MailerLite alternatives — what replaces it and what you save

MailerLite is one of the most straightforward tools in our comparison: one price tier, no feature gating, data in the EU. People still switch away from it, for two reasons that can both be read on the price list: the free plan holds 250 subscribers, and a 10,000-name list costs €79 a month.

The short answer

• Cheaper at every list size

  EmailOctopus

  €9 against €11, €16 against €29 and €36 against €79 a month — and free under 2,500 subscribers.

  Start free — 2,500 subscribers (ad)

• Biggest saving at a large list

  Brevo

  A 10,000-name list costs €28 a month, while MailerLite asks €79 — €612 a year.

  Start free — 300 emails/day

• If you sell something to the list

  Systeme.io

  2,000 contacts free, and funnels and online courses in the same price.

  Start free — 2,000 contacts (ad)

MailerLite and six alternatives

Prices are monthly prices excluding VAT, read from the services’ own price lists on 3 September 2026. For each we took the cheapest paid plan that supports that list size.

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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.

How much switching saves

Below is the difference compared with MailerLite’s cheapest paid plan, per year. The figures are calculated directly from the monthly prices in the table above.

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Read from the services’ own price lists (MailerLite, EmailOctopus, Brevo) on 3 September 2026. EmailOctopus’s free plan holds 2,500 subscribers, so at the two smaller list sizes the free plan is also an option — in return the emails carry the service’s branding. EmailOctopus’s figures are monthly prices on annual billing and MailerLite’s on monthly billing; MailerLite’s annual billing is 10 per cent cheaper, which narrows the gap but does not flip it. Brevo’s figure assumes two newsletters a month.

What replaces MailerLite in which situation

• The free plan ran out at 250 subscribers → EmailOctopus: the free plan holds 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month. Try it free (ad)
• The list grew past 5,000 names → Brevo: the price follows sending volume, so list growth no longer raises the bill. Try it free
• You sell a course or coaching → Systeme.io: replaces not only MailerLite but also the course platform and payment handling. Try it free (ad)
• The automation turned out too thin → ActiveCampaign: conditional content from the Plus plan and lead scoring from the Pro plan — priced accordingly. Try it free
• You want webinars in the same tool → GetResponse: the webinar tool is built in, but there is no free plan. Try it free

The free plan runs out first

This is the most common reason to look for an alternative, and it is pure arithmetic. MailerLite’s free plan holds 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, and the emails show MailerLite’s logo. Ten newsletters a month to a 250-name list is exactly the quota — after that you have to pay.

Among the alternatives EmailOctopus gives 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month, Systeme.io 2,000 contacts with no sending limit. The difference is tenfold. In practice many paying MailerLite customers could handle the same list for free elsewhere — in return for free plan branding and narrower features. Five free plans side by side and who lacks one: free email marketing.

The price climbs steeply with the list

The second reason arrives later but costs more. MailerLite’s Comfort plan costs €11 at 500 subscribers, €29 at 2,500, €44 at 5,000 and €79 at 10,000 subscribers a month. The climb is steeper than at EmailOctopus, whose steps at the same list sizes are €9, €16, €26 and €36.

At a large list the gap tears open further if the sending pace is moderate. Brevo bills for emails sent rather than list size, so a 10,000-name list costs €28 a month at two newsletters — €51 a month less than MailerLite. The calculation flips if you write weekly: then 40,000 emails accumulate and Brevo’s price is €41 a month. The pair is covered in full: MailerLite vs Brevo.

What you lose by switching

An honest list of alternatives also says what is good about the current tool. Three things you will miss from MailerLite:

• List cleaning in the app. MailerLite’s “Clean up inactive” picks out by default those inactive for six months and removes them in one go; a dedicated IP and a deliverability team open up from 50,000 weekly emails. EmailOctopus’s and Systeme.io’s help pages describe neither.
• Connectors. MailerLite states over 130 connectors. At EmailOctopus the direct ones are a WordPress plugin and Zapier, and Shopify, for example, works only through Zapier.
• A predictable bill. The contact-based price does not move with sending pace. If you switch to Brevo, the price starts following how often you write.

Eight deliverability points for every service, read from the help pages: deliverability features.

One timing question before switching

MailerLite’s counting rule is unusually important for a switcher, because it concerns exactly the moment the list is cleaned. According to the service’s own help page, the limit counts subscribers in Active status, so the unsubscribed and bounced do not count. The period is counted cumulatively, though: an address that was active at any point in the billing period counts toward the limit until the end of the period, even if you delete it immediately.

In practice this means one thing: clean the list well before the billing date, not after the limit has already been exceeded. Help page read 5 September 2026; the rules for all seven services: how contacts are counted.

How to migrate without the list suffering

1. Export the subscribers from MailerLite as a CSV file and include the subscription date and source. Consent has to be demonstrable afterwards, and that information is easier to keep than to rebuild.
2. Clean the list before importing. Leave out the unsubscribed, hard bounces and those inactive for years — they bring no sales but damage the new sender’s reputation.
3. Authenticate the sender domain in the new service (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) before the first send. The requirements are the same at every service: what Gmail and Yahoo require.
4. Check the forms and landing pages. Both are included in MailerLite’s price; if you switch to EmailOctopus, the landing pages have to be built elsewhere.
5. Rebuild the automations before you close the old account. Automations do not transfer as a file, and the old account is worth keeping open until the new one is demonstrably running.

The data protection side of the move — demonstrating consent and the change of processor in your own policy — is covered separately: email marketing and GDPR.

For whom MailerLite is still the right choice

In two situations switching does not pay. First: the list is small and the sending pace is high. Then the contact-based price is the most predictable model, and the €29 monthly price for 2,500 subscribers does not move even if you write weekly. Second: you want list cleaning in the app — neither of the two cheapest alternatives’ help pages offers it.

In other cases the only question is list size and sending pace, and the table above answers both. If you are also considering Mailchimp, compare them directly: MailerLite vs Mailchimp.