You're here because you searched for "bento email alternative" or "bento competitor" on the big G or on ChatGippity.
Maybe you're doing some due diligence on us before you make the switch. Maybe you heard about us from a friend or business partner.
However you found us, I want to talk about some of the other posts ranking in Google search for "bento alternative" and "bento reviews" currently.
The "Alternative" Post Playbook
There's a specific kind of blog post that exists purely to leech traffic from other brands like ours. You've probably seen them. "Top 8 {brand} Alternatives for 2025!" They follow a predictable formula:
- Write a post targeting "{competitor} alternative"
- Invent some problems with that competitor
- List yourself as the #1 solution
- End every FAQ with "that's why you should use us instead"
We've counted at least three posts ranking for "Bento alternative" written by companies who have never signed up for Bento.
Never sent an email through our platform.
Never looked at our automation builder or tested our deliverability infrastructure.
They just... made stuff up.
They are not properly reviews.
They are lies.
One post claims Bento has "limited automation flexibility." Another says we have "weak personalization features." A third suggests our "pricing isn't always justifiable" and they're 3x our price.
These would be valid criticisms if they were true.
But they're not.
They're invented problems designed to make their product look like the solution.
The Tells
You can spot these posts from a mile away:
They always list themselves first. The company writing the "alternatives" post somehow always ends up as the #1 pick. What a coincidence.
They publish across multiple domains. One company we found is running the same "Bento alternatives" article across multiple web properties. Double the keyword coverage. Same recycled content.
Every FAQ is a sales pitch. "What's the best alternative to Bento?" Their answer: themselves. "Does Bento have better automation?" Their answer: no, use them instead. It's like asking a Ford dealer if you should buy a Toyota.
The "problems" don't match reality. They'll claim Bento lacks features we've had for years. They'll say we're expensive when our pricing is public, competitive (we price match), and we're often cheaper. They haven't done the homework because they don't need to. They just need to rank.
What They Got Wrong
Let's get specific. Here are the posts and the claims they made:
Encharge's Misleading Post
Encharge, an objectively weaker competitor to Bento, has a post titled "Top 8 Bento Alternatives" which lists four reasons to leave Bento. Let's go through them:
"Limited Automation Flexibility" - Bento's automation builder handles all types of triggers, multi-step sequences, branching logic, custom events, multiple ways to trigger an automation, and dynamic personalization all throughout.
We built it specifically for operators who need real automation, not just scheduled newsletters.
Our main feedback from customers is that our flow product is TOO POWERFUL.It's about as advanced as you can get without requiring a PhD in email marketing.
The email nerds LOVE it.
Encharge's team wouldn't know this because they've never used our platform or even created an account.
"Weak Personalization Features" - We support dynamic content, Liquid, merge tags, conditional blocks, behavioral segmentation, and even have a load of AI features baked in. You can personalize based on what people actually do in your product, not just what form fields they filled out.
Personalization gets richer and richer with the more integrations you add and the more data you have.
Again, they wouldn't know this because they've never used Bento.
They just like writing lies.
"Pricing Isn't Always Justifiable" - It took me awhile to get Encharge's pricing page and website to load, but when it did, it was clear they love to twist reality.
As of December 3rd 2025 on Encharge's official pricing page they list $75/mo for 2,000 subscribers. 10,000 subscribers you're looking at $239 — and that's on their cheapest plan. "Talk to enterprise" if you have over 50k???? 50k isn't enterprise level!
You're looking at almost double that for "Premium".
Surely they're just mistaken and maybe it's Encharge's pricing that isn't justifiable?
What a joke.
"Lacks Native Integrations" - We have a public API, SDKs in every major language, Zapier, Make.com, SureTriggers, Segment, and native integrations with the tools SaaS and ecommerce businesses actually use. If you can send a webhook, you can integrate with Bento.
I searched for "encharge ruby sdk" they don't have it. Nor do they have a Python, Ruby, or other SDKs. Horrible choice for a SaaS company. It's 2025, you need to be able to integrate with your tools.
Martechs Post
It seems that Encharge may have distributed the post across multiple websites to rank for the same phrases in Google or improve their existing post.
We see multiple instances of their posts being reposted on this "marketing" website.
Two domains, same content, double the keyword coverage.
Classic SEO play.
It's unlikely that this site just wrote this on their own accord and it was an SEO link campaign.
Userlist's Post
Userlist's alternatives page takes a different approach. They've got a nice little feature comparison table with checkmarks and X marks. Very official looking.
Their conclusion? "Bento is a tool for anyone who wants to track their website visitors... Userlist is deeply focused on SaaS customers after they sign up, which makes it much easier to use."
Let's unpack that.
"Bento isn't focused on SaaS" - Bento was built from day one for SaaS companies and I'd estimate that the total revenue we earn from SaaS companies far exceeds their total revenue from all their customers.
User onboarding sequences, product newsletters, churn prevention, subscription renewals. It's in our DNA.
Sure, we also serve ecommerce and digital product creators, but SaaS is a core segment we dedicate a lot of resources to serving.
"Userlist is easier to use" - Based on what?
They've never used Bento.
Our visual automation builder is designed to be powerful without being overwhelming.
It's a far cleaner UI and workflow builder than what they have.
The Feature Table - They've got this comparison grid implying Bento lacks certain features. The main thing that we miss is company profiles but from our experience no one uses or needs them, and we actually did have it at one point but deprecated it because it was a bad user experience/confusing.
The other features like "In-app messages (web applications)" we leave to our integrations and partners to handle.
GoCustomer's Post
GoCustomer published a post titled "Ditch Bento? These AI-Driven Email Marketing Alternatives Are Changing the Game" that lists six reasons to look beyond Bento.
Here's what's funny about this one: GoCustomer is a cold email outreach tool. It's designed for LinkedIn prospecting and sales outreach. Bento is a marketing automation platform for product, marketing, and transactional email.
They're not even in the same category. It's like a shoe company writing a "Why You Should Ditch Wearing Hats" post.
But let's go through their claims anyway:
"Steep Learning Curve for Non-Technical Users" - Our visual automation builder uses drag-and-drop. You can see your entire workflow visually. We've had customers with zero technical background building sophisticated automations within their first week.
Is there a learning curve? Sure, if you want to use advanced features. But the basics are straightforward. They wouldn't know this because they've never logged in.
"Confusing Automation Features" - Bento has one automation system. You create flows. Flows have triggers, actions, and conditions. That's it.
The fact that we support many types of triggers and actions doesn't make it "confusing and disorganized." It makes it flexible. Our customers love the power. The only confusion here is GoCustomer's understanding of our product.
"Limited Built-in Integrations" - We have SDKs in Ruby, Python, Node, Go, PHP, and more. We have Zapier, Make.com, SureTriggers, and Segment integrations. We have native integrations with Shopify, WordPress, and the tools our customers actually use.
GoCustomer? I checked. Their integrations page lists a handful of options. But sure, we're the ones with "limited" integrations.
"Costly Pricing Structure" - This one is rich. Our products aren't even comparable.
"Absence of a Forever Free Plan" - This one is actually true. We don't have a forever-free plan.
Here's why: Because we don't want spammers on our platform.
"Occasional Bugs and Stability Issues" - We have a 99.9%+ uptime track record. Our infrastructure handles millions of events daily. We have customers who've been with us for years sending at scale without issues.
Do bugs happen? In any software, yes. But "occasional bugs" as a reason to switch platforms? That's reaching.
The best part? GoCustomer lists themselves as the "#1 Author's Pick" alternative to Bento. A cold email prospecting tool as the top alternative to a marketing automation platform.
They've never used Bento. They don't compete with Bento. They just wanted to rank for "Bento alternative" and figured nobody would notice.
We noticed.
Oh and one last thing, they have a testimonial from Dolores. We're not sure that Dolores even exists (we searched our database and users around that time and couldn't find anything), and if that is true then did they write that review?
When You Should Use Bento
We're obviously biased. But here's an honest breakdown:
Bento makes sense if you:
- Care about deliverability and want infrastructure that helps you land in inboxes
- Need product, marketing, and transactional email in one platform
- Want behavioral automation without hiring a marketing ops team
- Like having direct access to the team building the product
Bento is built for:
- SaaS companies running user onboarding, product adoption, and retention campaigns
- Ecommerce businesses that want product-based automation (cart abandonment, browse behavior, post-purchase flows)
- Digital product creators who need more than basic newsletters
- Teams that take email seriously and want tools that match
When You Might Actually Need Something Else
And here's the honest part those other posts skip: Bento isn't for everyone.
You might need a different tool if:
- You're testing email marketing for the first time and just need a landing page and newsletter (if that's the case pick Mailchimp or Convertkit, not the brands we mentioned earlier)
- You need a full CRM with sales pipeline management, not just email (we like Close.com for this)
- Your budget is extremely limited and you need a completely free option (Mailchimp or Klaviyo here)
- You need an all-in-one marketing suite that includes social media, paid ads, and everything else (don't pick a platform like this)
We don't pretend to be everything. We're an email marketing, marketing automation, and transactional email platform. We do those things well. If you need something we don't do, use a tool that does.
The Irony Isn't Lost on Us
Yes, we're aware that this is Bento writing a "Bento alternative" post.
The difference? We've actually used the product. We know what it does. We built it.
If you're going to write about Bento, at least sign up first. Send a few emails. Test the automation builder. Look at the analytics. Then tell people what you think.
Until then, take those competitor comparison posts with a grain of salt.
They're not reviews.
They're SEO plays.
Try It Yourself
You don't need to trust us. You don't need to trust those competitor posts either.
Sign up for Bento. Send some emails. See if the "problems" those posts describe actually exist, or if they were invented by marketing teams who needed content to rank.
We're confident in what we've built. And we'd rather you find out for yourself than take anyone's word for it.
If you found this post while searching for a Bento alternative and you're genuinely evaluating tools, we respect that. Do your research. Test multiple platforms. Just know that not every comparison post is written in good faith. Some of them are just trying to steal traffic from brands they've never used.
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