Pricing guide
Alternatives
MailerLite Alternatives in 2026: Official Prices, and When a Step Up Makes Sense
Official USD prices for MailerLite and commonly compared tools — ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, Brevo, Kit, and GetResponse — checked on November 13, 2026. Honest about when MailerLite's official free and Comfort plans still fit.
On this page
The short answer
MailerLite is often compared with tools that cost more, include a different official free plan, or publish a deeper automation or CRM path. Sometimes a switch is justified by official limits. Sometimes official MailerLite Comfort or even the official Free plan is still the better published fit.
On November 13, 2026 (America/Denver), MailerLite's official pricing page described four plans: Free, Comfort, Power, and Enterprise. Official details from that page and its FAQ:
- Free: up to 250 subscribers, 2 user seats, and 2,500 emails a month, plus campaigns, automations, a website, a landing page, signup forms, and all three official email editors (drag and drop, custom HTML, and simple). If a free account goes over 250 active subscribers, official FAQ says sending is locked until you upgrade or remove subscribers.
- Comfort: official starting price $12 a month, or $10.80 a month billed yearly, at 500 subscribers, with a 10× monthly send cap based on the top of the subscriber tier (so the official 1,000-subscriber Comfort tier includes 10,000 emails a month, whether you have 200 or 900 subscribers). Official FAQ: everything in Free, plus unlimited templates, dynamic emails, campaign auto-resend, multivariate testing, preference center, AI writing assistant, and smart sending, among other listed items.
- Power: official starting price $25 a month, or $22.50 a month billed yearly, at 500 subscribers. Official FAQ: everything in Comfort, plus unlimited user seats, unlimited monthly emails subject to a fair-use policy, unlimited automations, forms, digital products, and bookings, multiple automation triggers, partner discounts, and 24/7 live chat.
- Enterprise: official FAQ describes a custom plan for businesses with more than 200,000 subscribers, with a dedicated success manager and optional dedicated IP.
Official Comfort and Power USD rates at higher published subscriber steps on the same page included $19 / $17.10 (Comfort) and $39 / $35.10 (Power) at 1,000 subscribers, $49 / $44.10 and $69 / $62.10 at 5,000, and $89 / $80.10 and $129 / $116.10 at 10,000 (month-to-month / yearly-billed monthly equivalent). MailerLite's official FAQ says billing counts active subscribers; unsubscribed and bounced addresses do not count, and a cumulative in-cycle rule applies. A free trial with no credit card was advertised. Annual and nonprofit discounts are official vendor offers, not coupons from this site.
Common official alternatives, recorded the same day:
- ActiveCampaign: no official free plan; Starter from $15 / $19 a month at a 1,000-contact minimum; Plus from $49 / $59. See ActiveCampaign pricing.
- Mailchimp: official Free plan at 250 contacts; Essentials from $13 and Standard from $20 at 500 contacts. See ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp.
- Brevo: official free-forever plan; Starter $9 a month or $97 a year, from 5,000 emails a month; Standard $18 or $194 a year.
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit): official Free plan up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33 a month or $390 a year at the 1,000-subscriber display.
- GetResponse: official Starter $19 a month or $15.58 annually at 1,000 subscribers, with unlimited monthly sends; official Marketer $59 or $48.38 annually.
See ActiveCampaign's official plans
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How we researched this guide
MailerLite prices, plan names, send rules, and Free-plan caps come from mailerlite.com/pricing and the official FAQ on that page, checked November 13, 2026 (America/Denver). The Comfort and Power dollar ladder comes from the official plan-price data that page uses for its USD slider. Other vendors are sourced from their official pricing pages or official catalogs, as cited in the related guides and at the end of this article. We did not invent prices or testimonials.
When official MailerLite still fits
Stay, or start, on MailerLite when the official published limits match the work:
- You have 250 or fewer active subscribers and 2,500 emails a month is enough: official Free already includes campaigns, automations, a website, a landing page, and forms. Several alternatives also have official free plans, but MailerLite's official Free cap and included site/landing-page items are a documented reason it wins for some small lists.
- You are in the official Comfort band and 10× sends plus the official Comfort feature list are enough. At 1,000 subscribers, official Comfort is $19 a month or $17.10 yearly-billed, with 10,000 emails. Official ActiveCampaign Starter at the same 1,000-contact size is $19 month-to-month or $15 yearly-billed — close on price, with a different official feature grid (Starter is tighter on automation actions, lists, and channels; it does not publish MailerLite's official website and digital-product story the same way).
- You need official Power items — unlimited seats, official unlimited emails under fair use, digital products, bookings, multiple automation triggers, 24/7 live chat — at official Power prices that start at $25 a month. At 1,000 subscribers, official Power is $39 or $35.10 yearly-billed, which is still below official ActiveCampaign Plus ($59 / $49) at 1,000 contacts.
- You want official MailerLite subscriber counting (active only, with the in-cycle rule stated in the FAQ) rather than a vendor that counts unsubscribed contacts toward the bill. Mailchimp's official help, for example, counts subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts.
If those official limits are why MailerLite works, a switch is optional, not required.
When an official alternative may fit better
ActiveCampaign is a reasonable official step up when you need the documented Plus or Pro grid: landing pages and generative AI on Plus, CRM and SMS add-ons from Plus upward, predictive sending and conditional content on Pro, or a published contact ladder that continues in official Plus/Pro/Enterprise prices past MailerLite Comfort/Power's feature split. Official ActiveCampaign also advertises a 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, which MailerLite's page advertised as a free trial with no credit card — compare current trial terms on both official sites.
It is not an automatic upgrade. Official ActiveCampaign has no free plan on the page we checked, a 1,000-contact minimum, and Starter caps (five automation actions, five lists, 25,000 contacts, two seats maximum) that can be tighter than official MailerLite Comfort or Power at a similar list size. If official Comfort already covers you, paying for ActiveCampaign Plus is a choice, not a default.
Mailchimp may fit if you want official Essentials or Standard at 500 contacts ($13 or $20), a Pay As You Go credit option, or Mailchimp's official nonprofit 15% request process. Official Free caps match MailerLite's 250-contact-or-subscriber neighborhood but not the same send cap (Mailchimp Free is 500 sends a month and 250 a day; MailerLite Free is 2,500 a month).
Brevo may fit if official Starter at $9 a month (from 5,000 emails) or Standard at $18 is the quote you want, or if you care about official multi-channel items on higher Brevo plans. Confirm how Brevo's official calculator bills your usage; the public cards we recorded were framed around monthly email amounts.
Kit may fit if you are a creator and official Free up to 10,000 subscribers is the reason to switch, or if official Creator at $33 a month (1,000-subscriber display) with unlimited visual automations is the package you want. That official free cap is much larger than MailerLite Free's 250 subscribers.
GetResponse may fit if official unlimited monthly sends on Starter at $19 a month (or $15.58 annually) for 1,000 subscribers matter more than MailerLite Comfort's official 10× cap at $19 month-to-month.
Official prices at overlapping list sizes
| List size | MailerLite Comfort | MailerLite Power | ActiveCampaign Starter | ActiveCampaign Plus | Mailchimp Essentials | Mailchimp Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | Official Free ($0, 2,500 emails) if you stay within Free caps | Official Free if you stay within Free caps | No official AC tier below 1,000 | No official AC tier below 1,000 | Official Free ($0) if within Free caps | Official Free if within Free caps |
| 500 | $12 ($10.80 yearly-billed), 5,000 emails | $25 ($22.50 yearly-billed), unlimited emails (fair use) | No official AC tier | No official AC tier | $13, 5,000 sends | $20, 6,000 sends |
| 1,000 | $19 ($17.10), 10,000 emails | $39 ($35.10), unlimited (fair use) | $19 ($15 yearly-billed), 10,000 sends | $59 ($49 yearly-billed), 10,000 sends | No official 1,000-contact row | No official 1,000-contact row |
| 5,000 | $49 ($44.10), 50,000 emails | $69 ($62.10) | $99 ($79), 50,000 sends | $179 ($145), 50,000 sends | $75, 50,000 sends | $100, 60,000 sends |
| 10,000 | $89 ($80.10), 100,000 emails | $129 ($116.10) | $189 ($149), 100,000 sends | $239 ($189), 100,000 sends | $110, 100,000 sends | $135, 120,000 sends |
Parentheses for ActiveCampaign and MailerLite Comfort/Power are official yearly-billed monthly equivalents. Mailchimp figures are official monthly API prices. This is a dated snapshot, not a live calculator.
Compare ActiveCampaign's official quote
Affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy through this link. You pay the same price.
Related: ActiveCampaign alternatives, ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp.
Official billing, subscriber counts, and send caps
MailerLite's official FAQ is unusually specific about how the bill is calculated. Those rules matter more than a raw dollar comparison.
What counts as a subscriber. Official FAQ: billing is based on active subscribers — anyone with an "active" status. Unsubscribed and bounced addresses do not count. There is also a cumulative in-cycle rule: any address that was active at any point during the billing cycle counts toward the limit, even if you delete it later. The count resets once a month on the billing anniversary, set by the date of the first plan purchase. The official example: if you delete subscribers on April 1 and your billing date is April 5, those subscribers still count until April 4.
What happens when you outgrow a limit. Official FAQ: on a paid account, when active subscribers exceed the current limit, the subscriber limit automatically increases and the card on file is charged for the next pricing tier, with an in-account notification as you approach the cap. On a free account, when active subscribers exceed 250, sendings (campaigns and automation) are locked until you upgrade or remove active subscribers.
How sends are counted. Official FAQ: a send is one email to one subscriber, so a campaign to 500 people uses 500 of the monthly emails. The allowance resets each month on the billing date. Free includes 2,500 emails a month. Comfort gives you 10× the ceiling of your subscriber tier, based on the top of the tier, not your exact count — the official 1,000-subscriber example is 10,000 emails a month whether you have 200 or 900 subscribers. Power includes unlimited monthly emails, subject to the official fair-use policy. If you hit the Comfort cap before the month resets, the official options are to upgrade to Power or wait for the next billing cycle; the FAQ says the account will warn you as you get close.
Changing plans. Official FAQ: you can switch plans from the Billing and Plan tab. Switching from annual to monthly does not take effect until the annual plan expires. Switching from monthly to annual is effective at checkout. Downgrades wait until the current billing cycle ends.
Trials and discounts. Official FAQ: every new account gets 14 days to try premium features. After that period, those features are no longer available unless the account is upgraded; subscribers, automations, forms, sites, and similar data are not removed. Official FAQ also says MailerLite can apply only one discount at a time, and that annual and nonprofit discounts are among the vendor offers. Those are not coupons from this site. Official FAQ further notes that email sending via the API and MCP server is available on paid plans; on Free, API and MCP access is limited and does not include sending.
Official Comfort and Power prices at larger published tiers
The official USD slider continues well past 10,000 subscribers. A few later published steps, all from the same November 13, 2026 data (month-to-month / yearly-billed monthly equivalent):
| Subscribers (official tooltip) | Comfort emails (10× ceiling) | Comfort | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,500 | 25,000 | $33 / $29.70 | $49 / $44.10 |
| 25,000 | 250,000 | $179 / $161.10 | $239 / $215.10 |
| 50,000 | 500,000 | $319 / $287.10 | $389 / $350.10 |
| 100,000 | 1,000,000 | $439 / $395.10 | $489 / $440.10 |
| 200,000 | 2,000,000 | $819 / $737.10 | $1,119 / $1,007.10 |
Official Enterprise is the custom plan above 200,000 subscribers. Official ActiveCampaign at overlapping catalog rows, for context: at 25,000 contacts, Starter and Plus are both $489 month-to-month, or $391 (Starter) and $389 (Plus) yearly-billed — Starter's last published tier. Official Plus at 50,000 contacts is $759 / $609 yearly-billed; at 100,000, $1,499 / $1,199; at 200,000, $2,499 / $1,999. Official MailerLite Power at those later subscriber steps remains lower on the dollar row than official ActiveCampaign Plus. That is a priced fact, not a feature verdict. Official Plus is also the first ActiveCampaign plan whose published grid includes landing pages, generative AI, cross-channel marketing, and CRM or SMS add-ons, and official ActiveCampaign has no free plan.
If official MailerLite Power already includes the seats, fair-use unlimited sends, digital products, and bookings you need, the official AC Plus premium is a choice you should be able to explain from the feature grid, not only from the brand name.
FAQ
Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than MailerLite?
Not at the official starting bands we recorded. Official MailerLite Comfort starts at $12 a month ($10.80 yearly-billed) at 500 subscribers; official ActiveCampaign does not publish a 500-contact price and starts at $15–$19 at 1,000 contacts. At 1,000 contacts, official Comfort ($19 / $17.10) is close to official ActiveCampaign Starter ($19 / $15). Official Plus is higher. Compare features, not only the row price.
Does MailerLite still have a free plan?
Yes. Official FAQ: up to 250 subscribers, 2 seats, 2,500 emails a month, plus the inclusions listed above.
Do you offer a MailerLite or ActiveCampaign coupon?
No. Official vendor discounts (MailerLite annual or nonprofit discounts, for example) are the vendor's offers. This site does not publish coupon codes.
Does MailerLite offer a 14-day trial?
Yes. Official FAQ: every new account gets 14 days to try premium features. After the trial, those features are unavailable unless you upgrade; official FAQ says your data, including subscribers, automations, forms, and sites, is not removed.
How does MailerLite count subscribers for billing?
Official FAQ: only active subscribers count. Unsubscribed and bounced addresses do not. A cumulative in-cycle rule still counts an address that was active at any point in the cycle, even if you delete it before the billing anniversary.
Can I keep MailerLite Comfort if I send more than 10× my tier?
Official FAQ: if you reach the Comfort send cap before the month resets, you can upgrade to Power for unlimited sending (fair use) or wait until the next billing cycle. Comfort does not officially convert leftover need into a higher Comfort send cap inside the same tier.
Sources and method
Checked November 13, 2026 (America/Denver): MailerLite pricing and official FAQ and USD plan-price data on that page; ActiveCampaign pricing and official USD catalog; Mailchimp pricing and official USD pricing API; Brevo pricing; Kit pricing; GetResponse pricing.