Email Marketing for Small Business: 4 Platforms Compared by Real Monthly Cost in USD (2026)

01

Email marketing for small business costs: GetResponse Starter beats MailerLite Comfort from 2,500 contacts

At 500 contacts, the cheapest options with automation are Brevo Free ($0), Brevo Starter ($9) and systeme.io Free ($0). MailerLite Comfort starts at $12, and GetResponse's smallest paid tier is $19.

Where the numbers come from:

• GetResponse: Email Tooltester and Costbench.
• MailerLite: third-party guides (Cybernock, Lumail, Sequenzy). Confirm them on MailerLite's own page, because the company renamed its plans in June 2026.
• Brevo: Brevo's help centre and Dreamlit.
• systeme.io: its pricing page.

How to read the table:

• GetResponse has no 500-contact tier, so its first column shows the 1,000-contact price.
• For Brevo, each column shows the Standard tier whose contact cap fits the list. At 10,000 contacts that is the 20,000-email tier, which allows only two full sends a month. Brevo's official help centre does not list a price for that tier.
• systeme.io's Startup plan covers up to 5,000 contacts, so the 10,000 column is the Webinar plan.

Two typical cases:

• Solo coach with 500 subscribers: $12 a month on MailerLite Comfort, which caps sending at 5,000 emails at that size.
• Local bakery with 2,500 subscribers, a weekly newsletter and a welcome automation: $29 on GetResponse Starter, $33 on MailerLite Comfort, or $49 on Brevo Standard, whose 15,000-email tier is the smallest that stores 2,500 contacts.

Check MailerLite plans →

02

Free plans: Brevo sends 300 emails a day, MailerLite stops at 250 subscribers

All four platforms offer a free plan, but the limits decide whether it works for you.

• Brevo Free: 300 emails a day, up to 100,000 contacts, Brevo branding. Automation is limited to 2,000 contacts on Free and Starter.
• systeme.io Free: 2,000 contacts, unlimited emails, 1 automation rule and 1 email campaign. It never expires and needs no card.
• GetResponse Free: 500 contacts, 2,500 emails a month, 1 landing page (1,000 visitors), 1 website, 1 popup, GetResponse branding, no integrations.
• MailerLite Free: 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 3 automations of 5 steps each, 1 landing page, MailerLite branding, community support only.

Older guides still list MailerLite's free plan at 500 or 1,000 subscribers. Those figures are out of date.

The 300-a-day cap works for small lists. A 10,000-contact list needs about 34 days to receive a single send on Brevo Free, so a list that size belongs on a paid plan.

Free-plan details come from Omnisend and Email Tooltester for Brevo, Style Factory Productions for GetResponse, Cybernock for MailerLite and the systeme.io pricing page (October 2026).

03

Automation tiers: GetResponse Marketer costs $20 more than MailerLite Power at 2,500 contacts

A welcome email is easy on any plan. Abandoned-cart flows, tags and multiple triggers sit on the next tier up.

• MailerLite Power adds multiple triggers per automation, unlimited emails, seats and automations, and 24/7 live chat.
• GetResponse Marketer adds advanced workflows such as abandoned cart and tagging.
• GetResponse Creator adds webinars, courses and paid newsletters. One 2026 review places webinars on Creator, while older ones put them on Marketer, so budget for Creator if webinars matter.

Monthly billing, USD, October 2026, per Email Tooltester, Sequenzy and Costbench. Marketer costs $20 more than Power at 2,500 contacts and $15 less at 10,000. Compare the features, not only the price, because the two plans are built differently.

04

Brevo email marketing: pricing follows emails sent, and each tier caps stored contacts

Brevo prices by emails sent per month, not by contacts. Brevo's help centre lists the contact cap for each Starter and Standard tier (October 2026):

• 5,000 emails: up to 500 contacts
• 10,000 emails: up to 1,500 contacts
• 15,000 emails: up to 2,500 contacts
• 20,000 emails and up: up to 500,000 contacts

Some third-party reviews call Brevo's contacts unlimited. The official page says otherwise.

Starter begins at $9 a month. Standard adds marketing automation with unlimited contacts, A/B testing, 1 landing page, no Brevo logo, up to 3 seats (add-on) and priority email support. Starter has no landing pages or advanced reports.

Brevo wins when you email a small list often or keep a large list you rarely mail. A 1,500-contact list fits the 10,000-email tier at $35 a month on Standard (per Dreamlit, October 2026), enough for six full sends. It loses when you mail a big list weekly, because volume drives the price.

05

How to start email marketing: a 3-email welcome sequence, templates and CAN-SPAM basics

Once you have picked a tool, send something within a week. Here is a simple order of work.

1. Add a signup form to your website or checkout, so only people who asked join the list.
2. Turn on a confirmation step (double opt-in) if your platform offers it, so typos and fake addresses stay off the list.
3. Choose a plain template. One column, your logo, one button. Write subject lines that say what is inside the email, since the FTC prohibits deceptive ones.
4. Build a three-email welcome automation. Email 1 goes out right away: deliver what you promised and say how often you will write. Email 2, a couple of days later, shares one useful tip or your story. Email 3, about a week in, makes one clear offer or asks readers to reply.
5. Track four numbers: opens, clicks, unsubscribes and sales or bookings from your links. Compare each send with your last one.

The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide covers all commercial email, including messages to other businesses. In practice:

• Use accurate sender and header information.
• Write honest subject lines.
• Make clear the message is an ad.
• Include a valid physical postal address.
• Honor opt-outs within 10 business days, per a third-party summary of the rule.

If you run a trade business and track quotes and jobs more than you send newsletters, a CRM fits better. Our CRM guide for contractors covers that. For contact records and deal tracking, see HubSpot CRM alternatives and HubSpot Starter vs Professional.

Start with GetResponse's free plan →