Standard
Contact vendor for exact pricing and packaging details.
Plan type: Commercial. Billing period: Custom.
MailerLite Pricing (2026): Free Plan, Paid Tiers, and Real Costs at Scale
MailerLite's free plan covers 1,000 subscribers with 12,000 email sends per month — making it the most generous free tier of any major email marketing platform. The Growing Business plan starts at $9/mo for 1,000 subscribers and removes all send limits while adding unlimited automations and custom templates. Advanced starts at $18/mo and layers in AI writing tools, advanced automation triggers, and Facebook audience integration. All paid plans charge based on active subscribers only, not total contacts including unsubscribed.
MailerLite's pricing is the clearest cost argument it makes against Mailchimp, Kit, and most other email platforms. At 10,000 subscribers, Growing Business costs roughly $64/mo compared to Mailchimp Standard at $135/mo — a $71/mo difference that adds up to over $850/year. The platform sacrifices some integration depth and template variety to deliver that price advantage, but for the majority of small businesses and creator-stage newsletters, the features available are more than sufficient.
Written by RajatFact-checked by Chandrasmita
Editorial policy: How we review software · How rankings work · Sponsored disclosure
Use this MailerLite pricing page to understand cost structure, usage limits, and where pricing conversations need more detail.
MailerLite Pricing Overview: All Three Plans
Growing Business pricing at key subscriber thresholds: $9/mo at 1,000 subs, $15/mo at 2,500 subs, $29/mo at 5,000 subs, $64/mo at 10,000 subs, $109/mo at 25,000 subs, and $159/mo at 50,000 subs. Advanced plan runs approximately $18/mo at 1,000 subs, $29/mo at 2,500, $39/mo at 5,000, $73/mo at 10,000. Annual billing saves around 15–17% on both paid plans. These figures should be verified on MailerLite's pricing page for current rates, as subscriber-band pricing adjusts periodically.
MailerLite's active-subscriber billing model makes it cheaper in practice than its listed rates suggest when compared to contact-based platforms. A list with 10,000 total contacts but 3,000 active subscribers costs MailerLite prices based on 3,000 — not 10,000. On Mailchimp, that same list might bill at 10,000+ contacts if unsubscribed contacts haven't been archived. The billing model difference alone often makes MailerLite 30–50% cheaper than an equivalent Mailchimp setup.
Free: $0/mo ($0/mo (1,000 subs, 12,000 sends/mo))
Growing Business: $9/mo ($7.50/mo billed annually (1,000 subs))
Advanced: $18/mo ($15/mo billed annually (1,000 subs))
Pricing source: official pricing page, verified 2026-03-25.
Read the pricing through your actual needs, not only the packaging language.
MailerLite pricing should be evaluated in the context of content volume, team size, and the commercial metric that drives expansion cost over time.
Pricing pages should help creators understand not just what the vendor charges, but what storage limits, export quality, and feature gating mean for total cost of ownership. Use this page to frame vendor conversations before committing to a plan.
- Clarify whether cost scales by minutes, projects, team members, or another metric.
- Confirm what premium features, storage upgrades, or priority support add to total spend.
- Model pricing against the actual content volume expected over the next 12 months.
MailerLite Free Plan: What 1,000 Subscribers and 12,000 Sends/Mo Gets You
The free plan is the right starting point for anyone building their first email list, testing email marketing concepts, or running a small business newsletter with under 1,000 subscribers. The one automation limit is the main constraint — if your onboarding workflow requires multiple sequential automations, you'll hit that wall. Upgrade to Growing Business ($9/mo) when you need unlimited automations, want to remove MailerLite branding from emails, or are consistently approaching the 12,000 sends/mo cap on the free plan.
Advanced ($18/mo) is worth it for marketers who want AI writing assistance integrated into their email workflow, need advanced conditional automation logic, or are running Facebook ad campaigns that benefit from MailerLite's custom audience sync. The 30-day free trial on Advanced makes it easy to evaluate whether the AI features genuinely improve your workflow before committing to the higher monthly rate. If you're not actively using the AI tools within the trial period, Growing Business is almost certainly the more cost-effective choice.
Growing Business Plan ($9/mo): When to Upgrade from Free
Verify your active subscriber count before comparing plans to competitors
MailerLite's pricing is based on active subscribers — not total contacts. If you're migrating from Mailchimp, count only subscribed contacts in your Mailchimp audience (excluding unsubscribed, cleaned, and pending). Your effective MailerLite billing tier may be significantly lower than your Mailchimp contact count suggests, which can change the cost comparison substantially.
Check whether one automation workflow covers your free plan needs
The free plan allows one active automation workflow. If your email strategy requires a welcome sequence plus a separate product onboarding sequence plus a re-engagement campaign, you need at least three workflows — which means Growing Business. Map your automation needs specifically before assuming the free plan works for your use case.
Evaluate the AI features during the Advanced trial before committing
MailerLite Advanced's primary differentiator over Growing Business is AI content assistance — headline generation, email body suggestions, and subject line optimization. Use the 30-day Advanced trial to determine whether the AI tools meaningfully speed up your email creation process. If you write most email copy yourself and find the AI suggestions generic, Growing Business at $9/mo is likely sufficient.
Confirm integration compatibility with your existing tech stack
MailerLite integrates with Shopify, WordPress, Zapier, WooCommerce, Squarespace, and most major CMS and e-commerce platforms. However, its native integration library is smaller than Mailchimp's. If your workflow depends on a specific CRM, custom event tracking setup, or niche e-commerce platform, verify that MailerLite has a native connector or reliable Zapier integration before migrating.
Frequently asked questions
Is MailerLite free?
+
Yes. MailerLite's free plan is permanently free for up to 1,000 subscribers with 12,000 email sends per month. It includes 10 landing pages, embedded signup forms, and 1 automation workflow. There's no credit card required to get started. The free plan is more capable than Mailchimp's free tier (which limits contacts to 500) and works well for growing newsletters and small business email lists.
How much does MailerLite cost per month?
+
MailerLite costs $0/mo on the free plan (1,000 subscribers), $9/mo on Growing Business (1,000 subscribers, unlimited sends), and $18/mo on Advanced (1,000 subscribers, AI features and advanced automations). Annual billing saves approximately 15–17%. Pricing scales by subscriber count — Growing Business at 10,000 subscribers costs around $64/mo, compared to Mailchimp Standard at approximately $135/mo.
What does MailerLite Growing Business include?
+
Growing Business ($9/mo) removes the free plan's send limit (12,000/mo) to unlimited sends, adds unlimited automation workflows, removes MailerLite branding from emails, enables custom HTML email templates, provides a custom unsubscribe page, and adds unlimited landing pages. It also includes a dedicated IP option and priority email support — meaningful upgrades from the free tier for any business sending regular campaigns.
What does the MailerLite Advanced plan add?
+
Advanced ($18/mo) adds AI-powered writing assistance and content generation, a custom HTML editor with enhanced template options, advanced automation triggers and conditions, Facebook custom audiences integration, promotion pop-ups, an advanced reporting dashboard, and 24/7 live chat support. It's designed for email marketers who need AI content tools and more granular automation logic.
How does MailerLite pricing compare to Mailchimp?
+
MailerLite is significantly cheaper than Mailchimp at every meaningful list size. At 1,000 subscribers: MailerLite Growing Business $9/mo vs Mailchimp Standard $20/mo. At 10,000 subscribers: MailerLite ~$64/mo vs Mailchimp ~$135/mo. MailerLite also charges based on active subscribers only — unlike Mailchimp, which counts unsubscribed contacts toward billing unless manually archived.
Does MailerLite have a free trial on paid plans?
+
MailerLite offers a 30-day free trial on the Advanced plan, no credit card required. This lets you access AI features, advanced automations, and custom HTML templates before committing to a paid tier. The free plan itself serves as a permanent trial for Growing Business features — making MailerLite one of the easiest email platforms to evaluate before paying.
Does MailerLite charge for unsubscribed contacts?
+
No. MailerLite charges based on active subscribers only — contacts who have unsubscribed are not included in your billable count. This is a meaningful difference from Mailchimp, which counts all audience contacts including unsubscribed ones unless you manually archive them. For businesses with high historical churn, MailerLite's active-subscriber billing can result in significantly lower costs than expected.
Is MailerLite good for automation?
+
MailerLite's automation is solid for basic to intermediate workflows — welcome sequences, conditional content, subscriber tagging, and multi-step drip campaigns. The Advanced plan adds more complex trigger conditions and behavioral automations. For very sophisticated automation needs (multi-branch CRM-integrated funnels), Kit or ActiveCampaign offer more depth. For most small business and creator email workflows, MailerLite's automation is more than sufficient.
Sources
Pricing and product details referenced on this page were verified from public sources. Confirm final details directly with the vendor before purchasing.
pricing · verified Mar 25, 2026
Official pricing pageMailerLite pricing reference
Related pages
Use the next pages below to move from pricing back into category context, product detail, alternatives, comparisons, and glossary terms.
Newsletter Platforms
Return to the category hub when the team needs broader buying context before narrowing further.
Free Newsletter Platforms tools
Check which tools in this category offer free tiers, trials, or community editions.
MailerLite pricing
Check the pricing model, official pricing notes, and what to validate before you treat the pricing as settled.
MailerLite alternatives
Use alternatives when the product is credible but you still need stronger pressure-testing against competing options.
Open related comparisons
Use comparison pages once your options are specific enough for direct tool-to-tool evaluation.
Open the glossary
Use glossary terms when the product page raises category language that needs a clearer operational definition.