Mandrill
Mandrill (now Mailchimp Transactional) is a transactional email and SMS delivery API that automates time-sensitive, one-to-one messages for e-commerce, SaaS, healthcare, and financial services customers via REST API and SMTP integration.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersBeijing, China
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Mandrill does
Mandrill (now operating as Mailchimp Transactional) is a transactional email and SMS delivery API service that sends automated, one-to-one messages triggered by user actions such as order confirmations, password resets, shipping notifications, two-factor authentication codes, and appointment reminders. Originally launched in 2012 as a standalone product, Mandrill was acquired by Mailchimp (founded 2001 by The Rocket Science Group) and rebranded to Mailchimp Transactional in fall 2025, when transactional SMS was also added. Mailchimp itself was acquired by Intuit in 2021, placing the service inside a publicly traded parent's portfolio of SMB software tools. Operations are headquartered in Atlanta, United States, and the service is sold globally via a developer-first self-serve model with enterprise sales support.
The underlying platform is built on Mailchimp infrastructure engineered for up to 157 billion emails per month, with a reported 99% average delivery rate, 99.99% uptime, and sub-second median delivery time. Delivery is exposed through a REST API and traditional SMTP integration, with webhooks for real-time event tracking (sent, delivered, clicked, unsubscribed), multi-domain sending from a single account, inbound email processing, and a template builder that lets marketers edit transactional templates without developer involvement. The service integrates with 300+ platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Stripe, Square, Zapier, Canva, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Customers cited span e-commerce (with Tandu shown as a representative example), SaaS and software applications, healthcare, and financial services.
Mandrill generates revenue on a hybrid model: usage-based transactional email at $20 per 25,000-email block (up to 20 blocks / 500,000 emails per month), pay-as-you-go SMS credits, and recurring add-on subscriptions tied to Mailchimp's Standard ($20/month) and Premium ($350/month) plans, with a Freemium tier offering 500 free test emails to verified domains. The customer base is broadly distributed across verticals and company sizes — from individual developers and SMBs using self-serve signup to high-volume accounts routed through a direct sales motion — with no single named enterprise customer dominating the mix disclosed in the data.
Mandrill firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Mandrill
- Legal name
- The Rocket Science Group
- Website
- https://mandrill.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Mandrill (now Mailchimp Transactional) is a transactional email and SMS delivery API that automates time-sensitive, one-to-one messages for e-commerce, SaaS, healthcare, and financial services customers via REST API and SMTP integration.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Mandrill is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Beijing
- HQ country
- China
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
Mandrill business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Transactional Email Sends: Priced by email send volume rather than contact count. Users purchase blocks of emails, each block containing 25,000 emails, with up to 20 blocks available (up to 500,000 emails per month). Pricing starts at $20 per block. New users receive 500 free test emails to their verified domain. Overages apply if email send limits are exceeded.
- Transactional SMS: Text messaging credits purchased separately for transactional SMS capabilities. Requires approved sending number and text messaging credit plan setup.
- Premium Plan Subscriptions: Mailchimp Transactional is available as an add-on for legacy, Standard, and Premium Mailchimp plans. Premium plan includes dedicated onboarding, unlimited contacts, priority support, and additional features starting at $350/month for 12 months.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Usage-based | Monthly | Transactional Email API - Block pricing starting at $20/block for 25,000 emails |
| Subscription | Annual | Mailchimp Premium Plan - Scale with dedicated onboarding and priority support |
| Subscription | Monthly | Mailchimp Standard Plan - Personalization and optimization tools |
| Subscription | Monthly | Mailchimp Essentials Plan - Basic email campaign features |
| Freemium | Monthly | Mailchimp Free Plan - Limited contact and email capacity |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Transactional SMS Credits - Pay-as-you-go text messaging |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Mandrill product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Mandrill (now Mailchimp Transactional) is a delivery API for sending transactional emails and SMS from websites and applications. The service provides a REST API and SMTP integration that enables developers to programmatically send automated one-to-one messages triggered by user actions such as order confirmations, password resets, shipping notifications, and account alerts. It is positioned as an add-on to the broader Mailchimp marketing platform.
Product overview
Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill) is a unified transactional messaging platform offering both transactional email and SMS capabilities as add-on services within the Mailchimp ecosystem. The core product provides a REST API and SMTP integration for automated one-to-one message delivery, while separate sub-products handle email and SMS modalities respectively. Priced separately from Mailchimp's marketing plans by email send volume, starting at $20 per block of 25,000 emails.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill) A unified transactional messaging API platform offering both transactional email and SMS delivery, integrated within the Mailchimp marketing platform. Enables developers and businesses to send automated, time-sensitive one-to-one messages triggered by user actions.
- Transactional Email API Automated one-to-one email delivery service triggered by specific user actions or events, such as order confirmations, account updates, password resets, shipping notifications, and security alerts. Priced by send volume at $20 per block of 25,000 emails.
- Transactional SMS Automated text messaging capability for sending transactional SMS triggered by customer actions such as purchases, password resets, order confirmations, and shipping updates. Requires approved sending number and separate SMS credit purchase.
Quantifiable outcome
- 99% average email delivery rate
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Mandrill
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Mandrill technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration12 records
Feature7 records
Mandrill partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- ShopifycoreShopify integration with Mailchimp allows e-commerce merchants to sync customer data, send transactional notifications, and manage marketing campaigns from a unified platform.
- WooCommercecoreWooCommerce integration enables WordPress-based e-commerce stores to leverage Mailchimp transactional email for order confirmations and customer communications.
- StripecoreStripe integration for payment processing with transactional email notifications for payment confirmations, receipts, and billing alerts.
- SalesforcecoreSalesforce CRM integration enables customer data synchronization and coordinated communications between Salesforce and Mailchimp transactional services.
- ZapiercoreZapier integration enables automated workflows connecting Mailchimp transactional email and SMS with thousands of other applications without custom development.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Mandrill competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Twilio SendGrid: Twilio's email API product and one of the most direct competitors to Mandrill/Mailchimp Transactional. Offers transactional and marketing email APIs with similar developer-first integration, comparable volume-based pricing, and is bundled into Twilio's broader CPaaS platform.
- Mailgun: Transactional and marketing email API owned by Sinch. Directly competes with Mandrill on developer-focused email delivery, offering REST/SMTP APIs, webhooks, and usage-based pricing for high-volume senders.
- Postmark: Transactional email specialist known for strong deliverability and developer-focused product. Directly competes with Mandrill on transactional email reliability, speed, and inbox placement.
- Brevo: Formerly Sendinblue, Brevo offers transactional email and SMS alongside marketing automation. Directly comparable to Mailchimp Transactional's combined email + SMS + marketing platform positioning.
- SparkPost: Cloud-based transactional and marketing email API with a focus on high-volume senders and deliverability analytics. Directly competes with Mandrill in the developer email API category.
- MessageBird: European-headquartered CPaaS offering transactional SMS, email, voice, and in-app messaging. Overlaps with Mailchimp Transactional's SMS-plus-email positioning and competes for multi-channel developer workloads.
- Plivo: Cloud communications platform offering SMS, voice, and email APIs. Competes with Mailchimp Transactional on developer-focused messaging APIs with usage-based pricing.
- Sinch: Global CPaaS provider owning Mailgun and other messaging brands. Competes with Mailchimp Transactional on transactional email and SMS through its portfolio of messaging APIs and direct carrier relationships.
Broad incumbents
- Amazon SES: Amazon's cloud-based email sending service. Competes with Mandrill on transactional email delivery as part of the broader AWS ecosystem, often at lower commodity pricing with high-volume scalability.
- Klaviyo: Marketing automation and email platform with growing transactional messaging capabilities. Competes with Mailchimp (and indirectly with Mailchimp Transactional) for e-commerce and SMB email workloads.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Mandrill social profiles
Digital presenceMandrill financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Mandrill leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Mandrill funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Mandrill M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Mandrill
What does Mandrill do?
Mandrill (now Mailchimp Transactional) is a delivery API for sending transactional emails and SMS from websites and applications. The service provides a REST API and SMTP integration that enables developers to programmatically send automated one-to-one messages triggered by user actions such as order confirmations, password resets, shipping notifications, and account alerts. It is positioned as an add-on to the broader Mailchimp marketing platform.
Is Mandrill a public or private company?
Mandrill is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Mandrill founded?
Mandrill was founded in 2001. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Mandrill based?
Mandrill is headquartered in Beijing, China, in the Asia region.
How does Mandrill make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Transactional Email Sends are the primary driver. The others are transactional SMS and premium Plan Subscriptions.
Who are Mandrill's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Twilio SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Brevo, SparkPost, MessageBird, Plivo and Sinch. Broad incumbents are Amazon SES and Klaviyo.
Does Mandrill have an API?
Yes. Mailchimp Transactional offers a REST API and SMTP integration for sending transactional emails and SMS. Developers can send messages automatically via the Transactional API or SMTP integration, monitor and manage sends, and track message events in real time using webhooks including when messages are sent, delivered, clicked, or if recipients unsubscribe. Developer documentation is at mailchimp.com/developer/guides/transactional-api-quick-start.