How to choose email marketing software: a plain guide

Choosing email marketing software feels harder than it is, because every vendor’s page tries to make the product sound like the answer to everything. This guide gives you a short process: decide what you need, compare the few limits that actually matter, and test two options before paying for either.

For specific recommendations after you have worked through it, see our list of the best email marketing software for small business.

Step 1: Decide what the tool is for

Write down the one or two jobs you need email to do in the next six months. Common ones:

• A newsletter you send weekly or monthly.
• A welcome series that sends automatically when someone signs up.
• Selling something, such as a course, a product or a paid newsletter.
• Customer follow-ups, such as abandoned carts or post-purchase emails.

Your answer narrows the field. Creators who sell to an audience are well served by Kit. Small businesses wanting email plus landing pages and a simple website often land on MailerLite. Marketers who want funnels look at GetResponse, and teams that want deep automation look at ActiveCampaign.

Step 2: Know the limits that bite

Pricing pages hide the important differences inside a small set of limits. Check these on every tool you consider.

Subscriber cap on the free plan. As of 12 October 2026, Kit lists a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, MailerLite up to 250, and Mailchimp up to 250 contacts. Brevo takes a different approach and limits free sending to 300 emails a day.

Sending cap. MailerLite’s free plan lists 2,500 emails a month. Mailchimp’s lists a maximum of 500 a month or 250 a day. If you email a list of 250 twice a month you are already at the limit on Mailchimp’s free plan.

Automation limits. MailerLite lists 3 automations on free, 50 on Comfort and unlimited on Power. GetResponse’s Starter lists one custom automation workflow, while its Marketer plan lists unlimited workflows. Mailchimp’s Essentials lists up to 4 flow steps.

Branding. Free plans usually put the vendor’s logo in your emails. Removing it is a common reason to upgrade.

Support. Several free plans offer community support only. If you expect to need help, check what each paid plan includes.

Step 3: Read the price correctly

A “from” price is the smallest tier. Three habits help.

1. Enter your real list size, and the size you expect in a year, into the vendor’s calculator.
2. Ask what the plan costs after any promotion ends. Kit’s Pro plan, for example, shows a first-year discount, and Mailchimp’s paid plans showed promotional pricing on the page we read.
3. Compare monthly and annual billing. MailerLite lists a 10% saving for yearly billing. Annual plans save money but lock you in.

Step 4: Check the plumbing

Before you fall for a template, check the parts that make email work.

• Signup forms that fit your site, whether that is a landing page, a pop-up or an embed.
• Integrations with the tools you already use, such as your website platform, shop, payment provider or Zapier.
• Importing and exporting. You should be able to export your subscribers any time. If you are moving from another tool, check for an importer. MailerLite lists a Mailchimp importer.
• Compliance basics. Every legitimate tool handles unsubscribes. You are still responsible for collecting consent and for including your real address in marketing email, where the law requires it.

Step 5: Test two tools with a real task

Open a free plan or trial on your two best candidates. Import a handful of your own addresses, then build the same thing in both: a signup form and a three-email welcome series. Notice:

• How long it takes to get the first email looking right.
• Whether you can find the setting you want without searching help pages.
• What the tool tries to upsell you while you work.

Ten minutes of this tells you more than any review, including ours. Our pages on Kit and MailerLite are built from vendor documentation, so use them to shortlist, then trust your own test.

Step 6: Plan for the day you leave

Nobody picks a tool for life. Keep a recent export of your subscribers, store your email copy somewhere outside the tool, and avoid building a business process that only one vendor can run. If you do change, expect to rebuild automations by hand and to run both tools side by side for a few weeks.

A simple rule of thumb

If you want an answer in under a minute: creators who sell should try Kit first, and most other small businesses should try MailerLite first. Everyone else should compare two tools using the steps above. Then pick one, set up your welcome email, and start collecting subscribers. A decent tool you actually use beats a perfect one you are still researching.