Email marketing at 5,000 subscribers: what it costs (2026)
Monthly prices at 5,000 subscribers, read from each vendor's own page on 2026-09-26.
Short answer: At 5,000 subscribers the cheapest paid option we can price is Kit (formerly ConvertKit) at $33/mo. The free tiers are all behind you at this size: every free plan in this category caps out below 5,000, so this is the first list size where you are comparing real invoices rather than free plans.
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Every email platform we track, priced at 5,000 subscribers
| Platform | Cost at 5,000 subscribers | Free plan | Best for | Where the number came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | $79 | 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 |
| MailerLite | $49 | Yes | Small lists that want a real free plan and cheap paid tiers. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| ActiveCampaign | $49 | 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 2026-09-26. Where a vendor renders its list-size ladder with JavaScript, the figure comes from the named third-party tracker in the last column.
Try Systeme.io
Systeme.io is free up to 2,000 contacts, then $17/mo Startup, $47/mo Webinar and $97/mo Unlimited on monthly billing. Annual billing gives you two months free.
See Systeme.io pricing →The ranking at 5,000 subscribers
| # | Tool | Cost at 5,000 subs | Best for | Where the number came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | $33 | Creators who want the most generous free tier in email. | first-party |
| 2 | MailerLite | $49 | Small lists that want a real free plan and cheap paid tiers. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 3 | ActiveCampaign | $49 | Businesses that want serious automation and a CRM in one place. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 4 | beehiiv | $79 | Newsletter operators who want an ad network and paid subscriptions built in. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
Why 5,000 is the awkward number
It is past every free tier and below the size where vendors start offering volume discounts. You are paying list-price retail, and the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive platform here is $46 a month for the same 5,000 names. That gap is the whole reason this page exists.
What to check before you switch
Price is the easy part. Before you move a 5,000-name list, check three things on the platform you are moving to: whether the price is per subscriber or per send, whether the automation you rely on exists on the cheaper tier, and whether you can export your list again without paying. 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 5,000 subscribers, and sorted by that number. 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 5,000 subscribers?
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) at $33/mo in our 2026-09-26 check, read from its own pricing page.
Is there a free plan for 5,000 subscribers?
Not in this category. The most generous free tier here caps well below 5,000 subscribers, so at this size you are on a paid plan whichever platform you pick.
Does the price go up again after 5,000?
Yes, on every platform here. Most price in bands, so the next jump is usually at 10,000. The per-tool pages show the next band up.
How current are these prices?
Read from the vendors' own pages on 2026-09-26 and re-checked weekly. Changes are logged on the price changes page.