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The right email marketing platform is the one whose full cost, sending limits, automation, team access, and compliance tools match your actual workflow—not the one with the longest feature list or lowest starting price. Compare plans using your current contact count and monthly sending volume, then check what you will need as your list grows.
Start with your sending pattern and audience
Before comparing providers, estimate two separate numbers: how many contacts you need to store and how many messages you expect to send in a typical month. A large list that receives occasional messages has different needs from a smaller list that gets frequent campaigns and automated follow-ups. Also identify whether you are sending a newsletter, creator updates, local-business promotions, ecommerce lifecycle messages, or transactional and multichannel communications.
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Do not treat a contact allowance as a sending allowance. For example, Brevo’s Free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts but limits sending to 300 emails per day. The provider’s guide also limits Free-plan automation to 2,000 contacts. Check Brevo’s current plan details against your required volume and region.
Compare total plan cost, not just the advertised starting price
Pricing can depend on stored contacts, messages sent, or both. Before settling on a plan, check the billing basis, contact and sending caps, overage rules, billing period, taxes, and paid add-ons. A plan that looks inexpensive at a small list size may cost more once your audience or campaign frequency increases.
#1 Best Overall
| Platform | Published plan information | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Its help-center plan guide lists Free at $0 with 300 sends per day and storage for up to 100,000 contacts. Starter begins at $9 per month; Standard begins at $18 per month; Professional begins at $499 per month. | These are listed starting prices, not guaranteed quotes. Check the selected region, volume tier, taxes, and add-ons. Starter includes monthly send/contact tiers; the guide describes Professional as intended for high-volume multichannel use. Brevo plan guide |
| Constant Contact | Its pricing page lists Lite, Standard, and Premium starting at $12, $35, and $80 per month, respectively. The vendor says the exact price depends on contacts. | Confirm the price for your list size and the live offer. Constant Contact pricing |
| Mailchimp | The official comparison page shows a Free tier limited to 250 contacts and plan-specific monthly sending limits. It also describes overages when contact or sending limits are exceeded. | Pricing and currency can vary by region and offer. Check the localized page for your audience size, sending needs, and billing period. Mailchimp plan comparison |
These figures are vendor-published starting points and plan descriptions, not a like-for-like quote. Compare the same contact count, monthly send requirement, region, and billing period across providers before deciding which is cheapest.
Match campaign tools and automation to your workflow
Feature names alone do not tell you whether a plan can run your campaigns. Check the tier-specific limits for the editor, templates, forms, scheduling, A/B testing, segments, reports, automation triggers and flows, and automation contact capacity. A feature may exist at a provider but be unavailable—or constrained—on the plan you can afford.
- Brevo: The plan guide says Standard begins at $18 per month and includes marketing automation for unlimited contacts, A/B testing, advanced reports and analytics, and up to three user seats. Free automation is limited to 2,000 contacts. Review Brevo’s plan guide.
- Constant Contact: Its plan descriptions list one automation template on Lite and three on Standard. Standard also lists scheduling, subject-line A/B testing, 10 custom segments, and advanced reporting. Premium lists unlimited custom automations and segments plus revenue reporting. Review Constant Contact’s current inclusions.
- Mailchimp: Its comparison page lists plan-specific automation-flow, audience, user, support, and integration allowances. Check the exact tier rather than assuming a feature is included in every plan. Review Mailchimp’s comparison.
Then map your real workflow: what starts an automation, which messages follow, what conditions split the audience, and what results you need to report. Confirm that the plan supports those steps and enough contacts, segments, and users to operate them.
Check team access, integrations, and support
List the people who need access and the systems the platform must connect to, such as your store, CRM, forms, or analytics. Compare seat limits and integration availability at the intended plan level. Also check whether the support channel you require—such as phone, chat, onboarding, or priority support—is included on that tier.
Constant Contact’s pricing page lists live phone and chat support and 300+ integrations for every plan. Mailchimp and Brevo describe plan-specific seat or other allowances, so confirm the live comparison for your chosen tier rather than inferring availability from the brand alone.
Make sender authentication and compliance part of the decision
An email service provider cannot guarantee inbox placement. Google says all senders to Gmail need SPF or DKIM authentication. Senders who send more than 5,000 messages per day to Gmail accounts have additional requirements, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC; marketing and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe and show a visible unsubscribe link. These are Google’s requirements for mail sent to Gmail, regardless of provider. See Google’s email sender guidelines and its FAQ for email senders.
Before choosing a platform, verify that it supports authentication for your own sending domain and that your team can configure it. Google also advises against buying email addresses or sending to people who did not sign up. Authentication, consent, unsubscribe handling, and sender reputation are operational responsibilities, not deliverability guarantees from a vendor.
For US commercial email, the FTC’s CAN-SPAM guidance covers more than bulk campaigns. It calls for truthful routing information, non-deceptive subject lines, ad identification, a valid postal address, and a clear opt-out method. Opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days, and hiring a provider to send email does not remove the sender’s responsibility. This is US federal guidance, not a complete checklist for other jurisdictions. Read the FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Plan for growth and a possible switch
Choose against the workflow you expect to operate, not just today’s smallest plan. A low tier can become unsuitable when your list grows, sending caps tighten, a needed automation requires an upgrade, or additional staff need access. Before committing, ask the vendor how it counts contacts, handles overages, and treats unsubscribed or duplicate records; confirm which automation, audience, and seat limits apply.
For a migration, establish what can be exported and what must be rebuilt. Check the vendor’s terms for exporting contacts and consent records, and make a practical plan to recreate templates, segments, and automation logic in the destination platform. Confirm these details with the vendors before switching rather than assuming workflows transfer intact.
Quick Recap
A practical shortlist checklist
- Record your current contact count and typical monthly send volume.
- Compare the total price at that usage, including overages, add-ons, taxes, and billing terms.
- Confirm the required campaign tools, automation capacity, segmentation, and reporting at the intended tier.
- Check seats, audiences, integrations, and the support channels your team needs.
- Verify domain authentication and unsubscribe controls, and make sure your team can operate them.
- Confirm export and migration terms before a future switch.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
