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Free Mailchimp Alternatives (2027): 9 Email Marketing Tools With Bigger Free Plans, Checked Limits and What Each Free Plan Leaves Out

Free Mailchimp Alternatives With Bigger Free Plans for Newsletters, Automations and Startup Email Lists

Mailchimp's free plan has become small: when we checked its pricing page in October 2026 it allowed 250 contacts, 500 sends a month (250 a day), one seat and no automation flows, and every email carries Mailchimp branding. If your list is growing past a few hundred people, or you want a welcome sequence without paying, another free plan will take you further. We checked each tool below on its official pricing page, default view only, for free contacts, free sends and what the free plan leaves out. Tools that only offer a trial are listed separately, and if you prefer to host email yourself, we cover two open-source options at the end. If you would rather run newsletter software on your own server, see our list of open-source Mailchimp alternatives.
Quick answer: for the most generous free plan with automations, use Sender (2,500 subscribers, 15,000 emails a month); for a large list you email rarely, use Brevo (up to 100,000 contacts, 300 emails a day); for a creator newsletter with up to 10,000 subscribers, use Kit; for a newsletter with a website and unlimited sends, use beehiiv; and for a simple, clean tool, use EmailOctopus or MailerLite.
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What Mailchimp's Free Plan Includes in 2027

On the Mailchimp pricing page (checked October 2026), the Free plan includes 1 seat and 1 audience with a maximum of 250 contacts, up to 500 sends a month with a daily limit of 250, and limited pre-built templates. Marketing automation flows are not included and Mailchimp branding cannot be removed. Sending is paused if you go over the contact or send limit. From our location the page showed prices in euros: Essentials at €11.77 a month and Standard at €18.10 a month for the first 12 months. Every tool below beats at least one of those free limits.

Free Mailchimp Alternatives Compared

ToolFree contactsFree sendsWhat the free plan leaves outFirst paid plan (default view)
Mailchimp (for comparison)250500 a month, 250 a dayAutomation flows; branding staysEssentials €11.77/month (EUR shown)
BrevoUp to 100,000300 a day1 seat onlyStarter $9/month
MailerLite2502,500 a monthUnlimited templates, AI writing assistantComfort from $12/month
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)Up to 10,000Unlimited broadcastsVisual automation builder; branding staysCreator $33/month billed yearly
Sender2,50015,000 a monthSender branding stays; 1 seatStandard listed at $9/month
EmailOctopus2,50010,000 a monthBranding stays; 1 landing page and 1 form; 30-day reportsPro $9/month billed yearly
Zoho Campaigns2,0006,000 a monthPaid features of Standard and ProfessionalStandard (price not shown in our view)
Mailjet1,0006,000 a month, 200 a dayDaily cap; Brand KitStarter $9/month
beehiiv2,500UnlimitedAutomations; branding removalLite $49/month billed yearly
Buttondown100About one email a day to your listAutomations ($29/month add-on), paid subscriptions ($9/month add-on)Basic $9/month up to 1,000
Sources: each tool's official pricing page, default view, checked 31 October 2026. Prices change often; check before you move a large list.

The Best Free Mailchimp Alternatives in 2027

1. Sender: the most generous free plan with automations

Sender has a Free Forever plan for up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, with one seat. The free plan includes email newsletters, email automation, landing pages, signup forms and popups, and transactional emails, so you can build a welcome sequence without paying. The catch is that Sender branding stays in your emails. New accounts start with a 14-day trial of the Pro plan and can then stay on Free. The Standard plan was listed at $9 a month when we checked, with a seasonal discount on top.

2. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): a big contact list, a daily sending cap

Brevo, the platform formerly called Sendinblue, gives you a Free plan as soon as you create an account. Once Brevo approves your account for sending, you can send up to 300 emails a day. Its published pricing catalogue includes 100,000 marketing contacts on the Free plan, and every plan includes transactional email through its API and SMTP. That makes Brevo a good fit if you have a large list but email it rarely, or if your product also needs to send receipts and password resets. Paid plans start with Starter at $9 a month (€7 in euros).

3. MailerLite: easy to use, but the free plan has shrunk

MailerLite is still one of the easiest tools to learn. Its Free plan now covers 250 subscribers, 2 user seats and 2,500 emails a month, plus campaigns, automations, a website, a landing page, signup forms and all three editors (drag and drop, custom HTML and simple). When you go over 250 active subscribers, sending is locked until you upgrade or remove subscribers. The 2025 version of this article listed 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails, so check the limits before you move. The Comfort plan starts at $12 a month.

4. Kit (formerly ConvertKit): free for up to 10,000 subscribers

Kit is the new name of ConvertKit (convertkit.com now redirects to kit.com). It is built for creators who sell through a newsletter. Its Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited email broadcasts and unlimited landing pages and forms. What you do not get for free is the visual automation builder, and Kit branding stays on your pages. The Creator plan costs $33 a month billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers. Choose Kit if your list will grow fast and you mainly send one newsletter.

5. EmailOctopus: simple campaigns on a free plan

EmailOctopus keeps things simple. Its free Starter plan covers 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month for one user, with one landing page, one form and reports kept for 30 days. EmailOctopus branding appears on your emails. There is no free trial; the free plan has no time limit. Pro costs $9 a month billed yearly and adds full design control, unlimited landing pages and forms, and unlimited users.
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6. beehiiv: a free newsletter with a website and unlimited sends

beehiiv is a newsletter platform rather than a classic email marketing tool. Its Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited email sends, one team seat, a newsletter website, custom domains, campaign analytics and its recommendation network. Email automations start on the Lite plan ($49 a month billed yearly), and removing beehiiv branding needs Pro.It suits founders who publish a regular newsletter and want readers to find it on the web too.

7. Zoho Campaigns: a free plan for teams

Zoho Campaigns has a Forever Free plan for up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month, with 5 users. That makes it the free option for a small team that shares one account, and it fits well if you already use Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps. Its pricing page was served in Dutch from our location and did not show the Standard price in the default view, so check it in your own currency.

8. Mailjet: free sending with an API

Mailjet offers a Free plan with 6,000 emails a month (no more than 200 a day) and 1,000 contacts. It includes APIs, SMTP relay and webhooks, an advanced email editor, a form builder and basic statistics, so developers can send both newsletters and product emails from one account. The Starter plan costs $9 a month for 8,000 emails, 2,000 contacts and no daily sending limit.

9. Buttondown: a minimalist newsletter for your first 100 subscribers

Buttondown is free for your first 100 subscribers and lets you send from a custom domain. Its prices assume you email your whole list at most once a day. Automations ($29 a month) and paid subscriptions ($9 a month) are add-ons, and the Basic plan is $9 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers. It is small for marketing, but good for a founder's personal update list written in Markdown.

Other Free Plans: Ecommerce, CRM and Paid Newsletters

  • Klaviyo: free for up to 250 profiles and 500 emails a month, plus $5 of mobile messages; built for online stores, but the free limits match Mailchimp's.
  • Omnisend: free for 500 emails a month and 250 contacts, with 500 web push notifications; also aimed at ecommerce.
  • HubSpot: its free tools include 2,000 email sends per calendar month with HubSpot branding, next to a free CRM.
  • Substack: free to publish no matter how many subscribers you have; if you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue and Stripe charges its own fees.

Self-Hosted and Open Source: Free Software, Paid Sending

If you can run a server, open-source tools remove the contact limits altogether; you pay only for hosting and an email sending service such as Amazon SES. listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager that runs as a single binary next to a PostgreSQL database. It is AGPL-3.0 licensed; version 6.2.0 came out in July 2026 and a 7.0 beta on 20 October 2026. Mautic is open-source marketing automation under the GPL-3.0, with Mautic Community 7.2.2 released in October 2026; it is closer to HubSpot than to Mailchimp. We compare more of these tools in our open-source Mailchimp alternatives.

Mailchimp Alternatives With No Free Plan, and What Changed

The 2025 version of this article included tools that no longer fit a free list, or whose free plans changed:
  • Moosend: offers a 30-day free trial, not a free plan, according to its pricing page.
  • ActiveCampaign: a 14-day free trial only, with no free plan. We compare it in Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign.
  • MailerLite: its free plan dropped from the 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails we listed to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
  • Renamed: Sendinblue is now Brevo and ConvertKit is now Kit; their old domains redirect to the new ones.

Which Free Mailchimp Alternative Should You Choose?

  • You want automations on a free plan: Sender (2,500 subscribers) or MailerLite (250 subscribers).
  • You have a big list but send rarely: Brevo, with up to 100,000 contacts and 300 emails a day.
  • You are building a creator newsletter: Kit for up to 10,000 subscribers, or beehiiv if you also want a newsletter website and unlimited sends.
  • You want the simplest tool: EmailOctopus.
  • Your team shares one account: Zoho Campaigns, with 5 users on the free plan.
  • You also send product emails from your app: Mailjet or Brevo, both with API and SMTP on the free plan.
  • You run an online store: Klaviyo or Omnisend, knowing the free limits are as small as Mailchimp's.
  • You can run a server: listmonk, with no contact limits.
Comparing paid plans too? See our list of paid Mailchimp alternatives and our head-to-heads EmailOctopus vs Mailchimp, MailerLite vs Mailchimp, Mailchimp vs ConvertKit, Sendinblue vs Mailchimp, Mailchimp vs Klaviyo and Autopilot vs MailerLite.

How Founders Use a Free Email Plan

For an early-stage startup, the email list is often the first asset you own: people who signed up before you had a product. Start with one signup form on your landing page (our free landing page analyzer shows what to fix first), send a short welcome email that asks what problem brought people there, and reply to every answer. That is customer research for free. Keep the people who answer in one of the CRM tools for startups, and stay on a free plan until the list, not the tool, limits you.
Free tools can cover much of a startup's marketing stack. We have also checked free Canva Pro alternatives for design, open-source Buffer alternatives for social media and open-source Intercom alternatives for customer chat. Turn your best newsletter issues into articles with the F/MS AI SEO Tool so new readers find them in Google and AI assistants, and grow the list from there.
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FAQ About Free Mailchimp Alternatives

What is the best free alternative to Mailchimp?

Sender has the most generous free plan with automations: 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, with Sender branding. Brevo is better for a large list you email rarely, with up to 100,000 contacts and 300 emails a day.

What does Mailchimp's free plan include in 2027?

When we checked in October 2026: 1 seat, 1 audience, up to 250 contacts, 500 sends a month with a daily limit of 250, limited templates, no automation flows and Mailchimp branding on every email.

Which free email marketing tool allows the most subscribers?

Brevo includes up to 100,000 contacts on its free plan but limits sending to 300 emails a day. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts.

Which free Mailchimp alternative includes automations?

Sender and MailerLite include email automation on their free plans. Kit's free plan has no visual automation builder, and beehiiv adds automations from its paid Lite plan.

Is MailerLite still free?

Yes, but the free plan is smaller than before: 250 subscribers, 2 seats and 2,500 emails a month. Sending is locked if you go over 250 active subscribers.

Is Kit the same as ConvertKit?

Yes. ConvertKit is now called Kit, and convertkit.com redirects to kit.com. Its free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers.

Does Moosend have a free plan?

No. Moosend offers a 30-day free trial and then paid plans. ActiveCampaign also has only a 14-day trial.

Can I remove the branding on a free plan?

Usually not. Mailchimp, Sender, EmailOctopus, Kit, beehiiv and HubSpot keep their branding on free plans; removing it needs a paid plan.

Is there a free open-source Mailchimp alternative?

Yes. listmonk (AGPL-3.0) and Mautic (GPL-3.0) are free to self-host. You pay only for the server and an email sending service, and you have no contact limits.

Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?

You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.

About the Author

Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
2026-10-31 01:52 Top Alternatives