Discover the Best Email Marketing Platforms for Your Business

An effective email marketing platform is crucial for building engaging campaigns, automating communications, and nurturing customer relationships. With numerous options available, selecting the right software can significantly impact your marketing success. This comprehensive guide reviews 15 leading email marketing services, detailing their features, strengths, and ideal use cases to help businesses make an informed decision.

15 Best Email Marketing Platforms Overview

While many email marketing platforms offer core functionalities like HTML email creation, campaign automation, and audience segmentation, they vary significantly in features, target audience, and pricing. Below is a summary of 15 top-rated services, chosen from over 30 platforms reviewed for their comprehensive offerings.

What to Look for in an Email Marketing Platform?

When evaluating email marketing platforms, certain features are essential for effective and efficient campaigns. Here are six key aspects to consider:

• Drag-and-drop email editor: A user-friendly no-code HTML email builder is vital for creating visually appealing email designs quickly. Look for intuitive interfaces and a wide selection of high-quality, pre-made templates to streamline the design process.
• User-friendly automation: Automation simplifies triggered email marketing, from basic autoresponders to complex customer journeys. An ideal platform offers visual workflow builders that are easy to use yet provide detailed customization for triggers and actions, supporting lead nurturing and segmentation.
• Landing Pages and Forms: Email list growth is fundamental to business expansion. Most robust email marketing software includes integrated lead capture and sign-up forms, along with landing page builders to host these forms effectively.
• Personalization and Segmentation: Achieving the best email marketing results requires targeted and personalized campaigns. Effective segmentation tools allow users to divide contacts based on demographic information and behavioral data, ensuring relevant content reaches the right audience at the right time, thereby boosting engagement and conversions.
• Flexible Pricing: Cost is always a factor. The best platforms offer features that align with business needs at an affordable price, with flexible scaling options. Look for clear subscriber and email limits, and consider services that provide generous free plans or full-feature trials to test before committing.
• Strong Deliverability Rates: The success of an email campaign hinges on emails reaching inboxes. High deliverability rates depend on the email service’s robust sending infrastructure, as well as tools that help users maintain clean lists, reduce bounces, and uphold a strong sender reputation.

Top 15 Email Marketing Platforms Reviewed

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the key features, unique selling propositions (USPs), pros, cons, and prices for each of the 15 platforms.

1. MailerLite: Best for starting with email marketing

MailerLite is an affordable and user-friendly email marketing platform, perfect for those seeking a straightforward approach to building and automating email campaigns. Its focus on core email marketing functionality and generous free plan make it ideal for beginners and small businesses.

MailerLite features a clean, intuitive interface that simplifies navigation. Its drag-and-drop email editor facilitates the creation of professional-looking marketing campaigns with ease, supported by over 90 pre-designed email templates. The platform also includes versatile tools for forms, landing page creation, and a simple website builder.

The automation tools in MailerLite are a significant strength for its price point. Users can build relatively advanced workflows for welcome emails, abandoned cart sequences, and audience segmentation. The automation editor is user-friendly, even for those new to email marketing, making it suitable for small to midsize companies.

The free plan includes 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. Paid plans for MailerLite start at just $9 per month, offering unlimited emails and three account users.

2. Brevo: Best for free email marketing

Brevo is an email marketing and CRM platform designed for small businesses, e-commerce brands, and marketers. It integrates SMS marketing, CRM, and transactional emails, making it suitable for businesses managing multiple communication channels from a single, affordable, and user-friendly platform. It also offers a remarkable free plan.

Creating marketing campaigns in Brevo is straightforward, thanks to its well-designed and simple-to-use drag-and-drop email editor. While it offers a more limited selection of 40+ templates, its marketing automation tools are highly impressive. Brevo supports website tracking to trigger automated sequences based on website visits and includes 12 pre-built workflow templates for lead nurturing, abandoned carts, and personalized follow-ups.

Brevo enables multi-channel campaigns, including SMS and WhatsApp messages, and allows businesses to send both transactional emails (like receipts) and promotional emails. Its integrated sales CRM helps track customer interactions across marketing and sales.

A key highlight of Brevo is the extensive functionality available for free. The free marketing platform plan supports 100,000 contacts and allows sending 300 emails daily, encompassing marketing and transactional emails, along with SMS and WhatsApp messages. Basic CRM tools are also included for free.

Paid plans for Brevo start at $8.08 per month for 5000 emails. A unique feature of Brevo’s pricing is its very high contact limits, allowing up to 500,000 contacts even on the cheapest plan, providing ample room for list growth without additional costs.

3. ActiveCampaign: Best for marketing automation

ActiveCampaign is recognized as a premier marketing automation platform, celebrated for its advanced features and user-friendly design. It serves businesses of all sizes, offering capabilities ranging from basic email marketing to sophisticated automation and an impressive CRM system.

The platform excels in building HTML emails, landing pages, and forms, all leveraging similar drag-and-drop editors that provide ease of use and extensive design control. ActiveCampaign boasts an impressive library of over 240 email templates and 60+ landing page templates.

ActiveCampaign truly shines with its advanced automation tools. With more than 900 workflow templates, it can automate nearly any sales or marketing process. Triggers and conditions are fully customizable, offering complete control over workflow functionality and integration of sales and marketing processes. Its AI-powered predictive analytics further refine lead targeting and email personalization.

Paid plans for ActiveCampaign start at $15 per month for 1000 contacts and 10,000 emails. A 14-day free trial allows sending 100 emails to 100 contacts.

4. beehiiv: Best for newsletters and monetization

beehiiv is a specialized platform designed to help creators and businesses monetize newsletters. Its features are divided into two main categories: content creation and publishing, and audience growth and revenue generation.

beehiiv offers a clean, intuitive editor for newsletter creation, which differs from standard drag-and-drop HTML editors. It emphasizes text editing tools, incorporating generative AI features for content review, editing, and suggestions, thereby enhancing copy perfection and production efficiency.

The platform’s monetization capabilities begin with robust list building. beehiiv’s lead generation tools stand out, offering various sign-up forms, including one-click Magic Link subscriptions. It features a referral program to incentivize subscriber growth and allows cross-promotion with other newsletters.

Monetization also includes recommendations, enabling users to incorporate paid affiliate links to other publications for referral earnings. beehiiv operates an ad network for running paid-per-click ads within newsletters. Additionally, users can offer paid newsletter subscriptions, with beehiiv providing integrated payment handling tools.

Paid plans for beehiiv start at $43 a month, offering unlimited emails and up to 100,000 subscribers. A free plan is available, supporting up to 2,500 subscribers but without monetization features.

5. Moosend: Best for small businesses

Moosend stands out as one of the most budget-friendly email marketing platforms, yet it delivers powerful features, particularly in automation and personalization. It offers exceptional value for its price.

The platform’s strengths lie in its excellent UX design, with all core tools being visually appealing, well-organized, and intuitive. Moosend employs a consistent drag-and-drop editor for campaigns, landing pages, and forms, enabling new users to quickly become proficient.

Moosend’s automation builder is equally user-friendly and intuitive, while offering substantial flexibility and advanced capabilities. It goes beyond basic drip sequences, enabling users to construct sophisticated workflows with numerous conditions and actions, including over 25 triggers. Web tracking functionality allows for initiating automations based on website visitor behavior, updating customer data, building segments, and personalizing email content.

A notable advantage of Moosend is its single paid plan structure, which includes all Pro features. Pricing scales based on contact and email limits, rather than feature access, making Moosend‘s pricing straightforward and making advanced tools accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Paid plans for Moosend start at $7 a month for 500 contacts and unlimited emails. A 30-day free trial is available.

6. HubSpot: Best all-in-one platform

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM software suite encompassing sales, marketing, and customer service. Its Marketing Hub includes powerful email marketing tools, featuring user-friendly drag-and-drop editors for emails, landing pages, and forms, alongside sophisticated automation, personalization, and detailed analytics. Users can also run integrated SMS and social media campaigns.

HubSpot‘s primary strength lies in its seamless integration of marketing, sales, and service. While a robust email marketing and automation tool, its unique selling proposition is the flexibility to combine email marketing with sales automation, customer service, content management, or e-commerce operations, covering every aspect of customer relationship management.

HubSpot caters to businesses of all sizes. Its Customer Platform is tailored for small businesses, consolidating email marketing, automation, CRM, and service tools. Larger enterprises can customize their platforms by selecting specific tools. A strong free tier offers basic versions of all tools, allowing users to run email campaigns and manage sales pipelines at no cost.

Paid plans for HubSpot start at $20 per month. The cheapest plans with email marketing include 1000 contacts and 5000 emails. The free CRM offers 100 contacts, 2,000 emails, 20 landing pages, 1 pipeline, a website, a blog, social media ads, and live chat.

7. Mailjet: Best for newsletters and email API

Mailjet is an email marketing platform that also supports transactional email sending. It is utilized by marketers at mid-sized businesses and larger enterprises for newsletters, marketing automation, and transactional emails.

Mailjet employs volume-based pricing, offering unlimited contacts on all paid plans. This makes it a cost-effective choice for businesses with large contact lists and moderate sending volumes.

The platform includes a drag-and-drop editor, email templates, segmentation, A/B testing, and automation capabilities. Recent enhancements to its automation builder now incorporate conditions, allowing for the creation of more advanced workflows beyond simple email sequences.

Mailjet also provides built-in email validation, deliverability tools, and comprehensive reporting, which are crucial for reducing bounces and protecting sender reputation.

Additionally, Mailjet features an SMTP and email API for transactional emails and supports real-time collaboration, enabling multiple users to edit emails simultaneously.

Paid plans for Mailjet start at $17 per month for the Essential plan, which includes unlimited contacts, 15K emails, 500 email validations, and AI writing. The free plan offers 1,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month.

8. Omnisend: Best for ecommerce

Omnisend specializes in email marketing for e-commerce businesses, specifically designed to support online sales growth and integrate seamlessly with all major e-commerce platforms.

Omnisend excels in campaign building and automation. It offers over 350 professional-quality email templates, primarily focused on product promotion, alongside an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that provides extensive customization options for layouts and styles. Its automation tools are particularly user-friendly, allowing for quick setup of pre-built workflows like abandoned cart emails and welcome series, while also supporting custom sequences with conditions and actions.

Automation is one of Omnisend‘s key strengths for enhancing engagement and conversions, alongside advanced segmentation. The platform leverages customer data from web store integrations for precise targeting and personalization. A standout feature is its Customer Lifecycle Map, which assesses customer engagement levels based on past behavior and interactions, providing recommendations for nurturing them through the sales funnel.

Paid plans for Omnisend start at $16 per month for 500 contacts and 6000 emails. A free plan is available, including 250 contacts, 500 emails, and 500 push notifications.

9. AWeber: Best for email design

Established in 1998, AWeber is one of the pioneering email marketing platforms, serving over a million customers. It excels at facilitating the creation and sending of visually appealing emails with ease and speed.

AWeber features an intuitive and simple drag-and-drop editor, complemented by an extensive selection of over 600 email templates.

To support exceptional design, AWeber includes the Smart Designer, which automatically generates branded templates from a website’s URL. It also offers a Canva integration within its email editor, allowing users to create graphics directly. Canva is just one of more than 750 integrations available.

AWeber‘s automation features are basic, supporting simple autoresponders and drip campaigns, but it lacks a visual workflow editor and conditional logic.

Paid plans for AWeber start at $12.50 per month for unlimited emails and 500 contacts. A free plan is available, also including 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails per month.

10. Kit: Best for subscriber growth and creators

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is a platform focused on newsletter monetization, targeting online creators such as bloggers, podcasters, and influencers. It offers tools designed to grow audiences and revenue through email campaigns.

Kit’s monetization options include generating income from newsletters through paid subscriptions and recommendations, as well as promoting and selling digital products, including courses. These efforts begin with building attractive newsletters and landing pages, supported by standard drag-and-drop HTML builders. Its templates are modern, vibrant, and fully customizable, optimized for quick and effective content repurposing.

Kit closely links audience growth with earning potential. In addition to conventional sign-up forms, a standout feature is its Creator Network, which facilitates cross-promotion through partnerships with other creators. Users can also pay for and earn from partner recommendations. The Sponsor Network assists creators in finding affiliate and brand partnerships.

Finally, Kit boasts an excellent visual workflow builder that supports conditional logic, enabling automation of customer interactions from the moment of sign-up. Its segmentation options are particularly effective, allowing contacts to be tagged based on subscriptions or engagement levels. Users can also run polls and surveys, utilizing the results to trigger targeted campaigns.

Paid plans for Kit start at $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers and unlimited emails. There is a free plan offering unlimited emails and 10,000 contacts, though it limits users to one automation workflow and uses assets created on the free plan for promotions.

11. Mailchimp

Mailchimp, launched in 2001, is one of the most widely recognized email marketing platforms. While many brands begin with Mailchimp due to its name recognition, it has faced criticism regarding its pricing structure and feature limitations.

Although Mailchimp offers a user-friendly email builder and over 300 integrations, its cost efficiency and flexibility have become points of concern. The platform’s pricing can increase significantly, with charges for inactive contacts, making it less appealing compared to newer alternatives. Mailchimp has evolved beyond its email marketing roots, and its free and basic versions now offer more restricted functionalities.

For building and sending campaigns, Mailchimp may not be as intuitive as other small business email platforms like MailerLite, Brevo, or Moosend, which often provide similar or superior features at more competitive price points and with greater flexibility.

Mailchimp paid plans start at $13 per month, including 500 contacts and 5000 emails.

12. Campaigner

Campaigner is designed for high-volume email marketing, offering a comprehensive suite of features tailored for larger marketing operations. These include advanced automation, segmentation, and personalization tools, along with an email API for bulk sending and reputation management features to maintain list hygiene and prevent spam flagging.

Campaigner handles essential tasks effectively. Its drag-and-drop editor is straightforward, and templates are optimized for accurate rendering across various mail clients. A key feature is its reusable content blocks, which act as mini-templates that can be easily integrated into emails, enhancing personalization when combined with dynamic content.

Similar to its email editor, Campaigner‘s automation builder is accessible, allowing for the creation of sophisticated workflows without requiring expert knowledge. It supports combined email and SMS sequences within the same automation.

Campaigner paid plans start at $59 per month for 5000 contacts and 30,000 emails. The e-commerce plan begins at $79.95 a month, offering features like abandoned cart emails, e-commerce integrations, and unlimited contacts. A free 30-day trial includes all features.

13. GetResponse

Over the years, GetResponse has evolved into a comprehensive online marketing platform, with email marketing services remaining at its core. It now offers various tiers for marketing automation and content monetization.

As an email marketing platform, GetResponse is a strong choice for startups and small businesses due to its affordability and ease of use. Its intuitive drag-and-drop email editor provides over 120 customizable templates. Users can also build unlimited landing pages and sign-up forms, and set up unlimited autoresponders and simple timed sequences.

Growing businesses can access more advanced automation tools in higher tiers, including conditional workflows and web tracking. These features enable automated segmentation for precise targeting.

GetResponse is also an excellent option for revenue growth. Its funnel builder is designed to quickly convert new contacts into customers, making it ideal for selling subscriptions, tickets, or digital products. The platform’s top tier focuses specifically on building and selling courses.

Paid plans for GetResponse start at $15 per month, offering unlimited emails and 1,000 contacts. A free plan is available, including 2,500 emails and 500 contacts, with basic email building and sending tools but no automation.

14. Constant Contact

Constant Contact, one of the earliest email marketing tools, has expanded its offerings to include automation, lead generation, and event promotion.

Constant Contact aims to simplify email campaign creation. Its drag-and-drop editor is intuitive, though some users may find it less straightforward than those from MailerLite or Moosend. It offers over 300 templates and an AI writing assistant. List building is supported through various forms, including pop-ups. Basic automation is available for pre-scheduled messages like birthday greetings or simple triggered sequences such as welcome emails, but it is not its strongest feature.

A key advantage of Constant Contact lies in its social marketing tools, which enable users to schedule posts, run social media ads, and track engagement. It is also highly effective for event planning and promotion, allowing for the creation of invitations, registration management, and attendance tracking.

Constant Contact’s plans start at $12 per month for 500 contacts and 5000 emails. It offers a 30-day free trial but does not have a free plan.

15. Benchmark Email

Benchmark Email is a well-established email marketing platform catering to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is renowned for its user-friendly interface and provides solid value for its customers.

Benchmark Email excels at facilitating quick onboarding for new users, enabling them to design their first email within minutes of signing up. Its drag-and-drop editor is well-designed and easy to learn, featuring pre-made content blocks that streamline the design process. The platform offers over 200 responsive email templates, available in multiple languages.

Building sign-up forms and landing pages is similarly straightforward. Users can enhance engagement by adding surveys and polls to forms. Campaign automation is also simple, though it focuses solely on email sending and lacks the broader range of triggers and capabilities for contact segmentation or internal tasks found in some other platforms. Despite this, it allows for the construction of fairly sophisticated workflows with conditions. The visual workflow builder is highly intuitive, using clear symbols and descriptions, and includes 11 pre-built workflow templates.

Paid plans for Benchmark Email start at $13 a month for 500 contacts and 7,500 emails. Its free plan includes 500 contacts and 3,500 emails a month.

The Best Email Marketing Services for Your Industry

Choosing the ideal email marketing service often depends on specific business needs and industry requirements. Here’s a breakdown of recommended platforms across six different categories:

Best email marketing services for small businesses

Small businesses typically prioritize ease of use and affordability while ensuring they have all necessary features for growth.

• MailerLite offers an excellent balance of simplicity and value. Its user-friendly tools are comprehensive without being overly complex, and it provides a very generous free plan.
• Brevo is ideal for businesses seeking integrated email, SMS, and CRM functionalities within one affordable service, supporting multi-channel marketing efforts.
• Moosend is exceptionally cost-effective, offering advanced automation and personalization features at one of the lowest price points in the market.

Best email marketing services with CRM

CRM tools are essential for businesses with large customer databases, enabling data-driven campaign targeting and direct integration of marketing results into sales pipelines for enhanced engagement, higher quality leads, and increased sales.

• ActiveCampaign seamlessly combines email marketing with sales CRM features, excelling in marketing and sales automation with over 900 customizable workflow templates that leverage contact data for precise targeting.
• HubSpot is a powerful all-in-one CRM platform that allows for the integration of email marketing with sales, customer service, and content management. Its flexible tools support a wide range of activities, from lead nurturing to sales pipelines, offering customizable solutions.
• GetResponse offers a scalable and budget-friendly alternative, combining email marketing tools, automation, and sales funnels. Its straightforward CRM and intuitive funnel builder help small businesses efficiently convert subscribers into customers.

Best email marketing platforms for ecommerce

E-commerce businesses need email marketing tools that integrate seamlessly with their platforms, facilitate product promotions, and support the creation of targeted landing pages for specific campaigns.

• Omnisend excels with its e-commerce integrations, particularly with platforms like Shopify. It leverages web store data for segmentation and targeted product recommendations, and offers valuable extras such as managing customer reviews on Shopify.
• ActiveCampaign‘s combined marketing and sales automation tools are ideal for e-commerce. It connects with all leading web store platforms, helping automate customer journeys, nurture leads, and integrate sales activities. Its predictive analytics and detailed targeting features are particularly effective for driving sales.

Best free and cheap email marketing services

Many businesses require a simple solution to build attractive emails and manage their audience without needing advanced automation or CRM features. Several platforms offer excellent basic functionalities at no cost or very low prices.

• Brevo offers one of the best free plans, supporting 100,000 contacts and 300 daily emails. It also includes SMS, WhatsApp messages, and basic CRM tools.
• MailerLite is incredibly user-friendly and affordable. Its generous free plan covers 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails monthly, making it perfect for straightforward email marketing.
• Moosend does not have a free plan, but starting at just $7 a month, it is one of the cheapest email marketing services available. It offers unlimited email sends and high-quality automation and personalization features, delivering exceptional value.
• Mailjet’s free plan includes 1,000 contacts and 6,000 monthly emails, making it a great option for sending newsletters and setting up an email API or SMTP for transactional emails.

Best email marketing software for newsletters

Newsletters are a fundamental component of email marketing strategies, crucial for building audience engagement and generating revenue for solopreneurs and content creators alike.

• beehiiv is uniquely suited for monetizing newsletters. Its specialized tools include referral programs for one-click subscriptions and revenue-generating opportunities through ads and affiliate links.
• For traditional newsletters, MailerLite is an excellent starting point, offering a straightforward email editor, a generous free plan, and reliable deliverability.
• ActiveCampaign excels at personalizing newsletter content and recipient targeting. It enables automated follow-ups based on how recipients interact with the newsletters.
• Brevo provides versatility with its easy-to-use editor and multi-channel marketing capabilities. Newsletters can be followed up with conversations via SMS or WhatsApp, and promising leads can be integrated into sales pipelines.

Best email marketing platforms for affiliate marketers

Email is a popular channel for affiliate marketers to distribute affiliate links to a broad audience. However, selecting an email marketing platform that explicitly supports affiliate marketing is crucial, as some platforms have restrictions.

• ActiveCampaign explicitly supports affiliate marketing, with many of its tools being ideal for affiliate campaigns. These include send-time optimization, advanced segmentation, and contact scoring. Its sophisticated automation workflows also aid in managing complex affiliate marketing sequences.
• Moosend, while more subtle about its affiliate marketing support, offers pricing and automation tools that are well-suited for affiliate marketers.

Find the Best Email Marketing Service for Your Business

The ultimate choice for an email marketing tool depends on your specific business requirements and future growth plans. Considering the features, pricing, and pros and cons of various platforms is essential for a strategic decision.

For an **all-around email marketing winner**, ActiveCampaign stands out. It successfully combines user-friendly design with powerful automation tools, facilitating the entire customer journey from lead generation to sales integration, all while maintaining reasonable pricing.

For **startups and SMEs with budget considerations**, several excellent value options are available. MailerLite is praised for its simplicity and generous free plan. The Brevo free plan is even more expansive, offering CRM and multi-channel messaging capabilities. Meanwhile, Moosend provides exceptional advanced features at a highly competitive price point.

Selecting the right email marketing software involves a crucial balance. Opting for a cheaper solution that lacks necessary features will ultimately diminish value. Furthermore, anticipating future growth is important, as switching platforms later can be a complex process. Carefully assess your current needs and long-term objectives to choose the platform that best supports your business’s marketing evolution.

Email Marketing Software FAQ