I Compared Sender vs MailerLite in 2025 – Here Is What I Found

Both platforms offer solid email campaign capabilities, but they take different approaches to how you execute them.

Sender focuses on simplicity without sacrificing advanced features. The drag-and-drop editor loads quickly with no lag when switching between sections or previewing emails.

You get video blocks, surveys, countdown timers, and email verification built directly into the platform to keep your lists clean. A/B testing (up to 8 variants) is available on paid plans. The template library is straightforward and functional, giving you plenty of options to create professional campaigns.

MailerLite takes a similar approach but with some notable differences. Their drag-and-drop editor is equally smooth, and A/B testing is available on all plans—including free—which is a significant advantage for optimization. You can test subject lines, content, and sender information across campaigns and automations.

MailerLite includes countdown timers as interactive blocks, video embeds, and built-in survey blocks for gathering feedback directly in emails. However, free users don’t get access to pre-made newsletter templates—you must build from scratch using content blocks, which adds setup time.

Winner: Tie with different strengths—Sender wins on built-in email verification and template access for free users, while MailerLite edges ahead for A/B testing on the free plan.

Design tools can make or break your experience with an email platform, especially if you’re not a designer.

Sender offers a straightforward drag-and-drop builder with a clean interface. You get access to responsive templates that automatically adjust for different screen sizes. The template selection offers good variety without being overwhelming, which helps you get started faster.

One feature I particularly liked is the ability to import product details (images, pricing, descriptions) with a single click for ecommerce campaigns, which saves considerable time when creating promotional emails.

MailerLite has clearly put a lot of effort into their email builder. The drag-and-drop editor is smooth, with over 70 content blocks to choose from—including advanced options like surveys, image carousels, and interactive elements.

They’ve also got an AI email generator that can help with copy if you’re on the Advanced plan. The editor supports rich text, HTML editing, and plain text options. The downside? Free users don’t get those pre-made templates, which means more upfront work.

Winner: Both are good, but MailerLite wins here with more content blocks and AI assistance, though Sender’s simplicity might appeal to those who want to get started faster.

​​Sender includes SMS marketing in their Standard and Professional plans. The setup is straightforward—you can send SMS campaigns right alongside your email marketing, and the automation workflows support SMS too. I like their pay-as-you-go credit system because it gives you flexibility.

You can scale your SMS campaigns based on what you actually need without being locked into monthly minimums. You get basic SMS segmentation and can track delivery rates in the same dashboard you use for everything else.

MailerLite takes a completely different approach—they handle SMS through a separate product called MailerSend, which is built specifically for transactional messaging (both SMS and email).

MailerSend operates independently from MailerLite’s main platform and needs its own account, though you can use single sign-on to access both. It’s not integrated into MailerLite’s marketing automation workflows. If you want marketing SMS within MailerLite itself, you’ll need to bring in third-party integrations like ClickSend or SMS Alert.

Winner: Sender offers significantly better value for marketing SMS with native integration in the platform, unified dashboard, and no need for separate services.

Sender provides unlimited automation workflows even on the free plan, which is genuinely impressive. You get pre-built automation templates covering common scenarios like welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, and thank-you emails.

What sets Sender apart is the ability to combine email and SMS in the same automation workflow—you can send an email, then follow up with an SMS reminder, or trigger SMS notifications based on specific actions. Each workflow comes with email templates for each stage, so you don’t have to start from scratch. 

MailerLite offers single-trigger automation on the free plan, but if you want multi-trigger workflows or more complex sequences, you’ll need to upgrade to the Advanced plan. The workflow builder is visual and user-friendly, with good documentation to help you set things up.

Automation templates are restricted on Free and Growing Business plans, with full access to all 15 templates only on the Advanced tier. There’s no native SMS integration within workflows so you’ll need third-party tools for that.

Winner: Sender dominates automation with unlimited workflows on the free plan and multi-trigger capabilities without upgrading.

Sender includes landing pages and signup forms on all plans, including free (1 page on free). The landing page builder uses the same drag-and-drop interface as the email builder, which means no learning curve if you’re already comfortable creating campaigns.

For popups, they give you multiple trigger options: time delay, scroll depth, exit intent, and click-based triggers. Forms integrate directly with your subscriber lists and can kick off automation workflows. Sender also has this gamification feature—a spin-to-win wheel popup where visitors enter their email and spin for prizes like discount codes or free shipping.

MailerLite really shines here. You get up to 10 landing pages on the free plan and one full website. They recently revamped their landing page builder, and it’s noticeably faster and more efficient now. You can publish pages on custom domains (paid plans only) and use features like countdown timers, payment collection via Stripe, and password protection.

The form builder is excellent—popups, embedded forms, and they’ve got their own “Wheel of Fortune” gamification option. MailerLite also includes A/B testing for landing pages and forms on paid plans.

Winner: MailerLite takes this category with more landing page options, better design flexibility, and direct payment integration.

Sender offers solid segmentation capabilities using groups and dynamic segments that automatically update when subscribers meet or stop meeting conditions. You can segment by subscriber behavior, demographics, engagement metrics, email opens, clicks, purchase history (for ecommerce integrations), and more.

However, there’s no tagging system to layer additional information on contacts. The interface shows matched subscribers in real-time as you build conditions. The free plan caps at 2,500 subscribers.

MailerLite provides detailed segmentation options using multiple criteria—subscriber characteristics (age, location, custom fields), activities (email engagement, website behavior), and ecommerce data.

They recently added more flexibility for filtering and combining segments, which is nice. You can create dynamic segments that update automatically based on how subscribers are behaving.

Winner: Both platforms have sophisticated segmentation, but MailerLite offers more filtering options.

Sender was built with ecommerce in mind, and it shows. They integrate directly with platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and PrestaShop. You can sync product catalogs, track purchase data, and set up abandoned cart automation. The platform automatically pulls product images, descriptions, and prices into your emails—no manual work needed.

Revenue tracking is built right into the analytics dashboard, so you can actually see which campaigns are driving sales. The ecommerce integration feels native rather than tacked on, which makes the whole experience smoother.

MailerLite also offers strong ecommerce features with native integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, and others. You get product blocks that automatically pull in product details, abandoned cart workflows, and purchase-based segmentation. Revenue tracking shows up on subscriber profiles, making it easy to spot your best customers.

The Stripe integration is particularly nice—it allows you to sell digital products and paid subscriptions directly. However, if you need advanced ecommerce capabilities like predictive analytics or complex journey mapping, you might want to look at specialized ecommerce platforms instead.

Winner: Tie—both platforms handle ecommerce well with similar integrations and features for online stores.

Sender emphasizes deliverability with infrastructure focused on inbox placement. The platform supports SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication. Based on my testing, emails consistently reached inboxes reliably. Sender enforces strict anti-spam policies and has a verification process for new accounts to maintain IP reputation. Dedicated IPs are available for Professional and Enterprise plans.

MailerLite has proven deliverability rates through third-party testing. According to EmailToolTester’s deliverability tests, MailerLite achieved an 89.8% deliverability rate in January 2024 and earned a “Best of 5” award with an average rate of 94.41% over five rounds of testing.

The platform implements thorough verification processes for new users to maintain high standards. MailerLite supports full email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) with auto-setup for popular providers like GoDaddy and Cloudflare. Dedicated IPs are available for Enterprise users.

Winner: Both platforms have solid deliverability

Sender provides real-time reporting with key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, conversions, performance by inbox provider, and revenue per email. The dashboard is clean and easy to scan at a glance. You get a newsletter heatmap showing which parts of your emails get the most engagement—incredibly useful when you’re trying to optimize.

MailerLite offers solid reporting with standard metrics including opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounces, complaints, and device/location data. You can track purchases for Shopify and WooCommerce stores.

The platform includes click maps and basic campaign comparison tools. However, the reporting could be more detailed—there’s no built-in way to filter out Apple Mail Privacy opens or bot clicks, which can really skew your data.

Winner: Tie—both platforms have solid analytics for typical SMB use.

Sender integrates directly with major ecommerce platforms including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, and OpenCart. The integrations sync customer data, purchase history, and abandoned carts automatically.

Beyond ecommerce, Sender connects with tools like WordPress, Zapier (for connecting to apps without native integrations), and various lead capture tools. However, the integration library is smaller compared to established players like Mailchimp. The platform does offer API access for custom connections, and Zapier helps fill gaps for apps without direct integrations.

MailerLite offers native integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Facebook, Make, Zapier, and Stripe. The platform has been steadily adding more integrations based on user feedback. You can also use MailerLite’s API for custom connections.

While MailerLite’s integration list has grown, it’s still not as extensive as platforms like ActiveCampaign. For most small to medium businesses, the available integrations cover the essentials.

Winner: Tie—both offer similar integrations for the platforms most small businesses use.

Sender truly excels in customer support. You get 24/7 email and live chat support on all plans, including the free tier. This is genuinely rare in the email marketing space. During my testing, I found response times to be impressively fast, usually within minutes. The support team is knowledgeable and provides detailed solutions rather than generic responses.

They also offer migration assistance when switching from other platforms, which removes a major barrier for new users. The quality of support is consistently high across all interactions.

MailerLite offers email and chat support, but the experience varies by plan. Free users only get human support for up to 14 days. The support team is multilingual and generally responsive, though wait times depend on your plan level.

MailerLite maintains a comprehensive knowledge base with training videos and documentation, which helps with self-service problem-solving. The onboarding resources are particularly well done and help you get started quickly.

Winner: Sender dominates support with 24/7 availability for all users and consistently praised responsiveness.

Sender offers some unique advantages: a very generous free plan with 2,500 subscribers (5x more than MailerLite’s current offering), free SMS credits on the Professional plan, animated countdown timers for creating urgency, review blocks for showcasing social proof, and unlimited automation workflows even on the free tier.

The platform also emphasizes fast interface performance—no lag or loading delays when working on campaigns. Sender’s focus is on doing email marketing really well without trying to be an all-in-one platform.

MailerLite differentiates itself with: a full website builder (you can build actual websites, not just landing pages), ability to sell digital products and paid newsletter subscriptions via Stripe integration.

The platform also supports interactive AMP email widgets like forms and carousels, advanced click maps showing engagement patterns, Smart Sending that uses machine learning to optimize send times, and password-protected pages for members-only content. MailerLite positioned itself as more of a comprehensive marketing platform beyond just email.

Winner: Depends on needs—Sender for email-focused businesses, MailerLite for those wanting an all-in-one platform with website building.

G2 reviewers highlight Sender’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor and clean interface that streamline campaign creation. Support quality stands out prominently, with users praising quick response times and genuinely helpful interactions.

A few users mention the template selection feels dated and could use refreshing. The value for price comes up repeatedly, with small businesses noting they’re getting professional-grade features without enterprise-level costs.​​

MailerLite gets mixed reactions on G2. Users love the intuitive interface, easy setup, and solid automation capabilities—especially for the price. The email builder and landing page tools work well for most small businesses.

However, customer support is a common pain point, with complaints about slow response times and recurring deliverability issues. Some users also find the editor finicky when customizing emails. Great value, but support could be better.

Sender gets high marks on Capterra for its user-friendly interface, straightforward automation, and great customer support. Users appreciate how easy it is to create campaigns with the drag-and-drop editor, and the generous free plan (2,500 subscribers, 15,000 emails monthly) is frequently praised.

The platform delivers solid value with all the essential features at an affordable price. The main complaint is the limited template library, with users wanting more variety and design options.

MailerLite on Capterra shows mostly positive feedback. Users appreciate the all-in-one solution with email, landing pages, and websites, plus strong deliverability and good templates.

However, some are disappointed by support responsiveness and recurring technical issues. The editor can feel laggy when moving elements around, and pricing doesn’t always align with value for smaller subscriber lists.

Reddit discussions about Sender are mostly positive. Users like how easy it is to use, the low cost, and that emails actually reach inboxes. The drag-and-drop editor is fast, setup is straightforward, and support answers quickly. The free plan is seen as really generous for small businesses.

A few people mention the template selection is limited, but it’s not a dealbreaker given the price.

Reddit users share notably harsh experiences with MailerLite. Common complaints include frustrating onboarding with account authentication issues, poor YouTube video embedding (requiring manual uploads instead of auto-pulling info), and severe problems with custom fields and dynamic content not working properly.

Support is a major pain point—users report getting locked out of accounts, receiving vague responses without timelines, and being told to “follow up” instead of getting proactive help. Many users cite the reduced free plan (now capped at 500 subscribers instead of 1,000) as a key reason for switching to alternatives.

Yes, both platforms support CSV import/export, making migration relatively straightforward. Sender offers migration assistance through their support team, while MailerLite labels itself as “self-serve” and suggests handling migration independently or hiring an expert.

The actual migration process typically takes a few hours depending on list size. Make sure to warm up your sender reputation with your new platform by starting with engaged subscribers before sending to your entire list.

No, Sender focuses specifically on email and SMS marketing without website building features. MailerLite includes a full website builder where you can create blogs, landing pages, and complete websites with custom domains, SEO controls, and password protection.

If you need an all-in-one platform including website hosting, MailerLite is the better choice. If you already have a website and just need email marketing, Sender’s focused approach might be preferable.