Softwr

E-Commerce · head to head

Drip vs Sendy

Drip logo

Drip

E-Commerce

Ecommerce email marketing and automation priced purely on contact count

From
$39/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sendy logo

Sendy

Email Marketing

Self-hosted newsletter app bought once for $69 that sends through your own Amazon SES account

From
$69/one-time
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Drip drip SMS is closed to new accounts and was US-only when it was open, so the multichannel positioning that competitors offer is not actually available to a new customer.; Sendy free updates run only to the next major version, so the one-time purchase is really one purchase per major release and the long-term cost is not zero.
  • They diverge on capability: Drip covers Ecommerce data sync, Sendy covers One-time licence.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Drip and Sendy actually diverge.

Attributes where Drip and Sendy differ
AttributeDripSendy
Starting price$39/month$69/one-time
Pricing modelPer month by contact countOne-time purchase
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Linux
CategoryE-CommerceEmail Marketing

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Drip

  • Ecommerce data sync
  • Visual workflow builder
  • Behavioural segmentation
  • Onsite forms and popups
  • Unlimited sends
  • No feature gating
  • Product recommendations
  • A/B testing

Only in Sendy

  • One-time licence
  • Amazon SES delivery
  • Multiple brands
  • Autoresponders
  • Segmentation
  • Bounce and complaint handling
  • Reporting
  • Client access

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Drip

  • A Shopify retailer wants abandoned cart, winback and post-purchase automation without the tier-by-tier feature gating that makes Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign quotes unpredictable.not Sendy
  • A store with a mid-sized list finds Klaviyo expensive for the volume it sends and wants a comparable ecommerce data model at a lower monthly cost.not Sendy
  • A marketer needs onsite capture forms and popups included rather than paying separately for a popup tool alongside the email platform.not Sendy
  • A team sends high email volume to a modest list, such as daily deals or frequent restocks, where unlimited sends on a contact-based price is materially cheaper than send-metered plans.not Sendy

Sendy

  • A publisher with a large list sending frequently, where a hosted platform bills by subscriber count month after monthnot Drip
  • An agency managing newsletters for several clients who each get their own brand and login under one licencenot Drip
  • A business that must keep subscriber data on its own infrastructure for privacy or contractual reasonsnot Drip
  • A developer wiring signups from a custom application into a mailing list without paying platform API feesnot Drip

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Drip

  • Drip SMS is closed to new accounts and was US-only when it was open, so the multichannel positioning that competitors offer is not actually available to a new customer.
  • Pricing scales on total contacts regardless of engagement, so an unpruned list of lapsed subscribers costs the same as an active one and list hygiene becomes a direct budget item.
  • Analytics and revenue attribution are thinner than Klaviyo, with no predictive lifetime value or churn scoring, so a data-led ecommerce team hits the ceiling on measurement before it hits it on sending.
  • The integration catalogue is far smaller than Klaviyo or Mailchimp, and outside the main ecommerce platforms and Zapier you will often be writing against the API yourself.
  • It sits inside Leadpages rather than being an independent company, and as the smaller of the two products its roadmap is subject to a parent whose primary business is landing pages rather than ecommerce email.

Sendy

  • Free updates run only to the next major version, so the one-time purchase is really one purchase per major release and the long-term cost is not zero.
  • Deliverability becomes entirely your problem: SES gives you a raw sending pipe and no warm-up guidance, reputation dashboards or deliverability consultants when a campaign starts landing in spam.
  • Amazon SES requires production access approval and will suspend accounts on high bounce or complaint rates, which can take a list offline mid-campaign with little warning.
  • The template editor and design tooling are basic next to Mailchimp or Klaviyo, so anything visually ambitious means hand-written HTML email.
  • You own the server: PHP upgrades, database backups and patching are yours, and an unmaintained Sendy install holding a subscriber list is a data breach waiting to happen.

Pricing, plan by plan

Drip

$39/month
  • Up to 2,500 contacts$39/month
    • Unlimited email sends
    • All workflows and segmentation
    • Onsite forms and popups
  • Up to 5,000 contacts$89/month
    • Identical feature set
    • Unlimited email sends
  • Up to 10,000 contacts$154/month
    • Identical feature set
    • Unlimited email sends
    • Price continues to scale with contact count above this

Sendy

$69/one-time
  • Sendy licence$69/one-time
    • One-time purchase, no subscription
    • Free updates only up to the next major version
    • Unlimited lists, subscribers and campaigns
  • AI Assistant bundle$39/one-time
    • Optional add-on, listed at a discount from $49
    • AI writing assistance inside the campaign editor
  • Installation service$79/one-time
    • Optional one-off setup by the vendor
    • For buyers who do not want to configure hosting and SES themselves

Which should you pick?

Choose Drip if

  • You need ecommerce data sync.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want visual workflow builder.
Drip review

Choose Sendy if

  • You need one-time licence.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want amazon ses delivery.
Sendy review

Questions people ask

Is Drip or Sendy better?
Neither clearly leads. Drip starts at $39/month and Sendy at $69/one-time, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Drip or Sendy?
Drip starts at $39/month and Sendy at $69/one-time.
Does Drip or Sendy run on more platforms?
Drip runs on Web, API. Sendy runs on Web, Linux.
What is Drip best used for?
Drip is most often used for a shopify retailer wants abandoned cart, winback and post-purchase automation without the tier-by-tier feature gating that makes mailchimp and activecampaign quotes unpredictable., a store with a mid-sized list finds klaviyo expensive for the volume it sends and wants a comparable ecommerce data model at a lower monthly cost., a marketer needs onsite capture forms and popups included rather than paying separately for a popup tool alongside the email platform., a team sends high email volume to a modest list, such as daily deals or frequent restocks, where unlimited sends on a contact-based price is materially cheaper than send-metered plans.. Of those, a shopify retailer wants abandoned cart, winback and post-purchase automation without the tier-by-tier feature gating that makes mailchimp and activecampaign quotes unpredictable. and a store with a mid-sized list finds klaviyo expensive for the volume it sends and wants a comparable ecommerce data model at a lower monthly cost. are not what Sendy is typically brought in for.
What can Drip do that Sendy cannot?
Drip covers Ecommerce data sync, Visual workflow builder, Behavioural segmentation, Onsite forms and popups. Sendy covers One-time licence, Amazon SES delivery, Multiple brands, Autoresponders.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Drip: Does Drip do SMS?

Not for new customers. Drip SMS is closed to new accounts and was only ever available in the United States, so treat Drip as an email and onsite platform.

Sendy: What does it actually cost to send?

The licence is $69 once. Delivery is Amazon SES at roughly $1 per 10,000 emails, plus your own hosting, so a 50,000-contact weekly newsletter costs a few dollars a month to send.

Drip: How is Drip priced?

Entirely by contact count, from 39 US dollars a month for 2,500 contacts. Email sends are unlimited and no features are held back on lower tiers.

Sendy: Are updates free forever?

No. Updates are free up to the next major version, for example within 7.x. Moving from 7.x to 8.x is a paid upgrade.

Drip: Who owns Drip?

Leadpages, which acquired it in 2016. Drip retains its own name, site and product.

Sendy: Do I need to know how to set up a server?

Standard PHP and MySQL hosting is enough and the vendor compares it to installing WordPress, but the SES side needs AWS configuration. An $79 installation service is offered if you would rather not.

Drip: How does it compare to Klaviyo?

Cheaper at small and mid list sizes with a similar ecommerce data model, but weaker on analytics, predictive segmentation and the breadth of its app ecosystem.

Sendy: What happens if Amazon suspends my SES account?

Your sending stops until you resolve it with AWS. There is no alternative delivery route built in, and this is the single biggest operational risk of the model.

Share

Related pages

More on Drip

More on Sendy

Keep looking

Other head to heads