MailerLite for Nonprofits: 30% Off, a Free Plan, and the Year-End Appeal Problem

MailerLite is a strong fit for most small and mid-sized nonprofits: a permanent free plan, a 30% discount on every paid plan, and every feature on the cheapest paid tier. The cautions are specific and avoidable. A year-end appeal can move your bill up a band without asking. The discount does not stack with annual billing. And account reviews, which pause sending, hit imported lists hardest, which is exactly how many charities build theirs.

People search for MailerLite for nonprofits about 50 times a month in the United States. This page answers the questions a development officer or a volunteer coordinator would ask before choosing it.

The short answer

For a charity with up to 250 supporters, MailerLite's free plan covers the basics at no cost: 2,500 emails a month, two seats, three automations, a website and a landing page ^[5].

For a larger charity, Comfort with the nonprofit discount is among the cheapest serious options we have measured. At 500 subscribers the list price is $12 a month; at 30% off that is $8.40. At 5,000 subscribers it is $49 before the discount and $34.30 after.

The product suits newsletters, appeals, event invitations and volunteer communication. It does not include a donor database, a CRM or SMS, so a charity that needs those will pair MailerLite with other tools.

## The nonprofit discount

The billing page states it plainly: "A 30% discount can be applied for non-profit organizations providing proof of status sent via the Contact us page." ^[3]

Three details matter.

It does not stack. "Discounts don’t combine; only the biggest available discount is applied. If you purchase an annual subscription, instead of a 10% discount, your 30% nonprofit discount will apply." ^[3] So annual billing gains a charity nothing extra; it only commits the money for a year.

It carries over. Accounts that already had the discount before the June 2026 plan change keep it: "If the nonprofit discount is already applied to your account, it carries over automatically when your plan transitions to Comfort or Power." ^[4]

It can lapse. The terms say a discount expires if you cancel, accept another offer or change your plan, including a downgrade or a change of billing interval, unless the discount's own terms say otherwise ^[8]. Ask support to confirm it is still applied after any plan change.

What it costs, with the discount

Monthly prices from the published ladder, before and after 30% ^[2]:

Supporters	Comfort	With 30% off	Power	With 30% off
500	$12	$8.40	$25	$17.50
1,000	$19	$13.30	$39	$27.30
2,500	$33	$23.10	$49	$34.30
5,000	$49	$34.30	$69	$48.30
10,000	$89	$62.30	$129	$90.30
25,000	$179	$125.30	$239	$167.30

Because the discount replaces the 10% annual discount rather than adding to it, a charity should usually pay monthly. It keeps the flexibility to step down a band after an appeal, and costs nothing more.

## The year-end appeal problem

This is the one billing behaviour every charity should plan for.

MailerLite counts "any email address that was Active at any point during the cycle", including addresses deleted later ^[3], and moves a paid plan up automatically when the count crosses a band. Coming back down is a manual downgrade that takes effect at the end of the cycle ^[3].

A December appeal that adds 600 new donors to a list of 2,200 moves the account from the 2,500 band to the 5,000 band. With the discount, that is $23.10 to $34.30 a month on Comfort. If January's clean-up brings the list back to 2,300, the account stays at $34.30 until someone downgrades it by hand, and the downgrade starts at the next cycle.

The fix is a calendar habit. Put a reminder in the first week of January to check the band, clean the list before the billing date, and downgrade if the list has fallen back. The vendor documents a brake for upgrades that are scheduled but not yet applied: "Click Cancel scheduled upgrade." ^[3]

A year in the life of a 3,000-supporter charity

Here is how the billing works across a real year, using the published ladder and the 30% discount ^{[2] [3]}. The charity has 3,000 active supporters in January and pays monthly for Comfort.

January to October. 3,000 supporters sit in the 5,000 band: $49 a month, $34.30 after the discount. Monthly newsletters and a spring appeal use about 12,000 sends a month, far inside Comfort's 50,000.

November. The year-end campaign starts. A matched-giving appeal and a partner promotion add 1,200 new supporters. The list reaches 4,200, still inside the 5,000 band. No change.

December. A second wave adds 1,000 more. The list reaches 5,200 and crosses into the 8,000 band. The plan upgrades automatically: $69 a month, $48.30 after the discount, with a pro-rated top-up charged at once.

January. The charity removes 900 one-time event registrants who did not opt in to ongoing updates. The list falls to 4,300. The plan stays in the 8,000 band until someone downgrades it, and the downgrade starts at the next cycle.

Cost of forgetting the January downgrade for the rest of the year: $14 a month after the discount, about $154 over eleven months. Cost of remembering: nothing.

## Running a monthly giving programme

MailerLite's recurring subscriptions can carry a simple monthly giving programme. The pieces:

1. A landing page describing the programme, with a Stripe checkout for a monthly amount, or several amounts as separate options.
2. A group that buyers join automatically, for example monthly donors.
3. A welcome automation for that group: a thank-you, a story about what the money does, and a note on how to change or cancel.
4. Change and cancellation emails, which the platform sends automatically "whenever someone signs up, changes or cancels their subscription" ^[17].
5. A quarterly impact update to the group, separate from the general newsletter.

Two cautions. Stripe's fees apply to every gift. And MailerLite does not issue tax receipts by jurisdiction, so the charity's finance process still needs to produce them from Stripe's records.

The free plan for very small organisations

A volunteer group, a parent-teacher association or a local club may never need a paid plan.

The free plan covers 250 supporters, 2,500 emails a month and two seats ^[5]. That is enough for a monthly newsletter, an event invitation and a welcome sequence. One landing page can host a signup form or an event page.

What it does not include is the 30% discount, which applies to paid plans, or support beyond self-service resources. And at 251 supporters sending stops while signup forms keep collecting people who then receive nothing ^[5]. A small organisation should check its count before every event that might bring in new names.

## Seasonal charities: the pause

Many organisations communicate in seasons: a summer camp, a festival, an annual gala. MailerLite has a feature for that.

"While a subscription is paused, no charges are made to your payment method for 2 months." ^[3] During the pause the account runs on free-plan limits, and it renews automatically afterwards. It can be used once per calendar year.

Two months is short for a fully seasonal organisation, but it covers a summer break or a quiet period between campaigns. For a longer gap, the alternative is to cancel, let the plan run to its end, and drop to Free, which is workable if the active list is under 250. Above that, a paused or cancelled account cannot send until it upgrades again.

Volunteers and seats

Free has two seats, Comfort three, Power unlimited ^[3].

Two or three seats is tight for a charity where a director, a fundraiser, a communications volunteer and a board member all want access. Each person needs their own login to keep an audit trail, and sharing a single login is the kind of unusual activity that can trigger a security review.

When a volunteer leaves, use the Forget me option to remove their personal data without touching the organisation's account, or have an administrator remove the user ^[11]. Make the account owner a role address, such as an office mailbox, rather than a person's own email.

If the charity downgrades from a paid plan to Free, users beyond two are removed automatically ^[7]. Decide in advance who keeps access.

## Events and invitations

MailerLite has no event-ticketing product, but it covers the email side of events well.

The email editor includes an event block: "Fill up your guest list using the event RSVP button in your email." ^[10] Countdown timers, galleries and surveys sit alongside it. A landing page can host an event page with a signup form that adds registrants to a group, and an automation can send reminders and a follow-up.

For paid events, MailerLite's bookings and Stripe integration can take payments for sessions, commission-free on MailerLite's side ^[10]. For larger ticketed events with seating or check-in, a dedicated ticketing tool connected through Zapier is the usual answer.

For comparison, Constant Contact includes event hosting with payments on every tier, which is its clearest advantage for event-heavy organisations.

Donations

MailerLite does not offer a donation product as such. What it offers is Stripe-based payments on landing pages, built for digital products, bookings and subscriptions, with "135+ currencies and payment methods" ^[17].

A recurring subscription can work as a monthly giving programme: a supporter signs up on a landing page, pays monthly through Stripe, and receives an automated welcome and regular updates. Personalised emails go out automatically "whenever someone signs up, changes or cancels their subscription" ^[17].

What it will not do is what a donor management system does: gift aid or tax receipts by jurisdiction, pledge tracking, grant management, or giving history across channels. Most charities above a few hundred donors keep a donor database for that and use MailerLite for the communication.

Consent and imported lists

This is the most important section for a charity.

Charities often build lists from many sources: event sign-in sheets, old spreadsheets, a previous email tool, a CRM export, a partner's list. Imported lists are what MailerLite's account review is designed to examine, and during a review "email sending and landing page publishing, will be temporarily paused" ^[8]. If you do not reply within 30 days, the terms say the account will be terminated.

One Trustpilot reviewer describes a volunteer-run philanthropy that had used a free account for years and was shut out after paying to upgrade ^[12]. We cannot judge the case from one review, but it shows that a long history does not exempt an account from review.

Before importing, separate supporters who opted in to email from those who simply gave once or attended once. Import the first group. Invite the second through a form. Keep records of where each address came from.

What MailerLite lacks for nonprofits

Four gaps are worth naming.

No SMS. The marketing product sends email only. Text reminders for events or urgent appeals need another service.

No donor CRM. Profiles, fields, groups and segments are good for communication but not for fundraising management.

No phone support. Comfort includes 24/7 email support, and live chat comes with Power or with Comfort from 50,000 subscribers ^[4]. Free relies on self-service resources.

Smaller integrations catalogue. MailerLite lists 100+ integrations ^[2]; check that your donor system or ticketing tool connects, directly or through Zapier, before choosing.

None of these is unusual for an email platform at this price. Together they define what to pair MailerLite with.

How it compares for nonprofits

Among the email platforms we have measured:

MailerLite offers 30% off every plan, a free plan for up to 250, and published prices at every band.

Constant Contact offers 20% off with six months prepaid and 30% with twelve, phone support on every tier, and events with payments on every tier, but no free plan and published prices only for its first band.

Mailchimp has a free plan for 250 contacts with 500 emails a month. MailerLite's comparison page lists Mailchimp's nonprofit discount at 15% ^[9], which we could not confirm on Mailchimp's own pages; in our Mailchimp measurement, its terms exclude annual plans from nonprofit discounts.

For a charity that values price transparency and a low monthly cost, MailerLite is the strongest of the three. For one that values a human on the phone and built-in event payments, Constant Contact is.

Reviews from the sector

Our 100-review Trustpilot sample is not sector-specific, but two patterns matter to charities.

Support is praised far more than criticised: 61 reviews mention it, 46 positively ^[12]. For a small team without technical staff, that matters.

Account suspensions are the sharpest complaint: 11 reviews, 10 of them at one or two stars ^[12]. For a charity, a suspension during a campaign is the worst-case scenario, and it is preventable with consent records and a warm-up.

The free plan's reduction to 250 subscribers in June 2026 ^[5] also affects small charities more than most users, because many ran on Free for years.

A setup checklist for charities

1. Apply for the 30% discount through the Contact us page with proof of status.
2. Choose monthly billing; annual adds no discount on top of 30%.
3. Make a role address the account owner.
4. Import only opted-in supporters; invite the rest by form.
5. Send the first campaign to the most recent supporters.
6. Set a January reminder to check the band after the year-end appeal.
7. Use the pause for a quiet season of up to two months.
8. Keep a donor database for fundraising data; use MailerLite for communication.
9. Confirm the discount after any plan change.

## The verdict

MailerLite is one of the best-value email platforms for nonprofits in our measured set. The discount is large, the price list is complete, every feature is on the cheapest paid plan, and the free plan still covers a small organisation.

Plan for two things: the automatic move up a band after a big appeal, and the account review that imported lists can trigger. Both are documented, and both are manageable with a calendar reminder and a consent record.