Blog · 23 October 2026

Email marketing pricing: how it works and how to pay less

The headline price tells you little. What matters is what the tool counts, and how that count grows.

How five tools bill

Facts from each tool’s pricing page, checked 23 October 2026.

Tool	What grows your bill	Free plan
Mailchimp	Contact tiers, with paid plans capped on monthly sends	250 contacts, 500 emails a month
Klaviyo	Active profiles, meaning contacts who may receive marketing email	250 profiles, 500 emails a month
MailerLite	Subscribers and sending volume. Comfort allows ten emails per subscriber tier, Power is unlimited with fair use	250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month
ActiveCampaign	Contacts, and the plan decides which features you get	14-day trial
GetResponse	Contacts. Starter is EUR 16 a month at 1,000 contacts, EUR 48 at 5,000 and EUR 69 at 10,000 on monthly billing, excluding tax	14-day trial, then a limited free account

Prices change. Treat the table as a guide to how each tool counts, and read the live page for your list size.

Count the contacts you can actually email. Unsubscribed, bounced and complained contacts are no use to you. Check whether your current tool counts them.
Know the destination’s unit. Contacts, profiles, subscribers or sends. The same list can cost very different amounts.
Check feature gating. A cheap tier that lacks the one feature you need is not cheap.

Preview before you pay. Check what will happen shows how many contacts would be copied, excluded or skipped, so you pick a plan tier knowing the real number.
Leave dead contacts behind. Unsubscribed, bounced, complained and suppressed contacts are not added to the new list.
One person, one contact. In Brevo, Mailjet and Klaviyo, someone on several lists is a single contact, so the count can be lower than the total you see before the move.
Screen new addresses. Email verification flags disposable, role-based and risky addresses before they sync, so you do not pay to store them. It is available where enabled on your account.
Switch without lock-in. A neutral layer between your sources and your email tool makes the next move cheaper.