Braze vs. MessageGears

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Braze
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Braze is a customer engagement platform that enables relevant and memorable experiences between consumers and the brands they love. With Braze, global brands can ingest and process customer data in real time, orchestrate and optimize contextually relevant, cross-channel marketing campaigns and continuously evolve their customer engagement strategies.N/A
MessageGears
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
MessageGears is a hybrid email marketing service built around deliverability, actionable customer data, and audience segmentation and targeting.N/A
Pricing
BrazeMessageGears
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BrazeMessageGears
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BrazeMessageGears
Features
BrazeMessageGears
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Braze
-
Ratings
MessageGears
3.3
Ratings
83% below category average
WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings1.50 Ratings
Dynamic content00 Ratings3.80 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings2.20 Ratings
A/B testing00 Ratings2.70 Ratings
Mobile optimization00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings3.80 Ratings
List management00 Ratings2.10 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings2.20 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Braze
-
Ratings
MessageGears
1.1
Ratings
150% below category average
Dashboards00 Ratings1.10 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings1.10 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Braze
-
Ratings
MessageGears
3.7
Ratings
73% below category average
URL Validation00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Link Tracking00 Ratings2.80 Ratings
Image Validation00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Inbox Display00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Spelling and Grammar Check00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Spam Testing00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Email Previews00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BrazeMessageGears
Small Businesses
Simplify360
Simplify360
Score 7.8 out of 10
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Dialpad Support
Dialpad Support
Score 9.0 out of 10
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Verint Community
Verint Community
Score 9.9 out of 10
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BrazeMessageGears
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
4.5
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BrazeMessageGears
Likelihood to Recommend
Its really well suited to brands with a mobile app. And from what I can glean from the features my org isn't able to take advantage of, its best suited for: - B2C brands that use social media - ecommerce (i.e. CPG) Otherwise, I am not convinced it is the tool I would recommend for users that do not have a mobile app. You're not getting most of the value from it.
Read full review
Unless you have someone on your team who is an expert in writing SQL queries and APIs, this platform is not for you.
Read full review
Pros
  • Well looked after - Braze itself are always on hand to answer any questions and help us make our work better.
  • Great tool - We use a fair bit of Braze but there
  • are so many exciting features we're slowly incorporating, Braze is always building on what they have and this keeps us top of our game.
  • Fantastic learning - I have advanced quickly in my work in Braze due to their support and learning programs. This has been key for me.
Read full review
  • Solid customer service
  • Inexpensive solution
  • Flexibility in setup
Read full review
Cons
  • Enabling GIF/videos to be directly uploaded on to Braze's platform
  • Easier way of creating canvases; right now it is too complex for someone new who is starting off in the company to understand what things do and where things are
  • Ability to track duplicate user profiles within the entire audience segment
  • Automated deduplicating email addresses/phone numbers in each targeting segment; right now it's done manually after extracting csv files
Read full review
  • The platform is extremely literal. Every possible scenario (included unsubscribes) must be written into every audience query.
  • Messy user interface
  • Email development is overly complicated.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
We are on a mission for an omnichannel experience for our customers and are already making good progress with Braze able to fully support and optimise this
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
It is an easy-to-understand platform, thanks to its design and accessibility. You can, for example, easily find any users and their data, check exact volumes of segments, follow the history of messages sent, and create reports. We can connect Braze with other platforms for analysis or email design (Snowflake, Hightouch, Stripo...).
Read full review
Our situation is unique so I believe we are working on a semi-outdated UI which needs a tune up / version upgrade. Similarly, our custom connection means that we do not have access to the full feature set so I've never experienced MessageGears' best functionality
Read full review
Support Rating
Very responsive and helpful on simple questions, but not great other than that. They do not have a way for the customer/user to escalate a ticket. You have to contact your rep and in some cases, they don't respond within 24 hours so you have no idea if they have escalated it. There is no phone number for an urgent issue - you have to rely on email
Read full review
MessageGears support is always quick to respond when we have an issue, which is rare. Gail has been our main rep and she has been great. We don't have many issues so luckily, we don't need to lean on their customer support team much. That said, it would be beneficial to hear from upper management more.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Braze has its own strengths and weaknesses compared to Bloomreach and Hubspot. Personally I prefer Bloomreach for lifecycle journey and orchestration however I've felt integration and scaling to be more straightforward with Braze. Other platforms have been reviewed but for value for money at scale and quality of platform, Braze came out as the chosen one.
Read full review
Bronto is a much better email service provider, though our choice to use MessageGears is based on our unique database situation, our partnership with them, and our deal structure. The automation and functionality within Bronto is superior, but it also comes with a hefty price tag; MessageGears provides the scale we need
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • We saved a couple of million by switching from Salesforce to Braze.
  • We increased our engagement for a limited-time promo by 33% by simply running a 4-variant subject line test.
  • We managed to reduce our unsubscribe volume by 18% by excluding dormant users.
Read full review
  • Sending more email!
  • Onboarding handoff was a little rough
  • Great control on who we are sending to
  • Dynamic content is very easy!
Read full review
ScreenShots