Find the Best MailerLite Alternative for Your Email Marketing and Newsletter Needs
With over 650K creators using the platform, MailerLite has grown into a powerful email marketing service provider since its launch in 2010.
It’s ease-of-use, value for money, and high deliverability rates make it the go-to solution for businesses on a tight budget.
However, despite topping the “Best free email marketing software” list on Zapier, MailerLite lacks advanced marketing features and may not be the best fit for all business types.
Especially with competitors like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Campaign Refinery, is it still worth the price point?
Let’s find out in this MailterLite alternatives list.
Meanwhile, checkout our extensive guide on two of the significant MailerLite Competitor comparisons: MailerLite vs. Mailchimp and MailerLite vs.ConvertKit.
MailerLite Overview: A Simple Email Marketing Tool For Starters
MailerLite is a marketing automation platform known for its usability and affordability. It also offers landing pages, e-commerce integrations, and websites catering to businesses of all sizes. Unlike other competitors, MailerLite’s free version gives access to advanced automation workflows and A/B testing features.
The platform boasts an average email deliverability rate of 94.41% and has been awarded the “Best of 5 Email Deliverability” by EmailToolTester.
Regardless of these achievements, MailerLite lacks certain Pro email marketing features, which urges its users to seek other marketing tools with better email performance.
In this guide, you’ll learn about:
- MailerLite’s pros and cons,
- Why it may be important to choose another marketing platform,
- Top 5 MailerLite alternatives to consider,
- Best email service providers for your money.
MailerLite Features: An Intuitive Email Marketing Tool
MailerLite positions itself as an all-around marketing platform, allowing customers to develop targeted email campaigns, beautiful websites and blogs, landing pages to collect leads and sell digital products.
The platform especially stands out for its user-friendly approach to email marketing.
Here’s a closer look at its key features:
- Drag-and-drop email builder: MailerLite strikes the right balance between intuitive and robust. It offers three editors: a drag-and-drop editor with interactive content blocks, a rich-text email editor, and an HTML editor. Plus, its AI-generated content can be helpful for users looking for quick solutions.
- Pre-designed email templates: The platform constantly adds responsive newsletter templates to its vast template library. Users can also pick from other email marketing templates, such as promotional emails or welcome campaigns.
- Landing pages and websites: Users can build simple landing pages, connect their Stripe integrations, and start selling digital products. Or use the drag-and-drop website builder and monetize subscriptions.
- Intuitive automation builder: MailerLite lets users set up multiple triggers to start the automation such as when a subscriber completes a form or if it’s their birthday.
- A/B testing: MailerLite allows testing of 3 workflow variations, including subject lines, content and send times.
- Real-time reporting and analytics: From monitoring subscriber activity to tracking automation history, MailerLite provides meaningful insights into each.
- Good customer support: MailerLite offers support for paid plans via email and live chat. Users on the free plans can get 24/7 support for the first 30 days.
- Free plan with generous limits: MailerLite’s free plan supports up to 1000 subscribers, and 12,000 monthly email sends with full access to the automation builder.
Overall, MailerLite focuses on making email marketing accessible and user-friendly for all business types. However, there are many MailerLite alternatives to consider, whether you’re starting out in email marketing or looking to move to another platform.
But before that, let’s understand what to watch out for when picking an alternative to MailerLite.
Things to Consider When Choosing a MailerLite Alternative
Before planning to move your marketing assets, you must know what makes an ideal marketing platform for your unique needs.
The table below will guide you through selecting the right email services platform.
| Factors | Things to Consider |
|---|---|
| Email Deliverability | Check for the platform’s average email deliverability rate and if they have features to improve it |
| Ease of Use | Analyze the ESP for a user-friendly interface and easy-to-understand menus. Also, look for onboarding guides or tutorials |
| Features and Capabilities | Are there advanced features? Does the platform have A/B testing? |
| Scalability | Can the platform support your growing business? Are there additional charges for bigger email lists? |
| Customization | Do you need HTML resources? Are the templates intuitive to use? |
| Data Migration | Check if the MailerLite alternative assists with moving your email lists and offers continuous support |
| Security and Compliance | Consider the ESP’s adherence to email marketing laws such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM |
| Pricing plans | Consider an ESP based on the subscriber count and email volume |
The Best 5 Alternatives to MailerLite in 2024
A critical factor to consider with any email marketing and newsletter platform is their email deliverability rate. Email deliverability ensures your emails reach the intended recipients’ inboxes.
Along with it, you must be able to navigate campaigns and alter aspects without feeling lost at sea. A safe way to save your budget is to try a few platforms before committing to one.
We analyzed possible MailerLite alternatives, and here are our top 5:
- Mailchimp,
- Brevo,
- ConvertKit,
- ActiveCampaign,
- Campaign Refinery.
To help you compare their email marketing tools and usability, we’ll cover each alternative’s email deliverability and outstanding features.
| Features and Functionality | Mailchimp | Brevo | ConvertKit | ActiveCampaign | Campaign Refinery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target audience | E-commerce brands | Entrepreneurs to large businesses | Online creators (bloggers and YouTubers) | Scalable businesses | All business types |
| Key strength | Ease of use | Email, SMS, and chat communication | Creator marketing platform with optimization features | Centralized marketing | Advanced email deliverability |
| Ease of use | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 10 |
| Email deliverability | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| Advanced automation | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| Campaign templates | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Segmentation | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Pricing based on | Emails | Emails | Email subscribers | Contacts | Email volume |
| Real-time email editor | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Spam check tool | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Automatic email list cleaning tool | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Mandatory domain authentication | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Engagement gamification | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Evergreen flash sale | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Let’s take a deeper look at each one.
Mailchimp: MailerLite Alternative for Complex Automation Workflows
Mailchimp offers more advanced automation workflows with branching logic, multiple triggers, and conditional actions.
Overview
Mailchimp, the most significant MailerLite competitor, shares similar attributes, such as a user-friendly interface and more straightforward marketing tools for small to medium-sized businesses.
It stands out for its automation capability — users get recommendations for improving their customer engagement through pre-built automation journeys.
Mailchimp also claims to have an average email deliverability rate of 95.5%, a critical factor to look out for when selecting an email marketing platform.
We reviewed Mailchimp in detail to help you decide if it’s the right email marketing platform for your needs.
Mailchimp Pricing
Users can start with a free plan for 500 contacts and get email support for the first 30 days. As your list grows, you can opt for their recommended ‘Standard Plan’ starting at $15.48 per month for 1500 contacts.
Mailchimp Pros
- Ease of use: Similar to MailerLite, Mailchimp makes moving around email elements easy. Its quick navigation helps users find essential tools and features without treading around the platform.
- Social media tracking: Mailchimp aggregates data from your e-commerce stores, including Shopify and Bigcommerce, and offers access to social media and email client data.
- Inbox preview: The paid plans include 25 inbox preview tokens, which allow you to view how your emails will look on different email clients.
Mailchimp Cons
- Pricing and cost structure: While Mailchimp offers a free plan, it has limitations on contacts, email sends, and features. Its pricing can quickly escalate, especially for larger businesses, as they charge based on your subscriber list, including unsubscribed and inactive contacts.
- Limited design flexibility: Although Mailchimp offers a drag-and-drop editor and a template library, some users find it restrictive. If you crave design freedom, Mailchimp might not be the ideal fit.
- No affiliate marketing: If you rely on affiliate marketing, Mailchimp’s terms of service prohibit it, forcing you to seek another platform.
| Category | Mailchimp |
|---|---|
| Popular feature | ‣ Generous free plan and newsletter tool |
| Pros | ‣ Good for beginners and businesses with small budgets ‣ Intuitive interface and tools ‣ Social media tracking |
| Cons | ‣ No design freedom ‣ Affiliate marketing is banned ‣ Costs can scale for larger businesses |
Brevo: Advanced Features to Send High-Volume Emails
Brevo, formerly SendinBlue, is a comprehensive email marketing service with user-friendly features. It adds more value for your money in terms of advanced features.
Overview
Brevo goes beyond email marketing and offers built-in features for SMS and Whatsapp marketing campaigns. It also boasts more powerful automation capabilities than MailerLite, with pre-built workflow templates and complex automation with multiple triggers and actions.
Brevo focuses on the email volume instead of the number of contacts, making it a better MailerLite alternative as a cost-effective platform.
Brevo Pricing
The free plan allows access to all features and 300 emails per day. Paid plans start at $9 per month and have no daily email limit.
Brevo Pros
- Good email deliverability: Brevo has a reputation for maintaining consistent inbox placement rates.
- Flexible pricing: Businesses can choose from Brevo’s pricing tiers based on their size of subscriber list and needs.
- Feature-rich platform: Brevo combines the power of multichannel marketing: emails, SMS, CRM, and landing pages. Additionally, its automation functionality allows users to create sophisticated email sequences.
Brevo Cons
- Limited template selection: Brevo allows for custom HTML templates; however, it offers a smaller selection of pre-defined email templates.
- Steeper learning curve: The automation and workflows require extra learning curve for beginners.
- Higher pricing: Brevo’s advanced features require users to upgrade, which could scale costs for bigger businesses.
| Category | Brevo |
|---|---|
| Popular feature | ‣ SMS automation and personalization |
| Pros | ‣ Consistent email deliverability rates ‣ Flexible pricing with different pricing tiers for all business types ‣ Allows for multichannel marketing |
| Cons | ‣ Limited email template selection ‣ Steeper learning curve for automation and similar features ‣ Costs increase as you start sending more emails |
ConvertKit: A Creator-focused Email Marketing Platform
ConvertKit has strong capabilities for selling digital products and newsletter subscriptions, but it’s not entirely accurate to call it just a “newsletter tool.”
Overview
ConvertKit caters to online creators such as YouTubers, bloggers, course creators, and musicians. Beyond providing newsletter tools, it helps creators grow their relationships with customers and monetize their work.
The platform excels at segmenting audiences and sending personalized campaigns. Clients also get access to the creator community, which helps them connect with like-minded creators and access tailored resources.
The biggest factor that sets ConvertKit apart from its cheaper alternatives is that the free plan allows you to sell digital subscriptions and products.
ConvertKit Pricing
ConvertKit offers a freemium plan for newsletters for up to 10,000 subscribers, which includes access to a few premium features, such as running paid newsletters and subscriptions. For creators, the plans start at $9 monthly for 300 subscribers.
ConvertKit Pros
- Reasonable email deliverability rates: ConvertKit consistently maintains fair deliverability rates, according to EmailToolTester.
- It helps monetize newsletters: Users can offer paid newsletters and use the ‘Tip Jar’ feature, which allows audiences to tip them.
- Landing page editor: ConvertKit offers plenty of good-looking landing page templates, and clients can build landing pages without owning a website.
ConvertKit Cons
- Limited design options: ConvertKit offers limited landing page and email templates for the price point. If you’re heavy on modern designs, check out our guide on Flodesk vs. ConvertKit.
- It can get pricier: Although the pricing starts at $9, it can get steeper as your email list grows.
- Limited reporting: Customers of ConvertKit can only track basic campaign metrics such as open rates and unsubscribes. They don’t have the option to view geo-tracking and other advanced metrics.
| Category | ConvertKit |
|---|---|
| Popular feature | ‣ Newsletter subscriptions and selling digital products |
| Pros | ‣ Good email deliverability rates ‣ Offers newsletter monetization options ‣ Offers elegant landing page templates |
| Cons | ‣ Limited design options ‣ Users must pay extra for more subscribers ‣ Limited reporting options |
ActiveCampaign: MailerLite Alternative for Growing Businesses
ActiveCampaign is a better choice than MailerLite for businesses looking for complex integrations and automation capabilities.
Overview
ActiveCampaign caters to small-to-mid-sized businesses as well as e-commerce businesses. Aside from offering AI-powered automation, users can also take advantage of their abandoned cart automation, SMS, campaigns, deals, and contact management.
Its one-to-one automation helps users send trigger automation flows from their inbox conversations with customers. Plus, according to EmailToolTester, ActiveCampaign maintained its deliverability rates at 90% for the last 11 testing rounds.
ActiveCampaign Pricing
Plans start at $8/month and go up to $145/month for enterprise-level support.
ActiveCampaign Pros
- High deliverability rate: The platform maintains consistent inbox placement rates, which are at 90% currently.
- Advanced automation: ActiveCampaign lets users create multiple triggers alongside conditional logic to customize campaigns on a personal level.
- Detailed analytics and reporting: The ESP covers reporting on all metrics, including click-maps and geo-tracking.
- Free account migration: The platform offers to move your email marketing assets to theirs for free.
ActiveCampaign Cons
- Not the friendliest email templates: Users may have to stick to basic template designs without access to modern editors and templates.
- Steeper learning curve: ActiveCampaign’s user interface is not the friendliest, so users will take time to learn to navigate.
- Pricier compared to competitors: The platform is generally more expensive than MailerLite, especially for the advanced pricing tiers.
| Category | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|
| Popular feature | ‣ Advanced automation and segmentation |
| Pros | ‣ Good deliverability rates ‣ Provides detailed reporting, including geo-tracking ‣ Free account migration |
| Cons | ‣ Basic template designs ‣ Steeper learning curve for beginners ‣ More expensive than similar platforms |
Campaign Refinery: MailerLite Alternative With the Highest Email Deliverability
Campaign Refinery is a comprehensive email marketing platform offering the highest email deliverability rates on the market.
Overview
Alongside the highest email deliverability rates, Campaign Refinery maintains a 99% delivery rate with the help of our high-end email list cleaning tool.
The platform offers a powerful combination of:
- Advanced Automation,
- Segmentation functionality,
- Integration with 800+ tools,
- And reporting features for transparent pricing.
Campaign Refinery Pricing
Plans start at $99/month for unlimited contacts — a transparent pricing with no hidden costs.
You can purchase a set of credits to perform different functions, such as cleaning email lists or sending emails.
Campaign Refinery Pros
- Highest email deliverability rate: Campaign Refinery offers the highest inbox placement rates on the market, thanks to our clean sending policies and features such as integrated email list cleaning tool and strict authentication protocols.
- Exclusive features: Clients get access to the engagement gamification, and evergreen flash sale features to increase engagement.
- Advanced segmentation: Clients can use our new Audience Groups feature to club different audience segments for a single email campaign.
- Transparent pricing: Pay only what you use instead of bearing costs for a growing email list.
Campaign Refinery Cons
- Strict vetting process: We screen client profiles to check compatibility and understand their prior email-sending habits to ensure safety on the platform.
- No free trial: We handpick clients and work only with serious and responsible senders.
| Category | Campaign Refinery |
|---|---|
| Popular feature | ‣ Powerful automation and the highest email deliverability rate |
| Pros | ‣ Powerful automation and segmentation ‣ Highest email deliverability rate ‣ Engagement rewards and evergreen flash sale features for higher engagements |
| Cons | ‣ Strict vetting process ‣ No free trial |
We’ll explain why Campaign Refinery is the best MailerLite alternative.
MailerLite vs. Campaign Refinery
The comparison below shows how Campaign Refinery stacks up against MailerLite’s features.
| Features | MailerLite | Campaign Refinery |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 9 | 10 |
| Unlimited contacts | ❌ | ✅ |
| Advanced email deliverability | 9 | 10 |
| High-volume sending | ✅ | ✅ |
| Engagement gamification | ❌ | ✅ |
| Evergreen flash sale | ❌ | ✅ |
| Email deliverability management | Good | Best |
| Email Segmentation | Moderate | Advanced |
| Automation | Moderate | Advanced |
| Integration | Basic | Advanced |
| Policy compliance | 8 | 10 |
Campaign Refinery: The Best Email Deliverability Tool With Exclusive Features
Campaign Refinery requires domain authentication for all new clients to maintain a platform of safe senders. This, combined with our high-speed sending engine, helps us provide the highest deliverability rates in the market.
We’ve compiled our knowledge on safe sending practices, email security guidelines, and strategies for higher engagement in The Inbox Formula.
However, if you’re looking for quicker and long-term results, join Campaign Refinery as a client.
Apply to Join Campaign Refinery and Take Control of Your Email Deliverability
We individually work with every client to understand their needs and develop a customized email marketing approach.
Get industry-leading email deliverability and become a top sender with Campaign Refinery – apply to become a client today!
