Sparkpost
performance benchmarks
Browse Sparkpost's observed email API response time, error rates, and incident history over the last 90 days.
Live performance metrics
Real-world performance data from messages sent through Knock
| Message volume | Growth | Status page updates (30d) | Status page updates (90d) |
|---|---|---|---|
<1M | 10th of 10 ↑ | 8 | 11 |
From December 12th to March 12th, Knock routed <1M messages through Sparkpost. For adoption, Sparkpost ranks 10th of 10 providers based on new channel connections, with adoption accelerating over the period. Sparkpost reported 11 status page updates over the last 90 days, 8 of which were in the last 30 days.
Response time
Response time measures how long Sparkpost takes to accept an API request from Knock, including connection overhead and any automatic retries. Lower values mean faster message hand-off.
| Median (p50) | p90 | p95 | p99 |
|---|---|---|---|
288ms | 347ms | 388ms | 544ms |
From December 12th to March 12th, Sparkpost averaged a daily median response time (p50) of 288ms across all days in the range, meaning half of all requests on a typical day complete in under 288ms. The 99th percentile averaged 544ms, with a peak daily p99 of 31566ms. This is slightly higher than some providers, which may reflect additional processing Sparkpost performs on message acceptance.
Error rate
Error rate tracks the ratio of 5xx responses and timeouts to total requests. Knock automatically retries failed requests, so transient provider errors rarely affect end-user delivery.
| Avg. daily error rate | Highest daily rate | Peak error date | Zero-error days | Days above 0.01% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
0.22% | 3.41% | Feb 24 | 90 | 1 |
From December 12th to March 12th, Sparkpost averaged a 0.22% daily error rate for 5xx responses and timeouts, with the highest single-day error rate reaching 3.41%. This is slightly above average compared to other providers on Knock, though still within acceptable thresholds for production email delivery. Knock automatically retries failed requests, so transient provider errors rarely affect end-user delivery.
About these metrics: Data represents messages sent through Knock to Sparkpost during the specified period. Response time measures time from Knock to provider acceptance. Error rate includes only provider 5xx responses and timeouts.
Recent Sparkpost incidents
Status page incidents from the last 30 days for Sparkpost
Ongoing since Mar 16, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Mar 16, 15:00 - 18:00 EDTMar 12, 11:24 EDT Scheduled - On March 16th between 19:00 UTC, we will be performing maintenance on our EU routers. During this planned maintenance, you may experience slightly longer initial delivery times, up to 15 minutes, between 19:00 and 22:00 UTC each day. During the full duration of this maintenance all emails will continued to be accepted. This maintenance only impacts our EU sending infrastructure. We appreciate your understanding
Started Mar 12, 2026 — Resolved Mar 12, 2026
Mar 12, 07:25 EDT Resolved - This incident has been resolved.Mar 12, 06:03 EDT Monitoring - System functionality has been fully restored and all emails are being transmitted correctly without added latencies; we are actively monitoring.Mar 12, 04:00 EDT Investigating - Email delivery in US is impacted, experiencing elevated delays.Mar 12, 03:48 EDT Monitoring - System is fully recovered and under monitoring.Mar 12, 02:51 EDT Investigating - We are currently investigating issues with delivery of
Started Mar 5, 2026 — Resolved Mar 5, 2026
Mar 4, 20:24 EST Resolved - This incident has been resolved.Mar 4, 20:00 EST Monitoring - We are observing recovery in email delivery performance and are actively monitoring.Mar 4, 19:51 EST Investigating - We are investigating an increase in delivery latency for some outbound messages.
Started Feb 27, 2026 — Resolved Feb 27, 2026
Feb 27, 12:38 EST Resolved - Microsoft has confirmed that they made additional changes the night of Thursday, Feb 26th that should have remediated most IP rate limiting and rejection issues. If you are still seeing impacts, please reach out via your normal support channels and our team can investigate and escalate with Microsoft.Feb 26, 12:55 EST Monitoring - We are currently seeing elevated temporary rejection rates for email delivered to Outlook.com, Hotmail, and other Microsoft-hosted addres
Started Feb 24, 2026 — Resolved Feb 24, 2026
Feb 24, 14:41 EST Resolved - This incident has been resolved.Feb 24, 14:38 EST Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results.Feb 24, 14:34 EST Identified - The team has identified the root cause. There is a core networking issue that has impacted sending across the clusters.Feb 24, 14:25 EST Update - We are continuing to investigate this issue. We still see 5xx errors on mail injections and degradation.Feb 24, 14:07 EST Update - We are continuing to investigate this
Started Feb 24, 2026 — Resolved Feb 24, 2026
Feb 24, 13:17 EST Resolved - This incident has been resolved.Feb 24, 12:34 EST Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results.Feb 24, 12:19 EST Identified - The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented.Feb 24, 10:01 EST Investigating - We are currently investigating this issue. No messages are lost.
Started Feb 20, 2026 — Resolved Feb 20, 2026
Feb 20, 11:33 EST Resolved - This incident has been resolved.Feb 20, 11:15 EST Update - We are continuing to monitor for any further issues.Feb 20, 11:14 EST Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results.Feb 20, 11:06 EST Investigating - We are currently investigating this issue.
Started Feb 18, 2026 — Resolved Feb 18, 2026
Feb 18, 12:06 EST Resolved - This incident has been resolved.Feb 18, 11:15 EST Update - We have seen recovery. We will continue monitoring for the next 60 minutes to ensure message queues stay stable.Feb 18, 10:59 EST Monitoring - We continue to see strong recovery of the mail queues and message delivery. We expect all remaining delayed messages to be delivered in the next 5 minutes.Feb 18, 10:15 EST Update - We have begun to see improvements to outbound mail delivery delays. We anticipate fu
Compare Sparkpost with other providers
About Sparkpost
SparkPost is a data-driven email delivery platform with advanced analytics and predictive tools for high-volume senders.
Pros
- Delivers nearly 40% of all commercial email worldwide
- Subaccount support for isolated sending streams under one billing account
- On-premise mail sending solution available for very high volume workloads
- Great analytics tools with predictive health scores for email deliverability
Cons
- Documentation can be hard to navigate with less beginner-friendly getting started content
- Higher price point than basic providers
- Now part of Bird (formerly MessageBird), which may affect product direction
Frequently asked questions
What is Sparkpost?
Sparkpost is an email service provider commonly used for high-volume transactional email, data-driven email optimization, enterprise email delivery. SparkPost is a data-driven email delivery platform with advanced analytics and predictive tools for high-volume senders.
How much does Sparkpost cost?
Free tier includes 500 emails per month with community support. Paid plans start at $20/month for 50,000 emails with premium deliverability features. Sparkpost offers a free tier with up to 500 emails, with a hard sending limit on that plan.
How fast is Sparkpost?
Based on real-world data from messages sent through Knock, Sparkpost accepts API requests with a median response time of 288ms (p50) and 544ms at the 99th percentile.
How reliable is Sparkpost?
From December 12th to March 12th, Sparkpost showed an error rate of 0.22% for 5xx responses and timeouts across <1M messages sent through Knock. Knock automatically retries failed requests, so transient provider errors rarely affect end-user delivery.
What are the pros and cons of Sparkpost?
Key strengths include delivers nearly 40% of all commercial email worldwide and subaccount support for isolated sending streams under one billing account. On the other hand, documentation can be hard to navigate with less beginner-friendly getting started content and higher price point than basic providers.
Does Sparkpost work with Knock?
Yes. Knock has a native Sparkpost integration that enables you to send email notifications through Sparkpost as part of a cross-channel workflow. You can combine Sparkpost with other channels like in-app feeds, push, SMS, and Slack from a single API call.
Use Sparkpost with Knock
Knock enables you to integrate Sparkpost alongside other notification channels, manage templates, and orchestrate cross-channel workflows from a single platform.