--- title: "Bird (SparkPost) alternative for transactional emails in Europe" description: "Compare Lettermint vs Bird (formerly MessageBird, with the former SparkPost email service) for transactional email delivery. Lettermint is EU-based with sovereign European infrastructure, Bird runs its email service from a US entity and is leaving the Netherlands." url: "https://lettermint.co/compare/bird-alternative" --- # Lettermint vs Bird Bird, formerly MessageBird, was founded in Amsterdam and still has its legal seat there, but announced in 2025 that it is leaving the Netherlands for hubs in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Singapore and Dubai. Its email service is the former SparkPost, run by Bird.com Inc., a US entity, and offers a US and an EU region. Lettermint is European, with servers and data processing entirely within the EU. Lettermint is privately held and founder-owned, with no external investors or parent company. This shields customers from acquisition-driven roadmap changes and keeps the company under full EU jurisdiction, outside the reach of the US CLOUD Act. ## Product | Feature | Lettermint | Bird | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Transactional emails | Yes | Yes | | Broadcast emails | Yes | Yes | | Inbound emails | Yes | Yes | | Scheduled delivery | Yes (up to 30 days) | Max 35 days | | Batch sending | Yes | Yes | | Attachments | 25MB per email | 20MB per email | | Open & click tracking | Yes | Yes | Scheduled delivery lets you schedule emails to be delivered at a specific date and time. ## Pricing | Feature | Lettermint | Bird | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Free plan | Yes | Yes | | Starts at | €10/mo (10,000 emails) | $15/mo (50,000 emails) | | Startup / Student discount | Yes | No | | Billing in Euro | Yes | No | | Spend limits | Yes | Yes | ## Infrastructure | Feature | Lettermint | Bird | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Shared IPs | Yes | Yes | | Dedicated IPs | Yes | Yes | | Infrastructure | Managed infrastructure | Managed infrastructure | | Own ASN | Yes | Yes | | EU-based infrastructure | Yes | EU region option | ## Developers | Feature | Lettermint | Bird | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | REST API | Yes | Yes | | SMTP relay | Yes | Yes | | Official SDKs | Node, PHP, Laravel, Go, Python, Java | Yes | | Webhooks | Yes | Yes | | CLI | Yes | Yes | | MCP | Yes | Yes | MCP lets AI agents connect to Lettermint via our Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. ## Security & compliance | Feature | Lettermint | Bird | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | DMARC | Yes | Yes | | DKIM | Yes | Yes | | Managed DKIM | Yes | No | | ISO 27001 certified | Yes | Yes | | IP restrictions for API tokens | Yes | Yes | | Single Sign-On (SSO) | All paid plans | Yes | | Trust Center | Yes (trust.lettermint.co) | Yes | Managed DKIM means the provider hosts the DKIM key behind CNAME records and rotates it automatically. Lettermint replaces the key every six months without interrupting sending. A Trust Center is a public page with certifications, policies and continuously monitored security controls. Lettermint's is at https://trust.lettermint.co. Single Sign-On (SSO) lets your team log in through your organization's identity provider over SAML or OIDC. Lettermint includes it on every paid plan, with SCIM provisioning. ## Data sovereignty | Feature | Lettermint | Bird | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | GDPR compliant | Yes | Yes | | Data stays in EU | Yes | Only in EU region | | Public subprocessor list | Yes (lettermint.co/subprocessors) | Yes | | DPA included | Applies automatically (lettermint.co/dpa) | Included in terms | | Outside the US CLOUD Act | Yes | No | | Headquarters | Netherlands | Netherlands, moving to US hubs | | Ownership | Independent, founder-owned | Private, venture-backed | ## Support | Feature | Lettermint | Bird | | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Ticket support | Yes | Yes | | Email support | Yes | No | | Social media support | Yes | Yes | | Discord support | Yes | No | ## Migrating to Lettermint Most migration steps can be automated. A migration can be scripted end to end, or carried out by an AI assistant. - **[Team API](https://lettermint.co/docs/api-reference/team/)**: everything you can do in the dashboard, you can do via the API. Add domains, fetch the DNS records to configure, and trigger verification. Manage projects, webhooks, API tokens and suppressions. Retrieve statistics. Available as a REST API and as v2 SDKs for Node.js, PHP, Python, Go and Java. - **[MCP server](https://lettermint.co/features/mcp.md)**: AI agents get the same capabilities through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. An AI assistant can run the migration for you: add and verify domains, then configure projects and webhooks. - **Suppression import**: upload your current suppression list as a CSV. Known bounces and unsubscribes stay blocked from day one. - **SMTP relay**: sending over SMTP today? Switching means updating your SMTP credentials. No code changes. ## GDPR compliance review: Lettermint vs Bird Bird, the former MessageBird, offers an EU region, but its email service is the former SparkPost, run by Bird.com Inc., a US entity, and the company announced in 2025 that it is leaving the Netherlands for hubs in the US, Singapore and Dubai. That means the CLOUD Act still applies, whichever region you pick. With Lettermint, your email data stays in the EU on sovereign European infrastructure, and the company behind it is European and staying that way. Below are the facts your privacy or legal team will ask for. - **EU data residency**: email data is hosted, stored and processed in the EU on sovereign infrastructure Lettermint owns and operates, as a written commitment in the [DPA](https://lettermint.co/dpa.md). See [European email](https://lettermint.co/european-email.md). - **Data Processing Agreement**: Lettermint is your processor under Article 28 GDPR. The public [DPA](https://lettermint.co/dpa.md) covers security and audit rights and is countersigned on request. - **Subprocessors**: every subprocessor is listed publicly on the [subprocessors page](https://lettermint.co/subprocessors.md), with what it does and where it processes data. Changes are announced 30 days ahead. - **Your data stays yours**: email data is never used for model training, fine-tuning or research, and is processed only on your documented instructions. - **No longer than needed**: Lettermint keeps your data only as long as your account needs it. Close your account and everything is deleted, exactly as the DPA sets out. - **International transfers**: no transfers outside the EEA on Lettermint's initiative. Email to recipients outside the EU is delivered only at your instruction. - **Certification**: [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified](https://lettermint.co/blog/lettermint-iso-27001-certified.md). Security controls are continuously monitored, with live status, policies and certificates in the [Trust Center](https://trust.lettermint.co). - **EU jurisdiction, outside the CLOUD Act**: Lettermint B.V. is incorporated in the Netherlands under EU law, with no US parent company, so the US CLOUD Act does not reach your email data. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Lettermint a good free alternative to Bird for transactional emails? Yes. Lettermint offers a Free plan for [transactional emails](https://lettermint.co/features/transactional-emails) that you can keep using in production for as long as you fit within its limits. ### Can I use Lettermint for both transactional and marketing emails? Yes. Lettermint supports both transactional and marketing emails. Marketing emails are called [Broadcast emails](https://lettermint.co/features/broadcast-emails). You can send order confirmations, password resets, newsletters and promotional campaigns from one account. ### How does Lettermint compare to Bird on deliverability? Lettermint sends from its own infrastructure and its own IP ranges (AS213427), so your sender reputation is not shared with unrelated tenants on a hyperscaler. Transactional and broadcast email run on separate IP pools. Instead of a claim, Lettermint publishes the numbers: the [Time to Inbox page](https://lettermint.co/time-to-inbox-tti.md) shows live measurements of how many seconds an email takes to reach Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud and others. Compare those with what Bird shows you. ### What does Lettermint cost for a small startup or webshop compared to Bird? The Free plan covers 300 emails per month with no credit card, and you can stay on it for as long as you fit within it. Paid plans start at €10 per month for 10,000 emails and scale with your volume. See [pricing](https://lettermint.co/pricing.md) for every tier. Billing is in euros from an EU company, so there is no currency conversion and the invoice works for European bookkeeping and VAT. ### How can I migrate from Bird to Lettermint? Lettermint supports both API and SMTP, just like Bird, so a migration takes four steps: 1. Add your domain and verify it with SPF, DKIM and DMARC. 2. Replace your Bird API token or SMTP credentials with Lettermint ones. 3. Import your suppression list as a CSV, so known bounces and unsubscribes stay blocked from day one. 4. Send a test email and follow its delivery on the [Time to Inbox page](https://lettermint.co/time-to-inbox-tti.md). Or skip the manual work. The [Team API](https://lettermint.co/docs/api-reference/team/) covers every step, so you can script the migration end to end, or let an AI assistant run it for you through the [MCP server](https://lettermint.co/features/mcp.md). The [documentation](https://lettermint.co/docs/) has the details. ### Why is Lettermint a great Europe-based alternative to Bird? Lettermint's entire infrastructure and support are European, which means short delivery paths inside the EU and full compliance with EU regulations like GDPR. In comparison, Bird (formerly MessageBird) was founded in Amsterdam, but announced in 2025 that it is leaving the Netherlands for hubs in the United States, Singapore and Dubai. Its email service, the former SparkPost, is run by Bird.com Inc., a US entity, so the US CLOUD Act applies to it. ### Isn't picking an EU data centre at Bird enough for GDPR? A region setting controls where data is stored, not which law applies. Bird's email service is run by Bird.com Inc., a US entity, and the company is moving its headquarters out of the EU, so the US CLOUD Act reaches it wherever its servers are. Your compliance review still needs extra safeguards for that provider. With Lettermint both are European: the infrastructure is in the EU and the company behind it is a Dutch B.V. under EU law. That is what digital sovereignty means in practice. ### How fast can I start sending with Lettermint? Sign up without a credit card, verify your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, create an API token and send your first email, usually within minutes. The [documentation](https://lettermint.co/docs/) walks through each step. You can send over the REST API, SMTP relay or the official SDKs for Laravel, Node.js, PHP, Python, Go and Java, plus integrations such as WordPress, Zapier and Make. Lettermint starts at €10/mo for 10,000 emails. See [pricing](https://lettermint.co/pricing.md) for details. All data is based on publicly available information as of September 2026. For inaccuracies, contact us at https://lettermint.co/contact.