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Best Email Marketing Under 300 Subscribers
Three hundred subscribers fits inside the free tier of four of these five tools. That makes the whole comparison about what each free tier withholds and what the first paid step costs when it does. Volume is not the problem at this size - the send cap and the feature list are, so read those two rows before the price row.
Prices last re-checked 2026-08-24. Numbers are read from each vendor's own pricing page; any exception is flagged under "What to watch".
Which one should you pick?
- Pick MailerLite if you need the most affordable paid tier. Visit MailerLite
- Pick Brevo if you need the best free send allowance. Visit Brevo
- Pick Mailchimp if this trade-off works for you: biggest free contact allowance. Visit Mailchimp
- Pick Klaviyo if this trade-off works for you: free tier plus store data. Visit Klaviyo
The short answer
Short answer: No. MailerLite, Brevo, Klaviyo and Mailchimp all have a free tier that covers a list this size, so the honest answer at 300 subscribers is $0. Pay only for a feature free tiers withhold: automations, branding removal or product selling, which starts at Kit for $15/mo.
Most affordable paid tier: MailerLite
MailerLite's free tier reaches 500 subscribers and its paid plan at this size is $10/mo, the lowest paid step on the page. Automations and branding removal are what you are buying when you upgrade.
See MailerLite pricingBest free send allowance: Brevo
Brevo's free tier sends 300 emails a day, which is more than a 300-person list needs on a normal send day. Its paid plans then move to contact tiers, so the free tier is the whole answer at this size.
See Brevo pricingBiggest free contact allowance: Mailchimp
Mailchimp's free tier covers a small contact count with a monthly send cap, which fits a list around this size. You trade a low price for a hard send ceiling that a single big campaign can hit.
See Mailchimp pricingFree tier plus store data: Klaviyo
Klaviyo's free tier covers 250 contacts, just under this list size, and the first paid step is close by. What the free tier gives you is store integration, so it is the pick when the list exists to drive orders.
See Klaviyo pricingThe prices, plan by plan
MailerLite
MailerLite is free up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Comfort starts at $12/mo and Power at $25/mo at 250 subscribers, and both rise with list size.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats, 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 signup forms |
| Comfort | $12/mo, or $10.8/mo billed annually | Starts at 250 subscribers, 3 user seats, 50 automations, 10 websites and landing pages, 5 digital products |
| Power | $25/mo, or $22.5/mo billed annually | Starts at 250 subscribers, unlimited monthly emails, unlimited user seats, unlimited automations and landing pages |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom pricing above 200,000 subscribers |
Prices checked 2026-08-24.
What to watch: The entry prices and free-plan caps are first-party, read from mailerlite.com/pricing. The annual rates and the subscriber-tier ladder are third-party (EmailToolTester, updated 5 Aug 2026) because MailerLite computes those numbers in JavaScript.
Source: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See MailerLite pricingBrevo
Brevo is free at 300 emails a day, then Starter is $9/mo, Standard $18/mo and Professional $499/mo billed monthly, with yearly billing taking 10% off. Brevo prices by monthly email volume, not by contact count.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 300 emails per day (printed in the pricing page FAQ), unlimited contacts, core features, no credit card needed. |
| Starter | $9/mo, or $8.08/mo billed annually | From $9 a month for 5,000 emails (500 contacts); 10,000 emails is $17. Scales with sends, not contacts. |
| Standard | $18/mo, or $16.17/mo billed annually | Everything in Starter plus marketing automation, A/B testing, advanced reporting, web & event tracking, landing pages, AI send-time optimization. |
| Professional | $499/mo, or $449.08/mo billed annually | From 150,000 emails per month, 10 seats included, WhatsApp / popups / push, contact scoring, phone support, deliverability specialist. |
| Enterprise | $2499/mo | 'Starting from' rate, custom pricing. 1M+ contacts, multi-account management, custom objects, dedicated IP, SSO & SAML, tailored onboarding. |
What to watch: Brevo prices by monthly email volume rather than contact count: the numbers above are the page's 5,000 emails/month default and rise with the volume slider. SMS credits cost extra. The 'no Brevo logo' add-on is $10.80/mo on Starter.
Source: https://www.brevo.com/pricing/, read 2026-10-27.
See Brevo pricingMailchimp
Mailchimp is free under 250 contacts. The free-plan column prints a max of 500 emails a month or 250 a day. Paid plans start at $13/mo for Essentials, $20/mo for Standard and $350/mo for Premium at the 0-500 contacts tier, and every price climbs as the contact count grows.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Under 250 contacts, core features. Sending pauses if the contact or email-send limit is exceeded. On 2026-10-14 the comparison table's Free column printed Max of 500/mo or 250/day. |
| Essentials | $13/mo | Starts at 0-500 contacts ('starts at' rate). Testing and scheduling features, 14-day free trial. Price rises with contacts. |
| Standard | $20/mo | Starts at 0-500 contacts ('starts at' rate), send up to 6,000 emails each month at that tier. Automations, personalization, optimization tools. 14-day free trial. |
| Premium | $350/mo | Unlimited contacts, advanced tools, priority support. Promo on the page: 15% off the first 12 months for 10,000+ contacts ($297.50/mo for 12 months). |
What to watch: Mailchimp prices are per contact tier and the page quotes 'starts at' rates: move the contacts slider and every number changes. On 2026-10-14 the comparison table's Free column printed Max of 500/mo or 250/day. The page prints no annual-billing rates - only a 15%-off-for-12-months promo for 10,000+ contacts.
Source: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/, read 2026-10-04.
See Mailchimp pricingKlaviyo
Klaviyo is free up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month. The Email plan starts at $20/mo at 500 active profiles and rises with the profile count: $60/mo at 2,500, $100/mo at 5,000, $150/mo at 10,000 and $400/mo at 25,000 active profiles. SMS is billed separately on every plan.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Up to 250 active profiles, 500 email sends a month, $5 a month of mobile messages and $5 a month of Klaviyo Composer usage included, email support for the first 60 days. |
| $20/mo | Starts at $20/mo for up to 500 active profiles and rises with the profile count (see the ladder below). No send or profile limits on the tier you buy. SMS messages cost extra. |
What to watch: Klaviyo prices by ACTIVE profiles, not list size, and the paid ladder is third-party (see the source note) because the configurator computes prices in JavaScript. SMS costs extra on every plan. Every rung is a monthly-billing figure: Klaviyo's page prints no annual-per-month rate, so this entry records none. The table lists the rungs we could source; the configurator has more rungs between them.
Source: https://www.klaviyo.com/pricing, read 2026-08-24.
See Klaviyo pricingMailchimp, Brevo and Constant Contact: what they cost
Every email-marketing comparison starts with these three names, so here is what each one actually charges. Every price below was read on the vendor's own pricing page and is re-checked weekly - the link goes to the full plan tables and the fine print:
- Mailchimp is free under 250 contacts. The free-plan column prints a max of 500 emails a month or 250 a day. Paid plans start at $13/mo for Essentials, $20/mo for Standard and $350/mo for Premium at the 0-500 contacts tier, and every price climbs as the contact count grows.
- Brevo is free at 300 emails a day, then Starter is $9/mo, Standard $18/mo and Professional $499/mo billed monthly, with yearly billing taking 10% off. Brevo prices by monthly email volume, not by contact count.
- Constant Contact starts at $12/mo on Lite, $35/mo on Standard and $80/mo on Premium billed monthly, or $10.20 / $29.75 / $68 per month billed annually. There is no permanent free plan. Constant Contact's own landing page says the trial is 30 days and no credit card is required. A paid plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Cheaper first paid month: Brevo Starter at $9/mo is below the cheapest paid step among the picks above (MailerLite Comfort at $12/mo). Those entry prices are for the smallest list or send volume each vendor sells, so price them at your own size before you switch.
Compare these numbers against the picks above at your own list size: the cheapest tool for a 500-contact shop is rarely the cheapest at 10,000 subscribers, and the free tiers stop at very different places.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest option here?
MailerLite has the lowest paid price at $10/mo at this list size, and its free tier, like Brevo's, Mailchimp's and Klaviyo's, costs $0. At 300 subscribers the correct answer is a free tier.
Is 300 subscribers enough to need a paid plan?
No. MailerLite, Brevo, Mailchimp and Klaviyo all cover this size on a free tier, so the paid plan only makes sense when you need automations, branding removal or store integration. The free tiers were read between 2026-08-24 and 2026-10-27.
What do I get for paying at this size?
Features, not volume: automations and branding removal on MailerLite, higher send limits on Brevo, and store-connected flows on Klaviyo. Kit, the one tool on this page without a free tier at this size, starts at $15/mo for 1,000 subscribers.
Will I get charged for unsubscribed contacts?
On MailerLite and Klaviyo, no - they bill on active subscribers and profiles. Mailchimp's entry tiers count contacts, so prune the list before you upgrade past its free tier. Brevo bills on sends instead, which is why its free tier is send-capped.
What is the first paid step when the list grows?
MailerLite's next active-subscriber tier, Brevo's next contact tier, or Klaviyo's first paid tier - all close to the free ceiling, which is why the send cap matters as much as the contact cap. Re-read the vendor page on the day you upgrade; the dates on this page run from 2026-08-24 to 2026-10-27.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We do not accept payment for placement, and the price tables are generated from the same dataset we re-check weekly. Full disclosure. How we check prices.