How much does email marketing cost? For the software, a small list often runs from $0 to roughly $100 a month, depending on how many contacts you have, how many emails you send and how much automation you want. Several platforms offer a free plan, and every free plan stops at a limit.
If you want someone else to do the work, that is a second bill, and it is priced by the job rather than by the platform. Writing, design, automation, list cleanup and reporting each cost something different.
You can put a real number on your own list in about ten minutes, and the rest of the budget depends on which tasks you want off your plate.
Key Takeaways
Free plans run from 250 contacts on Mailchimp to 10,000 subscribers on Kit, and paid plans in October 2026 start around $13 to $45 a month depending on the platform.
Price copywriting, design, automation, list cleanup and reporting separately from the software, and ask for the scope in writing before you accept a quote.
Check how your platform counts contacts, because Mailchimp includes unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts in its total.
Software can cost $0 for a small list, and paid plans start near $13 a month
The monthly software bill depends on three things: how many contacts you store, how many emails you send and whether you need automation such as a welcome email. Mailchimp, Constant Contact and Kit price by contacts or subscribers. Brevo charges mainly by monthly sends, so the same list can cost very different amounts on different platforms.
These are the starting paid prices on each vendor's own pricing page in October 2026. Prices change, annual billing may lower the monthly figure, and the exact tier for your list needs the vendor's calculator.
| Platform | Starting paid price | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Essentials from $13 a month; Standard from $20 a month, at about 500 contacts | Exact tiers at 2,500 and 10,000 contacts are on its calculator |
| Constant Contact | Standard from $35 a month on monthly billing | Lite is $50 a month at 2,500 contacts and $120 at 10,000 |
| Kit | Creator at $33 a month for the 1,000-subscriber tier | Larger tiers are on its calculator |
| MailerLite | Power at $25 a month | Confirm your tier on its calculator |
| Brevo | Standard from $18 a month, with automation | Priced mainly on monthly sends, not list size |
| Klaviyo | Paid Email from $45 a month for 15,000 monthly emails | Priced on active profiles and send capacity |
Read the table as a starting point, not a quote. The prices come from Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Kit, MailerLite, Brevo and Klaviyo. Enter your own list size and billing period into each calculator before you decide.
Free plans work for a small newsletter until you hit a limit
A free plan can carry a first newsletter a long way, as long as your list and your sending stay inside its limits. The limits differ more than the prices do, so match them to what you plan to send.
| Platform | What the free plan allows |
|---|---|
| Mailchimp Free | Up to 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends, with a 250-send daily limit, one audience and one user |
| Kit Free | Up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited broadcasts, forms and landing pages; visual automations need a paid plan |
| MailerLite Free | Up to 250 active subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails, with limited automations |
| Brevo Free | Stores up to 100,000 contacts but sends up to 300 emails a day; automation covers up to 2,000 contacts |
| Klaviyo Free | Up to 250 active profiles and 500 monthly email sends |
Constant Contact offers a free trial rather than a permanent free plan. Details are on the vendor pages for Mailchimp, Kit, Klaviyo and MailerLite.
Two limits catch new senders. Mailchimp Free allows only 500 sends a month, so a 250-person list reaches the cap with two mailings. Kit Free holds a large list, but welcome emails and other visual automations need a paid plan.
Your bill can grow from contacts you never email
Contact-based platforms can count more people than the ones who open your emails. Mailchimp includes subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts in its contact total, while archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not count, according to its pricing plans help page.
Klaviyo bills email on active profiles. Suppressed profiles do not count toward the active-profile limit, but profiles reachable through enabled marketing channels can affect billing, as its billing help article explains.
Constant Contact charges $0.002 per email beyond a plan's monthly allowance, which is 10 times your contacts on Lite, 12 times on Standard and 24 times on Premium. Old, duplicate and unengaged records can push you into a higher tier, so cleaning the list is a way to lower the bill.
Other extras can add up, depending on the platform and plan:
- SMS credits
- Extra seats for teammates
- Premium templates and inbox preview tools
- Dedicated IPs and transactional email
- Migration, custom design and integration work
Add these to the plan before you compare prices, because a cheap plan that leaves out a feature you need is not cheap.
Help is priced by the task, so price each task on its own
A monthly email service is not one product. It is a bundle of jobs, and each job has its own price: copywriting, design, automation setup, list cleanup, segmentation, integrations, testing, reporting and deliverability work. How often you send also moves the total.
Published rate figures are third-party and broader than email. The Editorial Freelancers Association 2026 Rate Chart comes from a member survey run from November 2025 through mid-January 2026. Its business and marketing category reports median hourly rates of about $50 to $60, for that type of work in general rather than email specifically.
The Freelancermap 2025 Freelancer Study reports an average of 84 euros an hour for marketing and communications freelancers, again a broader category than email.
Constant Contact's own 2026 article on what to charge puts starter services at roughly $500 to $1,000 a month, production work at about $1,500 and up, and full-service managed email at $2,500 to $10,000 a month. That is vendor guidance, not an independent survey, so use it to frame a conversation rather than to judge a quote.
When someone quotes you a monthly fee, ask for a written scope that names the sending schedule, the copy, the design, the automations, the reporting, the integrations and who pays for the platform. A fee that does not say whether the software is included is hard to compare with one that does.
Ten minutes with your list gives you a real number
You can replace guesses with a figure today. Start with your own account, and you will have a two-line estimate: software on one line, labor on the other.
- Open your email platform and record the total number of contacts or active profiles.
- Separate marketable contacts from unsubscribed, suppressed or archived records.
- Multiply your list size by the number of emails you plan to send each month.
- Check the next pricing tier on your current platform, then compare the same list and sends on a second one, such as Mailchimp and Brevo.
- Write down whether you need automation, SMS, extra seats or branding removal.
That last step matters because a plan that looks cheap can lose the feature you needed. If you are still deciding what to send, our posts on how often to email your customer list and how a welcome email series for new subscribers works can shape the sending side of your estimate.
A small sender needs clean setup before a bigger plan or a dedicated IP
A small list does not need an enterprise plan. A business with 250 contacts and one simple newsletter a month may need only a compliant account, a verified sending domain, a basic template and a repeatable process. A higher plan is worth its price only when the list, the sends or the automations require it.
A dedicated IP is usually unnecessary for a small sender and adds configuration and reputation work. Put authentication, permission and list hygiene first.
The rules behind that are public. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide requires accurate header information, truthful subject lines, clear identification of commercial messages, a valid physical postal address and an opt-out method, and says opt-out requests must be honored within 10 business days.
Google's Gmail sender guidelines apply authentication and easy-unsubscribe requirements to bulk senders sending about 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts, and Google began increasing enforcement in November 2025. Yahoo's sender best practices call for SPF or DKIM from all senders. Bulk senders need both, plus a DMARC policy, one-click unsubscribe, unsubscribes honored within two days and spam complaints under 0.3%.
Do not judge the work by open rate alone. Clicks, replies, calls, bookings and repeat sales show whether the emails earn their cost, and our post on why email open rates run low covers what the open number can and cannot tell you.
Professional help pays for itself when the work keeps slipping
You can compare software prices yourself in an afternoon. Help earns its fee when the work has to happen every month and keeps getting pushed aside, or when a job needs skills you do not have.
Paying for help is easiest to justify for these jobs:
- Moving your list from one platform to another
- Writing and designing the emails
- Segmentation, automation and integrations
- Reporting that ties email to calls, sales and bookings
- Fixing deliverability problems, including domain authentication
- Steady production on a fixed schedule
If your list is small and you send one simple newsletter, a free or low-cost plan and a repeatable routine may be all you need. If missed follow-ups, broken automations or an unused customer list cost you more than a reliable process would, that is the point to pay for one.
Can you price your email marketing?
Pick an answer to begin.
1. Which of these does Mailchimp count toward your contact total?
2. A source quotes $500 to $1,000 a month for starter email services. How should you treat that number?
3. You have 250 contacts and send one simple newsletter a month. What do you need first?
Frequently Asked Questions About Email Marketing Costs
How much does email marketing software cost per month?
From $0 on a free plan to roughly $13 to $45 a month for a paid starting plan on the six platforms named here, as of October 2026. Larger lists, more sends and deeper automation raise the price, so confirm your tier on each vendor's calculator.
How much does it cost to send 1,000 emails?
It can cost nothing if the sends fit a free plan. Mailchimp Free allows 500 sends a month, MailerLite Free 2,500 emails a month, Klaviyo Free 500 and Brevo Free 300 a day. Past those limits the price depends on the plan you choose.
How much does it cost to set up email marketing?
The platform account can be free. The cost is the work around it: verifying your domain, building a template, cleaning your list and writing a first email or welcome series. Price each task separately, or ask for a written scope.
Do I pay for unsubscribed contacts?
On Mailchimp, yes. It counts subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts in the contact total, while archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not count.
Is email marketing still worth it in 2026?
Judge it by what it produces for you: clicks, replies, calls, bookings and repeat sales, not open rate alone. A free plan and a month or two of steady sending will show you whether your list responds before you spend more.
Do I need a dedicated IP?
Usually not for a small sender. Authentication, permission and list hygiene come first, and a dedicated IP adds setup and reputation work.
Final Thoughts
Email software can be free for a small list and costs roughly $13 to $45 a month at the starting paid tiers, with the price set by contacts, sends and automation. Count your list, check how your platform counts contacts and compare two tiers before you buy. Help is a separate cost, priced by the task.
A short routine of counting, cleaning and sending on a schedule keeps the bill small and makes the work easy to hand off later. Stop worrying about enterprise plans and dedicated IPs for a small list, and stop judging the results by open rate alone.
If you want the ongoing writing, design, automation and reporting handled, Web Leveling runs email marketing as its own priced piece of work, separate from the software. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Tell us your list size and what you want sent each month, and we will price the work task by task.
Terms
Email cost words in this post
Tap a term to see what it means.
Contact. A person or address stored in your email platform; some platforms also count unsubscribed records in the total.
Active profile. Klaviyo's unit for pricing email: a profile that counts toward the plan's limit.
Send. One email delivered to one recipient; some platforms price by monthly sends.
Dedicated IP. A sending address used only by your account, which adds setup and reputation work.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Domain settings that prove your emails are really from you.
Deliverability. How reliably your emails reach the inbox instead of spam.
