The quick table
| Service | Model | Published entry price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| StampSherpa | Done-for-you subscription | $199/mo all-inclusive | Owners who want monthly mail handled + tracked |
| PostcardMania | Full-service agency + printer | Printing from ~7¢/pc; campaigns quoted | Big campaigns with hands-on human help |
| Taradel | Self-serve per-order platform | EDDM ~29-69¢/pc all-inclusive by size/volume | One-off neighborhood blasts at volume |
| Postalytics | Marketer automation platform | $0-399/mo + ~$0.81-1.05/pc | CRM-triggered mail run by a marketing team |
| thanks.io | Handwritten-style notes | $0-199/mo; cards $0.64-1.18 | Small-batch personal follow-ups, realtor farming |
| Mailbox Power | Relationship cards + gifts | $99.99-399.99/mo + postage/pc | Keep-in-touch programs for agents |
| Lob | Developer API | $0-550+/mo + ~$0.62-0.91/pc | Engineering teams mailing at scale |
1. StampSherpa: monthly mail, designed and tracked, zero marketing skill assumed
Our product, so judge accordingly. The pitch in one breath: paste your website and six postcards design themselves before you even sign up; plans are flat and all-inclusive ($199 per month for 100 addressed cards to your list, $349 for neighborhood saturation you pick by dragging a circle on a map, $549 for both); the six designs refresh every month; and every card prints a scannable code with responses charted per send (rates only shown past 25 cards, because tiny-sample rates are theater). Cancel online. Skip us if: you want one huge blast at the lowest per-piece price, or you need CRM-triggered flows or an API; the entries below serve those better. Try the sixty-second demo.
2. PostcardMania: the full-service heavyweight
A printer plus agency with 25+ years, publicly reported nine-figure revenue, and more than a hundred thousand clients. Published printing prices start around 7 cents per piece at volume (addressing and presorting 7.5 cents plus postage), and full campaigns (design, lists, mailing, digital add-ons) are quoted through their marketing consultants by phone. That consultant model is the point: you get a human team and battle-tested campaign patterns for your industry. Pick them for multi-thousand-piece campaigns with hands-on guidance. Skip them if you want to buy online in five minutes without a sales conversation. Details: our full comparison.
3. Taradel: self-serve EDDM by the order
The map-based EDDM ordering platform that also powers direct mail for major retail partners. Their published guides put all-inclusive EDDM at roughly 29 to 46 cents per piece at smaller sizes and volume, with a 6.25 by 9 example at 69 cents per piece at 1,000 pieces. You pick routes on a map, supply or build a design, and order campaign by campaign. Pick them for a grand-opening or seasonal blast at the lowest per-piece price. Skip them if you want a recurring rhythm and per-campaign response tracking without re-ordering. Details: our full comparison.
4. Postalytics: automation for real marketing teams
Direct-mail automation that behaves like email software: triggered sends from HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zapier, variable-data personalization, unlimited QR codes and pURLs, USPS delivery tracking. Published plans: free (pay per piece, 6 by 9 postcards from $1.048), $199 per month Marketer, $399 Pro/Agency, with per-piece prices falling to about 81 cents at volume. No EDDM. Pick them if a marketer on your team will build flows. Skip them if nobody at your business wants to be a campaign operator. Details: our full comparison.
5. thanks.io: handwritten-style notes with zero commitment
Handwriting-font postcards, letters, and notecards with no minimums ever: pay-as-you-go 4 by 6 cards at $1.18, dropping to 77 cents on the $49 tier and 64 cents on the $199 tier, plus QR scan webhooks, Zapier, and a 5-cent radius address search. Pick them for personal-feeling follow-ups and small realtor farming batches. Skip them if you want designed brand campaigns or true EDDM saturation. Details: our full comparison.
6. Mailbox Power: relationship mail and gifting
Personalized cards, postcards, and physical gifts (yes, mugs) with birthday and anniversary automations, aimed at realtors, mortgage, and insurance pros. Published plans $99.99 to $399.99 per month with monthly product allowances, plus per-piece postage (65 to 82 cents). Pick them for staying unforgettable to a known list. Skip them for acquisition campaigns to strangers. Details: our full comparison.
7. Lob: the developer API
Print-and-mail infrastructure for engineering teams: REST API, webhooks, address verification, in-transit tracking. Published plans from a free developer tier (postcards $0.905) through $260+ and $550+ monthly tiers (postcards to $0.615) sized in tens of thousands of mailings a year. Pick them if mail must fire from your own software at scale. Skip them if the word API made your eyes glaze. Details: our full comparison.
How to actually choose
- No marketing team, want it handled monthly: StampSherpa.
- Big blast with human hand-holding: PostcardMania.
- One-off EDDM at the lowest per-piece price: Taradel.
- CRM-triggered flows, marketer at the wheel: Postalytics.
- A few personal notes at a time: thanks.io.
- Gifts and birthdays to people you know: Mailbox Power.
- Engineers sending mail from code: Lob.
Whatever you pick: put a response mechanism on every card, mail the same audience at least three times, and refuse to judge a campaign on a tiny sample. Those three habits matter more than the vendor. Our small-business guide covers all three.