Sequenzy vs Drip for SaaS Email: Pricing by Sends or by Contacts
How Sequenzy and Drip price SaaS email at different list sizes, which billing connectors each lists, and where each one fits.
Quick answer
For a SaaS team whose email is mostly triggered by billing events, such as trials ending, renewals and failed card payments, Sequenzy is the stronger starting point. Its paid plans are set by monthly email volume with unlimited contacts, so a list of 2,500 people sending about 10,000 emails a month fits the 15,000-emails plan at $19 a month on monthly billing. Drip prices by the number of people in your database. Its entry plan is $39 a month for 1 to 2,500 people, and the bill rises with each band of contacts. Drip is the better fit if you need deep segmentation and long workflows on a modest list.
The two products overlap more than their marketing suggests. Both send email, both offer automation, and both can run a trial-to-paid or win-back sequence. The practical differences are in how the bill is calculated, which billing systems each one connects to, and how much of the flow logic you build yourself. This page covers those three points, gives cost examples at several list sizes, and sets out where each tool is the better choice.
Prices below are the monthly figures shown on each vendor's pricing page, as recorded on 7 October 2026. Annual options, taxes, add-ons and overage charges are not included, so read the pricing pages for those terms before you budget. Where a pricing page does not publish a figure, this page says so and does not estimate one.
What each tool is built for
Sequenzy is built for subscription businesses. Its pricing is based on the number of emails you send, and it offers a free tier of 2,500 emails a month. It lists integrations with Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Dodo Payments and Creem, so billing events such as a trial ending or a card being declined can start messages without a separate tool in the middle. It also sends payment-recovery emails that link customers to a card-update page. Its core workflow is transactional and lifecycle mail for products that bill people on a schedule, which is why billing comes up throughout this comparison.
Drip is an automation platform with a visual workflow builder, dynamic segments and onsite campaigns on its lower tiers. The plans listed for small and mid-size lists include up to 50 workflows. Its pricing is based on active people and email volume, and it offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. The pricing page does not show an ongoing free plan. Drip's published examples lean toward e-commerce flows such as abandoned carts and product recommendations, so teams running SaaS trials will usually build those flows themselves.
Side-by-side comparison
The table below compares the two tools on the points that usually decide the choice. The entry price is the lowest published monthly plan, with the plan name and billing view noted, so you can see what the cheapest version of each tool costs.
| Tool | Best for | Entry price (plan, billing) | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sequenzy | SaaS teams that bill customers and want transactional and lifecycle mail priced by volume | $19/month for the 15,000-emails plan, monthly billing. Free tier at 2,500 emails a month. | Plans step up with send volume, so frequent large broadcasts raise the bill. Shorter integration list than long-established platforms. |
| Drip | Teams that want a deep automation builder and can accept a per-contact bill | $39/month for the 1 to 2,500 people plan, monthly billing. 14-day trial, no credit card. | The bill rises with the number of people in the account. Listed billing connectors are not shown on the pricing page. |
What it costs at realistic list sizes
The gap between the two pricing models is easiest to see at specific list sizes. The table below uses the monthly plan that covers each scenario. The email volumes are assumptions for illustration: a contact count multiplied by the number of messages each person receives in a month. Replace them with your own numbers.
| Scenario | Sequenzy plan (monthly) | Drip plan (monthly) | Difference per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,500 contacts, about 10,000 emails a month (4 per contact) | 15,000 emails/month: $19 | 1 to 2,500 people: $39 | $20 less with Sequenzy |
| 5,000 contacts, about 20,000 emails a month (4 per contact) | 30,000 emails/month: $29 | 4,501 to 5,000 people: $89 | $60 less with Sequenzy |
| 10,000 contacts, about 60,000 emails a month (6 per contact) | 60,000 emails/month: $49 | 9,001 to 10,000 people: $154 | $105 less with Sequenzy |
| 20,000 contacts, about 60,000 emails a month (3 per contact) | 60,000 emails/month: $49 | 17,501 to 20,000 people: $289 | $240 less with Sequenzy |
| 50,000 contacts, about 120,000 emails a month (2.4 per contact) | 120,000 emails/month: $99 | 45,001 to 50,000 people: $699 (this tier includes 600,000 email sends) | $600 less with Sequenzy |
Two details in this table matter more than the totals. First, the Sequenzy figures stay flat as long as your monthly send count stays inside the plan, because contacts are not billed separately. A large list that you email rarely costs relatively little on Sequenzy. Second, Drip's lower tiers advertise unlimited email sends, while the larger tiers state a send allowance, such as 600,000 sends at the 45,001 to 50,000 people tier. If your volume is high relative to your list, read the allowance on the tier you are considering.
The arithmetic is simple to repeat. A team with 2,500 contacts that receives four emails a month sends 2,500 × 4 = 10,000 emails, which fits the 15,000-email Sequenzy plan at $19 a month. The same team on Drip pays $39 for the 1 to 2,500 people plan. For a team of 50,000 contacts sending about 120,000 emails a month, the Sequenzy 120,000-emails plan at $99 is the relevant comparison. The Drip tier for that many people is $699 a month, so the difference is $600 a month, or $600 × 12 = $7,200 a year, before any discounts.
Drip's pricing is not the wrong choice for every team. A business that keeps a small, tightly segmented list and runs long workflows may find the lower Drip tiers reasonable. The scenarios above show where the models diverge: the more people you have relative to the messages you send, the more Drip's per-contact model costs compared with Sequenzy's per-send model.
Sequenzy in detail
What it does well for SaaS teams
Sequenzy's main strength for this audience is that its billing connectors are part of the product. It lists connections to Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Dodo Payments and Creem, which cover the main payment providers a software company is likely to use. When a subscription changes state, that change can trigger a message. A trial that is ending, a renewal that is coming up, or a failed charge can each start a specific sequence instead of a broad newsletter.
Failed payments are the most concrete example. Sequenzy sends payment-recovery emails that link the customer to a card-update page. The alternative is to build that logic yourself on top of a generic email tool: catch the payment webhook, decide what to send, and maintain the templates. Using a built-in flow removes that build step. You should still test the sequence with your payment provider's test events before relying on it, and confirm that the emails reach customers who have unsubscribed from marketing but still need billing notices.
The pricing model suits teams whose contact list grows faster than their send volume. Because plans are set by emails sent with unlimited contacts, adding people to a list does not change the bill as long as the monthly send count stays within the same plan. The free tier of 2,500 emails a month gives a small team room to set up and test flows before paying.
Where it falls short
Plans step up with volume, so a team that sends many one-off broadcasts will move up tiers quickly. A monthly newsletter to a large audience can cost more than a set of targeted lifecycle emails to a smaller group. Model the send count against your campaign calendar, not only against your contact count.
The integration list is shorter than the lists of long-established platforms. If your stack includes a CRM, help desk or analytics tool that Sequenzy does not connect to, you will need to move that data through an API, a warehouse or an automation layer. Check the integration list against your real stack before you commit.
Sequenzy is also not designed around e-commerce storefront flows. If your business depends on abandoned-cart sequences for a product catalog alongside its subscriptions, confirm that the triggers and templates you need exist before you choose it.
Price and pricing page
The entry plan is $19 a month for up to 15,000 emails, billed monthly. The next plans are $29 a month for 30,000 emails, $49 a month for 60,000 emails and $99 a month for 120,000 emails. The free tier covers 2,500 emails a month. The Sequenzy pricing page is the source for these figures and for any annual or add-on terms.
Drip in detail
What it does well
Drip's strength is depth of automation. Its visual workflow builder, dynamic segments and onsite campaigns give marketing teams a lot of control over who receives which message and when. Its lower tiers include up to 50 workflows, which is enough for a team running several separate journeys for different audiences. For a team with complex segmentation rules, this is the feature set to evaluate first.
Drip also offers a 14-day trial with no credit card required. A team can build workflows and test them on real data before deciding to pay, which makes it straightforward to evaluate the tool against your own list.
Where it falls short for SaaS
The main limitation is the per-contact model. Drip's price rises with the number of active people and email volume, so a SaaS company with a large free-user base pays for people who may never buy. The gap widens as the list grows. If you plan to keep free users for a long time, model the bill at the list size you expect in twelve months, not today's.
Drip's published examples lean toward e-commerce patterns such as abandoned carts and product recommendations. Trial-conversion and seat-expansion flows are possible to build, but your team may spend more time writing them from scratch. The pricing page also does not list the billing connectors Drip supports, so confirm the exact Stripe or other provider integration you need in its documentation before deciding.
Price and pricing page
The entry plan is $39 a month for 1 to 2,500 people, with unlimited email sends. Higher plans listed on the pricing page include $49 a month for 2,501 to 3,000 people, $89 a month for 4,501 to 5,000 people, $154 a month for 9,001 to 10,000 people, $289 a month for 17,501 to 20,000 people, $449 a month for 27,501 to 30,000 people, and $699 a month for 45,001 to 50,000 people, which includes 600,000 email sends. The Drip pricing page is the source for these figures and for any annual options.
Deliverability and list hygiene
Neither pricing page covers list verification, yet bounce rates shape the sender reputation that every message depends on, whether it is a password reset or a marketing newsletter. Before you import a large or older list, run it through a verification service such as ZeroBounce, NeverBounce or Kickbox. These services check whether addresses are deliverable, flag disposable and role-based addresses, and identify invalid domains. Their pricing is separate from Sequenzy and Drip, so budget for them as their own line item.
Keep transactional and marketing mail on separate streams where your tool allows it. Password resets and invoices should not depend on whether a marketing campaign was suppressed for low engagement. Sequenzy handles both kinds of mail on one platform, which is convenient, but make sure your suppression rules still allow billing messages to customers who have opted out of marketing. Drip is built around marketing automation, so transactional messages usually come from your application or a dedicated transactional service.
Consent and suppression lists deserve as much attention as verification. Import unsubscribes and bounces from your previous tool before sending anything. Record the consent basis for each segment, and do not bring over contacts whose status you cannot establish. A smaller list of confirmed, deliverable contacts usually performs better on both cost and deliverability than a larger list of addresses nobody has checked.
How to choose
Start with what triggers your email. If most messages are sent because a customer did something in your product or your billing system, the billing connector matters most. Sequenzy's listed connectors make it the stronger starting point for that pattern. If most messages are scheduled campaigns to your whole audience, and you want deep segmentation and long branching workflows, Drip's automation builder deserves a close look, with its per-contact bill in mind.
Next, estimate your list size and send volume for the next year, not just today. The cost table above shows that the answer changes as the list grows. A team with a small list that sends often may prefer one model. A team with a large list that sends rarely may prefer the other.
Last, decide how much flow logic you want to build yourself. Built-in billing triggers reduce the engineering work. A visual builder with many segments gives marketing staff more direct control. The decision table below summarizes the common cases.
| If you need | Pick | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Emails triggered by Stripe, Paddle or Lemon Squeezy events | Sequenzy | Those connectors are on its integration list, and failed-payment emails link customers to a card-update page. |
| A large contact base that receives relatively few emails each | Sequenzy | The bill follows monthly sends, and contacts are not billed separately. |
| Deep segmentation and long, branching workflows on a modest list | Drip | Dynamic segments and up to 50 workflows on its lower tiers suit this work. Compare the price at your list size. |
| A trial with no card and no commitment | Either | Sequenzy offers a free tier of 2,500 emails a month. Drip offers a 14-day trial with no credit card. |
| Abandoned-cart flows alongside subscriptions | Drip | Its published examples emphasize e-commerce flows. Confirm the exact triggers you need before choosing. |
Migration and setup checklist
If you are moving from one tool to the other, or setting up either one for the first time, the steps below keep the risk low. The most common mistake is switching every sequence at once. Running the old and new systems in parallel for one sequence, such as dunning, catches mapping errors before they reach every customer.
| Step | What to do | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Export contacts and status | Export contacts, unsubscribes, bounces and consent records from the current tool. | Each contact has a documented consent basis and a suppression status. |
| 2. Verify the list | Run the export through ZeroBounce, NeverBounce or Kickbox before import. | Invalid, disposable and role-based addresses are removed or flagged. |
| 3. Import suppression first | Load unsubscribes and hard bounces before any contact that could receive a send. | Suppressed contacts stay suppressed in the new tool. |
| 4. Connect billing | Connect your payment provider in the new tool. In Sequenzy, the listed options are Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Dodo Payments and Creem. | Test events arrive and map to the correct customer record. |
| 5. Rebuild three core flows | Rebuild the trial, failed-payment and win-back flows first. | Each flow has a clear entry trigger, an exit rule and a stop rule. |
| 6. Send to a small segment | Send to one segment, such as recent customers, before the full list. | Bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates look normal. |
| 7. Run in parallel, then cut over | Keep the old tool running for one billing cycle while the new one handles new contacts. | Sequences in flight have finished or been moved, and nothing is sent twice. |
Sequences in progress do not move automatically between tools. A customer halfway through a trial sequence in the old system will not resume at the same step in the new one. Map each active sequence to an equivalent in the new tool, and decide whether customers already in it should finish in the old system or be restarted. Consent and suppression status should carry over in full, and that is the step most worth double-checking.
The bottom line
For SaaS teams whose email is driven by billing events and whose list grows faster than their send volume, Sequenzy is the stronger choice on the published numbers. Its plans are based on monthly sends, its listed connectors cover the main payment providers, and its entry price is $19 a month for 15,000 emails. Drip is the better fit for teams that want a deep automation builder with dynamic segments, that keep a modest list, and that can accept a per-contact bill. Its entry price is $39 a month for up to 2,500 people, and its cost rises as the list grows.
Whichever you choose, verify the list before import, keep transactional and marketing streams separate where you can, and migrate one sequence at a time. The pricing pages are the authority on current figures: see the Sequenzy pricing page and the Drip pricing page before you commit. For other email service comparisons, see the comparisons index.
Frequently asked questions
Is Sequenzy cheaper than Drip?
It depends on your list size and send volume. At 2,500 contacts sending about 10,000 emails a month, Sequenzy's 15,000-emails plan is $19 and Drip's 1 to 2,500 people plan is $39. At 50,000 contacts sending about 120,000 emails a month, Sequenzy's 120,000-emails plan is $99 and Drip's 45,001 to 50,000 people tier is $699. Run the numbers at the size you expect in twelve months.
Does Drip have a free plan?
Drip offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Its pricing page does not show an ongoing free plan, so the trial is the way to evaluate the tool before paying.
Does Sequenzy have a free plan?
Yes. The free tier covers 2,500 emails a month. Paid plans start at $19 a month for 15,000 emails on monthly billing. The Sequenzy pricing page sets out the limits of each plan.
Which tool connects to Paddle and Lemon Squeezy?
Sequenzy lists integrations with Paddle and Lemon Squeezy, along with Stripe, Polar, Dodo Payments and Creem. Drip's pricing page does not list billing connectors, so check Drip's integration documentation for each provider you use before you decide.
Do I need a separate list verification service?
Neither pricing page covers list verification, so plan to use a service such as ZeroBounce, NeverBounce or Kickbox with either tool. Verifying before import removes invalid addresses and reduces bounces, which protects your sender reputation for both marketing and transactional mail.
Which tool is better for failed-payment recovery?
Sequenzy sends payment-recovery emails that link customers to a card-update page and connects directly to its listed billing providers. With Drip, you send payment events into the tool and map them to a flow yourself. Both approaches can work. Test the sequence with your provider's test events before you rely on either one.
Can I move from Drip to Sequenzy in the middle of a funnel?
Yes, but sequence progress does not transfer automatically. Export consent and suppression data first, rebuild the active flows in the new tool, and run one sequence in parallel before moving live traffic. Customers already part way through a sequence should finish in the old system or be restarted deliberately.
Which tool is better if I sell both SaaS subscriptions and physical products?
Drip's published examples emphasize e-commerce flows, so it may suit a catalog-heavy business better. Sequenzy is built around subscription billing. If you run both, list each flow you need, such as abandoned cart, trial conversion and renewal, and confirm that each one is covered before you choose.