Customer.io is a behavioral messaging platform for lifecycle marketing — data-driven journeys across email, push, in-app, and SMS, priced by profile count.
| Feature | MailBlastr | Customer.io |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 3,000 emails/month (100/day), 1,000 contacts, 1 domain — no card required | Trial only |
| Entry paid plan | $14/mo — 50,000 emails, 2,500 contacts, 10 domains | $100/mo — 5,000 profiles (Essentials) |
| 100k emails/month | $24/mo (Pro 100k) · $63/mo (Scale, 1000 domains) | Custom — scales by profiles + volume |
| Extra volume | $0.90 per 1,000 emails — credits never expire | Profile/volume tier increases |
| Transactional + marketing in one | API sends, campaigns, automations, and audiences in every plan | Omnichannel journeys platform (email one channel of several) |
| Contacts & audiences | Included on every plan — 1,000 on Free, up to 250,000 on stock plans | The pricing axis (profiles) |
| Automations | Included — visual automations, 10,000 runs/month | Best-in-class journeys |
| A/B testing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inbound receiving | ✓ | ✗ |
| Event webhooks | Signed webhooks: delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, complained, unsubscribed | ✓ |
| Official SDKs | 8 languages + CLI | SDKs + data pipelines |
| Log retention | 30 days on every plan | Plan-dependent |
| Dedicated IP | Add-on on Scale — $21/30 days | Available on higher tiers |
| INR billing for India | ✓ | ✗ |
Customer.io pricing and features summarized from public pricing pages, last checked 2026-08-02. MailBlastr figures come from the live plan catalog.
If lifecycle messaging IS your growth engine — complex branching journeys on behavioral events across email, push, and SMS, run by a team that lives in the tool — Customer.io is built for exactly that, and MailBlastr does not pretend to replace it.
Free: 3,000 emails/month (100/day), 1,000 contacts, 1 domain — no card. Paid from $14/month for 50,000 emails; 100,000 emails from $24/month; Scale at $63/month adds 1,000 domains, priority support, and the dedicated-IP add-on ($21/30 days). Extra volume via credits at $0.90 per 1,000 — they never expire.
Essentials from $100/month for 5,000 profiles (email, push, SMS, segmentation, journeys); price scales with profile count and message volume. Premium tiers add data pipelines, HIPAA options, and premium support.
Last checked 2026-08-02 against Customer.io's public pricing.
For transactional email plus everyday lifecycle marketing (welcome series, onboarding, newsletters, win-backs) — yes, at a far lower price. For deep behavioral orchestration across push, in-app, and SMS with data-pipeline integrations, Customer.io remains the specialist.
Customer.io Essentials starts at $100/month for 5,000 profiles. MailBlastr’s entry plan is a small fraction of that and includes 50,000 emails/month, 2,500 contacts, automations, and A/B testing; there is also a real free tier.
Yes — the events API can enroll contacts into automations, and journeys support triggers, delays, and conditions. Customer.io’s journey engine is deeper (branching on arbitrary behavioral queries); MailBlastr covers the common lifecycle patterns.
No — email only, deliberately. If you need omnichannel today, Customer.io (or Brevo) fits better.
Export profiles to CSV or sync via the contacts API, rebuild key journeys in the automation builder, port templates as HTML, verify your domain, and point transactional sends at POST /emails or an SDK.
Thinking about moving? Read the step-by-step Customer.io alternative guide.
Free tier with 3,000 emails a month — API, campaigns, automations, and webhooks included. No card required.