Flodesk just launched something new, and I’ve been sitting on my thoughts about it for a little while now. Flodesk Studio is a standalone, AI-powered email design web app, separate from the classic Flodesk email builder you may already know.
This post is my personal take. It is not Flodesk’s official position on Studio. Just what I noticed, what I liked, what gave me pause, and what I think is worth knowing before you dive in.
Full disclosure: Studio is in beta, which means it is expected to be a little rough around the edges. That is normal and fine. What matters is whether the core experience is promising enough to be worth your time. I think it is.
What is Flodesk Studio, exactly?
Studio lives at studio.flodesk.com and is completely free to use during beta. No credit card required, no catch. The only ask is your honest feedback.
The concept is this: you describe the email you want, Studio generates three design variations based on your brand, and you refine from there. It is designed to get you roughly 80 to 90 percent of the way to a finished email quickly, so the creative decisions that matter most stay with you.
One thing worth understanding before you try it: Studio is not an assistant that does the work for you. It is more like a well-equipped room where the work happens. The foundation is built by real human designers at Flodesk. The AI assembles those hand-crafted pieces based on your prompt and applies your brand on top. If the result looks like a designer touched it, that is because one did.
It is also not a replacement for the classic Flodesk email builder at this time. It is a different tool for a different starting point, and the two are designed to work together.
And here is the part that makes it genuinely interesting for a wider audience: you do not need to be a Flodesk member to use it. Anyone can create a Studio account, design an email, and export it as HTML to use in whichever email platform they are on, whether that is Mailchimp, Kit, beehiiv, or something else entirely, as long as your platform supports HTML uploads. If you are a Flodesk member, you can send your design straight into your Flodesk account with one click.
What I genuinely love about Flodesk Studio
The on-brand output from the very first generation
If you are an existing Flodesk member and you log in with your Flodesk account, Studio pulls in your brand details automatically: your colors, fonts, logo, and more. When it generates your first email, it already looks like you.
And here is the part that really impressed me: when you browse the block library to swap or add sections, every single block is shown with your branding already applied. You are not looking at a default-styled block and trying to imagine what it would look like in your colors. You can see it. That alone saves a lot of guesswork and a lot of time.
For anyone setting up a fresh Studio account without an existing Flodesk account, you can upload your brand details manually under Brand management, or choose from a set of pre-made brand presets if you are still figuring out your visual identity. The same logic applies either way.
The three generated variations cover different styles
When I ran my first prompt, Studio came back with three email variations: one image and layout heavy, one with a banner or heading image style, and one plain text. I personally loved the first two. The plain text version was not for me, but that is a preference thing, and having three distinct directions from the start is genuinely useful.
The block library is a real upgrade
I was not expecting the block variety to be this good. It has more options than the classic Flodesk email builder, and the blocks are more flexible too. You can move elements around within a block and toggle individual parts on and off, which feels more intuitive than what I am used to in the classic builder.
The range of block types is worth calling out. You get headers, banners, lists, testimonials, countdowns, polls, quotes, recipes, social post styles, personal bios, signatures, and more. There are also fun details like drag-and-drop stickers you can move and rotate freely, new image shapes, and block card styles in solid, grain, and blur finishes. My current favorite is the listicle block, very handy for educational or value-packed emails.
What I think could be better (for now)
You have to start with a prompt. No way around it.
Right now, you cannot jump straight into the builder in Studio and start creating manually. Every email has to begin with a prompt. If you are someone who already knows exactly what you want and prefers to build by hand from the start, that is a small friction point.
That said, I found a workaround that works really well.
Generate your first email through the prompt, even if it is just a placeholder. Studio gives you three variations, and those get saved to your Emails dashboard. From there, hover over any of those email cards, click Duplicate, and open the duplicate in the builder. Now you can work by hand as much as you want: swap blocks, add new ones from the block selector, replace content. No AI required from that point on.
I tested this and it was completely frictionless. It became my preferred way to work in Studio once I knew it was possible.
Chat refinement can be tricky if you do not know the terminology
The chat lets you describe changes you want and Studio applies them. In theory, great. In practice, I sometimes found it hard to describe what I wanted because I did not know what the individual building elements were called inside a block.
My workaround: click around in the manual editor. You can toggle elements on and off, and by doing that, you learn what they are called inside Studio, things like “label,” “card,” “sticker.” Those naming conventions are somewhat different from the classic Flodesk builder, so there is a small learning curve. But once you know what things are called, the chat becomes a lot more useful, and honestly, the manual editing is fast and intuitive enough that I often preferred it anyway.
It is in beta, so expect some bugs
Things will occasionally not work as expected. That comes with the territory. The good news is that you can leave feedback directly inside the app using the Share feedback option, and Flodesk is building Studio in public, which means your input has a real chance of shaping what gets built next. Flodesk says they are shipping features daily, and email is just the beginning. Forms, pages, and other marketing materials are on the way.
So, should you try it?
Yes, especially right now while it is free.
If you are a Flodesk member looking for new layouts and designs without buying additional templates, Studio gives you more to work with than the classic builder, and the on-brand output is genuinely impressive.
If you are not a Flodesk member, this is a low-stakes way to create polished email designs, export them as HTML, and use them in your current platform.
Go in knowing it is a beta product. Some things will not be perfect yet. But the foundation is strong, the block library alone is worth exploring, and you have nothing to lose while it is free. You also get a genuine say in what gets built next, which is not nothing.
Head to studio.flodesk.com to get started.
If you have questions about how Studio works, how to set up your brand, or how it fits into your email workflow, that is exactly what I am here for.
