# Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) — Transactional Email

Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) by Bird B.V. holds a panel rating of 3/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-11-01. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Bird B.V. (https://bird.com/email-api)
- Category: [Transactional Email](https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/bird-email-api
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/bird-email-api/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/bird-email-api/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-06 · evaluated 2026-11-01 · oldest source captured 2026-11-01

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Bird B.V.
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S7]

## The panel's verdict

Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) is a transactional email service from Bird B.V. of Amsterdam, and across the bench its highest scores land on the sending API and its lowest on reliability and accounts. The sending API sits at 7-8, on a documented REST endpoint and SMTP relay, idempotency keys, a sandbox simulating deliveries, bounces and spam complaints, inbound mail parsed to a webhook, and SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go and PHP. Reliability and accounts sits at 4-5, where we found no public information on an uptime SLA, service credits, incident history or support response times. Data and security holds a flat 7, while deliverability, observability and pricing transparency sit at 6-7. Sovereignty sits at 5-6, where the recurring caution is the subprocessor list: it gives the cloud email sending provider's locations as Ireland (optional), USA, with no public information on which region applies when the customer makes no selection, even though regional EU API and SMTP hosts exist. No criterion spread the judges by more than a point, and weighted totals range from 5.8 to 6.6.

**Speaks for it:**
- Sending API scores cluster at 7-8 on a documented REST endpoint, an SMTP relay, idempotency keys and a mail sandbox simulating bounces and spam complaints
- Domain set-up generates the exact DKIM, return-path and DMARC records and requires DMARC before a domain may send
- Webhooks follow the Standard Webhooks specification with HMAC-SHA256 signatures and a published retry schedule of eight attempts over roughly 27.5 hours
- Retention is published per data class, with email content capped at 72 hours and message logs kept 30 days on every plan
- All four plan prices and per-1,000-email rates are public, with unused balance carrying forward

**Held against it:**
- Reliability and accounts scores cluster at 4-5, with no public information on an uptime SLA, service credits, incident history or support response times
- The subprocessor list gives the cloud email sending provider's locations as Ireland (optional), USA, and we found no public information on which region applies when the customer makes no selection
- The captured pages give different figures for the ISO 27001 status
- Dedicated IP add-ons appear on the pricing page only as maximum counts per plan, without a price
- SMTP sends the exact submitted MIME rather than rendering stored templates, so the two channels are not at feature parity

**Best for:**
- You send transactional mail such as order confirmations and password resets and want a documented REST API with idempotency keys and SDKs in TypeScript, Python, Go or PHP
- You need per-message tracing in your own systems, with per-recipient event timelines, exact bounce reasons and signed webhooks
- You are moving an existing application and can point Nodemailer, Rails, Django or Laravel at the SMTP relay by swapping credentials

**Avoid if:**
- You need an uptime SLA or service credits before trusting a pipeline where minutes of downtime count, since reliability and accounts is the lowest-scored criterion at 4-5
- You must evidence the whole sending chain as EU-resident, as the subprocessor list gives cloud email sending locations as Ireland (optional), USA, and we found no public information on which region applies when the customer makes no selection
- Your budget depends on dedicated IPs, which appear on the pricing page only as maximum counts per plan without a price

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The SaaS Developer | The Platform Engineer | The Shop Operator | The Data Protection Officer | The Agency Lead | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sending API, SMTP & developer experience | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Deliverability & sender reputation | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 |
| Message logs, events & webhooks | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 |
| Message data, retention & security | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Reliability, accounts & support | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **3.5/5** | **3/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3/5** |

### The judges

- **The SaaS Developer** (v1.0): Backend developer at a twelve-person B2B SaaS in Hamburg, built on Laravel, that sends sign-up confirmations, password resets, invoices and weekly digests to 40,000 users. Has replaced the mail driver once already and does not want to again. Wants an official driver for the framework, templates with variables, a test mode that never reaches a real inbox, signed webhooks for bounces, and a log that answers "did this user get the reset mail?" without opening a ticket.
- **The Platform Engineer** (v1.0): Platform engineer at a fintech in Frankfurt whose customers sign in with a one-time code sent by email, so a delay of three minutes is an outage. Is on call for it. Reads the status page history before the feature list, wants the SLA in writing with credits, mail queued and retried during an incident, delivery latency per mailbox provider, alerts on bounce spikes, and scoped API keys that can be rotated without a deploy.
- **The Shop Operator** (v1.0): Runs a Shopware shop for kitchen equipment in Germany and Austria with 900 orders a week. Order confirmations, invoices and shipping notices went out through the hosting provider's mail server until a customer found theirs in spam and the support inbox filled up. Wants guided SPF and DKIM set-up a non-specialist can follow, a plugin for the shop, order mail kept apart from the newsletter, and someone to ask when Gmail starts refusing.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): In-house data protection officer at a health software company whose appointment reminders and lab-result notices carry patients' names. Treats the sending service as a processor like any other. Reads the DPA, the subprocessor list and the retention section first: whether message bodies are stored and for how long, whether open tracking can be turned off, which entity signs, and whether the EU region covers the logs as well as the mail.
- **The Agency Lead** (v1.0): Technical lead at a web agency in Cologne that builds and runs thirty client applications, from a booking portal to a membership site, each sending its own mail from the client's domain. Wants one account with a sub-account, keys and limits per client, domains verified by API, roles so a client can see their own logs and nothing else, and a price per client that can be written into a maintenance contract.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "99% deliverability" with no method behind it, "dedicated IPs" that shared a pool with bulk senders, "EU hosting" that covered the API endpoint but not the logs, and seven days of log retention discovered during an incident on day eight. Reads that a vendor is "trusted by thousands of developers" and asks how bounces are suppressed, what is stored per message, which entity signs the DPA — and what moving away would cost.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Background checks: all employees · annual [S20]
- Breach notification: without undue delay · yes [S10]
- CCPA: yes · no [S10]
- Disclosure request policy: yes · yes [S10]
- DPA role: processor [S10]
- DPA subprocessors: Review our Data Processing Agreement, privacy policy, and published subprocessor list to evaluate how personal data and message content are processed. [S12]
- Dpf certified: yes · yes · yes [S9]
- Encryption: yes · yes · yes [S10]
- Insurance: yes [S20]
- ISO 27001: yes · yes [S9]
- ISO 27001: yes [S12]
- ISO 27001 audit: yes · at vendor discretion [S10]
- ISO 27001 certified: yes · yes [S10]
- ISO 27001 status: in process · no [S20]
- No AI training: no [S9]
- No sale of data: no [S9]
- Page archived: yes [S20]
- Penetration testing: regular [S10]
- Penetration testing: third party · annual [S20]
- Privacy shield: yes · yes [S20]
- Scc modules: 2 · 3 [S10]
- Security officer: VP of Compliance and IT Security [S20]
- Security overview: MessageBird Security Overview · yes [S10]
- Security program: yes [S8]
- Security training: quarterly · annual [S20]
- SOC 2 type2: yes · Request SOC 2 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 reports in the Trust Center and verify the covered platforms, systems, and validity dates for your review. [S12]
- Special categories restricted: written agreement e.g. HIPAA BAA · no [S9]

**Data**
- Deletion return: yes · yes [S10]
- Do not track: no [S9]
- Financial retention: 5 · 10 [S9]
- Google analytics consent mode: yes · yes [S9]
- Longer retention jurisdictions: 2 [S9]
- Marketing sales retention: 12 [S9]
- Privacy dashboard: yes [S9]
- Recipient email selling: no [S20]
- Request processing time: 2 · 1 [S9]
- Retention 30 days: received emails · parsed bodies · attachments · 30 [S13]
- Retention email: 72 [S10]
- Retention sms voice: 6 · SMS · Voice [S10]
- Retention video: 30 [S10]
- Sensitive data: yes · yes [S10]
- Telecom retention: 6 [S9]

**Hosting**
- Provider: Amazon Web Services (AWS) [S20]

**Integrations**
- API auth: Bearer token [S18]
- API channels: Email · SMS · WhatsApp · Apple Messages · Voice · Realtime · eSIM · Verify [S18]
- API endpoint: POST /v1/email/messages [S2]
- Developer tools: Documentation · API reference · MCP server · CLI · AI tools [S21]
- Idempotency: yes · yes [S14]
- Inbound email: yes [S4]
- Low code tools: Bird can be used from low-code tools like n8n or Zapier [S22]
- Mail sandbox: yes [S7]
- Mcp: yes · Claude · ChatGPT and Codex · Cursor · GitHub Copilot · Gemini · v0 · Bolt · Lovable · Replit · etc. [S3]
- Regions: API reference includes a Regions concept section [S14]
- Reserved rights: yes [S8]
- Sdk cli: yes · yes [S14]
- Sdks cli mcp: yes [S7]
- Smtp auth: SMTP client authenticates with an API key; one config per key [S14]
- Smtp category options: blocks on all suppression reasons · allows delivery through complaint and unsubscribe suppressions · marketing · transactional [S14]
- Smtp config endpoint: Returns the SMTP send-option config stored for the given API key [S14]
- Smtp default behavior: organization default · transactional · yes · yes [S14]
- Smtp ip pool: yes · ipp_shared · yes [S14]
- Smtp relay: yes [S4]
- Smtp tags: structured {name, value} labels applied to every SMTP message, used for statistics filtering [S14]
- Smtp tracking: yes · yes [S14]
- Subprocessor notifications: yes [S9]
- Webhook endpoints: 3 · 25 · 10 · 3 [S7]
- Webhooks: yes [S7]

**Legal**
- Biometric controller role: controller [S9]
- Complaint authority: Netherlands DPA · local EU authority · authority where infringement occurred [S9]
- Disclosure policy: yes [S8]
- Disclosure policy: yes · yes [S9]
- Doc version: 2018-04-02 · 1.0 [S20]
- DPA incorporated: yes [S8]
- DPA last updated: 21 November 2024 [S10]
- Last updated: 31 August 2026 [S9]
- Ownership customer data: yes [S8]
- Ownership provider data: yes [S8]
- Partner sales agreement precedence: yes [S8]
- Publicity rights: yes [S8]
- Registration: Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets [S10]
- Regulated telecom provider: accountability claim tied to Dutch ACM registration [S10]
- Resale prohibited: yes [S8]
- Terms last updated: 2024-11-21 [S8]
- Terms reference netherlands: privacy[at]bird.com subject 'Dispute', then Terms procedures [S9]

**Pricing**
- Addons billing: yes [S8]
- Balance shared: yes [S7]
- Credit limit invoicing: yes [S8]
- Deposit model: deposit_becomes_spendable_balance · yes [S7]
- Estimate caveat: yes · yes [S7]
- Fees default currency: EUR [S8]
- Fees non refundable: no [S8]
- Free limit sending stops: yes [S7]
- Free plan allowance: Email Free · daily · monthly [S6]
- Free price: 0 · month · 1000 [S7]
- Growth price: 250 · 555K [S7]
- Invoice payment terms days: 15 [S8]
- Late fee: 1.5 [S8]
- Overage fees: yes [S8]
- Paid plan billing: wallet · per 1000 emails [S6]
- Payment dispute window days: 15 [S8]
- Per 1000 emails: USD per 1,000 emails · 0.35 · 0.45 · 0.4 [S7]
- Per recipient metering: per_recipient [S6]
- Prepaid automatic topup: yes [S8]
- Prepaid balance expiry: 12 [S8]
- Prepaid non refundable: no [S8]
- Quotations non binding: yes [S8]
- Scale price: 1000 · 2.85M [S7]
- Startup price: 15 · 37.5K [S7]
- Surcharges exclusive: yes [S8]
- Taxes exclusive: yes [S8]

**Product**
- 24sessions status: operational [S21]
- Abandoned cart: yes [S22]
- Abuse team: yes [S20]
- AI agent summarize: yes [S13]
- AI google workspace: no [S9]
- AI no training on customer data: no [S9]
- AI spam filter default: yes · yes [S9]
- Analytics: yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Analytics: dashboard · stats API · acceptance rates · bounce categories · spam complaints · opens · clicks · mailbox provider · sending domain · IP pool [S5]
- API and cli: yes · yes [S5]
- API compatibility: no [S5]
- API dns records: DNS records to publish available via API field dns_records [S15]
- API endpoints: POST · /v1/email/messages [S1]
- API key scoping: API keys scoped per channel (Email, SMS, WhatsApp) with Read/Write permissions [S2]
- At least once: webhook-id · at-least-once [S17]
- Attachments limit: 20 · 20 · 15 [S6]
- Audit log captured events: api_keys · sending_domains · webhooks · workspace_and_organization · team · security_events · billing_actions [S19]
- Audit log description: Chronological, read-only change history for the organization [S19]
- Audit log entry fields: actor · action · timestamp · target_resource · source_ip · client · request_id · no [S19]
- Audit log excludes message traffic: no [S19]
- Audit log immutability: no [S19]
- Audit log location: Platform tools > Logs > Audit [S19]
- Audit log read permissions: workspace_admins · analysts · organization_owners · developers [S19]
- Authentication: yes · yes [S20]
- Automatic bounce suppression: yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Batch API limits: 5/min · 100–1,000/min · 30/min · 10/min [S7]

**Subprocessors**
- All platforms affiliates: Bird Affiliates · Performance of the Agreement, support services · The Netherlands · UK · USA [S11]
- All platforms anthropic: Anthropic Ireland Ltd. · Customer Support AI LLM Service Provider · yes · USA [S11]
- Biometric not trained or sold: no · no [S9]
- Biometric retention: account duration + 5 years, or 7 years if financial administration · 30 [S9]
- Bird platform aws: Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL · Cloud Hosting Service Provider · Bird platform · As determined by customer [S11]
- Bird platform plain: Not Just Tickets Ltd (Plain) · Internal Customer Support Ticketing System · yes · Bird platform · UK [S11]
- Change notifications: yes [S11]
- Connectivity voice gcp: Voice · Connectivity platform · The Netherlands · Belgium · Singapore · UK · USA [S11]
- Engagement aws locations: Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL · Engagement Platform · Ireland · India · USA [S11]
- Engagement aws voice extended: Voice · Engagement Platform · Germany · Singapore · Australia · Brazil · USA [S11]
- Engagement rcs google jibe: Google Ireland Limited / Jibe Mobile Ltd. · Engagement Platform · EU [S11]
- List updated: 2026-09-04 [S11]
- Microsoft clarity: Microsoft Clarity · behavioral analytics, heatmaps, session replay [S9]
- Numbers azure: Microsoft Azure · Numbers · The Netherlands · Hong Kong · USA [S11]
- Persona identity verification: Persona Identities, Inc. · identity verification including biometric comparison [S9]
- Psps: Airwallex · Stripe · Braintree · Zuora · Maxio · Adyen [S9]
- Pusher aws: Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL · Omnichannel (Pusher) · Ireland · Australia · Brazil · Japan · Singapore · South Korea · India · UK · USA [S11]
- Pusher sentry postmark: Omnichannel (Pusher) · Sentry · Error monitoring · USA · Postmark · Dashboard - Log management and Analysis software · USA [S11]
- Rcs google: Google Ireland Limited · RCS · Bird platform · EU [S11]
- Rcs vibes: US & CAN only · Vibes Media, LLC · RCS · Bird platform · USA [S11]
- Role: Bird acts as processor; listed entities act as subprocessors [S11]
- Sms clickhouse: ClickHouse Inc. · SMS · Analytics Database Service Provider · Bird platform / Connectivity platform · Ireland [S11]
- Sms google cloud: Google Cloud EMEA Limited · SMS · Bird platform / Connectivity platform · The Netherlands · Belgium [S11]
- Video24 optional google twilio: Omnichannel (24sessions) · Google Cloud EMEA Limited · Speech to text conversion · Global · Twilio · Recorded dial-in, SMS, Phone number verification · Global [S11]
- Video24 subprocessors: Omnichannel (24sessions) · Digital Ocean · Turn Server provider · The Netherlands · Flowmailer · Email Service Provider · The Netherlands · Luzmo · In-app dashboard provider · Ireland [S11]
- Video livekit: LiveKit Inc. · Conduit processing of video and audio streams · yes · Global (close-to-customer, carrier peering and geo-spreading) [S11]

**Support**
- Docs: yes [S22]
- Docs and devtools: Documentation · API reference · MCP server · CLI · AI tools · Integrations · Developer tools [S13]
- Help resources: yes [S21]
- Oauth API key docs: yes [S12]
- Questionnaire frequency: 1 [S10]
- Unsubscribe: support[at]bird.com [S9]

222 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/bird-email-api

## Questions

### Is Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) as EU-Made.

### Where does Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### Does Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) have a free plan?

Yes. Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 1 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/14111).

### What are the best alternatives to Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost)?

As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Lettermint (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/lettermint), [Postmark (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/postmark) and [Mailjet Email API (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/mailjet-email-api) highest among the other 15 Transactional Email products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Lettermint](https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/lettermint) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/bird-email-api/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 17 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 12 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 6 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 subprocessors fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage (email API): https://bird.com/email-api (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S2] Features page (transactional email): https://bird.com/email-api/features/transactional-email (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S3] Features page (SMTP relay): https://bird.com/email-api/features/smtp (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S4] Features page (deliverability): https://bird.com/email-api/features/deliverability (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S5] Features page (SparkPost): https://bird.com/email-api/features/sparkpost (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S6] API documentation (sending email): https://bird.com/docs/guides/email/sending-email (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S7] Pricing page: https://bird.com/pricing/email (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S8] Terms of service: https://bird.com/legal/terms (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S9] Privacy policy: https://bird.com/legal/privacy (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S10] Data processing agreement (dpa): https://bird.com/legal/dpa (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S11] Subprocessor list: https://bird.com/legal/subprocessors (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S12] Security / trust page: https://bird.com/enterprise/security (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S13] Sending API, SMTP & developer experience — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/email-api/features/inbound (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S14] Sending API, SMTP & developer experience — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/docs/api/reference/get-email-smtp-config (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S15] Deliverability & sender reputation — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/docs/guides/email/dkim-spf-dmarc (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S16] Deliverability & sender reputation — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/docs/knowledge-base/deliverability/reputation-monitoring (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S17] Message logs, events & webhooks — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/docs/guides/webhooks (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S18] Message logs, events & webhooks — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/docs/api/reference/list-email-message-events (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S19] Message data, retention & security — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/docs/knowledge-base/account-security/audit-log (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S20] Message data, retention & security — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/legal/sparkpost-security (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S21] Reliability, accounts & support — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/status (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S22] Reliability, accounts & support — found from sitemap: https://bird.com/integrations/shopify (checked 2026-11-01)

---

Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Bird Email API (formerly SparkPost) — Transactional Email", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-06. https://whats-best.ai/software/transactional-email/bird-email-api

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1272?target=page