Custom-building an email editor for your SaaS app is complex, slow, and hard to maintain. From drag-and-drop functionality to responsive design, it demands time and effort, as well as ongoing upkeep.
An embeddable React email builder solves all that, giving you smooth UX, full design control, and responsive output out of the box.
This guide will cover what embeddable React email builders are, why devs prefer them, which features matter the most, top libraries, how to embed Unlayer, and how to fix common integration issues.
What Is an Embeddable React Email Builder?
It is a drag-and-drop email editor that you can integrate directly into your web application.
It empowers non-technical users to design beautiful and responsive emails without writing a single line of code and gives developers API-level control over UI, configuration, and integration.
Why Developers Choose Embeddable React Email Builders
Developers prefer embeddable React email builders for several good reasons:
Component-based structure for modular email design
Seamless integration with APIs and ESPs
Full control over UI theming, behavior, and permissions
Clean state management and real-time responsiveness
High performance with lazy loading and virtual DOM rendering
Wanna optimize performance even further?
👉 Learn More Here: React Performance Optimization: Techniques and Tools for Devs
6 Core Features to Look for in an Embeddable React Email Builder
Here’s what you should look for while choosing a React email editor:
Drag-and-drop functionality to let end-users design stunning emails without writing any code.
Custom tools to give developers complete control over the email builder’s appearance, behavior, and interactivity.
Reusable blocks, also known as custom blocks, to ensure consistent design across all email marketing campaigns.
Localization and multi-language support so that teams can use the email builder in their preferred language.
Responsive design features so that emails look good on different screens, whether it is a tablet, mobile phone, or desktop.
Integration capabilities to connect effortlessly with external APIs and ESPs.
For a deep dive into each feature,
👉 Read the Full Blog: React Email Editor Explained: Key Features & Why They Matter
Advanced Features to Consider in an Embeddable React Email Builder
After considering the must-haves, let’s jump into the advanced features that make a good React email builder great.
AI in React email editors
While core features like drag-and-drop, responsive design, and custom tools make the React email editor functional, AI is what makes it intelligent.
From smart content generation and dynamic personalization to creative design suggestions, automated image optimization, and compliance checks, AI is raising the bar for what React email builders can do.
We have covered this topic in detail, including what to consider when choosing an AI-enabled editor and how those AI features benefit developers and non-technical users.
👉 Read More: AI in React Email Editors: Features + Benefits for Devs & End-Users
User roles and access control
As your team grows, so does the need to manage who can do what.
User roles and access control define who can access sensitive data and approve, edit, or delete email templates/blocks. Roles and permissions not only maintain brand consistency but also prevent accidental changes, boost accountability, strengthen security, and support scalability.
No matter the size of your team, role-based access control streamlines your workflow by ensuring that the right person has the right permissions.
👉 Learn More: User Roles & Access Control in Email Builders: What, Why, & How
Choosing the Right React Email Builder Library
It’s not about ticking boxes; it’s about choosing the best React email builder library that meets your customization needs, product goals, and development workflow.
With so many libraries available, it is easy to feel overwhelmed when choosing the right one. Some offer drag-and-drop functionality but limited customization, while others offer deep control over the builder’s UI and logic but with added complexity.
Whether you need a fully customizable editor for production use or a lightweight option for side projects, we’ve handpicked three of the best React email builder libraries to match different use cases.
👉 Get a Full Comparison Here: 3 Best React Email Builder Libraries (Compared)
Get Unlayer Running in Your React App—Within Minutes
Embedding an email builder in your React app is effortless with Unlayer’s React builder—built to make integration seamless and developer-friendly.
All you need to do is:
Install the Unlayer React component
Import the editor into your component and add it to JSX
Add lifecycle methods to interact with the email builder
Customize the email builder’s UI to match your application’s branding
Save or export the design
Wanna walk through the process in detail?
Follow This Step-by-Step Guide: How to Embed Unlayer Email Builder in React: 5 Easy Steps 🚀
Customizing the Toolbar and Theme in a White-Label Unlayer Embed
You can make Unlayer truly yours, and here’s how:
Customizing the toolbar
The toolbar in the Unlayer builder UI is where users find editing blocks like Image, Text, HTML, Button, Video, Timer, etc. Customizing it lets you choose which tools to show, hide, re-order, limit, or re-icon, giving you full control over the editor’s look and functionality.
Disabling the default image tool
Let’s take an example of the image tool, which is enabled by default in the editor. If you don’t want your end-users to access it, you can disable it via this code snippet:
unlayer.init({
tools: {
image: {
enabled: false,
},
},
});Changing the position of tools in the editor
Here’s another example of repositioning tools to make them appear before/after other tools:
unlayer.init({
tools: {
image: {
position: 1,
},
},
});Limiting tool usage in a design
Here’s how you can limit the form to be used just once in the design:
unlayer.init({
tools: {
form: {
usageLimit: 1,
},
},
});Customizing a tool’s icon
Change the icon of any tool, let’s say the image tool:
unlayer.init({
tools: {
image: {
icon: '[IMAGE URL HERE]',
},
},
});For more information on tools and how to customize them, see Unlayer Docs on Tools.
Customizing the theme
Themes define the visual styling of the Unlayer builder interface. Customizing it means matching the builder’s UI to your brand to make it look and feel a natural part of your product.
1- Select from built-in options
Unlayer offers four built-in themes: modern_light, modern_dark, classic_light, and classic_dark, saving you time to build from scratch. You can configure a theme for the editor during initialization using the unlayer.init() method.
By default, the builder is set to modern_light:
unlayer.init({
appearance: {
theme: 'modern_light',
},
});You can change it to modern_dark on the fly like this:
unlayer.setTheme('modern_dark');2- Create a custom theme
You can even extend an existing theme and override its color, shape, and style settings. For example, here’s how you can create a custom modern dark purple theme:
unlayer.init({
appearance: {
theme: {
name: 'custom_modern_dark_purple',
extends: 'modern_dark',
isClassic: false,
isDark: true,
mapping: {
borderRadius: {
none: '0',
min: '2px',
mid: '8px',
max: '12px',
full: '50%',
},
colors: {
accent_01: '#9632a0',
accent_02: '#ae70b4',
accent_03: '#bf87c4',
accent_04: '#d9b4dc',
accent_05: '#eed5f0',
primary_01: '#ffffff',
primary_02: '#f2ebf4',
primary_03: '#e8dded',
primary_04: '#d2c2d6',
primary_05: '#9c95a6',
primary_06: '#906994',
primary_07: '#5d425c',
primary_08: '#4f344d',
primary_09: '#3c263d',
primary_10: '#4e2e51',
primary_11: '#441e42',
},
},
},
},
});Change the theme instantly:
unlayer.setTheme(myCustomThemeObject);To dive deeper, check out Unlayer Docs on Themes.
3- Create a completely new look with Custom JS/ CSS
If all the out-of-the-box themes don't match your specific needs, or you want to customize some particular UI element, you can use Unlayer’s Custom JS / CSS options. This helps you gain more control to tweak any existing theme or even create an entirely new look that fits your brand.
Facing Integration Issues? Don’t Let Them Stop You From Using Unlayer in React
Although integrating Unlayer in a React app is seamless, minor issues pop up, especially if you are working with the SDK for the very first time. You might run into several issues, like:
Unlayer editor doesn’t initialize properly in a React app
AMP/carousel not rendering in React
Difficulty in loading HTML email templates in the builder
Confusion on the declaration of version and how version updates work
Shows a watermark or locked features despite the paid plan
Custom tool not appearing in React integration or is missing in HTML/PDF/image exports
File Manager is not showing up in the editor
If you are facing any of these issues, fret not—we’ve documented the fixes in a detailed guide.
Check Out Here: Troubleshooting Common Issues When Embedding Unlayer in React
Scaling Up: Managing Multiple Embedded Builders
Now that you are done integrating, customizing, and optimizing a single builder, it’s time to take on the next challenge, i.e., scaling your setup so that it can manage multiple editors. This often occurs when you support different brands, regions, or products within your SaaS platform.
We’ve created a dedicated guide on 6 Proven Strategies for Managing Multiple Embedded Builders to help you simplify embedding, unify the user experience, and scale efficiently.
Conclusion
Embeddable React email builders give you the best of both worlds: a no-code design experience for end-users and customization flexibility for developers.
You’ve gone through the key features, the libraries, and the complete integration steps.
It’s your turn now.
Embed Unlayer!
Set up fast. Customize fully. Scale easily.
FAQs About Embeddable React Email Builder
Got questions? Here, we have answered some frequently asked questions about an embeddable React email builder.
Q1. What is the best email builder for React?
Well, your definition of “the best” depends on your specific needs.
However, Unlayer is the top choice of most developers due to its powerful React component, role-based access, custom tools, and seamless integration with CRMs, public-facing platforms, ESPs, etc. It is also white-labeled, embeddable, and customizable, making it a perfect fit for SaaS apps.
Q2. How to fully customize a React email builder?
Well, here are the key steps to fully customize a React email builder like Unlayer:
1️⃣ Embed the email builder in your React app using Unlayer’s React component.
2️⃣ Rebrand the UI with your own logo, colors, and fonts.
👉 (Read the full docs on color management and font management.)
3️⃣ Add custom blocks to match your content or product needs.
4️⃣ Show or hide tools (HTML, image, text, etc.) as per your need.
5️⃣ Set user roles and template permissions for approving, editing, deleting, saving, and exporting.
Still have any queries? Book a free demo and see how easily you can make Unlayer your own.
Q3. Does Unlayer have an SDK/API?
Yes, Unlayer offers both APIs and SDKs.
The JavaScript SDK makes it easy to integrate the email builder on the front end, while the API helps handle everything on the backend, like retrieving, loading, and saving designs, managing webhooks and events, etc.
Q4. Is Unlayer free?
Yes, Unlayer offers a forever-free plan that gives you access to basic:
