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Prices were checked on official pages on July 16, 2026. Amounts may vary by contacts, sends, billing period, region, tax, currency and promotion. Confirm the final checkout conditions before subscribing.
Options to examine by operating model
Base cost primarily on sending volume
Brevo documents up to 300 emails per day on Free and offers monthly or annual subscriptions plus pay-as-you-go credits. Its structure is useful when send volume matters more than the stored contact count.
Start with a very small list
MailerLite Free officially includes 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails per 30 days and two users, together with limited forms, landing pages and automations.
Run a creator newsletter and digital products
Kit offers a free Newsletter plan. Its detailed comparison lists up to 10,000 active subscribers, unlimited forms, landing pages and broadcasts, and one basic automation.
Combine advanced automation and ecommerce
GetResponse Starter includes unlimited monthly sends and one workflow, while Marketer documents unlimited workflows, advanced segmentation and abandoned-cart recovery.
Official conditions compared
| Service | Free access or trial | Billing basis | Automation and acquisition | Check before purchase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Free plan; official pricing shows a maximum of 500 sends per month or 250 per day | Plan, contact tier and monthly sending limit | Email, forms, landing pages, automation and 300+ integrations | Contact counting, overages, SMS availability and plan-specific features |
| Brevo | Free up to 300 emails per day; no card required | Mainly sending volume; monthly, annual or pay-as-you-go credits | Email, SMS, WhatsApp, automation, CRM and transactional email | Daily cap, branding, dedicated IP and advanced-user costs |
| MailerLite | Free: 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails per 30 days and two users; 14-day premium trial | Active subscribers and sending volume | Free includes three automations, three forms, one landing page and one website | Cumulative subscriber counting, automatic tier increase and feature-use limits |
| Kit | Free Newsletter plan; detailed table lists up to 10,000 active subscribers | Paid price scales with subscriber count | Forms, landing pages, broadcasts, tags, segments and digital-product sales | Free automation limits, team users and price at future list sizes |
| GetResponse | 14-day premium trial with no card | Plan and list size; standard paid plans document unlimited monthly sends | Email, forms, landing pages, automation, ecommerce and web push | List tier, monthly versus annual billing and Starter workflow limit |
Free allowances and prices can change. Recheck the official page and checkout screen immediately before registration.
Eight points to verify before implementation
Billable metric
Identify whether cost rises with stored contacts, active subscribers, monthly sends or a combination.
What happens at the free limit
Check whether sending is blocked, the account is automatically upgraded or overage fees are billed.
Automation scope
Review welcome messages, branching, tags, purchase or page events and abandoned-cart workflows by plan.
Forms and pages
Compare embedded forms, popups, custom domains, page counts and visitor limits.
Marketing versus transactional
Confirm whether campaigns and order confirmations or password resets are covered by the same product and price.
Users and permissions
Review seats, approvals, administrator roles and added-user charges.
Domain authentication
Check custom domains, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, sender verification and dedicated-IP conditions.
Migration and export
Confirm whether contacts, tags, segments, templates and delivery history can be imported and exported.
Official information for each service
Mailchimp
Mailchimp offers four Marketing plans: Free, Essentials, Standard and Premium. Billing depends on the plan, stored-contact tier and monthly sending allowance rather than the plan name alone.
- The official pricing page lists the Free sending cap as 500 per month or 250 per day
- Essentials, Standard and Premium differ in features and sending multiples
- Infrequent senders can purchase email credits instead of a monthly or annual marketing plan
- Paid accounts may be billed for overages when contact or sending limits are reached
Check: Compare the contact tier, send multiple, users, automation functions and overage rules together.
Brevo
Brevo combines email, SMS, WhatsApp, automation, CRM and transactional messaging. Its official Marketing Platform page documents a Free plan of up to 300 emails per day.
- Free allows up to 300 emails per day and requires no card
- Brevo states that all plans provide access to transactional-email features
- Monthly and annual commitments are available, together with pay-as-you-go credits
- The model is relatively easy to compare by sending volume
Check: Review the daily cap, monthly volume, Brevo branding, dedicated IP and country-specific SMS or WhatsApp costs.
MailerLite
MailerLite offers Free, Comfort, Power and Enterprise. The Free plan was revised in June 2026 and officially lists 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails per 30 days and two users.
- Free: 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails and two users
- Free includes three automations, three forms, one website and one landing page
- The official Free page shows Comfort from $12 per month and Power from $25
- Paid accounts may automatically move to the next tier when active subscribers exceed the current ceiling
Check: Subscriber counting is cumulative within a billing cycle, so deleting contacts may not reduce the current cycle's counted total immediately.
Kit
Kit combines newsletters, forms, landing pages, automations and sales of digital products or paid newsletters. Its plans are Newsletter, Creator and Creator Pro.
- The detailed plan table lists up to 10,000 active subscribers on the free Newsletter plan
- Newsletter includes one basic Visual Automation and unlimited forms, landing pages and broadcasts
- At up to 1,000 subscribers, Creator starts at $39 per month and Creator Pro at $79 per month; annual billing includes two months free
- Creator adds unlimited automations and sequences; Pro adds analytics and unlimited users
Check: Paid prices scale with subscriber count, so model both the current list and the expected list one year later.
GetResponse
GetResponse packages email, forms, landing pages, automation, ecommerce, web push and website or course functions by plan. Its 14-day premium trial does not require a card.
- At the 1,000-contact selection, Starter is $19 monthly or $15.58 on annual billing
- Starter includes unlimited monthly sends, one workflow, forms, popups and landing pages
- Marketer is $59 monthly or $48.38 annual-equivalent and adds unlimited workflows and ecommerce functions
- Annual plans advertise a free custom domain for one year
Check: Price scales with list size. Separate the single-workflow Starter requirement from the advanced automation and ecommerce functions in Marketer.
How to narrow the list by use case
Send a regular newsletter to a small list
Compare MailerLite, Brevo and Mailchimp by the actual monthly send requirement, not only by the subscriber ceiling. Weekly and daily schedules produce very different totals.
Sell newsletters, courses or digital products
Compare Kit and GetResponse on subscriptions, products, courses, landing pages, automation and transaction fees.
Automate ecommerce behaviour
Review GetResponse, Mailchimp and Brevo for abandoned carts, purchase data, revenue reporting, ecommerce integrations and the contractual scope of transactional messages.
Store many contacts but send infrequently
Contact-based and volume-based pricing can produce different totals. Model Brevo's send-volume approach against the contact or list tiers of Mailchimp, MailerLite, Kit and GetResponse.
Operational checks before sending
- Add only recipients with a valid consent or other lawful basis; do not use unclear purchased or scraped lists
- Verify unsubscribe links, sender identification and the privacy policy
- Configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC for the sending domain and verify authentication in test messages
- Retain the acquisition source, consent timestamp and unsubscribe history
- Enable multi-factor authentication for administrators and remove unnecessary access
Legal requirements vary by recipient country, region and message type. This article is not legal advice; consult official compliance material and qualified advisers where required.
Frequently asked questions
Can a small business start with a free plan?
Yes, but free plans limit contacts, sends, automation, branding, support or page counts. Calculate the required monthly sends from the expected list and schedule first.
Should I prioritise contact count or sending volume?
Large lists with infrequent campaigns may benefit from volume-based pricing. Small lists with frequent messages need to examine send multiples or unlimited-send conditions.
Are marketing and transactional emails the same?
No. Newsletters and promotions are marketing messages, while order confirmations and password resets are transactional. Some platforms price or operate them separately.
Is custom-domain authentication necessary?
To manage deliverability and sender trust, follow the platform's official instructions for SPF, DKIM and DMARC where supported.
Official sources checked
- Mailchimp — Marketing pricingPlans, sending limits, users, trials and overages
- Mailchimp — About pricing plansPlan and contact-tier billing
- Brevo — PricingPricing, commitments, credits and transactional email
- Brevo — Marketing PlatformFree 300 emails per day, channels and automation
- MailerLite — Free planFree limits, starting paid prices and feature limits
- MailerLite — Plan and billingSubscriber counting, sends and automatic tier changes
- Kit — PricingNewsletter, Creator and Pro plans, subscribers, automations and users
- GetResponse — PricingStarter, Marketer and Creator prices, sends and automation
- GetResponse — Free trial14-day trial, no-card condition and annual offer