10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (2023)

You know the expression, "What you see is what you get"?

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (1)

Well, when it comes to email marketing campaigns, that might not always be the case.

Since everyone uses different email providers such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, emails can appear differently for various subscribers.

Sometimes images are blocked, alt text is missing, or fonts won't render. If this happens, you could damage your credibility and lose subscribers. That's why it's important to test your emails before you send them.

In this post, we'll discuss the best free and paid email testing, previewing, and rendering tools you can use to make sure your emails are ready for the eyes of your leads and customers.

Before we get started let's take a moment to review HTML versus plain text emails and previews.

HTML Emails vs. Plain Text Emails

HTML emails code a document so that an HTML reader (e.g. web browser) can read and render information — this allows a page to show multimedia, color, images, and more. Plain text emails don't include any of the multimedia, colors, images, special fonts, etc. that you'd see in an HTML email — it's just plain text.

There are benefits to both HTML and plain text emails and specific use cases in which it's wise to use one option over the other.

(Video) Email Testing and Rendering Previews

No matter which email type you choose, you should preview your emails to make sure they're ready for your audience. This is especially important if you go with an HTML email since it inherently includes multimedia elements, colors, fonts, branded elements, images, and more.

HTML Email Preview

As your HTML emails become more sophisticated and as your email list grows, it's important to preview and test your emails prior to them being sent to recipients. By previewing your messages, you'll ensure your emails are professional, error-free, easy-to-read, and ready for your leads and customers.

An HTML preview allows you to adjust anything necessary prior to the final version being sent to your audience. That way, you can send your messages to the people who matter most — your customers — with complete confidence.

Free Email Preview Tools

  1. HubSpot Email Marketing Tool
  2. SubjectLine.com
  3. MailNinja Email Previewer
  4. Inbox Analyzer
  5. PutsMail

Free Email Testing Tools

It's important to note that the following free email preview tools are also free email testing tools. Meaning, they have the ability to assist with email previews and email testing.

1. HubSpot Email Marketing Tool

Get Started with HubSpot's Email Marketing Software for Free

With HubSpot's Email Marketing Tools, you can create, personalize, and optimize all of your marketing emails without the need for any code or help from designers.

Since this tool is part of your all-in-one HubSpot CRM platform, you'll know the data that you're using to customize your emails is accurate. For instance, personalize emails by referring to the recipient's lifecycle stage, membership status — then schedule your campaign so your customized emails are sent automatically.

Pre-made and customizable email templates as well as the tool's drag-and-drop editor allow you to quickly create and send beautiful and professional emails to your recipient list. Lastly, A/B test different elements of your emails — such as subject lines or the time that you send your emails — to determine what works best for your audience.

2. SubjectLine.com

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (4)

(Video) Litmus Putsmail for HTML Email Preview Testing

Testing the visual design of your emails is important. However, don't forget to preview your actual content as well.

With SubjectLine.com, you can test your subject lines and receive a free rating out of 100. The tool considers the total length, word length, urgency, and more.

Word choice matters in your subject lines and this tool will help you come up with more clickable subjects so your readers are more likely to open.

3. MailNinja Email Previewer

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (5)

MailNinja is a free, easy-to-use, uncluttered email preview tool. With this tool, you can see instant previews of your HTML emails. Additionally, you can double-check your alt text, send test emails, and see how your email will look on different devices.

If you don't trust or want to use a different preview tool than your email marketing software, this is a simple, free option.

4. Inbox Analyzer

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (6)

Inbox Analyzer, another free email preview tool, helps take the pain out of inbox and spam testing your emails.

Send your emails to the most popular inbox providers to see how they appear and if they deliver — this tool will let you know if your email hits the inbox, spam folder, or is undelivered.

Additionally, you'll receive instant reports on your sender scores, reputation alerts, and even blacklists. With this tool, you'll be able to find issues and learn how to resolve them.

5. PutsMail

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (7)

PutsMail is a free email testing tool by Litmus. With PutsMail, you can see how your email will look across 50+ different platforms and devices. This is a great tool if you're just looking for a quick and easy way to preview your emails.

Paid Email Preview Tools

  1. Get Response
  2. Litmus
  3. Stripo
  4. Preview My Email
  5. Email on Acid
(Video) Introducing MailNest: The World's Easiest Email Testing Tool.

1. Get Response

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (8)

Price: $15/mo (Basic), $49/mo (Plus), $99/mo (Professional), request custom pricing (Max)

Get Response is an email marketing software that can help you create content, boost sales, and increase traffic to your site. Preview your emails in more than 25 popular email clients, and determine if and when multimedia elements like images are blocked.

2. Litmus

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (9)

Price: $99/mo (Litmus Basic), $199/mo (Litmus Plus), request custom pricing (Litmus Enterprise)

Litmus is a tool for testing and developing email campaigns. With a paid account, you'll gain access to an email preview testing tool that allows you to see screenshots of your emails across 90+ different apps and devices.

If you have a Litmus account, you can add a Chrome extension to your browser and test your emails without ever leaving your email service provider. With the extension, you can validate your links, images, and tracking. Plus, the extension will instantly run a new checklist with every edit.

3. Stripo

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (10)

Price: Free, $12.50/mo (Business), $40/mo (Agency)

Stripo is an email builder with email testing and a variety of available email service provider (ESP) integrations (including HubSpot, Gmail, Outlook, and Mailchimp). There's a library of custom modules so you can use them across various campaigns.

All of the emails you design with Stripo's HTML editor are responsive so you'll never have to worry about how they render for recipients across different devices. Additionally, after building dynamic AMP emails with Stripo, the tool's code validator checks the email for errors for you.

(Video) How to Use the Inbox Checker Tool to Test and Preview your Emails

4. Preview My Email

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (11)Price: $25/mo (Standard), $45/mo (Business), $160/mo (Professional), $399/mo (Enterprise)

Preview My Email is another email testing solution that can help you improve your performance. With it, you'll get real screenshots of your email across all the popular email providers in one click. Additionally, this tool offers email analytics that can help you understand your email audience better.

5. Email on Acid

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools (12)

Price: $73/mo (The Basics), $112/mo (Premium), $424/mo (Professional), request custom pricing (Enterprise)

Email on Acid is an email preview tool designed to help you display emails properly, across all clients. The email previews are live clients, so you'll see exactly what your subscribers see.

This tool gives you screenshots so you have no questions about what your email will look like on 90 clients and devices. It also tests for poor formatting, broken links, and code problems.

Email on Acid also offers the ability to comment, edit, and review email previews directly in the software for a faster and more efficient testing process.

Start Previewing, Testing, and Rendering Your Emails

Previewing your emails is an important part of email marketing. If people can't see your emails or your credibility is ruined, those emails haven't done their job. Use an email previewing and testing tool to ensure they're perfect for recipients.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

FAQs

What is the tool that we use to test different email platforms? ›

Litmus is a tool for testing and developing email campaigns. With a paid account, you'll gain access to an email preview testing tool that allows you to see screenshots of your emails across 90+ different apps and devices.

What is rendering in email? ›

What is email rendering? Did you know that every email has 15,000 different rendering previews? While email testing is crucial, email rendering verifies that your email will be displayed optimally for the variety of web clients, email clients, and devices that your subscribers may use.

What is litmus testing in email? ›

Litmus is an email testing tool with various email clients such as Mobile clients, Web-based email clients, Outlook, Cross browsers, etc. We can test the emails in Litmus using HTML code. We can also validate the web pages using Litmus.

What is an email preview? ›

The email preview text is the text that displays in the inbox. It shows a brief preview of the email you're about to read. Typically, it simply is the first line of the email.

How do you automate an email test? ›

Let's get started:
  1. Create a free Mailtrap account.
  2. Note your API key from your account page.
  3. Note SMTP details for the provided mailbox.
  4. Create a new project in Visual Studio – I'm using an NUnit test project for my. examples.
  5. Using the System.Net.Mail library, send some basic emails for our testing purposes.
16 Feb 2018

How do I test an email template? ›

Here's what to look out for:
  1. Outdated code. First, take a look through the code of the emails. ...
  2. Dark mode support. One surefire way to know when you last tested your templates is if they're coded for dark mode support. ...
  3. Accessibility changes. ...
  4. Outdated branding. ...
  5. Changes in client support.
26 Jan 2022

How do I get preview mode in Mailchimp? ›

To enter preview mode from the email designer, click the Preview drop-down menu and choose Enter preview mode. In some campaigns, you can also enter preview mode by clicking the preview image in the Content section of the campaign builder.

How many test emails can I send in Mailchimp? ›

Free plan users can send up to 12 test emails per campaign, but no more than 24 total test emails in a 24-hour period. Tests can include up to six addresses at once. Paid users can send up to 70 test emails per campaign, but no more than 200 total test emails in a 24-hour period.

Why do email clients render emails differently? ›

Web-based email clients have an extra layer of complexity because they render differently in different browsers. For example, Gmail functions a little differently depending on whether a subscriber is using Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari.

Why is testing over email clients important? ›

Testing your email before sending it out to a mass amount of recipients is important in ensuring that included images, graphics and links function properly. It also allows you to review your written content again to fix any spelling or grammar errors.

How do I render HTML in Outlook? ›

Outlook.com and the Outlook mobile apps

These clients use Webkit or Webkit-based rendering engines, so they provide good HTML rendering and don't usually break your emails.

What is an alternative to litmus paper? ›

While the litmus paper is quite handy when we need a common acid-base indicator, we can get a better alternative that will produce more accurate results. For instance, one can use the red cabbage juice which changes its colour in reaction to pH from red through blue to greenish-yellow.

Is there a free version of litmus? ›

Litmus pricing

Litmus does not have a free version but does offer a free trial. Litmus paid version starts at USD 99.00/month.

Is PutsMail free? ›

PutsMail is an email testing tool originally developed by Pablo Cantero, a software developer based in São Paulo, Brazil, and later purchased by Litmus in 2014. The vendor describes it as a standalone, free tool for email designers to perform quick tests of their campaigns, and offers email…

How do I Preview emails in Outlook? ›

Always preview messages is turned off by default, but you can turn it on or off at any time. On the View tab, in the Layout group, select Reading Pane, and then select Options. Select or clear the Always preview messages check box.

How do I Preview emails in Outlook without opening them? ›

You can enable and customize preview mode at any time.
  1. Launch Outlook and click on “View” within the ribbon.
  2. Click “Message Preview” to reveal a drop-down menu.
  3. Select “1 Line,” “2 Lines” or “3 Lines” to customize the size of the preview field for your messages.

How do I write in preview? ›

How to Write Attention Grabbing Preview Text
  1. Distill the Most Important Information. When writing the preview text, focus on the most important piece of information. ...
  2. Maintain the Mystery. ...
  3. Remember the Subject Line. ...
  4. Create a Call to Action.
14 May 2019

How do I automate emails in selenium? ›

To begin with, let's import the following packages that we'll need in this project:
  1. org. openqa. selenium. ...
  2. org. openqa. selenium. ...
  3. java. util. List – since the email messages in the Mailtrap platform are contained within an unordered list element, we'll use this Java interface to access them.
  4. java. util. concurrent.
31 Mar 2020

What is Mailosaur net? ›

NET library. · Mailosaur lets you automate email and SMS tests as part of software development and QA. Unlimited test email addresses for all - every account gives users an unlimited number of test email addresses to test with.

How do I automate outlook in Java? ›

Send Outlook emails using Java.
...
Create an Email with HTML Body using Java
  1. Use the MailMessage class to create a new email message.
  2. Set Subject, To, CC, and other properties.
  3. Set email's body using MailMessage. setHtmlBody(string) method.
  4. Save the email message using MailMessage. save() method.
20 May 2020

How do I test an HTML email in Outlook? ›

How do I view the HTML in Outlook? In Microsoft Outlook, double-click to open an email. You'll see an “Actions” menu under the “Message” tab. Click on that menu and select the “Other Actions,” then click on “View Source” to see the HTML code.

Can I use email CSS? ›

The short answer here is yes, you can use CSS in traditional HTML emails.

How do I create a test email in Mailchimp? ›

How to Send a Test Email in Mailchimp - YouTube

How long does it take for a Mailchimp test email to send? ›

It can take up to 24 hours or more for test emails to arrive, even under normal circumstances.

How do you view an email in your browser? ›

What Is the 'View This Email in Your Browser' Feature? This feature is a small piece of hyperlinked text usually found in the header of an email. Also known as a 'mirror link', it allows you to offer an online version of your email to readers who may have trouble viewing HTML messages or have image loading turned off.

How many emails can I send with Mailchimp for free? ›

The Free plan includes up to 500 contacts across all audiences in your account, and up to 2,500 email sends per month. In any 24-hour period, you can send up to 500 emails. Subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts count toward your contact limit.

Why are some people not getting my Mailchimp emails? ›

Typically, when subscribers don't see your email campaign in their inboxes, it's because of spam filters. If your recipients have looked in their spam or junk folders and still don't see your campaign, there are a few other things to investigate.

What marketing cloud tool do you use to send your email message? ›

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SMC) is the enterprise-supported tool for sending mass email communications to both internal and external audiences at the University. This guide shows how to use the Content Builder interface in Email Studio.

Does email render HTML? ›

Client-Rendering Engines

Due to the numerous email clients and devices, your email will get rendered for users in a variety of ways. Email clients use different engines to render HTML emails: Apple Mail, Outlook for Mac, Android Mail and iOS Mail use WebKit.

Do all email clients support HTML? ›

The majority of email clients don't support every type of HTML content you see on the web. Web browsers are able to display scripts, animations, and complex navigation menus, while your typical email inbox isn't built to handle this type of content.

Why is my email displaying in HTML? ›

2) Anti-virus programs will sometimes “break” multi-part email templates up and cause them to display as raw HTML code. This is not a common issue, but to fix this problem you need to change your anti-virus setting so that it accepts multi-part email messages.

How are email marketing campaigns tested? ›

Email Marketing Tests
  1. Test different types of offers in your messages. ...
  2. Analyze the landing page you'll be linking. ...
  3. Leverage audience segmentation tests. ...
  4. Test different newsletter formats. ...
  5. Send newsletters at different times and frequencies. ...
  6. Determine if your sender name or address impacts your email numbers.
30 Jun 2020

Can I send HTML emails from Outlook? ›

Change the message format for all messages you send

On the File tab, choose Options > Mail. Under Compose messages, in the Compose messages in this format list, click HTML, Rich Text, or Plain Text.

Does Outlook support HTML emails? ›

Conversely, Outlook.com, Outlook mobile apps, Outlook for Mac, and the online version of Outlook 365 use WebKit, which is much more reliable for rendering HTML emails. That's why things like animated GIFs and the use of certain media queries work in some versions of Outlook, but not in the Windows desktop versions.

How do I style an email in Outlook? ›

Apply a new Built-In set to an email message
  1. Click in the body of a new message, and then click the Format Text tab.
  2. In the Styles group, click Change Styles.
  3. Point to Style Set, and then click a Built-In set, such as Modern. After you select a Style Set, you can see a list of the styles available within the set.

How accurate is litmus paper? ›

First, it's not an accurate indicator of pH; it does not yield a numerical pH value. Instead, it roughly indicates whether a sample is an acid or a base. Second, the paper can change colors for other reasons besides an acid-base reaction. For example, blue litmus paper turns white in chlorine gas.

What is litmus paper used for? ›

The use of litmus paper, which is red at any pH less than 5 and blue at any pH greater than 8, allows an inspector to determine only whether a solution is acidic or basic. More precise pH determinations can be found by using pH test paper, which compares subtle color differences to a color chart to indicate pH level.

What is litmus paper where is it used? ›

Litmus Paper Test for Acid and Base

A litmus test is used in chemistry to determine if a solution is acidic or basic. During a litmus exam, a special type of paper is dipped in the liquid being examined. The material is tested using litmus paper, which turns red if it's acidic and blue if it's alkaline, or basic.

What is litmus Analytics? ›

Litmus Email Analytics helps you work smarter, not harder, by automatically filtering and displaying reliable opens and engagement data so you can continue to make data-driven decisions with confidence.

What is litmus and email on acid? ›

Litmus is a testing service for web and marketing professionals. It allows people to cross-browser test their websites, and test their email newsletters across a range of email clients and spam filters. Email on Acid and Litmus can be primarily classified as "Email Testing" tools.

What color is litmus? ›

The main use of litmus is to test whether a solution is acidic or basic, as blue litmus paper turns red under acidic conditions, and red litmus paper turns blue under basic or alkaline conditions, with the color change occurring over the pH range 4.5–8.3 at 25 °C (77 °F). Neutral litmus paper is purple.

How do I send HTML content in an email? ›

Let's Insert HTML into Gmail
  1. Grab the code that you saved as an HTML file and open it in your browser of choice. ...
  2. From there, you simply need to copy the HTML as it has rendered in the browser.
  3. Paste that into your new Gmail compose window.
  4. Press send, and then you're all done.
12 Nov 2020

How do you write an HTML email? ›

How to create an HTML email
  1. Open an application where you can type HTML code. ...
  2. Begin your HTML document type. ...
  3. Create the body and main table. ...
  4. Design the email template structure and header. ...
  5. Create the content area. ...
  6. Change the style of the email template footer. ...
  7. Style the text. ...
  8. Test the email.
2 Nov 2021

How do I do a test email in Outlook? ›

All you need to do is click on "New message" on the Outlook website. In the "To" field of the new email, you can type your own email address. In the "Add a subject" field, you can type "Test Email" if you want to. Again, you can type anything you want into the main email body area.

How do you test email deliverability? ›

Email Deliverability
  1. Step 1: Send an email to ping@tools.mxtoolbox.com.
  2. Step 2: Once you have sent that message it will reply. Click the link: "View your full Deliverability Report"

How do I test an email template? ›

Here's what to look out for:
  1. Outdated code. First, take a look through the code of the emails. ...
  2. Dark mode support. One surefire way to know when you last tested your templates is if they're coded for dark mode support. ...
  3. Accessibility changes. ...
  4. Outdated branding. ...
  5. Changes in client support.
26 Jan 2022

How do you send a test email on Gmail? ›

There are two options for testing your dynamic emails in Gmail: Use Gmail's AMP for Email Playground to draft AMP emails, see a live preview, and have your emails sent to your own Gmail account for testing. Navigate to Gmail Settings > General > Dynamic email and click Developer settings.

How do I test an HTML email in Outlook? ›

How do I view the HTML in Outlook? In Microsoft Outlook, double-click to open an email. You'll see an “Actions” menu under the “Message” tab. Click on that menu and select the “Other Actions,” then click on “View Source” to see the HTML code.

How do I test my autodiscover email? ›

Test Autodiscover functionality in Outlook

While Outlook is running, press and hold down the CTRL key, and then right-click the Outlook icon in the system tray or in the notification area in the lower right corner of the screen. From the menu, select Test E-mail AutoConfiguration.

How do I make my email accessible? ›

Here are some top tips to make emails accessible to all:
  1. Subject lines matter. ...
  2. Add structure to your emails with headers. ...
  3. Accessible fonts and formats. ...
  4. Avoid using all capital letters and excessive italics or underlines. ...
  5. Contrasting colours for backgrounds and text. ...
  6. Meaningful link text. ...
  7. Images and alt text.
16 Jun 2022

What is a good mail Tester score? ›

9-8 is a good score, but you should take seriously the hints Mail-Tester gives you and try to improve that. 7-6 is acceptable, but some strictest providers may block some of your emails. You should never send an email scored 5 or below.

What is Folderly? ›

Folderly is an AI-based email deliverability platform for monitoring, spam testing, and maintaining email deliverability by solving any spam issues. Folderly is supported by Belkins.

How do I check spam content in email? ›

Click the Mail menu, then click Spam Folder. Your Spam Folder will open and display a list of any messages designated as spam.

Is PutsMail free? ›

PutsMail is an email testing tool originally developed by Pablo Cantero, a software developer based in São Paulo, Brazil, and later purchased by Litmus in 2014. The vendor describes it as a standalone, free tool for email designers to perform quick tests of their campaigns, and offers email…

Can I use email CSS? ›

The short answer here is yes, you can use CSS in traditional HTML emails.

What is my SMTP server? ›

You can generally find your SMTP email server address in the account or settings section of your mail client. When you send an email, with SMTP host Gmail or AOL, the SMTP server processes your email, decides which server to send the message to, and relays the message to that server.

How do I setup a SMTP server? ›

And here's the standard procedure of SMTP configuration, in four steps:
  1. Select the voice “Account Settings” in your mail client, generally in the “Tools” menu.
  2. Choose the “Outgoing server (SMTP)” voice:
  3. Push the “Add…” button in order to set a new SMTP. A popup window will appear:
  4. Now simply fill the voices as follows:

Can I use Gmail as SMTP server? ›

Use the Gmail SMTP server

If you connect using SSL or TLS, you can send mail to anyone inside or outside of your organization using smtp.gmail.com as your server. This option requires you to authenticate with your Gmail or Google Workspace account and passwords.

Videos

1. Coding Design Systems - ep18 - Design Systems for Emails UI, with Thomas Defossez
(Backlight)
2. Really Good Customer Email Examples | Design Tool Tuesday, Ep48
(vaexperience)
3. Email Testing: Your Key Ingredient to Winning Campaigns
(Workion Media)
4. Diana Lepilkina, What Marketers Must Know About Technical Email Testing
(Yespo - Omnichannel CDP)
5. ✉️ Custom HTML emails with an email expert
(Kevin Powell)
6. React Testing Course for Beginners – Code and Test 3 Apps
(freeCodeCamp.org)
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