MailerLite review: the cheapest credible paid plan
MailerLite is the newsletter platform to pick when you want the job done cheaply and well, and the wrong one if your list drives a complicated funnel. Our 1 October 2026 check records a free plan to 1,000 subscribers, Comfort at $12 a month and Power at $25, which is the lowest credible paid entry point in the category.
The short answer
Buy MailerLite if you want to write a newsletter, grow a list and pay as little as possible for it. Comfort is $12 a month and Power is $25, verified against mailerlite.com/pricing on 1 October 2026, and the free plan is permanent to 1,000 subscribers rather than a trial.
Skip it if the list is the engine of a product business with branching automations and tagging at its centre. Kit at $33 a month is built for that and MailerLite is not, and the $21 difference is smaller than the workarounds will cost you.
Where MailerLite fits
MailerLite fits the creator who wants a newsletter rather than a marketing system. It does the core job, a clean editor, a signup form, a schedule and a report, at the lowest paid price in the category, and it does not ask you to understand a tagging model first. That is the specific job it does better than the tools above it.
The free plan is the real entry point and it is permanent. Our 1 October 2026 check records $0 a month up to 1,000 active subscribers, which is enough to carry a newsletter through its first year without a bill. It is a plan, not a trial, so there is no clock to beat.
Paid pricing moves on active subscribers, and the word active matters. The tiers count the people currently on your list rather than everyone who ever joined, so cleaning out dead addresses is a direct way to hold a tier. Comfort is $12 a month and Power is $25 at the entry tier on our check, and both rise with subscriber count.
Against the rest of the category the price is the argument. Kit is $33 a month on Creator and Beehiiv is $43 on Scale, both verified 1 October 2026, so MailerLite at $12 is a third of one and a quarter of the other at the entry tier. For a newsletter that only needs to go out, that gap buys nothing you would miss.
The fit holds up better than the price suggests, because automation exists here, it is simply shallower. A welcome sequence and a basic trigger are within reach on Comfort. What is out of reach is the many-branched funnel that tags a subscriber six ways, and if you have never wanted that, you are not giving anything up.
Where it stops fitting is the moment the newsletter becomes a product business. Selling a course, running a launch sequence and segmenting by behaviour are the jobs that make a creator outgrow this tool, and the newsletter platforms category covers where to go next. Plan the move rather than discovering it mid-launch.
A 30-day free trial is recorded on the top paid tier in our 1 October 2026 snapshot, which is longer than most of this category offers. Note that the snapshot names that tier inconsistently with the plan table it publishes, so confirm which plan the trial applies to on mailerlite.com/pricing before relying on it.
MailerLite pricing
MailerLite publishes a permanent free plan and two paid tiers, both priced on active subscriber count. The figures below were verified against mailerlite.com/pricing on 1 October 2026, and the MailerLite pricing breakdown carries the longer version.
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | Permanent, to 1,000 active subscribers on our check |
| Comfort | $12/mo | $10.80/mo billed annually. Unlimited sends, at the entry subscriber tier |
| Power | $25/mo | $22.50/mo billed annually. Adds the deeper automation and reporting, at the entry tier |
| Enterprise | Custom | Quoted. Our check records no published figure |
The $12 and $25 figures are entry-tier rates rather than the price of the plan. Four things move the number:
- Active subscriber count, which is the model. Both paid tiers are banded on how many active subscribers you hold, so the rates above apply at the entry band. Our 1 October 2026 snapshot does not record the band boundaries, so we state no rate above the entry tier.
- List hygiene, which is a cost control here rather than housekeeping. Because the count is of active subscribers, removing people who never open can hold you inside a band and save a tier step.
- Billing period. Annual billing takes Comfort to $10.80 a month and Power to $22.50, which is $129.60 and $270 across a year against $144 and $300 paid monthly: a saving of $14.40 and $30.
- Whether Power earns its $13 a month. The step from Comfort buys automation and reporting depth, not capacity, so name the thing you cannot do on Comfort before paying $156 a year more for it.
MailerLite pricing against the rest of the category
MailerLite is the cheapest credible paid plan among the newsletter tools we track. Kit is $33 a month on Creator and Beehiiv is $43 on Scale, both verified 1 October 2026, and Ghost is $18 a month on Starter billed annually, verified the same day. Substack has no monthly fee and takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, verified 11 June 2026. On publishing alone MailerLite wins the price comparison outright; the others are charging for automation, growth tooling or ownership.
MailerLite billing terms worth knowing
The free plan's ceiling and the word active are the two things that decide what you pay, so both are worth stating exactly.
- Free plan
- $0 per month to 1,000 active subscribers on our 1 October 2026 check. Permanent, not a trial.
- Free trial
- 30 days, recorded on the top paid tier. Confirm which plan on mailerlite.com/pricing.
- Comfort
- $12 per month, or $10.80 per month billed annually, at the entry subscriber tier.
- Power
- $25 per month, or $22.50 per month billed annually, at the entry subscriber tier.
- Twelve months at the entry rates
- $144 for Comfort and $300 for Power paid monthly; $129.60 and $270 billed annually.
- Sends
- Unlimited on paid plans, so send frequency does not change the bill.
- What raises the price
- Active subscriber count. Our check does not record the band boundaries.
If a MailerLite charge is higher than $12 or $25, the list has almost certainly crossed an active-subscriber band, because that is the only variable the model moves on. Our 1 October 2026 check does not record where those bands sit, so this page quotes no rate above the entry tier rather than estimating one. Our creator tool cost calculators will total a publishing stack across a year once you have your own count.
What MailerLite gives up
Automation depth is the trade and it is the whole trade. You can build a welcome sequence and simple triggers; you cannot build the branching, heavily tagged funnel that a product launch wants. If that sentence describes your plan, the $21 a month you save against Kit is a false economy.
Growth tooling is close to absent. There is no recommendation network and no referral mechanic of the kind Beehiiv built into its product, so finding subscribers remains entirely your problem. MailerLite converts and sends to a list; it does not help you build one.
Commerce is not the centre of the product. Selling a course or a membership means wiring a separate checkout to the list, which is one more integration to own, and the tools that bundle it are charging you for exactly that. Decide which side of that line you are on before committing.
Reporting is adequate and no more on Comfort. You will see opens, clicks and unsubscribes, and you will not get the cohort and revenue reporting a product business wants. The upgrade path is $13 a month to Power, which is cheap by category standards and still a purchase to justify.
The free plan's 1,000-subscriber ceiling arrives sooner than people expect, and it arrives at the worst moment, when the list is growing and the newsletter is working. Budget for Comfort before you need it rather than meeting the limit mid-campaign.
Our snapshot's own trial record is inconsistent: it describes a 30-day trial on a plan name that does not appear in the published plan table. We have not re-verified it, so treat the trial length as something to confirm on mailerlite.com/pricing rather than a fact this page is standing behind.
Deliverability is yours whatever you pay. A cheaper platform does not mean a worse inbox, and it also does not mean help: expect a dip when you migrate a list in, and plan a re-engagement send rather than assuming the first campaign is representative.
How MailerLite compares
The four platforms below are the ones a creator weighs against MailerLite, and the comparison is almost entirely about what you give up for the lower price. Prices are the vendors' published rates with the date each was checked against its own pricing page. The wider field sits in the newsletter platforms category.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | Publishing a newsletter well at the lowest paid price | Free, $12/mo Comfort | Shallow automation, no growth tooling, commerce bolted on |
| Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | Lists that drive a product launch and need tagging | Free, $33/mo Creator | Nearly three times the price for automation you may not use |
| Beehiiv | Newsletters where growth and ad revenue are the product | Free, $43/mo Scale | The most expensive entry paid tier of the four |
| Ghost | Writers who want a site and paid subscriptions they own | $18/mo Starter, annual billing | No permanent free plan, and publishing comes before automation |
| Mailchimp | Teams wanting a broad marketing suite around the email | Free to 500 contacts | Price climbs steeply with contact count |
What to test in a MailerLite trial
The permanent free plan makes this test free and open-ended, so there is no reason to rush it. The question is not whether MailerLite can send your newsletter. It is whether the automation ceiling will stop you inside a year.
- Write and send one real issue in the editor before looking at anything else. The editor is where you will spend your time, and it is the part of this product that most often decides the question.
- Build the most complicated automation you can imagine wanting, then see whether MailerLite will build it. If it will, the price argument is settled in MailerLite's favour.
- Import your real list and check the active subscriber count MailerLite reports. That figure, not your total signups, is what the tiers are banded on.
- Clean the dead addresses out and watch the count fall. On an active-subscriber model that is a direct saving, and it is worth knowing how much before you pay for a band you do not need.
- Confirm the trial length and the plan it applies to on mailerlite.com/pricing. Our snapshot is internally inconsistent on this point and we would rather you read it than trust us on it.
- Total a year on Comfort at $144 against Kit at $396 and Beehiiv at $516, all entry-tier monthly rates verified 1 October 2026. The gap is the automation and growth tooling you are declining.
- Decide where a checkout will live before you need one. Retrofitting commerce onto a list is the job this page would most like you to plan for, and the free resources library has a list migration checklist that covers it.
MailerLite questions buyers ask
How much does MailerLite cost per month?
MailerLite's Free plan is $0 a month and is permanent up to 1,000 subscribers. Comfort is $12 a month and Power is $25 a month, verified on our check of 1 October 2026, or $10.80 and $22.50 a month billed annually, and Enterprise is quoted. Annual billing saves 10% across all paid plans. Pricing scales with your subscriber count.
Is the MailerLite free plan good enough for a real newsletter?
Yes, for most early-stage creators. You get up to 1,000 subscribers, 12,000 emails per month, the drag-and-drop editor, basic automations, signup forms, and 10 landing pages. The limitations: no newsletter templates (design from scratch), MailerLite branding on every email, and email support only for the first 30 days. If you send one newsletter per week, the free plan works until you cross 1,000 subscribers.
Who is MailerLite best for?
MailerLite is best for solo creators, bloggers, small businesses, and freelancers who need a full email marketing toolkit at a budget price. It excels for people who want newsletters, automations, landing pages, and basic digital product sales in one platform. It's less ideal for newsletter-first publishers who need built-in growth tools like referral programs, ad networks, or a reader community.
MailerLite vs Beehiiv: which is better for newsletters?
It depends on your priority. Beehiiv is better if you're building a newsletter-first brand. It has a built-in ad network, referral program, recommendation engine, and SEO-optimized web hosting. Choose MailerLite for affordable email marketing. Choose Beehiiv for newsletter-native growth.
What does MailerLite integrate with?
MailerLite integrates directly with WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe, Facebook, and several other platforms. Through Zapier, you can connect MailerLite with 5,000+ apps including Google Sheets, Notion, Calendly, and Typeform. There's also a well-documented API for custom integrations. The WordPress plugin is particularly strong, letting you embed signup forms and sync subscriber data from your blog.
Can I sell digital products through MailerLite?
Yes. MailerLite lets you sell digital products like ebooks, downloads, and templates directly through the platform using Stripe integration. You can host files, create checkout pages, and automate post-purchase email sequences: all without a separate ecommerce tool. You can also offer paid newsletter subscriptions. It's not as reliable as a dedicated store like Gumroad, but it works well for creators selling a handful of products.
How does MailerLite's email editor compare to Mailchimp's?
MailerLite's drag-and-drop editor is generally considered cleaner and easier to use than Mailchimp's, especially for beginners. It includes 70+ content blocks and an AI text generator. MailerLite also offers a rich-text editor for simpler, text-forward emails: something Mailchimp's editor isn't optimized for. Where Mailchimp wins: more advanced template customization options and a larger template library. For most newsletter creators, MailerLite's editor is more than sufficient.
Can teams collaborate in MailerLite?
Yes, but collaboration features scale with your plan. There's no real-time co-editing on emails. One person works on a draft at a time. Shared templates, brand assets, and the brand kit keep team output consistent. For small teams of 2-5 people, it works fine. Larger teams with complex approval workflows should look at the Enterprise plan.
Is MailerLite worth it compared to free platforms like Substack?
MailerLite and Substack serve different needs. Substack is free until you charge subscribers, at which point it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, verified 11 June 2026, against MailerLite's own 1 October 2026 check, so the two figures are nearly four months apart. Substack gives you a built-in reader network, but minimal design control, no automations, and no landing pages. Choose Substack if simplicity and built-in discovery matter most. Choose MailerLite if you want control over your email marketing and don't want to pay a share of subscription revenue.
Can I cancel MailerLite anytime?
Yes. MailerLite is month-to-month with no cancellation fees or long-term contracts. If you're on an annual plan, you can cancel but won't receive a prorated refund for remaining months. You can export your subscriber list and email data at any time. When you cancel, your account reverts to the free plan rather than being deleted, so you don't lose your data immediately.