Using Email marketing software with a proven strategy designed to directly promote a commercial message to a group of people using email is the best you can offer to your business.
Due to the rise in smartphone users, the popularity of email marketing is also increasing. This allows businesses to connect with customers or potential customers and share their messages.
There are several email marketing software on the market. Some are free while others offer an open plan up to a certain amount of subscribers.
Nevertheless, there are plans available that fit every business size and model. These software assists in growing and managing your email list. Some do have a sophisticated database that helps in segmenting your subscribers by demographic slices and engagement levels.
Your choice of email marketing software depends on your:
- Goals
- Content Marketing objectives
- Budget
#Emailmarketing drives more conversions than any other #marketing channel, including search and social. #digitalmarketing Click To Tweet
25 Best Email Marketing Software
1. MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the world’s most extensive email marketing automation software, enjoying 15 million users all across the globe.
Its users include businesses of almost every category like small size to ECommerce stores to the leading giants.
Its free version is an excellent choice for small firms that are not looking for much customization features. Recently they included automation to this plan hence giving many opportunities to small business owners. The paid version starts at $10/month.
2. Zoho Campaigns
This is another great email marketing software, designed specifically for the small to mid-sized businesses to help them automate entire marketing processes. It helps in managing email campaigns as well as to maintain your mailing lists.
It is free up to your first 2000 subscribers. However, if you want automation and autoresponders, consider the paid version that starts at $5 for up to 500 subscribers.
3. ActiveCampaign
This is the backbone of almost all the leading email marketing software. Specifically designed for small to medium-sized businesses, ActiveCampaign is the most feature-packed email marketing automation tool.
While its plans start at $9 per month, you can also book a free trial and see if it works for you.
Most marketers refer to it as the Lite version of InfusionSoft. This email marketing software comes with features like:
- Email marketing which includes Email Segmentation, Subscription Forms, Dynamic Content, Split Testing.
- Marketing Automation and includes Site and Event Tracking, Lead & Contact Scoring, Automation Goals, Attribution, SMS Marketing, Site Messaging, and Split Action.
- A CRM that includes Sales Automation, Contact Management, Contact, and Lead Scoring and Gmail Extension.
4. GetResponse
Here is an email marketing software which offers you something different. It offers 500+ beautifully designed email marketing templates (all responsive), making it easier for the beginners to launch a marketing campaign like a pro.
Create a professional looking newsletter and autoresponders without having any technical skills. GetResponse offers:
- Email marketing
- Marketing Automation
- Landing pages
- Autoresponders
- Enterprise Solutions
5. ConvertKit
Designed specifically for bloggers, this offers a broad range of unique tools to make it easy for bloggers to promote their content via emails.
Its automation features are unique just like ActiveCampaign, but not at the expense of functionality. The only con of ConverKit is that it is on the higher end of the price spectrum with pricing starting at $29 for the first 1k subscribers.
Note that all plans come with Unlimited:
- Forms,
- Courses,
- Landing Pages,
- Automation Rules,
- Emails, etc.
6. Aweber
You might find it a bit outdated at first sight, but Aweber is the most cost-efficient and easy to use tool for email marketers. It has all the essential features you would want, without being too feature heavy. Plans start at $19 for up to 500 subscribers. They also offer a free one month trial. Some of their features include:
- Autoresponder Follow Up
- Sign Up Forms with Style
- Subscriber Segmenting
- Email Marketing Tracking
- Expert Customer Service
- Email Marketing Campaigns drag and drop editor
- Landing Pages
- Drag-and-Drop Editor
- RSS to Email
7. Infusionsoft
If you are a startup and have a small budget, then it may not be your best tool. The pricing starts at $99 per month plus the kick-starter package (one-time fee) starting at $999.
However, the price is justified as it is a complete sales and marketing automation tool. This powerful tool offers:
- CRM for small business
- Marketing automation
- Sales automation
- Online sales to control your cash flow
- Robust Analytics dashboard
8. Klaviyo
Klaviyo is one of the best tools for e-commerce marketers. They make it easy to target and optimize email marketing and Facebook Ads campaigns. The robust segmentation makes it easy to gather data and segment your audience according to their needs. You may bid goodbye to your old Excel sheet files.
Like Benchmark email and Active Campaign, you can automate trigger email sequences based on the actions they take. Klaviyo bases its reporting on actual transactions. This helps you to see and measure how much you have earned, and your marketing ROI.
9. Constant Contact
Constant Contact has one of the best available user interfaces, and their overall services are very satisfying. For the beginners, creating email newsletters and autoresponders can be quite a challenge. So I can see how this is quite a valuable feature. Pricing starts at $20 for the first 500 subscribers. They also have a 60 FREE trial window.
10. SendinBlue
While this may not be quite famous among email marketers, SendinBlue has a reputation for being one of the best and most reliable transactional email services. They offer a Free plan for a whopping 9000 subscribers!
11. Campaign Monitor
This makes it easy to create, send, and measure the impact of your email campaigns without any technical knowledge. This is achievable using their powerful email builder to design pixel-perfect emails that look incredible in every inbox and on every device. Campaign Monitor cost $9/7Mo for up to 500 subscribers.
90% of #email gets delivered to a recipient’s inbox, whereas only 2% of your #Facebook fans see your posts in their News Feed. Click To Tweet
12. SendPulse
It allows users to communicate with all devices by Email, SMS, Web push, SMTP, etc. They also offer a surprisingly impressive 50% to 100% increase in engagement metrics including page views, click-through-rates, and conversions. SendPluse is free for up to 2500 subscribers and 15 000 emails per month. It cost $9.85 for 2501 email subscribers and above.
13. Malify
Mailify is an email marketing software that works wonders for SMEs. It offers:
- A complete contact list management service,
- an email marketing automation tool and its main strength:
- A gallery with many email newsletter templates that are all professional looking and responsive.
Moreover, as Mailify integrates its service with many other tools such as WordPress, Google Analytics or Prestashop, creating and sending your campaigns is easier than ever, as well as tracking your success.
Try it for free during the first month and fall in love with it; after that, its paid version starts at $9!
14. Moosend
Automate your email marketing campaign and send beautifully designed newsletters for $10 per month (up to 5000 subscribers) using Moosend. It allows you to manage:
- Email campaigns,
- Mailing lists and also send beautiful emails with their responsive email editor.
Note that your first three months are free.
15. Adobe Campaign
Adobe Campaign is specifically designed to manage, automate and optimize programs across emerging and traditional channels. Using this tool, marketers can manage campaigns, resources, customer data and a lot more using just a single platform to improve effectiveness and increase their ROI dramatically.
16. FreshMail
FreshMail provides an affordable email marketing software thus empowering email marketers. It allows users to create newsletters from templates created and designed by award-winning artists, who passed their marketing effectiveness tests. The ‘FreshMail Designer’ is additional benefit you get as an intuitive tool for newsletter creation. You have a free plan until your 500th subscriber. After that, it cost $12/month till 1k subscribers. It offers most email marketing features like:
- Autoresponders
- Text messages
- A/B tests
- Transactional email
- URL-based
- Optimized by weekday
- Optimized by messages
- API-based
- PeriodicScheduled
#Emailmarketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than #Facebook & #Twitter @CampaignMonitor Click To Tweet
17. Smart Mailer
This is a smart, engaging and affordable email automation tool, allowing users to keep email compliant and drive growth. It comes with multiple features like:
- Drag & drop email builder,
- Email list validation,
- Autoresponder Campaigns.
They also offer a free plan for up to $2500 subscribers and a monthly subscription of $10 per 2501 till 5000 subscribers.
18. Emailicious
Emailicious is a great tool to delight your customers. Track results, manage your email list, create custom fields, multiple subscriptions, fast & reliable delivery and a lot more you get at just $25.
They also offer a free plan for the first 5000 subscribers. Their platform helps in strengthening your engagement with your list by:
- Getting to know your customers,
- Sending content they want,
- Delighting and engage with them,
- Tracking results and much more.
19. Elastic Email
Elastic EMail makes sending emails very easy and affordable. Users are allowed to enjoy the seamless Drag & Drop or HTML editor, free templates, email tracker, and a lot more for free. You can send up to 150,000 emails per month for free.
20. iContact
This is a complete package for a successful email marketing campaign. Even though it is somewhat on the pricier side, some of the solutions you get with iContact include:
- Email marketing, Marketing automation, Salesforce integration.
- Drag and Drop Editing & A/B Testing
- Reliable Sending List Management & Autoresponders
- Mobile-focused Design Campaign Tracking
- Social Media Sharing/Posting PDF Links.
Pricing starts at $52/month per 500 subscribers and also includes a one-month free trial.
21. Pardot by Salesforce
This email marketing software is specifically designed for organizations that primarily focus on B2B sales and marketing automation.
With the monthly package of $ 1,000 per month, you are offered support for an extended period and multi-step decisions associated with B2B sales. Its features include:
- Batch email marketing,
- Lead management and nurturing
- In-depth Prospect Tracking
- ROI Reporting
- Forms & Landing Pages
- Standard CRM Integration
- Automated drip marketing and real-time sales alerts.
22. Hubspot
Hubspot is a complete inbound marketing automation software for business owners. It also helps in generating leads, closing deals and managing your email marketing campaigns.
Pro
The CRM from Hubspot is free. Log in your data and manage your sales team in one dashboard.
Con
Hubspot is more expensive if you need an upgrade to a more robust marketing automation system. Pricing starts at $200/month with a required onboarding fee of $600. If pricing is not an issue, then be ready to enjoy features like;
- Content Creation Tools
- Content Optimization
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Suite
- Marketing Analytics Dashboards
- Salesforce Integration
- Smart Content
- Attribution Reporting
- User Roles
- A/B Testing CTAs
- A/B Test Emails and much more.
23. MixMax
Mixmax is “an account-based sales automation platform that actually works.” If you are into prospecting on LinkedIn and sending cold emails, this email marketing software is ideal. With it you can:
- Know precisely who opens your email,
- Schedule meetings in one email instead of ten,
- Create the perfect email with one-click templates,
- Schedule emails and sequences,
- Prevent email from sending even if you hit send,
- Add surveys to emails and much more.
Mixmax integrates with your Gmail account with pricing starting at $9/month. They also offer a free trial.
24. Mailerlite
It is an all in one email marketing software with lots of pro features that facilitates;
- Creating Amazing Campaigns,
- Grow Your Subscriber List,
- Track Your Results,
- Automate Your Email Marketing,
- Send emails Like a Pro,
It is free for up to 1000 subscribers and $10/month from 1001 to 2500 subscribers.
25. Mailshake
Mailshake was officially launched in Dec 2016 and has over the last seven months grown to almost 10k customers with over 10.8 million emails sent. Similar to Mixmax, it integrates with your Gmail account and good for cold email outreach and prospecting. It comes with:
- Lead generation templates.
- Content promotion templates.
- Sales outreach templates.
- Link building templates.
I cannot decide on Mixmax and Mailshake ( for cold email outreach) because their offers are very similar. Have you tried any of them? I would love to get your feedback and recommendations.
I know this is a massive list. There are a few things to consider when selecting an email marketing software for your business. I will personally go for software that has a mobile app and offers marketing automation. The former will enable you to check your statistic on the go.
Which email marketing software do you use or are you considering in the near feature?
Our church uses Constant Contact. It seems to work well as my husband is always sending out things
If it works well then that good. What`s important is the ease to use and if it helps in attaining your business goals.
DANG!!!!! Thank you so much for doing all the research so I can make a decision. Campaign Monitor sounds like it will work for one of my clients.
I have not used it but I have read many positive reviews about it.
I haven’t heard of some of these so I’m happy I stumbled upon this article. I am really interested in finding out more about convert kit – I think it has some great features
It is Cassi, especially for bloggers. Maybe you should consider trying it for a month?
I work in marketing and we use InfusionSoft for our email marketing, but I’m going to share these ones with my team!
Thanks for sharing Jasmine, I appreciate it.
Wow, such great information. I’m familiar with some of these but many are new to me.
I am glad that there are several for us to chose depending on our needs Helene.
I use MadMimi for my email newsletter. I like how easily I can customize the content of my emails.
OMG! I forgot MadMimi. Yes, I have a couple of friends using it and they say it is very user-friendly.
Another great reference tool! I’ve been using Aweber from the start and it’s worked for me. Must say there are a lot more options out there, and you’ve done an incredible job of profiling them Apolline.
Yeah, Aweber is good. If it works for you then its better you stick with it. I used them a while back before switching.
What a comprehensive survey! Thanks, Apolline, for the great work you do helping us get these business tools sorted!
Thank you, Reba!
I use Mailchimp at the moment but have been wondering if there is a better choice for me so I am going to sit and go through these and see what looks the best bet for what I need thank you.
MailChimp is good especially with the new automation features they recently released. Did you finally change?
What a great idea – you’re right – 2% of my followers on Facebook see my posts – but almost everyone gets their email!
That’s correct! Also, you need to schedule that at optimal hours to increase your open rates as well.
Mail chimp is awesome a fairly user friendly once you get into it! Love it!
It`s a favorite for a good number of people. I’m glad you love it.
Wow! I had no idea that there were so many available! I want to check out SendinBlue. I think that one might fit my needs the best since I am someone who has no budget for email marketing.
SendinBlue is good! Go for it if it suits your needs.
This post really proves how important email marketing is Apolline, just by virtue of the number of choices there are. I use Mailchimp and have been mostly happy with it. I do know about Constant Contact and Aweber and a few others, but there are some totally new choices I have never heard of. Thanks for sharing the pros and cons and costs of this expansive list of email marketing choices. SendInBlue sounds like a great choice for a free option too. I might check it out as well. Thank you for doing the research and sharing it with all of us!
Thank you, Beverly. SendInBlue is an excellent option if you are sending transactional emails.
I am not familiar with the other software platforms and I love that there are many to choose from depending on the needs of a certain business.
Sure they are and I bet you’ll find the right one when the need arises Anosa.
These are super useful for me and I love Emailicious the best. It will be perfect for my small business 🙂
Good to know Khsuhboo.
What a great resource you’ve created to help business owners Apolline. Technical support is important. Years ago when I was at a conference with Jeff Walker and focusing on my list and marketing, I had Aweber. It was a nightmare. The program was not working and the tech support was useless. It took me two years of working with them and trying to get them to fix the problem. I lost 50% of my list changing from Constant Contact to Aweber so I didn’t want to change again. Finally, after spending 9 hours in one day on tech support with them, they figured out their software issue. Later when I attended a workshop with Patti Keating in Portland, Infusionsoft was there and I changed to them. It’s expensive, but they also have Customer Hub where I deliver my products which works well. I suggest if you plan to go big, start with the software can can support your growth, or find out if the company is going in the direction that you need.
You’re absolutely right Candess. Some of these SaaS are so good that it baffles me when they offer little to no customer service support times of need. Its the exact reason why I moved from 2 previous email marketing software to the one I have now. I have been using it for almost 2 years and love it.
So many choices and you’ve made it much easier to decide with all that information. These services are wonderful and sure do make life easier for businesses. I had no idea any of them existed when I was running my arts and crafts school years ago but now am so pleased to be using MailChimp.
It is a huge list and I bet there are many others which are not included in it. If MailChimp works for you then its better to stick with it. I’ve heard only good reviews from its users.
This is very helpful, I am getting into having a mailing list and newsletter!
Hurray!! Good luck with your list building strategies.
I’ve got to set up email marketing this year, it’s on my to do list. I’m going to check these out and see which one work best for me.
I hope you find what you need from the list Terri.
Truth is, I haven’t use any of this software and it is awesome to know that there are a lot of choices. Will consider some of them for my business in the future
Excellent idea Blair.
Wow.. I didn’t know of all of these. I do use email marketing and have for a few years now. I started with Aweber and still use it to this day. They have amazing customer service. Working on using it more and more after the wedding.
Thanks for a great explanation Apolline!
Thank you too Kristen, and congratulations once more on your wedding.
Email is my least favorite method of communicating with my tribe, although I know it’s supposed to be the most effective. What a great list you’ve provided! I’ve tried quite a few on your list, including Aweber, InfusionSoft, GetResponse, and Campaign Monitor. We finally switched to ConvertKit a few months ago after having many frustrating months with GetResponse. ConvertKit really does offer a lot of the tagging functionality of InfusionSoft at a fraction of the cost. However, IS is amazing and goes beyond email deliverability. Thanks for offering a comparison!
Thank you, Megan! Too bad you had issues with GetResponse. I used them once too before switching to my present email marketing software.
I always wanted to create email subscription but I couldn’t find time to research and learn. Thanks for this article.
I hope you found a favorable one on the list.
NIIICE post. I’ve had Infusionsoft for 4 years now so I’m grandfathered into a pretty nice rate. There are times I’d sure like to switch – like today. They definitely need an upper-level support team. Lead Pages has a new one, no e-commerce is included though, it’s called Drip. I was going to test it for a couple little campaigns. I’d like Hubspot, but I think for the size of my operation it’s around $6000 a month and I’m not even ready to entertain the concept that it may be worth it.
Thanks for the info. I’ll pass it on.
Drip seems to be a good one Cathy…bearing in mind the feedback I’ve received from some of their users. I know Infusionsoft needs to up their game. I have never used them before but hear the complaints from a few users. How did it go with Drip?
I didn’t know about all of these. So many choices! No wonder I had a hard time deciding which one to use, and yet I picked one that’s not on your list, so here’s number 26– Convert Kit. LOL I’m still learning how to use it, but i’ll be sure to let you know how I like it.
Lol! Same with me Jennifer! It wasn’t too difficult for me because I knew the option I wanted in an email marketing tool.
It seems like these email choices have grown. Never had the chance to catch up to know all about the others. Thanks for sharing about the other great choices including the pros and cons. I will find out if I can use anything in this list.
Sure Lorii, the list is getting bigger as many new email SaaS join the market.
Thank you for including FreshMail!
I couldn’t have completed it without Freshmail.
I still respect GetResponse to every other email marketing software. They are cheaper and advanced features for all users.
Yeah, i love them too. In fact, I started off my marketing with GetResponse before I switched later on.
The thing I love most about email marketing is segmentation. I am using Active Campaign and it really Segment my contacts by contact data, campaign interactions, activity on my site, interests/social data, and much more. So i am using this segmentation to explore contacts, send targeted campaigns, and affect automation.
That’s exactly what I love about Active Campaign too. The fact that it enables list segmentation helps you to deliver the right content to the right set of people on your list.
MailChimp is good for small businesses but as we grew we stayed with Remail.io it is cheaper.
I have not heard of, maybe I should check?
You can.They have free trial.
Thank you for this awesome comparison.
You’re welcome!
Thanks, Apolline, I’ve checked an article and it’s really useful, I use Hubspot in my work and recently opened a Mailcheck service.
They help me to track my leads and verify all of the coming emails. You can add it here as well
Sure, I’ll check on that Serhiy. Thank you for the recommendation.