Honest comparisons
Compare email platforms by how you actually pay.
A $0 tile can hide a 500-email cap, one automation, or a plan that only works if you already pay for a store. We use public prices checked on August 17, 2026. The honest take on each page is the part to read first.
| Platform | Free allowance | Paid entry | Pricing basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumail | $0, 3,000 emails/month | $20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000 | Unlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts and 500 sends/month | Varies by plan and contact tier | Plan plus contact tier and monthly send allowance |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month | Comfort from $12/month; Power from $25/month | Subscriber tier plus plan sending allowance |
| Kit | Up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited broadcasts | $33/month billed annually for 1,000 subscribers | Subscriber-tier pricing |
| beehiiv | 2,500 subscribers and unlimited sends | Scale from $43/month billed annually | Plan and subscriber tier |
| Substack | Free publishing for any subscriber count | 10% of paid-subscription revenue, plus Stripe fees | Revenue share when paid subscriptions are enabled |
| Brevo | 300 emails/day | Starter from $9/month; Standard from $18/month | Plan and monthly email volume |
| ActiveCampaign | No permanent free plan; trial available | Calculated by contact count, plan, and currency | Contact tier and plan |
| Loops | 1,000 contacts and 4,000 sends/month | $49/month for 1,000–5,000 subscribed contacts | Subscribed-contact tier; unlimited sends on paid plans |
| Buttondown | Free for the first 100 subscribers | Subscriber-based base price; add-ons from $9/month | Active subscribers plus optional feature add-ons |
| Resend | 3,000 emails/month for transactional, or 1,000 marketing contacts | $20/month transactional; $40/month marketing | Separate transactional volume and marketing contact plans |
| Amazon SES | No free sending plan; new AWS accounts get up to $200 in credits | $0.10 per 1,000 emails, no monthly minimum | Per email sent or processed, charged per recipient, plus optional add-ons |
| AWeber | 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails/month, one list, one workflow | Lite from $15/month | Subscriber tier plus a send cap: 10× the list on Lite, 12× on Plus |
| Braze | No free plan; 14-day free trial, no credit card | Not publicly listed | Edition, monthly active users, and Action Credits; not seat-based |
| Constant Contact | No free plan; 30-day trial, no card, up to 100 emails | Lite from $12/month for up to 500 contacts | Plan and contact tier, with a monthly send allowance and $0.002 per extra send |
| Customer.io | No free plan; 14-day trial, plus free test sends to 10 recipients | Essentials from $100/month | Profiles plus email volume; a usage-based option costs $0.40 per 1,000 messages |
| Drip | No free plan; 14-day trial, no credit card | $39/month for up to 2,500 active people | Highest active-people count in the month, plus send volume |
| Elastic Email | 1,000 contacts and 3,000 emails/month, capped at 100 a day | Email API from $19/month; Email Marketing from $29/month | Marketing plans scale with contacts and a send cap; the Email API scales with volume |
| Flodesk | Forms, landing pages, and link-in-bio only, with no email sending | $25/month for 1,000 subscribers ($19 billed yearly) | Active subscriber count; unlimited sends on every paid plan |
| GetResponse | 500 contacts and 2,500 emails/month, with one landing page | Starter from $19/month for 1,000 contacts | Plan plus contact-list size; unlimited sends on paid plans |
| Ghost | No free hosted plan; 14-day trial, or self-host the free software | Starter from $15/month billed yearly | Member count and staff seats; higher plans scale with audience size |
| GoHighLevel | No free plan; 14-day trial on any plan | Starter from $97/month | Plan fee plus email at $0.675 per 1,000; unlimited contacts |
| HubSpot Marketing Hub | 2,000 emails/month with HubSpot branding and one automated action | Starter from $20/month per seat | Edition, seats, and marketing-contact tier; the send cap is a multiple of that tier |
| Intercom | No free plan; 14-day trial, no credit card | $29 per seat/month billed yearly ($39 monthly) | Per seat plus usage: Fin at $0.99 per outcome and outbound email fees |
| Iterable | No free plan listed; pricing is by demo request | Not publicly listed | Custom contract with usage limits on messages, events, users, and channels |
| Kajabi | No free plan; 30-day free trial | Basic from $179/month ($143 billed yearly) | Flat subscription with contact caps; unlimited marketing emails |
| Klaviyo | 250 active profiles and 500 emails/month | $20/month | Active profiles plus emails sent; SMS and other channels billed separately |
| Mailgun | 100 emails/day on the free plan | Basic from $15/month for 10,000 emails | Monthly email allowance plus overage per 1,000; not billed by subscribers |
| Mailjet | 6,000 emails/month and 1,000 contacts, capped at 200 a day | Starter from $9/month; Essential from $17/month | Monthly email volume; contacts capped on Free and Starter, unlimited above |
| Adobe Marketo Engage | No free plan listed | Not publicly listed | Custom quote per 1,000 contacts across four packages |
| Omnisend | 250 contacts and 500 emails/month, with Omnisend branding | Standard from $16/month | Billable contacts; Standard sends up to 12× contacts, Pro is unlimited |
| Ortto | No free plan; 14-day trial with 10,000 contacts and 100 emails | Starter at $237/month billed yearly for 10,000 contacts | Contact count, with email volume as a separate adjustable limit |
| Plunk | 1,000 emails/month and unlimited contacts; self-hosting is free | $0.001 per email, no monthly fee | Pay per email sent or received; no contact or feature tiers |
| Postmark | 100 emails/month on the free Developer plan | $15/month for 10,000 emails | Monthly email volume, not subscribers; extra emails billed per 1,000 |
| Salesforce Marketing Cloud | No public free plan | $1,500/month per org, billed yearly | Annual org license; extra email, SMS, and WhatsApp billed as credits |
| SendGrid | No free plan; 60-day trial with 100 emails/day | Marketing from $15/month; Email API from $19.95/month | Two separate subscriptions: the API priced by volume, Marketing by contacts |
| Shopify Email | 10,000 emails/month included with a paid Shopify plan | $1 per 1,000 emails after the free 10,000 | Pay per email sent, unlimited contacts; needs a paid Shopify store |
| Benchmark Email | 500 contacts and 2,500 emails/month, no credit card | Pro from $19/month for 1,000 contacts | Contact tier plus a monthly send cap of 10× your contact limit |
| Campaign Monitor | No free plan; 30-day trial with 500 contacts and 500 emails | Lite from $13/month for up to 500 contacts | Plan plus contact tier; Lite also caps sends at 5× contacts |
| Courier | 10,000 sends/month on the free Developer plan | $0.005 per send | Per notification sent on any channel; your email and SMS providers bill separately |
| EmailOctopus | 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails/month, no credit card | Pro from $9/month billed yearly for 500 subscribers | Subscriber count, with a send cap of about 10× your tier |
| MailPoet | 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails/month, with MailPoet branding | $8/month | Subscriber count; paid Business and Agency plans include unlimited emails |
| Moosend | No free plan; 30-day trial with 1,000 contacts | Pro from $9/month for 500 contacts | Contact tier with unlimited sends, or prepaid credits at $1 per 1,000 emails |
| SparkPost | 1,000 emails/month free on Bird Email, the SparkPost successor | Starter from $20/month | Monthly email volume, not subscribers |
| Systeme.io | 2,000 contacts and unlimited emails, no credit card | $17/month | Contact tiers with unlimited emails on every plan; no transaction fees |
| Keap | No free plan; 14-day trial with 25 emails | $299/month for 1,500 contacts and two users | Contacts plus user seats, a required setup package, and extra SMS and email fees |
| MailerSend | 500 emails/month; credit card required | Hobby from $7/month for 5,000 emails | Monthly email volume, not subscribers; Hobby extras cost $1.50 per 1,000 |
| SendPulse | 500 subscribers and 15,000 emails/month | Standard from $12/month for 500 subscribers | List size with unlimited sends, or prepaid email packs; SMTP billed separately |
| SMTP2GO | 1,000 emails/month, capped at 200 a day | $15/month for 10,000 emails | Monthly sending allowance, not subscribers; overage billed per extra email |
| Zoho Campaigns | 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails/month | Standard from $4/month for 500 contacts | Contact tiers with unlimited emails on paid plans; 25% off yearly |
| Sender | 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails/month | Standard from $10/month for 1,000 subscribers | Subscriber tier; the send cap is 12× subscribers on Standard, 24× on Professional |
Prices exclude taxes and may depend on billing interval, currency, contact tier, usage, or optional add-ons. Verify the linked official source before purchasing.
Ten alternatives. Ten different operating models.
The useful comparison is not who has the longest feature list. It is where your audience lives, how often you send, what must happen automatically, and which interface your team opens every day.
All-in-one marketing suite
Lumail vs Mailchimp
Choose Mailchimp for a broad, established marketing suite. Choose Lumail when email volume, programmable access, and agent-run workflows matter more than an all-in-one website toolkit.
Email and website marketing suite
Lumail vs MailerLite
Choose MailerLite for a broad no-code creator suite. Choose Lumail for volume-based pricing and deeper AI-agent and developer operations.
Creator newsletter platform
Lumail vs Kit
Choose Kit for a creator-first monetization ecosystem. Choose Lumail when programmable operations, transactional email, and send-based pricing are the priority.
Newsletter growth and monetization
Lumail vs beehiiv
Choose beehiiv for publication growth and monetization. Choose Lumail for one programmable email system spanning campaigns, workflows, and transactional messages.
Hosted paid publication
Lumail vs Substack
Choose Substack for the simplest hosted paid publication. Choose Lumail when you need owned infrastructure, advanced workflows, product email, and predictable SaaS pricing instead of a revenue share.
Multichannel marketing and CRM
Lumail vs Brevo
Choose Brevo for a broader multichannel CRM suite. Choose Lumail for a focused email platform with agent-native operations and simpler volume-based email plans.
Advanced marketing automation and CRM
Lumail vs ActiveCampaign
Choose ActiveCampaign for deep marketing orchestration and CRM integration. Choose Lumail for a smaller operational surface, transparent email pricing, and direct agent control.
SaaS lifecycle email
Lumail vs Loops
Choose Loops for a focused SaaS lifecycle email experience. Choose Lumail when you also need creator newsletters, visual campaign editing, advanced graph workflows, and broad agent tooling.
Minimalist newsletter tool
Lumail vs Buttondown
Choose Buttondown for a small, writing-first newsletter with modular add-ons. Choose Lumail for integrated workflows, transactional email, audience operations, and AI-agent surfaces.
Developer email infrastructure
Lumail vs Resend
Choose Resend for developer-first transactional infrastructure. Choose Lumail when newsletters, audience workflows, a visual editor, and agent-run marketing operations should be first-class too.
Cloud email sending API and SMTP relay
Lumail vs Amazon SES
Choose Amazon SES if you already run on AWS and only need cheap, scalable sending from your own app. Choose Lumail if you want campaigns, workflows, capture pages, and agent-run newsletters without building them on top of SES.
Small-business email marketing suite
Lumail vs AWeber
Choose AWeber for a self-serve small-business suite with landing pages and 24/7 human support. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers, pricing by emails sent, graph workflows, and transactional email in the same place.
Enterprise customer engagement platform
Lumail vs Braze
Choose Braze for real-time journeys across many channels at large scale. Choose Lumail for published email pricing, unlimited subscribers, graph workflows, and agent tools that can run campaigns, not only read analytics.
Small-business email and digital marketing suite
Lumail vs Constant Contact
Choose Constant Contact for phone support and one familiar dashboard for email, social, SMS, and events. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Lifecycle messaging platform
Lumail vs Customer.io
Choose Customer.io for behavioral journeys across several channels with a customer data platform. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers, pricing by emails sent, graph workflows, and transactional email in one place.
Ecommerce email marketing platform
Lumail vs Drip
Choose Drip if you sell on Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce and want purchase-triggered workflows and onsite capture. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Email marketing and delivery platform
Lumail vs Elastic Email
Choose Elastic Email for low-cost SMTP and API sending or contact-priced campaigns with landing pages. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers, workflows on every plan, transactional email in the same place, and a full MCP, CLI, and SDK surface.
Design-first email marketing platform
Lumail vs Flodesk
Choose Flodesk if you want on-brand emails, forms, landing pages, and checkout without a developer. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers, pricing by emails sent, transactional email, and agents that can operate the account.
Email marketing and creator platform
Lumail vs GetResponse
Choose GetResponse for one dashboard with email, landing pages, funnels, webinars, and courses, if list-size billing works for you. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Open-source publishing platform with newsletters
Lumail vs Ghost
Choose Ghost for an owned publication website, paywall, and newsletter with 0% platform fees. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, graph workflows, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Agency CRM, funnels, and marketing platform
Lumail vs GoHighLevel
Choose GoHighLevel for one white-label platform for agencies: CRM, SMS, funnels, calendars, and email. Choose Lumail for pricing by emails sent, unlimited subscribers, graph workflows, and MCP, CLI, SDK, and API access without paying for a CRM.
CRM-based marketing automation platform
Lumail vs HubSpot Marketing Hub
Choose Marketing Hub when email is one channel inside HubSpot's CRM, ads, and attribution. Choose Lumail for pricing by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email in the same place, and agents that run email through MCP.
AI-first helpdesk with outbound messaging
Lumail vs Intercom
Choose Intercom when you need a helpdesk, live chat, and Fin, and email is one more way to reach users. Choose Lumail for newsletters, graph workflows, and email priced by volume that agents can operate without buying seats.
Enterprise customer engagement platform
Lumail vs Iterable
Choose Iterable for enterprise lifecycle messaging across many channels under a custom annual contract. Choose Lumail for self-serve email priced by volume, unlimited subscribers, graph workflows, and transactional email in one place.
All-in-one platform for courses, coaching, and community
Lumail vs Kajabi
Choose Kajabi for one platform that handles courses, coaching, community, checkout, and email. Choose Lumail for pricing by emails sent, unlimited subscribers, graph workflows, and transactional email without buying a course platform.
Ecommerce email and SMS platform
Lumail vs Klaviyo
Choose Klaviyo if you run an online store and want email, SMS, catalog data, and visual flows in one place. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, graph workflows, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Transactional email API and SMTP service
Lumail vs Mailgun
Choose Mailgun when email is infrastructure you call from code and you need inbound parsing and dedicated IPs. Choose Lumail when newsletters, workflows, subscribers, and transactional email should live in one place agents can operate.
Email marketing platform and email API
Lumail vs Mailjet
Choose Mailjet for one EU-hosted service for marketing and transactional email with a collaborative editor. Choose Lumail when agents should operate the whole platform and you want unlimited subscribers plus workflows on every plan.
Enterprise B2B marketing automation
Lumail vs Adobe Marketo Engage
Choose Marketo Engage when a dedicated ops team needs CRM-synced lead scoring, account-based marketing, and attribution on an Adobe contract. Choose Lumail for self-serve email billed by sends, unlimited subscribers, and transactional email.
Ecommerce email and SMS platform
Lumail vs Omnisend
Choose Omnisend if you run a Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce store and want email, SMS, and cart automations in one dashboard. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Marketing automation with a customer data platform
Lumail vs Ortto
Choose Ortto for a customer data platform plus journeys across email, SMS, push, and live chat, if contact billing works for you. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Open-source email platform
Lumail vs Plunk
Choose Plunk for open-source, self-hostable email with transactional sends, broadcasts, and workflows at $0.001 per email. Choose Lumail for agents that run the whole account, capture pages, and included email volume instead of pure pay-as-you-go.
Transactional email API and SMTP service
Lumail vs Postmark
Choose Postmark when you need fast, reliable transactional email sent from code. Choose Lumail when newsletters, workflows, subscribers, and transactional email should live in one place agents can operate.
Enterprise CRM-based marketing suite
Lumail vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Choose Salesforce Marketing Cloud when marketing must run on Salesforce CRM with journeys across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. Choose Lumail for pricing by emails sent, unlimited subscribers, graph workflows, and MCP, CLI, and SDK access without an enterprise contract.
Email API and SMTP with a separate marketing product
Lumail vs SendGrid
Choose SendGrid for proven high-volume transactional sending with dedicated IPs. Choose Lumail when campaigns, workflows, subscribers, and transactional email should live in one account agents can operate, with unlimited subscribers.
Ecommerce email and SMS inside Shopify
Lumail vs Shopify Email
Choose Shopify Email if you run a Shopify store and want campaigns and checkout automations inside the admin. Choose Lumail for a standalone email platform with unlimited subscribers, graph workflows, transactional email, and agent access.
Small-business email marketing platform
Lumail vs Benchmark Email
Choose Benchmark Email for a simple drag-and-drop campaign tool, a free 500-contact plan, and 24/7 human support. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and agent access.
Email marketing for small businesses and agencies
Lumail vs Campaign Monitor
Choose Campaign Monitor for a polished drag-and-drop builder and agency white-label billing. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email in the same place, and 89 MCP tools.
Multichannel notification platform
Lumail vs Courier
Choose Courier when product notifications need one API for email, SMS, push, Slack, and an in-app inbox. Choose Lumail for a newsletter platform with capture pages, workflows, and transactional email delivered without a separate email provider.
Simple email marketing platform
Lumail vs EmailOctopus
Choose EmailOctopus for cheap, simple campaigns, forms, and automations priced by list size. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows and transactional email in one place, and agents that can run the account.
WordPress email marketing plugin
Lumail vs MailPoet
Choose MailPoet when email must live inside WordPress and WooCommerce. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, graph workflows, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools instead of a WordPress plugin.
Email marketing and automation platform
Lumail vs Moosend
Choose Moosend for low-cost email with unlimited sends, automations, and landing pages, for a small list you email often. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows plus transactional email without an add-on, and 89 MCP tools.
Email API and SMTP service, now Bird Email
Lumail vs SparkPost
Choose SparkPost, now Bird Email, for high-volume sending with dedicated IPs and deliverability analytics. Choose Lumail when newsletters, workflows, subscribers, and transactional email should live in one place agents can operate.
All-in-one online business platform
Lumail vs Systeme.io
Choose Systeme.io for funnels, courses, checkout, affiliates, and unlimited emails in one cheap platform. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers, pricing by emails sent, graph workflows, and transactional email without a course or funnel builder.
Small-business CRM and marketing automation
Lumail vs Keap
Choose Keap for CRM, email, SMS, invoices, and landing pages in one small-business platform with done-for-you setup. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, graph workflows, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools without a CRM.
Transactional email API and SMTP service
Lumail vs MailerSend
Choose MailerSend when you need transactional email from an app. Choose Lumail when newsletters, workflows, subscribers, and transactional email should live in one place; MailerSend points newsletter senders to MailerLite.
Multichannel marketing platform
Lumail vs SendPulse
Choose SendPulse for one cheap platform covering email, chatbots, CRM, websites, SMS, and courses, if list-size billing works for you. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
SMTP relay and email API
Lumail vs SMTP2GO
Choose SMTP2GO when you need reliable SMTP or API delivery, dedicated IPs, and phone support. Choose Lumail when newsletters, workflows, subscribers, and transactional email should live in one place agents can operate.
Email marketing inside the Zoho suite
Lumail vs Zoho Campaigns
Choose Zoho Campaigns if you already use Zoho CRM and want cheap contact-tier email. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email in the same place, and 89 MCP tools.
Email marketing with SMS and landing pages
Lumail vs Sender
Choose Sender for a cheap all-in-one suite with email, SMS, forms, landing pages, and a generous free plan. Choose Lumail for unlimited subscribers billed by emails sent, workflows on every plan, transactional email, and 89 MCP tools.
Compare the workflow you will operate, not the landing page.
Lumail keeps the graph, its published version, subscriber runs, goals, and delivery trace visible. That matters when the same system is operated from the app, an agent, the CLI, or your own backend.
Inspect the workflow documentation
Lumail pricing
Store the audience. Pay for the email you send.
$0, 3,000 emails/month.
$20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000.
$200/month, 400,000 included, then $0.40/1,000.