10 Best Email Marketing Software & Tools for 2026 (Tested)

The best email marketing software depends on your business. If you’re running an eCommerce site, Omnisend is hard to beat. If your list is growing but you send fewer than 2,500 emails a month, Constant Contact is unusually cheap. If you’re a B2B company with a complex sales cycle, HubSpot remains the most complete option — with caveats I’ll get to.

For most other small businesses, ActiveCampaign is still the best general email automation platform, particularly given its AI features.

The 10 Best Email Marketing Tools at a Glance

Tool	Best For	Price From	Free Plan?	Try It
Omnisend	eCommerce	$16/mo	Yes — 250 contacts	Try free →
ActiveCampaign	Growing businesses	$15/mo	Trial only (14 days)	14-day trial →
Constant Contact	Small businesses sending infrequently	$6/mo	Trial only	Start for $6/mo →
Instantly	Cold outreach & sales	$37.60/mo (annual)	Yes — free trial	Try free →
Beehiiv	Newsletters	$0 (free to 2,500 contacts)	Yes — 2,500 contacts	Start free →
HubSpot	B2B with full CRM needs	$15/mo (Starter, per seat)	Yes — free CRM	Free CRM →
Brevo	Affordable automation	$0 (300 emails/day)	Yes — 300 emails/day	Start free →
Campaigner	SMBs wanting simple AI email	$14/mo	30-day free trial	30-day trial →
GetResponse	Charities & NGOs (50% off)	$19/mo	Yes — 500 contacts	Try free →
Resend	Developers (API-first)	$0 (3,000 emails/mo)	Yes — 3,000 emails/mo	Start free →

Prices verified July 2026. All prices reflect monthly billing at 1,000 contacts. Annual billing typically saves 15-20%.

See detailed pricing at 5K, 10K, 25K, and 100K contacts. If you want the raw data behind these rankings — every scoring criterion, weighting, and result — the full dataset is public.

Best email marketing software for eCommerce

Omnisend is the best email marketing platform I’ve tested for eCommerce businesses. Its revenue attribution is more granular than Klaviyo’s, its omnichannel workflows are smooth as butter, and it costs significantly less.

If you’re running a Shopify or WooCommerce store and you’re not using Omnisend, there’s potentially some revenue being left on the table.

As the name implies, its focus is dialling in the omnichannel experience. Their ability to trigger a push notification if an email isn’t opened, followed by an SMS if the push is ignored, is more native and less buggy than the integrations you’d stitch together with other platforms.

Pros and Cons

• Revenue attribution that actually works: Tracks revenue back to specific emails and automations with more granularity than any other eCommerce platform I’ve tested.

• Native omnichannel workflows: Combine email, SMS, and web push in a single automation. Fallback logic is built in, rather than stitched together via third-party integrations.

• Shopify integration depth: Product picker pulls from your catalogue, abandoned cart triggers fire reliably, and product recommendations use actual purchase history. 4.8-star Shopify app rating with 5,000+ five-star reviews.

• Better value than Klaviyo: At 10K contacts, Omnisend Standard costs $132/mo versus Klaviyo’s $150+. Comparable features for meaningfully less money.

• Free migration from Klaviyo (or any ESP): The biggest barrier to switching ESPs is the migration itself. Omnisend handles it for you at no cost. Their team manages list imports, automation rebuilds, template recreation, and deliverability setup, so the switch costs are minimal.

Pricing

Contacts	Standard	Pro
500	$16/mo	$59/mo
5,000	$81/mo	$90/mo
10,000	$132/mo	$150/mo
100,000	Custom quote	Custom quote

At 10K contacts, Omnisend Standard ($132/mo) is comparable to ActiveCampaign Starter ($189/mo), and for eCommerce the native Shopify integration and revenue attribution justify the choice. At 100K+, Omnisend moves to custom quotes while ActiveCampaign charges $1,199/mo on Starter — but Omnisend typically costs less than Klaviyo at scale.

Omnisend’s AI is one of the strongest in the eCommerce space, and it’s the area of the platform that has improved most over the past year. The AI writer is trained on millions of real campaigns, so the subject lines, preheaders, and body copy it generates sound on-brand rather than the obvious LLM filler you get elsewhere. One smart touch I like is the Brand Assets AI which keeps voice and visual identity consistent across every campaign and automation.

The standout is the natural-language segment builder. Describe the customer you want to reach in plain English (“lapsed buyers who spent over $200 last year”) and it builds the segment for you, drawing on churn prediction and high-value-customer scoring under the hood.

Is Omnisend the right eCommerce email platform for you?

Any Shopify or WooCommerce store doing more than $100k/year in revenue. If you need abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, SMS marketing, and detailed revenue attribution in a single tool, Omnisend is the clear choice.

Open Omnisend's Website→Read Omnisend review

One more thing worth knowing if you’re on Klaviyo or Mailchimp and tempted: Omnisend runs a free migration service. Their team rebuilds your lists, automations, and templates at no cost — it’s their offer, not mine, but it removes the main excuse for staying put.

Switching platforms? Omnisend migrates you for free →

If you want strategy rather than tooling, I’ve also written a full guide to eCommerce email marketing, with dedicated guides for Shopify and WooCommerce stores.

02ActiveCampaign

Best email marketing platform for growing businesses (>10K contacts)

ActiveCampaign is my pick for growing businesses that are serious about automation. It’s what I’ve used for 12 years — across 8 of our portfolio companies and 124,000+ emails sent. Its visual workflow builder remains the most capable in the industry. With Active Intelligence — their AI feature that learns from your campaigns — it has become difficult to justify choosing anything else if automation matters to your business.

It’s no longer the cheapest (in 2024, they hiked their pricing… ruffling many a feather), but at scale it’s reasonable compared to alternatives that offer a fraction of the functionality.

I started using ActiveCampaign in 2014, back when it was a scrappy underdog. In the years since, they’ve had their missteps — from suddenly hiking prices by 40% and causing a mass exodus of loyal customers, to a few years where the company seemed a bit rudderless.

But their automation offering is still in a league of its own. I’ve tested every major competitor, and nothing comes close to ActiveCampaign’s visual workflow editor for building complex, multi-step sequences. You get 135+ automation triggers and can split-test entire automation paths. As of 2026, AI can now do the grunt work that once took days.

ActiveCampaign also gets the boring bits right. Compliance, security, deliverability — the stuff that determines whether your emails reach the inbox.

Pros and Cons

• Results Guarantee – It’s the only platform to guarantee marketing results. ActiveCampaign now backs new customer subscriptions with a full first-month refund if they don’t see improvements.

• 1,000+ integrations – ActiveCampaign has more than 1,000 integrations including native integrations with Salesforce, Calendly, Webflow, Zendesk, DocuSign, and most major eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce.

• Visual automation builder is best-in-class: 135+ triggers, if/else branching, split-testing entire automation paths. Running our own sequences as continuous A/B tests has produced 4-5× uplifts in open rates on our most-tested flows.

• Active Intelligence is actually good: I was skeptical when it first launched that it’d just be a ChatGPT wrapper, but ActiveCampaign’s AI builds context from your previous campaigns, writing style, and engagement patterns. It can build decent workflows in minutes.

• Predictive sending per contact: Analyses each subscriber’s engagement history and delivers when they’re personally most likely to open, rather than blasting the whole list at 10am (Pro plan).

• Deliverability is top-notch: 99.4% delivery rate across our own accounts, and 94.2% inbox placement in independent testing vs an ~83% industry average. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup is guided by a built-in wizard.

• Cost scaling is reasonable for a per-contact tool: The 1K-to-100K multiplier is roughly 63x ($15/mo to $1,199/mo on Starter). That’s steep, but consider that HubSpot scales at 59x just between Starter and Professional — before you even reach 100K contacts.

Pricing

ActiveCampaign uses per-contact pricing across four tiers: Starter, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise. No free plan — just a 14-day trial. Annual billing saves approximately 20%.

Contacts	Starter	Plus	Pro
1,000	$15/mo	$49/mo	$79/mo
10,000	$149/mo	$189/mo	$379/mo
100,000	$1,199/mo	$1,599/mo	$2,599/mo

At 10,000 contacts, ActiveCampaign Starter ($149/mo) is pricier than Campaigner ($79/mo) but offers vastly more powerful automation. At 100K contacts, Starter jumps to $1,199/mo — a steep climb, but you get the automation depth no budget tool can match.

ActiveCampaign’s AI — branded “Active Intelligence” — gives you the following:

• Content generation trained on your brand: It learns your writing style and audience preferences from previous campaigns.
• Predictive sending: Per-contact send-time optimisation based on individual engagement patterns (Pro plan).
• Win probability and churn prediction: Scores deals by likelihood of closing and flags contacts at risk of disengaging.
• AI-generated automation workflows: Describe what you want in plain language, and it builds the workflow.

Plenty of tools slap “AI” on a feature list. ActiveCampaign’s version is useful because it speeds up the work you already do. It drafts on-brand email and automation copy, translates campaigns for different audiences, and surfaces smarter segments from engagement data. You get a decent first draft in minutes, then improve it with guidance based on what’s actually performed for you.

Is ActiveCampaign the right email marketing tool for you?

Businesses that have outgrown basic email and need proper marketing automation. If you’re sending segmented campaigns, building multi-step workflows, scoring leads, or running sequences across more than 1,000 contacts, the value equation tips heavily in ActiveCampaign’s favour.

Open ActiveCampaign's Website→Read ActiveCampaign review

Best email marketing software for small businesses sending under 2,500 emails/month

Constant Contact is the email tool I’d consider first for a small business or solo entrepreneur building a list before sending regularly. Its Starter Email plan costs $6/month with unlimited contacts and a 2,500-send monthly cap.

That pricing is the point. Most email platforms become more expensive as your list grows, even if you barely email it. Constant Contact’s Starter Email plan lets a local business, consultant or new project keep collecting subscribers without the usual contact-count penalty.

I tested Constant Contact across eight areas in August 2026. It scored 30 out of 40, with its strongest results coming from pricing, deliverability, support and the email builder.

The email builder was easy to use, and the AI generated workable drafts after editing. The default email scored 9/10 in Mail Tester. The weak spot is automation: I built a three-email welcome sequence, but the builder lacks the behavioural depth I’d want for serious lifecycle marketing.

Pros and Cons

• Unlimited contacts for $6/month: Starter Email keeps the bill flat while the list grows, provided you stay under 2,500 monthly sends.

• Beginner-friendly editor: I rebuilt a designed email with minor friction and no training.

• Good default deliverability: Our untouched test email scored 9/10 in Mail Tester, with no blocklist or formatting issues.

• Useful support: Phone support answered in about a minute, and chat gave a sensible billing answer.

Pricing

Plan	Starts at	Monthly send allowance
Starter Email	$6/mo	2,500 total sends
Lite	$12/mo	10x contact tier
Standard	$35/mo	12x contact tier
Premium	$80/mo	24x contact tier

Starter Email is the interesting plan. At 5,000 contacts, it still costs $6/month, while the broader Lite plan starts at $80/month for that contact tier.

The trade-off is brutal but fair: you can store a large list cheaply, but you cannot send to all of it often.

Is Constant Contact the right email marketing tool for you?

Small businesses, local operators and solo entrepreneurs whose lists are growing ahead of their campaign frequency. If you send fewer than 2,500 emails a month, Constant Contact’s Starter Email plan is difficult to beat.

Open Constant Contact's Website→

04Instantly

Best email tool for cold outreach and sales

Instantly is the best cold email outreach platform I’ve used for outbound sales. This is built for outreach, so you won’t find drag-and-drop newsletters here. The value is the end-to-end system: lead finding, data enrichment, email warmup, multi-channel sequences, and deliverability management.

I used Instantly when building a golf booking platform — we needed to reach thousands of golf clubs across the UK. The workflow was tidy: find leads matching our criteria, enrich them with contact details, warm up our sending domains, build a multi-touch sequence, and launch. What would have taken weeks stitching together 3-4 different tools took a couple of days.

The thing about cold outreach that most people underestimate is what happens before you hit send. You need dedicated sending domains, proper warmup, SPF/DKIM/DMARC configured correctly, and a sending cadence that doesn’t trigger spam filters. Instantly guides you through every step.

Pros and Cons

• End-to-end outreach workflow: Lead finding → enrichment → warmup → sequence building → sending → reply management. The draw is having the full chain in one platform.

• Email warmup engine: AI-driven warmup gradually increases volume to build sender reputation. It dynamically adjusts based on deliverability feedback.

• Unlimited email accounts: Even on Growth, you can connect unlimited sending accounts — useful for rotating across domains to protect reputation.

• AI learns from reply data: Adapts content and subject lines based on which messages generate positive replies. Genuine feedback-loop intelligence.

A note on compliance: Cold email operates in a legal grey area. CAN-SPAM requires opt-out mechanisms and honest headers; GDPR applies if emailing EU recipients regardless of where you’re based. Instantly provides infrastructure for responsible outreach, but the responsibility is yours.

Pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual (per month)	Key Limits
Growth Outreach	$47/mo	$37.60/mo	1,000 contacts, 5,000 emails/month
Hypergrowth Outreach	$97/mo	$77.60/mo	25,000 contacts, 100,000 emails/month
Growth SuperSearch	$47/mo	$42.30/mo	1,500-2,000 credits/month
Supersonic SuperSearch	$97/mo	$87.30/mo	5,000-7,500 credits/month

Real-world cost: Most users need both Outreach + SuperSearch. A typical starter setup costs roughly $80/mo on annual billing ($37.60 + $42.30).

Purpose-built for cold outreach: AI sequence generation tuned for what tends to work in cold email, a reply-learning loop that adapts to audience responses, automatic reply classification (interested/not interested/OOO), and smart warmup that adjusts patterns based on ISP signals.

Is Instantly the right cold outreach tool for you?

B2B sales teams, agencies running outreach for clients, and startup founders doing their own prospecting. If your business depends on outbound email to people who haven’t opted in, Instantly is the specialist tool.

Open Instantly's Website→

05Beehiiv

Best email marketing platform for newsletters

I chose Beehiiv for my personal newsletter that I write to friends. My reasoning was mostly that Beehiiv seemed to be taking off in newsletter circles, and I wanted to understand why.

Beehiiv’s sole focus is helping you monetise your newsletter. It’s essentially an email marketing tool + newsletter ad network + cross-promotional newsletter marketplace. Let me unpack that.

The email marketing side of Beehiiv is pretty basic, but functional. You can spin up a website to capture leads, gate your content behind a paywall, and send emails to your list — all for free (up to 2,500 contacts). My only gripe is that a lot of basic features, like custom HTML and analytics, are only available on their paid plans.

In practice, basic features require an upgrade. Things I expected to be standard — like custom HTML or A/B testing — are locked behind the $49/mo Grow plan or $99/mo Scale plan. For a free newsletter, that’s a lot of money for features Kit gives me at no cost.

Beehiiv is strongest when you’re running a newsletter with revenue attached. If you’re building a paid or ad-supported newsletter, the combination of built-in advertising, paid subscriptions with 0% platform fee (on Scale and Max plans), and cross-promotion is hard to beat.

It’s a bit overkill for my personal newsletter, and in hindsight I’d probably go for Kit. If I were building a paid newsletter business, though, I’d start with Beehiiv.

Pros and Cons

• Strong newsletter monetisation: Built-in ad network, paid subscriptions with 0% platform cut (on Scale and Max plans), and a referral programme. Substack takes 10%; Beehiiv takes nothing.

• Flat-tier pricing suits large lists: $290/mo (Scale) for up to 100K subscribers. Every other per-contact tool costs $360-$900/mo at that scale.

• Built for newsletter operators: Web hosting, custom domain, SEO-optimised archives, referral tracking, and audience polls — all designed around the newsletter business model.

• Growing ecosystem: Cross-promotion between newsletters and a recommendation engine that drives subscriber growth from other Beehiiv publications.

Pricing

Plan	Price	Subscriber Limit	Key Features
Launch (Free)	$0/mo	2,500	Unlimited sends, web hosting, custom domain
Scale	$49/mo	1,000	+ Custom HTML, A/B testing, automations, referral programme, ad network
Max	$169/mo	5,000	+ Remove branding, audio newsletters, dynamic content
Enterprise	Custom	100K+	+ Dedicated support, custom features, SLA

At 100K subscribers, Beehiiv Scale costs just $43/mo (or $96/mo for Max with branding removal). For context, ActiveCampaign Starter costs $1,199/mo at that scale. If your newsletter generates revenue, Beehiiv’s pricing is almost trivially cheap relative to the potential.

Basic — a writing assistant for content and subject lines. It doesn’t learn from your data or optimise send times. The monetisation tools are the reason to choose Beehiiv.

Is Beehiiv the right newsletter platform for you?

Newsletter creators who plan to monetise — through paid subscriptions, advertising, or both. Also worth considering if you expect rapid subscriber growth and want predictable costs.

Open Beehiiv's Website→

06HubSpot

Best email marketing platform for B2B service companies

HubSpot is the best email marketing platform for B2B service companies that need to connect email campaigns directly to revenue attribution — and it’s the wrong choice for almost everyone else. The CRM, email, and website tools are tied together in a way that lets you attribute revenue to specific emails or blog posts. I haven’t found another platform that does this as neatly.

But the cost is eye-watering: prices balloon 5-10x as you scale, mandatory onboarding fees run $3,000-$7,000, and you’ll almost certainly need to hire a specialist.

What I appreciate is that HubSpot connects everything back to revenue. Because the CRM, email marketing, and website are all native, you can see which blog post attracted a lead, which email sequence nurtured them, and which touchpoint closed the deal. You can walk into a board meeting and say “this email campaign generated £42,000 in pipeline” — and mean it.

What I dislike is everything around the cost. The Starter plan at $15/mo per seat looks attractive — until you realise the features that make HubSpot worth using (marketing automation, A/B testing, custom reporting) require the Professional plan at $890/mo. That’s a massive jump between “basic” and “useful.”

Pros and Cons

• Revenue attribution that actually works: Native CRM-to-email connection means you can trace the entire buyer journey: first touch, lead capture, email nurture, deal close.

• Everything in one place: CRM, email, landing pages, blog, social, ads, forms, live chat, and reporting. Eliminates integration headaches for B2B teams wanting a single system of record.

• The free CRM is genuinely useful: Unlimited contacts, deal tracking, pipeline management — all free. The free CRM is properly useful.

Pricing

I’ve included pricing below, but HubSpot’s pricing is a mess: dozens of add-ons, contacts bought in 5,000 increments, and different bundles depending on the products you need. The gist is that the data below is unlikely to be what you pay, but it’s useful for comparison.

Marketing Contacts	Starter	Professional	Enterprise
1,000	$15/mo (per seat)	$890/mo	$3,600/mo
10,000	N/A	$1,390/mo	$3,600/mo
100,000	N/A	$4,450/mo	$4,450/mo

Look at the jump from Starter to Professional: $15/mo to $890/mo. That’s a 59x increase to get automation, A/B testing, and custom reporting. ActiveCampaign gives you comparable automation from $15/mo.

HubSpot’s “Breeze AI” is powerful at Enterprise and mediocre everywhere else. Breeze Copilot (Starter+) is a ChatGPT wrapper with CRM merge fields. Smart Send Time requires Professional ($890/mo). Predictive lead scoring requires Enterprise ($3,600/mo+). ActiveCampaign offers comparable predictive features on Pro at $79/mo.

Is HubSpot the right B2B email platform for you?

Established B2B service companies doing £1M+ in annual revenue, with sales cycles longer than 30 days, and a genuine need for email-to-revenue attribution. Also consider the free CRM if you’re a startup wanting pipeline management without paying.

Open HubSpot's Website→Read HubSpot review

07Brevo

Best affordable email marketing service for simple automation

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is the best “stepping stone” email marketing tool — the right choice for businesses that have outgrown basic email but aren’t ready for ActiveCampaign or HubSpot. It’s simple, affordable, and prices by email volume rather than contacts, which makes it uniquely cost-effective for large lists with low send frequency.

I’ve used Brevo since 2016, back when it was Sendinblue and primarily a transactional email service. Across our ventures, I’ve sent 640,199 emails through their platform without much drama.

It won’t win any awards for innovation, but it works, and for a lot of businesses that’s the whole point.

Pros and Cons

• Email-volume pricing is genuinely different: Unlimited contacts on every plan — including free — and only pay for what you send. 25K contacts emailing weekly costs ~$69/mo, versus $189-$300/mo on per-contact tools.

• Generous free plan: 300 emails/day to unlimited contacts. A small business sending weekly to 2,000 subscribers pays nothing.

• Straightforward automation: ActiveCampaign gives you more automation depth, but Brevo is considerably easier to learn. For welcome sequences and basic triggers, it does the job without the learning curve.

• Transactional email included: Having transactional and marketing email in one platform simplifies your stack. Most competitors require a separate service.

Pricing

Monthly Email Volume	Starter	Standard
Up to 9,000 (300/day)	$0 (Free)	—
20,000	$25/mo	$65/mo
40,000	$39/mo	$84/mo
100,000	$84/mo	$129/mo

With 5,000 contacts sending weekly (20,000 emails/month), Brevo Starter costs $25/mo. ActiveCampaign Starter at 5,000 contacts costs $99/mo. That’s nearly 4x the price for the same basic use case.

Basic content generator — nothing more. Writing assistant that doesn’t learn from your campaigns. Send-time optimisation on Business plan ($65/mo+). Don’t choose Brevo for AI — choose it for simplicity and value.

Is Brevo the right email marketing tool for you?

Small-to-medium businesses needing affordable email with basic automation. Particularly good for large contact lists with moderate sending frequency. Also the right choice if you need transactional and marketing email in one platform.

Open Brevo's Website→

Best email marketing software for SMBs wanting simple AI without complexity

Campaigner is the platform for businesses that want email plus a sensible AI layer — without the surrounding marketing-suite sprawl. It doesn’t try to be a CRM, a webinar host, or a workflow studio. It sends email well, has SMS as an add-on, and ships AI for subject lines and segmentation.

If you want straightforward AI-assisted email without a six-week onboarding, Campaigner is hard to beat. The tradeoff is that the automation ceiling is low and there’s no free plan to test on.

Pros and Cons

• Audience Intelligence benchmarks against your own historical data, rather than a generic dataset. Subject lines and content suggestions are scored against your real campaign opens — a more honest feedback loop than the generic LLM wrappers most competitors ship.

• Strong deliverability infrastructure: Campaigner has been a deliverability-first ESP for 20+ years. Independent inbox-placement tests consistently put them in the top tier alongside ActiveCampaign.

• The 30-day free trial includes full AI access. That’s generous compared to the 14-day trials most competitors offer, and the AI suite isn’t locked behind a higher plan.

• SMS is available as an add-on. If you want a second channel later, you don’t need to switch tools or stitch in a separate provider.

Pricing

Contacts	Starter	Essential	Advanced
1,000	$14/mo	$30/mo	$59/mo
10,000	$79/mo	$99/mo	$189/mo
100,000	$649/mo	Custom	Custom

Annual billing typically saves 10-15%. The Starter plan includes the Audience Intelligence Tools — the AI isn’t paywalled behind a higher tier, which is rare in this category.

Audience Intelligence covers AI-generated subject lines benchmarked against your historical open rates, content suggestions written in your brand voice, and segment recommendations driven by engagement signals. It doesn’t learn from your account the way Active Intelligence does, but it’s a meaningful step above the generic ChatGPT wrappers most competitors ship.

Is Campaigner the right email marketing tool for you?

Small businesses and marketing teams who want straightforward AI-assisted email without a full marketing suite. If you’re sending newsletters, broadcasts, and simple automated sequences, Campaigner does the job cleanly. The gist: you care more about deliverability and useful AI than the deepest automation builder.

Open Campaigner's Website→

09GetResponse

Best email marketing platform on a budget

GetResponse is the Swiss Army knife of email marketing — it does a bit of everything (email, landing pages, webinars, automation, website building) without being the best at any of it. I’d describe it as a “budget HubSpot”: similar breadth of features at a fraction of the cost, with the trade-off that nothing is as polished.

My history with GetResponse goes back further than any other tool on this list. I started using it around 2010 when it was genuinely one of the best platforms available. I actually visited their team in Gdansk (Poland) to talk to their customers and drink Żubrówka have a civilised conversation with their product team about marketing automation.

Context: GetResponse was falling behind the competition as marketing automation took off. To their credit, they’ve clawed back a position — but the platform is essentially an affordable all-in-one marketing tool, rather than a leader in the space.

Pros and Cons

• The webinar platform is genuinely good: Native webinars handling up to 100 attendees on Creator (up to 500 on Enterprise) with registration pages, reminders, and recordings. If you run webinars, this alone may justify GetResponse.

• Best annual discount in the industry: 12-month billing saves 18%. The Starter plan at 1K contacts drops to around $16/mo on annual.

• Breadth for the price: Email, landing pages, webinars, automation, website builder, forms — all from $19/mo.

• Perfect Timing send optimisation is one of the oldest and most reliable send-time features. It analyses when each subscriber engages and delivers at their optimal time.

Pricing

Contacts	Starter	Marketer	Creator
1,000	$19/mo	$59/mo	$69/mo
10,000	$79/mo	$114/mo	$134/mo
100,000	$539/mo	$599/mo	$690/mo

At 1K contacts, GetResponse Starter ($19/mo) matches ActiveCampaign Starter ($15/mo) exactly. But the trajectories diverge: at 10K, GetResponse Starter is $79/mo vs ActiveCampaign’s $189/mo. At 100K, GetResponse Starter runs $539/mo vs ActiveCampaign’s $1,199/mo. GetResponse is significantly cheaper at scale if you only need basic email marketing.

GetResponse has more AI features than almost any competitor: email generator, landing page builder, website builder, autoresponders, and image generation. Nearly all are off-the-shelf language models — no learning from your data. The one genuinely data-driven feature is Perfect Timing (send-time optimisation per contact), which predates ChatGPT and remains excellent.

Is GetResponse the right email marketing tool for you?

Budget-conscious businesses needing a bit of everything — especially webinars. If you run regular webinars, the native tool eliminates the need for a separate Zoom subscription. Also reasonable for small businesses wanting “HubSpot-like” breadth without the four-figure bill.

Open GetResponse's Website→

10Resend

Best email service for developers (API-first)

If you need email marketing triggered via an API, use Resend. It has a generous free tier — I don’t think I’ve ever actually paid for it, and I’ve used it across half a dozen micro-SaaS projects.

It’s remarkably easy to set up, particularly if you’re vibe coding a project in Lovable, Claude Code, or similar — most AI coding tools will just ask you for an API key and you’re all set.

Pros and Cons

• Free tier covers real projects: 3,000 emails/month at zero cost. More than enough for most micro-SaaS projects and early-stage startups.

• Setup takes minutes: add a domain, verify DNS, grab an API key, send. Documentation is clear, SDKs cover every major language.

• Pro plan is absurdly cheap: $20/mo for 50,000 emails. Compare that to any marketing tool at the same volume.

Pricing

Plan	Price	Emails/Month	Key Limits
Free	$0	3,000 (100/day)	1 domain, 1-day log retention
Pro	$20/mo	50,000	Multiple domains, 3-day log retention
Scale	$90/mo	100,000	7-day log retention, dedicated IPs
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	SLA, priority support, SSO

None, and that’s deliberate. It’s a developer email API, so if you want AI in your workflow, you build it yourself.

Is Resend the right developer email tool for you?

Developers building applications that need to send email. Also the right choice if you’re vibe coding a side project and need email without the overhead of a marketing platform. If “npm install resend” means something to you, this is your tool.

Open Resend's Website→

The Best Email Marketing Tools by Type of Business

The best email marketing software for your business depends on what you do (and don’t) need. Here’s my take on the strongest contenders for different types of business.

Best email marketing software for eCommerce (Shopify, WooCommerce)

Winner: Omnisend. Runner-up: ActiveCampaign.

Omnisend was built from the ground up for eCommerce. The Shopify and WooCommerce integrations pull in your product catalogue, purchase history, and browsing behaviour so you can trigger abandoned cart flows and product recommendation emails that reference what each customer looked at. Revenue attribution is where Omnisend genuinely outperforms: you can see exactly which automation and subject line variant generated how much revenue. At $16/mo for 500 contacts, that's hard to argue with.

The omnichannel capability is what sets it apart. You can build a single automation that sends an email, waits 24 hours, fires a push notification if unopened, then follows up with an SMS — all within one visual workflow. I've tested this against cobbling together the same thing with separate tools and Zapier, and Omnisend's native approach is less buggy and faster to set up.

Why not Klaviyo? Their platform is very good – but doesn't justify the extra cost over Omnisend in my opinion. 10,000 contacts, Omnisend Standard runs ~$132/mo versus Klaviyo's $150+. Unless you need Klaviyo's deeper Shopify Plus integrations, Omnisend gives you more for less.

The 3 Big Email Marketing Names I’d Avoid in 2026

Readers occasionally ask why some of the most famous names in email marketing aren’t on this list. It’s not an oversight. None of these three are bad tools, but across our testing I couldn’t find a situation where I’d pick one over the options above.

Mailchimp still handles the basics well, and its brand recognition is earned. These days, though, creators get more from Kit’s free plan, stores get more from Omnisend, and anyone who needs serious automation gets more from ActiveCampaign. Our migration data shows a broad move away from Mailchimp rather than towards it. I removed its dedicated review in February 2026 (see Updates below).

AWeber was my top recommendation when this article first ran in 2014. It’s still reliable, and their support is still human, which counts for something. The catch is that much of what it charges for is now free on Kit and Brevo.

If you’re already on one of these and it’s working for you, there’s no urgent reason to move. But if you’re choosing fresh in 2026, you can usually get more for the same money.

How to Choose Email Marketing Software in 2026

Choosing email marketing software shouldn’t take weeks. Most tools do 80% of the same things. There are nine real differentiators, starting with pricing and value for money.

1. Cost & Value for Money

Entry price is misleading. What matters is how costs scale as you grow:

Tool	1K Contacts	10K Contacts	100K Contacts	Scaling Factor
Beehiiv	$0 (free)	$43/mo (Scale)	$96/mo (Max)	Flat tiers
Brevo	$0 (free)*	$35/mo*	Custom*	Volume-based
Campaigner	$14/mo	$79/mo	$649/mo	46x
Constant Contact	$6/mo	$6/mo*	$6/mo*	Flat Starter tier
GetResponse	$19/mo	$79/mo	$539/mo	28x
Omnisend	$16/mo	$132/mo	Custom	8x+ (to 10K)
HubSpot	$15/mo per seat	$890/mo (Pro)	$3,600/mo (Ent)	~59x (Starter to Pro)
ActiveCampaign	$15/mo	$189/mo	$1,199/mo	63x

* Brevo prices by email volume, not contacts. Constant Contact Starter Email stays flat, but only includes 2,500 sends per month.

ActiveCampaign and Campaigner are nearly identical at entry — $15/mo vs $14/mo for 1K contacts. At 10K, ActiveCampaign is $189/mo vs Campaigner’s $79/mo — roughly 2.4x more, but with vastly deeper automation. At 100K, ActiveCampaign is $1,199/mo vs Campaigner’s $649/mo — under 2x more, but with the workflow depth Campaigner simply can’t match. If you need serious automation, the premium is justified. If you mostly need broadcasts plus a sensible AI layer, Campaigner scales more predictably.

The HubSpot warning: Starter looks cheap at $15/mo per seat. But Professional starts at $890/mo. That’s a 59x jump between “basic” and “useful.”

2. Ease of Use

The simplest tools are Campaigner and Kit. Both are designed for users who want to send emails without reading documentation — Campaigner shortens the curve further with AI subject lines and segment suggestions out of the box.

The most complex are ActiveCampaign and HubSpot. HubSpot is the only platform where I regularly see businesses hiring specialists at £80-150/hour just to manage it.

3. Deliverability

ActiveCampaign consistently ranks top-tier in independent tests. But deliverability depends more on your sending behaviour than on which platform you use. List hygiene, engagement rates, and authentication setup matter more than which servers your emails pass through.

4. Features

ActiveCampaign has the deepest feature set for automation. GetResponse has the broadest (email + webinars + landing pages). HubSpot has the most overall if you count CRM + sales + marketing, but the cost is enormous.

The number of features matters far less than whether you’ll actually use them. Most businesses use under 20% of what their tool can do.

5. CRM & Automation

ActiveCampaign’s workflow builder is in a league of its own: 135+ triggers, conditional branching, split-testing entire paths. HubSpot’s strength is CRM-email integration. For most businesses, ActiveCampaign delivers 90% of HubSpot’s automation at 10% of the cost.

6. Reporting & Analytics

For eCommerce: Omnisend’s revenue attribution is the most granular. For B2B: HubSpot’s multi-touch attribution connects email to closed deals. For everyone else: ActiveCampaign offers solid analytics with engagement scoring.

7. Integrations

Most tools integrate with major platforms. Omnisend’s Shopify integration is deepest for eCommerce. HubSpot has the broadest marketplace. ActiveCampaign has the most Zapier triggers/actions.

8. Support & Training

ActiveCampaign and Omnisend offer 24/7 live chat on paid plans. Campaigner has phone, email, and live chat support across all paid tiers — unusual for a tool at its price point and a reflection of their deliverability-first heritage. HubSpot has excellent documentation but the platform complexity means you’ll use support more than you’d like.

9. Security & Compliance

In 2026, this isn’t optional. GDPR enforcement is intensifying and US state privacy laws are multiplying (nearly 20 states with active legislation). All reputable tools support GDPR compliance — check for Data Processing Agreements, consent management, and right-to-deletion workflows.

AI Features Worth Paying For in 2026

Every email marketing tool now claims “AI features.” Most are being generous with the definition.

Most tools offer the same AI text generator you could use for free on ChatGPT.com. The output is the same whether you’ve used the platform for one day or five years. This describes the AI in Brevo, Constant Contact, Beehiiv, and GetResponse. Handy for writer’s block, but not a strategic advantage.

A few tools apply AI to their specific domain. Campaigner’s Audience Intelligence benchmarks subject lines and content against your own historical open rates rather than a generic dataset — a meaningful step above a plain ChatGPT wrapper, though it doesn’t persist or compound the way Active Intelligence does. Omnisend’s AI understands your product catalogue. Instantly’s AI learns from reply data. HubSpot’s AI (at Enterprise pricing) uses CRM data for predictive lead scoring.

Only ActiveCampaign offers genuine contextual intelligence. Active Intelligence builds a persistent model of your brand voice, engagement patterns, and performance history. It genuinely gets smarter over time. This is the only best-in-class AI we found in the comparison.

The question to ask: does the AI get better the longer I use the platform? If yes, it’s worth paying for. If no, it’s a convenience feature.

The only way to know whether contextual AI justifies the price for your list is to run it against your own campaigns — ActiveCampaign’s 14-day trial is long enough to find out.

Email Marketing Software Pricing Comparison

Full pricing breakdown across all 10 tools at key contact tiers:

Tool	Model	1K	10K	100K
Beehiiv	Flat tier	$0	$43 (Scale)	$96 (Max)
Resend	API volume	$0	$20	Custom
Brevo	Per email	$0*	$35*	Custom*
Constant Contact	Starter sends	$6	$6**	$6**
Campaigner	Per contact	$14	$79	$649
GetResponse	Per contact	$19	$79	$539
Omnisend	Per contact	$16	$132	Custom
HubSpot	Per seat (Starter)	$15/seat	$890 (Pro)	$3,600 (Ent)
ActiveCampaign	Per contact	$15	$189	$1,199
Instantly	Per account	$47	$47	$97

* Brevo: estimated at 4 emails/contact/month. ** Constant Contact Starter Email includes 2,500 total sends per month.

All prices shown are entry-tier monthly rates, current as of July 2026. Visit individual pricing pages to confirm.

Final words

Don’t overthink it. Most email marketing tools do 80% of the same things. The real differentiators — automation depth, pricing model, domain-specific features — only matter if your business specifically needs them.

If you’re just starting out, pick Constant Contact ($6/mo) if you send fewer than 2,500 emails a month, or Campaigner ($14/mo with a 30-day full-access trial) if you want simple AI help from day one. You can always migrate later. The tool matters less than the habit of sending regularly.

If you’re scaling and need automation, ActiveCampaign is the answer 8 times out of 10. The 2 exceptions are pure eCommerce (Omnisend) and B2B companies that genuinely need revenue attribution across a 6-month sales cycle (HubSpot).

The worst decision is spending three weeks evaluating tools instead of writing emails. The second worst is choosing a tool because of its brand name rather than testing whether it fits your needs.

Just start sending. Getting into a rhythm matters more than which logo is on the dashboard.

If you want to see the raw data behind these rankings — including the scoring criteria, weightings, and how each tool performed — I’ve published the full dataset: Email Marketing Software Ranking Data (Coda).

Updates

UpdateJuly 2026 (3) – Added the two-question tool finder near the top of the guide, so you can jump straight to the recommendation that fits your business instead of scrolling all ten. The top sticky bar and sidebar pick now follow whichever tool’s section you’re reading. No ranking changes.

July 2026 (3) – Added the two-question tool finder near the top of the guide, so you can jump straight to the recommendation that fits your business instead of scrolling all ten. The top sticky bar and sidebar pick now follow whichever tool’s section you’re reading. No ranking changes.

UpdateJuly 2026 (2) – Retitled and restructured for how people actually search: added “The 3 Big Names I’d Avoid”, a plain-English note on tools-vs-platforms terminology, quick trial links in the comparison table, and links to our dedicated eCommerce guides. Trial buttons now go straight to each tool’s pricing or signup page rather than the homepage. No ranking changes.

July 2026 (2) – Retitled and restructured for how people actually search: added “The 3 Big Names I’d Avoid”, a plain-English note on tools-vs-platforms terminology, quick trial links in the comparison table, and links to our dedicated eCommerce guides. Trial buttons now go straight to each tool’s pricing or signup page rather than the homepage. No ranking changes.

UpdateJuly 2026 – Clarified the verdict framing: Omnisend holds the #1 spot as the best platform for eCommerce, while ActiveCampaign is our pick as the best general email automation platform for small businesses. FAQ answers updated to match.

July 2026 – Clarified the verdict framing: Omnisend holds the #1 spot as the best platform for eCommerce, while ActiveCampaign is our pick as the best general email automation platform for small businesses. FAQ answers updated to match.

UpdateMay 2026 – Campaigner replaces MailerLite at #8. The repositioned slot reflects the rise of AI-assisted email at the entry tier. Campaigner’s Audience Intelligence covers subject lines, content, and segment recommendations benchmarked against your own historical opens. Its deliverability-first heritage makes it a stronger fit for SMBs than a pure budget pick.

May 2026 – Campaigner replaces MailerLite at #8. The repositioned slot reflects the rise of AI-assisted email at the entry tier. Campaigner’s Audience Intelligence covers subject lines, content, and segment recommendations benchmarked against your own historical opens. Its deliverability-first heritage makes it a stronger fit for SMBs than a pure budget pick.

UpdateFebruary 2026 – Full article rewrite. Added Resend, Instantly, Kit (formerly ConvertKit), and Beehiiv. Removed Mailchimp (no longer warrants a dedicated review — see FAQ). Updated all pricing, AI features, and deliverability data. Added interactive pricing calculator and email tool finder quiz.

February 2026 – Full article rewrite. Added Resend, Instantly, Kit (formerly ConvertKit), and Beehiiv. Removed Mailchimp (no longer warrants a dedicated review — see FAQ). Updated all pricing, AI features, and deliverability data. Added interactive pricing calculator and email tool finder quiz.

UpdateMarch 2023 – A major re-ranking introduced Klaviyo at #4 for large eCommerce sites and ClickFunnels at #6 for coaches and consultants. Constant Contact and GetResponse both returned to the top 10 list at #8 and #10 respectively, while Moonmail and Sendlane were removed from the primary recommendations.

March 2023 – A major re-ranking introduced Klaviyo at #4 for large eCommerce sites and ClickFunnels at #6 for coaches and consultants. Constant Contact and GetResponse both returned to the top 10 list at #8 and #10 respectively, while Moonmail and Sendlane were removed from the primary recommendations.

UpdateFebruary 2022 – HubSpot returned to the #2 spot as the preferred B2B service platform. Benchmark was moved to #7.

February 2022 – HubSpot returned to the #2 spot as the preferred B2B service platform. Benchmark was moved to #7.

UpdateAugust 2021 – EmailOctopus replaces Moonmail as the recommendation for developer needs. Drip was added as a specialised recommendation for small-to-medium eCommerce businesses.

August 2021 – EmailOctopus replaces Moonmail as the recommendation for developer needs. Drip was added as a specialised recommendation for small-to-medium eCommerce businesses.

UpdateAugust 2020 – Several older tools were removed in favour of niche-specific recommendations: Moosend (non-profits), Omnisend (eCommerce), Rejoiner (managed services), Autopilot (visual automation), MailerLite (personal projects), and Moonmail (developers).

August 2020 – Several older tools were removed in favour of niche-specific recommendations: Moosend (non-profits), Omnisend (eCommerce), Rejoiner (managed services), Autopilot (visual automation), MailerLite (personal projects), and Moonmail (developers).

UpdateApril 2019 – The guide was expanded to include HubSpot, Ontraport, SendX, Benchmark, Sendlane, and iContact. This update introduced deeper technical analysis of security, GDPR compliance, and Zapier integration depth.

April 2019 – The guide was expanded to include HubSpot, Ontraport, SendX, Benchmark, Sendlane, and iContact. This update introduced deeper technical analysis of security, GDPR compliance, and Zapier integration depth.

UpdateJanuary 2018 – SendinBlue was added specifically for marketing and transactional email. Older tools like Constant Contact were de-emphasised due to a perceived lack of clear USP against newer entrants.

January 2018 – SendinBlue was added specifically for marketing and transactional email. Older tools like Constant Contact were de-emphasised due to a perceived lack of clear USP against newer entrants.

UpdateMarch 2016 – ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit were added to the guide. ActiveCampaign immediately took the #1 spot, shifting the focus from “email sending” to “marketing automation and CRM”.

March 2016 – ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit were added to the guide. ActiveCampaign immediately took the #1 spot, shifting the focus from “email sending” to “marketing automation and CRM”.

UpdateMay 2014 – GetResponse was elevated to the top recommendation for small businesses. The update also included technical corrections about Sendy’s API and autoresponder capabilities following reader feedback.

May 2014 – GetResponse was elevated to the top recommendation for small businesses. The update also included technical corrections about Sendy’s API and autoresponder capabilities following reader feedback.

UpdateFebruary 2014 – The article debuted with a focus on Aweber for entrepreneurs and Sendy for cost-effectiveness. The initial roster also included Infusionsoft, Constant Contact, GetResponse, and Mailchimp.

February 2014 – The article debuted with a focus on Aweber for entrepreneurs and Sendy for cost-effectiveness. The initial roster also included Infusionsoft, Constant Contact, GetResponse, and Mailchimp.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best email marketing software in 2026?

Omnisend is my #1 email marketing software for 2026. It's the best platform for eCommerce — its revenue attribution, native omnichannel workflows, and pricing beat Klaviyo at every contact tier. If you're not running an online store, ActiveCampaign is the best general email automation platform for small businesses. Constant Contact is the low-cost pick if you send fewer than 2,500 emails a month.

What are the best email marketing platforms in 2026?

The best email marketing platforms in 2026 are Omnisend (eCommerce), ActiveCampaign (automation and growing businesses), Constant Contact (small businesses sending infrequently), Beehiiv (newsletters), HubSpot (B2B with full CRM needs), Brevo (affordable automation with unlimited contacts), and GetResponse (budget all-in-one with webinars). Instantly is the pick for cold outreach, Campaigner for SMBs wanting simple AI, and Resend for developers.

Is there a difference between email marketing software, tools, platforms, and services?

No — 'email marketing software', 'email marketing tools', and 'email marketing platforms' all describe the same products, and every product in this guide fits all three labels. Two exceptions: 'email marketing services' sometimes means a managed service where an agency runs campaigns for you, and 'email marketing solutions' is enterprise sales language for the same software with a longer contract. Whichever term you search, the comparison is identical.

What is the best free email marketing software?

Brevo is the best free option for businesses with larger lists but moderate send volume, because its free plan allows unlimited contacts with 300 emails per day. Beehiiv works for newsletters up to 2,500 subscribers. Developers should use Resend for API-triggered email.

What is the best email marketing software for small business?

ActiveCampaign is the best general email automation platform for small businesses — from $15/mo you get the most capable visual workflow builder in the category, plus AI that genuinely learns from your campaigns. If you need affordable simplicity rather than deep automation, Brevo is the best budget pick: its email-volume pricing means unlimited contacts — you only pay for what you send, and $25/mo covers 20,000 emails. For SMBs who want a sensible AI layer baked in, Campaigner starts at $14/mo for 1,000 subscribers with a 30-day free trial. Avoid HubSpot at the small business stage — pricing escalates aggressively beyond the entry tier.

What is the best email marketing software for eCommerce and Shopify?

Omnisend is the best email marketing platform for eCommerce, including Shopify and WooCommerce. Its native omnichannel workflows, revenue attribution that traces sales back to specific emails, and deep product catalogue integration make it purpose-built for online stores. It's also cheaper than Klaviyo at every contact tier while offering comparable or better analytics.

Is Mailchimp still good in 2026?

Mailchimp still trades heavily on its reputation, and it's a decent tool. I just struggle to find a use case where it's the best option: eCommerce stores get more from Omnisend, automation-heavy teams from ActiveCampaign, and infrequent small-business senders can keep costs lower with Constant Contact. Our migration data shows a broad, one-way move away from Mailchimp rather than towards it.

What is the best email marketing software for automation?

ActiveCampaign is the clear leader for email marketing automation. Its visual workflow builder offers 135+ triggers, conditional branching, and the ability to split-test entire automation paths. Active Intelligence can generate workflows from natural language descriptions. For a budget alternative, GetResponse offers basic automation with webinars from $59/mo.

How much does email marketing software cost?

Email marketing software costs between $0 and $3,600+/month, depending on the tool and your list size. At 1,000 contacts: Constant Contact Starter Email is $6/mo, Campaigner starts at $14/mo and ActiveCampaign starts at $15/mo. At 100,000 contacts: Beehiiv costs $96/mo on Max, ActiveCampaign Starter costs $1,199/mo and HubSpot Professional starts at $890/mo plus add-ons.

What is the best alternative to Mailchimp?

The best Mailchimp alternative depends on why you're leaving. If it's the price and you send fewer than 2,500 emails a month, Constant Contact's $6/mo Starter Email plan is the cheapest paid option here. If it's limited automation, ActiveCampaign has far stronger workflows. If you're eCommerce, Omnisend is the better fit.

What is the best email marketing software for beginners?

Constant Contact and Campaigner are the easiest email marketing tools for beginners. Constant Contact's Starter Email plan is cheap if you send fewer than 2,500 emails a month, and the editor was easy in our testing. Campaigner costs more from day one, but ships with AI subject lines and segment suggestions out of the box.

Should I build my own email marketing tool with AI?

Almost certainly not. With AI coding tools, you can have an impressive frontend in an hour. But deliverability infrastructure, IP warming, bounce handling, spam filter management, and compliance require years of specialist engineering. If you just need API-triggered emails for a side project, use Resend's free tier. Don't rebuild the plumbing.

What email marketing software has the best deliverability?

ActiveCampaign consistently ranks in the top tier for deliverability in independent testing. Campaigner — a deliverability-first ESP for 20+ years — also performs well. The critical caveat: deliverability depends as much on your sending behaviour (list hygiene, engagement rates, authentication) as on the platform. Any reputable tool delivers well if you follow best practices.

What is the best email marketing software for B2B?

HubSpot is the best B2B email marketing platform if you can afford it — its native CRM-to-email connection enables end-to-end revenue attribution. But Professional starts at $890/mo with mandatory onboarding fees. For B2B companies without the four-figure budget, ActiveCampaign ($15/mo) offers CRM integration and lead scoring at a fraction of the cost. For cold B2B outreach, Instantly is purpose-built.

What is the best email marketing platform for newsletters and creators?

Beehiiv is the best platform for newsletters that make money through paid subscriptions or advertising, because it takes 0% of subscription revenue on Scale and Max plans. Constant Contact is better for solo entrepreneurs sending occasional updates to a growing list. Neither is right for complex behavioural automation.

What are the best AI features in email marketing software?

The most valuable AI feature is contextual intelligence that learns from your data — and only ActiveCampaign offers this at scale. Its Active Intelligence builds a model of your brand voice, audience behaviour, and campaign performance. The key question: does the AI get better the longer I use the platform? If yes (ActiveCampaign), it's worth paying for. If no (most others), it's a convenience, not a differentiator.

Is email marketing still effective in 2026?

Yes — emphatically. Email ROI remains roughly $36-42 returned for every $1 spent, making it the highest-ROI marketing channel by a wide margin. Email is the only channel where you genuinely own your audience — no algorithm changes, no pay-to-play throttling.

Do I need both email and SMS marketing?

For eCommerce, usually yes. For B2B and creators, usually no. SMS open rates exceed 90%, and combining email with SMS in abandoned cart workflows can lift recovery rates by 30%+. For B2B and newsletter creators, email alone is typically sufficient. If you want both, Omnisend and Brevo handle email and SMS natively within the same workflows.

Can I use the same tool for newsletters and eCommerce?

You can, but you probably shouldn't. Omnisend is purpose-built for eCommerce, with product pickers, cart abandonment and revenue attribution. Beehiiv is built for newsletters, while Constant Contact suits simpler small-business campaigns. ActiveCampaign is the closest all-rounder, but even it lacks Omnisend's eCommerce depth.

How do I migrate from one email marketing tool to another?

Most tools offer one-click import from competitors — especially from Mailchimp — and a typical migration takes 1-2 hours for lists under 10,000 contacts. Key steps: export contacts as CSV, import into the new tool, set up authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), recreate critical automations, and warm up sending volume over 2-3 weeks. The hardest part is rebuilding automations. Budget 1-2 full days for a complete migration. Keep your old account active for 30 days in case you need to reference old campaigns.

93 Reader Comments

1. SP
   Stein Peeters10 Jul 2020

   The data set file is not being sent. Could you please send it to me? Thanks! I'm very interested as I'm selecting a marketing automation tool right now. Thanks.

2. SM
   Shelley Madison11 Jun 2020

   Hi Marcus, thank you for the research, very much appreciated. I'd also appreciate the data set you offered to share if the offer still stands. Thanks again!

3. AD
   Andrew Darius14 Apr 2020

4. JH
   Justin Hipps11 Mar 2020

   Great and informative post. Where is the download / raw data "at the bottom" - I must have missed the link

5. PM
   Power MTA setup4 Mar 2020

   Hi Marcus
   This is a very informative topic... Thank you for sharing with us.

6. PA
   Payvoice App14 Feb 2020

   I recently switched from MailChimp to Mailerlite and have been pleased with the results. I ran into a small problem and the customer service was excellent and responded very quickly (I’m using the free plan).

7. MK
   Maria Kurday7 Feb 2020

   Hey,

   thanks a lot for creating such a detailed and objective overview of the email marketing providers!

   I would really like to have a look at your dataset, I already filled out the survey twice, but it does not seem to work - still no email with dataset received. Could you please send it to me? Thanks a lot!

   Kind regards,
   Maria

8. RM
   Rajesh M18 Dec 2019

   Great article.
   Just wanted to point out that there is an error in SendX's pricing in the Pricing Comparison table.
   SendX's pricing is close to $100/mo for 10,000 users.

   On the SendX website, the pricing is mentioned in slabs - so the final bill will be the addition of all slabs that are applicable to your number of contacts.

   1. MT
      Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

      Thanks for raising this Rajesh, we've updated our dataset to reflect this.

9. ET
   Edward tricky18 Nov 2019

   Hello Marcus Taylor,
   Thank you to share such a piece of useful information with us. keep posting such kind of Information.

   1. MT
      Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

      ???? will do!

10. SK
    Shaun K13 Oct 2019

    Thanks for this informative review Marcus. What are your thoughts on ConvertKit? It was recommended to me, I am a blogger who does it for passion for the last 5 years, but I am thinking of starting to monetize my work.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       It's perfect for bloggers, but I wouldn't recommend it for any other use case.

11. L
    Lou6 Aug 2019

    Thanks for putting this together, my head was spinning from trying to figure out who/what to use.

12. P
    Paul31 Jul 2019

    Please forgive me if I missed this in some of the comments and replies, but I saw nothing on Infusionsoft or Marketo. I was expecting to see both in your analysis, but nothing was mentioned, save for the remark early on that Active Campaign has rocketed past Infusionsoft in the marketplace. Is it because you consider them outside the "Email Marketing" space which was the subject of your analysis?
    Thanks

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Hi Paul, back in 2015/2016 both Marketo and Infusionsoft made our top 10, but they've gradually been slipping each year.

       Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) is now in #37th place and Marketo is at #78th. There's nothing wrong with these platforms, but they just don't score as highly in the nine areas that we believe (from interviewing email marketing users) are most important.

       We also observe from migration data that a large number of Infusionsoft users end up moving to other email marketing services, citing 'difficult to use' as a common reason, so I'm somewhat reluctant to recommend their platform these days.

13. JD
    Jason Dawes2 Jul 2019

    SENDLANE IS A HORRIBLE TOOL. Used this for a month then switched to Klaviyo and it is light years better. Sendlane had a million bugs and almost ruined my business.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Hi Jason,

       Ouch! We've added this feedback to our dataset. Incidentally, we've seen some similar signs on our end. They've fallen to #14 on our list this year so won't be making the 2020 top 10.

       Thanks for sharing ????

14. SM
    Sikha Mishra25 Jun 2019

    Hi Marcus
    This is very informative post for us. Thank you for sharing with us.

15. J
    Jessica13 Jun 2019

    Thanks for this article. It is super helpful. I have used quite a few different ESPs (Bronto, MailChimp, Constant Contact, dotmailer, Listrak and now Informz) and have my opinions about all of them. But I have always worked for e-commerce companies. I now work for a non-profit association and we need an ESP that integrates with our database, which is run on Aptify. The only ESP I have found that claims to integrate with Aptify is Informz (Higher Logic) and lets just say, the integration doesn't actually work and the platform itself leaves a lot to be desired. So I was wondering if you knew of any other platform that might integrate with Aptify or be able to build an integration?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Wow, you've tried them all!

       It seems it may be a bit of an issue on the Aptify end, as they don't seem to offer much in the way of an API from what I can see, so it's probably a challenge for ESPs to integrate with them.

       The only two options I can see from a quick browse is Higher Logic (as you mentioned) and a company called HighRoad, though I'm not familiar with either.

16. M
    Marin12 Apr 2019

    Powerful review!

    What options are available for sending cold email?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Mailshake and Woodpecker.co are both worth a look.

17. B
    Bec29 Mar 2019

    Fantastic article, thank you! I was wondering if I could ask some advice -- we are only a small company that doesn't need automation or a CRM, we just want to be able to send out monthly emails to 6000 subscribers that can be categorised into industries or groups. We don't need bells & whistles. Due to our industry, the chunky CRM doesn't integrate into a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. so it's all very labour intensive but lucky for them I do love a spreadsheet. Thanks in advance for the advice.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Hi Bec,

       I would probably look at something like MailerLite or Moosend. They're both very affordable and do the basics very well (while taking care of the dull, but important stuff like security & deliverability).

       While they do both offer automation, you can obviously just use them for basic mass email sending - and both should be affordable at 6,000 contacts.

18. EV
    Elena Villarreal19 Mar 2019

    Marcus, thank you very much for detailed yet to the point review! I am looking for the email program for our small activity which we are planning to grow fast. You saved me tones of time and money on trials and errors. Mailchimp is a bit outdated. So I am looking forward to our new adventure and hope to continue with the program for many years.

19. R
    RDH12 Mar 2019

    Why are some of the comments from 2014? Is this an old article or is it updated with the latest and greatest options?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Hi RDH,

       This article was first published back in 2014 and has been updated (at least) every year since.

20. S
    Stefan4 Mar 2019

    This was the most helpful article ever. After all the tests, I think that I'll go for ActiveCampaign. Thank's!

21. AS
    Anna Saif19 Feb 2019

    HI Marcus

    Found your article very informative especially as I am a novice in all this. We are about to launch a research centre in the UK and wondered which email marketing tool you would recommend. Having read quite a bit now online, I see a lot of the literature seems to concentrate on business users rather than non-profits. Any suggestions would be most welcome.
    Many Thanks

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Hi Anna,

       I would take a look at Moosend, who offer a 25% discount to non-profits. If you need something a bit more powerful, ActiveCampaign offer a 20% discount.

22. JD
    Jim Daly13 Feb 2019

    Hi Marcus,
    Thank you for this detailed report. One of the options I am considering is Drip, it seems to be popular. Did you consider it?
    Any thoughts on Drip vs ActiveCampaign?
    All the best,
    Jim

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply29 Jan 2020

       Hi Jim, yes - we did consider Drip.

       This year Drip came out in 31st place in our ranking of the top 100 email marketing services. One factor pulling down their ranking was a high number of Drip users moving away from their platform reporting four issues in particular as the reason: Integrations, low-quality support, bugs, and difficult-to-use UX.

       Hope that's useful.

23. DM
    Donnie Murillo25 Oct 2018

    A very thorough and well-written blog on Email Marketing software tools. These are some very decent tools which will prove helpful for novices like us. Thanks for the blog Marcus.

24. OG
    Oleg Goncharenko17 Jul 2018

    Hi Marcus,
    Thanks for the review.
    It looks like it's been a while since the review has been written 4 years ago (according to the most of the comments above).
    Please advice on how it's relevant up to date?
    We are looking for a mail marketing tool for b2b software services company.
    Would appreciate your feedback.
    Thanks!
    Oleg

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply16 Oct 2018

       Hey Oleg,

       We've just posted our 2018 update! A few new tools have made the cut, and a couple of old ones removed. All of the data has been updated as of October 2018, so that should be useful.

       For B2B software, I'd probably look at either Hubspot/ActiveCampaign? We use ActiveCampaign as our email marketing tool for Leadformly, which is a B2B SaaS service.

       Marcus

25. A
    Abhinav13 Jul 2018

    A very useful post, thanks Marcus!

    I’ve had used email services from different service providers in the past for my own online business although now I have moved to Benchmark Email and using there services.

    I found almost every service providers relatively easy to use but almost everyone lacks in providing support to there client and now-day's support is like backbone of any service.
    Benchmark Email provide chat & call support apart from email support and that to 24*7 and because of limitless support from Benchmark Email I am sticking with them.

26. F
    Faizan15 Jun 2018

    I've often seen Mailchimp is lacking in showing Popups (I really don't care about those who don't prefer Pop Ups).
    One more thing I want to add that Mailchimp's Workflow is not as effective as Getresponse have.
    I have reviewed both of the services for myself and found Getresponse much better than Mailchimp and even from others too (Cost effective).

27. KS
    Kulwant Singh16 May 2018

    such a great article...thanks a lot ..... it help me alot

28. J
    Jan1 May 2018

    Hi Marcus..

    Thanks so much for these summary articles. I'm teetering on the edge of a blog and was sooo confused until I found this and your other articles on the topics needed to establish my site.

    Your info is presented in clear and informative manner.. When I launch I'd like to refer readers to your articles.. Is that okay?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply16 Oct 2018

       Of course! :)

29. K
    Karlie23 Apr 2018

    Also interested if you'd have any comments on Drip?

    Thanks!

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply16 Oct 2018

       I hear lots of good things, but (and I may be going crazy) I recall Drip offering a $1 signup offer when they were acquired by Leadpages and so a lot of people were commenting on how good it was for a dollar. It seems to have gone back to the old pricing and repositioned slightly to eCommerce email marketing. I'm sure it's an excellent product.

30. K
    Karlie23 Apr 2018

    Thanks for the article Marcus. We have about 25000 subscribers and currently use Mail Chimp. We're looking to change though, for three reasons - we'd like to integrate with a CRM, want to send smarter, automated emails and gather customer activity data, would like a service with actual customer support.

    Mailchimp advertises that they do automation etc, but I can't seem to find where to set up anything very smart. Also their customer support is non-existent. Seems impossible to contact a human.

    Do you know if mailchimp actually does offer what we're looking for, or we're better to move to something like active campaign? Appreciate your comments ;)

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply16 Oct 2018

       Hey Karlie,

       I haven't used Mailchimp for many years as they just don't seem to have kept up (particularly around marketing automation), but technically I think the answer is yes - they can do what you're after.

       However, I guess the real question is whether they're the optimal solution to do what you're after, in which case the answer is likely no. We've just updated this guide with some more up-to-date comparisons, which hopefully should answer your question!

31. B
    Benjamin6 Apr 2016

    Excellent article. The best and non-bias review I've read about email marketing software thus far.

    I've been shopping around and will probably go with Get Response. Initially I was looking at Mail Chimp since they had the 2000 free subscribers but it appears, in the longer run, it'll be better with GetResponse.

    Haven't used email marketing as much as I should. Previously, we tried using ImnicaMail because of their pricing but it was as good as not having an email marketing campaign; all our mail was sent to spam (since they did not manage their customers' list for spam). Thought email marketing wasn't effective until I found out our emails were being sent to the spam box. Learnt my lesson there.

    Thanks again for the useful article.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply16 Oct 2016

       Thanks Benjamin! Sounds like a good choice after your bad experience - I'd love to hear how you're getting on with GetResponse.

       Marcus

32. A
    Alice18 Mar 2016

    Wow such a detailed review! I have tried MailChimp before and I found it too expensive. After that i've signed up to Mailerlite and got hooked. It's either free or cheapish depending on your subscribers' lists. With other email software providers, you'd need to make an investment even if you're running a small shop or a blog. And let's be honest, not everyone of us can afford it :)

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply16 Oct 2016

       Yep, we moved away from Mailchimp for the same reason :) hope it's all going well

33. M
    Miguel24 Nov 2015

    I'm shopping to upgrade my email marketing software. Just got off the phone with Constant Contact. Can't believe they don't offer A/B testing!

34. M
    Mark27 Apr 2015

    I have a database of 2000 emails that I have marketed to for some time now from a pop 3 email without using a service.

    I imported it to mail chimp and it wants a double opt in. How can I bypass that.

    Once I start using mailchimp then people can easily unsubscribe if they don't want the email.

35. AS
    Afroz Siddiqui10 Dec 2014

    If you want cheap, easy and something you can grow with, I recommend MailChimp. You can even start out free with them. Later, if you decide to change platforms, it’s relatively easy to transfer your list.

36. S
    Sneha5 Dec 2014

    Thank Marcus, the summary was a great help.

37. TH
    Tony Hoang2 Dec 2014

    Great review Marcus! Have you looked into contactpigeon.com? They are a new e-mail marketing platform that offers data driven campaigns with thorough segmentation and automation features.

38. M
    Meera2 Nov 2014

    Hi I am new to direct email marketing. Sendy looks like a good pick based on this post. Thanks, Marcus for this article.

    Just a question, is it possible to export back only the delivered emails back to our database or via a .csv file.

39. KB
    Karanpreet Bindra4 Oct 2014

    Hi Marcus,

    Thanks for the article, it was also interesting and inspiring to see your other ventures in diverse fields. Would like to connect 1:1 in the near future. Meanwhile, even I had done a similar comparison as I myself handle email marketing for my organization. Do check it out as well as for the readers of the blog since it covers 2 additional players.

    Cheers,
    Karan

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply6 Oct 2014

       Hi Karenpreet, you're welcome.

       I took a look at your comparison - good work. More than happy to connect anytime if you want to drop me an email.

       Marcus

40. MT
    Marcus TaylorAuthor1 Oct 2014

    @Frank - I've never heard of them, and a quick Google search for your name MPZ Mail reveals you promoting them on Quora. I'm not sure why you'd ask for more information on them if you're already a user recommending them to others? Are you affiliated with them by any chance?

41. F
    fSheppard1 Oct 2014

    I really enjoyed this article but could anyone tell me a little bit more about MPZMail? It's not on this list, however I know a fair few people who are moving from MailChimp. I've had a look around and it seems to be pretty good.

42. K
    Kelly1 Oct 2014

    Great post Marcus,

    I've always been a mailchimp user myself, and I have to say I really like their UI but I'm always open to new options. I've dabbled in a couple of the other email marketing providers like Pure360 - but find them so clunky and annoying to use (despite them looking really pretty and having great templates) that I always end up going back to good old mailchimp. I haven't used GetResponse yet, I'll give their free trial a shot :)

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply1 Oct 2014

       Thanks Kelly, Mailchimp have definitely come a long way with their UI over the years, it's just their service that hasn't caught up ;) I haven't had the chance to play around with Pure360 as much as I'd like, but I've heard the same things echoed by several friends who use their service. Looking at their client list, I think they're more aimed at large companies though.

43. NC
    Nathan Chan30 Sep 2014

    Fantastic article Marcus. Really enjoyed this detailed post.

    After reading this I think I will move to and try out Ontraport!

    Nathan

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply1 Oct 2014

       Thanks Nathan, Ontraport's awesome :)

44. DR
    David Reed30 Sep 2014

    I'm currently looking for a hosted email marketing service that offers SMS services and integrates with Salesforce. We have a customer database of over 250,000 users and need to be able to send them SMS messages as well as emails at roughly the same time as appointment reminders.

    I've spent a long time looking at the different options, and there doesn't seem to be anything exactly what we're looking for (without requesting customisation), but before I give up hope I wondered whether you knew of anything?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply30 Sep 2014

       Hi David,

       Check out Pure360 - from their website it seems like they have both SMS services and integration with Salesforce. I can't vouch for their service as I've never used it, although I did used to live about two minutes from their offices in Brighton! The other option would be something like Infusionsoft. I'm pretty certain that they have SMS functionality, and would be very surprised if they didn't integrate with Salesforce.

       Hope that helps.
       Marcus

45. NT
    Nina Thompson22 Sep 2014

    This is so helpful! We've been using an old school bespoke email program at our company for years and have finally come to the realisation that we need to enter the 21st century!

    One question - do you know how easy it would be to connect a tool like Aweber or GetResponse to a customer database? We would hate to lose our list of customer data during the move, so that's a big concern for us.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 Sep 2014

       Thanks Nina, sounds like a much needed upgrade ;)

       Do you know whether your current email service allows you to export subscribers? If so you should be fine. All of the email marketing tools reviewed in this post allow you to import subscribers from a CSV file, so providing you can get all of your existing subscribers into a spreadsheet you'll be absolutely fine.

       Marcus

    2. NT
       Nina Thompsonreply28 Sep 2014

       I think so. I'd need to take a closer look but I'm sure you're right.

       Thanks for the help!
       Nina

46. P
    Peter20 Sep 2014

    Great review Marcus!

    I'm currently looking for an email marketing service for a mailing list of about 80,000 subscribers. I run an information product business in the fitness industry with a large number of customers buying our ebooks and online courses every day. I'm particularly interested in GetResponse, although I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on the flexibility of their service for creating autoresponders, and integrating with a checkout service (we use WooCommerce).

    I see that you've recommended Infusionsoft, which I was also looking at. Do you have any strong opinions on which one would be better for our kind of business?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 Sep 2014

       Hi Peter,

       It really depends on your budget and how much automation you need.

       GetResponse would be a great pick, although their automation is quite limited at the moment. For example, you can setup standard autoresponders, and autoresponders based on behaviour such as "opened previous email", but it's very hard to separate customers from non-customers etc.

       With Infusionsoft (or other marketing automation alternatives like Ontraport, Marketo, Pardot), you'd have a lot more flexibility with automation, but that may be overkill depending on what you're looking to do.

       The main thing to consider is that Infusionsoft starts at $199/month a one-off $2,000 fee for a kickstarter package. Realistically, you'll likely end up paying $300-$400 per month for one of their more advanced packages. GetResponse is $450/month for 100,000 subscribers.

       In terms of integration with Woocommerce, i'm pretty sure you'd have more luck with Infusionsoft. It looks like they have a plugin called 'InfusedWoo' in their app marketplace here: https://marketplace.infusionsoft.com/app/infusedwoo

       Hope that helps,
       Marcus

    2. P
       Peterreply22 Sep 2014

       It sounds like Infusionsoft is probably the direction we need to head in. If it's more affordable than GetResponse and has better automation, then it's a bit of a no brainer.

       While we don't need full blown automation, it's important for us to be able to send different campaigns to customers based on whether they have/haven't bought certain other products. Based on what you've said, and what I gather from their website, this seems out of GetResponse's depth.

       Thanks Marcus, I appreciate the advice.

47. M
    Maura17 Sep 2014

    Highly descriptive article. Will there be a part 2?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 Sep 2014

       Thanks Maura - I don't think so. If anything changes I'll most likely just update this post.

48. AC
    Alistair Coe15 Sep 2014

    Really good information, thanks for the comparison Marcus!

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 Sep 2014

       Anytime :)

49. K
    Kevin7 Sep 2014

    Great timing, Marcus. I signed up for free trials with Mailchimp, GetResponse and Aweber about a week ago and was just doing some research to confirm my thoughts.

    I agree with you that overall GetResponse are the best of the bunch. However, I did find that Mailchimp's UI was way better and easier to use. It's just a shame that they force you to jump through hoops with double opt-ins, and their payment structure was a little bit off putting.

    What I'd like to know is whether any email marketing software provider allows you send emails that look identical to if they were sent from Gmail. I find that the best newsletters are those that look like it came from a friend. If only Mailchimp or Aweber didn't force their logos and HTML style in every campaign I imagine they'd get way better open and click through rates. Do you know of any services that do this?

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply23 Sep 2014

       Hi Kevin,

       It sounds like you're after plain-text email campaigns, which all of the services reviewed above offer as standard. Instead of creating a HTML campaign, you should be able to select plain-text from a drop down menu and go from there. That should disable all of the logos, and formatting that give emails the 'newsletter template' look.

       Marcus

50. JC
    James Calain2 Sep 2014

    Marcus,

    Thank you for this article, it's been a great help for our company while we're in the process of moving to a different ESP.

    I wondered, what are your thoughts on solutions like Mailigen, Vertical Response, Mad Mimi, and Campaign Monitor? I know there's a never ending list of possible email software companies that you could compare, but these ones in particular interested me as they seem to offer many similar services to those that you mentioned. Have you come across them before, and if so would you advise using them over GetResponse?

    Another question I had was to do with email delivery rates. Do you know of any way to gauge the quality of an email marketing software company's delivery rates before becoming a customer and running your own test? I'd love to see a comparison like this post focusing on quantitative metrics like that. Perhaps an idea for a future post?

    James

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 Sep 2014

       Hi James,

       I've heard of several of the providers you mentioned, but I haven't used them on any projects so I can't really comment. From a quick browse of their websites they all look fine, but nothing jumps out at me in terms of a unique proposition.

       In terms of delivery rates, I know there are websites like SenderScore, which provide some information on delivery rates, but it's good to remember that those numbers are never static. If a company like Infusionsoft upgraded their servers, or changed the IP address that they send mail from, the stats would immediately become outdated.

       Similarly, it's probably worth taking any numbers provided by the email services with a pinch of salt, as they're more than likely to be a little bit on the generous end of the spectrum.

       In my experience, it's not something you really need to worry about unless you're sending 100,000's of emails per month, as the difference it makes is very minimal.

       Hope that helps,
       Marcus

51. P
    Panos1 Jul 2014

    Let's keep in mind that these are all different cases:

    - Desktop-based email marketing software (installed on your personal computer).
    - Serviced model or Saas (like MailChimp and others presented here).
    - Self-hosted (installed on your own server like Email Marketer and nuevoMailer).
    - Hybrid: self-hosted using 3rd party SMTP relay services (quite trendy lately).

    There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each model has pros and cons.
    Low-mid volume, occasional senders and not so technically literate users will probably do better with the serviced model (or a desktop based solution).
    Medium to heavy users are more likely to go for a self-hosted solution and usually the hybrid approach.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 Sep 2014

       Hi Panos,

       That's a good breakdown of the different types of email services. I aimed this post at the large majority of people who would just be looking for a Saas service like Aweber or GetResponse, but you're right that there are many alternatives.

52. MC
    Malonie Carre26 May 2014

    I have very few mail customers but would like to get started on this. If I use mail chimp to get my first 2000 email addresses over the next year or so ( obviously for free! ) can I then migrate them into Get Response when I am ready to start paying a monthly fee? I am a musician so it is more for my fans than for selling.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply27 May 2014

       Of course - I did a similar thing when I was building the newsletter for TheMusiciansGuide.co.uk. It's relatively easy to export and import between the various email marketing services, so you should be fine.

       Have you looked into Radio Airplay or FanDistro? They're both really good tools for collecting the email addresses of fans that like your music. I remember reading a case study that Brian Hazard of Passive Promotion / Color Theory wrote where he got thousands of fan email addresses using Radio Airplay.

    2. MC
       Malonie Carrereply27 May 2014

       Thank you, You just gave me a very cool tip! Great article, I will look up The MusiciansGuide too!

53. RB
    Ryan Biddulph22 May 2014

    I dug Aweber and getresponse when I used them. Smart post Marcus! Now I use my gifting club's email service, and have moved a bit away from email marketing. But overall helpful read here and a must for most marketers.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 Sep 2014

       You're welcome, thanks for commenting Ryan!

54. MT
    Marcus TaylorAuthor22 May 2014

    Cheers Ben, i've corrected this. I didn't come across either when I was playing around with Sendy - must not have been looking hard enough!

    1. B
       Branoreply2 Feb 2015

       Being Sendy users ourselves, we were also little bit disappointed with the limited reporting options offered by the app. So we built an extension which will help you to build dashboards, per-list reports, calculate conversions, etc.

55. JM
    Jason Millen22 May 2014

    Really well written post Marcus!

    It'd be great to hear what some of the email marketing software providers have to say in response to this review and what *they* consider to be their strengths over the competition.

    Out of interest have you come across SendBlaster or Vertical Response? My company trialed SendBlaster a while back and I remember being quite impressed with the overall ease of use. Vertical Response was the other one we looked at which we'd heard good things about but ended up not going with for some reason or another.

    Would love to hear your thoughts on them if you've come across them before.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply22 May 2014

       Thanks Jason

       I agree, it'd be great to hear from some of the guys in the space to know what differentiates them in their view.

       As for SendBlaster and Vertical Response, I've definitely come across VR in the past but not sure about SendBlaster. The name rings a bell but I can't think where from, and from their website it doesn't look like one that i've used.

       Vertical Response looks interesting - although again I can't quite figure out what really separates them from the other more popular services.

56. RL
    Rob Lawrence15 Apr 2014

    A very useful summary, thanks Marcus.

    I've had some success using Mailchimp in the past although eager now to try others services.

    I found MC relatively easy to use and navigate once I understood some of the terms
    relating to (all) mailing lists such as auto-responders, lists, groups, A/B testing.

    One positive for mailchimp is I found their guides/tutorials very good.

    I'm in the process of expanding and evaluating services such as Aweber on another site and interested in other providers too.

    Two questions:

    1. With any of these services are you able to manage multiple sites/lists of subscribers under one account, even if those lists/subscribers/topics are unrelated?

    2. Any thoughts on Feedblitz as I see people starting to use that service now too?

    Thanks for the very insightful evaluation.

    1. MT
       Marcus TaylorAuthorreply16 Apr 2014

       Thanks Rob!

       Mailchimp are pretty good - probably one of the most intuitive services to use. The main disadvantage is their double opt-in, which results in losing ~20-30% of people who go to sign up to your mailing list but don't confirm in the email.

       I'm pretty sure that all of the services reviewed let you manage multiple sites under one account. Aweber, Mailchimp, Sendy, and Get Response definitely.

       I haven't heard of Feedblitz - just looking at their website now. Appears that they're a Feedburner replacement specialising in RSS-to-email (sending your blog subscribers an email about latest posts). Their pricing looks a bit steep (considering Feedburner was free) - so I'd probably choose Mailchimp or Aweber over them? That way you can message up to a few thousand people free of charge.

       Hope that helps!

    2. G
       Georgereply16 Oct 2014

       Hey Marcus,

       George from Sendicate here. We're an email newsletter web app that aims to fix the current complex on boarding and newsletter sending process. We also allow single-opt in on lists if ya want :) Got RSS to email and all the bells and whistles too, we just try and make the user flows simple. Check us out.

       Cheers,
       George