As far as marketing strategies go, email is among the most powerful tools at your disposal. It builds relationships, drives engagement, and delivers ROI better than most types of marketing campaigns.
For your email marketing strategy to be successful, you must use the right email marketing service. It doesn’t matter if you’re creating a list from scratch or trying to improve an existing list’s outreach. Any one of the best email marketing services on our list has the solution you need.
Finding the right email marketing software for your business is trickier than it seems. The abundance of options can be overwhelming, and sifting through all their features can be dizzying to say the least.
Like we said, we have a list of the best email marketing platforms, which includes their key features and pricing plans, to help make the job easier.
Top Email Marketing Services: A Quick Comparison
Outlook, Gmail, and other free email services are not ideal for mass email marketing campaigns. Hence, you should always look to dedicated email marketing platforms to carry them out.
Here is a quick comparison of our top five email marketing services in key areas to provide an overview of what each can bring to the table.
| Email Marketing Service | Free Plan | 5,000 Subscribers | 20,000 Subscribers | 50,000 Subscribers | 100,000 Subscribers |
| SendinBlue | 9,000 emails Unlimited subscribers | One email free per month $25 to send more emails per month | $25 | $25 | $25 |
| MailChimp | 10,000 emails 2,000 subscribers | $59 | $189 | $299 | $605 |
| ConvertKit | Unlimited emails 300 subscribers | $79 | $179 | $379 | $679 |
| HubSpot | 2,000 emails 1,000,000 subscribers | $220 | $760 | $1840 | $3640 |
| MailerLite | 12,000 emails 1,000 contacts | $32 | $119 | $239 | $425 |
Best Email Marketing Services in 2022
Here are our top 14 recommendations for email marketing service providers to efficiently manage your endless email lists.
1. Sendinblue
You will get more than email marketing software with Sendinblue. It’s an email service platform that comes with both a marketing and sales toolkit, so you’re covered where it matters. All these features work in tandem to build you an effective email marketing strategy from beginning to end.
In the email marketing aspect, the tool provides incredible features, such as individualized content, send-time optimization, laser-focused segmentation, and A/B testing. You also get an intuitive drag and drop editor that provides access to a full library of templates for creating fantastic, memorable emails.
Sendinblue stands out when it comes to marketing automation, offering you all the tools for scaling your business, such as:
- Autoresponders such as welcome emails
- Consumer-behavior-based workflows
- If-then scenarios
- Automated contact management
- Lead scoring
You can trigger emails based on the types of interactions users have with your website using the Sendinblue Tracker. You can also integrate easily with eCommerce platforms like Woocommerce and Shopify using the tool’s built-in plug-ins for integrations.
Alongside email marketing campaigns, Sendinblue lets you manage transactional emails, like order updates and account confirmations, so you can really stay on top of everything. Moreover, the platform could work as a bulk service for email marketing, thanks to the available SMTP relay.
Sendinblue doesn’t only have metrics for essential email KPIs, like click rates and open rates. At the same time, it provides detailed heat maps of user click locations and time and place of engagement with campaigns. With access to these important data, you can fine-tune email campaigns for optimal performance.
Emailing aside, the tool also delivers in terms of SMS marketing, real-time live chatting with customers, and lead generation with signup forms to support marketing efforts across the board. Soon, you’ll also get to take advantage of push notifications!
Pricing
With Sendinblue’s Forever Free Plan, you can send as many as 300 emails per day for free. That translates to 9,000 emails each month without charging for the size of the contact list. The paid offerings start at $25 monthly for 20,000 mails each month.
Paid plan pricing is determined by the number of emails you want to send monthly. That said, both free and paid offerings feature unlimited storage at no extra cost. All packages come with email support, while phone and chat support is available only with the Premium Package.
2. Mailchimp
One of the most sought-after but priciest email services out there is Mailchimp. The platform’s simple user interface is what draws beginners to it initially before some move to more cost-effective options.
It allows you to create an outstanding email marketing campaign within minutes using professional templates and the drag and drop builder. You can also increase your audience by using premade templates to build unlimited landing pages or by incorporating popup signup forms into your site.
Upon further inspection, you’ll see that the tool covers the complex front of email marketing, as well. It offers features like preconfigured and custom list segmentation alternatives, A/B testing, send time optimization, and more.
Thanks to the email content personalization feature, you can add a touch that’s unique to your brand to both your messages and product recommendations using an eCommerce plugin. As for email automation, select from pre-programmed workflows like re-engagement emails, or you can pave your own customer journey.
The platform also provides ads and social media scheduling in case you want to go multi-channel with your email marketing strategy.
Pricing
For paid offerings, the price is determined by the number of contacts on your email list. You won’t get customer support with the Free Plan, but it will hold a vast library of email marketing knowledge to help get you started.
The Free Plan covers up to 2,000 subscribers and 10,000 emails. You will then be charged $11 for every 500 contacts beyond that.
3. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is an email service provider targeted toward YouTubers, bloggers, vloggers, and other online creatives. It comes with features like list segmentation, campaign customization using tags, and A/B testing for subject lines.
The tool’s customizable templates for landing pages and signup forms are designed to grow your audience and boost conversions. Plus, if you’re making use of downloadable content to incentivize, you can send materials automatically as soon as a user fills out a form.
The platform’s automation software lets you visualize setting up email drip campaigns driven by the behavior of your subscribers. You can see the sequences clearly and, thus, be able to alter the route taken by subscribers thanks to the workflow editor.
Should you need help getting the hang of this feature in cases like product launches and webinars, automation templates are set in place to make things easier.
Pricing
All offerings come with live chat, email support, and unlimited emails. The paid plan pricing is determined by your number of subscribers. In the Free Plan, you can get up to 300 subscribers. Beyond that, prices start at $15 monthly for every 300 contacts and more complex features.
4. HubSpot
HubSpot has two main parts: marketing hub and sales hub (CRM). As such, you will find the platform’s email marketing features distributed between the two. The former focuses on lead and traffic generation tools like landing pages, social media ads, SEO, content, video, and live chat.
On the other hand, the latter offers features like email monitoring and scheduling, CRM, sales automation, reporting, predictive lead scoring, meeting scheduling, and email sequences. And then there’s the service hub, which holds the support and ticketing features.
All in all, HubSpot covers digital marketing services across the board and caters to businesses that focus on sales such as SaaS.
Pricing
The Free Plan provides storage for up to a million contacts and sends up to 2,000 emails each month. You can also get the Starter Marketing Plan to start, which comes at $50 monthly for a thousand subscribers.
5. MailerLite
In MailerLite, you get the best email marketing software for beginners. It has a drag-and-drop builder that lets you create any type of email campaign. Plus, it has a web builder for growing your subscriber’s list using signup forms, creating landing pages, and building an entire website from scratch.
Through the third-party app MailerSend, you can send out transactional emails with ease. Email automation and user-behavior-based customization are also among its strong suits. It has abandoned cart emails for WooCommerce and Shopify stores. The platform also has list segmentation and contact management features.
Optimize campaign performance using smart delivery by time zone and A/B testing features. In addition, you can stay on top of campaign efforts with the reports and analytics feature.
Pricing
MailerLite’s Free Plan sends 12,000 emails per month to up to a thousand subscribers. Paid offerings start at $10 monthly for 1,000 contacts.
6. Klaviyo
Klaviyo is one of the best email marketing services for online businesses. It comes with an advanced email and SMS marketing feature designed to boost revenue.
The tool’s editor is a standout; it is easy to use and has a huge library of templates that are fully responsive. The software lets you customize emails with dynamic blocks and product recommendations.
Klaviyo monitors interactions and events online, which you can use as bases for emails, segmentations, and automations. Customer data then goes to user profiles and a CRM to provide your team with a better understanding of customer behavior.
The platform delivers in terms of analytics and reporting. It has advanced reporting capabilities, a metrics dashboard, and individualized benchmarks for your online business.
Pricing
In the Free Plan, you get up to 50 SMS contacts, 250 subscribers, 150 SMS messages, and 500 emails. Paid offerings start at $20 monthly for 500 subscribers.
7. AWeber
AWeber has a simple and intuitive drag-and-drop editor, a vast library of professional-looking templates, and AI-driven design support. It uses both your social accounts and website to create on-brand templates for your newsletters.
The platform is easy to link with individual users at scale via tags, which you can add either manually or automatically. For instance, you can do subscriber tagging via signup info or when a user clicks a link or opens an email.
With AWeber, you will have access to great email automation features that let you carry out campaigns via autopilot. These include drip campaigns for welcoming contacts and product launching.
You can save time using pre-programmed workflows with mail templates for each campaign phase offered by the campaign marketplace. You just have to customize them to fit your brand and target subscribers.
Another useful feature is a drag-and-drop page builder. It comes with fully responsive templates and a gallery packed with stock images for creating beautiful pages quickly. Templates across the board will include forms for sign up, whose subscribers you can tag to manage your email lists more efficiently.
Pricing
Like many tools on this list, pricing for AWeber plans are based on the number of subscribers. All offerings come with email, phone, and chat support. The Free Plan covers 500 contacts and 3,000 emails. The Pro version, which starts at $19.99 monthly, gets you 10K to 25K subscribers.
8. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is not just an email marketing service; it’s an all-around marketing platform. Email marketing is one of the many features the tool offers, and its software makes it incredibly easy to keep your emails on-brand.
A single email can be split tested to up to five different versions to see what converts best. Furthermore, a built-in spam tester checks if your mails end up as junk.
For messages that are more targeted, you can segment the audience using insights, such as subscribers’ email activity. There are even site monitoring features for gathering data on page visits and other onsite actions by users.
An extensive selection of preconfigured automation workflows is available to help get you started. You can also create automations from zero using a variation of triggers and customize them according to your needs.
You can upgrade to the Plus Plan from the Lite plan to acquire more advanced features for automation. With the upgraded plan, you can score contacts through engagement, split test various workflows, and track the performance of your automations clearly to see how they work in tandem with one another.
The Plus package also comes with features for a variety of channels for marketing, such as landing pages and SMS.
Pricing
ActiveCampaign has a 14-day free trial with limited subscribers and email sends. Both free and paid plans come with email and live chat support. Paid offerings start at $15 monthly for up to 500 contacts.
9. GetResponse
GetResponse offers a full suite of marketing tools for small businesses, including a comprehensive email marketing service to boot.
The tool has a vast library of professional-looking email templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. With this, you can transform ordinary emails into beautifully constructed on-brand messages.
Acquire data of customer interests and behavior, and use the platform’s top-notch segmentation tools to bring a personal touch to your email marketing campaigns. You can also score and tag subscribers with marketing automation to trigger mails to a targeted audience.
The platform has time-based drip campaigns that give you the option to view email sequences on a calendar. This way, you can know exactly when users receive these emails. You can also send transactional emails alongside the email marketing campaigns using the software. With the eCommerce plugins, you can promote products on landing pages and emails.
Outside of email marketing, GetResponse lets you create and manage ads on Facebook through built-in tools and templates. You can even use the tool to run your own webinars. The conversion tunnel functionality lets you work everything with ready-made sales funnels meant for various purposes and industries.
Pricing
The Free Plan lets you send a single email to 500 subscribers each month. All offerings come with email and live chat support. With the Free Plus Plan, you can send unlimited emails to 1,000 contacts for $15.58 per month.
10. Constant Contact
Constant Contact is a comprehensive marketing tool that delivers excellent performance on the email marketing front. On the emailing side, the tool comes with a vast library of free templates. It also has a feature for building your own branded templates automatically based on website and Facebook activity.
Other email-centric features include automated resends to contacts who fail to open an email and A/B testing for subject lines. In the upgraded Email Plus package, you acquire the multi-step automated series and online donation and survey tools.
Constant Contact has an advanced segmentation feature for managing contacts automatically based on clicks on email links. You can also create personalized segments using various criteria, such as subscriber behavior or engagement through WooCommerce and Shopify plugins.
Aside from email marketing tools, the platform has a website builder you can use to create a landing page, an entire website, or an online shop from virtually nothing. What’s more, you can manage social activities from the platform, including comments and message responses, ads running, and post scheduling.
Pricing
While the platform doesn’t come with a free plan, the paid offerings include unlimited mails and live chat and email support. Pricing depends on the number of contacts on your list. It starts at $9.99 monthly for up to 500 contacts.
11. Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor has an email marketing service that’s incredibly easy to use across the board, making it another email tool fit for beginners. It holds an extensive library of fully responsive templates you can customize using the intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Additionally, it allows you to add personal touches to your contact data easily.
Thanks to send-time optimization, emails are delivered at the best possible time for every subscriber. The segmentation function improves performance on this front even more, giving you the ability to build individualized segments of contacts using numerous filters.
The tool lets you create and send transactional mails that are on-brand, from their structure to their content. In the email automation aspect, you get a simple editor that lets you drag and drop emails into sequences based on conditions that revolve around subscriber interactions and behavior.
Pricing
You can take the platform for a spin free of charge for an unlimited time, though it only lets you send emails to up to five subscribers. The Basic Plan is limited to 2,500 campaigns monthly, while the Unlimited Plan has no sending limit for campaigns.
Pricing depends on your number of subscribers and increases as your list grows. Both free and premium plans provide email support, but priority goes to those with unlimited plan subscriptions. Prices start at $9 monthly for up to 500 contacts.
12. Omnisend
Omnisend is an efficient email marketing solution for eCommerce websites in particular. It offers numerous features, including automated SMS and email messaging for boosting conversions.
Omnisend goes the extra mile compared with most tools, combining SMS messages, Google Customer Match, Facebook ad retargeting, and browser push notifications. These ensure you engage with the highest number of customers possible.
You can do segmented campaigns on all of the platform’s channels to target exactly the audience in need of your products or services.
Pre-programmed automation for customer actions, like cart abandonment emails and welcome messages, are also available. In addition, there is a huge library of drag-and-drop templates that are on theme to make creating beautiful, on-brand messages easy and simple.
Pricing
Onmisend pricing breakdown is as follows:
Free: $0
- 500 emails sent monthly to up to 250 subscribers
- On-brand email campaigns
- Pop-ups, boxes, sign-up forms
- Reports
Standard: $16 per month
- Email campaigns
- Pop-ups, boxes, sign-up forms
- Reports
- 6,000 emails sent monthly sent to up to 500 subscribers
- Automation and SMS campaigns
- Audience segmentation
- Round-the-clock chat and email support
Pro : $99 per month
- Unlimited emails
- 3933 SMS monthly
- Email campaigns
- Pop-ups, boxes, sign-up forms
- Automation and SMS campaigns
- Audience segmentation
- Google Customer March
- Priority support
- Custom audiences for Facebook
- Web push notifs
13. Moosend
Moosend is an eCommerce-focused email marketing solution that is great for users with varying platform experiences. Whether you’re a seasoned user or someone with no technical know-how when it comes to email marketing software, you should have no problem with its operation. And if you own an online store, Moosend is a godsend.
Moosend has a simple and intuitive drag-and-drop builder, an accurate real-time performance tracker, and an efficient segmentation feature. That’s an email marketing triple-threat that should help your business score conversions day-in and day-out.
One of our favorite things about Moosend is its AI-driven eCommerce features. It stands out when it comes to collaborative filtering and machine learning in particula. With this combo, you’d be able to target consumers using products of interest based on the shopping behaviors of similar customers.
Cross-selling based on past customer actions and monitoring customer shopping frequency is also possible with this platform. This data can be used to promote products that specific customers are inclined to buy to the right customers at the right time.
Pricing
Pricing for premium offerings starts at $8 monthly. Other detailed info related to pricing is listed below:
Free: $0
- No credit card necessary
- Unlimited emails
- Subscription and signup forms
- Analytics and reporting
Pro: $8 per month
- SMTP server
- Five team members
- Landing pages
- Transactional emails
- Phone support
Enterprise: Custom Pricing
- Migration and on-boarding
- 10 members
- Service-level agreement
- Custom reporting
- Dedicated account manager
- SSO & SAML
Moosend has a 30-day free trial. Try it now!
14. Drip
Drip may be relatively new to the picture, but it’s a fantastic CRM software with superior email marketing features designed for online businesses. It focuses on newer eCommerce merchants, offering them powerful segmentation tools and automation to boost email marketing efforts.
Drip lets you monitor vital metrics for eCommerce performance, such as customer purchase behavior and intent. In addition, it allows you to separately identify new visitors of your website from the returning customers and target users who have committed cart abandonment.
With Drip, you get to the nitty-gritty of things without spending hours mining for data. That’s because Drip’s tools make targeting the right people easy.
This CRM software expands your outreach in various ways, including through email. It also comes with a revenue attribution functionality that provides a clear view of the campaigns that are converting.
Between the tool’s customization features, detailed analytics, and powerful segmentation, Drip is the best email marketing software for eCommerce businesses that are new to the scene.
Pricing
Pricing will depend on your number of subscribers. All plans have the same benefits and features.
- One to 500 contacts: $19 monthly
- 501 to 2,000 contacts: $29 monthly
- 2,001 to 2,500 contacts: $39 monthly
- 2,501 to 3,000 contacts: $49 monthly
- 3,001 to 3,500 contacts: $59 monthly
- 3,501 to 4,000 contacts: $69 monthly
- 4,501 to 5,000 contacts: $79 monthly
- 5,001 to 6,000 contacts: $99 monthly
- 6,001 to 7,000 contacts: $109 monthly
This goes all the way up to offerings for up to 140,000 subscribers before pricing is customized. All Drip plans include round-the-clock email and live chat support. Drip also comes with a 14-day free trial, so don’t hesitate to take it for a spin to see if its features work for you.
The Need for an Email Marketing Platform
Not sure if an email marketing solution would be worth the time and energy? Here are a few must-knows about these platforms that you simply can’t ignore.
Email is still among the most effective marketing channels.
Most marketers have still voted email marketing as the most effective digital channel. Why is that so?
- It’s cost effective. Email marketing lets you reach out to a wide audience for a low cost. That translates to an average ROI of $38 for each dollar spent.
- It’s personal. You can reach out to subscribers directly with email marketing. Additionally, these contacts have chosen to connect with you on purpose and are more likely to interact.
- It’s accessible. There are over four billion email users across the globe.
Email marketing services are ideal for mass campaigns.
You won’t get anywhere using Outlook and Gmail for sending campaigns and newsletters. A professional email marketing platform is your best bet for running an effective email marketing strategy for your business.
With a professional email marketing tool at your disposal, you can:
- Boost deliverability rates: A dedicated email marketing service lets you send mass campaigns while avoiding the junk folder.
- Acquire performance analytics: Monitor metrics such as rates for click-throughs to measure campaign success.
- Manage unsubscribes: When subscribers unsubscribe, your list gets updated automatically.
- Send more emails: There are daily sending limits for ISPs, while limits for email marketing platforms depend on the plan you subscribe to. Some platforms’ paid offerings have no sending limits.
- Create beautiful emails: A professional email marketing tool comes with design features for creating professional-looking and fully responsive emails that are on brand.
You get all these and more with all the email service providers on this list.
The Cost of an Email Marketing Platform
The good news for most businesses is that you won’t usually need to break the bank to get in touch with prospective clients via email. To add to that, estimates for typical ROI for email, though varying, are quite high in general.
The figure is somewhere around $38 to $40 per one dollar spent, one of the highest return rates of any virtual marketing platform.
In general, price offerings for email marketing providers range from $3 to $1,250 a month. In most cases, the more expensive the plan, the higher the number of emails and subscribers you can send to.
How To Find the Right Email Marketing Service for Your Business?
The right email marketing service should be one that suits your business to a T. Besides, from the humble blogger and online store owner to the million-dollar info product company, everything is addressed by these providers.
That said, specific factors should be taken into consideration, as they apply to email marketing strategies for most businesses. These factors are:
Templates
You may want to use an email marketing platform for several reasons. You may be interested in creating a sales funnel and incorporating email into the marketing strategy. Others may simply want to send out a rare newsletter to contacts.
Regardless of the reason, your emails should be presentable before you send them. An email marketing service saves you from the stress and hassle of typesetting and formatting. They do this by providing a bunch of beautifully constructed email templates to meet the needs of your brand.
In our list of contenders, you’ll find drag-and-drop templates that remove the headache of having to design and create content for an email. For instance, with MailChimp, you simply need to provide the basic info and a gorgeous email materializes from that. There’s also a variety of template types to choose from, depending on your purpose.
HubSpot has a huge library of pre-made emails, especially for sales that are ready to use for any business. It even allows you to create your own templates based on your brand. You can add your own personal touch to these messages and save them for situations when they are needed.
Simple Segmentation
As your business expands, you will need to reach out to more audiences. After all, you now have more offerings, and not everyone on your email list will want the same product or service. When you have a quality email marketing service, you may acquire a powerful tool for segmenting your subscribers.
With MailChimp, you can tag segments of your contacts based on the way they subscribed to your list. That way, you can classify those segments under specific funnels easily. For example, with Omnisend, you can send segmented email campaigns on the basis of demographics, subscriber interests, purchased products, and email open rates, among other factors.
Remember that if segmentation features are at the top of your priority list, you have to be willing to spend for them. Free plans don’t usually include these functionalities. In particular, those focusing on growth and conversions are typically part of a premium plan’s package. That said, these features are well worth the money if your business needs them.
In-Depth Analytics
Things that can be measured can be improved. In light of that, a good email marketing platform should provide you with everything you need for tracking KPIs and in-depth metrics.
With this, you get key information about your subscribers, such as where they live, who they are, and what they want from you. This data helps you improve on your marketing strategies and services in the future. The right analytics also lets you segment your audiences better.
Some of the top conversion and traffic features are available on HubSpot. They have a great A/B testing functionality that provides you with all the nitty-gritty of email performance.
Easy Automation
Set and forget. As busy as people are with their business, it’s the least they could ask for on some aspects in the email marketing front. Indeed, many of our platforms provide that.
Automation ensures fewer things to worry about and that your new subscribers are classified accordingly. They should be on the right sales funnel and receive emails that are meant exactly for the type of customer they are.
Choose an email marketing service that sets up automated emails easily. Complex tagging schemes can be a headache for the seasoned pro, let alone for beginners.
Constant Contact is arguably the best automated email marketing software on this list. The tool allows you to trigger welcome emails for subscribers who are new and place them under targeted drip campaigns, depending on their behavior and intent. You can navigate this feature quite easily in the tool, as well. No need for headaches.
Another option where automation is exceptional is GetResponse. The autofunnel feature lets you build automated leads, webinar funnels, and sales in a couple of clicks.
What Is the Best Email Marketing Service for Your Business?
When choosing an email marketing platform for your business, consider your specific needs more than anything else. Some platforms excel at automation and segmentation, while others stand out in terms of template quality and variety, and multichannel campaign tools.
Do you need the best self hosted email marketing software or the best email marketing software for affiliate marketing? The more you know what to focus on, the more cost-effective your strategy becomes.
Every solution will come with different plans and structures for pricing. Therefore, do some digging on the cost of each provider and how much you would have to pay for the features you need.
When you acquire the right email marketing service, you won’t only have a tool for addressing short term digital solutions. At the same time, you will have a complete and versatile platform that addresses your needs as they change.
Email Marketing Services FAQs
Here’s what people interested in email marketing services typically ask.
1. What is an email marketing service?
An email marketing service is a dedicated platform that allows marketers to connect, interact with, and convert targeted audiences. They do these through the use of emails, newsletters, landing pages, and subscription forms, among others.
Such a platform should also allow you to send bulk emails without compromising on deliverability.
2. What email marketing service is the best?
Mailchimp, Sendinblue, Constant Contact, HubSpot, and GetResponse are among today’s best email marketing solutions. However, Moosend edges ahead of these platforms in terms of business-focused features. There’s also the added benefit of cost-effectiveness and a shallow learning curve that comes with the tool.
Again, the best email marketing service for you should depend on your needs. For instance, if you need the best email marketing software for nonprofits, choose Sendinblue over Moosend. Its plans and features would be a better fit for such a business.
3. Can I bulk send emails with Outlook or Gmail?
Theoretically, you could, but this would get your email account in trouble or suspended. Outlook and G Suite just aren’t meant for sending emails in bulk, and that’s that. They’re great solutions for sending professional business emails, but it’s best to limit them for that.
4. What is the best free email marketing software?
Quite a few of our contenders offer free tiers with limited use. Sendinblue is arguably the best of them due to its unlimited number of contacts for the free plan. Moosend, MailerLite, MailChimp, and HubSpot are among those that offer free offerings.
5. How much do I have to pay for an email marketing service?
In general, that would depend on the number of contacts you have, the number of emails you want to send monthly, and the specific platform and plan you use.
Usually, small businesses will have to spend around $20 to $300 a month on average on their email marketing efforts, provided that they manage their own campaigns. Partnering with an agency is another story, as that will likely set you back somewhere around $500 monthly or more.
