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Index › Marketing › Direct mail › Lob vs Thanks.io
Print · October 2026 Edition

Lob vs Thanks.io

One of fourteen models named Lob first on the direct prompt; zero named Thanks.io. Lob was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Thanks.io by ten and Lob carries 57 labels and Thanks.io 11, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Lob

accepted challenger

Named in three categories this edition.

Thanks.io

accepted challenger

founded 2017. Named in two categories this edition.

First-choice share8%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate23%0%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#6A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels5711A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Lob reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Postalytics was named alongside these two in nine of the fourteen direct answers. Postalytics vs Lob · Postalytics vs Thanks.io · Lob vs Sendoso

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the print page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
LobFirst choices, of fourteen modelsThanks.io
Direct101 against Lob
Paraphrase001 against Lob
Comparative90
Budget-constrained121 against Lob
Scale-constrained20
Negative0010 against Lob
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Lob and Thanks.io stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.1 Fast
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Lob Thanks.io first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Lob on the left and Thanks.io on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Lob and Thanks.io stood in it.

Lob first, Thanks.io not the choice

1 of 14 modelsThanks.io was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Kimi K2Lob, Postal alternatives: PFL, Postalytics

Neither was the first choice, one was named

8 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5Postalytics alternatives: Lob, Sendoso
Gemini 3.5 FlashReachdesk alternatives: Alyce, Lob, PostGrid, Postal, Postalytics, Sendoso
Grok 4.1 FastSendoso alternatives: Lob, PostGrid Print & Mail
DeepSeek V4 FlashPostalytics alternatives: Lob, PFL, Postal, Postie, Sendoso
Qwen 3.7 FlashSendoso alternatives: CIENCE, Cobro, Lob, PebblePost
GLM 4.7 FlashXPostalytics alternatives: Lob, PostGrid, Postal, Sendoso
GPT-6 LunaPostalytics alternatives: Lob, Postal, Reachdesk
Muse Glimmer 30BPFL - Printing For Less alternatives: Lob, Postal, Postalytics, Reachdesk, Sendoso

Neither was named

5 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
GPT-5.4 miniSendoso alternatives: PFL
Perplexity SonarPostGrid alternatives: Reachdesk
Mistral SmallPostie alternatives: PFL, Postalytics
Llama 4 MaverickPostie alternatives: Postal
MiniMax M2.5Postalytics alternatives: PFL Direct Mail Platform

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Lob leads by twelve points.
Lob12%#2 of 9
Thanks.io0%#7 of 9
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Lob leads by four points.
Lob8%#2 of 10
Thanks.io4%#6 of 10
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Lob leads by forty-three points.
Lob43%#1 of 8
Thanks.io0%#– of 8
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Lob

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“Best Avoid If: You're not technical, need global reach, or budget-sensitive.” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Lob if your marketing team doesn't have engineering support, as there is no visual, marketer-friendly builder out of the box.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“1. Lob - Focus: API-driven platform for automating personalized direct mail ... Strengths: Nationwide Print Delivery Network” Mistral Small · comparative prompt · first choice
“Postal.io or Lob offer the best balance of features, pricing transparency, and scalability for mid-market B2B companies” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · first choice
“Lob — Best for API-First, Developer-Led Mail ... The category leader for API-first (REST API) programmatic direct mail.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice

What the models said about Thanks.io

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.

“Click2Mail or thanks.io (pay-as-you-go plan) stand out as the best direct mail automation platforms” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · first choice
“Thanks.io is the gold standard for low-budget operations.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.