Email marketing guide

Mailchimp alternatives: free-plan limits compared

Mailchimp's free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. If you need more room for free, these five alternatives count their limits differently. Here they are side by side.

Prices checked October 14, 2026 2 min read By Credence Intel Research

Photo: Le Vu / Unsplash

Quick answer

Biggest free list: Kit, free up to 10,000 subscribers; visual automations and sequences need the paid Creator plan.
Most free sending: Sender, 15,000 emails a month to 2,500 subscribers, with email automation included.
Free automations plus a website: MailerLite includes 3 automations, a website and a landing page for 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
Big list, occasional sends: Brevo’s free plan is capped at 300 emails a day rather than a small list size.

Free plans side by side

Read on each vendor’s pricing page on October 14, 2026. “–” means the vendor’s page did not state it.
Tool	Free list size	Free sending	Automation on free	Entry paid plan
Mailchimp	250 contacts	500 a month, max 250 a day	Flows listed as not included	Standard $20/mo (500 contacts); Essentials from $13 for 12 months (offer)
Kit	Up to 10,000 subscribers	Unlimited broadcasts	No visual automations or sequences	Creator $33/mo billed yearly (1,000 subscribers)
Sender	2,500 subscribers	15,000 a month	Email automation included	Standard $9/mo billed yearly ($108 a year)
MailerLite	250 subscribers	2,500 a month	3 automations	Comfort $12/mo ($10.80 billed annually) at 500 subscribers
Brevo	Not the limit	300 a day	–	Starter $9/mo from 5,000 emails a month
ActiveCampaign	No free plan; 14-day trial with no card			Starter $15/mo billed annually (1,000 contacts)

The alternatives

Kit

Creator email platform, free up to 10,000 subscribers

Paid plans from$33/mo

Creator, billed annually

Free plan14-day trial, no cardSave 17% paying yearly

Free plan: Free up to 10,000 subscribers: unlimited landing pages & forms, unlimited email broadcasts, tagging & segmentation, sell digital products & subscriptions. No visual automations or sequences; Kit branding stays.

Good fit: Creators with large lists (up to 10,000) who mainly send broadcasts and sell digital products, moving to Creator when they need automations.

See all 3 plans and prices

Prices per month in US dollars, excluding tax, read on Kit's pricing page on October 14, 2026. "–" means the vendor does not show that billing option. Vendor pricing page
Plan	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Free per month	$0	$0
Creator per month at 1,000 subscribers	$33	–
Pro per month at 1,000 subscribers	$66	–

Free migrations (vendor)

Sender

Email and SMS marketing with a free plan of 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails

Paid plans from$9/mo

Standard, billed annually

Free plan14-day trial, no card30% off annual billing for first-time users

Free plan: Free Forever: up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails/month; email automation, newsletters, landing pages, signup forms & popups, transactional emails included; contains Sender branding; no auto-resend to non-openers; no credit card; includes 14-day trial of paid features.

Good fit: Small senders who want the largest free sending allowance (15,000 emails/month to 2,500 subscribers) and accept Sender branding.

See all 4 plans and prices

Prices per month in US dollars, excluding tax, read on Sender's pricing page on October 14, 2026. "–" means the vendor does not show that billing option. Vendor pricing page
Plan	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Free per month	$0	$0
Standard per month at 500 subscribers, 6,000 emails/month	$9	–
Professional per month at 500 subscribers, 12,000 emails/month	$15	–
Enterprise custom	Custom	–

MailerLite

Email marketing with automations, a website and landing page on the free plan

Paid plans from$10.80/mo

Comfort, billed annually

Free plan14-day trial, no cardSave 10% billed annually

Free plan: Up to 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails/month, 2 user seats, 3 automations, 1 website and 1 landing page, 1 digital product or booking, 3 signup forms; MailerLite logo stays; no sending via API or MCP; sending locks above 250 subscribers.

Good fit: Small senders who want automations, a website and a landing page on a free plan, then low-cost paid plans from $12/month for 500 subscribers.

See all 4 plans and prices

Prices per month in US dollars, excluding tax, read on MailerLite's pricing page on October 14, 2026. "–" means the vendor does not show that billing option. Vendor pricing page
Plan	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Free per month	$0	$0
Comfort per month at 500 subscribers	$10.80	$12
Power per month at 500 subscribers	$22.50	$25
Enterprise custom, above 200,000 subscribers	Custom	–

More than 100 integrations (vendor)
Nonprofit discount available (vendor)
Data stored in the EU in an ISO 27001 certified data centre (vendor)

Brevo

Email marketing priced by emails sent; free plan sends up to 300 a day

Paid plans from$8.08/mo

Starter, billed annually

Free planYearly billing: 10% off

Free plan: Free forever, up to 300 emails a day once the account is approved for sending

Good fit: Senders with large contact lists who email infrequently, since the free plan is capped by daily sends (300/day) rather than a small list size.

See all 4 plans and prices

Prices per month in US dollars, excluding tax, read on Brevo's pricing page on October 14, 2026. "–" means the vendor does not show that billing option. Vendor pricing page
Plan	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Free per month	$0	$0
Starter per month from 5,000 emails/month	$8.08	$9
Standard per month from 5,000 emails/month	$16.17	$18
Enterprise custom	Custom	–

600,000+ customers (vendor)

ActiveCampaign

Automation-focused email marketing, priced by contacts

Paid plans from$15/mo

Starter, billed annually

14-day trial, no card

Good fit: Businesses that want deeper automation (unlimited automation actions from Plus) and are willing to pay from $15/month annually for 1,000 contacts.

See all 4 plans and prices

Prices per month in US dollars, excluding tax, read on ActiveCampaign's pricing page on October 14, 2026. "–" means the vendor does not show that billing option. Vendor pricing page
Plan	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Starter per month at 1,000 contacts	$15	$19
Plus per month at 1,000 contacts	$49	$59
Pro per month at 1,000 contacts	$79	$99
Enterprise per month at 1,000 contacts	$145	$179

Mailchimp

Email marketing priced by contacts, with a 250-contact free plan

Paid plans from$13/mo

Essentials, billed monthly

Free plan14-day trial

Free plan: Limit of 250 contacts; max 500 sends/month or 250/day; 1 seat; 1 audience; marketing automation flows 'Not included' in Key Plan Features (detailed table says 'Free preview'); email scheduling not included; Mailchimp branding cannot be removed; pre-built templates 'Limited'; email support for first 30 days; sending pauses if limits exceeded.

Good fit: Very small lists (under 250 contacts) on the Free plan, or businesses wanting automation flows from the Standard plan at $20/month for 500 contacts.

See all 4 plans and prices

Prices per month in US dollars, excluding tax, read on Mailchimp's pricing page on October 14, 2026. "–" means the vendor does not show that billing option. Vendor pricing page
Plan	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Free per month	$0	$0
Essentials per month for the first 12 months (offer price; regular price not shown), starting tier	–	$13
Standard per month, starting tier (base price includes 500 contacts per help centre)	–	$20
Premium per month for the first 12 months (offer price; regular price not shown), starting tier	–	$350

300+ integrations on every plan (vendor)

Listed A–Z by default. We do not rank tools we have not tested, and no vendor can pay for position. Starting price is the cheapest paid plan per month, using annual billing where the vendor offers it.

Notes on each tool

Mailchimp: the free plan has 1 seat and 1 audience. On its pricing page, Essentials and Premium show a price “for 12 months” next to an offer badge, without the regular price, so check the price at checkout.
Kit: free includes unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, and lets you sell digital products. Kit says paying yearly saves 17%.
Sender: free includes newsletters, landing pages, signup forms and popups, with Sender branding. Sender lists 30% off annual billing for first-time users.
MailerLite: renamed its paid plans in June 2026: Growing Business is now Comfort and Advanced is now Power. The free plan includes 3 signup forms and keeps the MailerLite logo.
Brevo: pricing is built around emails sent, which suits large lists you email rarely. Starter removes the Brevo logo.

How to choose

Under 250 people: any of the free plans works; pick on templates and branding.
250 to 2,500 people: Sender, or Brevo if you send infrequently, keeps you on a free plan.
Above 2,500: only Kit’s free plan goes further, up to 10,000 subscribers, without automations.
Automation is the point: compare paid tiers, since free-plan automation is limited or missing on most.