Why look for free alternatives to Mailchimp?

Starting with a free alternative to Mailchimp lets you test the tool in your actual workflow before committing to a paid plan. When you're ready to scale, you'll already know which features matter most to your business.

Are these free alternatives actually good?

These tools are used by thousands of businesses. Their free plans are designed to let you evaluate the product thoroughly before upgrading. Many founders end up staying long-term.

Back to Alternatives

Free Alternative to Mailchimp

Email platforms with generous free tiers. Find the one that fits your audience before you start paying per contact.

The best free alternative to Mailchimp is MailerLite.

1. MailerLite

FreemiumGenerous Free Tier

Email marketing with 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month free, plus automations and a landing page.

MailerLite is an email marketing platform known for its clean interface and genuinely useful free tier. Founded in 2010, it serves over 1 million businesses worldwide and has built a reputation for high deliverability rates.

Built for Small Businesses

MailerLite does not try to be everything. It focuses on email marketing and does it well: newsletters, automations, landing pages, and signup forms. The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive enough for non-designers to create professional-looking emails.

What You Get on the Free Plan

250 subscribers - Enough to start a brand-new list; sending locks above 250 active subscribers
2,500 emails per month - Roughly ten emails to a full 250-person list each month
Email automations - Set up welcome sequences and basic automated workflows
Landing pages - Create standalone pages to capture leads
Signup forms and popups - Grow your list with embedded forms and exit-intent popups
Website builder - Build a simple website alongside your email campaigns

What to Know

The free plan includes MailerLite branding on your emails. Newsletter templates are limited to the paid plan, but the drag-and-drop editor gives you plenty of flexibility to build your own.

Key features include:

•Drag & drop editor
•Email automations
•Landing pages
•Website builder
•Signup forms & popups
•A/B testing
•Advanced segmentation
•RSS campaigns

Pros

Very generous free tier

Easy to use

Great deliverability

Landing page builder included

Cons

Branding on free plan

Approval process for new accounts

Template selection limited on free tier

Free planEmail Marketing

2. Brevo

FreemiumGenerous Free Tier

All-in-one marketing platform with 300 emails/day free and unlimited contacts.

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is an all-in-one marketing platform that combines email marketing, SMS, WhatsApp campaigns, chat, and CRM. Founded in 2012, it stands out for offering unlimited contacts on every plan, including the free tier.

More Than Email

While most email platforms charge by subscriber count, Brevo charges by email volume. This means you can import your entire contact list without worrying about hitting a subscriber cap.

What You Get on the Free Plan

Unlimited contacts - Import and manage as many contacts as you want
300 emails per day - Roughly 9,000 emails per month, enough for a growing newsletter
Email campaigns - Drag-and-drop editor with professional templates
Transactional emails - Send password resets, order confirmations, and notifications
SMS marketing - Send text messages (pay-per-message)
Chat widget - Add live chat to your website

Multi-Channel Marketing

Brevo is one of the few platforms where you can manage email, SMS, and WhatsApp campaigns from a single dashboard. The built-in CRM lets you track deals and customer interactions alongside your marketing efforts.

Key features include:

•Email marketing
•SMS marketing
•WhatsApp campaigns
•Chat widget
•CRM
•Marketing automation
•Transactional emails
•Landing pages

Pros

Unlimited contacts on free plan

Multi-channel marketing

Built-in CRM

Transactional email support

Cons

Daily email limit on free plan

Brevo branding on free plan

Interface can feel cluttered

Free planEmail Marketing CRM

3. Mailjet

FreemiumGenerous Free Tier

Email marketing and transactional email. 6,000 emails/month free.

Mailjet is an email service provider that handles both marketing campaigns and transactional emails from a single platform. Founded in 2010, it is used by over 150,000 businesses for email delivery.

Marketing and Transactional in One

Most email tools force you to choose between marketing and transactional email. Mailjet does both: send newsletters and promotions through the marketing tools, and password resets and order confirmations through the API or SMTP relay.

What You Get on the Free Plan

6,000 emails per month - Monthly allowance with a 200/day limit
Unlimited contacts - No cap on your subscriber list
Drag-and-drop editor - Build emails visually without coding
API and SMTP access - Send transactional emails programmatically
Real-time monitoring - Track delivery, opens, and clicks as they happen
Statistics - Basic campaign performance reporting

What to Know

The 200 emails/day limit can be restrictive if you have a large list. Mailjet branding appears on free plan emails. The real-time collaboration feature lets multiple team members work on the same email template simultaneously, which is unique in this space.

Key features include:

•Email campaigns
•Transactional emails
•Drag & drop editor
•Real-time monitoring
•API & SMTP
•Segmentation
•A/B testing
•Multi-user collaboration

Pros

Good free tier

Both marketing and transactional

Real-time collaboration on emails

Cons

Daily sending limit on free plan

Branding on free emails

Free planEmail Marketing

4. EmailOctopus

FreemiumGenerous Free Tier

Simple email marketing with 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails/month free.

EmailOctopus is a simple, no-frills email marketing tool that keeps things straightforward. The free plan includes 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month, which is enough for a growing newsletter or early-stage product.

Simple Email Marketing

EmailOctopus does not try to be an all-in-one marketing platform. It focuses on email campaigns, basic automations, and landing pages. The result is a tool that is fast to learn and easy to use.

What You Get on the Free Plan

2,500 subscribers - Room to grow your early audience
10,000 emails per month - Send up to 4 campaigns per month to your full list
Landing pages - Create simple pages to capture email addresses
Signup forms - Embed forms on your website
Basic automations - Set up welcome sequences and simple workflows
Campaign reports - Track opens, clicks, and unsubscribes

What to Know

EmailOctopus branding appears on free plan emails. The automation features are basic compared to MailerLite or Brevo. But if you want a tool that just sends emails well without overwhelming you with features, it is a solid choice.

Key features include:

•Email campaigns
•Automations
•Landing pages
•Signup forms
•Segmentation
•Analytics
•Integrations

Pros

Generous free tier

Very simple to use

Affordable paid plans

Cons

Fewer features than competitors

Basic automation

Limited templates

Free planEmail Marketing

5. Listmonk

Open SourceGenerous Free Tier

Self-hosted newsletter manager. Open source, no limits, completely free.

Listmonk is a high-performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager. It is completely free and open source, with no limits on subscribers, emails, or features.

Why Self-Host Your Newsletter

Using a self-hosted newsletter tool means no per-subscriber pricing, no monthly caps, and full control over your data. Listmonk connects to any SMTP provider (Amazon SES, Postmark, etc.), so your email sending costs stay minimal.

What You Get

Unlimited subscribers - No caps on your list size
Unlimited emails - Send as many campaigns as you need
Campaign management - Create, schedule, and track email campaigns
Template editor - Build email templates with a rich text editor
Analytics - Track opens, clicks, and bounces
Bounce handling - Automatically manage hard and soft bounces
API - Full REST API for programmatic access
Media management - Upload and manage images for your campaigns

What to Know

Listmonk requires a server to host (a $5/month VPS works fine) and basic technical knowledge to set up. There is no drag-and-drop visual editor; you work with HTML templates. But for the technically inclined, it is the most cost-effective way to run a newsletter at scale.

Key features include:

•Campaign management
•Subscriber management
•Template editor
•Analytics
•Bounce handling
•API
•Media management

Pros

Completely free

No limits

Fast and lightweight

Active development

Cons

Self-hosting required

No visual drag & drop editor

Technical setup

Free planEmail Marketing

6. Kit

FreemiumGenerous Free Tier

Creator-focused email marketing with 10,000 subscribers free.

Kit is an email marketing platform built for creators. Whether you are a writer, podcaster, YouTuber, or course creator, Kit is designed around growing and monetizing an audience.

Why Creators Choose Kit

Most email marketing tools are built for e-commerce or enterprise. Kit is different. The entire product is designed around the creator workflow: build an audience, nurture it with content, and sell digital products directly to your subscribers.

What You Get for Free

10,000 subscribers - The largest free subscriber limit of any email marketing tool
Unlimited email broadcasts - Send as many emails as you need, no monthly cap
Landing pages and signup forms - Unlimited, with decent templates to get started
Audience tagging and segmentation - Organize subscribers based on interests and behavior
Digital product sales - Sell ebooks, courses, and downloads directly through Kit
1 visual automation - Set up a basic automated email sequence

The Trade-offs

The free plan limits you to one automation workflow, so complex drip sequences require upgrading. There is no A/B testing, and reporting is basic. But for a creator just starting out, 10,000 free subscribers with unlimited sends is hard to beat anywhere.

Key features include:

•Email broadcasts
•Visual automations
•Landing pages
•Signup forms
•Subscriber tagging
•Digital products
•Creator Network
•Integrations

Pros

Huge free subscriber limit

Clean creator-focused interface

No branding on free plan

Sell digital products for free

Cons

Limited to 1 automation on free plan

No A/B testing on free plan

Less suited for e-commerce

Free planEmail Marketing

7. Sender

FreemiumGenerous Free Tier

Email and SMS marketing with 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails/month free.

Sender is an email and SMS marketing platform that quietly offers one of the most feature-complete free plans in the industry. While bigger names get the attention, Sender delivers more for free than most competitors.

Why Sender Stands Out

Unlike many tools that lock automation behind a paywall, Sender gives you full automation capabilities on the free plan. Premade workflows, triggers, and conditions are all available from day one.

What You Get for Free

2,500 subscribers - Enough to build a solid early-stage list
15,000 emails per month - A generous send limit for the subscriber count
Full email automation - Premade workflows and custom automation builder included
Landing pages and popups - Build signup pages and capture leads on your site
Transactional email support - Send order confirmations and receipts alongside campaigns
Drag-and-drop email builder - Clean editor with a solid template library
Segmentation - Target specific subscriber groups based on behavior

The Trade-offs

Sender branding appears on forms, popups, and emails on the free plan. The template library is smaller than Mailchimp or Brevo. But for raw feature access on a free tier, Sender is hard to beat.

Key features include:

•Email campaigns
•SMS marketing
•Automation
•Popups
•Forms
•Segmentation
•Reporting
•Integrations

Pros

Generous free plan

Full automation included

Good deliverability

Easy to use

Cons

Sender branding on free plan

Smaller template library

Less well-known

Free planEmail Marketing

8. Systeme.io

FreemiumGenerous Free Tier

All-in-one marketing platform with 2,000 contacts and unlimited emails free.

Systeme.io is not just an email marketing tool. It is an all-in-one business platform that bundles email marketing, sales funnels, online courses, a blog, and more into a single product. For solopreneurs who want to avoid juggling five different tools, it covers a lot of ground.

Why Solopreneurs Choose Systeme.io

Instead of paying for separate email, funnel, course, and website tools, Systeme.io combines everything. The free plan is surprisingly generous, letting you run a small business without paying for anything.

What You Get for Free

2,000 contacts with unlimited emails - No monthly send cap
3 sales funnels - Build complete marketing funnels with landing pages and checkout
1 online course - Host and sell a course directly on the platform
1 blog with unlimited posts - Built-in blogging with a custom domain
1 automation rule and 1 workflow - Basic automation to get started
Coupon codes - Run promotions on your digital products
Unlimited file storage - No limits on uploaded content

The Trade-offs

Each individual feature is not as deep as a dedicated tool. The email editor is more basic than MailerLite. The funnel builder is simpler than Leadpages. But the breadth of what you get for free is unmatched. If you need email, funnels, and courses in one place without paying, Systeme.io delivers.

Key features include:

•Email marketing
•Sales funnels
•Online courses
•Website builder
•Automation
•Affiliate program
•Blog
•Community

Pros

All-in-one platform

No branding on free plan

Unlimited emails

Courses and funnels included

Cons

Limited automations on free plan

Fewer integrations

UI can feel basic

Free planEmail Marketing Marketing

9. Moosend

FreemiumLimited Free Tier

Email marketing with automation, landing pages, and great deliverability.

Moosend is an email marketing and automation platform known for its clean interface and strong automation builder. It offers a 30-day free trial rather than a permanent free plan, but the trial gives you access to the full feature set.

Why Teams Try Moosend

Moosend strikes a balance between simplicity and power. The automation builder is visual and flexible, and the email editor produces clean, responsive designs without much effort.

What You Get During the Trial

Full feature access - Everything Moosend offers, unrestricted for 30 days
Unlimited emails - No send caps during the trial period
Visual automation builder - Create complex workflows with drag-and-drop
Landing pages - Build signup and campaign pages
Reporting and analytics - Detailed campaign performance data
Segmentation - Target subscribers based on behavior and demographics

The Trade-offs

This is a 30-day trial, not a permanent free plan. After the trial, the cheapest plan starts at 9 dollars per month for 500 subscribers. If you are evaluating email marketing tools, the trial gives you enough time to test everything. But if you need a long-term free option, other tools on this list are better suited.

Key features include:

•Email campaigns
•Marketing automation
•Landing pages
•Subscription forms
•Reporting
•Segmentation
•Personalization
•A/B testing

Pros

Excellent deliverability

Intuitive editor

Good automation

Cons

No permanent free plan

Smaller integration library

Free planEmail Marketing

10. Benchmark Email

FreemiumLimited Free Tier

Easy email marketing with 500 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month free.

Benchmark Email is a straightforward email marketing platform that focuses on making email creation easy. The standout feature on the free plan is AI-powered content generation built right into the editor.

Why Small Businesses Choose Benchmark

Benchmark does not try to be everything. It focuses on email marketing and does it well, with a clean interface that is easy to pick up. The AI writing tools help you create professional emails faster.

What You Get for Free

500 contacts - Solid starting point for a new business
2,500 emails per month - A 5x send ratio per subscriber
AI writing tools - Generate subject lines, body text, and images using AI
Drag-and-drop email builder - Clean editor with responsive templates
Automation Lite - Set up basic automated email series
Tagging and segmentation - Organize contacts by behavior and attributes
Signup forms - Embed forms on your website to capture leads
Detailed reporting - Open rates, click rates, and engagement metrics

The Trade-offs

The 500 contact cap is modest. Automation is limited to the Lite version, which covers basic sequences but not complex branching workflows. The template library is solid but smaller than Mailchimp. If AI-assisted email creation matters to you and you are just getting started, Benchmark is worth trying.

Key features include:

•Email campaigns
•Automation
•Landing pages
•Surveys
•Reporting
•A/B testing
•RSS campaigns
•Integrations

Pros

Very easy to use

No branding on free plan

Good template editor

Multi-language support

Cons

Small free plan

Lite automation only

Fewer advanced features

Free planEmail Marketing

11. Omnisend

FreemiumLimited Free Tier

E-commerce email and SMS marketing with 250 contacts and full automation free.

Omnisend is an e-commerce marketing platform that combines email, SMS, and web push notifications in a single tool. It is built specifically for online stores, with deep integrations into Shopify, WooCommerce, and other e-commerce platforms.

Why E-commerce Teams Choose Omnisend

Omnisend is the only free plan that gives you email, SMS, and push notifications together. For online stores, that multi-channel approach drives more sales than email alone.

What You Get for Free

250 contacts - Small but enough to test the platform
500 emails per month - Covers basic campaigns for a new store
60 free SMS credits per month - Send order updates or promotions via text
500 web push notifications per month - Re-engage visitors who left your site
Full automation - Pre-built e-commerce workflows like abandoned cart and welcome series
Segmentation - Target customers based on purchase behavior and engagement
Unlimited landing pages, popups, and forms - Capture leads across your store

The Trade-offs

The 250 contact and 500 email limits are tight. Omnisend branding appears on free plan emails. The best features and integrations are designed for Shopify, so non-Shopify stores get less value. But if you run an online store and want to test email plus SMS plus push notifications together, no other free plan covers all three channels.

Key features include:

•Email campaigns
•SMS marketing
•Push notifications
•Automation
•Segmentation
•Popups
•Product reviews
•E-commerce integrations

Pros

Full automation on free plan

Multi-channel (email + SMS + push)

Built for e-commerce

Pre-built workflows

Cons

Omnisend branding on free plan

Small contact limit

Best features need Shopify

Free planEmail Marketing

Why start free before committing to Mailchimp?

Mailchimpis a great product. But committing to a paid plan before you've tested it in your workflow means you're guessing about what you actually need.

The tools listed above let you start free and get real experience. You'll learn which features matter to your business, which ones you never use, and whether upgrading to Mailchimp or staying with an alternative makes more sense long-term.

Start free, test thoroughly, and upgrade with confidence when the time is right.

Want an EU-hosted option instead? Here are the European alternatives to Mailchimp on EuropeanMartech.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why start with a free alternative to Mailchimp?

Testing tools on a free plan lets you evaluate them in your actual workflow. You'll know exactly what you need before committing to a paid plan, whether that's Mailchimp or one of these alternatives.

Are these tools good enough to grow with?

These tools are used by thousands of businesses at every stage. Their free plans are designed to let you evaluate thoroughly. When you're ready to scale, upgrading is straightforward.

When should I upgrade from the free plan?

Upgrade when you consistently hit the free plan's limits and a paid tier would save you meaningful time or unlock features your business needs. You'll know when it's time.