An automated welcome email for new subscribers — which free plans allow it

When someone subscribes to a newsletter, they expect something right away: the promised guide, a discount code or at least a word on what comes next. A welcome email handles that automatically, which is why it is most people’s first automation. This page answers one question: which tools give it to you without paying, and where the limit kicks in. The figures were read from the providers’ own pricing pages on 23 October 2026.

Short answer

You can get a welcome email and a short welcome series for free with EmailOctopus, MailerLite, Systeme.io and Brevo. For the largest list, EmailOctopus is enough for free: three automations, five steps each and 2,500 subscribers. GetResponse and ActiveCampaign have no free plan, and Mailchimp does not state its free plan’s automation limit.

• A free welcome series for a large list

  EmailOctopus

  3 automations, up to 5 steps each, and 2,500 subscribers on the free plan.

  Start free — 2,500 subscribers (ad)

• When the series leads to a sale

  Systeme.io

  1 email sequence and 1 automation rule on the free plan, with sales funnels and an online course in the same package.

  Start free — 2,000 contacts (ad)

• While the list is still small

  MailerLite

  3 automations and 5 steps for free, but the free plan fits 250 subscribers.

  Start free — 250 subscribers

Automation limits on the free plan

Free plans differ in two ways: how many automations you may have and how long one automation may be. A welcome email needs one automation; a three-email series needs five steps.

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Read from the providers’ own pricing pages in a browser on 23 October 2026: EmailOctopus, MailerLite, Systeme.io, Brevo, Mailchimp. Mailchimp’s free plan description also read from its help page. Systeme.io’s “Email campaigns” is an automated email sequence according to its own help page.

Three things follow from the table. EmailOctopus and MailerLite give the same automation limit, but EmailOctopus’s free plan fits a list ten times as large. Systeme.io’s one email sequence is enough for one welcome series, but there is no room for a second automation beside it. Brevo’s free plan is built the other way round: contacts are unlimited, but automation covers 2,000 contacts and you may send 300 emails a day.

When the free plan is not enough: automation on the cheapest plans

If the welcome series needs other automations beside it, such as a birthday email or an abandoned cart reminder, the limit arrives quickly. The cheapest paid plans raise it by different amounts:

• EmailOctopus Pro: the pricing page sets no limit on the number of automations, and one automation may have up to 650 steps.
• MailerLite Comfort: 50 automations, 100 steps each. Multiple triggers on one automation need the Power plan.
• Systeme.io Startup: 10 email sequences, 10 automation rules and 5 workflows.
• Brevo Standard: automation is not limited by number of contacts.
• Mailchimp Essentials: up to four steps per automation.
• GetResponse Starter: a welcome email series and one custom automation.
• ActiveCampaign Starter: multi-step automation, but at most five actions per automation.

Prices at the same list sizes:

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Prices exclude VAT, billed monthly unless stated otherwise.(ad) = ad link

• The price is the monthly price of the cheapest paid plan at that list size. The Free plan column shows when you do not have to pay.
• EmailOctopus and ActiveCampaign: the price list only shows the monthly price on annual billing. Monthly billing costs more.
• GetResponse and ActiveCampaign: the smallest list sold is 1,000 contacts, so the 500-contact column shows that price.

Mailchimp’s four steps and ActiveCampaign’s five actions are the tightest limits: a three-email series with waits only just fits, with no room for a condition or a branch. Automation-focused comparisons: ActiveCampaign alternatives and the cheapest email tool by list size.

What five steps are enough to build

A step is one action in an automation. According to EmailOctopus’s pricing page, steps include sending an email, waiting an amount of time, updating a contact and evaluating an if/else condition. A typical three-email welcome series fits within five steps:

1. Email 1 straight after signup: the promised content and how often the newsletter arrives.
2. A wait, for example two days.
3. Email 2: content a new subscriber would not otherwise find.
4. A wait.
5. Email 3: an offer or a request to reply.

Within a limit of three automations, that leaves room for two more, for example a second form with its own series. A condition in the series, such as a different email for those who downloaded the guide, takes one more step. How to build the whole newsletter from scratch: how to create a newsletter.

A welcome email and double opt-in are different emails

The two are often confused. A double opt-in confirmation goes out straight after the form and asks the subscriber to click a link; only the click adds them to the list. The welcome email goes out after that and is the first real newsletter email. In the tools we compare, confirmation is switched on in the form or list settings, not built as an automation. How confirmation works and what each country requires: double opt-in by country.

A welcome email is marketing like any other newsletter, so it needs an unsubscribe link too. The rules with sources: email marketing and GDPR.

Which suits whom

• A newsletter and a 3–5 email welcome series, under 2,500 subscribers → EmailOctopus: three automations and five steps are enough for a welcome series without paying. Try it free (ad)
• The series leads from a free guide to a paid product → Systeme.io: email sequence, landing page and sales funnel on the same free plan. Try it free (ad)
• The same series must start in several ways → ActiveCampaign: multiple triggers per automation are included from the cheapest plan; the price list limits it to five actions per automation. Try it free
• A large list, sent rarely → Brevo: the free plan does not limit the number of contacts, and automation is included up to 2,000 contacts. Try it free

Who EmailOctopus does not suit: if the welcome series must branch into several paths or a sales pipeline depending on what the subscriber does, its automations are too light. Then compare against ActiveCampaign; according to its pricing comparison table, conditional content is on the Pro and Enterprise plans: ActiveCampaign.

What we have not checked

The automation limits were read from the providers’ own pricing and help pages. We have not built the automations ourselves, so we do not assess how easy the editors are or how quickly emails go out in practice: those would be measurement results, and there is no measurement. Systeme.io’s and Brevo’s pricing pages do not state the maximum number of steps per automation, and Mailchimp does not state its free plan’s automation limit. How we compare.