Email marketing with a free plan: what each one really includes (2026)
Free plans ranked by what they actually allow, read from each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-08-24.
Short answer: Kit (formerly ConvertKit) publishes the most generous free plan in this category, and 7 of the 10 email platforms we track publish a free plan at all. The rest start at a paid tier, so if you have no budget yet the shortlist is shorter than the market makes it look.
| Tool | Entry price | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | Up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, 1 publication, 30-day analytics lookback, unlimited email sends | Up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, 1 publication, 30-day analytics lookback, unlimited email sends | $59/mo |
| Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, sell digital products | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, sell digital products | $39/mo |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats, 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 signup forms | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats, 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 signup forms | $12/mo |
| Mailchimp | 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. | 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. | $13/mo |
| Brevo | 300 emails per day (printed in the pricing page FAQ), unlimited contacts, core features, no credit card needed. | 300 emails per day (printed in the pricing page FAQ), unlimited contacts, core features, no credit card needed. | $9/mo |
| Klaviyo | 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. | 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 |
| Flodesk | $0/mo. Forms and landing pages, designer templates, audience segmentation, email sending. | $0/mo. Forms and landing pages, designer templates, audience segmentation, email sending. | $25/mo |
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Which one should you pick?
- Pick beehiiv if this describes you: Newsletter operators who want an ad network and paid subscriptions built in. Visit beehiiv
- Pick Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if this describes you: Creators who want the most generous free tier in email. Visit Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
- Pick MailerLite if this describes you: Small lists that want a real free plan and cheap paid tiers. Visit MailerLite
- Pick Mailchimp if this describes you: Small lists that want the brand-name tool, on a plan ladder that grows with contacts. Visit Mailchimp
- Pick Brevo if this describes you: Businesses that think in sends, not contacts - unlimited contacts on every plan, transactional email included. Visit Brevo
- Pick Klaviyo if this describes you: Online stores that want email, SMS and storefront data in one place and are happy to pay by active profiles. Visit Klaviyo
- Pick Flodesk if this describes you: Senders who want designer templates and a simple subscriber-priced bill - Flodesk Lite is 1 seat with unlimited email sends and no send limit to watch. Visit Flodesk
Some buttons are affiliate links — how this works.
What each free plan actually includes
| Platform | Free plan ceiling | What you get | First paid tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | Up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, 1 publication, 30-day analytics lookback, unlimited email sends | Up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, 1 publication, 30-day analytics lookback, unlimited email sends | $59/mo |
| Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, sell digital products | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, sell digital products | $39/mo |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats, 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 signup forms | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats, 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 signup forms | $12/mo |
| Mailchimp | 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. | 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. | $13/mo |
| Brevo | 300 emails per day (printed in the pricing page FAQ), unlimited contacts, core features, no credit card needed. | 300 emails per day (printed in the pricing page FAQ), unlimited contacts, core features, no credit card needed. | $9/mo |
| Klaviyo | 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. | 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 |
| Flodesk | $0/mo. Forms and landing pages, designer templates, audience segmentation, email sending. | $0/mo. Forms and landing pages, designer templates, audience segmentation, email sending. | $25/mo |
Free-plan ceilings and first paid tiers read from each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-08-24.
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. Every plan includes unlimited email sends, unlimited sub-accounts, and 0% transaction fees. The free plan never expires and does not require a credit card.
See Systeme.io pricing →The free plans, ranked by ceiling
| # | Tool | Cost | Best for | Where the number came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | beehiiv | Free | Newsletter operators who want an ad network and paid subscriptions built in. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 2 | Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | Free | Creators who want the most generous free tier in email. | first-party prices and tier ladder |
| 3 | MailerLite | Free | Small lists that want a real free plan and cheap paid tiers. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 4 | Mailchimp | Free | Small lists that want the brand-name tool, on a plan ladder that grows with contacts. | first-party prices |
| 5 | Brevo | Free | Businesses that think in sends, not contacts - unlimited contacts on every plan, transactional email included. | first-party prices |
| 6 | Klaviyo | Free | Online stores that want email, SMS and storefront data in one place and are happy to pay by active profiles. | first-party prices and tier ladder |
| 7 | Flodesk | Free | Senders who want designer templates and a simple subscriber-priced bill - Flodesk Lite is 1 seat with unlimited email sends and no send limit to watch. | first-party prices and tier ladder |
All of these are $0. The difference is the ceiling, not the price.
What the free plans leave out
Automation, mostly. Free tiers here cover sending a newsletter to a small list; they do not cover the sequences that turn a subscriber into a customer. That is the feature you are actually buying when you upgrade, and it is why the first paid tier is the real decision.
Platforms with no free plan
ActiveCampaign Constant Contact AWeber
How we picked
We read each vendor's own pricing page and recorded whether a $0 tier exists and what it caps. No scores.
Mailchimp, 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.
Frequently asked questions
Which email marketing platform has the best free plan?
Kit (formerly ConvertKit), on the published ceiling. Read from its own pricing page on 2026-10-19.
Is a free email plan good enough to start a business?
To collect addresses and send a newsletter, yes. To run automated sequences, no -- that is the feature every free tier here holds back.
What happens when I hit the free ceiling?
You get asked to upgrade, and your list keeps working. None of these platforms deletes your subscribers, but sending stops until you pay.
How current are these numbers?
Read from the vendors' own pages on 2026-08-24 and re-checked weekly.