look for a platform that offers a drag-and-drop editor that makes it easy to add text, images, buttons, and other elements to your emails
Integration with Other Tools
If you use other tools for your marketing campaigns, such as CRM software, social media management tools, or analytics platforms, choose an email template builder that integrates with these other tools. This will make it easier to manage your campaigns and track your results.
Automation Features
Advanced email template builders offer automation features that allow you to trigger emails based on user actions, such as signing up for your newsletter, making a purchase, or abandoning a shopping cart. Look for a platform that offers automation features that can help you boost engagement and conversions.
Mobile Responsiveness
With so many people checking their email on mobile devices, it’s essential that your emails look good on smartphones and tablets. Choose an email template builder that offers mobile-responsive templates that will automatically adjust to fit any screen size.
Customization Options
Depending on your brand and industry, you may have specific design requirements for your email templates. Look for a platform that offers plenty of customization options, such as the ability to change fonts, colors, and layout to match your brand guidelines.
Reporting and Analytics
To track the success of your email campaigns and make data-driven decisions, you’ll need access to reporting and analytics tools. Look for an email template builder that offers robust reporting features, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, as well as the ability to track individual user behavior.
Customer Support
When choosing an email template builder, consider the level of customer support the platform offers. Look for a platform that provides multiple channels of customer support, such as email, live chat, and phone support, as well as a robust knowledge base and other resources to help you get the most out of the platform.
Create Fully-Built Stunning Email Templates That Convert With Mailsplash
Mailsplash is an AI-powered tool that allows users to design and create visually appealing email templates that convert in just minutes. This platform is an all-in-one email solution that caters to freelancers, brands, and agencies who are looking to create personalized, conversion-driven email campaigns at a lower cost compared to traditional marketing agencies.
One of the key features of Mailsplash is its ability to generate personalized, branded email templates that are specifically tailored to the user's needs. With Mailsplash, users can easily create engaging email campaigns, flows, and various other types of emails that are designed to drive conversions and engage the audience effectively.
Another advantage of Mailsplash is its compatibility with various email service providers such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and many more. This allows users to seamlessly send out their emails using their preferred email platform, ensuring that the whole email marketing process is smooth and efficient.
Mailsplash is a powerful tool for creating attractive and effective email templates that can help users boost their email marketing efforts and achieve better results.
Hello, I'm Saif Akram, founder of MonetizeMail, an innovative email marketing agency. We're proud partners with Klaviyo and Customer.io, specializing in boosting MRR and reducing customer churn. Our agency has scaled over 50 brands, generating over $18M in revenue. With proven expertise in enhancing engagement and driving sales, I'm passionate about transforming businesses through effective email marketing strategies.