The Top 10 Free Email Marketing Tools You Need to Consider
Email marketing produces on average a 4,200% return on investment (ROI) — that’s more than $42 profit for every $1 you invest!
Using a free email marketing tool means you can spend less and still earn more, maximizing your profits.
But finding the perfect email service provider (ESP) for your business can be quite tricky with the sea of free email marketing software on the market.
To make your life easier, here’s the ultimate list of free email marketing tools on the market today, including their features, pricing, and pros and cons.
1. The top 10 free email marketing tools
Here’s a quick glimpse of all the tools we’ll be looking at in-depth and how they compare against each other:
Comparison chart of the top free email marketing services
1.1. Systeme.io
systeme.io logo
Scoring a whopping 4.7/5 on Capterra and a 4.8/5 on Trustpilot, systeme.io is the best of the best!
It’s an all-inclusive marketing platform that includes top-quality free email marketing services.
Systeme.io also comes with a whole host of other features that meet all your digital marketing needs, allowing you to launch, grow, and scale your business all from one platform.
1.1.1. Features and pricing
With systeme.io’s email marketing features, you can:
Send unlimited emails
Set up automated email sequences
Measure the success of your campaigns with in-depth statistics
Use tags to segment your email list, and send tailored emails to specific groups
Use A/B testing to split test your email sign-up forms to maximize your lead generation
Capitalize on systeme.io’s other marketing features to supplement your email marketing:
Sales funnels — Create an effective sales funnel to build your email list fast and generate qualified leads
Website and landing page builder — Build your entire website, and send your email subscribers to beautifully built landing pages using proven, customizable templates and the drag-and-drop editor
Affiliate marketing — Use email marketing to gain more affiliates or to earn money as an affiliate by joining systeme.io’s affiliate program
Business automation — Automate your email sequences for drip and lead nurturing campaigns, and curate personalized emails
Blogging — Capitalize on multiple marketing channels to build your list and generate new leads
Sell products and online courses — Build online courses, and promote your products using effective email campaigns
It’s hard to imagine you can get all these features and more for free.
Let’s take a closer look at systeme.io’s pricing:
systeme.io’s pricing
Systeme.io offers 4 pricing plans, including a forever-free plan where no credit card details are required.
All plans, including the Free plan, come with:
Unlimited emails, blog posts, file storage space, and membership site members
Integrated PayPal and Stripe payments with no transaction fees
Access to your own affiliate program
24/7 expert online support that responds in less than 2 hours
Systeme.io’s Free plan has everything you need to launch a successful email campaign:
2,000 contacts, 1 tag, and 1 email campaign
3 sales funnels with 10 steps
A blog, membership site, and custom domain
1 workflow and automation rule
An order bump, 1-click upsell, A/B test, and coupon code
When you’re ready to take your email marketing to the next level, systeme.io’s affordable paid plans scale perfectly with your business.
Systeme.io really lives up to the hype — just ask our customers!
If you’re looking for the best free software for both your email marketing and your business, look no further than systeme.io.
1.2. HubSpot
HubSpot logo
HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM (customer relationship management) platform, scoring a 4.5/5 on Capterra.
Let’s see what HubSpot has to offer your business.
1.2.1. Features and pricing
Here’s a list of HubSpot’s key email marketing features:
Email templates — Use proven, customizable templates to create high-converting emails
Drag-and-drop email editor — Easily customize your emails with no technical knowledge needed
Marketing automation — Set up automated email sequences, and create personalized campaigns
A/B testings and analytics — Optimize your emails by testing subject lines, call-to-actions (CTAs), and email content, and analyze which emails bring the most results
CRM integrations — Segment your list using customer data, manage contacts, and send emails tailored to each subscriber
These features may sound convincing, but what can you do with the free plan?
No credit card details are required for HubSpot’s Free plan which gives you:
1 million subscribers
2,000 emails/month
HubSpot branding
1,000 static lists
5 active lists
Team email
Up to 1 automated follow-up email for each form
We can’t help but wonder what the point of 1 million subscribers is if you can only send 2,000 emails per month?
HubSpot seems to take the idea of “limits” very seriously — to remove the HubSpot branding and find practical use in these features, you’re going to need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Here’s what the paid plans are going to cost you:
Starter plan — Starting at $45/month for 1,000 marketing contacts and 5,000 emails/month
Professional plan — Starting at $800/month for 2,000 marketing contacts and 20,000 emails/month
Enterprise plan — Starting at $3,200/month for 10,000 marketing contacts and 200,000 emails/month
As you can see, HubSpot gets pricey very quickly, never lifting the monthly email limits.
1.2.2. Pros and cons
Here’s a quick summary of HubSpot’s pros and cons:
Pros
Its ease of use makes it a great tool for beginners
Smooth integrations with HubSpot’s CRM
Access to other tools such as mobile optimization and retargeting ads
Cons
Only 2,000 emails/month with the Free plan
HubSpot branding
Other free tools are also limited in features
Expensive paid plans
1.3. Sendinblue
Sendinblue logo
Based on real reviews, Sendinblue’s Capterra score of 4.5/5 shows that it’s a tool worth considering.
Here’s the breakdown of Sendinblue’s email marketing software and what you’ll get from the free version.
1.3.1. Features and pricing
Sendinblue’s email marketing features include:
Email builder — Easily design professional-looking emails with proven email templates and the drag-and-drop editor
List segmentation — Segment your list based on declared interest, previous engagement or purchase history, and socioeconomic and geographic characteristics
Email personalization — Use dynamic content and Sendinblue’s CRM features to target individual subscribers
Marketing automation — Automatically run campaigns, update customer data, and manage lists
A/B testing — Determine the best sending time with Sendinblue’s machine-learning Send Time Optimization tool
Landing pages and sign-up forms — Generate new subscribers, and create a targeted visitor experience for your campaigns
SMS marketing — Capitalize on SMS marketing to supplement your marketing efforts
Unfortunately, not all of these features are available on the Free plan:
Sendinblue’s features per pricing plan
Sendinblue’s Free plan (no credit card details needed) includes:
300 emails/day (9,000 emails/month)
Sendinblue branding
Unlimited contacts
Email personalization
Email campaigns
Workflow editor
However, the Free plan excludes:
A/B testing
Send time optimization
Landing page builder
To access these features, you’re going to need to upgrade to the Premium plan starting at $65/month, because even the Lite plan at $25/month excludes these key features.
1.3.2. Pros and cons
Let’s take a look at Sendinblue’s Free plan pros and cons:
Pros
Unlimited contacts
Advanced personalization with dynamic content and CRM integrations
Cons
Daily sending limit of 300 emails
The Free plan lacks essential features
Sendinblue branding on emails
1.4. Sender
Sender logo
Sender is our next stop on our hunt for the best free email marketing software with a 4.6/5 score on Capterra.
Sender has some impressive free features to optimize your email marketing efforts — here’s the breakdown.
1.4.1. Features and pricing
Sender’s email marketing features are mainly designed with newsletters in mind and include:
Templates — Browse the template library, and find a winning email design
Email editor — Create your email from scratch using the drag-and-drop builder, built-in image editor, or embedded videos that are automatically converted to GIFs
Email deliverability — Sleep well knowing your emails are reaching inboxes due to Sender’s advanced email deliverability infrastructure
Marketing automation — Build sophisticated workflows to create welcome emails, drip and lead nurturing campaigns, abandoned cart emails, and more
Integrations — Integrate with content management systems (CMS) plugins such as Magento and WordPress, ecommerce tools such as WooCommerce, and analytic tools such as Google Analytics
Advanced analytics — Measure open and click-through rates, build buyer personas based on subscribers’ actions, and integrate with Google Analytics
Transactional emails — Send transactional emails
While some of these features are very appealing, where are the landing pages and A/B testing needed to optimize email marketing campaigns?
Let’s find out how this translates to the Free plan:
Sender’s pricing
With Sender’s Free plan (no credit card details required), you’ll get:
2,500 subscribers
15,000 emails/month
Sender branding on emails
Email automation features
While this monthly email limit is on the more generous side, it still doesn’t compete with systeme.io’s unlimited emails.
1.4.2. Pros and cons
Here’s a quick review of Sender’s pros and cons:
Pros
Advanced email deliverability infrastructure
Useful CMS and analytics integrations
Cons
Only 15,000 emails/month
Sender branding on emails
Lacking some essential features like landing pages and A/B testing
1.5. Mailchimp
Mailchimp logo
1.5.1. Features and pricing
Mailchimp’s free email service includes:
Basic email templates — Access a portion of the templates, and customize them with a drag-and-drop editor
Creative Assistant — This AI-powered tool generates custom designs in a matter of seconds
Subject Line Helper — Receive feedback on how to improve your subject lines, and draw in more readers
1-step automation — Automate your email campaigns but only with 1 step
Subscription forms and landing pages — Generate new subscribers with customizable forms and landing page templates
Website and domains — Build a website with a custom domain using pre-designed color palettes and layouts
Marketing CRM — Connect your customer data to get to know your audience better and create a personalized experience
Integrations — Integrate with 250+ popular marketing tools
While Mailchimp’s Free plan offers some seriously impressive features, they still seem to be holding out.
Here are Mailchimp’s pricing plans:
Source: emailcrush.com
Mailchimp’s Free plan includes:
2,000 contacts
2,000 emails/day and 10,000 emails/month
Mailchimp banner ad on all emails
24/7 support for 30 days
Mailchimp’s Free plan lacks some fundamental functionality that can only be found in the paid plans, such as A/B testing, customer journeys, dynamic content, unlimited 24/7 support, and more.
While the paid plans may not look that pricey, bear in mind that the prices in the image above are for 500 subscribers only, and increasing the subscriber limit gets expensive very quickly.
1.5.2. Pros and cons
Here’s Mailchimp’s list of pros and cons to determine whether or not it’s the best free email marketing software:
Pros
Has advanced features in content creation
Ample integrations
Cons
Mailchimp ad banner on emails
Support for only 30 days
You have to upgrade to paid plans to access some basic functionality
1.6. SendPulse
SendPulse logo
SendPulse defines itself as a multi-channel marketing platform but is mostly known for its email marketing services.
While SendPulse has one of the lower scores on this list with a 4.4/5 on Capterra, it’s still worth exploring — it might even surprise you!
1.6.1. Features and pricing
SendPulse’s free email marketing service includes:
Drag-and-drop editor — Create high-converting emails in minutes with customizable templates, and no coding skills are required
Subscription forms — Use SendPulse’s form builder to create a variety of forms that suit your needs
Workflow editor — Build automated workflows to automatically send emails that are triggered by events
Resend to non-openers — Resend unopened emails but with different subject lines
Campaign analytics — Get click maps for links, measure your open and click-through rates, and integrate with Google Analytics
Email verifier — Clean up your email list, and avoid the pesky spam folder, by verifying email addresses and removing ones that don’t exist
Web push notifications — Notify users on your website about sales, important updates, or new content
Transactional email service — Send automated messages in response to subscribers’ actions, such as subscription and booking confirmations, order updates, and double opt-in emails
Now let’s check out the logistics of SendPulse’s Free plan:
SendPulse’s pricing
SendPulse’s Free account gives you the following:
500 subscribers
15,000 emails/month
3 addresses and 1 domain
1 landing page
5 automation flows and 1 event
100 verification emails/month
SendPulse also offers separate Free plans for transactional emails and web push notifications, including 12,000 transactional emails and unlimited web push notifications for 10,000 subscribers, respectively.
Compared to others on this list, SendPulse’s free email marketing plan is rather limited — especially with its 500 subscriber limit and lack of A/B testing, segmentation, and personalization features.
1.6.2. Pros and cons
Here’s the final rundown of SendPulse’s pros and cons:
Pros
Advanced features such as resending to non-openers and email verification
Web push notifications and transactional emails
Cons
The limit of 500 subscribers is incredibly low
Lacking some basic features such as A/B testing, segmentation, personalization, and more
Some users have reported their accounts being suddenly blocked if their bounce rates are too high
1.7. Omnisend
Omnisend logo
Omnisend is an ecommerce platform that seamlessly integrates email marketing into its software — making it the perfect tool for businesses running an ecommerce store.
Despite Omnisend’s high score of 4.8/5 on Capterra, its free service has some major limitations.
1.7.1. Features and pricing
Let’s take a look at Omnisend’s impressive list of features:
Email templates — Choose from an array of professional templates, or drag and drop the elements yourself
Content editor — Create personalized dynamic content blocks, use the product picker to import products, and set up unique coupon codes, scratch cards, and gift boxes
Landing page and sign-up form builder — Maximize your conversions with a dedicated landing page or with Omnisend’s built-in forms
Segmentation — Segment your list according to shopping behavior, engagement, and profile data
Marketing automation — Save time with pre-saved workflows that run automated email campaigns
A/B testing and analytics — Optimize your campaigns through split testing and actionable insights
Push notifications — Use push notifications for cart abandonment, browse abandonment, and transactional messages
SMS marketing — Integrate your SMS and email marketing
Omnisend’s free services almost seem too good to be true!
Unfortunately, it is — the problem comes in when looking at the limits on the Free plan:
Omnisend’s pricing
Omnisend’s Free plan includes:
250 contacts
500 emails/month
Up to 60 SMSes depending on your region
Up to 500 push notifications
Omnisend branding
5 segments
Omnisend’s free email marketing software features are probably what got it its high score, but its limits are what stop it from being the best free email marketing tool.
It is, however, a great email marketing tool for small business owners who don’t need that many contacts or emails but can still benefit from all the advanced features.
1.7.2. Pros and cons
Let’s weigh up Omnisend’s pros and cons:
Pros
A wide host of advanced features included in the Free plan
Perfect for small businesses with an ecommerce store
Cons
Incredibly low limit of 500 emails/month
Only 250 contacts
Omnisend branding
1.8. MailerLite
MailerLite logo
MailerLite is another favored email marketing service, scoring a 4.6/5 on Capterra.
Let’s find out what makes this free email marketing software a go-to platform for many email marketers.
1.8.1. Features and pricing
Here’s a list of MailerLite’s key features included in its free tool:
Advanced email editor — Create effective campaigns with the drag-and-drop editor and rich text editor
Website and landing page builder — Easily drag and drop your way to a sleek and functional website and professional landing pages
Pop-up and embedded forms — Use dynamic email pop-up options and customizable form templates to maximize your lead generation
Marketing automation — Send triggered emails, personalize each email, and improve customer retention
Advanced segmentation — Segment your list by interests, email engagement, behavior, sign-up form, geographical location, and combining segments
Analytics and A/B testing — Optimize your email marketing campaigns by analyzing campaign reports with valuable insights and split testing your campaigns
MailerLite’s free email marketing software covers its bases with basic, yet necessary, email features.
Here are a few things included in MailerLite’s Free plan:
1,000 subscribers
12,000 emails/month
5 landing pages with 25+ customizable templates
MailerLite branding on emails
However, here are a few more things that are excluded from the Free plan:
Live chat 24/7 support
Custom HTML code editor
Newsletter templates
Custom domains
Click maps and A/B testing of landing pages
MailerLite’s features per pricing plan
While MailerLite delivers on the essential email marketing features, it lacks the advanced features that are offered by free versions of other email marketing software.
1.8.2. Pros and cons
Here’s a last look at MailerLite’s pros and cons:
Pros
A/B testing, segmentation, and automated personalization
Affordable pricing plan with all the features needed
Cons
The Free plan doesn’t have newsletter templates
Can’t compete with advanced features of other tools
MailerLite branding
1.9. Mailjet
Mailjet logo
Mailjet is one of those free email tools that try to keep up with the big dogs but, unfortunately, just gets left behind.
Mailjet’s Capterra score of 4.3/5 shows that it might not be the best free email marketing service out there, but it’s still worth investigating.
1.9.1. Features and pricing
Here are the key features of Mailjet’s Free plan:
Drag-and-drop editor — Create responsive emails with Mailjet’s editor called Passport
Email templates — Access a library of free email templates
Subscription forms — Create a subscription widget with Mailjet’s intuitive editor or with your own HTML and CSS code
SMTP relay,APIs, and webhooks — Integrate with Mailgun’s API, and set up your SMTP server in minutes
Device compatibility — Optimize your emails with every device using the MJML rendering engine used by Passport
Basic analytics — Measure your campaign performance by analyzing opens, clicks, and non-delivery reports
Integrations — Integrate with 80+ popular marketing apps
Unfortunately, Mailjet’s features are incredibly limited compared to the other free email marketing services out there on the market.
Most of the basic functionality can only be found in the paid plans:
Mailjet’s pricing
With Mailjet’s Free plan, you get:
Unlimited subscribers
6,000 emails/month and 200 emails/day
Mailjet branding
Online customer support for the first month only
Only with the paid plans can you get these fundamental email features:
Segmentation
A/B testing
Dynamic content
Marketing automation
Real-time collaboration
Without these features on the free version, can you really run a successful email campaign for free?
1.9.2. Pros and cons
Let’s check out Mailjet’s pros and cons for the final verdict:
Pros
Unlimited subscribers
Cons
The Free plan lacks fundamental email marketing services
Mailjet branding
Limited online support for only 30 days
1.10. EmailOctopus
Source: CompareCamp.com
EmailOctopus is a simple email marketing platform with a modest score of 4.6/5 on Capterra.
It’s perfect for small businesses or email marketing newbies that don’t want to be overwhelmed by a tsunami of complex features.
1.10.1. Features and pricing
EmailOctopus’ free email marketing software includes:
Email builder and templates — Browse 30+ mobile-friendly templates, start from scratch with the drag-and-drop editor, or import your own HTML code
Landing page builder — Either drag and drop your own elements or choose one of the mobile-friendly landing page templates
Pop-up and inline forms — Customize your forms with up to 20 custom fields, and create both pop-up and embedded forms
Segmentation — Tag your subscribers based on location, age, gender, and preferences
Personalization — Send tailored emails to each segment based on their tags
Marketing automation — Create time-based automated campaigns using multi-step automation
Analytics — Measure your campaign’s success with real-time campaign reports, open and click tracking, and a Google Analytics integration
Integrations — Integrate with Zapier, and access all the top marketing platforms through 3rd party integrations
Affiliate program — Advertise EmailOctopus through your email marketing, and earn money as an affiliate
EmailOctopus has a nice and simple spread of email features — nothing too fancy, but it still ticks most of the basic boxes.
Let’s check out the pricing plans:
EmailOctopus’ pricing
Here’s what you can get with EmailOctopus’ Free plan:
2,500 subscribers
10,000 emails/month
EmailOctopus branding on emails
Reports for the last 30 days
Unlimited users
Basic support
While EmailOctopus lacks some important features, such as A/B testing, it may still meet the email marketing needs of some businesses.
However, we wouldn’t recommend it as the best free email marketing platform.
1.10.2. Pros and cons
Here’s the final roundup of EmailOctopus’s pros and cons:
Pros
Has enough functionality for small or new businesses
Affiliate marketing-friendly
Cons
Features of the Free plan are pretty basic
EmailOctopus branding
Reports for only 30 days
2. Which free email marketing tool is best for your business?
We know that was quite a lot of information, so here’s a quick recap of all the free email marketing services:
Comparison chart of the top free email marketing services
The 2 email marketing services with the most impressive features and highest Capterra scores are systeme.io and Omnisend.
Omnisend has some incredibly advanced email marketing features included in its free version. However, its limits of 250 subscribers and 500 monthly emails are major disadvantages that can’t be overlooked.
This makes Omnisend impractical for most businesses unless they’re really really small.
That leaves systeme.io!
This is the only email marketing service to offer unlimited emails, and it’s the most comprehensive out of the all-in-one platforms — no tool can host your entire business like systeme.io.
Systeme.io’s paid plans are also incredibly affordable compared to most tools on this list, so if your business needs a little bit more, systeme.io has you covered without breaking the bank.
It looks like systeme.io has won this round.
3. Conclusion
It’s no easy task finding an email marketing tool that’s not only free but also has every feature you need.
After reading this article, you should have a better idea of the top email marketing services on the market and each of their strengths and weaknesses.
Now you just need to find the one that matches your business’ needs and won’t let your marketing efforts go to waste.
Create a systeme.io free account today, and take both your email marketing and business to the next level — for free!
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© systeme.io. All rights reserved.