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MJML VS ExpressJS

Compare MJML VS ExpressJS and see what are their differences

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MJML logo MJML

The open source framework for responsive emails

ExpressJS logo ExpressJS

Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple
  • MJML Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-01-26
  • ExpressJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-14

MJML features and specs

  • Responsive Design
    MJML is specifically designed to create responsive email templates that work well across various devices and email clients.
  • Ease of Use
    MJML uses a simplified markup language, making it easier for developers to create complex email designs without deep knowledge of HTML and CSS.
  • Community and Support
    MJML has a strong community and support system, including comprehensive documentation and numerous examples to help users get started.
  • Cross-Client Compatibility
    Emails created with MJML are tested for compatibility across a wide range of email clients, reducing the effort needed for testing and adjustments.
  • Customization and Flexibility
    MJML offers a variety of customizable components that allow developers to tailor emails to their specific needs.
  • Template Reusability
    MJML makes it easy to create reusable templates, which can save time and maintain consistency in email campaigns.
  • Integration
    MJML can be integrated with various development tools and workflows, which enhances productivity.

Possible disadvantages of MJML

  • Learning Curve
    Although easier than raw HTML/CSS for emails, MJML still requires learning a new syntax and understanding its components.
  • Limited Customization
    It may not offer as much flexibility as hand-coded HTML/CSS for emails, particularly for very unique or custom designs.
  • Dependency
    Using MJML adds another dependency to your project, which could complicate the build process and dependency management.
  • Performance
    Rendering complex MJML templates might be slower compared to hand-coded alternatives.
  • Error Handling
    MJML’s error messages can sometimes be vague, making it challenging to debug issues.
  • Size of Output
    The HTML output generated by MJML can be verbose, potentially leading to larger email sizes.
  • Browser and Client Specific Issues
    While MJML handles most cross-client compatibility, there can still be occasional issues that require manual adjustments.

ExpressJS features and specs

  • Fast Setup
    ExpressJS provides a minimal and flexible framework that allows rapid setup and development of web and mobile applications.
  • Middleware Support
    ExpressJS has a robust middleware system, allowing developers to add reusable functions to the request-handling pipeline.
  • Extensibility
    ExpressJS is highly extensible through third-party libraries and built-in functionality, catering to the needs of various applications.
  • Performance
    Due to its minimalist core, ExpressJS provides efficient performance and is capable of handling a high number of requests per second.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    A large and active community provides extensive documentation, support, and a wide array of open-source packages to extend functionality.
  • Flexibility
    Compared to full-stack frameworks, ExpressJS gives developers the freedom to structure their applications as they see fit.
  • Compatibility
    ExpressJS works seamlessly with various template engines, databases, and other frameworks, making it versatile for different project requirements.

Possible disadvantages of ExpressJS

  • Minimalist Core
    The minimalist nature of ExpressJS may require additional time and effort to integrate required plugins and libraries for specific features.
  • Learning Curve
    While ExpressJS is straightforward, mastering the middleware pattern and effective usage can have a learning curve for new developers.
  • Callback Hell
    Developers can encounter 'callback hell' due to nested callback functions, though this can be mitigated using Promises and async/await in modern JavaScript.
  • Lack of Convention
    Unlike opinionated frameworks, ExpressJS lacks conventions, which can lead to inconsistent code structure and maintenance challenges across different projects.
  • Security
    ExpressJS does not have built-in security features and relies on third-party solutions, requiring developers to be vigilant about applying best security practices.
  • Scalability
    While ExpressJS can handle high traffic, building and maintaining a highly scalable application might require significant additional effort, particularly in terms of codebase organization and resource management.

Analysis of MJML

Overall verdict

  • Overall, MJML is a highly effective tool for creating responsive and accessible email templates. It can significantly streamline the email development process, reducing the complexity involved in achieving cross-client compatibility. Its ease of use, coupled with a strong community and regular updates, makes it a reliable choice for many projects.

Why this product is good

  • MJML (mjml.io) is a popular open-source email framework that simplifies the process of creating responsive email templates. It uses a markup language that is easy to understand and translates it into fully responsive HTML, saving designers and developers significant time. MJML is particularly beneficial for ensuring emails render correctly across different email clients and devices, which is a common challenge in email development.

Recommended for

  • Email marketers who need to produce consistent, responsive email campaigns quickly.
  • Designers who prefer focusing on design aspects rather than dealing with HTML/CSS intricacies.
  • Developers looking for a tool that simplifies the creation of cross-client compatible emails.
  • Teams or individuals who frequently work on email newsletters and promotional emails.

Analysis of ExpressJS

Overall verdict

  • ExpressJS is a highly recommended option for building web applications with Node.js. Its simplicity, extensive middleware options, and strong community support make it a solid choice for both beginners and experienced developers. However, it might not be the best fit for highly complex applications that require more opinionated frameworks with more built-in features.

Why this product is good

  • ExpressJS is a minimalist and flexible web application framework for Node.js. It provides a robust set of features for building web and mobile applications, making it a popular choice among developers.
  • It offers a thin layer of fundamental web application features, without obscuring Node.js features that developers use regularly.
  • ExpressJS has a large ecosystem of middleware to handle various tasks such as security, session management, and file uploads, which simplifies the development process.
  • It's known for its fast learning curve, which makes it particularly advantageous for developers who are new to backend web development but familiar with JavaScript.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking for a lightweight and flexible web framework for Node.js.
  • Projects where quick setup and ease of development are priorities.
  • Applications that require a custom architecture and a high degree of flexibility.
  • Teams who prefer to build their technology stack from the ground up and have control over the specific components used.

MJML videos

Build Responsive Emails With MJML

More videos:

  • Review - Start to build responsive emails with MJML

ExpressJS videos

No ExpressJS videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MJML and ExpressJS)
Email Marketing
100 100%
0% 0
JavaScript Framework
0 0%
100% 100
Email Newsletters
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare MJML and ExpressJS

MJML Reviews

11 Best Free HTML Email Template Builders & Editors (Reviewed & Compared)
MJML is a markup language. They have an open-source server that generates high-quality responsive HTML for emails.

ExpressJS Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
Express.JS is used to create Restful APIs, which is useful for accepting requests from the front end and sending the appropriate response. Express.JS supports Node.js, which is one of the best reasons developers choose to use it. Moreover, debugging becomes faster and helps in finding errors in less time.
Source: solguruz.com
The 20 Best Laravel Alternatives for Web Development
Express.js — or Express for the cool cats — is Node.js’s minimalist wingman. It’s the train tracks for your web app, setting the path, defining the stops, but letting you drive the engine.
Top 9 best Frameworks for web development
The best frameworks for web development include React, Angular, Vue.js, Django, Spring, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Flask and Express.js. Each of these frameworks has its own advantages and distinctive features, so it is important to choose the framework that best suits the needs of your project.
Source: www.kiwop.com
9 Best JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2023
Additionally, Express.js v4 now comes with built-in middleware for handling AJAX requests from the client side, making it even easier to get started without having to worry about 3rd party libraries. Express.js is a great tool for quickly building out web applications and APIs in Node.js.
Source: ninetailed.io
JavaScript: What Are The Most Used Frameworks For This Language?
Express.JS is a popular open-source web application framework for Node.JS, which is a server-side JavaScript runtime environment. Express.JS provides a simple, flexible and scalable way to build web applications and APIs using Node.JS. It is known for its minimalist and unimposing approach, which means it provides a basic set of features and tools but allows developers to...
Source: www.bocasay.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ExpressJS should be more popular than MJML. It has been mentiond 470 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

MJML mentions (94)

  • Easier Responsive Emails for Umbraco Forms with MJML
    MJML (Mailjet Markup Language) is a powerful open-source framework designed to simplify the creation of responsive email templates. Instead of manually coding complex HTML tables and inline styles, MJML offers an intuitive, component-based syntax that automatically generates well-structured and mobile-friendly emails. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • A guide to the best email editing tools
    MJML is a markup language that creates responsive email templates. It is intuitive in the sense that its markup is rendered into responsive HTML for any device and email client. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Show HN: Sendune – open-source HTML email designer
    } Can be easily stored in Postgres jsonb. Very easy to add Reacjs base widgets like mentioning, media, diagrams, etc The drawback is that you can't design the exactly the same pixel perfect template. The better abstraction is MJML - https://mjml.io/ With slatejs/platejs json format you can copy&paste your editings across various assets in CRM, knowledge base, etc Was thinking about using something similar to... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Show HN: Sendune – open-source HTML email designer
    You can use MJML - https://mjml.io/ - which abstracts away a lot of the ugliness and Outlook hacks. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Modernizing Emails: Innovations for Efficient Handling in Distributed Systems
    The email service is built with Symfony and its templating engine, Twig. Templates are written in MJML markup, an email framework that helps us address the first problem we mentioned. Twig allows us to pass the data to the MJML template without breaking the MJML structure. After the data is rendered, we send the result to a small MJML service that converts the MJML markup to HTML. Here is an example of a template:. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
View more

ExpressJS mentions (470)

  • 🔥 Why Everyone Is Talking About HTMX: The Game-Changer for Web Development
    🌍 Who Should Use HTMX? ✅ Django / Flask / Rails developers ✅ Express / Node.js backend lovers ✅ Fullstack devs who want LESS frontend headache ✅ Teams jo SSR + SEO ko priority dete hain. - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
  • Not a Middy Fan
    Express.js was created around the time callbacks were _the_ architecture in Node.js. The world, including UI, quickly found callbacks do not compose well, and void return values are hard to test because of side-effects. Promises were created so you could compose functions, but still have control where your side-effects go. This negates the need for middlewares / callbacks. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • Experimental Devvit Web Views
    The Devvit team just announced a new experimental way to build WebView based apps for Reddit. Previously only static HTML/JS/CSS could be used. With this new version, it is possible to run server-side code through Node including spinning up an Express server. - Source: dev.to / 27 days ago
  • How to Handle File Uploads with Node.js and Express - Multer Edition
    Basic knowledge of JavaScript and Express. - Source: dev.to / 29 days ago
  • Reusable API proxy in just a few lines of JavaScript
    The basis of my small API proxy is the NPM package http-proxy-middleware from Steven Chim, which I utilized to build a system that can be used via configuration for various endpoints and that runs on a server under the Node.js framework Express. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing MJML and ExpressJS, you can also consider the following products

Stripo - Stripo is an all-in-one email design platform. We enable our clients to build emails of any complexity, including interactive AMP emails, really fast and easy.

Node.js - Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications

BeeFree.io - Bee is MailUp's drag-&-drop editor for responsive design emails.

Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is an open source full-stack web application framework for the Ruby programming...

HTMLEmail.io - Responsive HTML email templates for startups & developers

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines