GDPR-Compliant Transactional Email

Transactional emails carry some of the most sensitive data in your application: password reset tokens, invoices, medical appointment confirmations, and two-factor codes. Every one of these messages passes through your email provider's servers. With a European transactional email service, this data never leaves EU jurisdiction, reducing your exposure under GDPR and protecting your users.

GDPR Compliance Checklist

1 Data stored in EU/EEA
2 Data Processing Agreement available
3 GDPR-compliant privacy policy
4 Right to data portability
5 Right to erasure (right to be forgotten)
6 Data breach notification procedures
7 Email content and delivery logs processed and stored exclusively in EU data centers
8 Configurable log retention periods with automatic deletion of personal data
9 No email content inspection or machine learning training on transactional message data

Compliant Products (2)

Mailjet screenshot
Mailjet logo

Mailjet

Email delivery and marketing platform

Free
Paris
🇫🇷🇪🇺
GDPRISO 27001DPA
Elastic Email screenshot
Elastic Email logo

Elastic Email

Cost-effective email delivery and marketing platform

Free
Warsaw
🇵🇱🇪🇺
GDPRDPA

What Makes a Transactional Email GDPR Compliant?

Why is transactional email a bigger GDPR risk than marketing email?
Transactional emails often contain highly sensitive personal data: password reset links, two-factor authentication codes, order confirmations with addresses, medical appointment details, and financial statements. Unlike marketing emails, users cannot opt out of receiving them since they are essential for service functionality. This means your transactional email provider processes sensitive data for every active user, not just subscribers who opted in. A breach or unauthorized access at your email provider's infrastructure could expose your entire user base.
Does switching from SendGrid or Mailgun require major code changes?
Most transactional email providers use similar REST API and SMTP patterns, so switching is straightforward. You typically change API endpoints, authentication keys, and adjust your template syntax. European providers like Mailjet, Brevo (Sendinblue), and Mailtrap offer client libraries for popular programming languages. A migration can often be completed in a day for simple setups. The biggest effort is usually re-creating email templates and verifying deliverability for your sending domains.
How do EU transactional email providers handle email delivery logs and retention?
Under GDPR, email delivery logs containing recipient addresses, timestamps, and content metadata are personal data. European transactional email providers typically offer configurable log retention periods, allowing you to set automatic deletion after 7, 30, or 90 days. Some providers let you disable content logging entirely while keeping delivery status only. This is important for minimizing the personal data you retain, a core GDPR principle. US providers often retain logs indefinitely by default.

Get Started

Mailjet

Email delivery and marketing platform

Try Mailjet

Elastic Email

Cost-effective email delivery and marketing platform

Try Elastic Email

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Where These Products Host Data

🇫🇷 Software in France

Loi Informatique et Libertés
🇵🇱 Software in Poland

Personal Data Protection Act of 10 May 2018

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Mailjet

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