What is the best email marketing software for nonprofits in 2026?
Before you look at templates, check what the tool bills you for: contacts or sends.
For most small US nonprofits, the best email marketing software in 2026 is MailerLite: a simple editor volunteers pick up fast, and a 30% lifetime discount on every paid plan for registered nonprofits. If your list is large but you only email once a month, Brevo bills by sends, keeps unlimited contacts on its free plan and gives eligible nonprofits 20% off. And if you have no budget at all, Sender's free plan covers 2,500 subscribers.
We compared six tools on what matters to a nonprofit: what your full list costs once the nonprofit discount is applied, how easily rotating volunteers can run it, deliverability, and how new donors and members get into the list from your donation platform.
Our ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its entry, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The best email tool for your situation
30% off for life
Big list, few emailsUnlimited contacts, billed by sends
Zero budget2,500 subscribers free
Your team already uses it15% off on request
Your list is mostly newsletter readersFree up to 10,000 subscribers
You need automations on a small listFrom $9 a month for 500 contacts
The 6 tools side by side
Rank follows the needs of a US nonprofit with 250 to 5,000 contacts: what your list costs, discount included, then how easily volunteers can run it. Prices are the official entry prices, before any nonprofit discount.
| Best for | What it does best | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MailerLite | Best overall for small nonprofits | 30% lifetime nonprofit discount | 4.1/5 | Free up to 250 subscribers; Comfort from $12/mo | ✓ | Small and mid-size nonprofits | Visit → |
| 2 | Brevo | Best for a big list that emails rarely | Unlimited contacts, 20% off for eligible nonprofits | 4.1/5 | Free (300 emails/day); Starter from $9/mo | ✓ | Any size | Visit → |
| 3 | Sender | Best free plan | 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month free | 4.0/5 | Free; Standard from $7/mo billed yearly | ✓ | Volunteer-run groups | Visit → |
| 4 | Mailchimp | Most familiar, smallest free plan | 15% nonprofit discount | 4.0/5 | Free up to 250 contacts; Essentials from $13/mo | ✓ | Teams already on it | Visit → |
| 5 | Kit | Best free plan for a large reader list | Free up to 10,000 subscribers | 4.2/5 | Free; Creator $390/year for 1,000 subscribers | ✓ | Advocacy and publishing nonprofits | Visit → |
| 6 | Moosend | Best low-cost automation | Automations from the first plan | 3.5/5 | Pro from $9/mo for 500 contacts | — | Small lists with workflows | Visit → |
Entry prices read on each vendor's official pricing page in 2026, before nonprofit discounts.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
A nonprofit list is not a business list. It mixes current members, lapsed donors, one-time event signups and volunteers. You send a handful of emails a month (an appeal, an event invite, a thank-you) and the person running the tool changes every year or two. A tool that bills every contact, even silent ones, gets expensive faster than one that bills sends.
We read each vendor's pricing page, its nonprofit discount terms, and feedback from nonprofits on review sites and forums. Real cost weighs the most: price for your list, a usable free plan, an official nonprofit discount and what it takes to get it. Then come volunteer-friendliness, deliverability and data, fit with your donation platform, and support.
- Real cost for your nonprofitFree plan, billing unit, nonprofit discount.35%
- Volunteer-friendlyEditor, seats, handover.20%
- Deliverability and dataAccount review, data hosting.20%
- Fits your donor stackDonation forms, CRM, imports.15%
- SupportResponse time, help when blocked.10%
Our ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its entry, and no affiliate link changes a score.
MailerLite
MailerLite has the strongest nonprofit discount in this ranking: 30% off any paid plan, for life, as long as your organization stays active. To get it, pick "Nonprofit" when you sign up and send proof of your status to support. Two catches: the discount isn't retroactive, and it doesn't stack with the 10% annual-billing discount. Ask before your first payment. Comfort then drops from $12 to $8.40 a month.
The drag-and-drop editor is one of the easiest on the market, which matters when your communications volunteer changes every year. The free plan includes 2 seats (enough for an executive director and a volunteer) and 3 automations, so a welcome email for new donors costs nothing.
The limit is the billing model: MailerLite bills active subscribers, and the free plan stops at 250. Roughly 15% of its review-site ratings are one star, often about accounts restricted before the first send with no clear reason. Prepare a clean list and an authenticated domain before signing up.
- 30% off for life for nonprofits
- 2 seats on the free plan
- One of the simplest editors
- ✓Biggest discount in this ranking
- ✓Volunteers productive in an evening
- ✓Fast support praised in reviews
- ✗Free plan stops at 250 subscribers
- ✗Discount isn't retroactive
- ✗Account review before the first send
The best price for a small nonprofit that emails a lot, if you request the 30% before paying. Archive inactive contacts, since every subscriber counts.
Brevo
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) bills sends, not contacts. For a nonprofit, that's the right model: your 3,000 lapsed donors stay in the list for free and you only pay when you email. The free plan keeps unlimited contacts, capped at 300 emails a day.
Do the math on that cap. A year-end appeal to 1,200 donors takes four days on the free plan, fine for a monthly update but not for a same-day event reminder. Starter, at $9 a month for 5,000 emails, lifts the daily cap, and Brevo's NGO page offers eligible nonprofits 20% off paid plans, which brings Starter to $7.20.
Two things to know. Brevo manually reviews a new account's first campaign, and its anti-spam policy allows suspensions after complaints. On Brevo's community forum, a charity that had sent a weekly newsletter for seven years describes a suspension with no warning and slow support. Data is hosted in the EU, which matters if you have European supporters.
- Unlimited contacts on the free plan
- 20% off for eligible nonprofits
- Billed by sends, not contacts
- ✓Lapsed donors cost nothing
- ✓Forms and automations on the free plan
- ✓Low price per send
- ✗300 emails a day on the free plan
- ✗First campaign reviewed manually
- ✗Sudden suspensions reported
The cheapest option for a big list that emails a few times a month. Ask for the 20% and authenticate your domain before the first send.
Sender
Sender has the most generous free plan for a typical nonprofit list: 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month. A 900-member association can send a weekly update for free, where Mailchimp stops you at 250 contacts. Automations and signup forms are included.
The price of that free plan is Sender branding in the footer. For a neighborhood group it rarely matters; for a major-gifts appeal it looks less polished. Sender doesn't publish a nonprofit discount; some comparison sites mention one, but nothing official, so don't count on it.
Support scores very well in reviews. Integrations are thin: no direct link with donation platforms, so expect CSV imports or a Zapier step.
- 2,500 free subscribers
- 15,000 free emails a month
- Highly rated support
- ✓The most generous free plan here
- ✓Automations included for free
- ✓Low price once you upgrade
- ✗Sender branding on the free plan
- ✗Few integrations
- ✗No nonprofit discount
The best $0 option for a list under 2,500. Upgrade the day the footer logo starts to bother your board.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is still the name every board member knows, but its free plan has shrunk: 2,000 contacts before 2022, 250 today, with 500 sends a month and one seat. Past 250 supporters you can't send at all without paying, and unsubscribed contacts count toward your billed limit, so clean your audience before each renewal.
Mailchimp gives nonprofits 15% off. The process is specific: create a free account first, then contact billing with your organization's website. The official page doesn't say how long the discount lasts, so ask again if your bill goes up. With it, Essentials drops from $13 to $11.05 a month.
Where Mailchimp still wins in the US is the ecosystem: most donation and event tools offer a ready-made connection, so a new donor lands in your audience without a CSV. Price hikes and overage fees are the top complaints in reviews.
- 15% nonprofit discount
- Huge template library
- Connects to most donation tools
- ✓Familiar to boards and volunteers
- ✓Ready-made integrations
- ✓Easy forms and landing pages
- ✗Free plan capped at 250 contacts
- ✗Unsubscribed contacts still billed
- ✗Price hikes reported
Keep it if you're already set up and past 250 contacts with the discount applied. To start fresh, MailerLite or Brevo costs less.
Kit
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has the largest free plan in this ranking: up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited sends. For a nonprofit whose main channel is a weekly newsletter, that's remarkable. The catch is that the free plan runs zero automations, so no welcome series and no automatic thank-you after a gift.
Paid plans start at $390 a year for 1,000 subscribers on Creator and move up automatically as your list grows, and cold subscribers are still billed. Kit doesn't publish a nonprofit discount; only third-party sites mention one.
Kit is built for creators, which shows in its strengths (a clean editor, tagging, landing pages) and its gaps: no donor-oriented features and few direct links to donation platforms.
- Free up to 10,000 subscribers
- Clean editor and tagging
- Landing pages included
- ✓Largest free plan in this ranking
- ✓Very easy to use
- ✓Good for newsletter-first nonprofits
- ✗No automations on the free plan
- ✗No official nonprofit discount
- ✗Inactive subscribers still billed
A strong free option if your nonprofit is mostly a newsletter. Once you need donor journeys, compare the Creator price with MailerLite after discount.
Moosend
Moosend puts automations, landing pages and reporting in its entry plan, from $9 a month for 500 contacts. For a nonprofit that wants a donor welcome series or a lapsed-donor reminder without paying for a higher tier, that's good value. At 2,000 contacts it's $24 a month, $64 at 10,000, with 20% off yearly.
There's no permanent free plan, just a 30-day trial, and no published nonprofit discount. Moosend is now owned by Constant Contact.
Support is the weak point in reviews: several users describe auto-renewals without notice and refused refunds, and one trial user says the card was charged immediately. Set a calendar reminder before any renewal date.
- Automations from the first plan
- From $9 a month
- 20% off yearly
- ✓Low entry price with workflows
- ✓Intuitive editor
- ✓Detailed reports
- ✗No permanent free plan
- ✗Support complaints in reviews
- ✗No nonprofit discount
Good value if you want automations on a small list. Read the renewal terms and set a reminder before each billing date.
What most nonprofit lists forget to calculate
Most "best email tools for nonprofits" lists are written by vendors or affiliates. They rarely tell you what your list costs after the discount, or how donors get from your donation form into your email tool.
Nonprofit discounts, number by number
Published nonprofit discounts: MailerLite 30% for life, Brevo 20% for eligible nonprofits, ActiveCampaign 20% with proof of status, Mailchimp 15%. Constant Contact gives 20% if you prepay 6 months and 30% if you prepay 12, nothing on monthly billing. HubSpot's nonprofit program takes 40% off Professional and Enterprise only, not Starter. Always ask before paying: MailerLite won't apply it to past invoices.
Bill by contacts or by sends?
If your list is 4,000 people and you email them twice a month, a send-based tool like Brevo costs a fraction of a contact-based tool. If your list is 400 people you email every week, contact-based pricing at MailerLite or Kit is cheaper and simpler. Count your real list, lapsed donors included, before you compare.
Your donation platform comes first
Your donors sign up through a donation form or a donor CRM. Check that it connects to your email tool natively, or plan a Zapier step or a monthly CSV import. A new donor who never gets a thank-you email is a donor you may not see again.
- Count your real list, lapsed donors and event signups included.
- Request the nonprofit discount before your first payment.
- Create the account with a shared organization address.
- Check how new donors reach your email list.
- Calculate how long a send takes with the free plan's daily cap.
- Read the renewal and refund terms.
Your first send without a block or a complaint
The first campaign is when nonprofit accounts get restricted. These six steps avoid most bad surprises.
Authenticate your domain
PrioritySet up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, three DNS records that prove the email really comes from your organization. Since Gmail requires them from bulk senders, emails sent from a free address land in spam more and more often. Your email tool gives you the exact records to copy.
- Time
- About 30 minutes
Clean your list before importing
TipRemove bounced addresses, duplicates and supporters who never opened anything. At MailerLite, Mailchimp and Kit every contact counts toward your price, and everywhere a dirty list raises complaints, which is what triggers suspensions. Never import a purchased list.
- Saves
- Billed contacts
Keep proof of consent
ComplianceFor commercial messages, CAN-SPAM requires a clear way to opt out and a valid physical postal address; keep both in every email anyway. Add a clear signup checkbox on your donation form, and keep a record of when and where each person joined. If you have supporters in Europe, they need explicit opt-in.
- In every email
- Unsubscribe link and address
Send to a small group first
TipBrevo manually reviews a new account's first campaign, and MailerLite reviews accounts before the first send. Start with about 30 addresses from your board and staff: you check the layout and pass the review without risking your whole list.
- Test group
- About 30 addresses
Share access without sharing a password
VolunteersMailchimp's free plan has one seat, MailerLite's has two. Create the account with a shared organization address, not a volunteer's personal email, so it survives board turnover, and keep the logins in your handover document.
- MailerLite free
- 2 seats
Automate the thank-you
AutomationConnect your donation platform so every new gift adds the donor to your list and triggers a thank-you email. Without automation, put a weekly import in someone's calendar. Mailchimp removed automations from its free plan, and Kit's free plan has none: check before you rely on it.
- Minimum
- One import a week
Go further
These pages complement this one without repeating it.
Donors, members and follow-ups.
You want everything in one placeNonprofit management softwareMembers, accounting, email.
You run eventsNonprofit event managementRegistrations and ticketing.
You coordinate volunteersVolunteer management softwareScheduling and outreach.
You want the general rankingEmail marketing softwareFor any kind of organization.
You're budgeting for BrevoBrevo pricingEvery plan explained.
Nonprofit email marketing · FAQ
What is the best free email marketing tool for nonprofits?
Sender and Kit have the biggest free plans. Sender covers 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month with its branding in the footer. Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers but runs no automations. Brevo keeps unlimited contacts with a 300-emails-a-day cap. Avoid Mailchimp's free plan past 250 contacts: it stops your sends.Which email marketing tools offer nonprofit discounts?
MailerLite gives 30% for life with proof of status, Brevo 20% to eligible nonprofits, ActiveCampaign 20%, Mailchimp 15% through billing. Constant Contact gives 20% or 30% only if you prepay 6 or 12 months. Ask before paying: MailerLite's discount isn't retroactive and replaces its annual-billing discount.Is Mailchimp still free for nonprofits?
Only up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a single seat. Mailchimp has no free nonprofit tier; it offers 15% off paid plans instead. Unsubscribed contacts count toward your billed limit, so a 260-person list already needs a paid plan.MailerLite or Mailchimp for a nonprofit?
MailerLite, in most cases. Its 30% lifetime discount beats Mailchimp's 15%, its free plan has 2 seats instead of 1, and Comfort costs $8.40 a month after discount versus $11.05 for Mailchimp Essentials. Mailchimp still wins if you rely on ready-made connections with your donation tools.How much does email marketing cost for 1,000 donors?
From $0 to about $30 a month. Brevo's free plan works if you can live with 300 emails a day, otherwise Starter is $9, or $7.20 with the 20% discount. MailerLite and Mailchimp price by list size, so check the slider for 1,000 contacts and apply the discount. Moosend is $24 a month at 2,000 contacts.Does CAN-SPAM apply to nonprofit emails?
Mostly to commercial messages, but follow it anyway. Purely non-commercial messages, like mission updates, fall outside its definition, yet keeping a clear unsubscribe link and your postal address in every email protects your deliverability, and supporters in Europe need explicit opt-in under the GDPR.Why was my nonprofit's email account suspended?
Usually because of complaints or bounces. Brevo reviews the first campaign manually and can suspend accounts after complaints; MailerLite restricts some accounts before the first send. Authenticate your domain, clean your list, never import purchased addresses and send to a small group first.Is HubSpot free for nonprofits?
No. HubSpot's nonprofit program gives 40% off new Professional and Enterprise subscriptions only, not Starter or add-ons, and Marketing Professional is a large budget for a small charity. Its free tools are the same for everyone. For email alone, MailerLite or Brevo cost far less.
