Starting price; rises with usage
MailerLite vs ActiveCampaign
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What you'd pay
Entry plan for 10 people, billed yearly where offered. Prices checked Oct 2026.
Under 1,000 contacts; rises with contacts
MailerLite
Small businesses that want a low monthly bill, a real automation builder on the entry paid plan, and landing pages or a simple website in the same account.

ActiveCampaign
Small businesses with a sales process or long customer journeys that need branching, behavior-based automation and are willing to pay for it.
Side by side
| MailerLite | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free (250 subscribers); paid from $10.80/month (Comfort, 500 subscribers, annual) | No free plan; from $15/month (Starter, 1,000 contacts, annual) or $19/month (monthly) |
| G2 Rating | 4.6 (1,109 reviews) | 4.4 (14,813 reviews) |
| Best For | Small businesses that want a low monthly bill, a real automation builder on the entry paid plan, and landing pages or a simple website in the same account. | Small businesses with a sales process or long customer journeys that need branching, behavior-based automation and are willing to pay for it. |
Pros and cons
MailerLite
Pros
- Comfort is the cheapest plan here with real automation at 500 and 2,500 subscribers ($12 and $33 per month, billed monthly)
- Comfort allows 50 automations with up to 100 steps each
- Email A/B testing is included even on the Free plan
- 14-day trial of premium features with no credit card
Cons
- The Free plan was cut to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails per month on June 16, 2026
- No SMS or transactional email inside MailerLite plans; those run through MailerSend, a separate product
- Comfort caps monthly sends at 10x your tier, so heavy senders need Power
- Existing customers moved to the new prices at their next renewal
ActiveCampaign
Pros
- Deepest automation in this list once you are on Plus or higher
- Segmentation and contact scoring grow with each tier
- Transactional email add-on available on every plan
- Wide integration list, from Zapier and Calendly to ad platforms
Cons
- No free plan, and the smallest priced tier is 1,000 contacts
- Starter caps each automation at 5 actions and the account at 25,000 contacts
- Most expensive tool here at 10,000 contacts ($189/month on Starter, monthly)
- SMS needs Plus or higher, and CRM pipelines cost extra
Related comparisons
Best Email Marketing Software for Small Business
Pick MailerLite if you want real automation at the lowest monthly price. Pick Brevo for the tightest budget or SMS, and Constant Contact if you want live phone support.
Mailchimp alternatives
Pick MailerLite if you want the lowest bill at around 10,000 contacts with automations included. Pick Klaviyo if you run an online store.
