Best Cheap Email Marketing Services in 2026 (7 Ranked)

Best Cheap Email Marketing Services in 2026 — verdict at a glance: Brevo is the cheapest at scale thanks to pay-per-send pricing, MailerLite is the best low-cost all-rounder, Moosend is the cheapest paid plan with full automation, Sender is the most generous free tier, AWeber is the simplest budget newsletter tool, GetResponse is the cheapest way to get funnels and webinars, and Mailchimp is the familiar option that quietly gets expensive. Below we rank all seven of the best cheap email marketing services on what they actually cost each month at real list sizes — not the headline price.

Best cheap email marketing services: the short answer

What are the best cheap email marketing services in 2026 when you measure the bill that actually lands, not the “from $9” sticker price? That gap matters because every vendor advertises its smallest tier and stays quiet about how fast costs climb at 5,000, 10,000, or 25,000 contacts.

In this best cheap email marketing services guide we price all seven cheap email marketing services at common list sizes, compare automation depth, and name the right pick for each budget. Pricing for these affordable email marketing tools was cross-checked against EmailToolTester’s 2026 software comparison so the figures below reflect current 2026 tiers, not last year’s rate card.

How we ranked the best cheap email marketing services

Cheap is easy to fake on a landing page. To earn a spot among the best cheap email marketing services, each of these cheap email marketing services had to clear four bars: (1) a real monthly cost under roughly $25 at 5,000 contacts with normal sending; (2) automation that goes past a single welcome email; (3) above-85% deliverability on independent seed tests, because cheap mail that lands in spam is the most expensive kind; and (4) no punishing jump the moment you cross a contact threshold. We weighted the pricing model as heavily as the price itself.

Pay-per-contact tools quietly tax list growth, while pay-per-send tools reward a large list you email infrequently — so the best cheap email marketing services for you depend on how you send, which is exactly what most “cheapest email marketing” lists ignore.

At a glance: best cheap email marketing services comparison table

Service	Free plan	Paid from	~Cost at 5,000 contacts	Pricing model
Brevo	9,000 emails/mo, unlimited contacts	$9/mo	~$18/mo (sends, not contacts)	Pay-per-send
MailerLite	1,000 contacts, 12,000 emails/mo	$10/mo	~$32/mo	Per-contact
Moosend	30-day trial	$9/mo	~$24/mo	Per-contact
Sender	2,500 contacts, 15,000 emails/mo	$10/mo	~$28/mo	Per-contact
AWeber	500 subscribers, 3,000 emails/mo	$15/mo	~$45/mo	Per-subscriber
GetResponse	500 contacts, 2,500 emails/mo	$19/mo	~$54/mo	Per-contact
Mailchimp	500 contacts, 1,000 emails/mo	$13/mo	~$75/mo	Per-contact

1. Brevo — the cheapest service at scale

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is the tool we recommend first to anyone whose list is growing, because it charges by emails sent rather than contacts stored. That single structural choice makes it the cheapest of all the affordable email marketing options the moment your list passes a few thousand names, and it tops our ranking of the best cheap email marketing services for exactly that reason. A 25,000-person list you email twice a month costs Brevo a fraction of what any per-contact tool would bill for identical reach. Among the best cheap email marketing services here, none scales as gently. The free plan covers 9,000 emails a month with unlimited contacts, and paid plans start at $9/month.

The value goes beyond price. Brevo bundles a lightweight CRM with deal pipelines, native SMS and WhatsApp, signup forms, landing pages, and a transactional email API in one dashboard — features you would normally pay separately for. The automation builder handles welcome series, abandoned-cart, and date-based campaigns comfortably, and deliverability tests land it in the high-80s, which is strong for a budget service. The one caveat: if you send daily to a small list, a per-contact tool can occasionally undercut it, so do the math on your own send frequency.

Choose Brevo if: your list is sizeable, you send at mid frequency, and you want the lowest credible bill without giving up SMS and CRM. Read our full Brevo review for 2026 for the deep inspection.

2. MailerLite — the best low-cost all-rounder

MailerLite is the cheap email marketing service we point most beginners to among the best cheap email marketing services, because it delivers the best design-to-price ratio in the category. Its drag-and-drop builder is the cleanest of any tool here, the templates look modern out of the box, and at roughly $32/month for 5,000 contacts it sits comfortably among the best cheap email marketing services while still feeling premium. For a solo founder or small team, the saved hours are worth real money on their own.

The free plan covers 1,000 contacts and 12,000 emails per month; paid plans start at $10/month. You also get landing pages, signup forms, a basic website builder, and enough automation for welcome sequences and post-purchase nudges. The ceiling on complex branching is lower than GetResponse, but most budget-conscious senders never reach it. See our full MailerLite review for the detail.

Choose MailerLite if: you want the nicest interface and templates in the budget tier and predictable per-contact pricing as you grow.

3. Moosend — the cheapest paid plan with full automation

Moosend is the bargain hunter’s pick. Its paid plan starts at $9/month and — crucially — unlocks the full automation builder from the very first tier, where rivals gate branching workflows behind pricier plans. At around $24/month for 5,000 contacts it is one of the cheapest ways to get genuinely capable automation, with no feature tax for being on the entry plan — a rare combination among the best cheap email marketing services.

There is no permanent free plan, only a 30-day trial, which is the main trade-off versus Brevo or Sender. The template gallery is smaller and the brand is less known, so integrations are thinner than Mailchimp’s. But the automation editor is surprisingly strong for the money, deliverability is respectable, and for anyone who wants real workflows on the tightest budget, it punches well above its price. Our Moosend review covers exactly where it shines.

Choose Moosend if: automation matters to you and price matters more, and you don’t need a permanent free tier.

4. Sender — the most generous free tier

Sender wins on free-plan generosity, full stop. Its free tier covers 2,500 contacts and 15,000 emails a month — far more headroom than any of the other cheap email marketing services here give away — and it keeps automation and signup forms available rather than locking them. For a new newsletter or a side project, you can run a real list for a long time without paying a cent, which is why it ranks among the best cheap email marketing services for anyone starting from scratch.

Paid plans start at $10/month, landing around $28/month at 5,000 contacts, and bundle email plus SMS. The interface is a touch less polished than MailerLite, and the template library is smaller, but the core campaign and automation tools are solid and the deliverability holds up. As one of the best cheap email marketing services with a usable free plan, it is an easy place to start and grow into.

Choose Sender if: you want the most generous free plan in the category and a cheap, SMS-inclusive upgrade path when you outgrow it.

5. AWeber — the simplest budget newsletter tool

AWeber is the veteran of the group and still the fastest way to get a plain, reliable newsletter out the door. Import a list, pick a template, write, send — there is essentially no learning curve. For an owner whose entire need is “email my customers something useful once a month,” that simplicity is the feature that puts it on this list of cheap email marketing services, and the free plan (500 subscribers, 3,000 emails/month) is enough to validate the habit before paying.

Paid plans start at $15/month and scale per subscriber, reaching around $45/month at 5,000 contacts — pricier than Brevo or Moosend, so it is not the outright cheapest at scale. The automation and design tools are dated next to MailerLite, and it lacks the funnel breadth of GetResponse. But deliverability is dependable (around 88%) and support is responsive, which counts for non-technical users. Our AWeber review has the full picture.

Choose AWeber if: you want a no-frills, dependable newsletter tool with a free plan and zero appetite for complex automation.

6. GetResponse — the cheapest way to get funnels and webinars

GetResponse is the closest thing to a do-everything platform that still fits a modest budget. It pairs a strong mid-tier automation builder with landing pages, conversion funnels, and — uniquely on this list — built-in webinar hosting. If you sell courses, run workshops, or do B2B demand generation, replacing three separate subscriptions with one makes it one of the best cheap email marketing services in disguise, effectively cheap even at a higher headline price.

The free plan supports 500 contacts and 2,500 emails per month; paid plans start at $19/month, landing near $54/month at 5,000 contacts. That is the steepest of the budget picks, so on pure email cost it is not the cheapest — but no other affordable email marketing tool here includes webinars at all. Deliverability is consistently good (88–91%). Our GetResponse review has the full rundown.

Choose GetResponse if: you want email, landing pages, funnels, and webinars in one bill instead of stitching three tools together.

7. Mailchimp — the familiar option that gets expensive

Mailchimp is the name most people already know, and it has the widest integration library in the category, so it earns a spot. The free tier (500 contacts, 1,000 emails/month) and the $13/month entry price look cheap on paper, and for a small static list they genuinely are. The onboarding is the gentlest for absolute beginners.

The problem is what happens next. On a per-contact model, Mailchimp climbs fast — around $75/month at 5,000 contacts, the most expensive figure in our table — so it quietly stops being one of the best cheap email marketing services as your list grows. Deliverability is middle-of-the-pack (86–89%), and the free tier now stamps Mailchimp branding in your footer. It is a fine starting point, but watch the bill. If it starts biting, our roundup of the best Mailchimp alternatives shows cheaper places to land.

Choose Mailchimp if: your list is small and static, you want the widest integrations, and the per-contact bill stays low.

Honourable mentions and what we excluded

A few tools we tested but left off our list of the best cheap email marketing services. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has a free tier but gets pricey fast and is creator-first rather than budget-first. Mailjet and SendPulse are cheap and worth a look if pay-per-email billing appeals, but their builders feel dated. EmailOctopus is a genuine low-cost contender for simple sends, especially if you already use Amazon SES. If your priority is the lowest possible bill, the best cheap email marketing services above will cover almost every case.

For the no-spend angle specifically, see our best free email marketing tools roundup, and if you want the underlying numbers across the whole market, our email marketing tool pricing breakdown shows how each model scales.

FAQ: best cheap email marketing services

What are the best cheap email marketing services in 2026?

For most senders the best cheap email marketing services in 2026 are Brevo for the lowest cost at scale, MailerLite for the best low-cost all-rounder, and Moosend for the cheapest paid plan that still includes full automation. Sender rounds out the best cheap email marketing services with the most generous free tier if you are starting from zero.

Which is the cheapest email marketing service at scale?

Brevo is the cheapest once your list passes a few thousand contacts, because it bills on emails sent rather than contacts stored. A large list you email a few times a month costs far less on Brevo than on any per-contact tool. If you send daily to a small list, Moosend or MailerLite can occasionally undercut it, but Brevo remains the default among the best cheap email marketing services at scale.

Are there genuinely free cheap email marketing services?

Yes. Sender (2,500 contacts, 15,000 emails/month) and Brevo (9,000 emails/month, unlimited contacts) have the most usable permanent free tiers, with MailerLite (1,000 contacts) close behind. These caps limit volume or contact count rather than crippling features, so they are real starting points among the best cheap email marketing services, not just trials.

Why does the headline price not match my real bill?

Because vendors advertise their smallest tier. The variable that bites is the pricing model: per-contact tools like Mailchimp and GetResponse climb steeply as your list grows, while pay-per-send tools like Brevo stay flat if you send infrequently. Always price a tool at the list size you expect in 12 months, not today’s.

Is cheap email marketing software worse at deliverability?

Not meaningfully. The best cheap email marketing services here land between roughly 86% and 91% on seed tests — close to premium platforms. Authenticating your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and keeping your list clean affects inbox placement far more than the few points between services, so cheap need not mean unreliable.

Which cheap service is best for full automation?

Moosend is the standout, because it unlocks its full automation builder on the cheapest paid tier instead of gating branching workflows behind pricier plans. GetResponse goes deeper still and adds funnels and webinars, but it costs more, so Moosend wins on automation-per-dollar.

Our verdict on the best cheap email marketing services

If we had to name one default from the best cheap email marketing services above, it is Brevo — its pay-per-send model makes it the cheapest as your list grows, and it bundles CRM and SMS that rivals charge extra for. MailerLite is the pick among the best cheap email marketing services when interface quality and clean templates matter most for the money, and Moosend takes the crown the moment full automation on the tightest budget is the priority.

Sender earns its place on free-tier generosity, while GetResponse is the cheapest route to funnels and webinars in one bill. The smartest move with any of these affordable email marketing services is to start on the free plan that fits your list, send a real campaign, and upgrade only once you outgrow it.

Start free with our top budget picks:

Want a deeper read on individual tools? See our Brevo Review 2026 or our Moosend review to compare the two cheapest options in detail.

Make your emails actually land

Whichever tool you choose from this list, deliverability is what decides whether your emails land — set these foundations next:

• Free Email Health Check — score your sending domain out of 100 in 30 seconds — the fastest way to see what to fix.
• Email deliverability hub — reputation, warm-up, blacklists and inbox placement.
• Gmail, Yahoo & Microsoft sender requirements — the rules bulk senders must now meet to be delivered.
• Email authentication (SPF, DKIM & DMARC) — prove your mail is really yours and stop spoofing.

Related reading

• Best Mailchimp Alternatives
• Best Email Marketing for Shopify
• Best Free Email Marketing Tools
• Best Email Marketing for Creators
• Best Email Marketing for Agencies

Affiliate disclosure: ToolTrusted may earn a commission from links above at no extra cost to you. See our disclosure page. Rankings reflect our independent editorial verdict.