Cheapest Email Marketing Tools
Zoho Campaigns has the cheapest paid plan in this table: $4 a month on monthly billing for 500 contacts, with unlimited sending. If paying nothing matters more than paying little, Kit's free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, even though its paid plan is the priciest here at $39 a month.
Between those two, the fourteen tools split on what they meter. Brevo, Mailjet, MailerLite and six others cap how many emails the cheapest paid plan sends, so a small list you mail often can hit a ceiling before you outgrow the plan. Zoho Campaigns, Moosend, SendPulse, GetResponse and Kit put no cap on sends at their entry price, which suits someone mailing a small list very often.
Our picks
- Lowest monthly bill: Zoho Campaigns. $4 a month for 500 contacts with unlimited sends, the lowest entry price in the table.
- Largest free list with unlimited sends: Kit. Up to 10,000 subscribers on the free plan, with unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms.
- Automations without paying: Sender. The free plan covers 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, with automation, landing pages and popups included.
- A huge list you mail rarely: Brevo. The free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts but sends 300 emails a day.
- Marketing and transactional email together: Mailjet. The API, SMTP relay and webhooks are on the free plan, and $9 a month covers 2,000 contacts and 8,000 emails.
At a glance
| Option | Starting Price | Contacts at Starting Price | Sends at Starting Price | Free Tier | Free Plan Contacts | Free Plan Sends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $4source | 500source | Unlimitedsource | Free plansource | 2,000source | 6,000 emails/monthsource | |
| $9source | 500source | 5,000 emails/monthsource | Free plansource | 100,000source | 300 emails/daysource | |
| $9source | 2,000source | 8,000 emails/monthsource | Free plansource | 1,000source | 6,000 emails/month (200/day cap)source | |
| $9source | 500source | Unlimitedsource | Free trial onlysource | 0source | Nonesource | |
| $10source | 500source | 10,000 emails/monthsource | Free plansource | 2,500source | 10,000 emails/monthsource | |
| $10source | 1,000source | 12,000 emails/monthsource | Free plansource | 2,500source | 15,000 emails/monthsource | |
| $12source | 500source | 5,000 emails/monthsource | Free plansource | 250source | 2,500 emails/monthsource | |
| $12source | 500source | Unlimitedsource | Free plansource | 500source | 15,000 emails/monthsource | |
| $13source | 500source | 10x contact limitsource | Free plansource | 250source | 500 emails/monthsource | |
| $15source | 500source | 10x subscriber maxsource | Free plansource | 500source | 3,000 emails/monthsource | |
| $16source | 500source | 6,000 emails/monthsource | Free plansource | 250source | 500 emails/monthsource | |
| $19source | 1,000source | 10x contact limitsource | Free plansource | 500source | 2,500 emails/monthsource | |
| $19source | 1,000source | Unlimitedsource | Free trial onlysource | 0source | Nonesource | |
| $39source | 1,000source | Unlimitedsource | Free plansource | 10,000source | Unlimitedsource |
Price per contact at the entry tier
Starting Price only makes sense next to Contacts at Starting Price, because the entry tiers are different sizes. Nine tools price 500 contacts; Sender, Benchmark Email, GetResponse and Kit start at 1,000, and Mailjet at 2,000. That makes Mailjet's $9 plan the most list for the money at entry, and it gives Sender twice EmailOctopus's contacts at the same $10.
Higher up, the difference is what comes with the price. Benchmark Email and GetResponse both charge $19 for 1,000 contacts, but GetResponse includes unlimited sends while Benchmark caps paid sending at ten times the contact limit. Kit's $39 buys visual automations, email sequences, A/B testing, SMS and the removal of Kit branding.
How far each free plan goes
Twelve of the fourteen have a permanent free plan, and those vary more than the paid prices do. Kit (10,000 subscribers, unlimited sends), Sender (2,500 and 15,000 emails a month) and EmailOctopus (2,500 and 10,000) will run a real newsletter, with their own branding on your emails. Sender's free plan is larger than its $10 paid plan, so upgrading there buys features rather than room.
At the small end, Mailchimp and Omnisend both stop at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, and MailerLite at 250 and 2,500. Brevo is the odd shape, storing 100,000 contacts but sending only 300 emails a day. Moosend and GetResponse have no free plan at all, only a 30-day and a 14-day trial.
Upgrade costs behind the cheapest plans
Some entry plans are narrow by design. AWeber's $15 Lite plan allows one email list, three landing pages, three automations and one custom segment. Mailjet keeps its logo on your emails until the $17 Essential plan, MailerLite's unlimited sending starts on the $25 Power plan, and Benchmark Email includes one user, with extra seats at $15 a month each.
Zoho Campaigns keeps segmentation and workflows basic on its $4 plan, and SendPulse's price climbs with list size, so its gap to the cheapest rivals widens as you grow. Omnisend's $16 plan is built for stores, with web push on every tier and SMS billed from $0.007 a message, which is money spent on tools a plain newsletter never touches.
The options in detail
Zoho Campaigns
Zoho Campaigns has the cheapest paid plan in this set at $4 a month for 500 contacts, and that tier lifts sending to unlimited. Its Forever Free plan is roomy too: 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month with five users, where most free plans allow one. The pull is the rest of Zoho, with 35+ app integrations and a natural fit if you already use Zoho CRM or Mail. Automation on the entry plan is deliberately basic (basic segmentation, basic drag-and-drop workflows), with the deeper tooling reserved for higher tiers.
Brevo
Brevo prices mainly by emails sent rather than by list size, which makes it the odd one out here: the free plan will store up to 100,000 contacts but sends only 300 emails a day. The cheapest paid plan is $9 a month on monthly billing, covering 5,000 emails and 500 contacts. That shape suits a big list you mail rarely and fits badly with a small list you mail often, where the daily cap bites first. Brevo also bundles SMS, WhatsApp, push, live chat and a sales CRM, so it spans more channels than anything else at this price.
Mailjet
Mailjet is priced by email volume: the free plan carries 1,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month but caps you at 200 emails a day, and $9 a month lifts that to 8,000 emails and 2,000 contacts with no daily limit. It is the pick when you also need a transactional sender, since the API, SMTP relay and webhooks are in the free plan rather than an upsell. Its own logo stays on your emails until the $17 Essential plan, later than most rivals. Unlimited contacts, segmentation and team collaboration live on that same higher tier.
Moosend
Moosend is one of two tools here with no free plan at all (GetResponse is the other): you get a 30-day trial, then $9 a month for 500 contacts. What that buys is unlimited sending, which makes it the cheapest option for anyone mailing a small list very frequently. Automation workflows, landing pages, subscription forms and an SMTP server are all in the entry plan. Transactional email and SSO sit outside it, and the missing free tier makes Moosend harder to try casually than its rivals.
EmailOctopus
EmailOctopus has the most generous free plan of the mainstream tools here: 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month, in exchange for EmailOctopus branding on your emails and reports that only go back 30 days. Paid is a single Pro tier at $10 a month for 500 subscribers on monthly billing ($9 if you pay yearly), which unlocks design control, permanent reporting, unlimited landing pages and forms, and unlimited users. There is no free trial by design: the company tells you to start on the free plan and upgrade when you outgrow it. It is a deliberately simple product, so anyone needing deep automation branching or ecommerce features will find it thin.
Sender
Sender's free plan is one of the largest anywhere: 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, with automation, landing pages and popups included, in exchange for Sender branding on what you send. Paid starts at $10 a month billed monthly for 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails, which removes the branding and adds SMS, A/B testing and role-based seats. The odd part is the shape of the tiers: the entry paid plan allows fewer subscribers than the free one, so upgrading is about features and branding rather than headroom.
MailerLite
MailerLite pairs a usable free tier with a cheap full-feature paid plan: $12 a month covers 500 subscribers and 5,000 sends, and every paid plan carries the whole toolset rather than gating features by price. The free plan is small at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, and it keeps the MailerLite logo on your emails until you upgrade. Sending is metered as well as list size, since Comfort gives you ten times your subscriber tier each month, so a heavy sender on a small list can hit the ceiling long before outgrowing the plan. Unlimited sending starts on the $25 Power plan.
SendPulse
SendPulse bundles email with chatbots, SMS, a CRM and even course hosting, and its free tier reflects that: 500 subscribers with 15,000 emails a month, one of the most generous free send allowances here. Standard is $12 a month billed monthly at the same 500-subscriber tier, lifting email to unlimited, removing SendPulse branding and adding A/B testing, scheduling and three users. Pricing scales by list size, so the gap to the cheapest rivals widens as you grow. It suits someone who wants several channels in one inexpensive account more than someone who only wants a newsletter.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the default name in email marketing and the priciest of the true entry plans here: Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts, with a monthly send limit of ten times your contact count. The free plan has shrunk to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, so it now works as a demo rather than a place to run a small list. What the money buys is breadth: audience tooling, the full template library, A/B testing, four-step automations and 24/7 email and chat support. The price rises with your contact total, which is exactly why so many of the cheaper tools here sell themselves as Mailchimp alternatives.
AWeber
AWeber is one of the oldest names in email marketing and still runs a real free plan: 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month. Paid Lite is $15 a month billed monthly (or $12.50 a month if you pay for the year) at the same 500-subscriber tier, with a send ceiling of ten times your list. The Lite tier is deliberately narrow, allowing one email list, three landing pages, three automations and one custom segment before you step up to Plus. Its pitch is creator-friendly extras such as landing pages, digital product sales and 24/7 support rather than the lowest possible price.
Omnisend
Omnisend is built for ecommerce rather than newsletters: the entry paid plan is $16 a month for 500 contacts and 6,000 emails, and web push is included on every tier, unlimited from Standard up. The free plan is tight at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, which is enough to wire a store up and test flows but not to run them. SMS sits on the same account, billed per message from $0.007, and the Pro tier adds AI personalization on top. If you are not selling products, you are paying for machinery you will not use.
Benchmark Email
Benchmark Email gives free users the full feature set rather than a stripped-down one: 500 contacts, with sending capped at five times your contact limit and a hard ceiling of 2,500 emails a month. Paid starts at $19 a month and the smallest paid tier is 1,000 contacts, so it skips the 500-contact price point most rivals sell, and paid sending rises to ten times your contact limit. Every plan includes exactly one user and extra seats cost $15 a month each, which makes it expensive for a team. It is a reasonable pick for a solo sender who wants everything unlocked on day one.
GetResponse
GetResponse has the most expensive entry plan here at $19 a month for 1,000 contacts, and no free plan, only a 14-day trial of premium features. What the price covers is unlimited monthly sends on every tier plus a landing page builder, signup forms and popups, and one custom automation workflow on Starter. Its real distinctiveness sits further up the range: webinars, a website builder and course creation on the Creator plan. As a pure cheap-email pick it is hard to argue for; as an all-in-one marketing platform it is one of the broadest in this list.
Kit
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has the largest free plan in this list by an order of magnitude: up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, unlimited landing pages and forms, and audience tagging. The trade is what paid costs when you need it, at $39 a month billed monthly for 1,000 subscribers, which buys visual automations, email sequences, A/B testing, SMS and removal of Kit branding. It is built around creators and newsletters rather than shops or sales teams, with digital product and subscription selling included even on the free tier. For a large list that only sends broadcasts, that free plan is unusually hard to outgrow.
How we researched this
Every price was read from the vendor's own pricing page on September 3, 2026, switched to monthly billing and list price wherever the page opened on an annual rate or a promotion. That is why Kit reads $39 rather than $33, AWeber $15 rather than $12.50 and Omnisend $16 rather than a promotional $11.20; paying for a year up front is cheaper on most of these, and the table does not show that second number. Where a pricing page left out the free-plan limits, as Brevo's, Mailchimp's and SendPulse's did, the figure comes from that vendor's own help pages. Mailchimp, AWeber and Benchmark Email state sending as a multiple of your list, and the table keeps their wording rather than computing a number they do not print.
Constant Contact is missing: its own pricing page never yielded a usable price, and we would not price it from someone else's roundup. Klaviyo and ActiveCampaign start well above this range with no free tier to offset it, and Substack and beehiiv are newsletter platforms paid through subscriptions and revenue share, not a monthly plan. Every cell in the table is filled. Free plans in this category have been shrinking, with Mailchimp's now 250 contacts and 500 sends, so re-read a tool's free-plan caps on the day you import your list, not just the day you pick it.