Most roundups of email marketing tools are ordered by whoever pays the highest commission, and half their numbers are left over from 2024. MailerLite’s free plan is still widely quoted at 1,000 subscribers when it was cut to 250 subscribers in June 2026. Mailchimp’s free plan is still described as 500 contacts when it was cut to 250 contacts in February 2026. Choose from those pages and you plan around limits you will never actually get.
So this list was rebuilt from the vendors’ own pricing pages in October 2026, tool by tool: what the free plan really allows, whether automation is included or locked, and what the first paid step costs. Nine popular tools are covered. Seven have a genuine free plan, and two famous names, GetResponse and Constant Contact, have no free plan at all, only trials. If free is the whole budget for now, our separate guide to free email marketing tools goes deeper on the free plans alone.
The quick facts
- Biggest free list: Kit holds up to 10,000 subscribers free, the largest ceiling here by a wide margin.
- Most free sending: Beehiiv allows unlimited sends to 2,500 subscribers, and Brevo sends 300 emails a day with room for up to 100,000 contacts.
- No free plan: GetResponse and Constant Contact offer trials only. Every other tool here can be used free indefinitely.
- Cheapest way to start paying: Zoho Campaigns from $3 a month billed annually, then Brevo and Sender from $9 a month.
- Most expensive first step: Beehiiv at $49 a month billed yearly and Kit at $33 a month billed yearly.
- All limits and prices below were read on the vendors’ official pricing pages in October 2026.
The 9 tools at a glance
| Tool | Free plan | Free sending | Automation on free | First paid plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Up to 100,000 contacts | 300 emails a day | Yes, up to 2,000 contacts | $9 a month |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers | 2,500 emails a month | Yes | $12 a month |
| Kit | 10,000 subscribers | Unlimited broadcasts | No | $33 a month, billed yearly |
| Sender | 2,500 subscribers | 15,000 emails a month | Yes | $9 a month |
| GetResponse | No free plan, 14-day trial | Unlimited on paid plans | Paid plans | $19 a month |
| Beehiiv | 2,500 subscribers | Unlimited sends | No | $49 a month, billed yearly |
| Zoho Campaigns | 2,000 contacts | 6,000 emails a month | Basic workflows on paid plans | $3 a month, billed annually |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts | 500 emails a month | No | $13 a month |
| Constant Contact | No free plan, free trial | 10x contacts on Lite | Paid plans | $12 a month |
Two patterns matter more than any feature list. Some tools limit how many people you can store, others limit how much you can send, and the strictest limit both. And the free plan is only half the decision: what matters is which limit you will reach first, and what the bill looks like the month after you reach it.
Brevo
Brevo prices by sending volume instead of list size, and that makes its free plan unusually roomy. You can store up to 100,000 contacts and send 300 emails every day, roughly 9,000 a month, with no credit card at signup. Marketing automation is included on free, limited to audiences of up to 2,000 contacts, and a basic CRM sits alongside the email tools, so contacts, deals and campaigns live in one place.
The paid steps stay gentle. Starter costs $9 a month, or $8.08 billed yearly, starting at 5,000 emails a month, and Standard at $18 a month unlocks the full automation workflows. The honest catches: free emails carry Brevo branding, and the daily cap means a launch to a large list goes out in slices, not one send. For steady sending to a growing audience, Brevo is the tool most rivals are measured against.
What we like
- Send 300 emails a day, every day, with 100,000 contacts stored free
- Automations and a simple CRM come with the free plan
- Paid plans start at $9 a month and scale by sending, not list size alone
What could be better
- Brevo branding appears on free plan emails
- The 300 a day cap spreads a big launch across several days
- Full automation workflows wait for the Standard plan
MailerLite
MailerLite is the tool this site’s own newsletter runs on, and it remains the calmest first email tool to learn. The editor stays out of your way, signup forms and landing pages are part of the package, and the free plan even stretches to automations and a simple website, things rivals usually charge for. What changed is the size of that free plan: in June 2026 it was cut to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, down from 1,000 and 12,000.
So read the free plan as a starting ramp, not a home. The first paid step, Comfort, costs $12 a month billed monthly or $10.80 billed yearly for 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails a month, and Power at $25 removes the send cap entirely. If you expect to pay a modest amount within your first year anyway, MailerLite’s ease of use earns it. If you need a free plan you can live on for longer, Brevo and Sender hold more.
What we like
- The easiest editor here for a first time sender
- Free plan still includes automations, forms and a landing page
- Paid plans stay reasonably priced as the list grows
What could be better
- Free plan cut to 250 subscribers in June 2026
- Free plan allows only 3 active automations
- Most roundups still quote the old, bigger free plan
Kit
Kit used to be called ConvertKit, and it shows: everything is aimed at people who write, teach or record for a living. The free plan’s headline number is room for 10,000 subscribers, with broadcasts, landing pages and forms all unlimited. Nobody else in this list lets a list grow anywhere near that far before asking for money, which is why so many creators start here.
What you give up for that headroom is automation. Free accounts get no sequences and no automated workflows whatsoever. The day you want a welcome series, Creator is waiting at $33 a month billed yearly, $39 on monthly billing, for a 1,000 subscriber list, and the price climbs as the list does. So Kit fits the creator who expects the audience to arrive before the income does. Anyone who needs automated emails from the first week should be looking at Brevo, MailerLite or Sender.
What we like
- A free ceiling of 10,000 subscribers, far beyond the rest of this list
- Broadcasts, forms and landing pages carry no free plan cap
- Paid newsletters and digital product sales built in for creators
What could be better
- Automated sequences are paid only
- Creator starts at $33 a month billed yearly and rises as your list grows
- A creator’s tool first; general business marketing is better served elsewhere
Sender
Sender rarely makes the big roundups, which is strange, because on paper its free plan beats most of them. It covers 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, and it is one of the few free plans here where automation is switched on from the start, forms, popups and landing pages included. A small business can have a welcome series running on day one without paying a cent.
Upgrading is painless when the time comes. Standard, from $9 a month, takes the Sender branding off your emails, and Professional at $15 a month unlocks the advanced automation features. The trade offs are a smaller template library and a name your clients have probably never heard of. On the numbers alone, Sender gives away more than tools charging three times as much.
What we like
- 2,500 subscribers with 15,000 monthly emails at no cost
- Welcome automations run even on the free plan
- First paid plan is only $9 a month
What could be better
- Free emails carry Sender branding
- Smaller template library and a lesser known name
- The annual price on its site is a new user discount, not the standard rate
Every free plan looks generous until you read the one limit that applies to you.
GetResponse
GetResponse is the automation heavyweight here, and it starts with a condition the others do not: there is no free plan. The pricing page offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and after that, paying begins. In exchange, even the Starter plan at $19 a month, or $15.58 billed yearly at 1,000 contacts, includes unlimited email sends and one custom automation workflow.
The depth shows one tier up. Step up to Marketer at $59 a month and the limits come off: workflows become unlimited, and abandoned cart recovery and sales funnels join the toolkit, the features online stores actually buy it for. GetResponse suits a business that already sends revenue bearing email and wants serious automation. If you are starting a list from zero, paying from day one is a hard case to make against the free plans above.
What we like
- No send caps on any paid tier
- Deep automation, funnels and ecommerce tools on Marketer
- Landing pages, forms and webinars in the same platform
What could be better
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial
- Marketer jumps to $59 a month
- Overkill for a simple weekly newsletter
Beehiiv
Beehiiv thinks like a newsletter business, not a mailing list. Subscriptions, reader referrals and paid tiers are the product, and the free plan reflects that: 2,500 subscribers and as many sends as you can write, plus access to the recommendation network where newsletters swap readers with each other.
Automation is where free stops. There are no automations at all until you pay, and beehiiv’s branding stays until Pro. The first step up is also the priciest on this page: Lite runs $49 a month on yearly billing, $59 month to month, in return for 10 automations and headroom up to 100,000 subscribers. Take beehiiv when the newsletter is the business itself. For ordinary business email, the tools above give you more for less.
What we like
- Send as much as you like to 2,500 subscribers, free
- Reader referrals and paid subscriptions built in
- Clean, newsletter focused writing experience
What could be better
- Automations are entirely paid
- Branding removal waits for the Pro plan
- First paid plan is the most expensive here at $49 a month billed yearly
Zoho Campaigns
Zoho Campaigns is the budget line of this list, and part of the wider Zoho suite of business apps. The Forever Free plan covers 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month for up to 5 users, which is more users than most free plans allow. When you do upgrade, it barely registers: Standard is $3 a month billed annually at 500 contacts, with unlimited emails and simple drag and drop workflows on top.
The trade offs are polish and ecosystem. The interface feels more dated than MailerLite or Brevo, and Campaigns makes the most sense if you already use other Zoho apps, since the contacts and data flow between them. Judged purely on price per contact, though, nothing else here comes close, and for a small team watching every dollar it is a rational pick.
What we like
- Cheapest paid upgrade here, from $3 a month billed annually
- Free covers 5 users, 2,000 contacts and 6,000 monthly emails
- Connects naturally with the rest of the Zoho suite
What could be better
- Interface feels dated next to MailerLite and Brevo
- Automation workflows are basic at the Standard tier
- Makes most sense inside the wider Zoho suite
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the name most people know, which makes its current free plan the surprise of this list. On the pricing page we checked in October 2026, the free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, no more than 250 on any single day, with one audience, one seat and no automation flows at all. It is the smallest free plan here, smaller than the tool’s own reputation suggests, and sending pauses if you pass the limits.
The paid product underneath is still capable: Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts, with introductory discounts often shown on the pricing page, and the template library and brand recognition remain real advantages for beginners. But in 2026 Mailchimp is a tool you choose for familiarity, not for value. On checked free limits and upgrade prices alike, Brevo, MailerLite and Sender all give a new sender more.
What we like
- The most familiar name and template library for beginners
- Paid tiers carry far bigger send allowances
- Email support included for the first 30 days on free
What could be better
- Free plan is the smallest here: 250 contacts, 500 sends a month
- No automation flows on the free plan
- Sending pauses when a limit is passed
Constant Contact
Constant Contact is one of the oldest email platforms still running, aimed at local businesses that want templates, event tools and a person to call. It is also, with GetResponse, one of only two tools here with no free plan at all: there is a free trial, and then plans start at $12 a month for Lite, or $10.20 billed annually, for up to 500 contacts.
The pricing model needs watching. Sends are a multiple of your contact count, 10 times on Lite and 12 times on Standard at $35 a month, with per email overage fees beyond that. Standard adds useful touches like automatic resends to people who did not open. None of that is unreasonable for an established local business, but a new sender can get more, for free, from almost every other tool on this page.
What we like
- Long running platform with phone support and event tools
- Automatic resend to non openers on Standard
- Simple templates aimed at local businesses
What could be better
- No free plan, trial only
- Send limits are a multiple of contacts, with overage fees
- Standard jumps to $35 a month at 500 contacts
What email marketing actually costs in the first year
The question behind most searches for the cost of email marketing is simpler than the pricing pages make it look: what will the first year actually total? On the smallest paid tier of each tool, billed yearly where a yearly price is published, the first paid year comes out like this.
| Tool | First paid plan | Monthly equivalent | First year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Campaigns | Standard, 500 contacts | $3 billed annually | $36 |
| Brevo | Starter, 5,000 emails a month | $8.08 billed yearly | $97 |
| Constant Contact | Lite, up to 500 contacts | $10.20 billed annually | $122 |
| MailerLite | Comfort, 500 subscribers | $10.80 billed yearly | $130 |
| GetResponse | Starter, 1,000 contacts | $15.58 billed yearly | $187 |
| Kit | Creator, 1,000 subscribers | $33 billed yearly | $396 |
| Beehiiv | Lite | $49 billed yearly | $588 |
Two warnings belong with that table. Sender and Mailchimp are missing on purpose: Sender’s annual figure on its pricing page is a first year discount for new users, and Mailchimp shows introductory promotional pricing, so an honest yearly total for either needs the standard rate, $9 and $13 a month respectively on monthly billing. And every figure here is a starting tier: most of these tools charge more as your list grows, so the real cost of email marketing over a year depends on the list size you finish at, not the one you start with.
