Thousands of businesses around the globe use Aweber. However, over the years, the email marketing platform has been lagging behind, especially on the segmentation and automation front. The lack of advanced automation features has compelled users to seek for a reliable alternative to Aweber.
In this blog, we’ll share some of the best email marketing services with features like Aweber to upgrade your email marketing automation game.
Why Consider Aweber Alternatives?
Aweber is a popular email marketing automation software. However, many users complain that the solution is slowly becoming obsolete and confusing. Here are some reasons why users are considering other Aweber substitutes:
- Outdated & confusing interface. Many users complain that the UI feels laggy and looks obsolete compared to other email marketing tools. There are many non-useful features, and the outdated navigation isn’t helping anyone save time.
- Small email template library. Aweber’s email templates are pretty limited and look dated in terms of aesthetics and design. Plus, the lack of variety in templates turns off many serious marketers.
- Lack of advanced features. Aweber offers basic automation & customer segmentation capabilities. But that’s insufficient to create elaborate email sequences or deliver a personalized experience.
- Limited customization options. Most Aweber templates are designed for particular purposes. If you’re not happy with default templates, then Aweber will be limiting for you as limited customizations are available.
10 Best Aweber Alternatives for Marketing
If you’re unhappy with Aweber and searching for email marketing platforms similar to Aweber for your marketing automation needs, here are the best Aweber competitors:
Let’s look at these popular email marketing tools one by one.
1. Sender — Best Aweber Alternative for Email Marketing
If you’re disappointed by Aweber every time you’re trying to build automation, Sender should be your first choice. With a visual automation builder, personalized campaigns can be automated across different marketing channels like email and SMS.
Best for:
- Small and medium-sized businesses;
- Ecommerce & retail;
- SaaS businesses.
Sender simplifies email marketing for business owners. Instead of complicating things with a confusing dashboard, everything you need is right in front of your eyes. And even if you’re confused, you can talk to a human via live chat, which is better than a chatbot.
The 10-second average response time leaves Aweber’s slow support behind by miles.
A refreshingly clean UI will save you time when setting up automation for upselling and lead nurturing campaigns. Use its drag-and-drop automation builder to automate campaigns based on visitor behavior, past shopping history, or custom triggers within minutes (and not hours).
Sender doesn’t just score high on the convenience front – it’s feature set is also compelling. It supports omnichannel campaigns with impressive SMS marketing capabilities, and its behavioral triggers are the best in the lot, ensuring you don’t lose any opportunity.
So, if you’re sick of complex features/UI and have been looking for human-friendly Aweber replacement options, Sender should be your pick.
Features
- Email and SMS marketing;
- Automated email sequences;
- Smart segmentation and personalization;
- Drag-and-drop builder for forms, popups, and emails;
- Excellent deliverability with dedicated IP;
- Highly-responsive customer support.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Drag-and-drop email and SMS automation builder for automated campaigns | No landing page builder (yet) |
| Responsive email template library | Sender’s branding with Free plan |
| Affordable pricing plans |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Free Plan | $0/month | Up to 2,500 contacts and up to 15,000 emails/month |
| Standard Plan | Starts at $15/month | Up to 2,500 contacts and up to 30,000 emails/month |
| Professional Plan | Starts at $29/month | Up to 2,500 contacts and up to 60,000 emails/month |
Sender’s free plan supports up to 15,000 emails per month to 2,500 subscribers. You can use all the premium features, including automation workflows, segmentation, and email builder, while on the free plan.
Also, there’s a custom enterprise plan for larger needs with everything unlimited, a dedicated customer success manager, advanced user permissions, reliable customer data security, and more.
2. Drip — Best Alternative for Marketing Automation
Drip offers services similar to Aweber and is a worthy solution if you run a Shopify store or ecommerce business. You should try Drip for its marketing automation prowess to nurture your audience or increase your store revenue.
Best for:
- Shopify stores;
- Digital product creators;
- Online/offline retailers.
With Drip, you can automate email campaigns throughout the entire customer journey. Track customer actions on your website and schedule personalized email newsletters, abandoned cart emails, behavioral upsells, and more in a few steps.
Drip supports almost all major ecommerce platforms and has a great analytics dashboard. However, there’s just a standard plan for you to choose from, which reduces the flexibility for a business owner. Plus, customer support is also limited for business owners with smaller lists.
Features
- Behavioral automation triggers;
- Advanced personalization and segmentation;
- Ready-to-use automation templates;
- A/B testing capabilities;
- Customer journey analytics;
Drip Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Journey and user experience builder | Lack of design tools |
| A/B testing | Expensive for bigger lists |
| Readymade automation flows | No free plans |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Basic | $39/month | Up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited email sends |
Drip only has a 14-day trial plan but no free plan for users.
Also read: 8 Drip Alternatives for Smarter Email Campaigns
3. Brevo — Best for Email & SMS Marketing
Brevo is a multi-functional tool that can help you with email and SMS marketing if you’re ready to pay the price, which is higher than that of Sender. It offers unlimited contact storage and has a limit of sending up to 20,000 emails per month.
Best for:
- Ecommerce platforms;
- Small businesses;
- Personal branding experts.
Brevo offers marketing automation tools to engage subscribers, upsell products to existing customers, and boost your overall conversion rates on autopilot. You can create automated flows and also nurture your subscribers/customers through follow-up SMS campaigns.
The catch is that all of this isn’t available on the basic plan. You must pay additionally for SMS credits, extra automations, and advanced features. So, pick it when you’ve got the budget to pay for overages and add-ons.
Features
- Marketing automation builder;
- Audience segmentation;
- Multi-channel marketing;
- List management;
- Transactional emails.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Unlimited contact storage | No marketing automation on lower/starter plan |
| Simple UI | No phone/live chat support on the starter plan |
| Whatsapp/SMS marketing features | Limited/basic reporting |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Starter | $25/month | Up to 20,000 emails per month. Marketing automation for up to 2,000 contacts. No advanced statistics or phone support. |
| Business | $65/month | Unlimited contacts; 20,000 emails per month. No popups or Web push notifications. |
Brevo’s free plan can be used to send up to 300 emails per day and store unlimited emails. All basic features, such as email templates, email editor, etc., are also available.
4. Mailjet — Email Marketing Software for Small Businesses
Mailjet is a viable alternative if you’re tired of dull email templates offered by Aweber. It has a vast email library with refreshing templates for various businesses and uses.
Best for:
- Content creators;
- Instagram small business owners;
- Developers and SaaS tool owners.
An intuitive drag-and-drop email builder simplifies the process of creating responsive email campaigns. Plus, the transactional email API handles all your automated email campaigns for order confirmations, shipping confirmations, password resets, and more. The platform’s collaboration capabilities also help streamline your marketing workflow across teams.
If you need a fuss-free tool with a great template library and transactional email support, check out Mailjet.
Features
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Large email template library;
- Strong collaboration capabilities powered by an internal tool;
- Transactional email API.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Awesome email deliverability | Limited automation capabilities |
| Transactional email API | Slow customer support |
| Affordable pricing plans | Poor documentation |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Essentials | $15 per month | Up to 15,000 emails. No marketing automation or A/B testing. |
| Premium | $25 per month | Up to 15,000 emails, unlimited contacts. No dedicated IP or deliverability reports. |
The free plan can be used to send up to 6,000 emails per month with a daily sending limit of 200 emails. You can also store 1,500 contacts on the free plan.
5. Mailchimp — Best for Landing Page Builder
Mailchimp is a well-known email marketing tool with an easy-to-use landing page builder. This platform can be a great choice if you’re unsatisfied with Aweber’s builder. Create high-converting landing pages to attract sign-ups, grow your email list, promote your offer, and supercharge your email marketing efforts.
Best for:
- Marketing agencies;
- B2B startups;
- Coaches and influencers.
If you’re looking for fuel for the ‘Aweber vs. Mailchimp’ debate, here’s some information. Though Mailchimp appears more user-friendly, sophisticated, and modern than Aweber, its pricing strategy isn’t the most user-friendly.
It has a built-in form builder, campaign automation, and segmentation features, but users complain they pay more when they want to use the desired features. Even on the most expensive plans, some features must be unlocked by purchasing them additionally (as add-ons). Plus, you will be charged for every subscriber, including duplicates, wrong emails, and unsubscribed emails. Read the fine print associated with pricing plans before you make a switch.
Features
- Drag-and-drop landing page, form, and email builder;
- Standard segmentation and targeting options;
- Email optimization feature;
- Appointment scheduling;
- Integrations with major platforms.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Intuitive UI | Predatory pricing model |
| Simple automation workflows | Limited reporting and analytics features |
| Integrations with popular apps | Restrictive segmentation and email list updating features |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Essentials | $13/month | Up to 500 subscribers; 5,000 emails per month |
| Advanced | $20/month | Up to 500 subscribers; 6,000 emails per month |
| Premium | $350/month | Up to 500 subscribers; 150,000 emails per month |
There’s a free plan you can use to send up to 1,000 emails per month to a list of 500 subscribers. No advanced features are available on the free plan.
6. GetResponse — Good Alternative for CRM Features
GetResponse is a good choice for businesses looking for an alternative to Aweber. It has advanced features for managing customer relationships. Using its CRM features, you can capture leads, nurture those leads, and close the sales cycle faster.
Best for:
- Ecommerce business owners;
- Personal coaches and influencers;
- B2B SaaS businesses.
GetResponse has an interesting automation workflow builder to personalize messages for each customer quickly. It also has deep segmentation capabilities, an AI-powered journey builder, and intelligent CRM capabilities to ensure you never miss an opportunity to convert.
Moreover, it also supports transactional emails and has all the standard email marketing automation features, paid social media ads management, a landing page builder, and a powerful journey builder. Though, some users complain that not all features are fine-tuned. GetResponse is a good choice for businesses focusing on marketing and sales, but the learning curve and UI/UX might be challenging for some users.
Features
- Conversion funnel builder and automated campaign builder;
- Ecommerce journey optimization using AI;
- Excellent deliverability and reputation;
- Behavioral segmentation and personalization features.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Live chat widget feature for websites; | Limited reporting and analytics capabilities; |
| CRM and sales-friendly features and flows. | Costly plans; |
| AI-powered automation flow optimizer. | Extensive feature sets may confuse many business owners. |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plans | Cost | Limits |
| Email Marketing | $15/month | Unlimited emails for up to 1,000 subscribers. No automation |
| Marketing Automation | $48/month | Unlimited emails for up to 1,000 subscribers. No Ecommerce integration |
| Ecommerce Marketing | $97/month | Ecommerce integration + automation + Unlimited emails for up to 1,000 subscribers |
There’s a 30-day free trial plan which you can use to send up to 2,500 emails and test the platform.
7. Convertkit — Feature-Rich Solution for Email Designs
Convertkit is a creator-first email marketing platform famous for its refreshing email newsletter templates and designs. The platform promotes itself as an all-in-one email service provider for artists, creators, influencers, and small business owners.
Best for:
- Content creators;
- Influencers;
- Artists.
Convertkit offers all the standard features of a modern email marketing solution and tools to start, grow, and nurture an email list. It has excellent customization and creation features to help marketers create emails that stand out.
But don’t expect pro-level or advanced analytics or automation features. It has limited capabilities when it comes to creating scalable campaigns. The fixed seats on paid plans don’t make things easier for growing teams.
Features
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Opt-in and lead magnet automation;
- Landing page/opt-in page builder;
- Standard automation features.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Simple and intuitive interface; | Basic reporting and analytics features; |
| Opt-in and nurturing automation campaigns; | Simple segmentation and personalization only; |
| Landing page builder. | Limited user seats, reducing chances of collaboration or scaling up. |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Creator | $9/month | Up to 300 subscribers have access to all features except advanced reporting scoring and referral features. |
| Creator Pro | $25/month | Up to 300 subscribers with access to every feature on the platform |
The free plan supports forms, broadcasts, and landing pages and can be used for up to 1,000 subscribers. However, there are feature restrictions on advanced features like automation, integration, advanced reporting, etc.
8. ActiveCampaign — Best Alternative for SMB Businesses
ActiveCampaign is another compelling Aweber competitor that works great for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers advanced email marketing automation, CRM, and sales automation features on a single platform.
Best for:
- Small and medium businesses;
- Service-based companies;
- Agencies & freelancers.
ActiveCampaign’s automation workflows support crafting and scheduling personalized messages that cater to each customer’s needs. The CRM and sales automation features make managing leads and closing deals easier.
Sales automation, customer management, and funnel customization are where ActiveCampaign works really well. If you’re looking for a solution with extensive customer relationship management and event marketing features, ActiveCampaign can be a good alternative. However, the email design elements are pretty basic and feel restrictive.
Features
- Drip campaign automation;
- CRM and sales automation features;
- Lead and contact scoring capabilities;
- Email personalization based on lead scores and segments.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Intuitive user interface | Expensive pricing plans for large email lists |
| Seamless lead scoring, CRM, and sales automation features | Confusing email automation builder |
| Advanced segmentation and personalization capabilities | Steep learning curve |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Lite | $29 per month | Up to 1,000 contacts and 10x contact sending limit + basic email automation features. |
| Plus | $49 per month | Up to 1,000 contacts, 10x contact sending limit, and access to basic features + landing pages + lead scoring. |
| Professional | $149 per month | Up to 2,500 contacts, 12x contact sending limit, and access to advanced features like predictive sending. |
ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with access to basic email marketing and automation features.
9. SendPulse — Best for Web Push Notifications
SendPulse is an Aweber alternative that can be used to send web push notifications along with standard email campaigns. Use it to set up, optimize, and improve your omnichannel digital marketing strategy.
Best for:
- Small business owners;
- Ecommerce platforms;
- Early-stage startups.
SendPulse offers a landing page builder and chatbot, along with all standard features like email editor, segmentation, and automation builder. Plus, it has a central CRM dashboard for you to keep an eye on all conversations from a single screen.
Though everything looks good from the surface, many users report deliverability issues, overage charges, and slow customer support.
Features
- Audience segmentation;
- Automation builder;
- Chatbots and web push notifications;
- Free CRM;
- Free link in bio page.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Chatbot, web notifications, SMS & email on a single platform | Customer support is slow |
| Great template library | Issues with deliverability |
| Ecommerce-friendly features | No option to identify duplications (and charge for every contact on the list) |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Standard | $6.4 per month | Up to 500 subscribers. Unlimited emails, 200 MB storage, 10 automation flows, and 5 audience segments. |
| Pro | $7.9 per month | Up to 500 subscribers. Unlimited emails, 500 MB storage, 50 automation flows, and unlimited audience segments. |
| Enterprise | $10.75 per month | Up to 500 subscribers. Unlimited web push notifications, emails, storage, flows, and advanced segmentation options |
Sendpulse offers a free plan for up to 500 subscribers and 15,000 emails. You can use it to set up five automation flows.
10. Sendlane — Email Automation Designed for Ecommerce
Sendlane is an interesting solution that not only automates emails but also handles SMS, reviews, forms, and more. It is designed for ecommerce brands who want to engage potential customers and build an omnichannel experience.
Best for:
- Large Shopify stores;
- UGC-driven brands;
- Niche ecommerce stores.
Sendlane helps you discover high-intent buyers pre-purchase and then manages the entire user journey by tracking user behavior and sending contextual nudges via SMS, emails, or chats. It also has all the standard features you find in other tools in this list.
It charges on credit basis instead of on the basis of email sends or the number of contacts. Still, the prices are pretty steep when compared to other competitors and alternatives and can be confusing for beginners.
Features
- Behavioral tracking;
- Customized segments;
- Real-time analytics;
- A/B testing;
- Campaign personalization;
- Capture user reviews.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Captures user reviews | Expensive |
| Ready to use automation flows | Steep learning curve |
| A/B testing | No image gallery for storing images |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Email-only | $500 per month | Send up to 500,000 emails + unlimited contacts |
| Email + SMS | $545 per month | Send up to 500,000 emails + 2,500 SMS credits + unlimited contacts |
A 60-day free trial is also available for testing the platform and sending up to 500 emails to 100 contacts.
Aweber Alternatives: Price & Feature Comparison Table
| Cost | Monthly Emails | Subscriber Limit | Free Plan | Best Feature | |
| Sender | Starts at $15 | 30,000 | 2,500 | Yes | Visual automation builder & omnichannel campaigns |
| Drip | Starts at $39 | Unlimited | 2,500 | No | Customer journey builder |
| Brevo | Starts at $25 | 20,000 | Unlimited | Yes | Whatsapp/SMS marketing features |
| Mailjet | $15 per month | 15,000 | Unlimited | Yes | Transactional email API |
| Mailchimp | Starts at $13 | 5,000 | 500 | Yes | Landing page builder |
| GetResponse | Starts at $15 | Unlimited | 1,000 | Yes | Conversion funnel builder & CRM |
| ConvertKit | Starts at $9 | Unlimited | 300 | Yes | Lead magnet automation |
| ActiveCampaign | $29 per month | 10x of contact limit | 1000 | No (Free Trial Only) | Lead scoring capabilities |
| SendPulse | Starts at $6.4 per month | Unlimited | 500 | Yes | Web push notifications |
| Sendlane | Starts at $500 per month | 500,000 emails | Unlimited | No (Free Trial Only) | Customer reviews automation |
Also read:
- 13 Best Mailchimp Alternatives for 2024 (Free & Paid Options)
- 7 Best ActiveCampaign Alternatives (Incl. Free Competitors)
- 15 Free Email Template Builders (HTML + Drag-and-Drop Editor)
Author Bio
Anmol Ratan Sachdeva is a content marketer and small business consultant who has a strong grip on topics like marketing automation, email marketing, and content marketing. He loves to write about building, improving, and growing a business.
