Email marketing pricing gets confusing fast once contact-based billing kicks in. Here's what each tool actually costs as you grow. Some links are affiliate links — see our disclosure.
| Tool | Best For | Starting Price | Free Tier | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | Most generous free tier in email marketing | Free / $12/mo affiliate: verify | 1,000 contacts | 4.5/5 | Review |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Creators & solopreneurs | Free / $39/mo affiliate: verify | 10,000 subscribers | 4.5/5 | Review |
| ActiveCampaign | Deepest automation builder, no close second | $15-19/mo affiliate: verify | None | 4.0/5 | Review |
| Mailchimp | Best-known name, familiar interface | $13/mo affiliate: verify | 250 contacts (limited) | 3.5/5 | Review |
| Canva | Design + AI Magic Studio for creative assets | Free / ~$13/mo affiliate: verify | Generous free tier | 4.5/5 | Review |
← Swipe to see full comparison →
1,000 contacts free, straightforward pricing, no surprise contact-billing catches.
Read the full MailerLite review →Free up to 10,000 subscribers, built specifically for newsletter writers and solopreneurs.
Read the full Kit review →The deepest visual automation builder in this category, no free plan though.
Read the full ActiveCampaign review →Familiar, but pricier at scale — and it bills for inactive contacts unless you manually archive them.
Read the full Mailchimp review →Not an email tool, but essential alongside one — AI Magic Studio features now overlap into ad creative too.
Read the full Canva review →How We Chose and Rated These marketing and email tools
Every tool on this page was researched against its own current pricing page, cross-checked against at least two independent sources where possible, and flagged as "pending verification" wherever sources disagreed or we couldn't confirm a number directly. Ratings reflect a combination of feature depth, pricing transparency, and ease of use — not sponsorship. Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission if you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. This never affects which tools we include or how we rate them — tools that don't hold up under testing don't get a spot on this page regardless of commission rates.