I started using Sendlane when our email list was still small we didn’t need much.
Fast forward a few years, we’re sending hundreds of thousands of emails a month, juggling automations, segments, and the occasional SMS blast.
At first, Sendlane felt like the right call.
But as things scaled, cracks started to show.
This review isn’t just specs and pricing, it’s what I wish I knew before committing. But don’t get me wrong, this review isn’t hate either — it’s an old user’s honest opinion.
If you’re wondering whether Sendlane’s pricing, features, and performance still hold up in 2025… this will give you the full picture.
Sendlane Review Summary
Sendlane works well if you’re sending at scale and want both email and SMS in one platform. You pay per email sent, not per contact — which can be efficient for high-volume campaigns.
Its strongest points are deliverability and support. Emails land reliably, and their team is quick to help when things go wrong. That said, the UI starts to feel cluttered as you scale, reporting lacks depth, and SMS is functional but basic.
If you care more about email than SMS and want more clarity and flexibility in your workflow, Encharge is a cleaner alternative worth exploring.
Contents
What’s special about Sendlane?
If you care about email and SMS working together without duct tape, Sendlane is worth a look.
You pay for how much you send, not how many contacts you store. That’s big because most tools bleed you dry as your list grows, even if half your audience isn’t active.
With Sendlane, you can keep unlimited user profiles and only get billed for volume: $100/month for 50,000 emails. That can scale up fast (it hits ~$1,100/month at 1M sends), but it’s clean and predictable if your volume is steady.
But this the big issue: deliverability.
Tons of users (especially from Shopify) talk about how their emails actually land. And when you’re spending serious money on email and SMS, landing in spam is like burning cash. Sendlane gives you Tier 1 ESP sending, proactive monitoring, and hands-on support — 24/7, even on holidays.
The tradeoff? Not everything is smooth. But let’s see why.
My Experience: 4 Years With Sendlane
I’ve used Sendlane mostly for ecommerce email and SMS campaigns. Their pricing model fair when we were just getting started. And then:
- What worked well for us early on was deliverability.
- Compared to other tools we tried, more of our emails actually got seen.
And support was quick, even outside normal hours!!
But over time, we started to hit limits.
- The UI becomes overwhelming once you have more than a few flows running.
- Reports don’t always add up, which makes it hard to trust performance data.
- And the recent price increases didn’t really match the product improvements.
I’m still using Sendlane, but it’s not the perfect fit anymore.
If you’re exploring tools for serious automation, growing lists, or cleaner workflows — this review should help you figure out if Sendlane is enough for what you need next.
Sendlane Pricing
Unlimited contacts • 24/7 chat • Deliverability monitoring
Same features, just higher volume
Ideal for mid-sized stores
Better value per email starts here
SMS pricing: Starts at $0.009 per credit (including carrier fees).
Free trial: 60 days, up to 500 emails — no card needed.
Free plan: None at all.
Sendlane’s pricing model sounds great, until your volume grows:
- At 50k emails/month, it’s $100
- But hit 1M/month and you’re looking at ~$1,100
The pricing is flat across all plans feature-wise — but that also means there’s no cheaper “lite” option if you’re just starting out or send less often.
There’s no flexibility to downgrade if your needs drop, and no plan with stripped-down features at a lower price.
Also worth noting: overages are charged at $2 CPM, so going just a bit over your limit costs extra.
If budget stability matters, or you want to cap costs as your list grows, this model might start to feel restrictive.
Pros and Cons of Sendlane
Pros of Sendlane
Cons of Sendlane
If any of those issues hit close to home — clunky UI, confusing reports, or costs that creep up — it might be time to try something built with more flexibility in mind.
That’s why we made Encharge.
We kept the parts people like (automation, deliverability, clean workflows)… and fixed the parts that slow teams down.
- You get full access to automation from day one — no hidden paywalls.
- Pricing is predictable (and doesn’t spike just because you’re growing).
- And everything’s built to be easy — clean interface, fast support, real visibility into what’s working.
We’ve had a lot of users switch from Sendlane after running into the same roadblocks — so if you’re already thinking about a change, it might be worth seeing how Encharge compares.
But no worries if Encharge isn’t right for you… That’s why we have this article:
→ List of the best alternatives to Sendlane
Is Sendlane the right Email & SMS marketing software for you?
Sendlane might be a fit if:
Sendlane might not be right if:
If your focus is email, not full or solely SMS, Encharge makes more sense.
You’ll still get strong automations, clean segmentation, and solid deliverability. But without the extras you don’t need driving up the cost.
SMS? You can still plug it in through integrations when you actually need it.
And because the UI is faster and pricing is simpler, teams who just want email to work without the noise usually feel right at home.
How I’ve Rated Sendlane (Breakdown)
1. Ease of Use
Sendlane’s UI feels polished at first, but as your use case grows, cracks start to show. Flows feel fragmented, and common tasks (like editing segments or duplicating automations) require more clicks than they should. We’ve worked with other tools that feel more thought-through and structured for speed.
2. Email Editor
The editor loads fast and works for basic layouts, but it’s clearly built around text-first emails. For branded or visual campaigns, it lacks blocks, layout control, and design polish. If you want to move quickly without jumping into HTML, this can become limiting.
3. Automation & Sequences
Visual flows are available, but lack flexibility once they get complex. There’s no versioning, limited branching, and we ran into friction when trying to reuse or repurpose sequences. Other platforms we’ve used gave us a more intuitive workflow builder that just made more sense.
4. Deliverability
One of Sendlane’s strongest points. They send from high-quality ESPs and offer proactive monitoring. We didn’t experience any major delivery issues, and their team clearly understands deliverability. That said, there’s no transparency dashboard for deliverability metrics — which we’ve seen elsewhere.
5. Reporting & Analytics
You get the basics: open/click rates, bounce stats, link tracking. But there’s no heatmap, no time-based engagement view, and no Google Analytics integration. Teams that rely on behavioral data will hit the ceiling fast. We’ve used platforms that offer more actionable insight out of the box.
6. Pricing & Value
The starting price feels fair, but once you scale past 100K emails/month, the pricing climbs fast — and overages are charged at $2 CPM. While still reasonable, it doesn’t feel cost-optimized for fast-growing teams. We’ve seen simpler models that give you more freedom without overage stress.
7. SMS Features
SMS is supported, but it feels like a bolt-on. While the tech works, it’s not deeply integrated into the core experience. You can build SMS steps inside flows, but it lacks personalization depth or proper preview options. We mostly stuck to email because it felt smoother.
8. Support
One area where Sendlane really stands out. The support team is responsive, fast, and helpful — even during off-hours. We had quick replies and useful answers on every ticket. It’s clear they care about retention and success, not just sales.
It’s a solid tool, but if you care about smooth UX and flexibility at scale, you might feel boxed in.
Top Sendlane Features, Explained
1. Deliverability Monitoring
This is where Sendlane actually shines.
They use Tier 1 ESPs and have proactive deliverability monitoring built in. If you’re running ecommerce emails, it helps make sure your campaigns land, not just get sent.
A few perks users mentioned:
- Fewer emails ending up in spam
- Alerts when deliverability drops
- Support that actually walks you through fixes
But keep in mind: deliverability only gets you so far.
If your flows are messy or your segments aren’t tight, it won’t matter.
That’s why tools like Encharge put more emphasis on flow clarity and segmentation logic, so you don’t waste good deliverability on bad targeting.
2. Pay-Per-Email Pricing
Sendlane charges based on email volume, not contact count. That’s a plus if your list is big but you don’t email everyone often.
You pay $100/month for 50k emails, with unlimited profiles.
But here’s what users run into:
- Costs spike quickly if your volume jumps
- Overage fees hit at $2 CPM
- No “entry-level” plan if you’re just getting started
If you want tighter cost control, Encharge gives you full features without jumping tiers based on email volume. No overages, no surprise jumps — just steady pricing you can actually plan around.
3. Email + SMS in One
It’s convenient that Sendlane includes SMS. You can send from the same place, and credits start at $0.009 including carrier fees.
But SMS is also the part that gets the most complaints:
- Setup feels overhwelming
- Some users reported delays or bugs
- Not ideal for time-sensitive or high-volume campaigns
If SMS isn’t core to your business, this can feel like too much.
4. Automation & Segmentation
Sendlane supports behavioral triggers and prebuilt ecommerce flows like:
- Abandoned cart
- Post-purchase
- Win-back
Segmentation is solid on paper — but in practice, a lot of users say the UI gets overwhelming as flows pile up. Debugging and reporting can slow you down.
This is where Encharge tends to win people over.
The flow builder is cleaner, and segmentation stays clear even as your list grows. If you’ve ever felt buried under a complex setup in Sendlane, switching feels like a breath of fresh air.
So… Is Sendlane Worth It?
If you’re sending a high volume of emails, want built-in SMS, and care a lot about deliverability, Sendlane might make sense.
But for most teams, especially ones focused more on email than SMS, it starts to feel like you’re paying more for things you don’t really need.
Between the rising costs, clunky UI, and reporting issues, a lot of users end up looking for a simpler, more affordable alternative.
That’s where Encharge wins. You get powerful email automation, clean flows, and reliable performance without overpaying or wrestling with the dashboard.
Sendlane FAQs
1. Who is the owner of Sendlane?
Answer: Sendlane was co-founded by Jimmy Kim, who also serves as the CEO. He started the company in 2013 along with Zak Meftah and Anik Singal.
Jimmy Kim is a longtime digital marketer with deep experience in ecommerce and SaaS. He’s also known for hosting The SendIt Podcast, where he talks about retention marketing and scaling online businesses.
Sendlane is privately held and based in San Diego, California.
2. Is Sendlane GDPR compliant?
Answer: Yes, Sendlane states that it is GDPR compliant, but there are some caveats.
They offer a Data Processing Agreement (DPA), have a published privacy policy, and outline how they handle user data in accordance with GDPR principles like consent, data minimization, and the right to be forgotten.
- DPA available — outlines how Sendlane processes personal data
- Opt-in support — tools for collecting explicit consent via forms
- Data deletion on request — unless retention is required by law
- Third-party safeguards — vendors they work with are also expected to comply
- Customer responsibility — you must configure your forms and usage to be fully compliant
Summary: Sendlane provides the tools and framework to be GDPR compliant, but you are responsible for using them correctly. It’s compliant when configured properly — not automatically out of the box.
3. Is Sendlane SOC-2 compliant?
Answer: No. As of now, Sendlane does not publicly claim SOC 2 compliance.
There’s no official statement, certification, or audit report listed on their site or trust documentation confirming SOC 2 Type I or Type II compliance. While they offer a Data Processing Agreement (DPA), that alone doesn’t meet SOC 2 standards.
!! NOTE: Some platforms that integrate with Sendlane (like Pabbly) are SOC 2 compliant — but that doesn’t mean Sendlane itself is.
If SOC 2 is critical for your business (e.g. SaaS, fintech, healthcare), you’ll likely need to look at alternatives that explicitly meet SOC 2 standards and can provide a verified audit report.
4. Is Sendlane HIPAA compliant?
Answer: No, Sendlane is not officially HIPAA compliant.
While they may offer a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) and could potentially sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) if requested, they do not advertise or guarantee HIPAA compliance in their standard service.
In short:
- No public BAA by default
- Not marketed as HIPAA compliant
- Possible to request a BAA — but you’ll need to handle compliance setup on your end
- You’re fully responsible for how you use the platform with Protected Health Information (PHI)
If you’re in healthcare or need to handle PHI, it’s safer to go with a platform that explicitly supports HIPAA compliance out of the box.
Thank you so much for reading this,
David Ch
Head of Marketing at Encharge
