MailerLite Review

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MailerLite is email marketing software for small businesses, creators, and solopreneurs: newsletters and campaigns, automations, signup forms, landing pages, and simple websites in one account. The pitch is simplicity — independent testers consistently call its editor the cleanest in the category — at prices that run well under Mailchimp at comparable list sizes.

This review is research-based: we reviewed MailerLite's published plan details and pricing, plus independent reviews from EmailToolTester, G2/Capterra testers, and several 2026 hands-on reviewers. We did not sign up for or run campaigns on the platform, so what follows is what the company says it offers, pressure-tested against what independent reviewers report.

Check MailerLite's Current Pricing

What Is MailerLite?

MailerLite is a full email marketing platform: you build your subscriber list, send campaigns (newsletters), set up automated email sequences (welcome series, re-engagement), and capture new subscribers with forms, landing pages, and pop-ups. It also includes a simple website builder and a place to sell digital products — enough that a creator can run their list and a basic web presence from one account.

The differentiator MailerLite itself states: pricing is based on usage, not feature access. You pay for the number of active subscribers and the volume you send, and the important tools are included on every plan — even Free. That is the opposite of the feature-gating most competitors use, and it's the honest reason the free tier is as usable as it is.

MailerLite Plans and Pricing

MailerLite overhauled its pricing on June 16, 2026 — plans were renamed, prices rose, and the free plan was cut a second time. Prices below are the current published tiers.

Every new account also gets a 14-day trial of the premium features, no credit card required. When the trial ends, your subscribers, automations, forms, and sites stay in place — only the premium features revert.

Prices change frequently — verify current pricing before you buy.

What Each Plan Includes

Free — the honest starter

The Free plan is a genuine way to start: up to 250 active subscribers, 2 user seats, 2,500 monthly emails, campaigns, automations, a website, a landing page, and signup forms — plus all three email editors (drag & drop, custom HTML, and simple). The catch is scale: it used to cover 1,000 subscribers, and if you outgrow the 250 limit, MailerLite locks sending until you pay or trim your list.

Comfort — the sweet spot

Comfort (from $12/month) is the full toolset sized for solopreneurs and small teams: everything in Free, plus unlimited templates, dynamic emails, campaign auto-resend, multivariate testing, the unsubscribe page builder, a preference center, the AI writing assistant, and smart sending. The email ceiling is 10× the top of your subscriber tier (so the up-to-1,000 tier gets 10,000 emails a month), and it scales as your list grows.

Power — the growth tier

Power (from $25/month) adds unlimited user seats, unlimited monthly emails, unlimited automations and forms, digital products and bookings, multiple automation triggers, and 24/7 live chat support. This is the tier for busy marketers running several funnels — or anyone who wants live chat always available (Comfort gets email support).

Enterprise — the custom tier

Enterprise is for 200,000+ subscribers: a dedicated success manager, deliverability support, account audits, and a dedicated IP as an add-on, with pricing set by subscriber count.

The billing fine print that matters

• You pay for active subscribers only — unsubscribed and bounced contacts don't count. But the count is cumulative within each billing cycle: anyone active at any point in the cycle counts, even if deleted later.
• Paid plans auto-scale. If your list outgrows your subscriber tier, the limit increases automatically and your card is charged the next tier. You'll get a warning in the account first, but it is not opt-in.
• Annual billing costs less — independent reviewers cite roughly 10% off. Nonprofits get a 30% discount on paid plans.

How MailerLite Compares

MailerLite vs Mailchimp

This is the comparison that matters. Independent reviewers consistently report MailerLite costs 40–55% less than Mailchimp at comparable tiers, and the editor is widely considered cleaner and faster to use. Mailchimp counters with a bigger template library (200+ vs MailerLite's 100+) and more native integrations (300+ vs ~130). The honest read: Mailchimp wins on ecosystem, MailerLite wins on price and simplicity — and for most small lists, simplicity is what actually gets used.

MailerLite vs Kit

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is the other creator-favorite. Kit's strength is creator-focused commerce and landing pages; MailerLite's is lower pricing and a gentler learning curve. If you're a creator monetizing a paid audience, Kit's commerce features may win. If you just need email marketing that doesn't fight you, MailerLite is cheaper and simpler.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Among the easiest editors in the category — independent testers agree
• Strong deliverability (~94% in EmailToolTester's independent tests) and strict approval keeps shared IPs clean
• Pay only for active subscribers; every plan includes the important features
• 40–55% cheaper than Mailchimp at comparable list sizes
• Automation included on every plan, even Free
• 4.7/5 on G2 from verified users

Cons

• The Free plan was cut twice and now covers just 250 subscribers — growing lists hit the paywall fast
• New accounts go through a strict manual approval that can delay your first campaign 1–3 business days
• Smaller template library (~100+) and fewer integrations (~130) than Mailchimp
• Automation depth lags ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo for complex customer journeys
• 24/7 live chat is Power-tier only
• No native CRM beyond contact tagging — B2B teams needing pipelines must pair it with another tool

Who Should Get MailerLite — and Who Should Skip

Get it if: you're a solopreneur, creator, or small team that wants email marketing without enterprise pricing or complexity — the audience MailerLite is built for.

Skip it if: you need advanced multi-step automation or a real CRM (ActiveCampaign/Klaviyo territory), your list is growing fast and the auto-tier increases make you nervous, or you can't wait out the 1–3 day account approval.

Verdict

MailerLite earns its reputation: the best combination of ease of use, deliverability, and honest pricing in small-business email marketing. The Free plan is genuinely useful, Comfort from $12/month is the sweet spot for most, and the usage-based model means you never pay for features you don't touch. Go in with eyes open on two things — the free tier's 250-subscriber ceiling and the manual approval wait — and it's the rare "simple and cheap" tool that doesn't punish you for staying simple.

Prices change frequently — verify current pricing before you buy.

Check MailerLite's Current Pricing

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