Buttondown
CE 94 free tierWriters and developers after a Markdown-native newsletter with nothing bolted on by default.
~1,000, flat account fee$9 / mo
Covers all 6 people+ $0
Against your $14 ceiling−$5
Team cost$9 / mo
Verified
Reviewed by
Oleh Kem
Oleh KemPlans checked78 / 20 vendors
“Contact sales”13/78
Median entry$14/mo
Entry range$7-49
Free tier13/20
Leader94 Kit
Email marketing platforms compared: pricing, ecommerce and SMS
From a free list of a few thousand to enterprise deals quoted on request, here are the published plans for 20 email marketing platforms in 2026. Most bill by contact count and a few by send volume, so the entry price marks a floor set at the smallest list a vendor will sell you.
How much does email marketing software cost?
Free plans exist on 13 of the 20 platforms, and the first paid tier costs $7 monthly, verified July 29, 2026. Almost all price by the size of your list, so that opening figure is quoted at the smallest audience a vendor sells and rises as your contacts do. The median entry sits near $14.
- The free tiers are limited by list size or a daily send ceiling, not by which features you get, so they suit a starter audience more than a running campaign.
- The paid entry sits between $7 at the cheapest and $49 at the dearest, each quoted at the smallest list a vendor sells; the midpoint is around $14.
- Most bill by contact or subscriber count, and a few by the volume of email you send, so the same list can carry two very different prices.
- Several platforms keep charging for contacts you no longer email until you archive them by hand, which turns list hygiene into a quiet discount.
- Commerce cuts, SMS add-ons and de-branding charges live outside the plan price, so the headline number rarely matches the invoice.
Ranked by a transparency score: pricing transparency 60%, user satisfaction 40%. Capability is not scored. It is the condition grid below. Prices are read from vendor pricing pages and re-checked per product on the dates shown. ComparEdge sells no email marketing platform and takes no payment for placement. How the score is built.
01 / 07
Email platforms ranked: ecommerce, landing pages, SMS and transactional
Each figure is an entry band, quoted at the smallest list or send volume the vendor sells. It moves in one direction as your audience fills out.
Sorted by transparency scorePriced tiers 65 / 78Full disclosure 8 / 20
How to read this table
Reading the console
Vendors sit in order of transparency score, meaning how much of the pricing each one publishes, weighed against user ratings. The scale is logarithmic. A small step to the right can mean a large jump in dollars. Every price is an entry band at the smallest list or send volume a vendor sells, and it rises as that volume grows. The condition columns run in order: ecommerce integration, landing pages, transactional and SMTP sending, SMS, and push. A blank column marks a gap in the record we hold, not something the platform cannot do.
- Price axis
- One shared logarithmic axis, $7 to $499. A tick further right is genuinely dearer. The tall tick is the cheapest paid tier.
- Diamond
- A flat platform fee, billed per month, not per seat.
- Granted
- Listed on the vendor’s own pages on the verify date.
- Conditional
- Present, but some tiers carry no published price.
- Not on the record
- Absent from the recorded feature set. It means unlisted, not incapable.
01KitFree tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional not on the recordSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$33flat94Alternatives to Kit
02ButtondownFree tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce not on the recordLanding pages not on the recordTransactional not on the recordSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$9flat94Alternatives to Buttondown
03OmnisendFree tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional listedSMS listedPush listed$11.20flat93Alternatives to Omnisend
04ActiveCampaignNo free tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional listedSMS listedPush not on the record$15flat91Alternatives to ActiveCampaign
05MailchimpFree tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional listedSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$13flat89Alternatives to Mailchimp
06DripNo free tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce listedLanding pages not on the recordTransactional not on the recordSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$39flat88Alternatives to Drip
07AWeberFree tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional not on the recordSMS not on the recordPush listed$15flat86Alternatives to AWeber
08LoopsFree tier1 of 5 tiers unpricedEcommerce not on the recordLanding pages not on the recordTransactional listedSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$49flat84Alternatives to Loops
09FlodeskFree tierAll tiers pricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional not on the recordSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$25flat82Alternatives to Flodesk
10MailerLiteFree tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional listedSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$12flat79Alternatives to MailerLite
11beehiivFree tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce not on the recordLanding pages listedTransactional not on the recordSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$49flat79Alternatives to beehiiv
12BrevoFree tier1 of 5 tiers unpricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional listedSMS listedPush listed$9flat78Alternatives to Brevo
13KlaviyoFree tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce listedLanding pages not on the recordTransactional not on the recordSMS listedPush not on the record$20flat78Alternatives to Klaviyo
14SenderFree tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional listedSMS listedPush listed$7flat78Alternatives to Sender
15Campaign MonitorNo free tier1 of 5 tiers unpricedEcommerce not on the recordLanding pages not on the recordTransactional listedSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$13flat74Alternatives to Campaign Monitor
16MailjetFree tier1 of 5 tiers unpricedEcommerce not on the recordLanding pages not on the recordTransactional listedSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$9flat71Alternatives to Mailjet
17GetResponseNo free tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional listedSMS listedPush listed$19flat69Alternatives to GetResponse
18Constant ContactNo free tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional not on the recordSMS listedPush not on the record$12flat68Alternatives to Constant Contact
19Twilio SendGridNo free tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce not on the recordLanding pages not on the recordTransactional listedSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$15flat67Alternatives to Twilio SendGrid
20MoosendNo free tier2 of 4 tiers unpricedEcommerce listedLanding pages listedTransactional not on the recordSMS not on the recordPush not on the record$9flat63Alternatives to Moosend
GrantedSome tiers sealedNot on the recordFlat account fee, not per seatScore ranks pricing transparency and user ratings, not capability. Capability is the grid.
20 vendorsMedian entry $14Coverage span 5 → 0 of fiveSealed tiers 13 / 78
Scroll the console sideways to reach the remaining conditions.
02 / 07
Shortlist an email platform by list size and what it really costs
The shortlist ranks by what the plan actually costs your team, not by list price. Flat plans are folded into a per-team number so they compare like for like. Only vendors rated 85 and up are eligible.
Team size
6
Budget / mo
For a team of 6 under $14 / mo, start with these
Ranked by monthly team cost, vendors rated 85 and up
Omnisend
CE 93 free tierShopify and ecommerce stores that want email, SMS, and push inside one automation flow at a low entry.
Standard, flat account fee$11.20 / mo
Covers all 6 people+ $0
Against your $14 ceiling−$2.80
Team cost$11.20 / mo
Mailchimp
CE 89 free tierThe small business that wants email, landing pages, and ads under a single login, willing to pay more for a name it recognizes.
Essentials, flat account fee$13 / mo
Covers all 6 people+ $0
Against your $14 ceiling−$1
Team cost$13 / mo
Not sure what to weigh? Five questions narrow it faster than the grid.Answer 5 questions
03 / 07
Every platform's plans, verdicts and the date we checked each price
Every row unfolds the vendor's complete plan list and shows the date of our last check. Rows are ordered by disclosure, not by cost or brand size.
Transparency scorePricing transparency 60%User satisfaction 40%
The creator selling digital products, not the marketer running broadcast blasts. Kit carries the highest free ceiling in the category and takes a commerce cut per sale once you start selling, so its revenue rides on your storefront rather than a seat count.
Critical gapThe native landing page builder restricts complex design customization.
Plan table and expert take
Kit: expert take
Kit, once ConvertKit, raised its free ceiling to the highest in the category and leaned into selling. The catch arrives with commerce: a cut on each digital sale sits on top of the subscriber tier, a second till most creators miss.
Where Kit holds up
- Creator-focused features like paid newsletters and digital product sales
- Powerful, tag-based subscriber segmentation for targeted campaigns
- Visual automation builder is intuitive for creating complex funnels
- Excellent deliverability rates specifically for creator content
- Generous free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers with landing pages
4.8CE scoreCapterra 4.7Founded 2013Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Newsletter | Free | Free |
| Creator | $33 | $32.50 |
| Pro | $66 | $65.83 |
Writers and developers after a Markdown-native newsletter with nothing bolted on by default. Buttondown starts at zero and sells each capability, segmentation and automations among them, as an add-on, so a plain letter stays cheap and a loaded one adds up.
Critical gapThe platform lacks native support for complex CSS or custom HTML template injections.
Plan table and expert take
Buttondown: expert take
Buttondown's a la carte model is the trap: segmentation and automations are add-ons that stack on the base, so a loaded newsletter adds up while a plain one stays near zero. Markdown-native and lean, it rewards writers who want nothing bolted on.
Where Buttondown holds up
- Excellent Markdown support for code snippets
- Generous free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers
- Powerful API for programmatic email sending
- Distraction-free, text-focused writing interface
- Built-in paid subscription and monetization tools
4.7CE scoreG2 4.6 · 1 reviewsCapterra 4.8Founded 2017Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| First 100 | Free | Free |
| ~1,000 | $9 | $7.50 |
| ~5,000 | $29 | $24.17 |
Shopify and ecommerce stores that want email, SMS, and push inside one automation flow at a low entry. Omnisend prices by contacts and sizes its email allowance at roughly a dozen sends per contact each cycle, then meters SMS separately on top.
Critical gapThe platform experiences interface latency when processing high-volume, complex customer segmentation data.
Plan table and expert take
Omnisend: expert take
Omnisend sizes its email allowance at roughly a dozen sends per contact each cycle, a cap heavy senders can hit, and meters SMS separately on top. Built for retail, it lands email, SMS and push in one automation flow at a low contact-priced entry.
Where Omnisend holds up
- Combines email, SMS, and push notifications in single automation workflows
- Deep e-commerce platform integrations (Shopify, BigCommerce, etc.)
- Generous free plan with all core features, including automation
- Unique product picker for easily adding items to emails
- Built-in audience segmentation based on shopping behavior
4.7CE scoreG2 4.6 · 1,185 reviewsCapterra 4.7Founded 2014Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Standard | $11.20 | Not published |
| Pro | $41.30 | Not published |
Teams that want deep automation wired into a built-in CRM and will commit to annual billing to see the lowest number. The advertised price is the yearly rate; month to month is quieter, and the Starter tier caps you at one user and a fixed send allowance.
Critical gapThe platform experiences significant performance latency when managing databases exceeding 10,000 active contacts.
Plan table and expert take
ActiveCampaign: expert take
The advertised price is annual; month-to-month is quieter and higher, and the Starter tier boxes you into one user and a fixed send cap. What you get for the commitment is automation depth wired into a real CRM, not a bolt-on.
Where ActiveCampaign holds up
- Affordable starting at $15/mo
- Highly rated (4.5/5 on review platforms)
- 48 key features including Email Marketing and Marketing Automation
- Multiple pricing tiers (4 plans) to match different needs
- AI-powered features built in
4.6CE scoreG2 4.5 · 14,682 reviewsCapterra 4.6Founded 2003Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Not published | $15 |
| Plus | Not published | $49 |
| Pro | Not published | $79 |
| Enterprise | Not published | $145 |
The small business that wants email, landing pages, and ads under a single login, willing to pay more for a name it recognizes. Its intro promo halves the first stretch, then the rate resets upward, and unsubscribed contacts keep counting toward your band until you archive them by hand.
Critical gapComplex automation workflows frequently lack technical reliability for scaling operations.
Plan table and expert take
Mailchimp: expert take
Mailchimp has raised rates repeatedly and pared back the free tier over successive cycles. The intro promo halves the first stretch, then resets to full price, and it keeps billing unsubscribed contacts until you archive them by hand. Familiar, and rarely the cheapest.
Where Mailchimp holds up
- Generous free plan for up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends/month.
- Excellent email editor with pre-built templates and creative assistant.
- Strong brand recognition and a very gentle learning curve for beginners.
- Robust A/B testing capabilities for subject lines, content, and send times.
- All-in-one platform includes landing pages, social posts, and websites.
4.5CE scoreG2 4.4 · 12,920 reviewsCapterra 4.5Founded 2001Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Essentials | $13 | Not published |
| Standard | $20 | Not published |
| Premium | $350 | Not published |
The store that wants one plan and no tier-shopping, not the buyer who likes choosing a package. Drip sells a single subscription whose price follows the number of people you track and the volume you send, with unlimited emails inside that.
Critical gapThe platform lacks granular parameter control for complex email sequence customization.
Plan table and expert take
Drip: expert take
Drip hides a second axis inside one flat-looking plan: price tracks both the people you follow and the volume you send, so one simple price is really two dials. In return you get behavior-triggered automation and unlimited sends on a single tier.
Where Drip holds up
- Strong user ratings (4.4/5)
- 15 key features including Email Marketing and Automation Workflows
- API access for custom integrations
- AI-powered features built in
- Workflow automation capabilities
4.5CE scoreG2 4.4 · 474 reviewsCapterra 4.4Founded 2013Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Drip | $39 | Not published |
Solo operators who value deliverability and a dependable free tier over the newest builder. AWeber prices in subscriber bands and shrinks its commerce fee at higher tiers, so heavier sellers recover the upgrade through a smaller cut on every sale.
Critical gapThe interface complicates management of multiple subscriber lists, requiring manual tagging to maintain organizational data structure.
Plan table and expert take
AWeber: expert take
AWeber's ceiling is age: the feature set trails the newer builders. What holds up is deliverability, a genuine free tier, and a commerce fee that shrinks as you move up bands, so heavier sellers claw back the upgrade through a smaller cut.
Where AWeber holds up
- Free plan available
- Affordable starting at $14.99/mo
- Strong user ratings (4.2/5 on G2)
- 15 key features including Email Campaigns and Automation
- Multiple pricing tiers (4 plans) to match different needs
4.3CE scoreG2 4.2 · 649 reviewsCapterra 4.4Founded 1998Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Lite | $15 | $12.50 |
| Plus | $30 | $20 |
| Done For You | $30 | $20 |
The SaaS team wiring product, transactional, and marketing email into app events, not the newsletter writer. Loops keeps a rare flat shape with no per-seat or per-send charge on its paid plans and includes transactional sends rather than metering them apart.
Critical gapThe platform lacks deep native CRM synchronization for complex data.
Plan table and expert take
Loops: expert take
Loops keeps a rare flat shape: no per-seat or per-send charge on its paid plans, with transactional email included rather than metered apart. The limit is focus. It is built for SaaS product and lifecycle mail, not the newsletter writer.
Where Loops holds up
- Unified platform for marketing, transactional, and product emails
- Audience segmentation based on real-time product events
- Built-in visual editor for React-based email templates (LoopsUI)
- Native integrations with popular SaaS tools like Stripe and Segment
- Generous free plan includes API access and 2,000 contacts
4.9CE scoreG2 4.8 · 41 reviewsCapterra 4.8Founded 2022Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Starter | $49 | Not published |
| Growth | $99 | Not published |
| Pro | $199 | Not published |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
Creatives who want templates that look designed and a bill that ignores dead weight, not the marketer who lives in automation. Flodesk counts only active subscribers, so unsubscribes never cost you, and it retired its old flat unlimited plan for new signups.
Critical gapThe platform lacks granular reporting and deep CRM integration.
Plan table and expert take
Flodesk: expert take
Flodesk closed its old flat unlimited plan to new signups and moved to tiered pricing. Its standout remains the meter: it counts only active subscribers, so unsubscribes never cost you. The free tier builds forms but cannot send. Design-first, light on automation.
Where Flodesk holds up
- Visually stunning, design-forward email templates
- Unlimited subscribers and sends on all paid plans
- Built-in checkout and sales pages for direct monetization
- Intuitive visual workflow builder for automations
- Flat-rate pricing model avoids subscriber-based cost increases
4.1CE scoreG2 4 · 255 reviewsCapterra 4.2Founded 2019Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Lite | $25 | $19 |
| Pro | $28 | $25 |
| Everything | $54 | $49 |
Growing creators who want a clean builder, a proper free tier, and one of the lower paid entries here. MailerLite folds in websites and digital-product selling, though its round-the-clock support and a dedicated IP come with conditions the free plan drops after two weeks.
Critical gapComplex, high-volume automation workflows encounter functional scaling constraints within the platform.
Plan table and expert take
MailerLite: expert take
MailerLite's free plan looks generous until the fine print: round-the-clock support and a dedicated IP carry conditions the free tier drops after two weeks. Past that, it is one of the cheaper clean builders here, with websites and digital-product selling folded in.
Where MailerLite holds up
- Generous free plan includes automation and landing pages
- Built-in website builder, blog, and digital product selling tools
- Intuitive drag-and-drop editor simplifies campaign creation
- Excellent value with advanced features at a low price point
- 24/7 live chat and email support on all paid plans
4.8CE scoreG2 4.7 · 1,107 reviewsCapterra 4.7Founded 2010Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Comfort | $12 | $10.80 |
| Power | $25 | $22.50 |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
The publisher who treats the list as a business, not the hobbyist mailing a few friends. beehiiv builds in an ad network, referrals, and paid subscriptions, sends unlimited email on every tier, and caps its Scale and Max plans at a hundred thousand subscribers.
Critical gapThe platform lacks native organic growth tools for acquiring new subscribers.
Plan table and expert take
beehiiv: expert take
beehiiv's Scale and Max plans cap out at a hundred thousand subscribers, so the largest lists hit a ceiling. The draw is monetization built in: an ad network, referrals and paid subscriptions, with unlimited sends on every tier so you pay for the list, not the volume.
Where beehiiv holds up
- Built-in ad network for instant newsletter monetization
- Integrated referral program to accelerate subscriber growth
- Generous free plan supports up to 2,500 subscribers
- Advanced segmentation & A/B testing on paid plans
- Native tools for paid subscriptions (no third-party plugin needed)
4.8CE scoreG2 4.7 · 40 reviewsCapterra 4.7Founded 2021Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Launch | Free | Free |
| Scale | $49 | $43 |
| Max | $109 | $96 |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
The sender with a large but quiet list, not the brand hoarding contacts it never mails. Brevo bills by the volume you send rather than the people you store, so an unlimited contact list stays cheap and the meter only moves when you hit send.
Critical gapAggressive automated account suspension flags legitimate third-party database imports.
Plan table and expert take
Brevo: expert take
Brevo's oddity is its meter: it bills by emails sent, not contacts stored, so a big dormant list stays cheap and heavy senders pay. Removing its badge is a separate monthly charge on Starter, and the CRM is a distinct paid product.
Where Brevo holds up
- Generous free plan with 300 emails/day and unlimited contacts
- Transactional emails (SMTP) included in all plans, even free
- Combines email, SMS, chat, and landing pages in one platform
- Advanced automation workflows available on lower-priced tiers
- Pay-as-you-go credits for email and SMS offer great flexibility
4.6CE scoreG2 4.5 · 2,561 reviewsCapterra 4.5Founded 2012Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Starter | $9 | $8.08 |
| Standard | $18 | $16.17 |
| Professional | $499 | $449.08 |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
Ecommerce brands on Shopify running revenue-attributed email and SMS off store data. Klaviyo meters two things at once, active profiles for email and a separate credit pool for texts, so a tightly segmented list is cheaper than a bloated one of the same size.
Critical gapThe interface complicates image library management and bulk list cleaning operations.
Plan table and expert take
Klaviyo: expert take
Klaviyo runs two meters at once, active profiles for email and a separate SMS credit pool, so an unsegmented list quietly inflates the bill; an active profile is not the same as a subscriber. The payoff is store-data segmentation few rivals match.
Where Klaviyo holds up
- Free plan available
- Competitive pricing from $20/mo
- Highly rated (4.6/5 on G2)
- 41 key features including Email Marketing and SMS Marketing
- Multiple pricing tiers (3 plans) to match different needs
4.7CE scoreG2 4.6 · 1,349 reviewsCapterra 4.7Founded 2012Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| $20 | Not published | |
| Email & SMS | $35 | Not published |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
The cost-sensitive sender who wants a roomy free tier, not the buyer chasing brand cachet. Sender pairs email and SMS at one of the lowest paid entries here, with two caveats: texting is priced by destination country and the headline excludes VAT.
Critical gapReported latency in message dispatching and inconsistent email deliverability rates.
Plan table and expert take
Sender: expert take
Sender's headline hides two things: prices exclude VAT, which adds a fifth or more in some countries, and SMS is priced by destination country. Look past that and it pairs email and SMS at one of the lowest paid entries here, on a roomy free tier.
Where Sender holds up
- Generous free plan with all features, up to 15,000 emails/mo
- Integrated email, SMS, and push notifications on all plans
- Free plan includes advanced automation and segmentation features
- Simple, drag-and-drop editor for emails and pop-ups
- Pay-as-you-go credits available for infrequent senders
4.8CE scoreG2 4.7 · 246 reviewsCapterra 4.6Founded 2012Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free Forever | Free | Free |
| Standard | $7 | Not published |
| Professional | $14 | Not published |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
Brand and agency teams that care most about template control and design polish. Campaign Monitor prices in contact bands but sells some Essentials features, like click segmentation and countdown timers, as one-off purchases rather than folding them in.
Critical gapWeekend support is unavailable for lower-tier service plans.
Plan table and expert take
Campaign Monitor: expert take
Campaign Monitor sells some Essentials features, like click segmentation and countdown timers, as one-off purchases rather than including them, so the plan price understates a loaded setup. What you are really buying is template control and design polish, priced in contact bands.
Where Campaign Monitor holds up
- Visually stunning, design-led email templates
- Intuitive drag-and-drop builder is exceptionally easy to use
- Link Review tool automatically finds and flags broken links
- Detailed segmentation options based on user behavior and data
- Strong deliverability reputation ensures emails reach the inbox
4.2CE scoreG2 4.1 · 721 reviewsCapterra 4.5Founded 2004Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Not published |
| Lite | $13 | $11.70 |
| Essentials | $31 | $27.90 |
| Premier | $171 | $153.90 |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
Development shops after an email API and SMTP relay with shared template editing. Mailjet prices by the volume you send rather than the contacts you keep, and stays inside EU data rules, which suits teams sending transactional mail out of Europe.
Critical gapUsers report inconsistent support responsiveness and occasional integration reliability issues.
Plan table and expert take
Mailjet: expert take
Mailjet meters on send volume, not stored contacts, so a large list you rarely mail stays cheap. Its free tier throttles to a daily send cap. The pitch is a developer-friendly API and SMTP relay inside EU data rules, with shared template editing.
Where Mailjet holds up
- Real-time collaboration on email templates for teams
- Combines marketing & transactional email in one platform
- A/B tests up to 10 email variations, more than most rivals
- Generous free plan with 6,000 emails/month and API access
- Strong deliverability tools like Email Verification API
4.1CE scoreG2 4 · 173 reviewsCapterra 4.3Founded 2010Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Starter | $9 | Not published |
| Essential | $17 | Not published |
| Premium | $27 | Not published |
| Custom | Contact sales | |
Marketers who want webinars and funnels bundled with the email tool rather than bought separately. GetResponse keeps a standing free plan off to one side and prices its paid tiers across eight list-size bands, with a discount and a free domain on annual billing.
Critical gapThe email editor interface exhibits documented UI performance inconsistencies.
Plan table and expert take
GetResponse: expert take
GetResponse spreads its paid pricing across eight list-size bands, so the jump between tiers is easy to miss. Its Free Forever plan sits outside the ranked axis. The reason to pay more is bundled webinars and funnels, not a bigger send limit.
Where GetResponse holds up
- Built-in webinar hosting, a rare feature in email platforms
- Conversion Funnel builder visualizes the entire customer journey
- Free plan includes a website builder and landing pages
- Advanced segmentation based on user behavior and lead scoring
- 24/7 live chat support is available on all paid plans
4.3CE scoreG2 4.2 · 1,120 reviewsCapterra 4.2Founded 1998Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free Forever Plan | $0 | Not published |
| Starter | $19 | $15 |
| Marketer | $59 | $48 |
| Creator | $69 | $56 |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
The small business or nonprofit that wants a person on the phone, not the lowest line item. Constant Contact charges by contacts and by sends together, adds overage fees when you pass the band, and reserves a bundled text allowance for its upper tier.
Critical gapThe platform suffers from recurring system downtime and restrictive template design parameters that hinder unique brand identity.
Plan table and expert take
Constant Contact: expert take
Constant Contact bills on contacts and sends together and adds overage fees past the band, so the meter runs two ways at once. There is no standing free tier, and bundled texting is reserved for the top plan. You pay for phone support and event tools.
Where Constant Contact holds up
- Affordable starting at $12/mo
- Strong user ratings (4/5 on G2)
- 31 key features including Email Campaigns and Email Templates
- Multiple pricing tiers (3 plans) to match different needs
- AI-powered features built in
4.1CE scoreG2 4 · 7,388 reviewsCapterra 4.3Founded 1995Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $12 | Not published |
| Standard | $35 | Not published |
| Premium | $80 | Not published |
| Teams | Contact sales | |
Engineering teams sending transactional and marketing email at scale through one API and SMTP relay. SendGrid, owned by Twilio, meters two axes together, the contacts you store and the emails you send, and warns that taxes and overages can land on top.
Critical gapThe mandatory compliance review process causes significant initial deployment latency.
Plan table and expert take
Twilio SendGrid: expert take
SendGrid, owned by Twilio, meters two axes together, contacts stored and emails sent, and warns that taxes and overages can land on top. Built for deliverability at scale through one API and SMTP relay, it is an engineering tool first, a marketing one second.
Where Twilio SendGrid holds up
- Industry-leading email deliverability and inbox placement rates
- Solid, well-documented APIs and libraries for developers
- Scalable infrastructure handles billions of emails per day
- Detailed real-time analytics on opens, clicks, and bounces
- Offers both a flexible API and a visual marketing campaign builder
4.1CE scoreG2 4 · 366 reviewsCapterra 4.2Founded 2009Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | $0 | Not published |
| Basic | $15 | Not published |
| Advanced | $60 | Not published |
| Custom | Contact sales | |
The budget team that wants automation without platform pricing, not the buyer who needs a standing free plan. Moosend counts unique addresses across all your lists so duplicates are not billed twice, and it stacks a nonprofit discount on top of the annual saving.
Critical gapThe software lacks strong native integrations required for complex, high-volume enterprise CRM data synchronization.
Plan table and expert take
Moosend: expert take
Moosend's free option is a time-boxed trial, not a standing tier. Its quiet advantage is counting unique addresses across all your lists, so duplicates are not billed twice, and a nonprofit discount stacks on top of the annual saving. Cheap automation without platform pricing.
Where Moosend holds up
- Affordable starting at $9/mo
- Highly rated (4.6/5 on review platforms)
- 15 key features including Email Campaigns and Marketing Automation
- API access for custom integrations
- AI-powered features built in
4.8CE scoreG2 4.7 · 738 reviewsCapterra 4.6Founded 2011Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | $0 | Not published |
| Pro | $9 | $7 |
| Moosend+ | Contact sales | |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
04 / 07
Compare any two email platforms: plans, list limits and our score
vs
What the records say
Buttondown starts cheaper: $9 / mo flat against $33 from Kit, 3.7× apart at the door.
Headcount does not move these bills: Buttondown is $9 / mo and Kit is $33 / mo, $24 / mo apart.
Kit carries 2 of the 5 capability columns on the record; Buttondown shows 0.
Both run a free tier, so either can be tried before the bill starts.
Both publish every tier they sell.
Pick Kit for: The creator selling digital products, not the marketer running broadcast blasts.
Pick Buttondown for: Writers and developers after a Markdown-native newsletter with nothing bolted on by default.
Kit
CE 94Published plans, US$/mo
NewsletterFree
Creator$33
Pro$66
Team of 6$33 / mo
Verified July 8, 2026
Buttondown
CE 94 · G2 4.6Published plans, US$/mo
First 100Free
~1,000$9
~5,000$29
Team of 6$9 / mo
Verified July 8, 2026
Both price lists on the category axis
Kit
Buttondown
Where they differ
Only Kit has on the record
- Ecommerce
- Landing pages
Only Buttondown has on the record
—
05 / 07
Email marketing questions: small business cost, 10,000 sends, Mailchimp
How much does email marketing cost for a small business?
Plan on a low double-digit monthly figure for a list in the low thousands, rising as the list fills. The cheapest paid entries start in the single digits and the pricier suites open in the tens, and annual billing usually knocks off a tenth to a fifth. A free tier handles a starter list on most of the platforms here.
How much does it cost to send 10,000 emails a month?
It depends on which meter you are on. Platforms that bill by contacts price a 10,000-address list in a mid tier whether you email it once or daily. Platforms that bill by sends charge for the 10,000 dispatches instead, which can fit a low tier or even a free allowance if your list is small but active.
Why did Mailchimp raise its prices?
Mailchimp has stepped its rates up more than once and trimmed what the free tier includes, a pattern common to the older all-in-one suites as they add features and chase larger accounts. Its intro promo also halves the first stretch, then resets to full price, so a renewal can look like a price rise even when the list has not grown.
Why is email marketing so expensive once your list grows?
Because the price is tied to list size, not to how much you use the tool. A contact you collected two years ago and never email still counts toward your band on most platforms. Cross a band threshold and the whole plan steps up, so a list padded with dead addresses pays the same as an engaged one twice its value.
How can I lower my email marketing bill?
Prune the list first. Archiving or deleting contacts you no longer email drops you into a lower band on contact-priced platforms, and some keep billing for unsubscribes until you remove them by hand. Move to annual billing for the standard discount, and if you send rarely to a big list, a send-based platform can be far cheaper than a contact-based one.
What decides the price, your contact count or the emails you send?
One or the other, and it changes the math completely. Contact-based platforms charge for everyone on the list regardless of how often you write. Send-based ones charge for dispatches, so a large list you email monthly stays cheap while a small list you email daily costs more. A handful meter both at once. Identify which meter applies first, then compare headline prices.
Is paying annually worth it for an email platform?
Usually, if you are past the trial stage. Annual billing on most platforms here trims a tenth to a fifth from the monthly rate, and a few throw in a free domain. The catch is that you lock the list-size band for the year, so if your list shrinks you keep paying for the higher band until renewal.
At what point does a free email plan run out of room?
The moment the list outgrows the cap or you need to drop the vendor's badge. Free tiers are limited by subscriber count or a daily send ceiling, and removing the branding from your footer is often the first paid step. Some free plans also hold back automations, and a couple let you build forms but not actually send. Read the cap, not the word free.
Which email marketing platform is cheapest to start paying for?
The lowest paid entries sit in the single digits a month, from the budget senders built to undercut the suites. Watch two things before picking on price alone: a headline quoted before tax is not what you pay in a VAT country, and its opening plan is quoted at a tiny list, so the ranking reshuffles as your audience grows.
What counts as a contact on your monthly bill?
Not always what you would expect. Some platforms bill every address you have ever collected, including people who unsubscribed, until you archive them. Others count only active or engaged profiles, so a cleaned list costs less. A few dedupe addresses that appear on more than one of your lists so you are not billed twice. The definition is where two equal-looking prices quietly diverge.
Do I need a separate tool to send SMS as well as email?
No, several platforms here bundle both, but SMS almost always meters on top of the email plan. Texts are priced per message and often by destination country, and a few reserve a monthly text allowance for their upper tiers while selling it as an add-on lower down. Budget SMS as a usage line, not a flat feature.
Can I take my subscriber list to another platform?
The contacts export cleanly as a file. The rest does not. Automations, forms, templates and reports must be recreated on the new tool, because none of that structure transfers between platforms. That friction is the honest argument for trying a free plan, or paying by the month, before your automations pile up and moving becomes a project.
The opening price is the least reliable number on the page
Nearly every platform here quotes its cheapest plan at a small starting list, a few thousand contacts at most. That figure says nothing about what you pay at ten thousand or a hundred thousand, which is the range most businesses actually live in. The slope above the entry band is the number worth comparing, and vendors rarely put it on the marketing page.
Two platforms with the same opening price can diverge sharply once the list fills, because one counts every address you ever collected and another counts only the people you still email. Read the band structure, not the first row.
The charges a pricing page never shows
The plan price covers sending to your list. It does not cover the cut a platform takes on digital sales, the per-message charge for SMS, the surcharge to strip the vendor's badge from your footer, or the tax added at checkout in some countries. Each of these sits in a different corner of the billing settings.
None of it is hidden in a dishonest sense; it is priced separately, which means the headline you compared and the invoice you receive are answering different questions. Add up the extras you will actually use before deciding which plan is cheapest.
The verdict on email marketing platformSigned review · Updated
List size is the meter, and the meter reads your habits: unsubscribed contacts can bill until archived, active profiles are not subscribers, and send-based pricing rewards a big quiet list. Know which of the three your vendor counts before you compare two prices.
The welcome discounts are real and short. Our number tracks how far up the bands a vendor will publish, not how well the mail lands.
MethodEvery price on this page is read from the vendor's own pricing page: 78 plans across twenty vendors, last verified .
DisclosureCollection is tool-assisted; every verdict is written and signed by a human analyst.
06 / 07
Not sure which? Answer one, take a shortlist.Pick the line that sounds like your team. Each one opens the vendor built for it.
The creator selling digital products, not the marketer running broadcast blastsKitWriters and developers after a Markdown-native newsletter with nothing bolted on by defaultButtondownShopify and ecommerce stores that want email, SMS, and push inside one automation flow at a low entryOmnisendTeams that want deep automation wired into a built-in CRM and will commit to annual billing to see the lowest numberActiveCampaignThe small business that wants email, landing pages, and ads under a single login, willing to pay more for a name it recognizesMailchimpThe store that wants one plan and no tier-shopping, not the buyer who likes choosing a packageDripStill weighing it? Answer 5 questions, take a shortlist.
07 / 07
Read next: cost guides for email marketing platform, plus related categories
Cost guidesKit cost guideButtondown cost guideOmnisend cost guideActiveCampaign cost guideMailchimp cost guideRelated categoriesWebsite BuildersCRMAnalytics & BIPayments & BillingCustomer SupportCompare two vendorsKit vs ButtondownButtondown vs OmnisendOmnisend vs ActiveCampaignActiveCampaign vs MailchimpMailchimp vs DripDrip vs AWeberStill unsureAnswer 5 questions → a shortlistAll categories
How this review is made. Prices are read from vendor pricing pages and re-checked on the dates shown against each product. Condition columns reflect the feature set recorded on the vendor’s own pages on that date. ComparEdge sells no email marketing platform and takes no vendor payment for placement. Where a vendor publishes nothing, this page says so rather than estimating. Ranking is by transparency score: pricing transparency 60%, user satisfaction 40%. What a product can do is shown in the condition columns and carries no weight in the number.