5 tools compared · Marketing
Best email marketing software in 2026
Email platforms all send email competently. What separates them is how the price scales as your list grows, how much automation you get before the next tier, and whether their pricing counts contacts or sends. Those three variables decide the bill, and the cheapest platform at 500 contacts is rarely the cheapest at 25,000. This guide compares on that basis.
The short answer
- MailerLite — Best value for most small businesses. Free to 1,000 subscribers; paid from around $10/month.
- Mailchimp — Best integration ecosystem. Free to 500 contacts; Essentials from $13/month.
- Klaviyo — Best for ecommerce. Free to 250 contacts; paid from around $20/month.
- Brevo — Best if you send to a large list infrequently. Free to 300 emails/day; paid from around $9/month.
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit) — Best for creators and paid newsletters. Free to 10,000 subscribers; paid from around $29/month.
Compared side by side
| # | Tool | Our pick for | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MailerLite | Best value for most small businesses | Newsletters and small-business marketing | Free to 1,000 subscribers; paid from around $10/month | Yes |
| 2 | Mailchimp | Best integration ecosystem | Small businesses already using connected tools | Free to 500 contacts; Essentials from $13/month | Yes |
| 3 | Klaviyo | Best for ecommerce | Shopify and WooCommerce stores | Free to 250 contacts; paid from around $20/month | Yes |
| 4 | Brevo | Best if you send to a large list infrequently | Businesses with big lists and low send frequency | Free to 300 emails/day; paid from around $9/month | Yes |
| 5 | Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | Best for creators and paid newsletters | Writers, coaches and course sellers | Free to 10,000 subscribers; paid from around $29/month | Yes |
How we chose
- Cost was modelled at 1,000, 10,000 and 50,000 contacts rather than at the advertised entry price.
- We recorded whether pricing counts total contacts, active contacts or monthly sends.
- Automation was judged by whether branching on behaviour is possible on the cheapest paid tier.
- Deliverability infrastructure and authentication support were checked in documentation.
- No vendor paid for inclusion or saw their placement before publication.
MailerLite Best value for most small businesses
- Best for
- Newsletters and small-business marketing
- Starting price
- Free to 1,000 subscribers; paid from around $10/month
- Free plan
- Yes
MailerLite gives you a clean automation builder, landing pages and a genuinely usable free tier, and it stays cheaper than Mailchimp at every list size we modelled. For a business whose email need is "send a good newsletter and a few automated sequences", this is the default answer.
Watch out: Account approval is manual and can reject affiliate-heavy or list-purchased use cases. Reporting is thinner than the larger platforms.
Mailchimp Best integration ecosystem
- Best for
- Small businesses already using connected tools
- Starting price
- Free to 500 contacts; Essentials from $13/month
- Free plan
- Yes
Almost every website, store and CRM plugin supports Mailchimp first. If your stack is a collection of small tools that need to talk to your list without custom work, that compatibility has real value.
Watch out: The most expensive option on this list at scale, and the free plan brands every send. Check whether your plan counts unsubscribed contacts.
Klaviyo Best for ecommerce
- Best for
- Shopify and WooCommerce stores
- Starting price
- Free to 250 contacts; paid from around $20/month
- Free plan
- Yes
Klaviyo reads store data properly — products, orders, browse behaviour — and attributes revenue to individual flows. For a store, that attribution is the difference between guessing and knowing which automation pays for the subscription.
Watch out: Prices climb steeply with list size, and SMS is billed separately. Overkill for a business without a transactional product catalogue.
Brevo Best if you send to a large list infrequently
- Best for
- Businesses with big lists and low send frequency
- Starting price
- Free to 300 emails/day; paid from around $9/month
- Free plan
- Yes
Brevo prices on sends rather than contacts, which inverts the economics for anyone holding a large list they email monthly. It also bundles SMS, a basic CRM and transactional email, which removes a separate provider.
Watch out: The interface is less refined and template quality is behind the leaders. Deliverability on shared IPs varies more than on the premium platforms.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) Best for creators and paid newsletters
- Best for
- Writers, coaches and course sellers
- Starting price
- Free to 10,000 subscribers; paid from around $29/month
- Free plan
- Yes
Built around the creator model: tag-based subscriber management, easy sequences, paid subscriptions and a recommendation network that actually grows lists. The free tier to 10,000 subscribers is the most generous here.
Watch out: Deliberately plain templates, and weak for ecommerce or complex B2B segmentation. Automation is simple by design.
Compare on your list size, not the entry price
Every platform on this list advertises a low starting figure that applies to a list smaller than yours. The only comparison that means anything is the one you run at your actual contact count and send frequency. It takes ten minutes on five pricing pages and routinely reveals a two-to-three-times difference.
The question nobody asks in the demo
Does this plan count contacts who have unsubscribed or never opened? Some platforms bill on total records stored, some on marketing-eligible contacts, some on sends. This single answer changes your annual cost more than any feature on the comparison table.
Migration is easier than people assume
Exporting subscribers is a CSV. What does not migrate is your automation logic, your templates and your sending reputation on that platform. Budget a day to rebuild flows and expect two or three sends of slightly softer engagement while the new platform’s reputation establishes for your domain. That is the whole cost, and it is smaller than a year of overpaying.
Authentication is not optional
Whichever platform you choose, configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your sending domain. Major inbox providers now enforce authentication for bulk senders, and a platform cannot fix this for you. If a vendor’s onboarding does not walk you through it, do it yourself before your first campaign.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheapest for 10,000 contacts?
In our modelling MailerLite and Brevo were consistently the lowest cost at 10,000 contacts, with Brevo cheaper still if you send infrequently because it charges per send rather than per contact. Mailchimp was the most expensive of the five at that size.
Does contact-based or send-based pricing suit me better?
Send-based pricing wins if you hold a large list and email it occasionally. Contact-based pricing wins if you have a small, highly engaged list you email several times a week. Work out your monthly send volume and your list size, then compare on both.
Do free plans hurt deliverability?
Not inherently, but free tiers usually place you on shared sending IPs with the platform's least vetted users, and most add branding to your emails. Deliverability problems almost always trace back to how you acquired the list rather than which tier you are on.
How often should I clean my list?
Quarterly is a reasonable default: suppress anyone who has not opened in six to twelve months. On contact-priced platforms this directly reduces your bill, and it improves engagement rates, which improves inbox placement.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Mailchimp pricing — checked 1 August 2026
- MailerLite pricing — checked 1 August 2026
- Klaviyo pricing — checked 1 August 2026
- Brevo pricing — checked 1 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email editorial@everyany.one and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.