Everyone talks about email marketing and its awesome ROI ($36 for every dollar spent!). But let’s be honest; many email marketing solutions put a dent in wallets. But fear not! Email marketing doesn’t have to be costly.
We’ve done the hard work and found the top email marketing tools that are both great and affordable.
Whether you’re just starting or have been around for a while, this list offers options that offer real bang for your buck. Let’s dive in and find the perfect fit for you.
Opting for a Budget-Friendly Email Marketing Service
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 features to help you make the most of it;
- 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.
Cheapest Email Marketing Software: Comparison Table
Don’t have the time to read a long post and want to glance over the cheapest tools quickly? Have a look at this overview table to make your pick:
| Tool | Free Plan | Pricing | Major Pros | Major Con |
| Sender | Yes | Starts at $15 per month | Fewer integration options and too niche-centric around the creator economy | No landing page builder (yet) |
| Brevo | Yes | Starts at $19 per month | Intuitive email builder; Advanced segmentation; Omnichannel approach | Basic tracking stats and limited support options |
| Mailjet | Yes | Starts at $15 per month | Great collaboration features; Great deliverability; Email verification features | No customization available in the free plan |
| Mailchimp | Yes | Starts at $12 per month | Automation workflows; A/B testing; Mobile app. | No campaign scheduling and no automated customer journeys in free plan. |
| Benchmark Email | Yes | Starts at $8 per month | AI content creator; Great template library; Mobile responsive designs | Advanced features require an upgrade to higher plans |
| EmailOctopus | Yes | Starts at $8 per month | Automated email sequences; Detailed analytics; Great customer support. | Limited features, even in paid plan |
| GetResponse | Limited free trial | Starts at $19 per month | Multichannel approach; Supports conversion funnels, live chat, and more; Website builder and webinar hosting | Steep learning curve |
| ConvertKit | Limited free version | Starts at $9 per month | Creator-friendly features for monetization; Visual automation builder; Creator network for organic growth | Fewer integration options and too niche-centric around the creator economy |
| SendPulse | Yes | Starts at $6.40 per month | Integrated marketing platform; Great drag-and-drop builder; Integrated CRM | Complex workflows for beginners |
| Sendy | No | One-time fee of $69 | Self-hosted; Affordable email sends through; Full control over data and customizations | Requires technical setup |
| SendGrid | Yes | Starts at $19.95 per month | Great API integration options; Powerful drag-and-drop builder; Email validation feature | Limited features and design options in the free plan |
11 Best Cheap Email Marketing Services
Whether you’re a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or running an ecommerce platform, here are some of the best and 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 — Most Powerful Email Marketing Solution with a Forever Free Plan
Sender is the best and most affordable email marketing and automation software for entrepreneurs and business owners. Its affordable yet ROI-focused approach makes it a perfect fit for those who want to unleash the power of email marketing without breaking the bank.
Sender doesn’t just score on affordability; a powerful marketing automation capability makes it the best solution. It helps you automate abandoned cart emails, follow-ups, welcome emails, and behavioral campaigns to maximize your revenue.
It also has an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, powerful behavioral segmentation, marketing automation builder, popup builder, and a large library of responsive templates. So, whether you want to personalize your content or build more complex automation, Sender has a feature to complete the job.
What truly sets Sender apart is its free plan that offers all premium features. It’s not just a teaser; it’s a fully functional marketing automation platform with capabilities like behavioral segmentation for up to 2,500 subscribers. This allows you to dig deep into your customer’s habits and target them more effectively without spending a dime.
Unique Features
- No Code email builder. Drag-and-drop email builder & premade email templates for speeding up campaign creation;
- Omnichannel automation. Email & SMS campaign automation to nurture leads and follow-up across platforms;
- Segmentation. Deep behavioral segmentation for campaign personalization to target the right audience;
- Popup & form builder. High-converting popups & forms to capture leads effortlessly;
- Amazing deliverability. Best-in-class deliverability to ensure your emails reach the inbox (and not the spam folder).
Free Plan Highlights
Sender’s free plan isn’t just an entry point; it’s a full-fledged marketing platform that lets you explore and utilize all the features. You can access all premium features like no-code automation builder, behavioral segmentation, and everything else. You can:
- Send up to 15,000 emails per month to 2,500 subscribers;
- Set advanced email automation using email automation builder;
- Custom-trigger automation or use pre-built workflows;
- Use premium blocks like product builder while designing emails;
- Segment your audience without any limits;
- Set up unlimited behavioral, exit-intent, and custom pop-ups.
Manage your email marketing plan and grow your email list without spending a penny. It’s a risk-free way to test the waters and experience Sender’s power in taking your marketing game up a notch.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $15 monthly for up to 12,000 emails and access to SMS messaging features.
Brevo — Email Marketing Tool for Marketers
Brevo (formerly SendinBlue) is an all-in-one solution for email marketing. Their drag-and-drop email editor makes it easy to create beautiful email marketing campaigns without needing tech skills. Plus, they offer many responsive email templates in their free plan!
This affordable email marketing tool goes above and beyond with audience segmentation and personalization options. 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.
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, allowing them to grow.
Unique Features
- Intuitive email builder. Drag-and-drop builder and mobile-responsive templates for easy campaign crafting;
- Segmentation. Advance segmentation based on previous subscriber behavior, declared interests through opt-in forms, and other attributes for laser-targeting;
- Automation workflows. Prebuilt automation workflows to speed up automation processes;
- Omnichannel approach. CRM, SMS, and WhatsApp services for easy reach across channels.
Free Plan Highlights
Brevo is a good value-for-money email marketing platform designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. With their free plan, you can already expect much:
- Send up to 300 emails per day;
- Unlimited contact storage;
- 40+ responsive email templates;
- Marketing automation of up to 2,000 contacts.
The free plan comes with Brevo branding, allows only basic open-and-click stats, and has email-only support.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $19 monthly for sending up to 20,000 emails.
Mailjet — Email Marketing Solution with Great Collaboration Features
If you’re a team player, you should look at Mailjet. Mailjet offers an unparalleled collaboration experience for remote and large teams.
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.
Unique Features
- Dynamic content sections. Dynamic sections to drive targeted communications using personalization;
- Deep segmentation. Group subscribers based on common attributes to send contextual emails;
- Marketing automation builder. Engage subscribers automatically at key touchpoints using automated campaigns;
- A/B testing. Discover the most effective sender name, subject line, or content using A/B testing features;
- Email verification. Validate email addresses in your list for higher engagement and open rates.
Free Plan Highlights
Mailjet offers a flexible free plan that allows you to explore its rich features without any financial commitment. Its free plan is pretty decent, with features and limits as follows:
- Send up to 200 emails per day;
- Store unlimited contacts;
- Utilize APIs, webhooks, and SMTP relays;
- Get basic open rate, click rate, and nondelivery reports.
The free plan comes with Mailjet branding and offers no online support, segmentation features, email verification, or email preview feature.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $15 monthly for sending up to 15,000 emails.
Mailchimp — Best Email Marketing Tool for Newsletters
Mailchimp is famous because it’s the go-to tool for making email campaigns a breeze. It’s friendly for not-so-tech-savvy folks, so you’ll fit right in whether you come from 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 keep an eye on how your emails are doing with nifty stats like open rates, click-through rates, and what your subscribers are up to.
Whether you’re a tiny startup or a big corporate giant, Mailchimp is an affordable email marketing service with plans that grow with you. Though, if you need add-ons, scalability becomes less budget-friendly.
Unique Features
- Automation. Automated workflows for welcome emails, follow-ups, and triggered campaigns;
- A/B testing. Possibility to test different subject lines, content, and sending time to choose the most effective combinations;
- Easy email creation. A vast library of premade, customizable templates for quick creation of professionally-looking email campaigns;
- List management. Tools for growing and managing email lists;
- Mobile app. Possibility to manage campaigns and track analytics in their mobile app.
Free Plan Highlights
As Mailchimp claims, their free plan is more than enough for easy email creation and getting to know your customers. That said, let’s look at what features and limitations the plan possesses:
- Send up to 1000 emails monthly;
- Limited prebuilt email templates;
- Email support for the first 30 days;
- Basic reporting and analytics.
The free plan limits you to basic segmentation and doesn’t allow you to build automated customer journeys. You won’t be able to schedule your campaigns for a later time.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $12 monthly for up to 5,000 subscribers. You may also try Standard and Essentials plans free of charge for one month.
Benchmark Email — Email Platform with AI-Powered Tools
Benchmark Email is an AI-driven email marketing platform with many useful features to make your life easier.
The power of Benchmark Email’s platform extends to its AI-driven content creator, Smart Content. It lets you turn your ideas into engaging email copy with a click. 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.
Unique Features
- Drag-and-drop design builder. Design responsive emails with a no-code email builder and intuitive templates;
- AI content generator. AI-driven Smart Content to turn ideas into engaging email copy;
- Popup & landing page builder. Intuitive popup and landing page builder to launch new campaigns and build email lists;
- Integrated marketing CRM. Built-in CRM for full customer journey visibility and lead management.
Free Plan Highlights
Benchmark Email’s free plan is more than a boilerplate solution. It lets you use all standard features like email design, subscriber capture, and performance tracking. A free plan user can:
- Send up to 3,500 emails per month;
- Store up to 500 contacts;
- Get 25 smart content credits for AI writing;
- Create 1 signup form.
The free plan doesn’t allow you to go beyond basic automation or use advanced features like engagement automation, scheduling emails, or capturing advanced insights.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $8 monthly for up to 50,000 subscribers.
EmailOctopus — Refined Email Marketing Software
EmailOctopus is all about keeping things simple and budget-friendly. With this cheap email marketing 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 snazzy with customizable 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 deets on 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 one of the best free email marketing services you can get your hands on.
Unique Features
- Automated email sequences. Allows you to set up automated email campaigns, anything from welcome series to nurture campaigns;
- Detailed analytics. Get deep insights into your campaign performance, including open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber activity;
- List growth. Grow your audience with customizable website forms or easy-to-create landing pages;
- Great customer support. Get answers and help in no time via chat or email.
Free Plan Highlights
EmailOctopus is a great solution for small businesses with a tight budget. However, it comes with a non-monetary price, and its features are pretty basic and limited:
- Send up to 10,000 emails monthly;
- Limited automation sequences (up to 5 steps);
- Create up to 3 landing pages and forms;
- Real-time campaign and automation reports (available for 30 days);
- Integrations with Zapier and Make.
The free plan has EmailOctopus branding and allows email-only customer support after 30 days. Integration with other apps is also limited, as you can connect only with Zapier and Make.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $8 per month for up to 500 subscribers.
GetResponse — Integrated Email Marketing Platform for Engagement
GetResponse offers an easy-to-use platform to create compelling email campaigns, manage landing pages, use AI for email content, and more. It’s seen as a complete platform to build an email list, communicate with the audience, and promote 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.
Unique Features
- Website builder. Free AI-driven, no-code website builder to bring any business online;
- AI email generator. Generate email content at scale using the AI email content generator;
- Robust engagement features. Build and launch conversion funnels, send web push notifications, manage live chats, and create webinars to engage with the audience;
- Email template library. Mobile-responsive emails and templates for brand consistency;
- Marketing automation. Automate essential and promotional emails using a drag-and-drop automation builder.
Free Plan Highlights
GetResponse’s free plan provides access to all the essential features and the option to create one landing page, use the website builder, and more. Free plan users can:
- Set up and manage campaigns for up to 500 subscribers;
- Create signup and popup forms;
- Build and host 1 website with up to 5 GB bandwidth;
- Send up to 2,500 newsletter emails per month.
You must upgrade to a paid plan for segmentation, autoresponder, and other advanced features.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $19 per month for up to 1000 subscribers.
ConvertKit — Creator-Friendly Email Marketing Solution
ConvertKit markets itself as ‘more than just an email marketing tool’. Instead, it’s a creator marketing platform — a companion for growth-hungry creators. 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 an intuitive interface and a rich set of features like segmentation, marketing automation, and personalized content, it empowers creators to focus on what they love while effortlessly managing their 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.
Unique Features
- Creator network. Share your business with a community of Convertkit creators to grow your audience;
- Audience segmentation. Behavioral segmentation and automation to target the right audience effectively;
- Landing page builder. Free landing page builder with ready-to-use templates;
- Automation builder. Automate marketing with pre-built templates for one-click automation;
- Sell digital products. Set up and sell digital products directly without any third-party app or dependency.
Free Plan Highlights
ConvertKit’s free plan provides access to key features needed by creators. Free users can:
- Manage campaigns for up to 1000 subscribers;
- Create unlimited landing pages, subscription forms, or broadcasts;
- Tag and segment audience;
- Sell digital products and subscriptions.
The free plan doesn’t support the creator network, visual automation builder, email campaign automation and advanced reporting features.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $9 monthly for up to 300 subscribers with access to all premium features.
SendPulse — Bulk Email Service with Integrated Services
SendPulse is an integrated marketing platform that combines the power of email, SMS, chat, and more to supercharge customer engagement.
Offering an attractive free plan and budget-friendly paid options, SendPulse ensures that powerful marketing tools are accessible to businesses of all sizes. With features like drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation, personalization, and automation, SendPulse provides a robust platform without breaking the bank.
One of SendPulse’s standout features is its focus on user experience. The platform offers premade templates, high-converting popups, forms, and more for easy campaign creation.
Unique Features
- Omnichannel marketing. Integrated marketing platform with support for email, SMS, chat, and web push notifications;
- Email builder. Drag-and-drop email builder for quick and easy campaign creation;
- Free landing page builder. Create landing pages without coding to attract and capture leads directly;
- Chatbot support for the website. Add or embed live chatbots on the website to increase engagement;
- Built-in CRM. Keep track of all conversations, subscribers, leads, and deal pipelines from a single dashboard.
Free Plan Highlights
SendPulse’s free plan is a great way to test the platform’s capabilities and comes with some limits and feature restrictions. The free plan allows you to:
- Send up to 15,000 emails per month;
- Create 1 landing page;
- Verify up to 100 emails;
- Create up to 5 automated flows.
Free users can’t create dedicated audience segments, use A/B testing features, or add their team members to the account.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $6.40 monthly for up to 500 subscribers and unlimited emails.
Sendy — Self-Hosted Low-Cost Email Marketing Solution
Sendy is a self-hosted email marketing tool that gives you full control, low-cost campaigns, and the freedom to grow your email list.
Sendy lets you host itself on your own server and bring down the cost of email marketing. This empowers businesses to take full control over their email campaigns, subscriber data, and more. This is the perfect solution if you seek full control and customization (and can code a bit).
The platform offers robust tools like detailed reporting, list segmentation, autoresponders, and even API integration, for those who want to tailor their experience further.
Looking at the feature set, it feels that Sendy combines the best of both worlds: a low-cost model with powerful functionalities that cater to various marketing needs.
Unique Features
- Self-hosted. Set up or install on your server for complete control and customization;
- Low Sending Costs. Utilize Amazon SES for the cheapest email sends — $1 per 10,000 emails;
- Reporting & Analytics. Detailed reporting dashboards to visualize the success of email campaigns;
- Standard Automation. List segmentation and autoresponders for targeted and automated campaigns;
- Integrations. API integration for additional flexibility and integration with other tools.
Pricing
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 service with great deliverability and a reliable API. 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.
Unique Features
- Drag-and-Drop Email Builder. Design beautiful emails without code or use a readymade template from a large library;
- Automate Email Campaigns. Powerful automation builder to set up recurring emails, drip campaigns, and more based on custom triggers;
- Amazing Deliverability. Exceptional deliverability owing to dedicated IPs and custom domain to ensure emails reach the inbox;
- Signup Form Builder. Capture new opt-ins and segment them into email lists for nurturing campaigns;
- Analytics Dashboard. Robust analytics and API integration for enhanced control and insights.
Free Plan Highlights
SendGrid’s free plan is a great solution for small businesses who want to send up to 100 emails daily. It allows access to all key features like:
- APIs & SMTP relays for deliverability;
- Use a drag-and-drop builder and a template editor;
- Access analytics features.
The free plan doesn’t let users utilize advanced features like dedicated IP or email validation and offers ticket-based support.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $19.95 monthly for up to 50,000 email sends per month.
Also read: 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.
