What are the best deliverability APIs to use?

Key findings

• Comprehensive checks: The best APIs cover a wide range of deliverability aspects, including blocklist monitoring, DNS record validation, and DMARC compliance.
• Integration capabilities: APIs allow for seamless integration into existing sending platforms, enabling automated checks and real-time alerts without manual intervention.
• Data access: Access to granular data on email performance, such as bounce rates, spam complaints, and authentication failures, is critical for proactive deliverability management. Mailgun's guide highlights key features of email APIs, including scalability, developer experience, and performance, which contribute to better deliverability outcomes. You can explore their insights at Mailgun's email API guide.
• Proactive monitoring: Automated monitoring through APIs helps identify and address deliverability issues quickly, preventing larger problems and maintaining sender reputation.

Key considerations

• Specific needs: Determine what specific deliverability functions you need, such as all-round email deliverability tracking, email validation, or DMARC reporting.
• API documentation and support: Look for APIs with clear documentation, easy-to-use SDKs, and responsive support.
• Scalability and reliability: Ensure the API can handle your sending volume and provides consistent, accurate data.
• Cost and pricing model: Evaluate the pricing structure to ensure it aligns with your budget and usage patterns.
• Features offered: Beyond basic monitoring, consider features like real-time alerts, historical data, and integration with other deliverability tools. Many deliverability issues can be prevented by choosing the right tools, as discussed in our article, Email Deliverability Issues: Getting Messages to Inbox.

Key opinions

• Ease of use: Marketers prefer APIs that are straightforward to implement and provide easily digestible information, allowing them to focus on campaigns rather than complex technical details.
• Actionable insights: The ability to get clear, actionable recommendations from API data is highly valued. This helps in quickly diagnosing and resolving deliverability issues.
• Reputation monitoring: Monitoring IP and domain reputation, along with blocklist status, is paramount for marketers to ensure their campaigns land in the inbox.
• Cost-effectiveness: Many marketers seek APIs that offer a good balance of features and affordability, especially for smaller businesses or those with high sending volumes.

Key considerations

• API purpose: Clarify if the API is for monitoring deliverability or for general email sending, as this impacts the feature set.
• Integration complexity: Assess the developer resources required to integrate the API into your existing systems. Simpler integrations are often preferred.
• Reporting clarity: Ensure the API provides clear, concise reports that marketers can easily understand and act upon to improve why emails go to spam.
• Specific features: Prioritize APIs that offer features relevant to marketer needs, such as real-time feedback loops, deliverability analytics, and bounce processing.

Key opinions

• Data depth: Experts value APIs that offer detailed data on delivery status, bounces, spam complaints, and authentication results like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• Real-time monitoring: The capacity for real-time monitoring and alerts for critical events, such as getting listed on a real-time blacklist, is considered essential.
• Diagnostic tools: APIs that provide diagnostic capabilities to pinpoint the root cause of deliverability issues are highly favored.
• Scalability and reliability: Experts stress the importance of an API's ability to handle large volumes of data consistently and accurately, as highlighted by Twilio's focus on deliverability at scale in their discussion of top transactional email services.

Key considerations

• API scope: Consider if the API provides a full suite of deliverability tools or specializes in a niche, such as auditing email performance.
• Integration flexibility: The API should offer flexibility to integrate with custom dashboards and reporting systems.
• Authentication support: Ensure the API supports comprehensive reporting and insights for DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to help improve email security and deliverability.
• Vendor reputation: Choose providers with a strong track record in email deliverability and responsive technical support.

Key findings

• Authentication standards: Documentation consistently emphasizes the importance of correctly implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to ensure email authenticity and deliverability.
• Rate limits and quotas: APIs often have specific rate limits and quotas for requests, which must be managed to avoid service interruptions or degraded performance.
• Error handling: Robust error handling mechanisms are detailed, guiding developers on how to interpret and respond to API errors for reliable operation.
• Security best practices: Documentation often includes recommendations for securing API keys and ensuring data privacy during interactions.

Key considerations

• Compliance: Ensure your implementation adheres to all documented standards and best practices to maximize deliverability and avoid getting blacklisted.
• API versioning: Be aware of API versioning and deprecation schedules to ensure continued compatibility with your systems.
• Monitoring and logging: Implement comprehensive monitoring and logging of API calls to track usage, identify issues, and troubleshoot effectively.
• Payload structure: Understand the required payload structures for requests and responses to ensure accurate data exchange. Mailgun's documentation emphasizes their platform's focus on scalability, developer experience, and top-tier performance as critical for any email API service. You can learn more about these aspects from Mailgun's API guide.