Office Stack GuidePlain-English guides to the software and IT services small businesses actually use.

Email Marketing Software for Small Business: Costs Compared

By Office Stack Guide Editors · Updated 2026-11-12

As of November 2026, Brevo is the easiest tool to budget for a list you email weekly, because it publishes the full price: $32 a month to send 5,000 contacts four emails each (20,000 emails), and $82 a month at 25,000 contacts (100,000 emails). That is $384 to $984 in year one. Mailchimp, MailerLite and Constant Contact bill by list size instead. Their entry plans start at $19 a month (Mailchimp Essentials) and $12 (MailerLite Comfort) for the smallest lists, and they show the price at 5,000 or 25,000 contacts only in their calculators, so enter your own list size there before you compare.

A small business owner reviews an email newsletter draft on a laptop at a shop counter.

Every plan also comes with a one-time DNS task and legal duties under CAN-SPAM, the federal law on commercial email. No vendor takes those duties off your hands.

At a glance

What Figure Source (year)
1,000 contacts $0 on Brevo Free; Mailchimp and MailerLite free plans stop at 250 Vendor pricing pages (2026)
5,000 contacts, emailed weekly $32 a month on Brevo Starter ($384 a year) Brevo (2026)
25,000 contacts, emailed weekly $82 a month on Brevo Starter ($984 a year) Brevo (2026)
Contact-billed entry prices From $12 (MailerLite Comfort) and $19 (Mailchimp Essentials) MailerLite, Mailchimp (2026)
SPF, DKIM, DMARC setup One-time DNS task Google (2024), Microsoft (2025)
CAN-SPAM maximum penalty $53,088 per violating email FTC (2025)

What email marketing software costs at 1,000, 5,000 and 25,000 contacts

Mailchimp, Constant Contact and MailerLite bill by the number of contacts you store. Their core plans let you send 10 times your contact count each month, so a weekly sender pays the same as a monthly one.

Brevo bills by emails sent, but its cheapest tiers also cap how many contacts you can store. Brevo's pricing page shows the 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000-email tiers storing only 500, 1,500 or 2,500 contacts. A list above 2,500 contacts therefore starts at the 20,000-email tier, however rarely you send. That tier costs $32 a month on Starter.

Prices as of November 12, 2026. US dollars, monthly billing, read on each vendor's own pricing page. Weekly sending means about four sends a month.

Vendor (core / standard plan) Bills by Published starting price 5,000 contacts, weekly 25,000 contacts, weekly
Brevo (Starter / Standard) Emails sent $32 / $69 at 20,000 emails $32 / $69 $82 / $139
MailerLite (Comfort / Power) Subscribers From $12 / from $25 In MailerLite's calculator In MailerLite's calculator
Mailchimp (Essentials / Standard) Contacts From $19 / from $28 In Mailchimp's calculator In Mailchimp's calculator
Constant Contact (Lite / Standard) Contacts Not readable on its pricing page when checked In Constant Contact's calculator In Constant Contact's calculator

Brevo's figures add its plan fee to the email-credit tier, as listed on Brevo's pricing page. For the three contact-billed tools, the starting price covers only the smallest list, and the bill rises in steps as your list grows. Their calculators did not display tier prices to automated checks, so this table gives no figure we could not confirm.

Sending less often lowers only Brevo's bill. Fifty thousand emails a month costs $56 on Brevo Starter, and the contact-billed prices stay the same however often you send within their monthly allowance.

At 1,000 contacts, Brevo Free stores the whole list but sends only 300 emails a day. One newsletter therefore takes four days to reach everyone.

Watch for stale Mailchimp numbers. On November 12, 2026, Mailchimp's pricing page showed starting prices of $19 for Essentials, $28 for Standard and $550 for Premium. Roundups, including ActiveCampaign's blog, were still listing $13, $20 and $350 into November. Use only the figure Mailchimp's own calculator gives for your list.

Paying annually lowers every total in the table:

What changes the price: contacts vs. sends, plan tiers, overages and add-ons

The main options compared: Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Brevo, MailerLite and HubSpot

Tool Bills by Published price (2026) Best fit
Brevo Emails sent, with contact caps on low tiers $32 Starter at 5,000 contacts weekly Lists over 2,500 contacts sent weekly or less
MailerLite Subscribers Comfort from $12; Power from $25 Small lists that want a low entry price
Mailchimp Contacts Essentials from $19 Businesses whose other apps already connect to it
Constant Contact Contacts Use its calculator Run its calculator at your list size and compare the result with Brevo
HubSpot Marketing Hub Marketing contacts plus seats Starter $20 per seat, 1,000 contacts included Businesses already running HubSpot CRM

Two details the table leaves out:

Why not just use Outlook or Gmail? Sending limits and deliverability setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

A Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace mailbox is built for one-to-one mail. Google's Workspace documentation caps each user at 2,000 messages a day, 3,000 external recipients and 1,500 mail-merge recipients. Google says these limits can change without notice.

That cap makes a newsletter slow and risky to send:

Whichever tool you choose, add three DNS records on day one. DNS is your domain's public address book. It is managed by the company where you bought the domain, or by your IT provider.

The major mailbox providers set these rules:

Set up all three records even if you send far fewer than 5,000 emails a day. Google requires SPF or DKIM from every sender, and the work only happens once. Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Brevo and MailerLite each generate the records for you. Whoever manages your DNS then adds them.

CAN-SPAM rules your email vendor won't cover for you

An office worker looks at a laptop screen showing web domain and DNS configuration settings.

CAN-SPAM covers every commercial email, including business-to-business messages. The FTC's compliance guide lists these duties:

  1. Use accurate "From," "To," "Reply-To" and routing information.
  2. Write subject lines that match the content.
  3. Disclose clearly that the message is an ad.
  4. Include a valid physical postal address. A street address, a USPS post office box or a registered private mailbox all qualify.
  5. Offer a clear way to opt out of all marketing email.
  6. Honor opt-outs within 10 business days, and keep the opt-out working for at least 30 days after you send.
  7. Monitor anyone who sends email on your behalf.

Your vendor supplies the unsubscribe link and footer. Even so, the FTC says you "can't contract away your legal responsibility" by hiring an email service. The penalty is up to $53,088 per violating email, set in the January 17, 2025 Federal Register adjustment.

Transactional messages, such as receipts and shipping notices, are largely exempt. Yahoo's 2-day unsubscribe rule is stricter than the federal deadline, so process opt-outs right away.

This section is general information, not legal advice. Ask an attorney if you email people outside the US or send text messages.

How to choose: questions to ask before you sign up

Start with three numbers: your contacts today, your contacts expected in 12 months, and your sends per month. Then price your top two tools in their own calculators.

Ask the vendor:

  1. What will I pay at my current list size and at double it, on monthly and annual billing?
  2. Do unsubscribed, bounced or archived contacts count toward my tier?
  3. What is my monthly send allowance, and what happens if I go over it?
  4. How many user seats are included, and what does each extra seat cost?
  5. Are there onboarding, branding-removal or automation-limit charges?
  6. Can I export contacts, unsubscribes, tags and templates if I leave?

Ask whoever manages your domain's DNS:

  1. Who has the login, and when can you add the vendor's records?
  2. Do we already have an SPF record? If so, add the new service to it rather than creating a second record.
  3. Do we have a DMARC record, and who receives its reports?
  4. Once the records are added, will you confirm the vendor shows our domain as authenticated?

Red flags and common mistakes

FAQ

Is a free plan enough for a small business?

Only for a very small list. Mailchimp Free allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. MailerLite Free allows 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails. Brevo Free stores up to 100,000 contacts but sends only 300 emails a day.

When does a contact-billed tool cost less than Brevo?

A small business owner talks on a phone while a laptop open to a software pricing page sits nearby.

When you send often. Brevo charges by emails sent, so ten sends a month to 5,000 contacts (50,000 emails) costs $56 on Starter, against $32 for weekly sends. A contact-billed plan costs the same at either pace within its send allowance. Price both at your real send count in each vendor's calculator.

Is the $53,088 penalty a realistic risk?

The cap is real, but actual fines have been far smaller per email. The FTC's largest CAN-SPAM penalty, $2.95 million against Verkada in August 2024, covered more than 30 million emails, or roughly 10 cents each. That case involved missing unsubscribe links, missing postal addresses and ignored opt-outs.

How hard is it to switch email marketing providers later?

Contacts move easily by CSV file, but automations have to be rebuilt by hand. Before you leave, export contacts with signup dates and sources, your unsubscribe and bounce lists, tags and segments, and template HTML. Then authenticate your domain with the new vendor and remove the old vendor from your SPF record.

Key takeaways

The bottom line

Prices moved in one direction in 2026. Mailchimp and MailerLite both now cap their free plans at 250 contacts, Mailchimp's starting prices rose to $19 and $28, and Brevo caps stored contacts on its lowest tiers. Price your shortlist at double your current list, pick the cheapest tool that fits how often you send, and re-run its calculator before every renewal.

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