Parcel is the email coding platform. We focus on helping email developers work efficiently to create high-quality emails.

Parcel vs. Litmus

Parcel is hands-down the best product in the email space right now.

– Dylan Smith, Senior Product Designer at GitHub

Code Editor

ParcelLitmus
HTML editing✅✅
Upload images✅✅
Editor settings (themes, tabs/spaces, etc)✅✅
Emmet✅✅
HTML formatter✅❌
Multi-cursor editing✅✅
Command palette for faster actions✅❌
Automatic saving✅❌
Can I Email support data for HTML and CSS✅❌
Ghost table syntax highlighting✅❌
MSO CSS autocomplete✅✅
AMP support✅❌

Litmus provides a simple D&D editor that pairs with the code editor.

Snippets

While both Parcel and Litmus have shared HTML snippets, Parcel allows for both private and shared snippets, as well as CSS and HTML snippets.

ParcelLitmus
Shared snippets✅✅
Private snippets✅❌
HTML snippets✅✅
CSS snippets✅✅

Generate other email parts

With Parcel, you can generate the plaintext version of your email with a single click. And with the "Generate AMP from HTML" button, you can start sending AMP with your exact HTML template without having to convert it over manually.

ParcelLitmus
Generate Text from HTML✅❌
Generate AMP from HTML✅❌

Preview

Parcel saves me time, keeps me consistent, and helps me deliver perfectly coded emails.

– Megan Boshuyzen, Senior Email Developer at Sinch Email
ParcelLitmus
Integrated Email Previews✅✅
Responsive live testing✅✅
Images on / off✅ (images as well as remote content)✅ (only images)
Click to jump to code✅✅
Expanded table view✅✅
Inspect element to see style information about your email✅❌
Focus mode to keep your preview perfectly in sync with the code✅❌
Dark mode preview✅✅
Multiple live previews of different sizes✅✅
Screenshot downloads✅❌

Components vs. Partials

Components allow you to work significantly faster and spend less time repeating code. They are similar to Litmus's partials but provide an unmatched level of flexibility and power.

Partials are static - they can only be used for completely unchanging blocks like footers and logos. Otherwise, you must use snippets and manually update every email when you need to change something about the snippet code.

Components are dynamic - allowing you to pass in content, and options, use logic and even fetch remote data. With components, you can create an entire design system that you can update at any time without additional effort other than the code update itself. With each component, you are creating a single source of truth for your design system.

ParcelLitmus
Static blocks✅✅
Custom attributes✅❌
Pass in content✅❌
Use conditional logic✅❌
Support embedded CSS alongside the HTML✅❌
Loop over data for easy repeating block✅❌
Fetch remote data from CSVs, XML/JSON APIs, or even from websites✅❌

Optimize your code

Parcel automates many of the manual steps email developers have to do today for optimization and code cleanup. With just a few toggles you can keep your emails below the clipping limit, remove unused code, and support GANGA.

ParcelLitmus
CSS inlining✅✅ (no configuration)
Formatting - remove whitespace or prettify your code for final editing in your ESP ✅❌
Auto encode HTML entities ✅✅
Add tracking parameters✅❌
Remove unused CSS✅❌
Shorten CSS selectors✅❌

Validation/Pre-send Checklist

An important step to make sure your email is ready to send is to verify your code is valid, accessible, your links and images work, and that you aren't sending content that will be flagged as spam.

Parcel brings these validation steps right next to your editor, so it is easy to test and validate your work.

ParcelLitmus
Link tracking validation❌✅
Accessibility validation✅✅
Link validation ✅✅
Image validation✅✅
SpamAssassin✅✅
Image blocking previews✅✅
Load speed testing✅✅
Read-time HTML problem highlighting✅✅
Visual impairment simulator✅✅
Analytics - tracking pixel✅✅

Exporting

The final step of building your email is exporting your code to your ESP. Both Parcel and Litmus allow you to download the email.

ParcelLitmus
Export to ESP❌✅
Copy HTML✅✅
Download ZIP✅✅
Export to PDF✅❌