Email marketing for small business: entry plans compared
Pricing last verified: — may be outdated; check the vendor page
A typical small business starts with a few hundred contacts and sends a handful of campaigns a month. This page compares the plans that fit that size, using only published limits. It is a reading of the numbers, not a test result.
Free and entry plans
| Tool | Plan | Price | Billing basis | Contacts | Sends | Source / confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | Free | $0 | n/a | 250 subscribers | 2,500 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| MailerLite | Comfort | $12/mo | monthly ($10.80/mo billed yearly) | 500 subscribers | 5,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| Brevo | Free | $0 | n/a | not captured | 300 emails/day | source · Vendor page via search excerpt |
| Brevo | Starter | $9/mo | monthly ($97 yearly) | 500 contacts | 5,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| GetResponse | Free | $0 | n/a | 500 contacts | 2,500 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| GetResponse | Email Marketing | $19/mo | monthly (18% off 12-month) | 1000 contacts | unlimited emails | source · Vendor-published |
| AWeber | Free | $0 | n/a | 500 subscribers | 3,000 emails/month | source · Vendor page via search excerpt |
| AWeber | Lite | $15/mo | monthly ($12.50 annual) | 500 subscribers | 5,000 emails/month (10x) | source · Vendor-published |
| Constant Contact | Free | No permanent free plan. 30-day free trial, no card (vendor page) | source · Vendor page via search excerpt | |||
| Constant Contact | Lite | $12/mo | monthly ($10.20/mo prepaid annually) | 0-500 contacts | 10x contacts (5,000/month); overage $0.002/send | source · Vendor-published |
| Mailchimp | Free | $0 | n/a | 250 contacts | 500 emails/month (max 250/day) | source · Vendor-published |
| Mailchimp | Essentials | $13/mo | monthly, starting price at 0-500 contacts | 500 contacts | 10x contacts (5,000/month) | source · Vendor-published |
| Moosend | Free | No permanent free plan. 30-day free trial (vendor page) | source · Vendor page via search excerpt | |||
| Moosend | Pro | $9/mo | monthly ($8 biannual, $7 annual per month) | 500 subscribers | unlimited emails | source · Vendor-published |
| ActiveCampaign | Free | No permanent free plan. 14-day free trial (vendor help center) | source · Vendor-published | |||
| ActiveCampaign | Starter | $15/mo | billed yearly (monthly-billing price not vendor-confirmed; one third-party source says $19) | 1,000 contacts | 10,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| Sender | Free Forever | $0 | n/a | 2500 subscribers | 15,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| Sender | Standard | $10/mo | monthly (about $8.25/mo billed yearly); sources conflict, see notes | 1,000 subscribers (entry tier per vendor help center) | 12,000 emails/month (12x) | source · Sources conflict |
What the published numbers say
- Cheapest listed entry plans (500 contacts): Brevo Starter and Moosend Pro list $9/mo (Moosend's figure is from its pricing page), EmailOctopus Pro $10, Constant Contact Lite $12, MailerLite Comfort $12, Mailchimp Essentials $13, AWeber Lite $15. Contact tiers differ, so check the exact cap.
- If you want to start at $0: GetResponse (500 contacts), AWeber (500), MailerLite (250), Mailchimp (250), Sender (2,500) have free plans. ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact and Moosend start with a trial.
- Larger starting list: ActiveCampaign's Starter and GetResponse's Email Marketing entry prices are quoted for 1,000 contacts ($19 each monthly), so they are not like-for-like with the 500-contact plans above.
Per-tool notes (published facts only)
MailerLite
Free plan: 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month and 2 user seats. At 500 subscribers, Comfort is $12/month monthly ($10.80/month billed yearly) with 5,000 emails, and Power is $25/month ($22.50 billed yearly) with unlimited emails (from the plan data on MailerLite's own pricing page). At 1,000 subscribers Comfort is $19 and Power $39 monthly.
Brevo
Free plan is capped by sends per day (300 emails a day) rather than by a small contact count. Starter is listed at $9/mo for 500 contacts and 5,000 emails; Standard at $18/mo. Brevo prices on email volume, which is a different model from contact-based pricing.
GetResponse
Free plan: 500 contacts and 2,500 sends a month. Email Marketing is listed from $19/month for unlimited messages to 1,000 subscribers, with 18% off for a 12-month commitment.
AWeber
Free plan: 500 subscribers and 3,000 sends a month. Lite is listed at $15/month ($12.50/month billed annually) for 500 subscribers and 5,000 sends.
Constant Contact
No permanent free plan; a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. Lite starts at $12/month ($10.20/month if prepaid annually) for 0-500 contacts, with sends capped at 10x your contacts (5,000 at 500 contacts); sends over the cap cost $0.002 each.
Mailchimp
Free plan: 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (max 250 a day). Paid plans start with Essentials and Standard; the entry prices we captured are for 500 contacts. Mailchimp has no publisher affiliate program (its "Mailchimp & Co" program is built for agencies managing client accounts), so we do not earn from Mailchimp links.
Moosend
No permanent free plan; a 30-day trial. Pro is listed from $9/month for up to 500 subscribers with unlimited sends ($8/month on a six-month plan, $7/month on an annual plan; Moosend's pricing page).
ActiveCampaign
No permanent free plan; a 14-day free trial. The vendor pricing page lists Starter for 1,000 contacts and 10,000 sends a month, billed yearly, and ActiveCampaign's own blog says Starter starts at $15/month. A monthly-billing price ($19) appears only in a third-party source, so we do not treat it as confirmed. New customers only; the help center caps Starter at 25,000 contacts.
Sender
Free Forever plan: 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month. Standard starts at the 1,000-subscriber tier with 12,000 emails a month (12x subscribers, Sender help center). Sender's own pages disagree on the entry price (a $7 "starting at" marketing line, about $10 in structured data), and independent trackers list about $15 at 1,000 subscribers, so check the live slider before relying on any of them.
Checklist before you pay
- Count your contacts after removing unsubscribed and bounced addresses; vendors count differently.
- Check whether automation, landing pages, and multiple users are included at your tier.
- Compare monthly vs annual prices; annual is cheaper on every plan where we found both.
What we could not verify
- Feature depth, ease of use, deliverability and support quality. We did not test these products, so we make no claims about them.
- Prices for larger lists: we captured the entry paid tier and the free plan only. Use each vendor's calculator for your list size.
Sources
- MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Brevo: https://help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/208580669-FAQs-What-are-the-limits-of-the-Free-plan (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Brevo: https://www.brevo.com/pricing.md (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- GetResponse: https://www.getresponse.com/pricing/free (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- GetResponse: https://www.getresponse.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- AWeber: https://www.aweber.com/pricing.htm (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Constant Contact: https://www.constantcontact.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/ (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Moosend: https://moosend.com/pricing/ (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- ActiveCampaign: https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Sender: https://www.sender.net/pricing/ (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Sender: https://www.sender.net/help/account-settings-and-billing/how-sender-pricing-works/ (checked Oct 28, 2026)
Sources marked "third-party" are pricing guides, not vendor pages; the confidence label in each table explains which figures need re-checking. Full data: pricing-data.json.
Questions or corrections: gb1@mail.grokbot.com. Prices change often; always confirm on the vendor's own page before you buy.