Email Marketing Pricing Compared 2026: 12 Tools at 2,500 and 10,000 Contacts

Email marketing software for a 10,000-contact list costs between $32 and $189 a month on the entry plan of each vendor, with a median of about $121 across the 12 tools priced here, on monthly billing. At 2,500 contacts the range is $25 to $79 and the median about $43. Every figure was read on the vendors' own pricing pages and the plan data those pages load, on October 26, 2026.

The spread is wider than the plan names suggest because vendors meter different things, and nine of the twelve bill by contacts or subscribers. Brevo bills by emails sent, Klaviyo by active profiles, and Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts in your total. The tables below put every tool at the same two list sizes, then explain where the cheap options stop being cheap.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 109 email marketing tools as of October 25, 2026, and the median cheapest paid plan across the 28 that publish a price is $19 a month. Klaviyo, Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign were its three most compared email tools in the 90 days to October 2026, at 367, 324 and 307 side-by-side comparisons, per the Toolradar email marketing ranking. Dupple's own newsletters, including MarketingShot, are sent on beehiiv, which is one of the tools priced below.

12 tools at 2,500 contacts

Entry plan means the cheapest paid plan that stores the list; where a vendor sells a second mainstream plan it is in the last column. Monthly billing unless the cell says otherwise.

Yearly-billing figures are the vendor's printed annual charge divided by 12, our arithmetic, except GetResponse and MailerLite, which print the per-month equivalent themselves.

12 tools at 10,000 contacts

The order changes between the two sizes. Drip is the fifth cheapest at 2,500 contacts and the second most expensive at 10,000, because its single plan climbs from $39 to $154 across that range. ActiveCampaign Starter costs less than Kit at 2,500 and more than every other tool at 10,000. The cheap end is stable: Brevo, GetResponse, MailerLite and AWeber hold the first four places at both sizes.

Why the cheapest four are cheap

Brevo does not count contacts at all below 500,000. Its Starter plan is a $9 base plus a stairstep email allowance: the 15,000-email tier, the smallest that allows 2,500 contacts, adds $16, and the 20,000-email tier, the smallest that allows 10,000 contacts, adds $23, per Brevo's published plan data. The catch is sending volume. Four campaigns a month to 10,000 contacts is 40,000 emails, which moves Starter to $46 and Standard to $89. Brevo is the cheapest tool on this page only for a large list that is mailed rarely; the Brevo pricing page prices the volume ladder in full.

GetResponse and MailerLite sell unlimited or generous sends at a flat list price. GetResponse Starter includes unlimited monthly sends at $29 for 2,500 contacts and $79 for 10,000, and its yearly plan takes 18% off. MailerLite Comfort allows 10 times the ceiling of its subscriber tier each month, so 25,000 emails at 2,500 subscribers and 100,000 at 10,000, and Power removes the cap at $49 and $129; yearly billing takes 10% off. Both have the sending room a weekly newsletter needs, which is where Brevo's price stops holding. The MailerLite pricing page covers its two plans.

AWeber prints its whole tier table. Lite costs $35 a month for 2,500 subscribers and $100 for 10,000, with 10 times the subscriber count in monthly sends, 1 list profile, 3 landing pages and 3 automations; Plus raises sends to 12 times and removes the caps for $55 and $135. The yearly price is 10 times the monthly one. The AWeber pricing page covers the Free plan and the setup package.

Where the big names land

Mailchimp sits in the middle and bills on the monthly toggle only. Essentials costs $45 at 2,500 contacts and $110 at 10,000, with sends capped at 10 times the contact limit; Standard costs $60 and $135 with 12 times the limit, and Premium starts at $350 for 10,000 contacts with 15 times. Those are the tiers in the plan data Mailchimp's pricing page loads for its contact selector. Annual plans exist only for Standard and Premium at 10,000 contacts and up, through sales, and the page's 15% off for 12 months on 10,000-plus contacts is a limited offer, not the list price. Unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count toward the total, which is the hidden multiplier on a Mailchimp bill. The Mailchimp pricing page goes plan by plan.

Constant Contact prints only the Lite schedule. On yearly billing Lite costs $42.50 a month for 1,001 to 2,500 contacts and $102 for 5,001 to 10,000, with 10 times the contact tier in sends and an overage of $0.002 per extra send. The page prints Standard and Premium only at their 500-contact starting prices, $35 and $80 a month, or $29.75 and $68 on yearly billing, and shows the monthly-billing tiers nowhere, so check the current price on Constant Contact's site for those plans at your list size. The Constant Contact pricing page covers what is printed.

ActiveCampaign is the most expensive at 10,000 contacts, and the plan is the reason. Starter costs $49 a month for 2,500 contacts and more than any other entry plan here at 10,000 on monthly billing, or $468 and $1,788 a year, per ActiveCampaign's price list, the file its pricing page reads. Starter caps automations at 5 actions and sends at 10 times the contact limit; Plus, at $119 and $239, is the first plan with unlimited automation actions. Buyers paying ActiveCampaign prices are usually paying for the automation builder, which this page does not rank. The ActiveCampaign pricing page prices the seat and SMS add-ons.

The creator and ecommerce tools

Kit and beehiiv price the newsletter business, not the list. Kit Creator costs $59 a month for 2,500 subscribers and $139 for 10,000, Pro $99 and $189, and a year costs ten months, per the plan data Kit's pricing page renders in its slider; Kit's free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers with fewer features, which no other vendor here matches. beehiiv Lite costs $79 and $139 on monthly billing, $69 and $119 on annual, and Pro $149 and $239, per beehiiv's published plan data. Both charge more than MailerLite at every size; what they sell is paid subscriptions, referral and ad networks, and a 0% take rate on beehiiv Lite. The Kit pricing and beehiiv pricing pages set each against the other.

Klaviyo, Omnisend and Drip are ecommerce tools, and Klaviyo is the dearest. Klaviyo's Email plan costs $60 a month for 1,501 to 2,500 active profiles with 25,000 sends and $150 for 6,501 to 10,000 with 100,000 sends, per the US plan data Klaviyo's pricing page loads; there is no annual discount. Omnisend Standard costs $44 and $132 with 12 times the contacts in emails, Pro $59 and $150 with unlimited emails and SMS credits, per the plan data on Omnisend's pricing page; its 30% off for three months is a promotion. Drip's one plan costs $39 for up to 2,500 people and $154 for 10,000, with unlimited sends, per the ladder on Drip's pricing page; no yearly option is printed. The Klaviyo pricing, Drip pricing and Omnisend review pages cover the three, and best email marketing for ecommerce ranks them.

What a year costs at 10,000 contacts

Yearly totals use the printed annual charge where there is one and 12 times the monthly price where the vendor bills monthly only. Our arithmetic, before tax.

Yearly billing is worth 10% to 18% where it exists, and five vendors do not offer it at this size. Mailchimp, Omnisend, Klaviyo and Drip bill monthly only; Mailchimp opens annual plans through sales at 10,000 contacts, but prints no price for them. Among the vendors that do print one, the gap between the cheapest year and the dearest is more than $1,400 for the same list, which is a reason to price your real send volume before picking a plan name.

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Three traps that change the bill

• Send caps. Mailchimp Essentials, Constant Contact Lite, ActiveCampaign Starter and AWeber Lite all cap sends at 10 times the contact limit, so a daily email to 10,000 contacts breaks the cap three times over. Constant Contact bills overage at $0.002 a send; the others push you up a plan.
• Who counts. Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts; Klaviyo counts active profiles; MailerLite and Kit count active subscribers only. Two lists of the same size can land in different tiers.
• Promotional prices. Omnisend's 30% off for three months, Kit's extra 25% off the first year of Pro and Mailchimp's 15% off for 12 months are all limited offers that expire into the prices in the tables above.

Which one to pick at each size

At 2,500 contacts, MailerLite Comfort at $33 and GetResponse Starter at $29 cover most senders, and both discount on yearly billing. Pick Brevo at $25 only if you mail less than six times a month. The best free email marketing software list covers what a 2,500-contact list can still do for nothing, including Kit's free plan.

At 10,000 contacts, the same two lead at $89 and $79, with AWeber Lite at $100 close behind. Pay Kit's or beehiiv's $139 for the newsletter business features, Klaviyo's $150 or Omnisend's $132 for ecommerce data, and ActiveCampaign's Starter price only if the automation builder is the point. The best email marketing software ranking weighs features against these prices, and the email marketing statistics page shows the open and click rates the list sizes above tend to produce.

How we priced it

We read each vendor's pricing page on October 26, 2026, and where a page renders prices from a slider or selector, the plan data that page loads: Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign and its price list, Brevo and its plan data, MailerLite, Drip, Kit, beehiiv and its plan data, GetResponse, AWeber, Klaviyo and Omnisend. All prices are US dollars. Medians, yearly totals and per-month equivalents are our arithmetic on those figures. Constant Contact prints tier prices for Lite only, so its Standard and Premium rows say so. Toolradar figures come from its email marketing ranking. Prices change; check the vendor page before you buy.

Cite this: MarketingShot, "Email Marketing Pricing Compared 2026: 12 Tools at 2,500 and 10,000 Contacts", November 2026.

FAQ

How much does email marketing software cost at 10,000 contacts in 2026?

Between $32 and $189 a month on the entry plan, across the 12 tools priced on October 26, 2026. Brevo Starter is $32 because it bills by emails, not contacts; GetResponse Starter is $79, MailerLite Comfort $89, AWeber Lite $100, Mailchimp Essentials $110 and ActiveCampaign Starter $189. The median is about $121.

What is the cheapest email marketing tool for 2,500 contacts?

Brevo Starter at $25 a month if you send fewer than 15,000 emails a month, otherwise GetResponse Starter at $29 or MailerLite Comfort at $33, both with yearly discounts. AWeber Lite is $35 and Drip $39. Kit's free plan holds 10,000 subscribers at no cost, with fewer features than its paid plans.

Which email marketing tools bill monthly only?

Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Omnisend and Drip print no annual price at these list sizes; Mailchimp offers annual plans through sales from 10,000 contacts. GetResponse takes 18% off on yearly billing, MailerLite 10%, and AWeber and Kit charge ten months for twelve. beehiiv, ActiveCampaign and Brevo print separate annual charges.

Is Mailchimp more expensive than MailerLite?

Yes, at both sizes. Mailchimp Essentials costs $45 a month for 2,500 contacts and $110 for 10,000, on monthly billing only, against MailerLite Comfort at $33 and $89, or $29.70 and $80.10 on yearly billing. Mailchimp also counts unsubscribed contacts toward the limit, which MailerLite does not.

Why is Brevo so much cheaper at 10,000 contacts?

Because Brevo prices emails sent, not contacts stored. Its Starter plan at the 20,000-email tier allows up to 500,000 contacts for $32 a month. Mail 10,000 contacts four times a month and you need the 40,000-email tier at $46, and weekly sends to that list push the bill past MailerLite's.

Do these prices include SMS?

No. Every figure is the email plan. Klaviyo and Omnisend sell SMS by credits on top, Mailchimp sells it as an add-on in some countries, ActiveCampaign sells SMS packs, and Constant Contact starts SMS at $10 a month for 500 messages on Lite and Standard.

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