Selva Mail vs
Customer.io
Billed per profile, on a high-watermark basis.
What Customer.io does well
Genuinely powerful behavioral messaging. The data model, event-driven workflows and multi-channel orchestration are a step beyond ordinary marketing tools, and technical teams tend to like working in it.
Where the pricing model hurts
High-watermark billing means one import spike bills you at the peak for the whole month, and profile-based pricing scales with your database rather than with what you send.
High-watermark billing — one spike bills you all month.
What it costs at 5k, 10k and 25k
Assumes four emails per contact per month. Selva Mail is a one-time $497 license, then AWS bills you for what you actually send.
| Contacts | Customer.io | Selva Mail (AWS) | Annual saving | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | $100/mo | ≈$2/mo | $1,176 | ~5.1 months |
| 10,000 | $150/mo | ≈$5/mo | $1,740 | ~3.4 months |
| 25,000 | $300/mo | ≈$12/mo | $3,456 | ~7 weeks |
Public list prices, 2026. Where a competitor is free software, the saving column is blank on purpose — the cost you are comparing is your own server and your own hours, not a license fee.
Selva Mail costs $497 once, then AWS at cost — about $6/mo at 50,000 emails. It is priced per email sent, not per contact, so it does not grow with your list.
Migrating from Customer.io
Export people and attributes via their API or CSV. Workflows translate conceptually onto Selva Mail automations — 12 triggers and 17 step types — but complex multi-channel journeys will need rethinking.
Stop paying for the same contacts
every month.
$497 once. Runs on your infrastructure, sends through your own AWS SES account. Launch buyers get agency rights permanently — unlimited client workspaces. First 100 licenses.