Data study · July 2026
The State of Email Pricing in 2026
We track the real, verified pricing of 11 email marketing platforms. Here's what the numbers say about what you actually pay in 2026 — and where the market is quietly getting more expensive.
Finding 1: the price spread is enormous
At every list size, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive tool is large enough to dwarf the effort of comparing. At 100,000 subscribers, the cheapest option costs $243/mo (EmailOctopus) while the priciest runs $900/mo (Constant Contact) — about 4× more for the same job.
| Subscribers | Cheapest | Priciest | Average | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $13/mo | $27/mo | $19/mo | 2× |
| 5,000 | $24/mo | $86/mo | $57/mo | 4× |
| 10,000 | $40/mo | $149/mo | $91/mo | 4× |
| 25,000 | $83/mo | $383/mo | $177/mo | 5× |
| 50,000 | $144/mo | $585/mo | $294/mo | 4× |
| 100,000 | $243/mo | $900/mo | $460/mo | 4× |
Finding 2: the cheapest tool changes as you scale
No single tool is cheapest everywhere. The lines below cross repeatedly — which is exactly why a flat "best cheap email tool" list is misleading. It depends on your list size.
Effective monthly cost as your list grows (billed annually, log scale). The cheapest tool flips as you scale — watch the lines cross.
-
beehiiv -
AWeber -
MailerLite -
GetResponse -
Kit (ConvertKit) -
Mailchimp -
ActiveCampaign -
EmailOctopus -
Flodesk -
Constant Contact -
Moosend
Finding 3: 2026 was the year of shrinking free tiers
The free-forever plan is quietly disappearing. In the last year alone:
- MailerLite cut its free tier from 1,000 to 250 subscribers.
- Mailchimp cut its free tier from 500 to 250 contacts.
- Kit (ConvertKit) reduced its free Newsletter plan to ~1,000 subscribers.
- GetResponse dropped its free plan entirely — trial only now.
- Flodesk retired its famous flat-rate unlimited plan (Dec 2025).
The takeaway: "free" is worth less than it used to be, and locking in annual pricing before the next change increasingly pays off.
Methodology: prices are compiled from each provider's public pricing pages and re-verified regularly. See our full methodology, or run the numbers for your own list. Data verified July 2026. Feel free to cite or link this page.