Best email and newsletter service – 5 best apps

Wondering what email and newsletter software is best for your business? Do you want to check and compare their features? Are you interested only in free versions and do not know which maker offers the best solution? Are you looking for a mass email mailing software and need a professional solution? In this article you will find 5 interesting and the most popular programs to communicate by email with customers or users of your website.

Top 5 mailing platforms – what will you learn from this article?

Below you’ll find a feature and price comparison of 5 popular apps that help send newsletters, emails and autoresponders and manage emails. We’ll compare more than a dozen options and focus on the pros the free versions offer. You can also check the available options in the Excel spreadsheet we have prepared. We give you both the most popular solutions (the crème de la crème) and some less known, but interesting and practical email marketing tools (which include interesting free options).

We compared the option of the cheapest package in the price list – most mailing software offers several packages, depending on the features available.

Among other things, you will learn: 

• Which email platforms should you choose to get started?
• Which mass email software will work well for you?
• Which emailing software does the program include?
• Which free newsletter programs will work best for you?
• Is it free (and what the contacts limit in the free database is)?
• Is there a support?
• Fees and price thresholds offered
• Does it offer additional form editors?
• Does it offer additional landing page editors (features for collecting and saving emails)?
• Can the platform be managed from the mobile app?
• Does it have an intuitive email creator?
• Do we pay per signed up email address or per person signed up for each list separately?

I hope that thanks to this article you won’t have to search through other sites to find the information you need, but you will get all the accumulated knowledge here and it will be easy for you to compare the most needed options.

1. MailerLite – email marketing software ideal for small businesses and bloggers + the best free option

Name: MailerLite

Description:

MailerLite is an easy-to-use program for sending emails, creating forms and editing landing pages. 

It is one of the most popular email platforms in the world. Bloggers like it and use it. 

MailerLite offers us 1,000 contacts and up to 12,000 emails per month completely free with no time limit (trial version). However, it is worth remembering that the free plan has less options (among others – support) than the paid variant.

Another pro is that when you are charged for signed up people, you only pay for the enrolled person, not the contact (which means the same email can be signed up to four different lists, and the program will count it as one added contact).

By purchasing any MailerLite paid package, you get all the premium features. The only limitation is the available number of contacts.

Features:

1. Trial version: YES 14 days’ trial period or FREE version up to 1000 contacts (less options). 
2. Do you pay per person / or per contact saved: Person
3. Landing page editor: YES
4. Form editor: YES
5. Prices/contacts/monthly charges: 1,000 – $10 per month 10,000 – $50 per month, 25,000 – $120 per month
6. Multilingual interface: NO
7. Drag and drop option for creating emails: YES
8. Technical support: YES (e-mail, chat – paid version)
9. Mobile app: YES (iOS only)
10. Integration with e-commerce platforms: YES
11. Integration with CRM: YES
12. A/B tests: YES
13. Pop-up forms: YES
14. Cloud based: YES
15. Automated delivery for a series of e-mails: YES

Additional features:

• Free version up to 1,000 contacts and 12,000 emails sent per month – no time limit

2. Sendinblue – best price + good free option

Name: Sendinblue

Description:

Sendinblue is perfect for small businesses and beginner bloggers –because it allows you to send emails to small lists for free WITH NO TIME LIMIT!

Additionally, Sendinblue can tempt you at the beginning with quite a rich free plan – also, if you are looking for a free email / newsletter solution to start your blog – this is an option worth looking into.

At the start, you can have an unlimited number of contacts in your database, and the limit that is imposed on you is sending 300 emails per day. When we switch to a paid Lite plan, our base is reduced to 10,000 contacts for $25 per month (which is still a very favorable price), but in exchange for this you no longer have a daily limit of sent emails.

In addition to automated email marketing option Sendinblue also offers text messaging. Besides, Sendinblue offers features like landing page creation, drag and drop system and A/B testing.

It is worth noting that each paid plan offers email automation with an unlimited number of contacts.

Features:

1. Trial version: YES (free version with no time limit and unlimited number of contacts in a list allows for sending 300 e-mails a day)
2. Do you pay per person / or per contact saved: Person
3. Landing page editor: YES (available in premium)
4. Form editor: YES
5. Prices/contacts/monthly charges: 10,000 – $25 or €19, 20,000 – $39 or €29
6. Multilingual interface: NO
7. Drag and drop option for creating emails: YES
8. Technical support: YES (in the free plan only e-mail. Premium offers phone support)
9. Mobile app: NO
10. Integration with e-commerce platforms: YES
11. Integration with CRM: YES
12. A/B tests: YES
13. Pop-up forms: NO
14. Cloud based: YES
15. Automated delivery for a series of e-mails: YES

Additional features:

• Up to 100,000 e-mail addresses
• No daily limit of sent emails
• Phone support
• A/B tests
• No Sendinblue logo
• When selecting the “up to 10,000 email addresses” option, the price is $25

Features of the free version:

• Sending newsletters: YES
• Contact limit: YES
• Landing Page Editor: NO
• Website editor: NO
• A/B testing: NO
• E-mail sending limit: YES
• Manufacturer’s logo in the footer: YES

Additional information regarding the free version:

• Unlimited number of contacts
• Email sending limit of up to 300 per day
• Marketing automation of up to 2,000 contacts (paid plan removes this limit)
• Campaign and transaction reports
• Email templates
• Support via e-mail
• Real-time reporting on marketing campaigns

Limitations in the free version:

• Only one user at a time in a chat room on the website
• Sending limit of 300 e-mails per day
• No A/B testing
• Sendinblue logo in newsletters
• No Landing Page creator
• One inbox
• No phone support

Lite package price list:

• Free solution with no contact limit. Limited to sending a maximum of 300 emails per day
• 10,000 subscribers – $25 or €19 per month 20,000 subscribers – $39 or €29 per month

3. ActiveCampaign – perfect for mailing experts

Name: ActiveCampaign

Description:

A powerful email marketing tool and more. ActiveCampaign includes CRM, invoicing capabilities and text message marketing. However, the multitude of features means that more time is needed to take advantage of its full potential. The program offers a wide range of email templates and allows you to create your own templates using drag & drop option.

This is the best emailing service if you want to handle it professionally and base your business communications on emails. 

The main interface is available in English. It is possible to convert to other languages, but not all options are translated. You will find a playlist with tutorials on YouTube that will teach you how to use it. The videos are also in English.

The app also has the advantage that we pay per signed up person, not per contact added. So, just like MailerLite, it is ideal if you plan to do a lot of segmentation and add the same email to different lists. Even if the same address appears on ten different lists, it is counted as one. This is a huge advantage. 

Features:

1. Trial version: YES 14 days trial period
2. Do you pay per person / or per contact saved: Person
3. Landing page editor: YES
4. Form editor: YES
5. Prices/contacts/monthly charges: 1,000 – $29, 10,000 – $155, 25,000 – $229 per month
6. Multilingual interface: YES (limited)
7. Drag and drop option for creating emails: YES
8. Technical support: YES (e-mail)
9. Mobile app: YES
10. Integration with e-commerce platforms: YES
11. Integration with CRM: YES
12. A/B tests: YES
13. Pop-up forms: YES
14. Cloud based: YES
15. Automated delivery for a series of e-mails: YES

Additional features:

• Text message marketing

Features of the free version:

• No free version

Limitations in the free version:

• No free version

Lite package price list:

• 1,000 subscribers – paid monthly $30 / Billed Yearly $29 per month
• 10,000 subscribers – paid monthly $174 / Billed Yearly $139 per month
• 25,000 subscribers – paid monthly $286 / Billed Yearly $229 per month

4. Moosend – attractive option at a good price + interesting free package

Name: Moosend

Description:

Moosend will definitely work well for beginner bloggers and small businesses thanks to its attractive package of free services. Once your mailing list grows, moving to a paid plan will not involve spending astronomical amounts of money – the price list is very reasonable (about 30 PLN for 1000 contacts).

Its features include email automation, A/B testing, template management and mobile optimization. Unfortunately, the landing page editor is only available in the paid plan.

Features:

1. Trial version: YES (no limit of sent emails)
2. Do you pay per person / or per contact saved: Person
3. Landing page editor: YES
4. Form editor: YES
5. Prices/contacts/monthly charges: 1,000 – $13 per month 10,000 – $70, 25,000 – $128
6. Multilingual interface: NO
7. Drag and drop option for creating emails: YES
8. Technical support: YES (e-mail, phone)
9. Mobile app: NO
10. Integration with e-commerce platforms: YES
11. Integration with CRM: –
12. A/B tests: YES
13. Pop-up forms: YES
14. Cloud based: YES
15. Automated delivery for a series of e-mails: YES

Additional features:

• Integration with many external apps is possible

Features of the free version:

• Sending newsletters: YES
• Contact limit: YES
• Landing Page Editor: NO
• Website editor: NO
• A/B tests: YES
• Email sending limit: NO
• Manufacturer logo in the footer: NO

Additional information regarding the free version:

• The free version offers all features except those listed in the restrictions
• Sending an unlimited number of campaigns to up to 1,000 unique e-mail addresses per month
• No need to enter credit card details (you can use PayPal or a credit card to pay for a plan)
• Unlimited number of e-mails
• Subscription form
• Reports and analysis of sent campaigns (basic functions)
• Limit up to 1,000 contacts

Limitations in the free version:

• No Landing Page support
• No smtp service or custom reports
• No team members
• No priority technical support
• Limit of 1,000 contacts

Pro Package price list:

• 1,000 subscribers – $16 per month, annual plan $13 per month
• 10,000 subscribers – $88 per month, annual plan $70 per month
• 25,000 subscribers – $160 per month, annual plan $128 per month

5. GetResponse – a great option to START and learn how to send emails

Name: GetResponse

Description:

GetResposnse is the first (and oldest) Polish platform for email campaigns, landing page creation, webinar hosting and a simple CRM. This means you actually get a full set of marketing tools in one place.

If you are just a beginner and want to learn how to send emails – this is a great solution to begin with and learn the interface of such platforms. 

The whole panel is very intuitive, has a lot of interesting options, including adjustment of sending time to the time zone of the recipient and the perfect timing system (sending an e-mail when there is the greatest chance that the recipient will open it).

You have access to a number of features that make it easy to create and edit emails. It also offers practical ways for collecting, saving, and managing emails: from landing pages, through forms you can embed on your site, to automatically sending a series of newsletters (in autoresponder form).

Also, regular webinars are organized for those who are taking their first steps in marketing. You can enjoy useful training videos on the YouTube channel too. Thanks to the intuitive drag and drop editor everyone will be able to create individual and unique mailings to their customers.

The first 30 days are completely free (up to 500 contacts). 

In addition to English, GetResponse supports languages such as Polish, Russian, German, French, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese.

It’s a newsletter mailer that I myself have been using on my Polish blog and other sites for years, I’ve been very happy with it. I praise (and have praised) it especially for its intuitive interface, fast and professional technical support via chat and additional options: creating landing pages and forms.

Unfortunately, all signs in heaven and earth show that we are about to get a divorce, as more and more issues occur that are illogical, non-functional, and there is no desire on the part of the maker to fix them.

Regrettably the technical support, though nice and communicative, informs me more and more often that the platform doesn’t do some things, others can’t be done, and so on.

Things that have been driving me crazy about this email mailing software lately are:

• They suspended us without warning (suspension was the right thing to do, since bots attacked our account), but informed us about the suspension after the fact (as if they couldn’t have asked us to take preventive measures first). At the same time, they turned off all autoresponders, cutting us off completely from automated services such as discount coupons, downloads, etc.
• You can’t edit subscription confirmation messages – you have to use their ready-made, predefined templates with filled-in content, which is annoying, because there are words that I wouldn’t normally use in such situations
• Archaic landing page and email templates – like from the last century – there are plenty of templates to choose from, but there’s really not much there
• Idiotic Re-Captcha in the forms (adding Captcha is a requirement, but they are not able to do it in such a way that it loads right away in the first step, only after filling the form it all loads again with an additional Captcha, which is completely counterintuitive)

To sum up – GetResponse is good to “learn” what email marketing is all about because thanks to the interface and multilingual support it’s perfect to start building your first mailing list and learning the mechanisms of email newsletter software and how to use one. If you are wondering “which program” to send a mailing with at the beginning because you haven’t had any contact with similar solutions before – this is a good choice for beginners.

It’s perfect for beginner bloggers, small businesses and small stores but if you’re planning more activities, it’s better to choose another app right away so you don’t have to jerk around and hassle with migration in the future. Relatively low price is another advantage because for $ 12,30 / month you can send newsletters to a base of 1000 contacts (it’s enough for a start).

What is included in the GerResponse Free plan

GetResponse has prepared a free package especially for people who are not sure if their online concept will work. This way, you can test your business idea without paying extra right away. The free package offers quite a few features to get you started and should be enough to get your blog or online store off the ground. However, as your customer base grows, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan, as the free one only offers a mailing list of up to 500 contacts (and unconfirmed and deleted contacts count towards those).

What then does the free plan offer?

Website Creator

A free website creator that allows you to design one website with 5GB of bandwidth. It is possible to link the site to your domain or one of the free templates. In addition, you can secure your site with a free SSL certificate. The wizard has some ready-made page templates and a simple editor that allows you to quickly create a page even without programming knowledge.

Landing Page Editor

Landing Page Editor that allows you to create a single landing page and acquire customers through specially designed contact forms. In the free plan, you can build a database of up to 500 contacts. 

Platform for sending newsletters with ready-made templates

The free plan allows you to keep in touch with your customers using newsletters that you can send without limit. To create them, you receive an intuitive editor and a ready-made template library.

Features:

1. Trial Version: Yes 30 day trial. Contact limit 500
2. Do you pay per person / or per contact saved: Contact
3. Landing page editor: YES
4. Form editor: YES
5. Sample price thresholds/contacts per month: 1,000 – $ 12,30, 10,000 – $ 53,30, 25,000 – $ 118,90 (the thresholds depend on the chosen variant – in other words how many options you choose. The prices include tax)
6. Multilingual interface: YES
7. Drag and drop option for creating emails: YES
8. Technical Support: YES (chat, email, hot-line)
9. Mobile app: YES
10. Integration with e-commerce platforms: YES
11. Integration with CRM: YES
12. A/B tests: YES
13. Pop-up forms: YES
14. Cloud based: YES
15. Automated delivery for a series of e-mails: YES

Additional features:

• Training in person, tutorials, webinars
• You can become certified in email marketing

Features of the free version:

1. Sending newsletters: YES
2. Contact limit: YES
3. Landing page editor: YES
4. Website editor: YES
5. A/B testing: NO
6. Email sending limit: NO
7. Manufacturer’s logo in the footer: YES

Additional information regarding the free version:

• Page builder and landing page with 5GB bandwidth
• You can send e-mails
• You can add up to 500 contacts
• Lead generation tools (sign-up and contact forms)

Premium features that you can test for 30 days:

• 24/7 customer service
• Automated text or mailing campaigns
• Advanced email marketing tools such as A/B, autoresponders and more
• Precise customer targeting
• Live chat is available for your website
• Ready-made sales funnel
• Integration with other services such as Zapier, Google Analytics, Shopify, Magento, PayPal

Limitations in the free version:

• Time limitation in accessing to premium features (30 days)
• One website may be published
• 500 contacts can be added (unconfirmed and deleted contacts are included in the limit)
• Webinars are limited to 10 people (including yourself and presenters).
• On-demand webinar recordings are not available
• GetResponse logo will be added to every message sent
• No A/B testing on Landing Page
• Landing page visits are limited to 1,000 visits.
• Once exceeded, the page will be deactivated
• Chats can be added only to the landing page created in GetResponse. You can also add a link to the chat window in your message.
• Dynamic Segment filter is not available in email automation

Price list for Basic package (tax included):

• 1,000 subscribers – $ 15 per month, annual plan $ 12,30 per month
• 10,000 subscribers – $ 65  per month, annual plan $ 53,30 per month
• 25,000 subscribers – $ 145 per month, annual plan $ 118,90 per month

So what do we use nowadays?

I, for one, have been using GetResponse since the dawn of my company’s emailing history.

Is it worth using? 

Let me just say:

It’s a good email marketing system to begin with especially for small lists when you don’t need to segment your audience. GetResponse is good for learning and seeing what sending newsletters and creating mailings all about.

Due to its low price and a lot of interesting features it’s a great tool to start with for small stores, beginner bloggers or small companies. Especially when you’re counting on functionality and multilingual interface and support. The support is very helpful and quickly resolves the issues you may have.

2,000 – 3,000 contacts, with up to a few automated lists, should be just fine for you. I suggest, however, that you treat it as a solution that will pave your way to a higher tier system after some time (when you start making your first money on newsletters). It’s like buying a car – the first one is usually chosen to mess around with, to learn how to drive, get into the habit and eventually move to something better.

On the other hand, if you want to do “more”, segment your lists, sell things, send a lot of messages – choose a more advanced solution. Unfortunately, after using it for some years I begin to think that in many ways GetResponse looks like a poor relation compared to them.

What is best emailing service to START learning how to send emails and “pave” your way up?

As I wrote above – GetResponse will be good to learn mailing. It has a very simple and intuitive interface with good feature descriptions. 

An email program that supports multiple languages?

GetResponse is also a good choice if you’re looking for a multilingual version – its interface is available in English, Polish, Russian, German, French, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese.

Which newsletter mailer is the cheapest to send mailings to larger audiences (up to 10,000 people)?

There is only one choice here – Sendinblue. A list of 10,000 contacts is just $25/month. This gives you the best value for money.

What’s important – the program counts only a person – so a given e-mail can be saved in 10 different lists and still be counted as one (so in fact we can enter as many as 10 000 customers).

Sendinblue has a full free version that allows you to enter unlimited contacts and send 300 emails per day – so with a little mental gymnastics, you can test its full capabilities and send messages for free.

Which newsletter program is the cheapest for a small audience (1000 people)?

If you want to invest a small amount of money to get started and unlock all the premium features then choose MailerLite.

MailerLite is available in English, and the brilliant thing about it is that it bills per email address, not per email on the list (the same person can be subscribed to 10 lists and still be counted as one). In addition, MailerLite has a functional free version (sending up to 12,000 emails and 1,000 contacts per month).

MailerLite is also the cheapest option – it costs around $10/month for 1,000 contacts.

Important!

When you buy ANY paid version of this program you get access to ALL premium features. This is really a brilliant and fair solution.

Which free newsletter system you should choose?

If you’re looking for a free email program – then take a look at MailerLite first. 

We also have an interesting (though heavily truncated) free option here – perfect for small lists (1000 contacts, up to 12,000 emails per month).

However, if you prefer a completely free program with all the features because you are just starting a blog or newsletter in your company – a reasonable choice would be Sendinblue. This is a service that new bloggers and small entrepreneurs should consider.

With a free package that allows you to send 300 emails a day for free and a wide range of features, this is a really powerful tool to get started.

Moosend also offers a lot in the free plan as you get unlimited emails, but this possibility comes with a few restrictions (among others, no landing page and reporting features), which at a certain stage of your business development and message sending may seem to be a bit… crippling. Nevertheless, the program, although not as well known as the competition, is also very interesting, especially because it has really competitive prices and features, so the paid version is not inferior to other solutions.

I want multiple lists and large email segmentation – what should I choose?

If you want to build an extensive email segmentation and a given contact will be on more than two lists – it’s worth taking a look at Mailer Lite, Sendinblue and ActiveCampaign. With these solutions you only pay once for the email you add – no matter how many lists it’s on.

That is, one person can subscribe to up to 20 different lists – and still the system counts them as one contact.

I need a professional email tool with high level of deliverability

ActiveCampaign gets very positive feedback from well-known people who have email lists of tens of thousands of subscribers, and email tools are crucial for them both in communication and product sales. 

If you want to base your communication and sales model on sending newsletters and you’re looking for a comprehensive, robust tool – then ActiveCampaign should become your choice right away. It seems to be the best emailing service for mass mailings – directed at companies, individual customers and blog readers.

Choose ActiveCampaign especially if you want to base your communication on business emails and you care about how professional the communication process is.

Links to all programs in the list:

• Email marketing software – MailerLite
• Email marketing software – Sendinblue
• Email marketing software – ActiveCampaign
• Email marketing software – Moosend
• Email marketing software – GetResponse

Download the spreadsheet with the feature comparison of mailing software:

• Download a spreadsheet with a list of the best email marketing software

Be sure to also check out other useful list of application programs:

• Best screen recorder for PC and MAC – chcek this 7 apps
• Easiest free video editing software – try to edit videos completely free with trial versions

Which platform for mailing do you use? Do you have other questions?

Do you have any questions about the newsletter software mentioned above? Or are you already using one of the solutions and want to share your impressions with us? Tell us about that in the comments!

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