Best email marketing software in 2026, ranked by what you really pay
From 1,000 to 10,000 contacts: what each platform bills for, and how the bill moves as your list grows.
Most "best email marketing software" lists rank the same names and quote the same starting prices. Few tell you what the bill looks like once your list grows from 1,000 to 10,000 contacts, whether unsubscribed people still count toward it, or why a brand-new account can get suspended right after its first campaign. That's the angle here: we compared eight platforms on billing model, free plan, deliverability and data location.
The short answer: Brevo if your list grows faster than your sending, because it bills for emails, not contacts. MailerLite for the easiest start. Mailchimp if your stack already plugs into it, as long as you archive unsubscribes. ActiveCampaign for serious automation. Kit for creators, free up to 10,000 subscribers.
Want picks by niche instead of by billing model? Our email marketing tools roundup covers that, and our small business ranking focuses on teams.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always labeled on its entry, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The best email marketing software for your situation
Billed per email, Starter $9 a month
Easiest to startFree to 250 subscribers, Comfort from $12
Biggest integration catalogEssentials from $13, unsubscribes count
Advanced automation$15 a month billed yearly at 1,000 contacts
CreatorsFree up to 10,000 subscribers
Email inside a CRMOnly marketing contacts are billed
The 8 best email marketing platforms side by side
Rank follows the most common buyer: a business sending a regular newsletter plus a few automations. Scores come from our full reviews.
| Best for | What it does best | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brevo | Best overall for growing lists | Billed per email, not per contact | 4.1/5 | Free; Starter $9/mo | ✓ | Most businesses | Visit → |
| 2 | MailerLite | Best for getting started | Simplest editor in the ranking | 4.1/5 | Free; Comfort from $12/mo | ✓ | Beginners, small lists | Visit → |
| 3 | Mailchimp | Best for integrations | Plugs into almost any tool | 4.0/5 | Free; Essentials from $13/mo | ✓ | Teams with an existing stack | Visit → |
| 4 | ActiveCampaign | Best for automation | Branching automations | 4.0/5 | Starter $15/mo billed yearly (1,000 contacts) | — | Marketing teams that automate | Visit → |
| 5 | Kit | Best for creators | Free up to 10,000 subscribers | 4.2/5 | Free; paid from $39/mo month-to-month | ✓ | Creators, writers, coaches | Visit → |
| 6 | HubSpot | Best with a CRM | Email and CRM on one record | 4.2/5 | Free; Starter $20/seat/mo list price | ✓ | Sales and marketing teams | Visit → |
| 7 | Sender | Best free plan for volume | 15,000 free emails a month | 4.0/5 | Free; Standard from $7/mo billed yearly | ✓ | Tight budgets | Visit → |
| 8 | Moosend | Cheapest paid automation | Automation on the entry plan | 3.5/5 | Pro $9/mo for 500 contacts | — | Budget automation | Visit → |
Entry prices read on each vendor's official pricing page in 2026, in US dollars.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
Most buyers pick an email platform on its "from" price. That's the wrong number. The one that matters is your bill once the list has grown, and it depends on what the vendor counts: contacts (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Kit, Moosend), active profiles (Klaviyo) or emails sent (Brevo). Two tools with the same entry price can end up far apart at 10,000 contacts.
We read every official pricing page and billing policy, the vendors' data-hosting pages, Google's bulk sender rules for Gmail, and thousands of user reviews, with extra weight on the negative ones: suspended accounts, surprise overage fees, slow support. Scores for Brevo, ActiveCampaign, Kit, HubSpot, Sender and Moosend come from their full reviews; MailerLite and Mailchimp scores are the ones already published in our small business ranking. Rank follows the typical buyer, not only the score.
Not ranked, and why. Klaviyo is the default for ecommerce, but its paid prices sit behind a slider and it bills every active profile; the free plan stops at 250 active profiles and 500 sends a month. Omnisend also targets online stores: free for 250 contacts, Standard at $11.20 a month for 500 contacts and 6,000 emails, Pro at $41.30 for 2,500 contacts. GetResponse starts at $19 a month at 1,000 contacts ($15.58 billed yearly). We don't have full reviews of these yet, so rather than invent a score, we name them here and in the FAQ.
- Value for moneyBilling unit, cost as the list grows, real free plan, overage fees.30%
- Features and depthAutomation, segmentation, A/B tests, forms and landing pages.25%
- Ease of useEditor, first send, account approval.20%
- Customer supportResponse time, help when an account is suspended.15%
- IntegrationsStore, CRM, forms, connectors.10%
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always labeled on its entry, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Get our next marketing tool comparison by email
Brevo
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) ties your bill to emails sent, not for the size of your list. The free plan sends 300 emails a day. If you collect sign-ups steadily but only mail them a few times a month, this model keeps the bill flat where contact-based tools climb.
Starter costs $9 a month and Standard $18, the plan that unlocks unlimited automation and A/B tests. The jump after that is steep: Pro is $499 a month. Paid tiers also cap stored contacts, so check the cap on the tier you pick.
Data sits with OVH in France and Germany and Google Cloud in Belgium, with ISO 27001 certification. If you sell to EU customers, that's one less question from your legal team.
The catch: account suspensions. Users describe accounts frozen right after their first sends, and support that takes its time to restore them. Starter also keeps the Brevo logo in your emails.
Tip: authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and import only opted-in contacts before your first campaign. That's exactly what the review team looks at before suspending an account.
- Billed per email sent
- Data hosted in the EU, ISO 27001
- Email, SMS and a light CRM in one tool
- ✓Bill stays flat while the list grows
- ✓Low entry price
- ✓Generous free contact storage
- ✗New accounts sometimes suspended after first sends
- ✗Brevo logo on Starter
- ✗Big jump from $18 to $499 for Pro
The best default when your list outgrows your sending: you pay for what you send.
MailerLite
MailerLite is the tool people recommend most often to someone starting out. The drag-and-drop editor is clear, forms and landing pages come together fast, and its 4.6 ease-of-use score is the highest in this ranking.
The free plan is small but complete: 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, two seats, three active automations of five steps each, one landing page. Comfort starts at $12 a month, with a send allowance of 10x your subscriber tier. Power, from $25, moves to unlimited sends under fair use.
MailerLite counts active subscribers, not unsubscribes. On an older list, that's a real difference from Mailchimp.
The catch: account approval. MailerLite wants a live website before it lets you send, and some users report accounts restricted or closed with little explanation. Get approved well before launch day.
Tip: start monthly and switch to yearly (10% off) only once your list has settled.
- Simplest editor in the ranking
- Bills active subscribers only
- Landing pages and forms included
- ✓Fast first campaign
- ✓Support often praised for speed
- ✓Low entry price for small lists
- ✗Strict account approval, live site required
- ✗Free plan capped at 250 subscribers
- ✗Automations shallower than ActiveCampaign
The easiest place to start, as long as you get your account approved early.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is still the best-known name in email, and its 4.6 integrations score is the highest here. Almost every tool on the market can send it contacts. If your business already runs through it, leaving has a real cost in time.
The free plan covers under 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day) for one user. Essentials starts at $13 a month with a send limit of 10x your contacts; Standard at $20 (12x); Premium at $350 (15x). From 10,000 contacts, Mailchimp lists 15% off for 12 months.
The trap: unsubscribed contacts count toward your billed limit, along with non-subscribed ones. Only cleaned, archived or deleted contacts drop out. An older list can have you paying for people who will never receive another email. Overage fees apply when you go past your tier.
Data is stored in the US. Negative reviews focus on price increases, overage charges and the rule that lets you drop back to the free plan only once.
Tip: archive unsubscribes every month. They leave the bill and their history stays.
- Highest integrations score in the ranking (4.6)
- Mature editor and templates
- 15% off for 12 months from 10,000 contacts
- ✓Connects to nearly any stack
- ✓Easy to use (4.2)
- ✓14-day trial on paid plans
- ✗Unsubscribes billed until you archive them
- ✗Overage fees
- ✗Value for money score of 3.3
Solid if your tools already plug into it. Thinking of leaving? Our Mailchimp switching guide covers the migration.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has the highest features score in this ranking (4.6). Its automations branch: if the contact opens, clicks, buys or waits three days, something different happens. It's the tool you pick when email has to sell, not just inform.
There's no free plan. Starter is $15 a month billed yearly at 1,000 contacts ($19 month-to-month). Plus, the plan most teams land on, is $49 ($59 monthly); Pro is $79. Every one of those prices is quoted at 1,000 contacts and rises with your list.
That's the catch. ActiveCampaign bills contacts, so a growing list raises the bill even if you don't send more. Our review also scores ease of use lower (3.5): expect a few days to build your first automations properly.
Tip: run Plus monthly for two or three months to confirm you actually use the automations, then go yearly. Prune inactive contacts regularly, since every record you keep is billed.
- Branching automation, the deepest in the ranking
- Monthly or yearly billing
- Integrations score of 4.4
- ✓Very fine conditional logic
- ✓Strong integrations
- ✓Month-to-month option
- ✗No free plan
- ✗Billed per contact
- ✗Slower to learn
The right call if your emails need to sell on autopilot; overkill for a simple newsletter.
Kit
Kit, formerly ConvertKit, is built for creators. Its free plan is the most generous here on list size: up to 10,000 subscribers, with one recommendation slot managed by Kit in your sends. You can grow an audience for months without paying.
Paid plans start at $39 a month month-to-month at 1,000 subscribers; Kit shows a lower monthly equivalent when you pay yearly. Price then follows subscriber count. Automations, logo removal and advanced features sit behind the paywall.
Kit scores 4.6 on ease of use and 4.5 on features in our review, but only 3.8 on value. Its standout for creators is the recommendation network between newsletters, which helps lists grow.
The catch: the jump from free to paid feels steep to a solo creator who only wants a welcome sequence. For a store selling physical products, Klaviyo or Omnisend fit better.
Tip: stay free until you genuinely need automation, then go yearly if you know the list will last.
- Free up to 10,000 subscribers
- Recommendation network to grow your list
- Built for one-person businesses
- ✓Free plan that lasts
- ✓Easy to use (4.6)
- ✓Features score of 4.5
- ✗Automations and logo removal are paid
- ✗Steep first paid tier
- ✗Weak fit for physical-product stores
The creator's pick; a classic business will do better with Brevo or MailerLite.
HubSpot
HubSpot isn't a pure email tool. It's a CRM with a marketing layer, and that's the point: when a rep opens a record, they see which emails the contact opened. Its 4.5 support score is among the best in this ranking.
Entry is gentle: a free CRM, then Starter seats listed at $20 a month. HubSpot doesn't bill every contact, only the ones you flag as marketing contacts, the people you actually email.
The wall is Professional: Marketing Hub Pro runs $800 a month billed yearly for three seats, plus a mandatory $3,000 onboarding fee. That's the price of advanced workflows and full reporting.
The catch: watch the marketing flag on imports. Bring in a database without checking it and you can blow past your tier. For a plain newsletter, HubSpot is more than you need.
Tip: set the marketing status yourself on every import and keep non-emailed contacts as non-marketing.
- Free CRM plus email on one record
- Only marketing contacts are billed
- Support among the best rated (4.5)
- ✓Full contact view for sales
- ✓Gentle entry
- ✓Very deep at Pro
- ✗Pro at $800 a month plus $3,000 onboarding
- ✗Marketing flag to watch on imports
- ✗Heavy for a simple newsletter
Pick it when email has to feed your CRM; otherwise a dedicated tool costs less.
Sender
Sender has the most generous free plan here on sending volume: 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month. That's six times MailerLite's free allowance, enough for a weekly newsletter to a decent list.
Paid plans stay cheap: Standard from $7 a month billed yearly removes Sender branding, Professional starts at $14. Its value (4.5) and support (4.6) scores are among the best in our comparison.
The catch: depth. Automations are simpler than ActiveCampaign's, and its integrations score (3.2) is the lowest in the ranking. If your store or CRM has no native connector, you'll need an automation tool in between.
Tip: check the integrations list before importing. If your store isn't on it, budget for a connector.
- 15,000 free emails a month
- Standard from $7 billed yearly, no branding
- Support rated 4.6
- ✓Biggest free sending allowance
- ✓Very low paid prices
- ✓Easy to use (4.3)
- ✗Few native integrations
- ✗Basic automations
- ✗Lowest integrations score here (3.2)
The free plan that goes furthest on sends, for a list that doesn't depend on ten integrations.
Moosend
Moosend puts automation on its entry plan. Pro costs $9 a month for 500 contacts, $24 at 2,000 and $64 at 10,000, one of the clearest price ladders in this ranking. There's a 30-day trial instead of a forever-free plan.
Its ease-of-use score is high (4.3) and the automation builder does more than the price suggests. At 10,000 contacts, $64 a month is well below what contact-billed rivals charge for comparable automation.
The catch is support, scored 2.6 in our review, the lowest here.
Tip: use the 30-day trial to build your main automation end to end before you pay.
- Automation on the entry plan
- Published price at every list size
- 30-day trial
- ✓$64 a month at 10,000 contacts
- ✓Easy to use (4.3)
- ✓Clear price ladder
- ✗Support scored 2.6
- ✗Value score of 4.0
- ✗No forever-free plan
Cheap automation that works, if you rarely need support.
Ecommerce and all-in-one: three tools outside the ranking
These fit specific needs. We don't have full reviews of them yet, so no score: here's what they bill for and who they suit.
Klaviyo, for stores that live on automated follow-ups
EcommerceKlaviyo reads your store's orders and fires abandoned-cart, replenishment and browse follow-ups. The free plan covers 250 active profiles and 500 sends a month, with 60 days of email support. Paid prices sit behind a slider on its pricing page.
Watch out: it bills every active profile and moves you up a tier automatically. Merchants describe bills that don't come back down after deleting profiles. Clean up before each tier change.
- Free
- 250 active profiles, 500 sends a month
- Billed on
- Active profiles
Omnisend, cart recovery with a readable price list
EcommerceOmnisend targets the same stores with public prices: free for 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, Standard at $11.20 a month for 500 contacts and 6,000 emails, Pro at $41.30 for 2,500 contacts with unlimited emails under fair use.
Tip: prepaying three months gets you 30% off, handy to cover a sales season.
- Standard
- $11.20 a month, 500 contacts
- Discount
- 30% off when prepaying 3 months
GetResponse, the all-in-one with a yearly discount
All-in-oneAt 1,000 contacts, Starter costs $19 a month ($15.58 billed yearly), Marketer $59 ($48.38) and Creator $69 ($56.58): yearly billing saves 18%. After the 14-day trial, a free account remains, with a GetResponse badge in your emails and landing pages capped at 1,000 visitors a month.
- Starter
- $19 a month at 1,000 contacts
- Yearly
- 18% off
Three questions most roundups skip
Entry prices tell you very little. Here's what actually moves your bill and your inbox placement, tool by tool.
What are you billed for: contacts, active profiles or emails?
Three models coexist. Per contact: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Kit, Sender and Moosend bill list size. At Mailchimp, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count too; MailerLite counts active subscribers only. Per active profile: Klaviyo bills every active profile and moves you up a tier automatically, and users report bills that don't come back down on their own after deleting profiles. Per email: Brevo bills sends, so your list can grow freely.
In practice: at 1,000 contacts, ActiveCampaign starts at $15 billed yearly and Kit at $39 month-to-month. At 10,000 contacts, Kit is still free, Moosend Pro is $64, and Mailchimp knocks 15% off for a year. A contact-billed tool gets expensive when your list grows faster than your sending.
Where does your data live?
Brevo hosts with OVH in France and Germany and Google Cloud in Belgium, ISO 27001 certified. Mailchimp stores data in the US, with EU transfers covered by the Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses as a fallback in its data processing addendum.
If you sell to customers in the EU, either works under GDPR, but an EU-hosted tool shortens the conversation with clients who ask.
Will your emails reach the inbox?
Gmail requires senders above 5,000 messages a day to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC (a p=none policy is enough), align the From domain, support one-click unsubscribe in the header, and keep spam complaints under 0.3% (Google recommends under 0.1%). Below that volume, the same setup is still your best protection.
Every tool here lets you authenticate your domain. What separates a clean start from a suspended account is what you import: an old or bought list blasted on day one is the top reason new accounts get frozen.
- Check what the pricing page counts: contacts, active subscribers, active profiles or emails.
- On Mailchimp, archive unsubscribes monthly to drop them from the bill.
- Price your bill at 10,000 contacts, not just 1,000.
- Authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) before the first send.
- On HubSpot, set the marketing flag yourself on every import.
- Write down where your data is hosted if you sell into the EU.
Torn between two tools? Get our head-to-head comparisons by email
Get your first campaign out without a suspended account
Suspended accounts and spam-folder placement almost always come from the same mistakes. Follow this order whatever tool you pick.
Send from your own domain, never a free mailbox
PriorityA Gmail or Outlook sender address gets rejected or filtered. Use an address on your domain, ideally a subdomain for campaigns (news.yourdomain.com) so a campaign issue never touches your day-to-day email.
- Avoid
- @gmail.com or @outlook.com senders
Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC before importing anyone
TechnicalEach tool gives you the DNS records to add. Allow half an hour plus propagation time. Start DMARC at p=none: Gmail accepts it and you get reports without risking your own mail.
- Gmail line
- Required above 5,000 sends a day
Clean the list before import
ListRemove bounces, duplicates and long-inactive contacts. Never import a bought list: it's the most common suspension trigger, and its complaints quickly push you past 0.3%.
- Complaint rate
- Under 0.3%, ideally under 0.1%
Ramp up volume gradually
DeliverabilityDon't send 10,000 emails on day one from a new account. Start with your most engaged contacts, then widen over several sends. Accounts frozen after their first campaign usually did the opposite.
- First send
- Most engaged contacts first
Make one-click unsubscribe visible
ComplianceAbove 5,000 sends a day, Gmail wants one-click unsubscribe in the header, not just a footer link; the tools here add it for you. An easy unsubscribe costs less than a spam complaint.
- Rule
- One-click unsubscribe header
Prune monthly to keep the bill in check
CostOn contact-billed tools, archive or delete unsubscribes and inactive contacts every month. At Mailchimp, archiving takes unsubscribes out of your limit. At HubSpot, set non-emailed contacts back to non-marketing. At Klaviyo, clear inactive profiles before you hit the next tier.
- How often
- Once a month
Where to go next
These pages go deeper without repeating this one.
Our broader roundup by use case.
You're choosing for a small teamEmail software for SMBsThe small business ranking.
You run an online storeEcommerce email toolsPicks for stores.
You're torn between the top twoActiveCampaign vs BrevoHead to head, criterion by criterion.
You're leaving MailchimpSwitch from MailchimpAlternatives and migration.
You want Brevo's full price gridBrevo pricingEvery sending tier.
Email marketing software · FAQ
What is the best free email marketing software?
It depends on your bottleneck. For list size, Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers. For sending volume, Sender gives 15,000 emails a month to 2,500 subscribers. Brevo stores a large list free but caps sends at 300 a day. MailerLite is the easiest, but stops at 250 subscribers.What is the cheapest email marketing software for 10,000 contacts?
Kit, if you can live without paid automation: it's free up to 10,000 subscribers. With automation, Moosend Pro is $64 a month at 10,000 contacts. Brevo bills per email, so it stays cheap if you send a few campaigns a month. Contact-billed tools like ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp cost far more at that size.Which email marketing software is best for ecommerce?
Klaviyo and Omnisend are built for stores, with abandoned-cart flows and order data. Klaviyo bills every active profile, which can push the bill up fast. Omnisend starts at $11.20 a month for 500 contacts. Our ecommerce and Shopify pages compare them in depth.Is Mailchimp still worth it?
Yes if your stack depends on it: its 4.6 integrations score leads this ranking. No if price matters most: unsubscribes count toward your bill until archived, overage fees apply, and you can drop back to free only once. Brevo or MailerLite cost less for the same newsletter.Why do new email accounts get suspended after the first campaign?
Usually because the imported list caused too many bounces or complaints. Vendors watch the first sends of new accounts closely. To get reinstated, show support where your contacts came from (sign-up form, date). To avoid it, authenticate your domain and start with your most engaged contacts.Do unsubscribed contacts count toward the bill?
At Mailchimp, yes, until you archive them. MailerLite bills active subscribers only. Brevo bills sends, so an unsubscribe costs nothing. HubSpot bills only contacts flagged as marketing.Do you need SPF, DKIM and DMARC for small volumes?
Yes. Gmail requires them above 5,000 sends a day, but even below that, an unauthenticated domain lands in spam more often. Setup takes about half an hour. Start DMARC at p=none to get reports with no risk.Is it better to pay monthly or yearly?
Monthly first, yearly once you're sure. ActiveCampaign is $15 billed yearly versus $19 monthly at 1,000 contacts, and MailerLite takes 10% off yearly. Paying monthly for two or three months lets you confirm the tool fits before locking in.