Updated: January 2026
Have you been tempted to switch email platforms because you feel your newsletters could be doing more?
Maybe you want to automate onboarding emails.
Maybe you want to nurture leads or re-engage past users.
Or maybe you’re tired of the “spray and pray” approach and need something that actually ties into your customer journey.
At StreamAlive, we use Substack for newsletters and Customer.io for transactional emails. Substack makes it simple to publish thought leadership and updates to our audience, while Customer.io handles the system messages triggered from the product. But we often get asked why we don’t just use tools like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or Brevo for everything.
The short answer: those tools are built for different kinds of companies. Some want to focus on nurturing leads. Some focus on simple newsletters. Others focus on e-commerce to sell to existing customers. Some aim to be mini-CRMs. The key is knowing which type of email marketing tool fits your business model and maturity stage.
Make sure you’re looking at the right email marketing tools
Before you continue, let’s make sure you’re looking at the right set of tools for your email marketing requirements.
| Email Campaign Type | What It’s Used For | Typical Goals | Best Tool Categories | Examples of Tools | Why These Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newsletters & Content Updates | Regular communication to build audience trust and share updates, insights, or thought leadership | Build brand awareness, nurture relationships, stay top of mind | Email Newsletter Platforms | Substack, MailerLite, Moosend | Prioritise simplicity, clean templates, and low friction. Designed for consistent, one-to-many content delivery. |
| Lead Nurture & Marketing Automation | Automated drip campaigns that guide leads from signup to activation | Educate, convert, retain users | Email Automation Platforms | Brevo, GetResponse, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot | Allow multi-step workflows, conditional logic, segmentation, and CRM sync for personalised sequences. |
| Transactional & Product Emails | System-triggered emails based on user behaviour (e.g. password resets, onboarding steps, usage summaries) | Drive engagement, improve product activation | Transactional Email Platforms | Customer.io, Postmark, SendGrid, Amazon SES | Handle high reliability and deliverability for one-to-one product messages. API-first and event-driven. |
| Promotional & E-Commerce Campaigns | Sales-focused announcements or offers sent to existing customers | Increase conversions, repeat purchases | E-Commerce Email Platforms | Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, Brevo | Deep integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. Offer product recommendations and cart recovery. |
| Cold Outreach & Prospecting | Outbound campaigns to new leads not yet opted in | Generate meetings, demos, or replies | Cold Email Tools | Instantly.ai, Woodpecker, Apollo, Lemlist | Built for deliverability, sequencing, and personalisation at scale; not for opt-in subscribers. |
| Customer Announcements & Internal Updates | Company or product announcements, team updates, internal communications | Inform and engage existing audiences | General Email Marketing Platforms | Constant Contact, Mailchimp | Easy to use, good for one-off updates, moderate segmentation, and brand consistency. |
How to use this framework
- If your company’s focus is audience building or brand trust, start with a newsletter platform.
- If your focus is lead conversion or lifecycle management, use an automation-first tool.
- If you’re in e-commerce, go for a sales-centric platform.
- If you need reliability for product-triggered emails, choose a transactional provider.
- And if your goal is outreach to net-new prospects, cold-email tools are a separate category entirely.
Why this matters
Too many companies use one tool for every email need and end up frustrated when it doesn’t scale or integrate properly. At StreamAlive, for instance, Substack handles newsletters beautifully but isn’t suited for product-triggered messages or product promotions that’s why Customer.io fills that gap. Similarly, a tool like Brevo could bridge the gap between newsletters, lead nurture automation and webinar invites, but it would still fall short for transactional reliability or cold-outreach use cases.
The best email marketing platforms
Here are six standout platforms I’ve tested or evaluated, with deeper takes on features, pricing, user feedback, and which kinds of organisations each suits best.
Tools covered:
- Constant Contact
- Mailchimp
- GetResponse
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
- MailerLite
- Moosend
How I selected the platforms
I compared each tool on:
- Automation depth — how well it handles drip campaigns, triggers, and sequences
- Ease of setup and design — how quickly a non-designer can send a polished email
- CRM and integration fit — compatibility with marketing stacks, landing pages, and forms
- List management and segmentation — how effectively you can target by persona or stage
- Analytics and deliverability — open, click, and conversion tracking quality
- Pricing and scalability — real cost per contact or email at small and growing volumes
- User sentiment — what real users praise and dislike in daily use
Pricing snapshot
| Platform | Free / Trial Tier | Entry Paid Plan | What You Get in Entry Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Constant Contact | 14-day trial | From $12/month | Basic newsletters, templates, contact list management, simple automation |
| Mailchimp | Free up to 250 contacts | From $13/month | Newsletter templates, scheduling, basic automation, analytics |
| GetResponse | 30-day trial | From $19/month | Automation workflows, funnels, landing pages, lead nurturing |
| Brevo (Sendinblue) | Free plan (300 emails/day) | From $9/month | Email + SMS, workflows, segmentation, CRM, marketing automation |
| MailerLite | Free up to 500 subscribers | From $10/month | Simple newsletters, drag-and-drop builder, basic automation |
| Moosend | 30-day free trial | From ~$9/month | Email campaigns, automation, segmentation, analytics |
Note: Pricing is approximate and subject to change. Always check vendor sites for the latest details.
1) Constant Contact: The easiest way to start sending professional emails
I tried Constant Contact years ago when I worked with smaller B2B clients who didn’t have a marketing tech stack. It’s one of those tools that feels like it was built for people who don’t really want to think about email marketing software. You log in, pick a template, drop in your logo and text, and you’re ready to send.
That simplicity is its strength. For small companies that just need to send newsletters or customer updates, Constant Contact makes sense. It’s easy to use, the templates look clean, and it’s hard to break anything. Deliverability is solid, and it has direct integrations with things like Eventbrite or Shopify if you want to promote events or online stores.
But once you start caring about segmentation or drip campaigns, you quickly hit its limits. I remember trying to set up a simple “if opened → send follow-up” flow and realising the automation options were barebones. Reporting is basic too, which makes it hard to learn much from campaigns beyond open and click rates.
Constant Contact Pricing & Value
Plans start around $12/month, which looks fair until you realise how quickly costs rise once your contact list grows. The entry tier covers basic newsletters, but automation and segmentation require upgrading fast, which erodes the early affordability. For what you get, it feels expensive once you reach scale. Solid and reliable, but limited sophistication for the price.
What Constant Contact Does Well
- Simple drag-and-drop builder, great for non-technical users
- Reliable sending and good deliverability reputation
- Integrations for event invites, small-scale e-commerce, and surveys
- Helpful support for first-time users
Where Constant Contact Can Bite You
- Automation and segmentation are too basic for B2B lead nurture
- The editor feels dated and limited compared to newer tools
- Pricing climbs quickly as lists grow
- Reporting is minimal which fine for newsletters, poor for analysis
Verdict
Constant Contact is fine if you’re a local business, nonprofit, or consultant who just needs to stay in touch with customers. It’s not a growth or conversion platform. For a SaaS or content-driven business, you’ll outgrow it quickly once you need to segment audiences or run automated onboarding and follow-ups.
2) Mailchimp: Still the all-rounder for small teams
Mailchimp has been around forever, and honestly, it’s still good at what it does. At eG Innovations, our regional teams used it for newsletters and webinar invites because it was fast to set up and everyone could use it without training. You can design nice-looking emails, clone campaigns, and schedule follow-ups without involving a developer.
Mailchimp also scales a little better than Constant Contact. It has more templates, slightly stronger automation, and better analytics. I like that you can segment users by behaviour or tags, which is enough for most small-team marketing.
Where it struggles is when you start layering multiple automations, like onboarding sequences, webinar invites, and product updates. The UI gets clunky, and costs climb fast as your list grows. I’ve seen companies hit $400 a month just to keep sending weekly emails to a 50,000-contact list.
Mailchimp Pricing & Value
Mailchimp starts at roughly $13/month and scales by contact count, not usage, which means costs creep up even if you don’t email often. You’re paying for polish and familiarity rather than raw functionality. It’s good value for small lists and simple automation but quickly becomes overpriced for larger audiences or complex workflows.
What Mailchimp Does Well
- Beautiful templates and a friendly UI
- Decent analytics for campaign performance
- Basic automation for welcome sequences or lead magnets
- Integrations with tools like Stripe, Typeform, and WordPress
Where Mailchimp Can Bite You
- Expensive once you have more than a few thousand contacts
- Automation is fine for beginners but limited for complex logic
- List management is rigid, making advanced segmentation tricky
- Support and deliverability vary by plan
Verdict
Mailchimp remains the most balanced “default” choice. It’s perfect for small or mid-size teams that need something quick, reliable, and familiar for newsletters, announcements, and light automation. But if your marketing matures beyond that, for example, if you want triggered emails tied to product behaviour or sales stages, then you’ll need to graduate to something more flexible like Brevo or GetResponse.
3) GetResponse: a step up when you want automation and funnel-style email marketing
I evaluated GetResponse a while back when I was at Unmetric. We were looking for something cheaper than Hubspot, but ultimately chose Mailchimp over GetResponse. What intrigued me was that it’s not just an email sender: it feels closer to a lightweight marketing automation platform. You get landing pages, signup forms, workflows, and automation sequences all in one place. For a product with drip onboarding or lead nurture needs, that’s useful.
I tried a simple onboarding flow using GetResponse: new trial user signs up → welcome email → feature tour → follow-up check-in. It was easy enough to set up and took away manual follow-up burden. The platform isn’t as heavyweight as a full marketing automation suite, but it hits a good middle ground.
If you run webinars, product announcements, or need to nurture leads over time, GetResponse gives flexibility at a reasonable price point. That makes it a realistic alternative when you need more than a newsletter tool but don’t need an enterprise-grade CRM.
GetResponse Pricing & Value
Starting at $19/month, GetResponse feels like strong value for what you get: automation, funnels, and landing pages in one package. It’s cheaper than HubSpot or ActiveCampaign at similar capability levels. Costs climb with list size and advanced features, but it remains one of the better mid-market deals for B2B automation.
What GetResponse does well
- Automation workflows and funnel support (multi-step email sequences, triggers, landing pages)
- Unlimited monthly email sending even on entry-level plan so it’s scalable for growing lists
- Built-in tools for list capture, opt-ins, and conversion-focused outreach (good for SaaS onboarding, lead nurture)
- Decent balance between features and cost, so not overkill if your needs are moderate
Where GetResponse can bite you
- UI and feature set feels more complex than simple newsletter tools with some learning curve
- If you only send occasional newsletters, you may not utilise its full potential (and pay for unused features)
- As automation and campaigns get more sophisticated, you might hit limitations compared to enterprise tools
Verdict
GetResponse is the right “next-level” email marketing tool for companies that need more than newsletters but aren’t ready for a full marketing stack. For B2B SaaS companies with drip campaigns, feature announcements, or onboarding flows, it offers a sensible balance of cost, flexibility, and automation.
4) Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): a flexible, volume-based platform for growing businesses
I used Brevo when I was helping a small non-tech B2B company. What stood out was its flexibility: unlike contact-based pricing, Brevo charges based on volume of emails. That made sense when our list was large but we were only emailing occasionally. It felt cost-efficient and forgiving.
On top of that, Brevo felt more modern than many legacy tools. The interface was easy to navigate, campaign creation was smooth, and automation rules were surprisingly capable for the price. We were able to manage newsletters, promotional blasts, and customer updates all in one place without overpaying for unused features.
For businesses that don’t send frequent blasts but want the option to scale up later, or who combine email with occasional SMS or multi-channel touchpoints, Brevo offers a very sensible entry point.
Brevo Pricing & Value
Brevo’s pricing starts at just $9/month and is one of the fairest models available. You’re not penalised for having a large list, only for how much you actually send. It’s excellent value for companies with big databases but irregular campaigns, though heavy senders may eventually find flat-fee plans cheaper.
What Brevo does well
- Flexible pricing based on email volume rather than contact count makes it cost-efficient for large but lightly-treated lists
- Solid automation and segmentation capabilities for the price, so decent for email + light marketing workflows
- Clean UI and straightforward workflow for sending campaigns or building simple sequences
- Good for mixed-use: newsletters, product updates, promotional campaigns, and occasional multi-channel outreach (email + other channels)
Where Brevo can bite you
- Free plan limits number of daily sends, not ideal for high-volume email windows
- As you scale further (frequent emailing, complex segmentation, heavy automation), you may outgrow the mid-tier plans
- Some features may remain too basic compared to enterprise-grade marketing platforms
Verdict
Brevo is a smart choice for small-to-mid businesses, startups, or any company that values flexibility and wants to avoid paying hefty contact-based fees. It hits a nice sweet spot between affordability and functionality. If you want to run occasional newsletters, customer updates, or moderate marketing campaigns with room to grow, Brevo gives you everything you need without much overhead.
5) MailerLite: clean, lightweight, and great for simple newsletters or content-based outreach
I looked at MailerLite when evaluating tools for a small, non-tech B2B company but ultimately went with Brevo. What I liked was how smooth and minimal the experience was. No bloatware, just a nice editor, clean templates, and predictable pricing. If your main goal is to publish newsletters, blog-update emails, or regular content digests then MailerLite delivers without overcomplicating things.
I used it to send monthly digests and announcements. The learning curve was minimal, and I rarely needed to touch advanced settings. That made it ideal when I didn’t want marketing overhead but just wanted to deliver content consistently.
For small teams or solo creators, MailerLite gives the essentials. It’s not feature-rich compared to automation-first tools, but that can also be a strength: there are fewer distractions, fewer settings to manage, and less risk of messing up complex workflows.
MailerLite Pricing & Value
MailerLite’s paid plan starts at $10/month to send unlimited emails to 500 subscribers, offering excellent value for creators or small businesses. The free plan also allows upto 500 subscribers but limits you to sending 12,000 emails a month, which is the equivalent of sending 24 emails to your entire list each month which no business is likely to be doing. MailerLite is inexpensive but doesn’t strip out essentials like templates and automation. As your subscriber count grows, it remains affordable longer than most competitors, though you’ll outgrow its simplicity before you outspend it.
What MailerLite does well
- Simple, clean interface and easy setup with very low friction for content-based newsletters or small-scale campaigns
- Affordable pricing and free plan exists which good for startups or side projects that don’t yet need heavy automation or segmentation
- Enough functionality for typical newsletter needs: templates, campaign scheduling, basic forms, and segmentation for small audiences
Where MailerLite can bite you
- Lacks advanced automation vs. dedicated marketing tools so not ideal for lead nurturing or behavioural-triggered flows
- Limited segmentation and reporting for larger or more complex contact bases
- As needs scale (e.g. you need onboarding flows, multiple segmentation layers, automated triggers), you may outgrow the platform
Verdict
MailerLite is a great “lean and mean” tool for content-heavy or small-scale email work. If your aim is regular newsletters, occasional updates, or simple outreach within a limited budget then MailerLite is hard to beat. For more complex marketing automation or scaling, you’ll outgrow it, but until then it’s efficient and easy.
6) Moosend: budget-friendly automation for small businesses exploring email marketing
I tested Moosend briefly for StreamAlive but ultimately decided to stick with Substack. What I liked instantly was that even at a low price you get more automation and segmentation than many “starter” tools. It felt like a bridge between barebones newsletter tools and full-fledged marketing suites.
I set up a simple drip campaign tied to purchase behaviour and saw decent results. For the price point, I didn’t expect much, but Moosend delivered enough to make me take it seriously as a budget automation tool.
For small businesses or bootstrapped startups that need automation but don’t want to pay big, Moosend offers a realistic entry point. It’s not flashy, but it gets the job done.
Moosend Pricing & Value
At $9/month to start, Moosend is one of the cheapest ways to access real automation. It undercuts most alternatives while offering enough sophistication for startups and freelancers. Value drops as needs become more complex, but for lightweight automation and newsletters, it punches above its price point.
What Moosend does well
- Very affordable for basic automation and segmentation which makes it good value for small budgets or small businesses
- Automation workflows and segmentation that can handle simple nurture flows or drip campaigns without much complexity
- Clean, straightforward email builder and quick to launch campaigns
Where Moosend can bite you
- Limited advanced features with fewer integrations, less sophisticated analytics and CRM-level functionality than bigger tools
- May feel basic if you try to scale up to larger lists or more complex workflows
- Support and ecosystem is lighter than more established platforms
Verdict
Moosend is a smart starting point for small teams, side projects, or early-stage businesses. If you want some automation but have minimal budget, it’s a workhorse for basic drip campaigns or marketing emails. But as you grow, you’ll likely need to migrate to a more robust platform.
Final picks & what you should use
The best email-marketing tool depends on your use case and stage of growth.
| Need / Use Case | Best Platform | Why This Platform Wins Over Others |
|---|---|---|
| Simple newsletters and announcements | Constant Contact | Designed for small organisations that just need to send updates without complex workflows. Reliable deliverability and quick setup. |
| All-round balance of ease and power | Mailchimp | Broad feature coverage with solid templates, analytics, and integrations. Good default for SMB marketing teams. |
| Lead nurture and conversion funnels | GetResponse | Combines automation, funnels, and landing pages in one tool. Ideal for B2B and SaaS lead nurturing. |
| Multi-channel marketing on a budget | Brevo (Sendinblue) | Offers automation, SMS, CRM, and fair pricing by email volume. Great for teams needing cross-channel workflows. |
| Low-cost newsletter simplicity | MailerLite | Best for creators or small businesses sending simple newsletters without needing CRM or complex automation. |
| Affordable automation testing ground | Moosend | Cheapest entry point to real automation and segmentation. Good for experimenting before scaling to a larger platform. |
Overall thoughts: which tool for what kind of company
Based on my own background (using Substack for content newsletters and Customer.io for product-related emails), here’s how I see each tool fitting into a realistic email marketing strategy:
- If you just need simple newsletters or occasional announcements: Constant Contact, MailerLite, or Moosend are easy, affordable, and low-maintenance.
- If you want a reliable, general-purpose email platform that balances usability and modest marketing needs: Mailchimp remains a safe generalist, especially for small-to-mid teams not ready for heavy automation.
- If you plan to grow marketing efforts, run drip campaigns, lead nurture, or use email as an ongoing funnel channel: GetResponse and Brevo stand out. GetResponse brings automation and funnel-style email flows. Brevo adds flexibility with volume-based pricing and is good if you expect fluctuations in send frequency.
- If you’re budget-conscious but want automation without feature overload: Moosend and MailerLite give a “lean startup” email approach: simple, manageable, and scalable until you outgrow them.
For a SaaS or B2B company, if you foresee running lead nurture flows, onboarding sequences, product announcements, and occasional content newsletters, I’d lean toward Brevo or GetResponse. If you just want to send occasional newsletters or content updates and want minimal fuss, then MailerLite or Moosend keep it simple and cheap.
If you’re happy with your current split (Substack + transactional email tool) and only occasionally need marketing blasts, sticking with that or using a light tool like MailerLite might still make sense.
And if you’re a company like StreamAlive (using Substack for editorial newsletters and Customer.io for product triggers) these tools may overlap rather than replace your existing setup. Choose based on where you want automation to live: in your marketing funnel or your content workflow.
Missing a tool?
Am I missing an email marketing tool from this list? Let me know!
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Disclosure: Editorial rankings are based on hands-on testing, evaluation of public user feedback, and real-world usage.