11 free email marketing plans, ranked by real cost
Every free email marketing plan in our data, 11 of 20 tools, compared on caps, send limits and the cheapest way up at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 subscribers.
The best free email marketing plan in our data is Kit’s: 10,000 subscribers and unlimited broadcasts for $0, with one automation. That also makes Kit, alongside Substack, the cheapest tool here at every list size up to 10,000, if one automation is enough. Once you need a paid plan, the cheapest subscriber-billed options are close: Sender, free to 2,500 contacts, is $39/mo at 5,000 subscribers, and GetResponse is $64.78/mo at 10,000, $4.22 less than Sender there. Klaviyo charges 2.3x that at 10,000.
Of the 20 email marketing tools in our dataset, 11 have a free plan. They are not equally free. Caps run from 250 contacts to unlimited, and three of the eleven allow 500 emails a month, which is two sends to a full list. Below: what each free plan actually includes, which ones are usable and which are trials without a clock, and what each costs when you leave it.
All pricing comes from each platform’s listed plans, re-verified on 2026-10-08: annual billing where the vendor offers it, monthly otherwise (Mailchimp, Omnisend and Klaviyo have no annual option). Verify current pricing on the vendor’s site before you commit.
Every free plan, side by side
| Tool | Free plan cap | Sending / key limit | Removes branding | First paid step (annual / monthly) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | Unlimited subscribers | No monthly fee | n/a | None: 10% of paid subscription revenue + Stripe fees |
| Kit | 10,000 subscribers | 1 automation, unlimited broadcasts | Not listed | Creator: $33 / $39 (from 1,000 subscribers, scales with list) |
| Brevo | No contact cap shown | 300 emails/day | Not listed | Starter: $8.08 / $9 (5,000 emails/mo, 500 contacts; scales by email volume) |
| Sender | 2,500 contacts | 15,000 emails/mo | Not listed | Standard: $5 / $7 (scales by contacts) |
| beehiiv | 2,500 subscribers | Unlimited sends; no paid subscriptions | Pro: $95 / $109 at 1,000 subs | Lite: $49 / $59 at 1,000 subscribers |
| AWeber | 500 subscribers | 3,000 emails/mo | Plus: $20 / $30 | Lite: $13 / $15 (3 automations) |
| GetResponse | 500 contacts | Email + 1 landing page | Not listed | Starter: $16 / $19 (scales with contacts) |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers | 2,500 emails/mo | Not listed | Comfort: $17.10 / $19 at 1,000 subscribers |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts | 500 emails/mo | Not listed | Essentials: $13 / $13 (from 500 contacts) |
| Omnisend | 250 contacts | 500 emails/mo, all features | Not listed | Standard: $16 / $16 (from 500 contacts) |
| Klaviyo | 250 profiles | 500 emails/mo | Not listed | Email: $30 / $30 (from ~1,000 active profiles) |
“Not listed” means our data doesn’t list which tier removes the vendor’s branding. Only AWeber (Plus) and beehiiv (Pro) name one, which implies their free plans carry it.
Three more tools show a $0 line on their pricing: Moosend, Campaigner and Customer.io. Those are custom-quote or add-on rows, not free plans. Each offers a free trial instead (30 days for Moosend and Campaigner, 14 for Customer.io). The remaining six tools in the category show no $0 tier at all. Flodesk comes closest: its free plan has no subscriber limit but cannot send email, so it doesn’t count here.
Which free plans are actually usable
The cap on contacts gets the attention, but the send limit decides whether the plan works. A useful test: divide the monthly email allowance by the contact cap to see how many emails each subscriber can get per month once your free list is full.
| Tool | Emails per subscriber per month, at a full free list |
|---|---|
| Kit, beehiiv | Unlimited |
| MailerLite | 10 |
| Sender, AWeber | 6 |
| Mailchimp, Omnisend, Klaviyo | 2 |
Genuinely free: Substack, Kit, Sender, beehiiv
These four are $0 at 1,000 subscribers, and all four stay free to at least 2,500.
- Substack has no cap and no monthly fee at any size. If you write a free newsletter, it never bills you. Our Substack free plan breakdown covers the catch, which only arrives when you charge.
- Kit is the most generous capped plan here: 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts. The limit is one automation, so plan on a single welcome flow.
- Sender gives you 2,500 contacts and 15,000 emails a month. At 1,000 subscribers that’s 15 emails each, more than most newsletters ever send.
- beehiiv allows 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends. The free plan cannot take paid subscriptions, though.
Small but honest: AWeber, GetResponse, MailerLite
These are real free plans sized for your first few hundred signups. AWeber and GetResponse cap at 500. MailerLite caps at 250 but allows 2,500 emails a month, the most send headroom per contact of any plan with a monthly email cap. Fine for testing a signup form, not for a list you’re actively growing.
Free in name: Mailchimp, Omnisend, Klaviyo
All three stop at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month: two emails per subscriber per month once the list is full. That works out to a trial without an expiry date, and the first paid step is steep. At 1,000 subscribers they cost $26.50, $20 and $30 a month in our data, all on monthly billing. Our data also notes that Mailchimp counts contacts even when unsubscribed on some tiers, and that Klaviyo bills on all active profiles, not just engaged ones. Pick them for their features, not their free plans.
Brevo: free for a big list, slowly
Brevo is the exception. Its free plan shows no contact cap, but it sends 300 emails a day. One campaign to 1,000 subscribers uses four days of quota; one to 5,000 takes 17. Usable for a list of a few hundred. Past that, paid plans are priced by monthly email volume and tie contact storage to the tier: Starter is $8.08/mo (annual) for 5,000 emails and 500 contacts, and a 1,000-subscriber list lands on the $15.25 tier (10,000 emails, 1,500 contacts).
What “cheapest” means once you outgrow free
Free plans end. The question behind “cheapest email marketing software” is what each one costs at the list size you’re heading for. Here’s each free-plan tool at three sizes (the cheapest plan that covers the list, free plans within their caps; annual billing where offered), sorted by cost at 10,000:
| Tool | 1,000 subs | 5,000 subs | 10,000 subs | 10,000, per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Kit* | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Brevo† | $15.25 | $28.75 | $28.75 | $345 |
| GetResponse | $15.58 | $44.28 | $64.78 | $777.36 |
| Sender | $0 | $39 | $69 | $828 |
| MailerLite‡ | $17.10 | $44.10 | $80.10 | $961.20 |
| AWeber | $20.83 | $50 | $83.33 | $999.96 |
| Mailchimp | $26.50 | $75 | $110 | $1,320 |
| beehiiv | $0 | $95 | $119 | $1,428 |
| Omnisend | $20 | $81 | $132 | $1,584 |
| Klaviyo | $30 | $100 | $150 | $1,800 |
* Kit’s free Newsletter plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, so $0 is real if one automation is enough. For unlimited automations you need its Creator plan, which starts at $33/mo (annual) at 1,000 subscribers and scales with your list; past 10,000 subscribers our data has it at $166/mo at 25,000.
† Brevo bills by emails sent, with contact storage tied to each paid tier. These are our dataset’s estimates at each list size; heavy senders pay more.
‡ MailerLite scales continuously by subscriber count. These are its listed Comfort prices at exactly 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 subscribers.
Three things stand out.
Sender and GetResponse trade the cheapest subscriber-billed spot. Sender is cheapest at 5,000 ($39, less than half of Klaviyo’s $100). At 10,000 GetResponse edges ahead: $64.78/mo against Sender’s $69, $50.64 a year apart. Against Klaviyo ($1,800 a year) GetResponse ($777.36) saves $1,022.64 a year for the same list. Only Kit and Substack, still free, and Brevo, billed by sends, cost less.
A generous free plan says nothing about the paid price. beehiiv is $0 at 1,000 subscribers and the third-costliest row at 10,000 ($119/mo), $54.22 a month or $650.64 a year more than GetResponse. Kit is free to 10,000, but past that its paid plan is $166/mo at 25,000 in our data. GetResponse is the reverse: a 500-contact free cap, then the cheapest subscriber-billed plan here at 10,000.
The “free in name” plans are also among the most expensive to leave. Klaviyo and Omnisend are the two costliest rows at 10,000, and Mailchimp ($110) is fourth. Starting on their free plan means migrating later or paying the most later.
For the same maths on all 20 tools, including the nine without a free plan, see the real cost of an email list. To run it for your own list size, use the pricing calculator.
If you plan to charge readers
Two of the free plans handle paid subscriptions very differently, and it changes which is cheapest.
- Substack lets you charge with no monthly fee. Instead it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue plus Stripe fees.
- beehiiv’s free plan has no paid subscriptions. You need its Lite plan, which is priced by list size: $49/mo billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers, $119 at 10,000, with a 0% take rate on subscriptions.
Comparing the platform fees, Substack’s 10% equals beehiiv Lite’s price when your subscription revenue is ten times Lite’s price at your list size. That’s $490 a month at 1,000 subscribers and $1,190 at 10,000. Below that, Substack’s cut is cheaper. Above it, a flat Lite fee wins, and the gap grows with every dollar you earn. Our beehiiv vs Substack comparison covers the rest of the trade-off.
Kit can also sell subscriptions through Kit Commerce, whose fee in our data is about 3.5% + $0.30 on product sales.
The verdict
- Best free email marketing plan overall: Kit. 10,000 subscribers and unlimited broadcasts for $0. Outgrow its single automation and Creator starts at $33/mo (annual) at 1,000 subscribers, nearly double MailerLite’s $17.10, so go in knowing that.
- Cheapest path from free to paid: Sender. 2,500 contacts free, then the lowest subscriber-billed price among these plans at 5,000 ($39/mo). At 10,000, GetResponse is $4.22 a month cheaper.
- Best for a free newsletter that may never charge: Substack. $0 at any size.
- Runner-up free cap with unlimited sends: beehiiv. 2,500 subscribers. Budget for Lite ($49/mo yearly at 1,000 subscribers) if you’ll charge readers.
- Cheapest for a big list you email rarely: Brevo, billed by sends: $28.75/mo at 10,000 in our estimates.
- Not worth choosing for the free plan: Mailchimp, Omnisend and Klaviyo. 250 contacts and 500 emails is a trial, and Klaviyo and Omnisend are the costliest to grow on.
If you’re torn between the two most common picks, MailerLite vs Kit goes head to head, and the email marketing for beginners guide covers what to set up first. Our best email marketing software page ranks the whole category beyond price. Or answer a few questions in the advisor and get one recommendation for your list.
FAQ
What is the best free email marketing software? In our data, Kit: its free plan covers 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts and one automation. If you want a cheap upgrade path, Sender is free to 2,500 contacts with 15,000 emails a month, then $39/mo at 5,000.
What is the cheapest email marketing software? For a free newsletter, Substack, at $0 for any list size, and Kit, at $0 up to 10,000 subscribers if one automation is enough. Among tools with a free plan, the cheapest subscriber-billed paid plans are Sender at 5,000 ($39/mo) and GetResponse at 10,000 ($64.78/mo), on annual billing. Across all 20 tools in our data, Moosend and Campaigner are a dollar cheaper at 5,000 ($38/mo), but neither has a free plan. Brevo can be cheaper still ($28.75/mo at 5,000 in our estimates) if you send infrequently, because it bills by emails sent.
Is Mailchimp’s free plan worth it? Only for testing. It allows 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, two emails per subscriber once full, and at 1,000 subscribers Mailchimp costs $26.50/mo in our data, against $0 on Kit, Sender, beehiiv or Substack.