Email marketing is essential for every online business to generate sales and maintain brand awareness and loyalty regardless of size.
While newer digital outlets such as social media have stolen the attention of many marketers and business owners, studies still show that email marketing is the most effective digital marketing channel to boost revenue, as reported in this study by management consulting firm McKinsey.
Unsurprisingly, email marketing services have become crucial tools to businesses for their ability to seamlessly facilitate the creation and delivery of successful email marketing campaigns.
When choosing an email marketing service, it can be challenging to navigate the myriad of options available and determine which is the best tool for your business.
After all, you need to consider the specific needs of your business, including the size of the mailing list you have or hope to acquire, the number of emails you intend to send, the unique email marketing features you need, and, of course, your business’ budget.
Therefore, choosing the best email marketing service for your business is critical, as your choice will directly influence the effectiveness of your business’ email marketing efforts and, by extension, the success of your business.
What is the Best Email Marketing Software?
With this in mind, I’ve compared 10 of the most popular and best email marketing services to help you select the right option for your company.
- ActiveCampaign
- Moosend
- Constant Contact
- HubSpot
- MailChimp
- Mailerlite
- Drip
- SendInBlue
- GetResponse
- Omnisend
- AWeber
1. ActiveCampaign
Best Email Marketing Software for Experienced Marketers in 2022 ($9/month)
ActiveCampaign is a popular email marketing software known for its automation. Easy to use, the email builder allows you to create newsletters faster than ever. The email marketing software also offers a variety of templates that make it easier to create emails.
ActiveCampaign’s CRM functionality allows you to make the most of your contacts. You can create appointments, DM contacts, use labels, and make notes.
You can also use the event tracking option to track specific actions taken by contacts. You can send these actions to your email marketing platform, and you can personalize your content to make your marketing messages more effective.
ActiveCampaign is an excellent tool for experienced email marketers. It offers many automation features that will make your job easier. The tool can be challenging to use if you are looking to create simple sequences.
Features
- Build automation with drag-and-drop
- Event tracking capabilities that enable hyper-personalization
- An intuitive user interface to help guide you through the process
- Integrated CRM that streamlines the sales process
- Numerous integrations with 850+ apps and platforms to increase your productivity
Drawbacks
- The platform sometimes exhibits a slow response time.
- Some users find the advanced User Interface challenging to use.
Pricing
- Lite $9/month with 125+ email templates, unlimited email sends, subscription forms, site and and event tracking, segmentation, and campaign and automation reporting, and more.
- Plus $49/month with Landing pages, 50+ landing page templates, SMS marketing, Contact Scoring, and more.
- Professional $149/month with website personalization, predictive sending and content, marketing attribution, split automations, attribution reporting, and site messages.
- Enterprise $258/month with custom reporting, mailserver domain, and object, free design services, social data enrichment and unlimited email design testing.
Overall
Moosend is one of the most affordable options for businesses without compromising the features that make Moosend a top email marketing service.
However, for those who prioritize the aesthetic and ease of use of an email marketing service’s User Interface, another of the best email marketing services on this list might be more suitable.
2. Moosend
Excellent all-in-one AI-powered solution for Email Marketing Automation (Free $8+/month)
A UK-based company founded in 2012, Moosend is one of the newer best email marketing services to make this list. Despite its youth, Moosend has become a leader in email marketing automation.
Features
- Drag-and-drop editor
- In-depth analytics
- A/B testing and advanced segmentation
- Marketing automation
- Workflow editor
- Newsletters
Drawbacks
- Compared to more of the best email marketing services on this list, Moosend has less opportunity for customization.
- Some users find the advanced User Interface challenging to use.
Pricing
- Pro starting at $8/month for up to 500 email contacts, the Pro plan rises to $16/month for 1000, $88 for up to 10,000, and $315 for up to 50,000 email subscribers, with access to pretty much all email marketing features.
- Enterprise Moosend offers custom plans and access to an account manager, priority support, and a dedicated IP.
Overall
Moosend is one of the most affordable options for businesses without compromising the features that make Moosend a top email marketing service.
However, for those who prioritize the aesthetic and ease of use of an email marketing service’s User Interface, another of the best email marketing services on this list might be more suitable.
3. Constant Contact
Best for small businesses – Great drag-and-drop builder ($20/month)
Founded in 1995, Constant Contact is an email marketing veteran akin to MailChimp, that combines a host of marketing tools such as social campaigns and event management with a reliable email marketing service.
Features:
- List building and management
- A/B testing and segmentation
- Landing pages, sign-up forms, and design templates
- Many integration capabilities
Drawbacks
- Reporting can be confusing, tricky to navigate, and report clicks from internal sources.
- Limited email automation capabilities.
Pricing
- Core starting at $9.99/month for up to 500 contacts, the plan increases to $45 for 2,500 and $95 for up to 10,000 email subscribers, with users having access to elemntary email marketing tools and reporting.
- Plus starting at $45/month for up to 500 contacts, the plan charges $70 for up to 2,500 contacts, increasing incrementally to $335/month for 50,000 contacts, with users gaining access to list growth tools and automated emails, and auto-generated segments.
Overall
Constant Contact’s ability to integrate email marketing with an event management tool is convenient for events businesses that work with tickets, sign-ups, and invitations.
However, you can acquire a more extensive selection of email marketing tools for a more affordable price for most other businesses from some of the other best email marketing services on this list.
4. MailChimp
Best for E-commerce and custom workflows (Free – $14.99/month)
MailChimp and its iconic chimpanzee mascot will immediately spring to mind when most people think of email marketing.
Established in 2001, MailChimp was one of the very first email marketing services on the market and has sustained its popularity until today, as they continue to cater to over 11 million users.
Features
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Automation and multi-step custom workflows
- Advanced segmentation
- Cross-device email testing
- Extensive integrations, including with Google Analytics to enable reporting
Drawbacks
- Despite a range of video tutorials to help users, MailChimp’s email, chat, and phone support are lackluster compared to its competitors.
- MailChimp is pricey, especially if you want to access the more advanced features, many of which are only available in the Premium price plan.
Pricing
- Free includes the option to program one-step automation, create sign-up forms and send 10,000 emails per month to up to 2,000 contacts. At this level, MailChimp’s branding will be seen by your customers at the bottom of the email campaigns you send.
- Essentials starting at $11/month for 500 contacts with features such as A/B testing and customer journey builders, users can send 10x the number of emails as contacts per month.
- Standard starting at $17/month for 500 contacts, with send-time optimization and behavioral targeting features, standard plan subscribers can send 12x the number of emails as contacts each month.
Premium, starting at $299/month for 10,000 contacts, users gain access to features such as advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, and comparative reporting and can send 15x the number of emails as contacts.
Overall
If you’re a small business with very limited email marketing needs, then MailChimp’s free plan could be a budget-friendly way to stay in touch with your customers.
However, suppose you think your business could benefit from more advanced features. In that case, there are more affordable options with just as excellent functionality and often with less restriction on the monthly emails you send.
5. HubSpot
Best for scalable, automated marketing plans (Free – $50/month)
One of the premier hubs of online marketing, HubSpot has one of the best email marketing services as part of its online marketing platform, otherwise comprising a CRM and sales and customer service capabilities.
Features
- CRM that integrates with email marketing creating an automatic log of contacts and their interactions
- A/B testing and segmentation
- Dynamic personalization
- drag-and-drop editor
Drawbacks
- Limited reporting, particularly with the more affordable packages.
- As you advance through the pricing plans, things get expensive quickly, especially for a larger number of contacts.
Pricing
- Starter: starting at $45/month for 1,000 contacts, the price rises by $45 for each additional 1,000 contacts, with access to essential email marketing tools.
- Professional: starting at $800/month for 2,000 contacts, the cost increases by $224.72 for each additional 5,000 contacts, with users gaining access to omnichannel marketing and email marketing automation.
- Enterprise: starting at $3,200/month for 10,000 contacts, the price increases by $100 for every additional 10,000 contacts. Users gain access to advanced reporting on features such as behavioral event triggers.
Overall
HubSpot is an incredible one-stop-shop for all of your business’ marketing needs; HubSpot’s CRM can integrate with its email marketing service and enables you to tailor your email campaigns to your contacts to appeal to them.
However, HubSpot’s monthly subscription is pricey. So, if you’re a business on a budget or your needs will be catered for by a more straightforward marketing tool, and you don’t need access to the full selection of HubSpots’ comprehensive marketing tools, another option might be better.
6. Mailerlite
Best affordable email marketing service for entry-level marketers (Free – $10/month)
Mailerlite was created in 2010 and now caters to more than a million businesses across the globe.
Mailerlite is all about making email marketing easy, with a service characterized by its intuitive UI, ease of use, and reasonable pricing.
Features
- Drag-and-drop editor, in addition to rich text and custom HTML
- A/B testing and segmentation
- Free plan for up to 12k emails a month to less than 1000 email subscribers
- Landing pages, forms, and newsletter templates
- Email automation, including triggered emails and workflows
Drawbacks
- The available email marketing functions may be limited or simplistic for some businesses.
Pricing
- Free Mailerlite allows businesses to send up to 12,000 monthly emails to 1,000 subscribers for free, with their branding displayed at the bottom of each email campaign.
- Paid $10/month for up to 1000 email contacts, $50/month for up to 10,000 email contacts, $140/month for up to 30,000 email contacts. The range of prices between these thresholds for your business’ specific subscriber count, with an unlimited number of monthly email sends at each level.
Overall
Mailerlite is an excellent option for email marketing amateurs and businesses that use a team to create email marketing campaigns.
In addition to being very reasonably priced and offering an unlimited number of email sends per contact it’s one of the best email marketing services for new email marketers to get to grips with while still providing a decent set of email marketing features to create effective email campaigns.
However, for those who want to execute more complex email marketing actions, such as advanced, multi-step email automation and workflows, Mailerlite might be a little too simplistic.
7. Drip
Best for new E-Commerce businesses ($19+/month)
Founded in 2013, Drip focuses on the value that advanced email automation can provide by facilitating the creation of campaigns that most effectively connect businesses to their audience via an innovative, intuitive UI.
Features
- WYSIWYG editor
- Advanced email automation capabilities
- Triggered drip sequences
- Dashboards + standard/custom reporting
- A/B testing
Drawbacks
- There are limited customization capabilities when creating items such as landing pages, and creating pop-ups and forms requires external plug-ins.
- Drip has fewer integration opportunities than the other best email marketing services.
Pricing
- $19/month for up to 500 contacts
- $29/month for up to 2,000 contacts
- $154/month for up to 10,000 contacts
- $1,199/month for 100,000 contacts
- Range of contact thresholds with individual prices between these values.
- Custom quotes for businesses with over 140,000 contacts
Overall
For those with advanced email marketing needs and who know what they’re doing when creating an email campaign, Drip offers an array of advanced tools to help businesses get the most out of their campaigns.
However, for those with less demanding email marketing needs and who favor simplicity and ease of use, a more affordable option may be better suited to their business.
8. SendInBlue
Best for growing your customer base with automation on a budget ($25/month)
Combining email marketing, SMS marketing, and marketing automation, SendInBlue was founded in 2007 and now caters to over 180,000 businesses as a top SaaS solution for relationship marketing.
Features
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Email and SMS marketing; both have autoresponder functionality
- Highly customizable templates
- Email API and CRM
- Segmentation and A/B testing
- Landing pages and sign-up forms
Drawbacks
- Lacks some capabilities that would make using SendInBlue more time-efficient; campaigns take longer to create and send than some of the other best email marketing services on this list.
- For example, if email contacts haven’t opened an email, there isn’t an option to resend an email campaign to a subscriber; instead, a new email campaign must be created and sent to them. Likewise, you cannot set default colors for different email parts, so you must achieve this manually per campaign.
Pricing
- Free: send up to 300 email campaigns per day to unlimited contacts, with access to an email template library and SMS marketing. SendInBlue’s branding is displayed on the bottom of each email campaign.
- Lite: starting at $25/month for up to 20,000 email sends per month, rising to $32 for 40,000 and $65 for up to 100,000. Users have access to A/B testing, advanced statistics, and sending emails without the SendInBlue branding.
- Premium: starting from $65/month for up to 20,000 email sends, the premium plan increases to $79 for 40,000 and $599 for up to 1,000,000 emails per month to unlimited contacts. Access granted to marketing automation, landing pages, and multi-user access.
- Enterprise: requires a direct quote from SendInBlue for your company. Users gain access to priority sending and a customer success manager, amongst other features.
Overall
For businesses that need email and SMS marketing, SendInBlue has a range of advanced features, and their free plan is unique in that it allows businesses to send emails to an unlimited number of email contacts. However, this is capped at 300 emails per day.
Though SendInBlue is still an intuitive email marketing service, those who prioritize efficiency and want their email marketing service to be as seamless as possible might opt for another service, and there are more affordable options for a greater number of email sends.
9. GetResponse
Best for automated sales funnels and lead generation ($12.3/month)
GetResponse is a user-friendly email marketing service with a range of the most up-to-date features while providing the functionality for more traditional marketers to curate their email marketing campaigns with HTML coding.
Features:
- Drag-and-drop builder
- Custom HTML
- Landing pages and sign-up forms
- Email automation and autoresponders
- Advanced segmentation
- Comprehensive analytics
Drawbacks
- Compared to more of the best email marketing services on this list, GetResponse has more limited integration opportunities.
- The drag-and-drop email editor can be unresponsive and slow to use at times.
Pricing
- Free: users can send unlimited emails and newsletters to 500 contacts or fewer and use one landing page and one sign-up form.
- Basic: starting at $15 for 1,000 contacts, rising to $45 for 5,000 up to $450 for 100,000 email contacts, users access unlimited landing pages, basic segmentation, email scheduling, and landing pages.
- Plus: starting at $49 for 1,000 contacts, rising to $79 for 5,000 and $499 for 100,000 email subscribers. Users can access marketing automation, contact scoring and tagging, advanced segmentation, and five sales funnels.
- Professional: starting at $99 for 1,000 contacts, rising to $139 for 5,000 and $580 for 100,000. Users get access to unlimited automation and funnels.
Overall
For those who need an email service that provides a highly customizable experience, especially for businesses that prefer to use HTML than drag-and-drop content editors, GetResponse is one of the best email marketing services available.
However, compared to more of the best email marketing services on this list, GetResponse’s deliverability isn’t as good.
10. OmniSend
Best Omnichannel Email Marketing Service for E-Commerce ($16 -$59/month)
Created in 2014, though it went by the name Soundest back then, OmniSend is the newest of the best email marketing services on this list.
OmniSend soon developed into an omnichannel marketing automation platform that included automated SMS marketing and campaigns by offering simple yet effective email marketing tools.
Features
- A/B testing and segmentation
- Email and SMS marketing
- Pop-ups and forms
- Pre-built and customizable automation
- Extensive integrations
Drawbacks
- OmniSend’s monthly send limit may not suit businesses that want to have a more intensive line of contact with their email contacts.
- Themes, pop-ups, and templates are a little limited compared with more of the best email marketing services.
Pricing
- Free: Omnisend’s free plan allows users to reach up to 250 contacts, with a cap of 500 emails per month, including access to typically premium features such as A/B testing, segmentation, and reporting.
- Standard: starting at $16/month for 500 contacts, rising to $35 for 2500 contacts and $115 for 10,000 contacts, users have access to everything in the free plan, with 12x the monthly emails per contact.
- Pro: starting at $59/month for 500 contacts, rising to $59 for 2500 contacts, $150 for 10,000, with access to unlimited emails, access to advanced reporting.
Overall
For those with a small mailing list but who still want to use advanced email marketing features there are few free plans better than OmniSend since you can use all available email marketing features.
Even with the paid plans, Omnisend offers a great compromise between getting advanced features at an affordable price. However, another option may be a better fit for those who prioritize the ability to customize extensively.
11. AWeber
Best value-for-money email automation for small businesses with a low subscription count (Free – $16.15/month)
Serving over 100,000 small businesses internationally, AWeber is a specialist in email marketing and one of the most popular choices for businesses looking for stellar newsletter functionality.
Features
- Drag-and-drop builder
- Email automation
- Newsletters, landing pages, and sign-up forms
- Segmentation
- AMP for email
- Advanced reporting
Drawbacks
- You can only include/exclude one segment at a time when sending e-newsletters.
- No automated A/B testing for landing pages
Pricing
- Free: with the AWeber free plan, users can send up to 3,000 emails per month to up to 500 subscribers, with all email marketing features available and the AWeber branding present on the emails.
- Pro: starting at $16.15/month for up to 500 subscribers, the plan rises to $46.15/month for up to 5,000 email subscribers and $146.15 for up to 25,000 subscribers for an unlimited number of monthly email sends.
Overall
For email testing across devices, in addition to excellent newsletter creation, AWeber is an excellent option for businesses.
However, for businesses who want to target their audience with emails specific to them, with the help of segmentation, there are better email marketing services to use.
Roundup
Quick Breakdown: Best Email Marketing Services
| Use Case | Service | Free option | Paid Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best tool for marketing automation | ActiveCampaign | Not available for free | From $15/mo |
| Most intuitive tool | MailerLite | Available for free | From $15/mo |
| Great value for money | Sendinblue | Available for free | From $25/mo |
| Best range of advanced features | GetResponse | Available for free | From $15/mo |
| Best for e-commerce automation | Omnisend | Available for free | From $16/mo |
| Generous freemium plan | Mailchimp | Available for free | From $9.99/mo |
| Best pay as you go offer | Moosend | Available for free | From $10/mo |
The Winners – Our top Picks
- ActiveCampaign: An excellent choice for seasoned marketers thanks to each AI-powered automation workflow.
- Mailerlite: An affordable option best for businesses for whom extensive customization opportunity is vital.
- Moosend: the best compromise between low cost and a full range of email marketing features.
- HubSpot: for businesses who want to have all their online marketing needs catered to by an integrated platform, including CRM, email API, and competent email marketing features at an affordable price.
So, to maximize the success of your business’s marketing efforts and to deliver the most effective email campaigns to your customers, make sure to review our picks for the best email marketing services to select the right email marketing tool for your business.
- Reladyne Nova 1050 Engine: Starfield - April 30, 2024
- Reladyne Nova 1040 Engine: Starfield - April 30, 2024
- Reladyne Supernova 2000 Engine: Starfield - April 30, 2024
