Email marketing at 2,500 subscribers: what it costs (2026)
Monthly prices at 2,500 subscribers, read from each vendor's own page on 2026-09-27.
Short answer: At 2,500 subscribers the cheapest paid option we can price is ActiveCampaign at $29/mo. This is the size where the free tiers start running out: 2 of the 4 platforms here still has a free plan whose published ceiling reaches 2,500 (beehiiv, Kit (formerly ConvertKit)), and on the rest 2,500 is already a paid tier.
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Every email platform we track, priced at 2,500 subscribers
| Platform | Cost at 2,500 subscribers | Free plan | Best for | Where the number came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | $49 | Yes | Newsletter operators who want an ad network and paid subscriptions built in. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | $33 | Yes | Creators who want the most generous free tier in email. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| MailerLite | $33 | Yes | Small lists that want a real free plan and cheap paid tiers. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| ActiveCampaign | $29 | No | Businesses that want serious automation and a CRM in one place. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
Monthly billing, read from each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-27. Where a vendor renders its list-size ladder with JavaScript, the figure comes from the named third-party tracker in the last column.
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See Systeme.io pricing →The ranking at 2,500 subscribers
| # | Tool | Cost at 2,500 subs | Best for | Where the number came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ActiveCampaign | $29 | Businesses that want serious automation and a CRM in one place. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 2 | Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | $33 | Creators who want the most generous free tier in email. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 3 | MailerLite | $33 | Small lists that want a real free plan and cheap paid tiers. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 4 | beehiiv | $49 | Newsletter operators who want an ad network and paid subscriptions built in. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
Why 2,500 is the first real decision
Below this you can sit on a free plan and never think about it. At 2,500 the free ceilings start to bite, and the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive platform here is $20 a month for the same 2,500 names. That gap is the whole reason this page exists.
What to check before you upgrade
Three things, in this order: whether the price is per subscriber or per send, whether the automation you rely on is included on the tier you are buying, and whether the next band up (usually 5,000) is a jump you can absorb. All three are on each tool's page on this site.
How we picked
We took every email platform we track, read its published price at 2,500 subscribers, and sorted by that number. Free plans count as $0. No deliverability score, because we have not measured deliverability and we will not invent one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest email marketing at 2,500 subscribers?
ActiveCampaign at $29/mo in our 2026-09-27 check, read from its own pricing page.
Can I stay on a free plan at 2,500 subscribers?
On two of them, yes: beehiiv's free plan caps at 2,500 subscribers and Kit's at 10,000. MailerLite's free plan stops at 250 subscribers, and ActiveCampaign has no free plan at all, so on those two 2,500 is already a paid tier.
Does the price jump again after 2,500?
Yes, on every platform here. Most price in bands, so the next jump is usually at 5,000. The per-tool pages show the next band up.
How current are these prices?
Read from the vendors' own pages on 2026-09-27 and re-checked weekly. Changes are logged on the price changes page.