Ongage

What Ongage is

Ongage is an email marketing platform built for high-volume senders. Its FAQ describes it as a platform for "advanced email marketers, who need to support and run large email marketing operations", equipped with its own SMTP relay, email validation, automation and an advanced front end, and used to manage, send, analyze and optimize high-volume campaigns. The homepage puts it more simply: a platform that "helps your business to personalize engagements and drive conversions through data."

What sets it apart is where the mail goes out. A sender can use the built-in Ongage SMTP, connect a cloud relay or ESP it already pays for, or plug in its own on-premise MTA, and then run campaigns, segmentation, automation and reporting on top from one dashboard. The homepage says a customer can send from several SMTPs or just one. SMS runs through the same interface, with SMS vendors connected the same way as email relays. The FAQ sums up the goal as decisions "based on data" that provide "email marketing peace of mind."

Sending through your relay of choice

The product page says Ongage sends through "over 15 SMTP relays and MTAs, including top-tier vendors Amazon SES, Dyn, SparkPost, Mailgun, and SendGrid", and the FAQ, counting differently, says it integrates with "over 20 different SMTP relays, including Amazon SES, SparkPost, PowerMTA, and more." The pricing FAQ adds SocketLabs to the partner list and names PowerMTA as an example of an on-premise MTA. The integrations page lists connectors in three groups: SMTP relays and ESPs, on-premise MTAs, and SMS vendors. Its FAQ says that because the integrations are built in, connecting a vendor takes minutes, that the support team handles the configuration for customers without the technical background, and that a vendor missing from the list can be requested.

Ongage's own relay, Ongage SMTP, is offered as a module ("Land in more inboxes with our very own Ongage SMTP"), alongside email validation to keep lists clean, a deliverability service with a team of experts, and automation rules that let trigger events change journeys in real time. Each of these is quoted on request from the pricing page.

The FAQ also says Ongage can be configured to run tests and pilots without interrupting a customer's production environment, which matters for a team moving live volume off another system.

Campaigns, segmentation and automation

The campaign side is aimed at both developers and non-developers, who can create custom email templates in the template designer, set up real-time A/B tests and generate reports. Segmentation is the feature the site dwells on most: it lets a sender "slice and dice contact behavior with up to 150 data points" to build micro-segments, and the plans include data and behavioral segmentation. Personalization covers both emails and SMS messages, and a dynamic content feed can pull in XML, HTML or RSS content.

Automation is built around journeys. The product page promises "real-time journeys for real-life customers" planned on contacts' actions and data points, and the plans include automated drip campaigns. Reporting spans campaign analytics, geo and device stats, and a real-time A/B test winner, and a mail tester and Litmus (optional, at additional cost) are there for checking messages before a send. Ongage also lists an AI Analytics module among its products.

API, data and security

The FAQ says the Ongage interface is written completely on top of the Ongage API, so "anything you can do in the UI you can do with the API and more." It is a JSON REST API, used to automate tasks such as adding new leads to lists or updating list fields for real-time, personalized messaging, and the homepage pitches it as an "Email API multi-pass" to sync a CRM, CDP or data warehouse with Ongage. The site links an API FAQ and manuals for developers.

On security, every plan includes two-factor authentication, and the homepage presents Hotmark, which it calls an EDR solution focused on email lists and customer data: honeypots that let Ongage users detect insider and outsider threats in real time. The FAQ describes a strict anti-spam policy, an internal spam warning system, and a ban for spammers that cuts them off from every ESP and SMTP relay connected to Ongage.

Plans and prices

The pricing page lists four plans, with volume counted as emails or SMS per month:

• Starter, $399, up to 1m emails/SMS per month: 10,000,000 contacts, 1 SMTP relay or SMS vendor, 2 users/roles, 2 lists/databases/subaccounts, 25 fields, 3 sub accounts in the same vendor.
• Basic, $949, up to 5m per month: 20,000,000 contacts, 3 relays or SMS vendors, 4 users, 10 lists, 50 fields, 7 sub accounts, 50 automated drip campaigns.
• Premium, $1,499, up to 7m per month: 40,000,000 contacts, 5 relays or SMS vendors, 8 users, 15 lists, 100 fields, 12 sub accounts, 100 automated drip campaigns.
• Ultimate, a custom high-volume plan quoted on request: 100,000,000 contacts, 5 relays or SMS vendors, 12 users, 20 lists, 150 fields, 12 sub accounts, 100 automated drip campaigns.

Each plan card also lists the template designer, data and behavioral segmentation, analytics, two-factor authentication, the mail tester, 24/7 support, advanced behavioral features, A/B testing with a real-time winner, automated IP warming, a customer success manager, API access, on-premise MTA connection, third-party integrations, geo and device stats, the dynamic content feed and premium consulting. The FAQ confirms that "An Ongage monthly subscription starts at $399 for sending 1M emails."

There is a free 14-day trial. The FAQ says a credit card is needed to complete setup and start it, but nothing is charged until the customer is onboarded and the trial ends, and all settings and statistics carry over into the monthly subscription. All plans include live training, consultancy and onboarding help, and setup is described as "relatively fast, no development required."

Track record

The homepage says Ongage is a G2 high performer in product and customer satisfaction. Its case studies include TN Marketing, whose VP of Technology says multi-ESP support was the deciding feature and whose case figures show +100m emails sent per month, plus Draivi Media, MyJobHelper, 322 Media and FanFinders. Harold Gross of CreateYourCruise writes that he has been with Ongage "for four years now and haven't even explored half of it", and praises "Best integration with backend delivery." The free Email Deliverability Handbook, downloadable from the site, covers what influences deliverability with step-by-step workflows.

Who it suits

Ongage fits senders whose volume is counted in millions, and marketing teams that already have relay contracts or run PowerMTA and want a full campaign front end over them. The multi-relay setup suits a team that wants to spread sending across vendors or keep a relay it has already negotiated, and the API suits a data team that wants its CRM or warehouse to drive segments. A small business sending a monthly newsletter is not the audience: the entry plan starts at $399 and covers up to 1m emails or SMS a month.