Stop Paying for Email Marketing. These Free Tiers Are Genuinely Enough.
The 3 free tiers actually worth using
The most generous free tier in the industry. 10,000 subscribers with unlimited emails is enough to run a serious newsletter for months or even years before you need to upgrade. You can even sell digital products on the free plan. The catch? Only 1 automation sequence, no integrations, and no advanced segmentation. But for list-building and basic email marketing, it’s hard to beat free for 10,000 subscribers. Full Kit review →
Smaller subscriber cap than Kit, but comes with features Kit locks behind paid plans: recommendation network, custom domains, audience segmentation, and a built-in web publication. If you’re building a newsletter as a media brand (not just email), Beehiiv’s free plan packs more growth tools per dollar (of zero dollars). The catch? No monetisation features — ads, paid subscriptions, and Boosts require the $49/mo Scale plan. Full Beehiiv review →
The smallest free tier of the three, but the only one that includes automations, A/B testing, and a drag-and-drop email editor on the free plan. If you need more than basic broadcasts but have a small list, MailerLite gives you paid-tier features at zero cost. The catch? 1,000 subscriber cap means you’ll outgrow it fast. Full MailerLite review →
When to actually start paying
The email marketing industry’s entire business model depends on convincing you to pay early. Every “which plan should I choose?” article is designed to upsell you. The reality is that most creators under 5,000 subscribers don’t need a paid plan. Build the list first. Prove the audience exists. Then invest.
I wasted months paying for a Creator plan when I had 200 subscribers. Two hundred. I was paying for advanced automations that triggered for about three people a week. When I finally downgraded to the free tier, nothing changed — my open rates stayed the same, my workflow stayed the same. I just stopped burning money.
The bottom line
Kit’s free plan (10,000 subs) is the best starting point for most people. Beehiiv’s free plan is better if you want growth tools and a publication. MailerLite is best if you need automations on a tiny list. All three let you build a real audience before spending a penny. For head-to-head comparisons: Beehiiv vs Kit showdown