# MailerLite Alternatives: Matched to the Reason You Are Leaving

> MailerLite alternatives by reason for leaving: the shrunken free plan, account suspensions, the weak Shopify app or a need for more automation, with what each rival costs and what you give up.

_Source: https://professionalstoolkit.com/articles/mailerlite-alternatives — The Professional's Toolkit · updated 2026-10-09_

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People search for MailerLite alternatives 320 times a month in the United States. That is more
than three times the volume for `mailerlite review`. Some of those searchers are shopping. Many,
on the evidence of the reviews, are leaving, and they are leaving for specific reasons.

This guide starts from the reasons. Each alternative below is matched to a reason for leaving,
and each comes with what you give up by switching, because MailerLite does several things better
than anything else we have measured. Scores are our own composite scores on the same email
rubric. Products we have not yet measured are named but not scored.

## Why people look for an alternative

Three reasons stand out in the evidence.

The free plan shrank. On 16 June 2026 the vendor reduced it from 500 to 250 subscribers and from
12,000 to 2,500 emails a month [5]. Long-standing users describe an earlier cut too: "the free
subscriber limit went from 1000 to 500" [12]. A creator who built a list on the free plan now
faces a bill or a hard stop.

Accounts get suspended. Eleven of 100 recent Trustpilot reviews describe a suspended or terminated
account, ten at one or two stars [12]. The terms allow termination "with or without cause"
[8]. A suspended account is the most urgent reason anyone switches.

The integration they depend on is weak. The vendor's own Shopify app scores 2.4 from 27 reviews
[15] and its official WordPress plugin 3.0 from 40 [14]. A store whose list grows through
Shopify feels that every day.

A fourth reason is quieter: the June repricing. Existing customers move to the new price list at
renewal, and the vendor's answer to keeping the old price is "No." [4] Price itself, though, is
a complaint in only five of the 100 reviews.



> 💡 **undefined:** Time a move to your renewal date; unused time is not refunded.

## What you give up by leaving

Before choosing an alternative, be clear about what MailerLite does unusually well, because most
alternatives do it worse.

It publishes its whole price list. Twenty-nine bands, both plans, monthly and annual, in the
pricing page's own script [2]. No other product in our email set does that.

It puts every feature on the cheapest paid plan. "Every paid plan gets our full feature set. You
only pay more for a bigger list or more sending." [2] Most rivals gate features by tier.

It is cheap. Comfort is $12 a month at 500 subscribers, $89 at 10,000 and $319 at 50,000. At
100,000 subscribers, unlimited Power is $489, where Mailchimp Standard's published ceiling is $800
at the same size.

Its support reviews are the best we have measured: 46 positive mentions against 15 negative in our
sample [12].

And its billing documentation is the clearest in the category. If you move, you will probably be
reading less clear rules on your next vendor's pages.

## Mailchimp, if you want the familiar default

Our score: 3.46.

Mailchimp is the product most MailerLite users came from, and the importer works in the other
direction too. It suits an account that depends on Mailchimp's integrations or that sends heavily
on a mid-tier plan, since Standard allows twelve times the contact limit each month and Premium
fifteen.

What it does differently on billing: Mailchimp does not upgrade your tier automatically. When your
contacts pass your chosen limit it adds contact blocks to the invoice until you change the tier
yourself. Some buyers prefer that, because the tier stays where they put it.

What you give up: price transparency and price. The figures on Mailchimp's cards are 15% first-year
promotions, and the pricing page served in the United States publishes the entry band and almost
nothing else. At 100,000 contacts its published Standard ceiling is $800. It also bills stored
unsubscribed contacts, which MailerLite does not.

Its free plan is the same 250 contacts as MailerLite's, but with 500 sends a month instead of
2,500, and email support for only the first 30 days. Trustpilot shows 2.5 [23].

Best for: teams already inside the Mailchimp ecosystem who would pay more for familiarity.



> 💡 **undefined:** Disconnect custom domains from landing pages before cancelling.

## Constant Contact, if you want a human on the phone

Our score: 3.63.

Constant Contact is the alternative for a buyer who left MailerLite because of support or
suspension anxiety. It offers live phone and chat support on every tier, including the cheapest,
and a 30-day money-back guarantee, which no other product in our set publishes. Its Trustpilot
score is 4.0, close to MailerLite's 4.1.

It is also strong for organisations that run events: every tier can host events, sell products
and take payments.

What you give up: the price list and the free plan. Constant Contact has no free plan. Its pricing
page serves only the annual-prepay rates for the first contact band, and the month-to-month prices
of $12, $35 and $80 are published on its Shopify listing rather than its own page. The price of
any band above the first is not published anywhere we could read.

Its billing rule is also stricter than MailerLite's. Pricing is based on the highest contact band
you have reached, going forward, and no published page describes a way back down. MailerLite at
least documents a manual downgrade and a brake on scheduled upgrades.

Best for: nonprofits, local businesses and event organisers who value phone support over price
transparency.

## Klaviyo, if you sell on Shopify

Our score: 3.88, the highest in our email set.

Klaviyo is the answer to the Shopify problem. Its own Shopify app scores 4.7 from 3,362 reviews,
against 2.4 from 27 for MailerLite's. It builds everything around a customer profile fed by store
data and runs email, SMS and other channels off it. For a store, that depth matters more than any
price difference.

What you give up: simplicity and a readable price. Klaviyo's pricing page is a calculator that
returns nothing until you enter a number, and the only price it publishes outright sits in the
terms of a discount. Like MailerLite, it moves your plan up automatically and down only by hand.
Its Trustpilot score is 1.6, the lowest in our set, though most of its users never see that
platform.

Its AI features are sold separately with published credit pricing, where MailerLite's are
included. We cannot compare its band prices with MailerLite's, because Klaviyo does not publish
them.

Best for: Shopify stores with real order volume, where revenue attribution and segmentation pay for
the difference.



> 💡 **undefined:** If the free plan is the problem, price Comfort at $12 before switching.

## ActiveCampaign, if you need automation depth

Our score: 3.44.

ActiveCampaign is the alternative for a buyer who has outgrown MailerLite's automation, which is
capable but caps Comfort at 50 active automations and 100 steps each. ActiveCampaign is built
around automation and CRM-style contact scoring, and it suits businesses with long sales cycles.

On transparency it is, unusually, comparable to MailerLite: it exposes its full billing catalogue
through a public interface. The catch is that every price in that catalogue is annual.

What you give up: the low entry price, the free plan and the simplicity of one feature set on
every plan. ActiveCampaign is a heavier tool with a steeper learning curve.

Best for: B2B businesses that need lead scoring, sales automation and a pipeline alongside their
email.

## Names searched alongside, not yet measured

Demand data shows which products people compare with MailerLite. Ranked by combined search volume
in both directions, after Mailchimp: Brevo, Kit, Constant Contact, beehiiv, Klaviyo,
ActiveCampaign and GetResponse.

Measured search interest in the United States, combining both directions of each comparison, in
searches a month:

| Rival | Searches comparing it with MailerLite |
|---|---|
| Mailchimp | 1,180 |
| Brevo | 140 |
| Kit | 100 |
| Constant Contact | 60 |
| beehiiv | 40 |
| Klaviyo | 40 |
| ActiveCampaign | 30 |
| GetResponse | 20 |

Mailchimp dominates by a factor of eight, which is why it gets its own comparison page. Brevo and
Kit follow, both well ahead of the products we have already scored.

We have not yet measured Brevo, Kit, beehiiv or GetResponse with the same method, so we give no
scores or prices for them here. Their presence on this list reflects what people search, not our
assessment. As each is measured, this page will link to it.

Two notes from the search data are still useful. Kit, formerly ConvertKit, and beehiiv are both
aimed at creators and newsletters, the same audience MailerLite serves best. Brevo is often
compared on free-plan generosity, which is the reason many people started looking in the first
place.

If one of these is on your shortlist, apply the same tests we apply here: read the billing help
pages rather than the pricing page, find out how subscribers are counted and when the plan moves,
and check the reviews of the integration you depend on.



> ⚠ **undefined:** Most alternatives publish less of their price list than MailerLite does.

## The five measured products side by side

| Product | Our score | Entry price, monthly | Free plan | Full price list published | Tier moves itself |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | 3.88 | calculator only | not measured here | no | up only |
| MailerLite | 3.71 | $12 (Comfort, 500) | 250 subscribers | yes, 29 bands | up only |
| Constant Contact | 3.63 | $12 (Lite, 500) | no | first band only | ratchet up |
| Mailchimp | 3.46 | $13 (Essentials, promo) | 250 contacts | entry and ceilings only | no, adds blocks |
| ActiveCampaign | 3.44 | annual prices only | not measured here | yes, annual | not measured here |

Three things stand out. MailerLite is the only product in the set that publishes every band at
monthly prices. Two of the five move your tier upward automatically, and none publishes an
automatic move down. And the products with the highest Trustpilot scores, MailerLite at 4.1 and
Constant Contact at 4.0, are also the two with the lowest published entry prices.

The table is about price structure, not quality. Klaviyo scores highest overall because its depth
for online stores is unmatched; its weakness is the price surface, not the product. ActiveCampaign
scores lowest in this set because its prices are annual and its learning curve steep; it is built
around automation rather than around the newsletter.

## Six questions to ask any vendor before switching

These are the questions MailerLite's own billing page answers clearly. A vendor that cannot answer
them as clearly is asking you to accept more risk than MailerLite does.

**How is the billable count taken?** On status (are unsubscribes billed?) and on time (is it the
peak of the period, or the count on the billing date?). MailerLite bills active subscribers, at
their peak in the cycle [3].

**What happens when I cross a band?** An automatic upgrade, a surcharge, or a stop? MailerLite
upgrades automatically and charges pro rata [3].

**How do I come back down?** Automatically, manually at the end of the cycle, or not at all?
MailerLite: manually, at the end of the cycle.

**What is published beyond the first band?** If the answer is a calculator or a sales call, you
cannot model your second year.

**What is refundable?** MailerLite guarantees a refund only when it ends the service without cause
[6]. Others publish a money-back window. Know which you are getting.

**What happens to my account during a review?** Ask how long a review takes and how to reach a
person during it. This is the question MailerLite's suspension reviews suggest people wish they had
asked.



> ⚠ **undefined:** A suspension usually follows the list, not the vendor. Fix consent records first.

## Staying: the cheaper fixes inside MailerLite

Before switching, check whether a change of plan solves the problem for less.

If the bill is too high, look at the timing of your list clean-ups. The count is cumulative within
the cycle, so cleaning in the days before your billing date lowers next cycle's band, while
cleaning just after it changes nothing for a month [3].

If you are on Power and do not need unlimited sending, check Comfort's caps against your real
usage. At 500 subscribers Power costs $13 more a month; at 5,000 it costs $20 more. You can only
downgrade if you are within Comfort's feature limits.

If your list is seasonal, use the pause. It stops charges for two months once a calendar year, and
the subscription renews itself afterwards [3].

If you are a nonprofit, apply for the 30% discount. It replaces the 10% annual discount rather than
adding to it, so take it on monthly billing if you prefer flexibility.

If a scheduled upgrade is the problem, cancel it before it lands: "Click Cancel scheduled upgrade."
[3]

If the free plan is the problem, Comfort at $12 a month doubles the subscriber limit and the
sending allowance, and removes the MailerLite logo. That is cheaper than any migration.

## Matching the alternative to the reason

If you are leaving because the free plan shrank: compare free plans on sends, not just
subscribers. MailerLite's 2,500 emails a month at 250 subscribers is still five times Mailchimp's
500. Moving may not get you more. Paying $12 for Comfort may be the cheaper fix.

If you are leaving because of a suspension: you need a vendor with reachable human support.
Constant Contact publishes phone support on every tier. Whatever you choose, bring consent records
and warm the new account up.

If you are leaving because of Shopify: Klaviyo, on the evidence of its 4.7 Shopify rating.

If you are leaving because you need more automation or a pipeline: ActiveCampaign.

If you are leaving because of the June renewal price: run the numbers first. MailerLite's new
ladder is still the cheapest published ladder we have measured at most sizes.

## How to leave without paying twice

MailerLite does not refund unused time: "There is no other circumstance in which you will be
entitled to a refund from us" [6], beyond termination without cause. So time the move to your
renewal date.

Cancel, do not delete, first. Cancelling keeps the paid plan until it expires and then moves the
account to Free [7]. Your data stays.

If you host landing pages on your own domain, disconnect it first. The vendor requires custom
domains to be removed from landing pages and websites before a cancellation will go through
[7]. Rebuild the pages on the new platform, point the domain there, then cancel.

Export everything before you delete. Deletion has a 25-day grace period [11], but after that
it is final.



## FAQ

**What is the best alternative to MailerLite?**

It depends on why you are leaving. Klaviyo for Shopify stores, Constant Contact for phone support and events, ActiveCampaign for automation depth and a pipeline, Mailchimp for its ecosystem.

**Is there a cheaper alternative to MailerLite?**

Not among the products we have measured. MailerLite's published prices are lower than every rival we can compare, at every published list size.

**Which alternative has the best free plan?**

Among measured products, MailerLite's own free plan is still the most useful, with 2,500 emails a month against Mailchimp's 500. Constant Contact has no free plan.

## The verdict

For most creators and small businesses, the best alternative to MailerLite is a cheaper MailerLite
plan. Its published prices are lower than every rival we can compare, its feature set does not
change with the tier, and its support reviews are the best in the category.

The real exceptions are specific. A Shopify store should look at Klaviyo. A business that needs a
human on the phone should look at Constant Contact. A business that needs a sales pipeline should
look at ActiveCampaign. And anyone whose account was suspended should solve the consent problem
before choosing anywhere, because the next vendor will check too.




## Sources

[1] MailerLite vendor pricing page — https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing (2026-10)
[2] MailerLite vendor documentation on plans and billing — https://www.mailerlite.com/help/plan-and-billing (2026-10)
[3] MailerLite vendor notice on the move to Comfort and Power plans — https://www.mailerlite.com/help/paid-plans-update-faq (2026-10)
[4] MailerLite vendor notice on the Free plan update — https://www.mailerlite.com/help/free-plan-update-faq (2026-10)
[5] MailerLite vendor refund policy — https://www.mailerlite.com/help/mailerlite-refund-policy (2026-10)
[6] MailerLite vendor documentation on cancelling a subscription — https://www.mailerlite.com/help/cancel-my-subscription (2026-10)
[7] MailerLite Terms of Use — https://www.mailerlite.com/legal/terms-of-service (2026-10)
[8] MailerLite vendor comparison page against Mailchimp — https://www.mailerlite.com/mailchimp-alternative (2026-10)
[9] MailerLite vendor features page — https://www.mailerlite.com/features (2026-10)
[10] MailerLite vendor documentation on deleting an account — https://www.mailerlite.com/help/how-to-delete-my-account (2026-10)
[11] Trustpilot aggregate score and review corpus for MailerLite — https://www.trustpilot.com/review/mailerlite.com?languages=all (2026-10)
[12] App Store listing for MailerLite Manager, published by MailerLite, Inc. — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mailerlite-manager/id1586139546 (2026-10)
[13] WordPress.org listing for the official MailerLite signup forms plugin — https://wordpress.org/plugins/official-mailerlite-sign-up-forms/ (2026-10)
[14] MailerLite's own Shopify App Store listing — https://apps.shopify.com/mailerlite-email-automation (2026-10)
[15] MailerLite public status page — https://status.mailerlite.com/ (2026-10)
[16] MailerLite vendor page on paid newsletter subscriptions — https://www.mailerlite.com/features/paid-newsletter-subscriptions (2026-10)
[17] MailerLite GOLITE50 sale terms — https://www.mailerlite.com/legal/golite50-sale-terms (2026-10)
[18] MailerLite vendor Free plan page — https://www.mailerlite.com/free-plan (2026-10)
[19] Mailchimp vendor pricing page — https://mailchimp.com/pricing/ (2026-09)
[20] Mailchimp vendor documentation on pricing plans — https://mailchimp.com/en/help/about-mailchimp-pricing-plans/ (2026-09)
[21] Mailchimp vendor plan comparison page — https://mailchimp.com/en/pricing/marketing/compare-plans/ (2026-09)
[22] Trustpilot aggregate score for Mailchimp — https://www.trustpilot.com/review/mailchimp.com (2026-09)
[23] Mailchimp vendor documentation on contacts — https://mailchimp.com/en/help/about-your-contacts/ (2026-09)