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We compare published pricing, features, practical trade-offs and suitability for real buyers. Our goal is to make the decision clearer, not to overwhelm you with options. How we research · Affiliate disclosure
In this guide
Choosing email marketing software is a trade-off among list size, campaign volume, automation, support, and price. This independent desk-research guide compares MailerLite, Brevo, Kit, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot using official plan documentation and independent product reviews available on October 10, 2026. It reports editorial assessments, not DealSifted hands-on test results.
Our Shortlist
MailerLiteA small-business email platform with campaigns, forms, landing pages and subscriber-tier send allowances.
- Free: 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails/month, 3 automations
- Comfort: 10 sends per subscriber-tier contact; 50 automations
- Power: unlimited monthly sends subject to fair use
BrevoBrevo combines email campaigns, transactional email and CRM features with tiers priced around monthly send volume.
- Free: 300 sends/day and 100,000 stored contacts
- Starter: no daily cap; early tiers cap both sends and contacts
- Standard: expanded automation, A/B testing and reporting
KitKit centers on newsletters, broadcasts, subscriber tags, forms and creator commerce.
- Free: up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited broadcasts
- Free includes forms, landing pages, tagging, segmentation and digital products
- Creator adds unlimited visual automations and email sequences
ActiveCampaignActiveCampaign combines campaign sending with a deeper automation builder and tier-dependent segmentation.
- Starter: one user, limited segmentation, five actions per automation
- Plus and higher add greater workflow and segmentation capability
- Starter send allowance: 10× the contact limit
HubSpotHubSpot combines email marketing and contact records in a broader CRM and Marketing Hub environment.
- Free email: 2,000 sends per calendar month and HubSpot branding
- Starter: 1,000 marketing contacts included; email limit is 5× that tier
- Contact add-ons are billed monthly and cannot be downgraded until renewal
Quick Comparison
| Provider | Best for | Ease | Value | Overall Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | Best for newsletters & forms | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.3 |
| Brevo | Best for high-volume sending | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| Kit | Best for creator newsletters | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.0 |
| ActiveCampaign | Best for advanced automations | 3.7 | 3.2 | 3.8 |
| HubSpot | Best with an integrated CRM | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
A Closer Look at Each Provider
MailerLite's current plans are Free, Comfort, Power and Enterprise. Free supports up to 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails per month, two seats, three automations, three signup forms, one website and one landing page. Comfort's monthly send limit is ten times the ceiling of the selected subscriber tier; it also raises feature limits, includes up to three seats and 24/7 email support. Power includes unlimited monthly emails under fair-use terms, unlimited seats, and 24/7 live chat plus email. The official pricing page showed the following USD Comfort examples on October 10, 2026: at 500 subscribers, $12 month-to-month or $10.80 per month billed yearly ($129.60 upfront); at 1,000, $19 monthly or $17.10 monthly billed yearly; at 5,000, $49 monthly or $44.10 monthly billed yearly. Confirm the current tier at checkout; taxes may apply.
Ease evidence: TechRadar's April 2026 hands-on review described the interface and drag-and-drop editor as intuitive and gave its Design category 4.5/5. The reviewer noted the free list limit and no built-in spam testing. DealSifted did not test the interface or deliverability. The 4.5 Ease score is our editorial interpretation of that review and official tutorials, not a test score from DealSifted.
Advantages: accessible campaign and editor workflow; useful landing-page, form and automation tools; published limits are easy to model.
Limitations: small Free contact cap; Comfort has tier limits; higher sending may require Power; no DealSifted deliverability test.
Best for: a small team that wants a balanced newsletter platform and can fit within Comfort's send allowance.
Pros
- A clear campaign and automation workflow in independent review evidence
- Forms, landing pages, website tools and reporting in one service
- 100+ listed integrations and a free entry plan
Cons
- Free subscriber cap is only 250 active contacts
- Comfort has defined send, seat and active-item limits
- Annual billing requires upfront payment for the discounted rate
- Deliverability outcomes were not tested by DealSifted
- Choose this if
- A small team seeking newsletters plus signup pages and light-to-moderate automations with predictable list growth.
- Consider another option if
- You need a large free contact allowance, deeper CRM functionality, or higher sends than the Comfort tier supports without moving to Power.
Official USD pricing checked October 10, 2026: Comfort at 500/1,000/5,000 subscribers showed $12/$19/$49 monthly, or $10.80/$17.10/$44.10 monthly equivalents billed yearly. Annual charges are upfront. Free has a 250-active-subscriber cap.
Brevo's Free plan allows 300 email sends per day and stores up to 100,000 contacts; unused daily sends do not roll over. Starter has no daily sending cap but each tier combines monthly sends with a contact ceiling: 5,000 sends/500 contacts, 10,000/1,500, 15,000/2,500, then tiers from 20,000 sends that support up to 500,000 stored contacts. For the modeled four campaigns per month, a 500-contact list needs 2,000 total sends but the Starter tier still includes 5,000 sends. A 1,000-contact list fits the 10,000-send/1,500-contact tier. A 5,000-contact list needs the 20,000-send tier for the modeled volume. The official Help Center states Starter begins at $9/month and Standard at $18/month; exact price varies by tier and add-ons. The pricing calculator examples observed on October 10, 2026 were $9 monthly / $8.08 monthly equivalent billed yearly for 5,000 sends, $17 / $15.25 for 10,000 sends, and $32 / $28.75 for 20,000 sends. Annual equivalents require yearly billing upfront; verify local checkout and taxes.
Standard adds unlimited-contact marketing automation, one landing page, A/B testing, advanced reports and analytics, AI send-time optimization, and priority email support. Free and Starter automation are capped at 2,000 contacts in the new editor.
Ease evidence: TechRadar's February 2026 hands-on review found onboarding prompts and a drag-and-drop editor approachable, but noted occasional lag and difficult data imports. DealSifted did not test the interface. Our 4.0 Ease score balances these reported strengths and friction.
Advantages: useful Free contact storage; transactional and marketing email together; sends can be budgeted by monthly volume.
Limitations: per-day Free cap; early Starter tiers cap contacts; advanced automation and tests require Standard; add-ons can change final cost.
Best for: businesses that can forecast sends and whose contact count fits a Brevo tier.
Pros
- Free includes transactional email and contact storage
- Monthly send tiers can suit businesses with predictable campaigns
- Combines campaigns and CRM features
Cons
- Free's 300-per-day limit can delay a full-list campaign
- Starter's early tiers also cap contact counts
- Standard is needed for unlimited-contact automation, A/B tests and advanced reports
- Choose this if
- A business that wants marketing and transactional email in one account and can forecast monthly volume and contact growth.
- Consider another option if
- You need simpler contact-based paid pricing, or Standard-level automation and reporting without Brevo's send-volume tiers.
Free: 300 sends/day, up to 100,000 stored contacts. Starter starts at $9/month and sets both send and contact tier; Standard starts at $18/month and unlocks expanded automation/testing.
Kit's Free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, forms and landing pages, audience tagging and segmentation, A/B testing on broadcasts, and digital-product or subscription sales. It has no email-send limit according to Kit's current FAQ. Free does not include Visual Automations or sequences. Creator adds unlimited automations and sequences. Kit's official pricing page displayed $33 per month alongside $390 billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers; the Help Center lists $39/month as the month-to-month starting price and says annual billing includes two months free. The $33 display is therefore the yearly-billed monthly equivalent, not ordinary month-to-month billing. At 5,000 subscribers, the public page lists $890 billed yearly; a verified month-to-month quote was not available in this review. For the modeled four-campaign send volumes, Free covers all three audience sizes if the list remains below 10,000 and broadcasts are the only needed feature.
Ease evidence: TechRadar's May 2026 hands-on review found the dashboard clean and automation flowcharts understandable, while criticizing the limited email editor, narrow template library and automation organization at scale. DealSifted did not test Kit. Our 4.2 Ease score reflects the focused, creator-oriented workflows but not the limitations as a full small-business marketing suite.
Advantages: unusually high free subscriber cap; no official send cap; strong creator forms, audience tools and digital commerce.
Limitations: paid plan required for sequences and visual automations; narrower editor and template choices; creator focus may not fit a CRM-led business.
Best for: creators, consultants and solo operators whose audience is built around newsletters and digital products.
Pros
- Large free subscriber ceiling with unlimited broadcasts
- Creator workflows and sequences are documented clearly
- Digital-product and paid-subscription tools for creators
Cons
- Free does not include visual automations or email sequences
- Email-editor layout and template choices are narrower than some rivals
- Paid pricing increases with subscriber tier
- Choose this if
- A creator-led business that needs newsletters, subscriber growth and digital-product sales; upgrade if automated sequences are essential.
- Consider another option if
- You need CRM-centered customer journeys, extensive design templates, or complex team workflows.
Free supports up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited broadcasts. Creator adds automations and sequences. Official pricing distinguishes month-to-month from yearly billing; $33/month at 1,000 is paired with $390 billed yearly and is not a monthly-billing quote.
ActiveCampaign's current plan names are Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise. Starter includes email marketing, limited segmentation, standard CRM/ecommerce integrations, one user, and a maximum of five actions in an automation. Its listed email allowance is ten times the contact limit. Higher plans add more actions, segmentation, users and testing features. The company offers a 14-day trial rather than an ongoing free plan. ActiveCampaign's public pricing page lists annual billing, but its dynamic calculator did not render a usable quote for every contact tier in this review. Its official comparison page lists $15/month for Starter and $49/month for Plus at 1,000 contacts; verify billing term, contact-count rules, taxes and add-ons at checkout. Exact 500- and 5,000-contact quotes are unavailable here, so this guide does not estimate them. ActiveCampaign says accounts created on or after November 3, 2025 are billed for all contacts, including unsubscribed and bounced records; clean-list billing can therefore differ from marketable subscriber counts.
Ease evidence: TechRadar's April 2026 hands-on review described improved goal-based onboarding and an organized interface, but identified a learning curve in the automation builder. The same review rated its design 3.5/5. DealSifted did not test the workflow builder. Our 3.7 Ease score reflects the useful onboarding and complexity trade-off.
Advantages: deep automation, triggers and conditions; suitable for more involved customer journeys; published plan structure explains major limits.
Limitations: Starter automations stop at five actions; no continuing free plan; exact contact-tier quotes and month-to-month pricing require live checkout; billing counts can include inactive contacts for newer accounts.
Best for: a growing business that genuinely needs branching journeys and will verify total contact-based cost before purchase.
Pros
- Strong documented automation depth for behavior-based journeys
- Goal-based onboarding and templates reported by independent review
- Higher tiers expand segmentation and automation capability
Cons
- Starter's five-action cap limits complex workflows
- No ongoing free tier; 14-day trial
- Pricing calculator did not expose month-to-month prices in this review
- Newer accounts may be billed for unsubscribed and bounced contacts too
- Choose this if
- You need behavior-based sequences and can budget for contact-based pricing and a more involved workflow builder.
- Consider another option if
- You only send occasional newsletters, want a large free tier, or cannot accept contact-count ambiguity and plan restrictions.
Starter includes five actions per automation and sends 10× contact limit. Public calculator quotes are not fully available here; exact 500/5,000 prices and month-to-month quote are unavailable. An official comparison page lists $15/month Starter and $49/month Plus at 1,000 contacts; confirm billing basis at checkout.
HubSpot's free email tools include 2,000 sends per calendar month, HubSpot branding, a drag-and-drop editor, basic responsive templates and CRM segments. Four campaigns to a 500-person list use the full monthly allowance, leaving no room for welcome emails or resends. The official Product & Services Catalog lists Marketing Hub Starter at $20/month per seat with 1,000 marketing contacts included. Starter email sends are capped at five times the purchased contact tier per calendar month. Additional Starter contacts are priced monthly: $50 per 1,000 in the 1,001–3,000 band and $45 per 1,000 in the 3,001–5,000 band. A 5,000-marketing-contact, one-seat scenario is therefore an estimated $210/month at catalog list rates ($20 + $100 + $90), before tax. The catalog states contact tiers cannot be downgraded until contract renewal and excess contact tiers can trigger billing. The marketing pricing page may show promotions or different commitments, so verify the actual contract.
Ease evidence: product documentation describes a drag-and-drop email editor and contact-based segments; current independent user feedback for Marketing Hub reports a clean, approachable interface, but the available evidence is less directly comparable than the four product-specific hands-on reviews used above. Our 3.8 Ease score is lower-confidence desk-research judgment, not a DealSifted usability test.
Advantages: close CRM/email connection; contact segmentation and shared records; Starter's published contact/send limits are transparent.
Limitations: Free sends have no headroom at 500 contacts; paid email is packaged with Marketing Hub; marketing contacts add cost, with limited downward adjustment until renewal; broader suite can be excessive for newsletters alone.
Best for: a small business already planning to manage leads and customers in HubSpot CRM, not a team seeking the lowest-cost standalone newsletter service.
Pros
- CRM contact records and email activity share one platform
- Free plan can cover four monthly campaigns to 500 contacts exactly
- Published limits make the basic send/contact model clear
Cons
- Free sends are limited to 2,000 monthly
- Paid cost adds contact tiers beyond the $20/seat base
- Marketing contact counts and downgrade timing need careful management
- Broader platform may be unnecessary for a newsletter-only workflow
- Choose this if
- Your business will actively use HubSpot CRM records and wants marketing email tied to customer lifecycle data.
- Consider another option if
- You only need newsletters, need room for more than four sends to a 500-contact list on Free, or do not want tiered contact billing.
Free includes 2,000 sends/calendar month. Starter: $20/month per seat includes 1,000 marketing contacts and sends 5× the purchased contact tier. At 5,000 contacts, one-seat catalog list estimate is $210/month before tax; verify billing and promotions.
How we compare
How we scored: Ease of Use is an editorial assessment informed by recent independent interface reviews, official onboarding and help documentation, campaign-editor workflow, template availability, automation setup, navigation complexity, and support resources. TechRadar reviews include hands-on evaluations; DealSifted did not conduct hands-on product testing. Ease is scored 1–5: 1 means substantial setup friction; 3 means workable with a learning curve or meaningful plan limitations; 5 means consistently clear workflows with little friction for a new small-business user. Evidence is stronger for MailerLite, Brevo, Kit, and ActiveCampaign, which have dedicated independent reviews; HubSpot's evidence is less directly comparable, so its Ease score carries lower confidence.
Value for Money considers modeled needs at 500, 1,000, and 5,000 opted-in contacts, four full-list campaigns monthly (2,000 / 4,000 / 20,000 sends), plan limits, and features needed for the stated use case. Overall is a weighted editorial score: Ease 25%, Value 35%, small-business fit 20%, documented email/automation capability 15%, and published support resources 5%. Affiliate availability or compensation is excluded. Ratings are not customer-review averages or DealSifted test scores. Scores use the rounded weighted result to one decimal.
Evidence-based dimensions and results (Ease / Value / Fit / Features / Support → Overall): MailerLite 4.5 / 4.2 / 4.5 / 4.1 / 3.8 → 4.3; Brevo 4.0 / 4.4 / 4.2 / 4.2 / 3.7 → 4.2; Kit 4.2 / 4.3 / 3.5 / 3.7 / 3.7 → 4.0; ActiveCampaign 3.7 / 3.2 / 4.2 / 4.7 / 3.8 → 3.8; HubSpot 3.8 / 3.2 / 4.0 / 4.3 / 4.2 → 3.7. Half-points reflect comparative editorial judgment. HubSpot's Ease rating is lower confidence because the independent evidence located was not as directly comparable to the other four product-specific interface reviews. No deliverability performance scores were measured.
Quick picks
Quick picks (editorial desk research; not hands-on test winners)
• Best balanced starting point: MailerLite (4.3/5 overall). Its Free plan is small, but Comfort combines campaigns, signup tools and automation with published send limits.
• Best for predictable campaign volume: Brevo (4.2/5). Compare contact caps as well as monthly send tiers; Standard is required for advanced automation and tests.
• Best for creator newsletters: Kit (4.0/5). The generous Free plan sends unlimited broadcasts, but automation sequences require Creator.
• Best for complex journeys: ActiveCampaign (3.8/5). Its stronger automation capability comes with a steeper learning curve, tier limits and incomplete public pricing quotes.
• Best when email belongs in a CRM: HubSpot (3.7/5). Consider it if you will use the CRM; paid contact tiers can make it expensive for a newsletter-only use case.
These rankings do not incorporate affiliate compensation. Ease scores use independent research and are not DealSifted hands-on results.
Cost scenarios and comparison
Comparison assumption: a permission-based list of 500, 1,000 or 5,000 active contacts receives four full-list campaigns in one month (2,000 / 4,000 / 20,000 recipient sends). This is a planning baseline, not a suggested sending cadence. It excludes triggered, transactional, SMS, resend and multi-segment messages. We show the least-cost plan that can accommodate the contact count and modeled sends; paid features may require an upgrade. USD prices are before tax and can change by country, promotion and billing commitment. Annual equivalents are not ordinary monthly billing.
MailerLite Comfort: at 500 contacts / 2,000 sends: $12 month-to-month, or $10.80/month equivalent billed yearly ($129.60 upfront); allowance 5,000. At 1,000 / 4,000: $19 monthly or $17.10 yearly equivalent; allowance 10,000. At 5,000 / 20,000: $49 monthly or $44.10 yearly equivalent; allowance 50,000. Free is not suitable above 250 active contacts; Power offers unlimited monthly sends under fair-use terms.
Brevo Starter: 500 / 2,000: $9 monthly, or $8.08/month equivalent billed yearly; selected tier 5,000 sends and up to 500 contacts. 1,000 / 4,000: $17 monthly or $15.25 yearly equivalent; 10,000 sends and up to 1,500 contacts. 5,000 / 20,000: $32 monthly or $28.75 yearly equivalent; 20,000 sends and a tier permitting up to 500,000 contacts. Official help says Starter begins at $9/month; confirm tier and pricing in local checkout. Free permits 300 sends/day and stores up to 100,000 contacts but cannot send 500 recipients the same day.
Kit Free: $0 at 500 / 2,000, 1,000 / 4,000, and 5,000 / 20,000. The free tier supports up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited broadcasts. It does not include sequences or visual automations. For optional Creator features, Kit Help lists $39/month starting month-to-month at 1,000; the official pricing page shows $390 billed yearly at that subscriber count. At 5,000 the page shows $890 billed yearly; a month-to-month quote was not confirmed. Confirm the current quote before buying. The scenario uses Free only when broadcasts are sufficient.
ActiveCampaign: exact public 500- and 5,000-contact quotes were unavailable in the official dynamic calculator capture, so we do not estimate them. At 1,000, an official comparison page lists Starter at $15/month and Plus at $49/month, but billing commitment was not clear in that comparison. Obtain and verify the checkout quote before comparing. Starter's published send ceiling is 10× contact limit; contact counts for newer accounts may include unsubscribed and bounced records. A 14-day trial is available; there is no ongoing free plan.
HubSpot: 500 / 2,000: Free $0, but this uses its entire 2,000-send monthly allowance. 1,000 / 4,000: Starter $20/month for one seat, with 1,000 marketing contacts included and up to 5,000 sends. 5,000 / 20,000: approximately $210/month for one seat using the official catalog list rates ($20 base + $100 for the next 2,000 contacts + $90 for the next 2,000); Starter sends up to 5× the contact tier. This is a calculated list-price estimate, not a checkout quote. Extra contacts can trigger billing and the purchased tier cannot be reduced until renewal.
All annual-billed monthly equivalents above are labeled and paid upfront for a year. Pricing pages may show promotions, regional taxes, currency changes, add-ons or updated tiers. ActiveCampaign's 500/5,000 quotes and HubSpot's actual checkout amount remain unavailable/unconfirmed; verify before purchase. Prices checked October 10, 2026.
Buying advice
Start with the count of active, permission-based contacts and the number of recipients per campaign. Multiply full-list recipients by campaign frequency, then add automated welcomes, transactional messages, resends and segment-specific campaigns. The four-campaign model here is only a baseline. Compare both contact and send limits: Brevo's early paid tiers cap both, while MailerLite Comfort and HubSpot Starter set sending by subscriber/contact tier.
Decide whether you need broadcasts only or visual automations, CRM-linked records, landing pages, SMS, sales follow-up, or creator commerce. Kit Free covers many broadcasts but not sequences or Visual Automations. ActiveCampaign is a stronger fit when multi-step journeys justify extra setup and cost. HubSpot makes sense when its CRM is part of the workflow. Do not buy a broader suite for features you will not use.
Authenticate the sending domain by following your provider's setup guide. SPF, DKIM and DMARC help authenticate mail; they do not guarantee inbox placement. We did not run deliverability tests or independently measure inbox outcomes. Compare plan support entitlements and check the provider's official help resources before migrating.
Before checkout, verify currency and tax in India, annual prepayment, contact-count rules, seat/add-on charges, how the provider treats unsubscribed and bounced records, overage/automatic tier changes, and cancellation terms. ActiveCampaign's public quotes and HubSpot's estimate need live confirmation; we have labeled them accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How many sends should a small business budget for?
A: Multiply the number of recipients by campaigns sent to them. Four full-list campaigns to 1,000 contacts equal 4,000 recipient sends before automations, transactional mail or resends.
Q: Which platform has the largest free subscriber limit?
A: Kit's Free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, but does not include visual automations or email sequences. MailerLite Free is limited to 250 active subscribers; HubSpot Free permits 2,000 monthly sends; Brevo Free permits 300 sends each day.
Q: Is Brevo always cheaper when a list grows?
A: Not necessarily. Starter tiers combine monthly send allowances and stored-contact caps. Choose a tier that fits both your list and campaign volume, then verify the quote at checkout.
Q: Does email authentication guarantee deliverability?
A: No. SPF, DKIM and DMARC authenticate a sending domain but cannot guarantee inbox placement. We did not measure deliverability for this guide.
Q: Does an annual monthly-equivalent price mean I can pay monthly?
A: No. A discounted monthly equivalent can require the full annual amount upfront. This guide labels those figures and separates them from confirmed month-to-month prices.
Q: Which service is easiest to use?
A: MailerLite and Kit receive positive independent interface-review evidence, while ActiveCampaign's automation builder has a reported learning curve. Our Ease ratings are editorial desk-research judgments; DealSifted did not test the interfaces. HubSpot's score is lower confidence because the available independent evidence is less directly comparable.
Q: What should an Indian buyer verify before subscribing?
A: Confirm India is supported for signup and billing, the currency and applicable tax, payment-method acceptance, data-processing terms, contact-count rules, and any account verification before importing a list. A USD public list price may not match the India checkout total.
Related DealSifted guides
Further reading: Best Website Builders for Small Businesses; Best Privacy Policy & Terms Generators; Best Password Managers. If you are planning the social promotion for an email campaign, see our guide to the best social media scheduling tools for small businesses.
Sources
- MailerLite — reference
- Brevo — reference
- Kit — reference
- ActiveCampaign — reference
- HubSpot — reference
- MailerLite — domain authentication
- Brevo — plan limits and contact tiers
- Brevo — send volume tiers
- ActiveCampaign — sending-domain setup
- HubSpot — product and services catalog
- Kit — billing details
- Further reading: Best Website Builders for Small Businesses
- Further reading: Best Privacy Policy & Terms Generators
- Further reading: Best Password Managers
- TechRadar — MailerLite hands-on review (Apr. 2026)
- TechRadar — Brevo hands-on review (Feb. 2026)
- TechRadar — Kit hands-on review (May 2026)
- TechRadar — ActiveCampaign hands-on review (Apr. 2026)
- Software Advice — HubSpot Marketing Hub user reviews
- Further reading: Best Social Media Scheduling Tools for Small Businesses in 2026
The links in this guide go directly to each provider’s official plans page and are not affiliate tracking links. Affiliate relationships do not influence provider selection or ratings.
