Everyone talks about email marketing and its awesome ROI ($36 for every dollar spent!). Though the cost of email marketing can grow pretty fast if you’ve got a growing list of subscribers, we’ve found the best services that offer an affordable alternative.
In this blog, we’ve listed 11 of the least expensive email marketing services that you can use for your business. Whether you’re just starting or have been around for a while, this list offers options for all. So, let’s dive in and find a suitable solution for you.
Choosing Affordable Email Marketing Services
When it comes to email marketing, finding the right tool that fits your budget without compromising quality is tricky.
Selecting a budget-friendly email marketing software isn’t just about the one-time investment. It’s also about the recurring costs involved and your business requirements. Here are the five factors you should consider while picking email marketing software:
- Affordability & pricing plans. Prefer a platform offering tier-based pricing plans, including free ones, to fit your marketing budget. It shouldn’t have any associated hidden costs (or add-ons) for crucial email marketing features;
- Features & customization options. Any tool you select should have automation, segmentation, and a drag-and-drop builder for email design customization. This will help you create engaging email marketing campaigns that suit your branding initiatives and growth goals;
- Ease of use & user experience. Choose a user-friendly platform, especially if you’re a beginner. It should have an intuitive interface, engaging templates, offer real-time support and detailed tutorials;
- Deliverability & performance. High deliverability is vital to ensure your emails reach the inbox. Look for a platform with a strong reputation in deliverability, offering insights, analytics, and the ability to optimize campaigns;
- Scalability & growth potential. As your business grows, your email marketing needs may expand, too. Select a tool that scales as you grow, offering more advanced options on-demand without a surprise price hike.
Cheap Email Marketing Service: Price Comparison
Don’t have time to read a long post and want to quickly check which is the cheapest mass mailing service out there? Have a look at this overview table and make your pick:
| Platform | Free Plan | Cheapest Plan | 5,000 contacts | 20,000 contacts | 50,000 contacts | 100,000 contacts |
| Sender | Yes. Unlimited automations. | $15/month | $27.50/mo | $72.50/mo | $189/mo | $306/mo |
| Mailchimp | Yes. Limited access to features | $13/month | $100/mo | $285/mo | $450/mo | $770/mo |
| Benchmark Email | Yes. Limited access | $13/month | $49/month | $117/mo | $237/mo | $424/mo |
| ConvertKit | Yes. No automation builder | $9/month | $66/month | $150/month | $316/month | $566/month |
| Mailjet | Yes. Daily sending limits | $15/month | Based on email sends | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Sendpulse | Yes. Limits on feature usage | $6.4/month | $ 28 /month | $ 72 /month | $ 152.80 /month | $ 257.60 /month |
| Brevo | Yes. Limited access to advanced features | $9/month | Based on email sends | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| EmailOctopus | Yes. No automation access | $9/month | $24/mo | $65/mo | $150/mo | $290/mo |
| Sendy | No | $69 one-time fee | Depends on Amazon SES | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| GetResponse | 30-day trial only | $15/month | $44.28/mo | $142.68/mo | $245.18/mo | $441.98/mo |
| Sendgrid | Yes. Basic features only | $15/month | Based on email sends | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote |
11 Cheap Email Marketing Services
Whether you’re a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or an ecommerce brand, you can always benefit from email marketing. To help you pick the cheapest email marketing platform, here’s a list of the most affordable email marketing services to try:
- Sender
- Brevo
- Mailjet
- Mailchimp
- Benchmark Email
- EmailOctopus
- GetResponse
- ConvertKit
- SendPulse
- Sendy
- SendGrid
From powerful automation to impressive deliverability, we’ve considered everything that matters in creating this list. Let’s look at each of these solutions one by one.
Sender — Cheapest Email Newsletter Service
Sender is one of the best and cheapest email newsletter service available out there. Its ROI-focused approach makes it perfect for brands that want to leverage the power of email marketing without breaking the bank.
Sender might be the most affordable solution, but don’t mistake it for a simple tool. In fact, it’s the cheapest email automation solution with powerful marketing automation capabilities. Even with the free plan, you can automate abandoned cart emails, follow-ups, welcome emails, and behavioral campaigns.
It has an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, behavioral segmentation features, low-cost plans, a popup builder, and a large library of responsive templates. To top it all, you get a highly-responsive live chat support to answer all your queries in case you’re stuck.
Features
- No code email builder;
- Visual automation builder;
- Behavioral segmentation features;
- Amazing deliverability;
- Live chat support.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Forever-free plan with no feature restrictions | No landing page builder |
| Human live chat support with less than 1 minute response time | |
| Powerful automation builder with behavioral triggers |
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 monthly emails to 2,500 subscribers. It unlocks all the features, including automation workflows, segmentation, and email builder, making it the best free email marketing software in this list.
Brevo — Low-Cost Email Marketing Service for Sales
Brevo is a low-cost email marketing service for sales-driven businesses. This affordable email marketing tool offers rich audience segmentation and personalization options for targeted email campaigns. You can precisely target specific audience groups, which leads to more people opening and clicking on your emails.
Moreover, they offer automation workflows, transactional emails, and even features like CRM, SMS, and WhatsApp campaigns. Their drag-and-drop email editor makes it easy to create beautiful email marketing campaigns without needing tech skills.
Brevo’s pricing is fair and square. They charge you based on the number of emails you send, not the size of your contact list. So, it’s perfect for businesses looking for cheap email marketing software that scales as they grow.
Features
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Segmentation & personalization features;
- Prebuilt automation workflows;
- Inbuilt CRM, SMS & Whatsapp marketing features.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Unlimited contact storage | No marketing automation on the starter plan |
| Simple UI | No phone/live chat support on the starter plan |
| Whatsapp/SMS marketing features | Limited reporting |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Starter | $9/month | Up to 20,000 emails per month. Marketing automation for up to 2,000 contacts. |
| Business | $65/month | Unlimited contacts; 20,000 emails per month. |
Use its free plan to send up to 300 emails daily and store unlimited emails. However, only basic features, such as email templates, email editor, etc., are available.
Mailjet — Great Email Marketing Solution for Beginners
If you’re just getting started with email marketing and have an in-house team, you should consider Mailjet. It’s a great email marketing solution for beginners that offers useful collaboration features.
Mailjet’s strong focus on teamwork allows your team to work together in real-time, ensuring that your campaigns are crafted precisely. This collective approach means more creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness in every email.
Coupled with their robust email verification system, Mailjet ensures that every email address on your list is real and valid before pressing send. But that’s not all; Mailjet’s feature set extends to personalization, segmentation, automation, A/B testing, and contact management.
Features
- Dynamic content sections;
- Deep segmentation;
- Marketing automation builder;
- A/B testing;
- Email verification.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Multi-user collaboration | Limited segmentation capabilities |
| A/B testing feature | The UI feels dated |
| Email validation feature | No phone support |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Essentials | $15/month | Up to 15,000 emails, unlimited contacts, signup form builder, segmentation, etc. |
| Premium | $25/month | Up to 15,000 emails, unlimited contacts, + advanced features like marketing automation, A/B testing, etc. |
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.
Mailchimp — Best Email Marketing Tool for Newsletters
Mailchimp is one of the best email marketing tools for newsletters. It’s a user-friendly solution whether you run a large business or work alone.
With Mailchimp, your emails look precisely how you want while matching your brand and campaign goals. Plus, you can monitor your emails’ performance with nifty stats like open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber activity.
Whether you’re a tiny startup or a big corporate giant, Mailchimp is an affordable email marketing service with plans that grow with you. However, if you need to unleash the full potential, the solution will become costly pretty soon as everything is sold separately as an add-on.
Features
- Automated workflows;
- A/B testing;
- Vast library of templates;
- Simple list management features;
- Mobile app for campaign management.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Intuitive landing page & email builder | Predatory pricing model |
| Appointment scheduler | Lower-tier plans come with restrictions |
| Vast template library | Limited customer support |
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 |
The free plan is useful only for sending up to 1,000 emails per month to a list of up to 500 subscribers.
Benchmark Email — Cheapest Email Campaign Platform
Benchmark Email is an AI-driven email marketing platform with many useful features to make your life easier.
Benchmark Email offers Smart Content, an AI-driven content creator. It lets you turn your ideas into engaging email copy with a click, making it the cheapest email campaign platform to offer such a feature.
The smart sending feature further takes care of the best delivery times. It’s a fusion of innovation and convenience that enables businesses to reach their audience effectively every time.
Benchmark Email offers a great template library, popup and landing page builder, marketing CRM, and deep integration. So, whether you’re a novice or an expert, the platform simplifies running email campaigns that look good and resonate with your subscribers.
Features
- Drag-and-drop email design builder;
- AI content generator;
- Popup & landing page builder;
- Integrated marketing CRM.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Large template library | Deliverability issues |
| AI content generator | Charges for storing extra files on their server |
| CRM solution | Glitchy email editor |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Free | $0 | Up to 500 contacts, 3,500 emails/month |
| Pro | $13/month | Up to 500 contacts, 7,500 emails/month |
The free plan doesn’t offer access to automation, A/B testing and landing page builder.
EmailOctopus — Cheap Email Blast Service
EmailOctopus is all about keeping things simple and budget-friendly. With this cheap email blast service, you’ve got the basics covered – creating, sending, and tracking email campaigns and newsletters is a breeze.
You can also make your emails look beautiful with responsive templates, and there’s a super easy drag-and-drop editor for crafting emails like a pro.
That’s not all! With EmailOctopus, you can set up sequences and campaigns that run on autopilot. It also gives you all the details of how your campaigns are doing, from open rates to clicks and subscriber engagement.
Given that the tool also easily connects with your favorite tools, it’s a useful free email marketing software available.
Features
- Automated email sequences;
- Detailed analytics;
- Form and landing page builder;
- Live chat support.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy list management options | Limited automation features, even on paid plans |
| Great support over live chat and email | No A/B testing |
| Simple email editor | Fewer email templates |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Free | $0 | Up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails/month. No automation access |
| Pro | $9/month | Up to 500 subscribers, 10,00 emails/month |
EmailOctopus’ free plan allows users to send up to 10,000 emails per month to 2,500 subscribers, making it a cost-effective option for small businesses and startups looking to manage their email marketing without incurring expenses.
GetResponse — Affordable Email Automation Solution
GetResponse offers an easy-to-use platform for creating compelling email campaigns, managing landing pages, using AI for email content, and more. It’s seen as an affordable email automation solution for building an email list and promoting your offerings.
This affordable email marketing software offers an alternate email marketing approach and an integrated platform to bring a business online, start engaging and nurturing an audience, and convert them into customers.
The platform has several useful features like AI-driven content creator and smart sending to ensure your emails are engaging and reach the right audience at the right time.
With great templates, a popup builder, a website creator, and support for different engagement features, it offers a comprehensive toolkit that doesn’t break the bank.
Features
- Website builder;
- AI email generator;
- Webinar hosting features;
- Email template library;
- Marketing automation.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Flexible audience segmentation options | No phone support |
| In-built website builder & webinar hosting features | Email & landing page editors can be more intuitive |
| AI email writer | Storage limits on almost everything, like website, webinar, etc. |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plans | Cost | Limits |
| Email Marketing | $15/month | Unlimited emails for up to 1,000 subscribers |
| Marketing Automation | $48/month | Automation + unlimited emails for up to 1,000 subscribers |
| 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.
ConvertKit — Creator-Friendly Email Marketing Solution
ConvertKit is a creator-friendly email marketing solution for small businesses and artists. It offers specialized tools to help you build, connect, and engage with your audience, turning your creativity into a successful venture.
What sets ConvertKit apart is its commitment to simplicity without sacrificing functionality. With its intuitive interface and rich features like segmentation, marketing automation, and personalized content, it empowers creators to focus on their passion while effortlessly managing email marketing.
It’s a perfect blend of ease and effectiveness that resonates with the creative spirit. So, if you’re in a ‘creative’ industry — artist, writer, musician, or creative entrepreneur — you might try ConvertKit.
Features
- Creator network for referral signups;
- Behavioral segmentation;
- Landing page builder;
- Automation builder;
- Digital product hosting & selling.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Powerful automation features | Higher pricing for larger subscribers |
| Advanced tagging and segmentation | Limited ecommerce integrations |
| Responsive customer support | Basic email editor |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limitations |
| Free | $0/month | Up to 1,000 subscribers with no access to automation builder or sequences |
| Creator | $9/month | Up to 300 subscribers with access to all features except advanced reporting and scoring and referral features. |
| Creator Pro | $25/month | Up to 300 subscribers with access to every feature on the platform |
It also offers a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers. The free plan also supports forms, broadcasts, and landing pages, but has restrictions on advanced features like automation, integration, advanced reporting, etc.
SendPulse — Low-Priced Bulk Email Service
SendPulse is an integrated marketing platform that combines the power of email, SMS, chat, and more to supercharge customer engagement.
With features like drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation, personalization, and automation, SendPulse offers small business owners a low-priced bulk email service.
Offering an attractive free plan and budget-friendly paid options, SendPulse ensures that powerful marketing tools are accessible to businesses of all sizes. One of SendPulse’s standout features is its focus on user experience. The platform also premade templates, high-converting popups, forms, and more for easy campaign creation.
Features
- Email, SMS & web push notification support;
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Free landing page builder;
- Chatbot support for the website;
- Built-in CRM.
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 duplicates (and charge for every contact on the list) |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Standard | $6.4/month | Up to 500 subscribers. Unlimited emails, 200 MB storage, ten automation flows, and five audience segments. |
| Pro | $7.9/month | Up to 500 subscribers. Unlimited emails, 500 MB storage, 50 automation flows, |
| Enterprise | $10.75/month | Up to 500 subscribers. Unlimited access to everything |
Sendpulse offers a free plan for up to 500 subscribers and 15,000 emails. You can use it to set up five automation flows.
Sendy — Low-Cost Newsletter Service
Sendy is a low-cost newsletter service that gives you full control and all the tools to grow your email list.
Sendy lets you host it on your own server and lowers the cost of email marketing. This empowers businesses to take full control over their email campaigns, subscriber data, and more. It is the perfect solution if you seek full control and customization (and can code a bit).
The platform offers robust tools, such as detailed reporting, list segmentation, autoresponders, and even API integration, for those who want to tailor their experience further.
Looking at the feature set, Sendy seems to combine the best of both worlds: a low-cost model with powerful functionalities that cater to various marketing needs.
Features
- Self-hosted solution;
- Detailed reporting & analytics;
- Standard automation like email autoresponder;
- API integrations;
- Amazon SES-based cost structure.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Self-hosted solution, which makes it cheaper than others | Complicated setup that requires some level of development skills |
| Integrations with almost all solutions and platforms | Dependent on Amazon SES (no own server) |
| One-time payment | Advanced automations are not available |
Pricing & Free Plan
Sendy doesn’t offer a free plan, but all the features are available for a one-time fee of $69. Your usage of Amazon SES determines the ongoing costs for sending emails, which comes to around $1 per 10,000 emails, as per Sendy.
SendGrid — Email Marketing Solution with Great Deliverability
SendGrid is a scalable email marketing solution with great deliverability. It helps you dodge the spam folder at scale, automate campaigns, design beautiful emails, and get the best performance, reliability, and results.
SendGrid’s feature set is comprehensive yet user-friendly. From a rich drag-and-drop email builder to segmentation, email personalization, and robust analytics, it’s a platform designed to simplify email marketing.
Features
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Automate email campaigns;
- Amazing deliverability;
- Signup form builder;
- Analytics dashboard.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Robust email analytics | Limited design capabilities in basic plans |
| High deliverability rates | Occasional issues with customer support |
| Scalability for growing businesses | Advanced features require higher-tier plans |
Pricing & Free Plan
| Plan | Cost | Limits |
| Free | $0 | 6,000 emails/month, 2,000 subscribers |
| Basic | $15/month | 50,000 – 100,000 emails/month, 7,000 subscribers |
| Advanced | $60/month | 100,000 – 1.5 million emails/month, 15,000 subscribers |
SendGrid has a free plan for sending 6,000 emails/monthly to up to 2,000 subscribers with basic feature access.
If SendGrid got your interest, but it’s cons or limits makes you doubt, check out Sendgrid alternatives with free competitors included.
Key Takeaways
When picking an affordable email marketing solution, you should first pay attention to the plan limits and restrictions. Here are some other things to remember while choosing an email marketing solution:
- Test an email marketing solution for free before signing up for a paid plan;
- Pick a solution that doesn’t limit your ability to send emails every month or has generous plan limits;
- Choose a solution that provides email marketing automation features even on the free or basic plans.
Hungry for more? Here are some more email marketing tools for you to choose from:
- 11 Best Email Newsletter Software (Incl. Free Services)
- 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.
