Independent pricing reference

Email marketing prices, verified - not estimated.

Every platform prices by list size, then hides the numbers behind sliders and “contact us” buttons. SendCosts reads official pricing pages by hand and publishes the actual monthly cost at real list sizes, with the check date on the page. Where a vendor refuses to publish a price, we print “Not published” - never a guess.

Official sources only Last full check: Oct 4, 2026 37 verified tier prices 11 tools compared No invented numbers
37
tier prices verified on official pages
15
plans tracked in the calculator
40×
Kit free-plan headroom vs Mailchimp (10,000 vs 250 subscribers)
Oct 4, 2026
date of the last full price check

Cheapest verified prices right now

The lowest officially published price at each of the larger list sizes. Plans whose vendors do not publish that tier cannot appear here - that absence is information too.

Cheapest verified monthly price by list size (verified Oct 4, 2026)
List sizeCheapest verified planPrice
5,000 contactsSender Standard$39/mo
10,000 contactsSender Standard$69/mo
25,000 contactsSender Standard$149/mo

What 1,000 contacts actually cost (verified Oct 4, 2026, top 5)

Lowest verified monthly prices at 1,000 contacts
Tool & planCost at 1,000 contacts
ActiveCampaign Starter$15/mo
GetResponse Starter$19/mo
Omnisend Standard$20/mo
AWeber Lite$25/mo
Drip Single plan$39/mo

Only prices published in an official table are ranked. Tools that hide per-contact pricing (Mailchimp, Kit) appear in the full calculator with their official starting prices and an honest “not published” note. See every list size →

Start with the guide that matches your question

Tool

Email Marketing Pricing Calculator

15 plans at 500-25,000 contacts, cheapest verified first. Blanks stay blank.

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Guide

Mailchimp Alternatives With Real Prices

Five verified alternatives, each with a numeric anchor and one explicit tradeoff.

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Head-to-head

Mailchimp vs Kit: A Clear Verdict

Free-plan ceilings, billing units, automation - and a verdict by list size.

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Guide

Best Email Marketing Software for Creators

Kit-led picks by scenario: starting out, selling products, automation-heavy.

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How to choose, in four checks

  1. Count what the vendor counts. Contacts, subscribers, and profiles are different billing units. Kit bills active subscribers (deduplicated); Mailchimp bills contacts in your audience; HubSpot bills seats plus marketing contacts. Compare the billable count, not the headline tier name.
  2. Check the send cap, not just the contact tier. Most plans allow 10-15× your contact count in monthly sends. If you email daily, the send cap is your real price. Brevo inverts this entirely: it prices per send and stores up to 100,000 contacts free.
  3. Price your list in 12 months, not today. A free plan that ends at 250 contacts (Mailchimp) is a migration waiting to happen. Use the calculator at the list size you expect next year.
  4. Separate the monthly price from the annual price. We publish monthly prices so plans compare fairly; several vendors discount annual billing (MailerLite by 10%). Check both before you commit.

Why you can trust these numbers

Frequently asked questions

What does SendCosts do differently from other comparison sites?

Two things. First, every price here was read on the vendor's own pricing page, official help docs, or a vendor-published table - never copied from another review site. Second, when a vendor does not publish a price, the cell says 'Not published' instead of showing an estimate. Most comparison sites fill those blanks; we leave them blank and say why.

How much does email marketing cost at 5,000 contacts?

On verified official prices, the cheapest published option at 5,000 contacts is Sender Standard at $39/mo, followed by AWeber Lite at $60/mo and MailerLite Power at $69/mo. The full ranked table, including the plans whose vendors do not publish this tier, is in the pricing calculator.

Are the prices on SendCosts current?

Every figure carries a verification stamp - the current full-check date is Oct 4, 2026. Vendors change prices without notice, so treat any figure older than the stamp as unverified and check the vendor page before buying. We re-check on a rolling basis and update the stamp.

Does SendCosts make money from these recommendations?

Yes, transparently: some product links are affiliate links that may pay a commission at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change a published price, the calculator's cheapest-first order, or any verdict. Two vendors here pay nothing usable (Mailchimp's program is agency-only) and are covered anyway.

Affiliate disclosure: product links on this page are affiliate links (rel="sponsored"). We may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change a price we publish - every figure below was verified on the vendor's own site on Oct 4, 2026. How we verify.