Introduction

Email is important to the everyday success of your business, and if your email service provider is not performing in a way that compliments and exemplifies your organization’s efforts, it may be time to seek out an alternative.  In this guide we are going to show you why SocketLabs makes a great Sparkpost alternative and how easy it can be to migrate to the SocketLabs email platform. No matter if you are a developer, IT admin, enterprise, or small business, SocketLabs will change the way you send, track, and analyze your business critical email.

Particularly with an email service like SparkPost, customers who are choosing to migrate to SocketLabs are often looking for our advanced sending features and access to our industry-leading support/deliverability consulting.  Luckily for these movers, migrating from your SparkPost account to SocketLabs has never been easier. 

About SocketLabs 

SocketLabs is built on the robust foundation of our fast, flexible, and reliable email infrastructure.  Whether you are sending with our APIs, or our SMTP relay service, we provide all of the resources you need to maximize your deliverability, reporting insight, and overall email success. 

If you are new to SocketLabs and would like to learn more before reading further, check out the email solutions we offer, and have a look through our developer hub to explore our APIs and more. Otherwise, let’s look into how easy it is to start sending with SMTP.  

SMTP

How to get your SMTP Credentials

Log into the Control Panel at https://cp.socketlabs.com. Once in the Control Panel, click the “View” button next to your Server to go to the Server Dashboard. From the Server Dashboard click the “Configuration” option, then select SMTP Credentials in the dropdown menu. Please keep your SMTP Credentials secure. While you are in the Control Panel, it might be a good time to look around and see all the reports, settings, features and functionality available to you.

If you’re sending via SMTP, there are a few things you should know. All SMTP connections should use the hostname smtp.socketlabs.com.

SocketLabs accepts SMTP connections on ports 25, 2525, 587, and 465. Please note that connections to port 465 require the use of implicit SSL.

While Sparkpost supports up to 10 simultaneous connections and doesn’t limit the number of messages per connection, SocketLabs supports up to 20 simultaneous connections with 500 recipients per connection.

Additionally, while SparkPost supports messages up to 20MB in total message size (including message body, images, and attachments) SocketLabs supports messages up to 40MB in total size.  

More information on connecting to SocketLabs over SMTP can be found in our Help Center.

SocketLabs APIs

Injection API (sending email)

First you’ll need to set up a SocketLabs account which you can do for free. Next, you should create an API key that you’ll use for sending. Once logged in, navigate to the Injection API key page to generate your API key. Further instructions to get started with the Injection API in your language of choice are available on this page.

API Libraries

We have six officially supported API Libraries to make integration easier for our customers. If you’re rewriting any code, or refactoring how you communicate with your ESP as part of your migration, now is a good time to evaluate these libraries:

• socketlabs-csharp – Official C# library
• socketlabs-go – Official Go library
• socketlabs-java – Official Java library
• socketlabs-nodejs – Official NodeJS library
• socketlabs-php – Official PHP library
• socketlabs-python – Official Python library

Injection API Features

The Injection API supports plain text and HTML messages, or you can create your own templates using the drag and drop editor in our Email Marketing Center. The API supports everything from a basic message to a single recipient all the way to a complex bulk message with unique merge data to many different recipients. 

We also make it easy to add attachments to your API request. Just encode your file as a Base64 string and embed it directly in the JSON payload alongside MIME content information. If you are using one of our official libraries, the library will even handle this part for you.

For more information about the Injection API, please see our full API documentation.

Webhooks

SocketLabs provides two webhooks: the Notification API for receiving real-time POST notifications about email related events such as delivered, failed, opened messages, and even unsubscribes. We also provide the Inbound Parse API for receiving emails, parsing the email into JSON and programmatically reacting to them.

If you are migrating from SparkPost and use the Event Webhooks for event notifications or Relay Webhooks for inbound mail, please review the documentation linked above for information on how to validate your endpoint with SocketLabs and the format of HTTP POSTs that we will send to your endpoint.

Other SocketLabs APIs

In addition to the Injection API and the webhooks described above, SocketLabs also offers additional API:

• SocketLabs Marketing API which allows you to programmatically manage contacts within your recipient lists for use with SocketLabs Marketing tools.
• SocketLabs Reporting API which allows you to query and access statistics about a mail stream in scenarios where webhooks are not appropriate.
• SocketLabs Suppression API which allows you to programmatically query your Suppression List to search for, add, or remove addresses. Available on Enterprise plans.

SocketLabs Marketing 

Another great benefit to using the SocketLabs platform is our Marketing Center.  This platform comes with all of the tools and technology you will need to maximize the success of your email.  With easy-to-use templates, drag and drop design, list segmentation and targeting, drip campaigns, and tons more, our email marketing center has everything you will need to manage, create, and send your email marketing campaign. 

SocketLabs Support

When you call SocketLabs customer service and support, something crazy happens – a real person will answer the phone.  We pride ourselves on our commitment to exceptional customer service and support that is unmatched by the competition. And as a commitment to our customers, no matter the size, all plan levels include access to our support staff of email experts.  These team members provide helpful tips, share email best practices, and work to maximize your experience with SocketLabs.

Learn More About SocketLabs 

If you want to learn more about SocketLabs and the email solutions we offer, visit us on our website or you can call, chat or visit our help center.  If you are ready to upgrade your email system with SocketLabs, you can get a custom quote here.

SocketLabs FAQ

Q: Can I integrate SocketLabs email reporting into my application or website?

A: Yes, SocketLabs offers advanced statistical reporting which provides 24/7 real-time reporting into how your emails are performing.  You can integrate this reporting easily using our powerful reporting API. 

Q: Can I migrate my IP address and sender reputation from my existing email platform to SocketLabs?

A: We cannot migrate your existing IP address to our email platform however we always take the necessary steps to warm-up all new IP addresses and apply sending best practices so all senders using SocketLabs will be set up for success. 

Q: Will SocketLabs improve my email success rates?

A: SocketLabs offers real-time email analytics so senders can track every aspect of their email performance, automatic bounce processing and suppression list placement to help maintain a good IP reputation, and all of the latest authentication technologies that will help secure your email and improve your deliverability.