HTML email editor

An HTML email editor lets you design an email visually and produces the code for you. That code has to follow rules that have little to do with web pages: fixed widths, nested tables, styles written on every element. A good editor hides those rules without hiding the result: what you see in the canvas is what the inbox receives.

In MailBuildr you build an email from blocks: headings, paragraphs, images, buttons, dividers, columns, social icons and more. Drag a block where you want it, click it to edit its content and style, and the preview updates immediately. You can also start from a template or describe the email in a sentence and let the AI draft a first version, which you then refine block by block. It works as a drag and drop email builder and as an email template builder: save a layout once and reuse it for every campaign.

Visual editor or hand-coded HTML?

Hand-coding gives total control, and frameworks such as MJML make it far less painful. It is the right choice for developers who version their templates in Git. A visual HTML email builder is faster for everyone else, including developers who need a one-off email: no build step, no table debugging, and the output is still plain HTML you can read, copy and edit. MailBuildr keeps both doors open, since the export is standard code with no proprietary markup.

Email clients are not browsers. Outlook for Windows renders HTML with the Word engine, which ignores flexbox, grid, floats and most positioning. Gmail removes or rewrites part of the CSS it receives, and mobile apps resize everything to fit a narrow column. The layout technique that survives all of them is still the oldest one: nested <table> elements with explicit widths.

Styles follow the same logic. A <style> block in the head is not reliable everywhere, so every color, font size and padding is written inline, in the style attribute of the element it applies to. MailBuildr generates this structure automatically, with a 600-pixel content column that stacks on mobile. If you already have HTML with a stylesheet, the free CSS inliner converts it, and our guide on inline CSS for HTML email explains why it matters.

Testing an email is a three-step routine. First, look at the layout at desktop and mobile widths: the preview in the editor, or our free email preview tool for any HTML, shows it inside a Gmail or Outlook inbox. Second, check the code: the email compatibility checker flags tags and CSS properties that some clients do not support. Third, send yourself a real test and open it on the devices your audience uses.

Be aware of what a browser preview cannot do: it does not reproduce Outlook's Word engine or each client's CSS filtering exactly. For screenshots across dozens of real clients, paid services such as Litmus or Email on Acid remain the reference.

When the email is ready, copy the HTML, download it as an .html file, or open it directly in a Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or Proton Mail draft. To send a campaign, paste the code into the custom HTML option of your email platform: Mailchimp, Brevo, Klaviyo or any other ESP. MailBuildr designs and exports; it does not send campaigns or manage contact lists.

How MailBuildr compares with other email builders

Stripo and Beefree offer much larger template libraries, team collaboration and one-click export to many ESPs. Unlayer is built to be embedded in other software. MJML suits developers who prefer code. The editors built into Mailchimp or Brevo are convenient if you never leave that platform, but the email stays there. MailBuildr is narrower and simpler: blocks, AI drafting and clean portable HTML. The free plan includes 10 exports per month, 5 saved templates and a small MailBuildr footer in exported emails.