The visual MJML alternative
Looking for an MJML alternative with a visual editor? Card is a free open-source drag-and-drop email builder — use it instead of MJML, or beside it for non-developers.
Short answer
Pick Card when the people building emails should not have to write markup. Keep MJML when templates belong in source control and developers own every change. Many teams honestly need both.
At a glance
| Decision factor | Card | MJML |
|---|---|---|
| Price and licence | Free and open source (AGPL-3.0); optional commercial licence for closed-source embedding | Free and open source (MIT) |
| Primary interface | Drag-and-drop visual editor with 78 blocks — no markup to learn | MJML markup written in code, compiled to responsive HTML |
| Visual tooling | The visual editor is the product, actively maintained | No official visual builder; the MJML desktop app has been unmaintained since Feb 2022 |
| Who can author | Marketers, designers and developers alike | Developers, or teams generating templates from code |
| Editable source | Card JSON (block → row → cell → atom), exported and re-imported through the editor | Text-based .mjml files, ideal for git history and code review |
Why people look for an MJML alternative
Usually not because MJML is bad — it isn't. The compiler is mature, MIT-licensed, actively maintained (v5.4.0 shipped in June 2026) and used by tens of thousands of projects. People go looking for an alternative because of who has to use it: MJML is markup. Every button, every spacing tweak, every "can we swap the hero image?" is a code change, which makes a developer the gatekeeper of every email.
MJML's ecosystem never solved this officially. The MJML desktop app has not seen a release since February 2022, and the official online editor is a code playground, not a builder. The visual layer was left to third parties — which is exactly the gap Card fills.
What Card gives you
Card is a free, open-source (AGPL-3.0) visual email editor, developed in the open since 2022. A marketer or designer assembles a message from 78 drag-and-drop blocks on a canvas, and the output is the same thing MJML ultimately produces: responsive, email-client-safe HTML. Alongside it, Card exports editable JSON, so a design can be reopened and revised without anyone reading a line of markup.
Like MJML, Card is honest open source rather than a freemium SaaS: no account, no export limits, no cloud. Templates live in the author's browser and in whatever storage you export the JSON to, and the editor itself is a static Vue + TypeScript app you can serve from your own infrastructure — next to your docs, behind your VPN, wherever policy wants it.
What MJML still does better
For developer-owned templates, text wins. A .mjml file diffs cleanly in a pull request, lives in git beside the application, and can be generated from data and components in CI. Card's JSON is structured but editor-oriented — you can version it, but nobody reviews it line by line. If your transactional emails are effectively code, MJML remains the right tool, and this page will not talk you out of it.
Both routes end at the same door: test the compiled or exported HTML against real email clients, because no tool exempts you from Outlook.
Or use both — the boundary is ownership, not tooling
This is the rare comparison where "both" is a first-class answer. Plenty of teams keep transactional templates in MJML under developer control, while the campaign side uses Card so marketing can ship a newsletter without opening a ticket. The split works when ownership is explicit and both outputs pass through the same rendering and compliance checks.
If the pain that brought you here is "developers are the bottleneck for every email", the fix takes minutes to evaluate: open the Card editor — no signup — hand it to the person who keeps filing those tickets, and see whether they can rebuild last week's email without you.
Which one fits?
Choose Card
Non-developers need to assemble and revise emails themselves, while developers still get responsive HTML and a structured, re-editable artifact.
Choose MJML
Developers own authoring end to end, templates are reviewed as text in pull requests, and compilation is part of an existing build pipeline.
Frequently asked questions
Is Card a replacement for MJML?
For visual authoring, yes; for developer-owned template pipelines, not necessarily. Many teams run both — MJML for transactional templates in git, Card for campaign emails that marketers assemble themselves.
Does Card export MJML markup?
No. Card exports responsive HTML ready for any sending platform, plus its own editable JSON for reopening and revising designs in the editor.
Is Card open source like MJML?
Yes — Card is AGPL-3.0 with the source on GitHub, while MJML is MIT. AGPL is copyleft: free to use and self-host, with a commercial licence available for closed-source embedding.
Do marketers need to learn any markup to use Card?
No. Emails are assembled from 78 drag-and-drop blocks in the browser; no MJML, HTML or CSS knowledge is required.
Official sources
Product capabilities and commercial terms can change. Sources were reviewed on Aug 3, 2026.