On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided that the Privacy Shield Framework is invalid. Now, EU headquartered companies face the consequences of this decision. Some try to find a way to still make EU-U.S. data transfers work, some broaden their horizon and drop their American software tools and look for European alternatives. This 70+ item list helps email (marketing) professionals to find EU based alternatives.
What was the Privacy Shield and why was it revoked?
When the EU introduced their privacy legislations named GDPR in 2018, data transfers to countries outside the union were jeopardised. The EU now has its privacy protection rulebook, that doesn’t apply to major (software providing) countries like the United States.
With the Privacy Shield program, the European Commission deemed data transfers between the EU and the US lawful. Four years after the Commission’s decision, in 2020, the CJEU deemed the program unlawful, ending data transferring between the EU and US.
The main reason for the CJEU to deem the Privacy Shield ‘invalid’ is the way the US government interferes with the private sector. The US government can access private sector data, which is not in line with the regulations the EU put to the table with the GDPR.
Reading tip: Waving Privacy Shield Goodbye, what do European companies have to do?
Are all EU-US data transfers affected by this case?
Since the GDPR aims to protect the personal data of EU citizens, only the voluntary “outsourcing” of processing of personal data to the United States is affected by this. Necessary transfers are not affected, and neither are transfers of non-personal data.
Switching to European Alternatives for Email (Marketing)
As a result of this decision, European businesses are looking for a way to store their data elsewhere. That’s why I made a list of 70+ alternatives for email professionals.
The list is first divided into different parts of Europe, with only EU countries mentioned. This is visualized in the image below:
Second, the email service providers are labeled per use case: SMTP relay, transactional email, and email marketing automation (EMA).
These labels tell you what providers are ‘pure play’ or all-round. This is helpful when you’re looking to solve a specific problem (i.e. email deliverability) or when you decide to migrate all of your business emails to one specific platform. Either way, by labeling the vendors as such, buyers (like yourself) can create shortlists more easily.
What are SMTP Relay providers?
The process of delivering emails is called SMTP. It’s the way mailservers communicate and thus the way your message ends up in your recipient’s inbox. Nearly every platform (CDP, CRM, ERP, et cetera) uses SMTP for this. But as most of these providers do not specialize in email delivery, a lot of emails never hit the inbox.
An SMTP relay makes sure emails do hit the inbox. It specializes in the delivery process, with every technical detail tuned to perfection. SMTP Relay platforms give you the insights you need when it comes to email acceptance, opens, clicks, bounces, and more.
What are transactional email providers?
Transactional email providers focus on the perfection of transactional emails. What sets transactional emails apart from marketing emails, is that these emails are based on a ‘transaction’ and are sent from (again) software like your CRM, CDP, ERP. Think of password reset emails, order & shipment confirmations, or welcome emails.
When an email provider claims to have transactional email as a specific use case, it often has features like template management, dynamic content, and sometimes features such as PDF attachments for i.e. order confirmations.
What are EMA providers?
If you’re sending out commercial emails, like promo campaigns or newsletters, you need software that focuses on precisely that. Most EMA software tools have drag-and-drop editors, personalization & segmentation, and everything else an email marketer’s heart desires.
EMA providers mainly focus on creating the email, rather than actually delivering them or integrating with business tooling. That’s what sets EMA software apart from the other two labels. For the selection of this list, EMAs consist of pure play newsletters tools up until multichannel marketing automations tools.
Here’s the list:
Central European Email Service Providers
1. AdRom (Austria) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
2. UltraMail24 (Czech Republic) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional, EMA
3. Mailkit (Czech Republic) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
4. Rapidmail (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
5. Clever Elements (Germany) – visit website
Use cases: EMA
6. CleverReach (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
7. Evalanche (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
8. Eyepin (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
9. kajomi (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
10. KlickTipp (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
11. Mail2Many (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
12. Maileon (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
13. Mailflatrate (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
14. MailingWork (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
15. SendEffect (Germany) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
16. Automizy (Hungary) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
Also check out Automizy on our site
17. EmailLabs (Poland) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional
18. ElasticEmail (Poland) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
19. GetResponse (Poland) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
20. ExpertSender (Poland) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
21. FreshMail (Poland) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
22. Sare (Poland) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
Eastern European Email Service Providers
23. SMTPBoxes (Bulgaria) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay
24. NewsMan (Romania) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
Northern European Email Service Providers
25. MySMTP (Denmark) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay
26. eBooster (Denmark) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
27. EmailPlatform (Denmark) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
28. Globase (Denmark) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
29. Mailigen (Estonia) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
30. Triggmine (Estonia) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
31. LianaTech (Finland) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
32. Leadersend (Latvia) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional
33. Mailerlite (Lithuania) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
34. Sender (Lithuania) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
35. Halon (Sweden) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay
36. Emarketeer (Sweden) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
37. MinuteMailer (Sweden) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
38. Rule.io (Sweden) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
Southern European Email Service Providers
39. Routee (Greece) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
40. nuevomailer (Greece) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
41. beMail (Italy) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
42. eMailChef (Italy) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
43. MailUp (Italy) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
44. rdcom (Italy) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
45. MagNews (Italy) –visit website
Use Cases: EMA, Transactional, SMTP Relay
46. Email Success (Italy) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional
47. e-goi (Portugal) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
48. SendXmail (Portugal) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
49. Mailrelay (Spain) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, EMA
50. DoctorSender (Spain) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
51. Teenvio (Spain) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
Western European Email Service Providers
52. Combell | Flexmail (Belgium) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional, EMA
53. Teneo (Belgium) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay
54. MyMailmarket (Belgium) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
55. EmailGarage (Belgium) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
56. Sendtex (Belgium) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
57. Mailjet (France) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional, EMA
58. Sendinblue (France) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional, EMA
59. Alinto (France) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay
60. Dolist (France) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
61. MailKitchen (France) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
62. SendEthic (France) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
63. Newsweaver (Ireland) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
64. SensorPro (Ireland) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
65. Webpower (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional, EMA
66. Flowmailer (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay, Transactional
Also check out Flowmailer on our site
67. Inboxroad (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay
68. SMTPeter (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: SMTP Relay
69. Clang (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
70. Copernica (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: Transactional, EMA
71. Basedriver (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
72. HelloDialog (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
73. Laposta (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
74. MailCampaigns (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
75. Measuremail | Spike (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
76. MisterMail (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
77. Revue (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
78. SendCastle (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
79. Spotler (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
80. Tripolis (Netherlands) – visit website
Use Cases: EMA
81. MailCamp (Netherlands) –visit website
Use Cases: EMA