The best newsletter software include GetResponse, Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, MailerLite, Sendinblue, AWeber, Mailjet, and Benchmark.
But do you know which one of these is the best for your company?
Choosing the right email platform can be tough, as once you commit and start sending email campaigns, it’s hard to pause the activity and start from scratch.
You might miss a weekly newsletter or two. And then there’s the hassle of migrating your email list along with all the customer data or popups from one platform to another.
No single email newsletter software is “the best of them all.” There’s only the software that’s best for you… And we’re here to help you find which one is best aligned with your specific marketing needs.
So, let’s dig into 10 of the best email newsletter apps on the market and make your job a little easier.
First, what’s email newsletter software?
If you’re new to email marketing, the idea of email newsletter software might be alien to you.
Instead of sending individual emails from your normal email program (Outlook, Gmail, etc), with a newsletter software product, you can build an email list of contacts who receive your newsletter(s) on a regular basis.
Inside your email marketing software, you can expect to see these key sections:
- Audiences (a.k.a. Contacts): different segments of your contacts who will receive content personalized to their marketing persona.
- Campaigns (a.k.a. Newsletters or Broadcasts): you can set up personalized campaigns for each audience. For example, if you have contacts on your list who sign up to receive your newsletters on event planning, you know they’re interested in the topic. So you can set up a campaign to sell them a course on the topic. Typically, you’d be sending them a series of emails focused on persuading them to buy the course.
- Automations (a.k.a. Journeys): instead of sending manual emails each week, you can build custom automations based on certain triggers, like “sign-up” or “did not open”.
Now that we know what email newsletter software is, let’s get into 10 of the best to see if they will meet your business needs.
10 best email newsletter tools to consider
| 1. GetResponse | Pros: – Wide range of stunning prebuilt email, popup, and landing page templates – Advanced email builder with multiple testing and optimization capabilities – Forms and popups creators offer 30+ targeting options – Award-winning customer support available 24/7 Cons: |
| 2. Mailchimp | Pros: – Email creator offers useful solutions for improved team collaboration and link checking – Integration with Canva – Creative assistant feature that scans your website for branded assets Cons: |
| 3. Campaign Monitor | Pros: – Good variety of email templates – Email creator offers an easy way to personalize your content – Ability to tag campaigns for simplified analysis Cons: |
| 4. ConvertKit | Pros: – Intuitive popup builder with several prebuilt templates and targeting options – Built-in commerce solutions – Focused on creators Cons: |
| 5. Constant Contact | Pros: – Email creator offers error checker and event promotion tools – Subject line and preheader recommendations based on your past campaigns – Ability to import PDF into email Cons: |
| 6. MailerLite | Pros: – Intuitive signup form and email builder – Cost-effective – Good email templates Cons: |
| 7. Sendinblue | Pros: – Multichannel marketing capabilities – A lot of email templates, although somewhat outdated – Ability to add attachments to your emails Cons: |
| 8. AWeber | Pros: – Decent email builder that comes with prebuilt stock photos – Good landing page templates – Smart designer that helps you create your email based on your website Cons: |
| 9. Mailjet | Pros: – Email creator offers an easy way to personalize your content – Ability to add web fonts to your emails – Unlimited contacts storage on free plan Cons: |
| 10. Benchmark | Pros: – Smart content generator that helps you create copy for your emails – User-friendly email builder with a variety of blocks to choose from Cons: |
Want to see GetResponse in action? Sign up for your 100% free-forever account today.
1. GetResponse (yep, that’s us)
Key features
Alongside a slick UI (user interface) to make creating and sending your first email newsletter as easy as possible, GetResponse includes eight core features to help you craft the right type of email:
- Email creator that lets you design beautiful messages with stunning prebuilt email templates and an intuitive drag and drop editor.
- Newsletters for one-off announcements, sales promos, or weekly/monthly updates.
- Autoresponders to kickstart email sequences when a subscriber enters your funnel.
- Automations with ready-made scenarios for ecommerce and B2B brands that want to engage and sell more to their customers.
- Popups and forms with prebuilt templates and targeting options that’ll help you build your email list, promote deals, and capture lost sales.
- Segmentation and tagging that lets you target your audience with laser precision.
- Transactional emails that are triggered by events in your ecommerce store or platform (either via API or our super-easy plugin integration).
- Localized dashboard available in 20+ languages with award-winning customer support available 24/7.
Here’s a quick video overview that shows you what the GetResponse Email Creator is capable of:
You can also see it in action by watching one of our past webinar recordings in our Webinar Library.
Keep in mind that GetResponse isn’t just about email. It also offers multi-channel capabilities extending to popups and forms, live chats, webinars, Facebook and Google ads, websites, and much more.
Free account?
Yes – GetResponse offers a free forever account with storage for up to 500 contacts and access to key email marketing features.
It also includes the website builder, landing page creator, and signup forms. And you don’t need to provide your credit card details to get started.
Pricing
On top of its forever free account, GetResponse has four pricing options available:
- Email marketing: starts at $15 per month for an email list of up to 1,000 subscribers and includes everything you need to run email marketing campaigns – popups and forms, prebuilt email templates, advanced email creator, campaign scheduling, autoresponders, segmentation, reporting, and integrations.
- Marketing automation: starts at $49 per month for an email list of up to 1,000 subscribers. It includes all the features you’ll find in the email marketing plan, plus marketing automation, advanced segmentation, contact scoring, webinars, and more.
- Ecommerce marketing: starts at $99 per month for an email list of up to 1,000 subscribers. It includes all features you’ll find in the marketing automation plan, plus extra features like ecommerce segmentation, promo codes, quick transactional emails, product recommendations, abandoned cart emails, and web push notifications.
- MAX: custom plan with additional features like dedicated IP, dedicated support, migration, single sign-on (SSO), SMS, transactional emails, unlimited sending, and more.
If you opt for a 12-month billing period, GetResponse applies an automatic 18% discount. If you opt for a 24-month billing period, GetResponse applies an automatic 30% discount. You can also get a 50% discount if you’re a non-profit organization.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Wide range of stunning prebuilt email, popup, and landing page templates | Free plan includes autoresponders only for 30 days |
| Advanced email builder with multiple testing and optimization capabilities | Personalizing email content based on conditions can be challenging |
| Forms and popups creators offer 30+ targeting options | SMS only available in the top plan |
| Award-winning customer support available 24/7 |
Summary
GetResponse is perfect for businesses looking to send their first email newsletter and for experienced marketing teams looking for a more modern approach to email marketing.
With GetResponse, you get access to free customizable templates, using which you can set up your first newsletter campaign, and start monitoring your contacts’ user behavior. All of this is available so you can make data-backed decisions for your campaigns.
On top of that, you also get access to all the other marketing tools you’ll need to build a strong online presence, like the website builder, live chat, Facebook ads, and more.
Not to mention the fact, that if you ever get stuck, you’ll have 24/7 assistance from our award-winning Customer Support Team.
Editor’s note: Got an online store with Shopify? Check out how GetResponse Shopify integration can help you grow your shop today!
2. Mailchimp
Key features
- Standard email newsletter functionalities with features allowing simplified collaboration with your team members
- Easily automate and monitor scheduled email campaigns
- Resend emails to non-openers using different subject lines to encourage more opens
There’s also integration with Facebook and Instagram ads, landing pages, and postcards for large teams running campaigns cross-platform.
Free account?
Yes—Mailchimp offers a free account that supports up to 500 contacts and lets you send 1,000 emails per month.
It also includes other features, such as the landing page builder, social posting, postcards, paid ads, or email support for the first 30 days.
Pricing
Mailchimp offers three paid packages:
- Essentials: $13 per month for up to 500 contacts and 5,000 monthly email sends
- Standard: $20 per month for up to 500 contacts and 6,000 monthly email sends
- Premium: $350 per month for up to 10,000 contacts and 150,000 monthly email sends
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Email creator offers useful solutions for improved team collaboration and link checking | Very limited free prebuilt email templates |
| Integration with Canva | Email creator is quite rigid and offers no easy way to add custom fonts or a preheader to your message |
| Creative assistant feature that scans your website for branded assets | No free stock photos available |
| Very limited number of popup layouts |
Summary
At first, you may find it hard to get up to speed quickly with Mailchimp — especially if you’re new to email marketing. But after some time of practice, you’d realize it’s a great tool.
Once you’ve created your first email campaign, replicating an existing email is easy, so you can tweak from there. And whenever you need help with something you’re doing for the first time, Mailchimp has an extensive support library and is always responsive on Twitter.
The platform’s particularly popular among new email marketers with smaller databases. Once their email lists grow, however, many marketers opt for more cost-effective newsletter services. Especially following after their recent pricing changes.
Related: Mailchimp alternatives and competitors review
3. Campaign Monitor
Key features
- Intuitive user interface
- Data-based personalizations for your various audiences
- The Link Review tool points out any broken links without you having to lift a finger
Free account?
Yes—you can get an indefinite free account for audiences of five or fewer subscribers.
Pricing
You can sign up for Campaign Monitor via three different packages:
- Basic: access core features, store 500 contacts, and send up to 2,500 emails for $9 per month.
- Unlimited: uncap your email sending limit, store 500 contacts, and get priority support for $29 per month.
- Premier: unlock advanced segmentation features, get premier support, and store 500 contacts for $149 per month.
You can also choose to pay per campaign if you are an infrequent newsletter sender.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Good variety of email templates | Very simple signup form builder with no prebuilt templates or targeting options |
| Email creator offers an easy way to personalize your content | Email creator offers only a basic desktop and mobile preview |
| Ability to tag campaigns for simplified analysis | Ability to export stats reports in PDF only |
Summary
Campaign Monitor is a solid choice if you want to do email marketing.
The signup form and email builder may feel quite outdated, but they’re intuitive, so you won’t have trouble succeeding with your campaigns.
For advanced users, it offers useful reporting features, including tagging and click maps, that’ll let you get a quick overview of your results.
In-depth comparison: GetResponse vs. Campaign Monitor
4. ConvertKit
Key features
- Plain email creator
- Built-in commerce solutions for monetizing your audience
- Intuitive signup form creator
Free account?
Yes—you can get a free trial of the Creator or Creator Pro package.
There is also a free package for up to 1,000 subscribers. But it doesn’t support the migration of contacts from another tool, and you can’t automate sequences or funnels.
Pricing
You can opt for one of two paid tiers with ConvertKit:
- Creator: manage up to 1,000 subscribers for $29 per month.
- Creator Pro: manage up to 1,000 subscribers for $59 per month and get access to Facebook custom audiences, a newsletter referral system, subscriber scoring, and advanced reporting.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Intuitive popup builder with several prebuilt templates and targeting options | Basic email creator with only several prebuilt templates |
| Built-in commerce solutions | Basic email automations |
| Focused on creators | Gets expensive once you grow |
Summary
If you are the creative type, Convert Kit is a great tool for growing and monetizing your audience.
In terms of email marketing, its email creator is quite basic. It offers only several prebuilt templates, and you won’t find any advanced features (e.g., inbox preview, spam checker, dark mode preview) that are available on other platforms.
In-depth comparison: GetResponse vs. ConvertKit
5. Constant Contact
Key features
- An intuitive drag and drop experience
- Resend emails to non-openers to improve engagement
- Email marketing automation features to send automated messages based on specific triggers
- Contact segmentation capabilities
Free account?
Yes – you can get a 60-day free trial.
Pricing
Constant Contact operates two pricing tiers for its email newsletter software, and like other tools, its pricing is based mostly on the size of your email list.
- Core: 0-500 contacts for $9.99 per month with 24x the number of sends
- Plus: 0-500 contacts for $45 per month with 24x the number of sends
If you prepay for 12 months, you can get a 15% discount and your first month free.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Email creator offers error checker and event promotion tools | Outdated email builder |
| Subject line and preheader recommendations based on your past campaigns | Outdated email templates with no built-in stock photo library |
| Ability to import PDF into email | Popup form creator with limited editing options and no prebuilt templates |
Summary
Constant Contact offers a good variety of email marketing features, although they’re a bit outdated.
Those planning to use emails to promote their events will find that Constant Contact offers some useful tools, including polls and RSVPs, although they’re only available in the more expensive plan.
In-depth comparison: GetResponse vs. Constant Contact
6. MailerLite
Key features
- Advanced email creator
- Intuitive popup form builder
- Click maps and “opens by location” reports
Free account?
Yes—the free plan offers many features for businesses with under 1,000 subscribers.
You can also get a 14-day free trial of the premium license.
Pricing
There are currently three premium tiers. Their pricing varies based on the included features and your email list size:
- Growing business: Starts at $10 per month for a list of up to 1,000 contacts and comes with essential email features and 24/7 email support
- Advanced: Starts at $21 per month for a list of up to 1,000 contacts and comes with more advanced features and 24/7 email and chat support
- Enterprise: Custom plan for businesses with lists above 100,000
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Intuitive signup form and email builder | Signup form builder offers limited targeting options |
| Cost-effective | Sometimes slow and unresponsive email builder |
| Good email templates | Quite limited landing page builder |
Summary
MailerLite offers strong tools to grow and nurture your email list.
Its signup forms and email creator are advanced. However, the latter can sometimes be slow to respond.
It comes with ready-made templates that are modern and will work for most businesses.
In-depth comparison: GetResponse vs. MailerLite
7. Sendinblue
Key features
- Deliver by each subscriber’s time zone
- Easily customizable email newsletter templates
- Marketing automation features available in higher pricing tiers
Free account?
Yes—you can send up to 300 emails a day without handing over your credit card information.
Pricing
You can subscribe to one of three pricing tiers with Sendinblue:
- Starter: send up to 20,000 emails for $25 per month.
- Business: send up to 20,000 emails for $65 per month.
- Enterprise: available via custom quotes if you don’t find what you need in the lower tiers.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Multichannel marketing capabilities | No signup form templates available |
| A lot of email templates, although somewhat outdated | Popups cannot be used to promote offer |
| Ability to add attachments to your emails | Email builder rather rigid, doesn’t let you easily add emojis or videos |
Summary
If you’re trailing email newsletters and have little experience, Sendinblue is a great option at a good price. But like most other tools featured in this guide, when you need to take your campaigns to the next level, you might be raising a business case for an extra budget.
In-depth comparison: GetResponse vs. Sendinblue
8. AWeber
Key features
- Use Aweber’s “Smart Designer” to create well-designed emails
- Drag & drop email creation; no coding knowledge required
- Pre-built email newsletter templates
All you need to do is enter your website address and several suggestions appear after a few seconds of analysis.
Free account?
Yes—you can opt for the free account if you have 500 subscribers or fewer. You get a good chunk of AWeber features but miss out on testing, automation, and removal of its branding.
Pricing
AWeber has three paid tiers:
- Lite: starting at $14.99 per month for a list of up to 500 contacts, comes with essential email, landing page, and automation features. However, it includes AWeber branding.
- Plus: starting at $29.99 per month for a list of up to 500 contacts, comes with more advanced features and lets you remove AWeber branding.
- Unlimited: a custom plan set for brands with 100,000+ contacts, comes with unlimited list storage, unlimited sending volume, and other advanced features
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Decent email builder that comes with prebuilt stock photos | Email builder lacks more advanced features |
| Good landing page templates | Outdated email templates |
| Smart designer that helps you create your email based on your website | No transactional emails |
Summary
The smart designer is a major draw to AWeber for small businesses that don’t have a dedicated graphic designer or time to allocate to playing around with templates.
The sliding scale subscriber model can get fiddly when growing an email audience and constantly changing payment models, though.
In-depth comparison: AWeber alternatives and competitors
GetResponse vs. AWeber feature-by-feature comparison
9. Mailjet
Key features
- Advanced Email Editor: edit and send emails to your contacts
- Segmentation: send emails based on characteristics your subscribers have in common
- Role management: If you’re working as part of a large marketing team, you can define what your colleagues can and can’t access.
Free account?
Yes — there’s a free tier that lets you send up to 200 emails per day and/or 6,000 per month.
Pricing
Once you’ve chosen how many emails you want to send per month (15,000 or more), you can choose from the following licenses:
- Essential: you get essential features and online support and are able to remove Mailjet’s branding from $15 per month for 15,000 emails.
- Premium: comes with more advanced features, and for $25 per month, you can send up to 15,000 emails per month.
- Custom: Mailjet will custom quote when you want to send more than 500,000 emails per month
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Email creator offers an easy way to personalize your content | Only handful of email templates available for automations |
| Ability to add web fonts to your emails | No stock images available to use in your emails |
| Unlimited contacts storage on free plan | Basic email testing capabilities |
| No signup form builder or landing page creator available |
Summary
If you’re an enterprise with hundreds of marketing team members working on several campaigns at any one time, the role management feature stands out.
The free tier is appealing but limited by the small number of emails you can send per day.
10. Benchmark Email
Key features
- Smart content generator
- Drag & drop email builder with global styles editor
- Automations for common scenarios
Free account?
Yes — you can store 500 contacts and send up to 3,500 emails per month on the free plan.
Pricing
There are three paid options for Benchmark:
- Lite: you get 500 contacts storing space, 3,500 monthly sending limit, and essential email, and landing page features.
- Pro: you get 500 contacts storing space, 7,500 monthly sending limit, and more advanced features like email a/b testing.
- Enterprise: for businesses with 25,000 contacts or more, adds email white-labeling, priority support, and a dedicated IP, but you must check with the sales team for a custom quote.
There is a discount applied if you pay annually.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Smart content generator that helps you create copy for your emails | Signup form builder doesn’t include templates or stock photos |
| User-friendly email builder with a variety of blocks to choose from | Somewhat outdated email templates |
| Limited number of landing page templates |
Summary
There are lots of automation and testing features available in the Pro plan that will help your long-term marketing goals.
First-time and trial users may not see the benefits of this email newsletter software until they pay for the next tier.
Conclusion
The raft of options for email newsletter software ranges outside of this top 10. This can make finding the best email newsletter software a daunting task.
Rather than starting a trial and setting up accounts with these 10 (and any other email platform), we’re confident you’ll love GetResponse.
For example: Since starting out with GetResponse, Submission Technology, a lead generation agency, reports it has increased engagement to the tune of a 31% open rate. It also boasts a 7.31% unique click-through rate and 99.2% email deliverability rate.
Gemma Seager, Team Leader of Email & Push Notifications at Submission Technology, particularly loves the Contact list segmentation & A/B testing in GetResponse:
“Contact list segmentation and regular A/B testing allow us to check what really resonates with specific groups of contacts. We collect and analyze data and act on it during next campaigns.”