Mandrill Alternative: The SparkPost Survival Guide for Mandrill Users

***updated 10/24/2018 with the latest plan information

We have a Mandrill alternative for you. If you want to get started with SparkPost fast, our developer community has got you covered! Here’s a quick guide to getting started and getting your transactional emails up and running.

TL;DR

1. Create a SparkPost account
2. Configure sending domains, DKIM, and SPF
3. Migrate to the SparkPost API
4. Migrate your templates
5. Build something awesome

1. Create a SparkPost Account

First, sign up for a SparkPost account if you haven’t already. BTW, we’ve made it really easy to get started. Our free developer test account includes up to 500 emails per month. It offers the same built-in functionality and performance as our paid plans.

2. Configure Sending Domains, DKIM, and SPF

Check out our Getting Started with SparkPost page for an easy quick start. Or if you’d rather, simply follow the in-app SparkPost dashboard as it walks you through the basic account configuration steps.

3. Migrate to the SparkPost API

SparkPost’s API is fantastic. Here’s the API documentation. As a general rule, if you see it in our UI, you can access it in our API, too.

API Clients

Just want to get your hands in some code? You’ll find client libraries for the usual suspects on GitHub (and maybe some unusual ones, too):

• NodeJS – sample
• PHP – sample
• Java – sample
• Python – sample
• Elixir – sample
• Go – sample

Basic Concepts

Sending: Transmissions

The Transmissions endpoint is the business end of SparkPost’s email sending capability. It supports both transactional and non-transactional mail streams, templating, tracking, variable substitution, attachments and all the usual goodies. It’s documented here with sample code in all the usual languages.

Sending: SMTP

You can also use traditional SMTP to inject your mail into SparkPost. Here’s an intro video and documentation for the readers.

Receiving: Relay Webhooks

On the inbound side, you can use our Relay Webhooks along with Inbound Domains to accept inbound mail.

Tracking: Webhooks and Message Events

Beyond delivery and receipt, you can use Webhooks or the Message Events endpoint keep track of deliveries, bounces, opens, clicks, and all the other events SparkPost emits.

BTW, here’s a definitive reference to the available events.

Translating Mandrill to SparkPost Terminology

Mandrill and SparkPost use slightly different nomenclature to describe similar functions. Here’s a SparkPost terminology primer for those coming from Mandrill’s API.

 4. Migrate Your Templates

Try out our Mandrill to SparkPost template migration tool. Now, it’s even easier to get started with SparkPost as a Mandrill alternative. If that sounds good to you, go get it and read how to use the tool to convert and migrate your Mandrill templates.

Like Mandrill, SparkPost’s templates use a handlebars-like syntax with {{braces}}  surrounding variables.  You can edit templates in the SparkPost UI or directly using the templates API endpoint.

If you’re just pulling variables into your template for simple personalization, you might be able to use your Mandrill templates unchanged with SparkPost. Otherwise, here are a few syntax pointers.

{{#if condition}}
   ...
{{/if}}

{{if condition}}
   ...
{{end}}

{{#each list}}
   ...{{this}}...
{{/each}}

{{each list}}
   ...{{loop_var}}...
{{end}}

{{nested.var}}

{{nested.var}}

{{var}}

{{var}}

5. Build Something Awesome

Support Resources

• General help: You can find help with most questions about SparkPost functionality, account configuration, and our web app in the SparkPost Support Center.
• Developer stuff: For help with code and general developer support, the SparkPost Developer Hub is a great resource. And, if you want to chat something through with our developer community team, join our Slack community.

Integrations

• WordPress: take a look at our plugin.
• Zapier: we do have a zap!
• And here’s a list of lots of other integrations.

–Ewan