# Email marketing software, by ESP category
> ESPs are not one product. Newsletter tools, commerce engines, B2B hubs, and transactional APIs solve different jobs.
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- Markdown: https://omentir.com/email-marketing-software.md

## An ESP is the pipe and the database

Email marketing software usually means an email service provider: it stores subscribers, builds campaigns, tracks clicks, and talks SMTP to Gmail and Microsoft. It is not Photoshop. It is not your CRM, unless you bought a suite that swallowed both. If you pick software by logo familiarity, you will use a newsletter tool as a commerce engine and then blame 'email.'

Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) still sits in DNS. The ESP gives you records to paste. That setup is email-aisle work. The software will not magically warm a brand-new domain you blast on day one.

*Software here means the sending product: audience, template, send.*

## Newsletter and SMB tools

[Mailchimp](https://mailchimp.com), [Constant Contact](https://www.constantcontact.com), [Brevo](https://www.brevo.com), [Kit](https://kit.com): audiences, campaigns, simple automations, forms. Fine for publishers, local services, and simple catalogs. Weak when you need SKU-level browse events or a sales-team CRM as the source of truth. Their editors are the product. That is a compliment if you send campaigns. It is a limit if engineers need an API-first transactional stream.

## Commerce ESPs

[Klaviyo](https://www.klaviyo.com) is the example most store teams name. The center is the profile plus events from Shopify or similar: placed order, viewed product, started checkout. Flows fire on those events. If you do not have a store feed, you are paying for a machine you are not feeding. Other commerce-leaning tools exist. The category test is: can a 'viewed these three SKUs, did not buy' segment be built without a spreadsheet?

## B2B hubs and transactional specialists

[HubSpot](https://www.hubspot.com), Adobe Marketo, Salesforce Account Engagement: email is one object next to forms, landing pages, and a CRM. You buy them when sales and marketing share a contact database and a lead status. You overbuy them when you needed a newsletter. [ActiveCampaign](https://www.activecampaign.com) sits between SMB automation and that hub world.

Transactional software ([SendGrid](https://sendgrid.com), [Postmark](https://postmarkapp.com), [Amazon SES](https://aws.amazon.com/ses/), Mailgun) is for receipts and product mail. High deliverability expectations, API sending, less of a campaign calendar. Using SendGrid as your only newsletter tool is possible and usually miserable. Using Mailchimp as your only password-reset pipe is how resets land in promotions.

## Related

- [Mailchimp](https://omentir.com/mailchimp.md)
- [AI email marketing](https://omentir.com/ai-email-marketing.md)
- [Best email marketing platforms](https://omentir.com/best-email-marketing-platforms.md)

## Common questions

**Is Gmail email marketing software?**

No. Gmail is a mailbox. BCC'ing 40 customers from your inbox is not an ESP. You get no list hygiene, no unsub header that scales, and a fast path to looking like a spammer. Use an ESP once you leave personal correspondence.

**Can one ESP cover campaigns and transactional?**

Some vendors sell both. Many teams still split them so a promo cannot tank receipt delivery. If you combine them, use separate subdomains (mail. vs send.) so reputation is isolated. That is email-aisle architecture.

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