Mailchimp
Email Marketing
An old player, now bundled with AI and automation
From $13/mo
MailerLite
· Clean, affordable email marketing with websites and landing pages built in
MailerLite
Clean, affordable email marketing with websites and landing pages built in
Chandan KumarLast updated August 4, 2026
MailerLite built its reputation on being the affordable alternative to Mailchimp, and that positioning still holds.
It offers a drag-and-drop editor, a usable free plan, and pricing that stays reasonable well past the point where competitors start charging significantly more. MailerLite now bundles website and landing page building, digital product and booking sales, and visual automation builders alongside email, positioning itself as a small business's whole online presence rather than just its newsletter tool.
The free plan is a good starting point with unlimited templates, visual automations, and access to the website builder, capped mainly by subscriber count and monthly email volume. Paid tiers raise those caps and add unlimited automations, more user seats, and AI writing assistance.
What MailerLite doesn't try to be is an all-channel marketing suite. There's no SMS or WhatsApp layer the way Brevo or Omnisend offer, and its ecommerce features are lighter than a dedicated commerce-email tool.
For a business or creator that wants affordable email plus a simple website without needing five other channels bolted on, MailerLite is a good option.
Inside MailerLite
Drag-and-drop email builder
Clean visual editor for campaigns and automations, consistently rated among the easier tools in this category to actually use.
Website and landing page builder
Full websites, not just landing pages, built into every plan including Free, so a small business can run its whole online presence from one place.
Visual automation workflows
Multi-trigger automated sequences for welcome series, re-engagement, and behavior-based follow-ups.
Digital products and bookings
Sell digital products or take bookings directly, without needing a separate ecommerce platform for simple use cases.
AI writing assistant
Generates subject lines and email copy, plus a subject-line strength checker to improve open rates before sending.
The trade-offs with MailerLite
Strengths
- Free plan is a genuinely usable starting point, not a stripped trial
- Clean, low-learning-curve interface relative to more feature-dense competitors
- Websites and landing pages bundled in at every tier, including Free
- Pricing stays reasonable at mid-size list sizes compared to Mailchimp
Limitations
- No native SMS or WhatsApp channel, unlike Brevo or Omnisend
- Ecommerce features are lighter than dedicated commerce-focused tools
- Advanced segmentation and reporting are less deep than ActiveCampaign or HubSpot
- Higher tiers needed for unlimited automations and multiple user seats
MailerLite plans and pricing
Free plan covers up to 250 subscribers. Comfort starts at $12/mo, Power (best value) at $25/mo, both for up to 500 subscribers and scaling from there. A 14-day trial of premium features is available on every plan, including Free.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual /mo | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | Up to 250 subscribers · 2,500 emails/mo · 2 seats |
| Comfort | $12 | $10.80 | 5,000 emails/mo · 3 seats · AI writing assistant |
| Power | $25 | $22.50 | Unlimited emails & seats · unlimited automations & landing pages |
Verified against the official pricing page on August 4, 2026.
Verdict
Use MailerLite
- Small businesses and creators wanting clean, affordable email plus a simple website
- Anyone who wants a genuinely free plan with real automation, not just a demo
- Teams that don't need SMS/WhatsApp and want to avoid paying for unused channels
- Selling digital products or bookings without a separate ecommerce platform
Skip MailerLite
- You need SMS or WhatsApp campaigns alongside email
- You run ecommerce at a scale that needs deep cart-recovery and product-recommendation automation
- You want enterprise-grade segmentation, scoring, or CRM depth
How people rate MailerLite
Ratings from trusted review communities.
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