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Email marketing software — full comparison
Click any column header to re-sort. Every tool here prices by contact/subscriber count rather than by seat — Entry/Mid/Highest track each vendor's own plan structure at the list sizes noted in each cell. Billed annually unless noted.
Mailchimp vs. Klaviyo pricing both start around $17–20/month, but the billing basis differs in a way that matters: Mailchimp bills for every contact in your audience (including unsubscribed ones, unless manually archived), while Klaviyo bills on "active profiles" — every contactable subscriber, not just who you actually email. For the cheapest email marketing tool in 2026, Kit's free plan is the standout at 10,000 free subscribers, far ahead of Mailchimp or Klaviyo's 250-contact free tiers. ActiveCampaign's pricing is worth understanding before comparing it directly to the others: its public prices ($39/$95/$375) are annual-equivalent rates from a contact-count calculator, not flat month-to-month figures — a detail that explains why some third-party sites list lower numbers.
| Tool | Free plan | Entry | Mid | Highest | Aggregated sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo1 seat, 1 audience, 250 sends/day cap — sending pauses if you exceed it, doesn't trigger a charge | $17/moStandard · 500 contacts · $20/mo billed monthly | $51/moStandard · 2,500 contacts · $60/mo billed monthly | $115/moStandard · 10,000 contacts · $135/mo billed monthly — vendor currently presents this as a first-year promotional rate for eligible businesses, not a guaranteed renewal rate | Catch: the bill scales fast with contact count, and lower tiers cap automation. Praised for a drag-and-drop builder that makes professional campaigns easy even for non-technical users. G2 reviewers repeatedly flag "expensive" as a recurring theme. A real billing trap: Mailchimp bills for every contact in your audience — including unsubscribed ones — unless you manually archive them. Monthly send allowances are capped at a multiple of contact count (10× Essentials, 12× Standard, 15× Premium); exceeding them can trigger overage charges. |
| Klaviyo | 250 active profiles, 500 sends/moGenuinely ongoing, not a trial — also includes a $5/mo mobile-message allowance and a $5/mo Composer AI allowance | $20/moEmail plan · 500 profiles · billed monthly — no annual-prepay discount on self-serve plans | $30/moEmail plan · 1,000 profiles · billed monthly | $150/moEmail plan · 10,000 profiles · billed monthly | Catch: bills on "active profiles," not just people you actually email — every contactable subscriber counts. Praised for deep, ecommerce-native segmentation and behavior-based personalization without a steep learning curve. Composer AI now runs on an ongoing usage/credit system rather than a trial-credit model — the Free tier includes a $5/month Composer allowance, and usage on paid plans varies by task complexity rather than one flat per-credit price. |
| ActiveCampaign Best value (paid) | No free plan14-day trial only, capped at 100 contacts | $39/moStarter · 2,500 contacts · annual-equivalent rate from vendor's contact-based calculator — a consistent public month-to-month figure isn't posted at every contact level | $95/moPlus · 2,500 contacts · annual-equivalent rate, same caveat | $375/moPro · 10,000 contacts · annual-equivalent rate, same caveat | Catch: public pricing is now built around annual billing and a contact-count selector, not a flat monthly rate. Automation depth is consistently the most praised feature — branching, multi-step workflows most competitors reserve for pricier tiers. Starter's automation actions are capped at 5 per automation, pushing serious users to Plus quickly. Add-ons (CRM pipelines, SMS, custom reporting) sit outside the sticker price and can add 30%+ to the real bill. |
| Kit Most generous free plan | 10,000 subscribersUnlimited broadcasts, forms, landing pages, digital products; 1 basic automation, 1 email sequence — genuinely ongoing, not a trial | $33/moCreator · 1,000 subscribers · $39/mo billed monthly | $49/moCreator · 3,000 subscribers · $59/mo billed monthly | ~$117/moCreator · 10,000 subscribers · $139/mo billed monthly — annual-effective figure rounded from Kit's 2-months-free annual schedule; confirm the exact yearly total in Kit's own calculator | Catch: the free plan is huge on subscribers but deliberately withholds automation. Praised for simplicity and creator-focused tools — built-in digital product sales and a cross-promotion network make it easy to actually monetize a list. Kit's published pricing has moved up since our last check — Creator is now $59/mo at 3,000 subscribers and $139/mo at 10,000 on monthly billing. Creator Pro starts at $79/mo (1,000 subscribers; annual pricing not independently verified) and adds subscriber scoring and a referral system, most useful past ~5,000 subscribers. Billing is subscriber-based — Kit doesn't impose a comparable monthly send cap the way most competitors do. |
Figures are aggregated from vendor pricing pages and independent third-party pricing research as of October 2026, and reflect published list prices — actual cost depends on contact/subscriber count, add-ons, and negotiated terms. Mailchimp's published annual pricing at 10,000+ contacts is currently presented by the vendor as a first-year promotional rate for eligible businesses rather than a guaranteed standing rate — confirm at renewal. Klaviyo's self-serve plans do not offer an annual-billing discount, unlike the other three tools here. ActiveCampaign's public pricing page is built around annual billing and a contact-count selector; the figures shown are annual-equivalent monthly rates, not confirmed month-to-month prices, since the vendor does not consistently publish those. G2 currently lists lower ActiveCampaign starting figures ($15 Starter / $49 Plus / $79 Pro / $145 Enterprise) reflecting a different presentation than the vendor's own calculator — flagged here, not resolved into one number; ActiveCampaign's Enterprise tier is also calculator-priced ($255/mo at 2,500 contacts, $589/mo at 10,000, annual-equivalent) though not shown in the main columns. Kit's annual billing follows the vendor's own two-months-free schedule rather than a flat percentage discount, so the annual-equivalent figures shown here are derived — confirm the exact yearly total on Kit's own calculator. Confirm current pricing directly with each vendor before purchasing. This is not a recommendation to buy any specific product.
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FAQ
Common questions
Which email marketing tool has the most generous free plan?
Kit, with 10,000 free subscribers — far more than Mailchimp (250 contacts) or Klaviyo (250 active profiles). The tradeoff is automation: Kit's free plan only includes 1 basic automation and 1 email sequence. ActiveCampaign has no free plan at all, only a 14-day trial capped at 100 contacts.
Does Mailchimp charge for unsubscribed contacts?
Yes — this is a common billing trap. Mailchimp bills for every contact in your audience, including unsubscribed ones, unless you manually archive them. Monthly send allowances are also capped at a multiple of contact count (10x on Essentials, 12x on Standard, 15x on Premium), and exceeding that can trigger overage charges.
Is ActiveCampaign's pricing the same every month?
Not exactly — ActiveCampaign's public pricing page is built around annual billing and a contact-count selector rather than a flat, consistently published month-to-month rate. The figures most comparisons cite (including $39/$95/$375 at 2,500/2,500/10,000 contacts) are annual-equivalent rates from the vendor's own calculator. G2 currently lists lower starting figures ($15/$49/$79/$145), which reflects a different presentation, not a confirmed lower price.
How does Klaviyo's billing work if I have inactive subscribers?
Klaviyo bills on "active profiles" — every contactable subscriber counts toward your plan's profile limit, not just the people you actually email. This is a key difference from send-volume-based pricing and can push you into a higher tier faster than expected if your list grows but engagement doesn't.
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