The most generous free plan we found
- Free plan
- 2,5006 sends a month
- Automates free
- Yes
- Paid from
- $9/moStandard
The catch: A smaller name with a smaller integration list. Check it connects to your course platform before you commit.
Which email tool should your course run on?
Pick the wrong one and you pay more as your list grows, or lose it entirely when you try to leave. We read 14 pricing pages line by line so you don't have to guess.
The 14 we priced, line by line, between 9 and 24 September 2026
MailerLite
Best free plan for a real welcome sequence
- Automates a welcome sequence on the free plan
- Free to 250, no card needed
- Paid plans start at $12/mo
Their logo stays on your emails until you pay.
Kit
Biggest free list, sells products out of the box
- Free to 10,000 subscribers
- Unlimited sending, even while free
- Publishes a deliverability figure you can check
Digital product sales carry a 3.5% + 30c fee on every plan.
beehiiv
Best if the course sits beside a newsletter
- Free to 2,500 subscribers
- Unlimited sending, even while free
- Cancelling keeps your subscribers and automations
You cannot sell anything from the free plan: paid subscriptions and digital products both need a paid plan.
ActiveCampaign
Deepest automation, once the list pays for itself
- Paid plans start at A$23/mo
- Publishes a deliverability figure you can check
- Connects to store platforms like Shopify
Starter caps you at 5 actions per automation, which a real welcome sequence will hit.
Omnisend
Only if you also ship physical products
- Automates a welcome sequence on the free plan
- Free to 250, no card needed
- Paid plans start at $11.20/mo
500 free emails a month is roughly 2 sends to a 250-person list.
Sender
The most generous free plan we found
- Automates a welcome sequence on the free plan
- Free to 2,500 subscribers
- Paid plans start at $9/mo
A smaller name with a smaller integration list. Check it connects to your course platform before you commit.
Systeme.io
Course hosting, funnels and email on one free plan
- Automates a welcome sequence on the free plan
- Free to 2,000 subscribers
- Paid plans start at $17/mo
The free plan holds one course only, and takes 0% on sales, which is rare.
EmailOctopus
Cheapest way to run a plain list
- Automates a welcome sequence on the free plan
- Free to 2,500 subscribers
- Paid plans start at $9/mo
Fewer features than the others by design. Good if you only need to send, thin if you need funnels.
GetResponse
Capable all-rounder, but nothing is free
- Paid plans start at €16/mo
- Cancelling keeps your subscribers and automations
- Built for publishing, not just broadcasting
We could not confirm a permanent free plan on their pricing page, only a 14-day trial.
AWeber
Automation from day one of the trial, no free plan behind it
- Paid plans start at $12.49/mo
- Sells your course without a separate checkout
- Built for publishing, not just broadcasting
The paid Lite plan allows one email list and three automations, so the second funnel you build is what pushes you up to Plus, not the size of your list.
Flodesk
The best looking emails, but nothing free to send with
- Cancelling keeps your subscribers and automations
- Built for publishing, not just broadcasting
- Takes no cut of what you sell
Two catches. Their pricing table lists email sending on the free plan while their own FAQ says the free plan does not include it, so read the free plan as forms and landing pages only. And their pricing page currently serves two different plan line-ups from the same address, one with a cheaper Lite plan and one without, so check which one you are actually offered before you commit.
Moosend
Cheap once you pay, but nothing is free
- Paid plans start at $7/mo
- Built for publishing, not just broadcasting
There is no permanent free plan, only a 30-day trial, so there is no way to park a list here without paying every month.
Constant Contact
A well-known name in small-business marketing, built before online courses existed
- Paid plans start at A$12.75/mo
- Publishes a deliverability figure you can check
- Built for publishing, not just broadcasting
There is no self-service way to cancel. You have to call their Billing Support line, and the moment the account closes you lose access to your contacts, campaigns and reports immediately, with only a 30-day window before an inactive account's data can be deleted for good.
Brevo
Stores a big free list, but sends only 300 emails a day
- Automates a welcome sequence on the free plan
- Stores up to 100,000 contacts free, sends 300 emails a day
- Paid plans start at $9/mo
Sending is the limit, not your list. The free plan stops at 300 emails a day, so a campaign to more than 300 people has to be resent by hand, 300 a day, and free emails always carry the Sent with Brevo logo. On its three smallest paid tiers, passing 500, 1,500 or 2,500 contacts moves you up a tier automatically and the price rises.
Picking is the easy part. Moving is the expensive one.
The list itself moves in an afternoon. What takes the week is everything you built around it, and no vendor will tell you that in writing, because the honest answer is a list of what their import will not do for you.
Your people move. Your setup does not.
Nobody publishes what an import leaves behind, so here is the next best thing that is checkable: what a company charged with doing this job says its own team has to redo.
4of the 7 are yours to build again. Only the people travel in the file.
3 travel in the file
- lists
- tags
- subscribers
Properties of the people. A column in an export is a column you can import.
4 you build again
- sign up forms
- campaigns
- automations
- up to three email templates
Things you made. None of them are columns, so none of them are in the file.
See the same figures as a table
| Part of the setup | Travels in the export |
|---|---|
| lists | Yes |
| tags | Yes |
| subscribers | Yes |
| sign up forms | No, build it again |
| campaigns | No, build it again |
| automations | No, build it again |
| up to three email templates | No, build it again |
The list is what AWeber says its own team rebuilds when it moves a new customer in, read on their page and checked 6 September 2026. It is not a claim about any other platform's import. We split it by one rule: a thing that describes a person travels in the file, a thing you built does not.Source
Only 6 of 14 will email people for you free
The biggest free allowance here is 10,000 subscribers. Brevo stores more, 100,000 free, but sends only 300 emails a day. The number worth checking is not that one: it is whether the plan will send a welcome email on its own, and 6 of the 14 will.
Nothing is preselected, so what you see first is everything. Figures read off each vendor's own pricing page between 9 and 24 September 2026.
Showing all 14
| Platform | Free plan | Automates free | Paid from | The catch | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sender | 2,50015,000 emails/mo6 sends a month | Yes | $9/moStandard | A smaller name with a smaller integration list. Check it connects to your course platform before you commit. | Start free |
| EmailOctopus | 2,50010,000 emails/mo4 sends a month | Yes | $9/moPro | Fewer features than the others by design. Good if you only need to send, thin if you need funnels. | Start free |
| Systeme.io | 2,000Unlimited emailsunlimited sends | Yes | $17/moStartup | The free plan holds one course only, and takes 0% on sales, which is rare. | Start free |
| Brevo | 100,000300 emails/dayunder one send a day | Yes | $9/moStarter | Sending is the limit, not your list. The free plan stops at 300 emails a day, so a campaign to more than 300 people has to be resent by hand, 300 a day, and free emails always carry the Sent with Brevo logo. On its three smallest paid tiers, passing 500, 1,500 or 2,500 contacts moves you up a tier automatically and the price rises. | Start free |
| MailerLite | 2502,500 emails/mo10 sends a month | Yes | $12/moComfort | Their logo stays on your emails until you pay. | Start free |
| Omnisend | 250500 emails/mo2 sends a month | Yes | $11.20/moStandard | 500 free emails a month is roughly 2 sends to a 250-person list. | Start free |
| Kit | 10,000Unlimited broadcastsunlimited sends | No | $33/moCreator | Digital product sales carry a 3.5% + 30c fee on every plan. | Start free |
| beehiiv | 2,500Unlimited sendsunlimited sends | No | $43/moScale | You cannot sell anything from the free plan: paid subscriptions and digital products both need a paid plan. | Start free |
| ActiveCampaign | None14-day trial only | No | A$23/moStarter | Starter caps you at 5 actions per automation, which a real welcome sequence will hit. | See pricing |
| GetResponse | None14-day trial only | No | €16/moStarter | We could not confirm a permanent free plan on their pricing page, only a 14-day trial. | See pricing |
| AWeber | None14-day trial only | No | $12.49/moLite | The paid Lite plan allows one email list and three automations, so the second funnel you build is what pushes you up to Plus, not the size of your list. | See pricing |
| Flodesk | NoneNone on the free plan | No | $25/moPro | Two catches. Their pricing table lists email sending on the free plan while their own FAQ says the free plan does not include it, so read the free plan as forms and landing pages only. And their pricing page currently serves two different plan line-ups from the same address, one with a cheaper Lite plan and one without, so check which one you are actually offered before you commit. | See pricing |
| Moosend | None30-day trial only | No | $7/moPro | There is no permanent free plan, only a 30-day trial, so there is no way to park a list here without paying every month. | See pricing |
| Constant Contact | None30-day trial only | No | A$12.75/moLite | There is no self-service way to cancel. You have to call their Billing Support line, and the moment the account closes you lose access to your contacts, campaigns and reports immediately, with only a 30-day window before an inactive account's data can be deleted for good. | See pricing |
Nothing matches all of those at once. That is a real answer, not a bug: loosen one and the table comes back.
The cheap one stops being the cheap one
A headline price is a price at one list size. These are the prices each vendor publishes at every size they publish, which is a different shape per vendor and the whole decision if you expect the list to grow.
The bill does not grow at the same rate
Monthly cost at each list size these vendors publish, in USD.At 25k subscribers the gap between Systeme.io and AWeber is $1356 a year.
See the same figures as a table
| Subscribers | AWeber | beehiiv | MailerLite | Systeme.io |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $15 | not published | $10.80 | Free |
| 1k | $25 | $43 | $17.10 | Free |
| 2.5k | $35 | $61 | $29.70 | $17 |
| 5k | $60 | $78 | $44.10 | $17 |
| 10k | $100 | $96 | $80.10 | $47 |
| 25k | $210 | $149 | $161.10 | $97 |
Read off each vendor's own pricing page between 6 and 12 September 2026. Sizes are the ones they publish, spaced evenly rather than to scale, and nothing is interpolated between them. Vendors that publish only a single price are not plotted, because two points are not a trend.
The 6 that can automate for free
Most free plans let you send a broadcast but will not automate a thing, so a new subscriber hears nothing until you sit down and write to them. These 6 will. The bar under each free plan is that allowance against 2,500, the largest here after Brevo. Brevo's 100,000 is 40 times that, so its bar is cut short.
Cheapest way to run a plain list
- Free plan
- 2,5004 sends a month
- Automates free
- Yes
- Paid from
- $9/moPro
The catch: Fewer features than the others by design. Good if you only need to send, thin if you need funnels.
Course hosting, funnels and email on one free plan
- Free plan
- 2,000unlimited sends
- Automates free
- Yes
- Paid from
- $17/moStartup
The catch: The free plan holds one course only, and takes 0% on sales, which is rare.
Stores a big free list, but sends only 300 emails a day
- Free plan
- 100,000under one send a day
- Automates free
- Yes
- Paid from
- $9/moStarter
The catch: Sending is the limit, not your list. The free plan stops at 300 emails a day, so a campaign to more than 300 people has to be resent by hand, 300 a day, and free emails always carry the Sent with Brevo logo. On its three smallest paid tiers, passing 500, 1,500 or 2,500 contacts moves you up a tier automatically and the price rises.
Best free plan for a real welcome sequence
- Free plan
- 25010 sends a month
- Automates free
- Yes
- Paid from
- $12/moComfort
The catch: Their logo stays on your emails until you pay.
Only if you also ship physical products
- Free plan
- 2502 sends a month
- Automates free
- Yes
- Paid from
- $11.20/moStandard
The catch: 500 free emails a month is roughly 2 sends to a 250-person list.
What each platform is for
Our verdict, from the figures on their own pricing page
The most capable automation builder on this list. There is no free tier at all, only a 14-day trial.
The catch: Starter caps you at 5 actions per automation, which a real welcome sequence will hit.
We stand by the verdict above. Plenty of people clearly had a worse time than we did, and we are not going to average the two away: 4.4 on G2 from 14,791 reviews, 2.7 on Trustpilot from 1,433 reviews. The bigger sample is G2. We do not republish review text, so we cannot tell you what the unhappy ones ran into. The catch above is the part we checked ourselves.
Read what we found about ActiveCampaignOur verdict, from the figures on their own pricing page
Their free plan is gone. What's left is a 14-day trial, then straight to a paid plan, with campaign automations included from the entry tier. Running since 1998.
The catch: The paid Lite plan allows one email list and three automations, so the second funnel you build is what pushes you up to Plus, not the size of your list.
Read what we found about AWeberOur verdict, from the figures on their own pricing page
2,500 free subscribers with unlimited sends, a custom domain and a website included at no cost.
The catch: You cannot sell anything from the free plan: paid subscriptions and digital products both need a paid plan.
Read what we found about beehiivOur verdict, from the figures on their own pricing page
The free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts and includes automation for up to 2,000 of them, but it caps sending at 300 emails a day. Paid plans are priced by monthly email volume rather than list size, starting at $9 a month.
The catch: Sending is the limit, not your list. The free plan stops at 300 emails a day, so a campaign to more than 300 people has to be resent by hand, 300 a day, and free emails always carry the Sent with Brevo logo. On its three smallest paid tiers, passing 500, 1,500 or 2,500 contacts moves you up a tier automatically and the price rises.
Read what we found about BrevoOur verdict, from the figures on their own pricing page
A broad marketing suite: email, social posting, SMS and events, not a course-creator specialist. There is no permanent free plan, only a 30-day trial, and none of Teachable, Kajabi, Podia or Thinkific show up in their own integrations directory.
The catch: There is no self-service way to cancel. You have to call their Billing Support line, and the moment the account closes you lose access to your contacts, campaigns and reports immediately, with only a 30-day window before an inactive account's data can be deleted for good.
Read what we found about Constant ContactWhere to go next
We check the pricing pages so you don't have to
Prices on these platforms move. Every figure carries the date we read it, and the build refuses to ship a number without one. Nothing here is ordered by what a platform pays us.
How we test