10 best email marketing platforms in 2023 (with pros and cons)

Some options are too hot—well-known, but expensive with too many features you don’t end up using. Some options are too cold—lacking important features, requiring you to compensate with other paid applications. But one… one is just right.

With so many email service providers (ESPs) on the market, it can be overwhelming to find the one that's "just right" for your business. To save you from burning your mouth or catching a chill, we've compiled a list of criteria for choosing the right ESP, and prepared a comparison of the top 10, so you can easily find the best email marketing platform for your business—before the bears get home. 🐻

To find the best platform for email marketing, you should consider several key criteria. Here are some of the factors to keep in mind. →

🤓 Does it offer the features I need?

Although ESPs seem to offer similar core features, when you dig a little deeper, you’ll notice that the types of features from each email marketing provider vary a lot. Depending on your goals, the feature set will make a big difference in the success of your campaigns. Examples of key features to look for include:

• Automation: Automation allows you to send targeted messages based on a subscriber’s actions or behaviors

• Segmentation: Audience segmentation lets you divide your list into smaller groups based on specific criteria in order to send highly targeted messages

• A/B testing: A/B testing allows you to test different elements of your email campaigns to determine what works best

• Integrations: Integrations let you connect your email marketing provider with other tools, such as your CRM or e-commerce platform. Check whether the tools you use can be integrated with a potential ESP

• Drag & drop editors: Drag & drop editors make it easy to build professional newsletters, forms and landing pages without any coding skills

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Many ESPs include a whole suite of features like a website builder, a payment gateway to sell digital products, and advanced analytics. Make a list of your must-have features so they’re clear in your mind while comparing email marketing apps.

💸 Is it affordable?

First, you need to find out exactly how much a potential email marketing platform is going to cost. Pricing can vary widely among email marketing services, so it's important to consider your budget and choose a provider that fits within it.

Some email campaign services offer free plans for businesses with small lists, while others offer tiered pricing based on the number of contacts you have.

Make sure you understand what's included in each plan and whether there are any hidden costs, such as fees for extra features or for exceeding your monthly email send limit.

Better yet, see what kind of free trials your shortlist offers. Some providers offer totally risk-free trials of all their features. For example at MailerLite, you can try advanced features for 30 days at the end of which you won’t be charged. Instead, you can choose to upgrade or simply default back to the free plan.

🧘‍♂️ Is it easy to use?

A user-friendly interface can save you time and frustration when creating and managing your email campaigns. Look for a provider with a clean, intuitive interface that's easy to navigate, and consider whether the email platform offers resources, such as tutorials or support, to help you get started.

You can test out the UI of potential email marketing platforms by signing up for a free trial or having a look at some video tutorials. It’s a bonus if the ESP has a free course or Academy so you can take a real deep dive into their features. Taking a test drive is a must as most ESPs will say they are easy to use. Only you know what’s “easy” for you!

🎯 Will my emails get delivered?

Email deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to reach your subscribers' inboxes rather than being marked as spam or blocked by their email provider.

Choose an email marketing software with a good reputation for deliverability and one that employs best practices to help ensure your emails land in the inbox, not the spam folder. 

Email Tool Tester runs regular deliverability tests on the best email marketing services and compiles all the data in a handy report. If you look at the average deliverability rates from the last 3 rounds of testing, you’ll see that MailerLite has the highest deliverability rate, followed by ActiveCampaign.

If deliverability is a high priority for you (which, let’s be real, it is for all of us), you can also look into whether your potential provider offers integrations or advice for spam testing or list cleaning to help improve deliverability.

🤝 Will I have access to quality customer support?

Good customer support looks different depending on what kind of person you are. For some people, “good customer support” is a well-stocked knowledge base that’s easy to navigate with intuitive keyword search, for others, it’s an extensive library of video tutorials. Other people just want to speak to a human.

Whatever your preference, good support is a lifesaver when you run into technical issues or have questions about your account.

Look for a provider that offers multiple support channels, such as email, chat, or self-service and consider whether support is available 24/7 or only during certain hours.

📈 Will it scale with me?

As your business grows, your email marketing needs will likely change. The best email marketing platform is one that can grow with you, whether that means handling larger email lists, custom campaign templates, or more complex automation.

Consider an email marketing service that offers advanced features or enterprise-level plans for businesses with more precise requirements.

It may come as no surprise that we put ourselves in the top spot. 👀 We love MailerLite! And so do thousands of businesses and creators who’ve chosen MailerLite as their ESP. But just because our customers think we’re the best email marketing service out there, doesn’t mean MailerLite will be the Goldilocks platform for your business.

However, if you prioritize ease of use and affordability without sacrificing advanced features, you’ll want to take a closer look at MailerLite.

Key Features:

• Drag & drop email editor

• Smart email automation features

• User-friendly intuitive interface

• Substantial e-commerce features

• Website and landing page builders

• Embedded and pop-up form builders

• Comparative reporting

• Customizable templates

• Segmentation and subscriber tagging

• Free email marketing courses

• 150+ integrations

• Multilingual customer support

• Facebook custom audiences integration

Pros ✅

• Substantial free plan: The MailerLite free plan allows you to send up to 12,000 emails per month to up to 1,000 subscribers using all the essential email marketing features like drag & drop builders, automation, segmentation, landing pages and more

• Outstanding deliverability rates: Email Tool Tester reports have shown that MailerLite is the industry leader when it comes to email deliverability

• Extensive learning tools: The Customer Support Self-Service center contains a large library of how-to articles, video tutorials and even email marketing courses

• Award-winning customer support: We take pride in offering fast, friendly, support from highly-trained human beings

• Three types of email builder: Take your pick between our drag & drop, rich-text and HTML email editors

• Straight forward plans and pricing: Plans include Free, Growing Business, Advanced and Enterprise with pricing based on the number of subscribers you have. All pricing is clear and transparent; MailerLite won’t surprise you with any hidden costs down the road

Cons ❌

• Basic reporting: Analytics and reporting features in MailerLite aren’t as comprehensive and in depth as some of our competitors

• Thorough approval process: To maintain our high standards for deliverability, all MailerLite customers must submit their account for approval before they can begin sending. While this usually takes under 15 minutes, it can take longer if we require more information.

Constant Contact is another marketing tool that’s been around for a while. They offer 2 separate products: An email marketing service and a lead gen and CRM platform. For the purpose of this comparison, we’ll take a look at their “Email & digital marketing” plan.

Key features:

• Drag & drop email editor

• Autoresponder

• Segmentation and subscriber tagging

• SMS marketing

• Automatic subject line suggestions

Pros ✅

• Easy to use: Constant Contact has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users to create and send emails

• Good deliverability: Constant Contact is ranked 4th in Email Tool Testers deliverability comparison, meaning that the emails are likely to reach the intended recipients' inboxes

• Phone support: Constant Contact offers customer support over the phone from Monday to Saturday

Cons ❌

• Limited segmentation capabilities: You can only create segments based on whether a user has received, opened, or clicked on your email

• No 24/7 support: Constant constant is open between varying hours from Monday to Saturday

• Difficult to cancel account: To cancel your Constant Contact subscription you need to call their billing team within EST business hours

AWeber is a simple email marketing platform targeted toward small businesses. They offer all of the basic features required to build and grow your subscriber list with features like landing pages, website forms, integrations, and a free WordPress plugin. 

Key features:

• Drag & drop email builder

• ‘Smart Designer’ template builder

• Autoresponder

• List segmentation

• E-commerce features

• Landing page builder

Pros ✅

• Canva integration: The AWeber Canva integration allows you to edit images in Canva and automatically save them to your AWeber files

• AMP functionality: AMP email is a framework that enables email marketers to create and send interactive emails that allow people to fill out forms, purchase products, book meetings, and more without leaving their inboxes

• Advanced analytics: On top of your basic open rates and click-through rates, AWeber tracks revenue-based metrics like conversions, revenue over time and sales within a specific period (e.g 24 hours) that allow you to measure the ROI of your email marketing campaigns

Cons ❌

• Limited customer support: AWeber customer support is only available in English

• Basic recipient selection: You can’t include or exclude multiple segments at once when sending a newsletter

• Deliverability: AWeber ranks on the low end of Email Tool Tester’s score table when it comes to email deliverability

GetResponse describes itself as a “powerful, simplified tool to send emails, create pages, and automate your marketing.” Their free plan lacks some basic features and integrations, but still has access to tools that you can use to create and send email marketing campaigns.

Key features:

• Drag and drop builder

• Autoresponders

• Send-time optimization

• Drag and drop workflow builder

• Web events

• Pre-built automation templates

• SMS marketing

• Web push notifications

• Popups and forms

Pros ✅

• Google and social media ads: You can create and monitor Google and Meta ads directly from your GetResponse account

• List automation tools: Implement a range of conditions to help segment your subscriber list automatically

• Free email marketing courses: GetResponse offers free email marketing courses to help users become experts

Cons ❌

• Deliverability: GetResponse scores haven’t been great on Email Tool Tester’s deliverability tests

• High paywall for automation: Email automation is only available on higher tier plans (Marketing Automation plan or higher)

Mailchimp has been synonymous with email marketing for many years and has evolved into more of an all-in-one marketing platform. Following its acquisition by financial software company, Intuit, Mailchimp has announced several pricing changes, which have affected small businesses and free users. Let’s take a look at how Mailchimp compares to the competition now.

Key features

• Drag and drop editor

• Content optimizer

• Automation builder

• Landing pages

• Forms and popups

• Transactional emails

• Digital Ads

• Social posts

• Postcards

Pros ✅

• Comprehensive reporting:  Mailchimp tracks a range of metrics including number of orders, average order revenue, and total revenue. You can also see insights such as opens by location, the subscribers who open your email the most and the performance of your email in the first 24 hours

• Extensive integration options: Mailchimp offers over 300 integrations and add-ons making it easy to connect to other marketing tools

• Additional features: Mailchimp has expanded its features beyond email marketing and recently added new features such as scheduling software and an online store builder

Cons ❌

• High prices: Most marketers will need to move to more expensive paid plans due to the low sending limits within the free plan

• No email scheduling on the free plan: Mailchimp removed the ability to schedule email campaigns in advance on the free plan

Klaviyo specializes in e-commerce automation email marketing. It allows businesses to send targeted emails, automate email flows, and analyze customer behavior.

Key features:

• Behavior-based automation

• Customer behavior tracking

• 2-way messaging

• Autoresponders

• Automated responses

• SMS functionality

Pros ✅

• Cross-platform triggers: With advanced e-commerce integrations, you can trigger SMS and email automations across your marketing ecosystem

• Easy-to-use templates: Klaviyo has a template library that help you understand what kind of flows you need and how to set them up

• Advanced e-commerce features: There are extensive features for e-commerce businesses to set up, automate and track email marketing campaigns

Cons ❌

• Limited customer support: Klaviyo’s support team is only available between varying hours Monday to Friday

• Send limits: At the equivalent of 10 emails per subscriber per month, Klaviyo has low send limits for e-commerce businesses

• Steep learning curve: Feature-dense Klaviyo can take a bit longer to get the hang of compared to other email marketing tools 

• High price: Paid plans start at $20 per month for just email, jumping up to $35 if you want to include SMS in your plan. Prices then climb pretty quickly as your contact list grows

Campaign Monitor attracts email marketers who do consumer branding. They focus on agencies and brands, offering a range of tools for designing, automating, and analyzing campaigns.

Key features:

• Drag and drop email builder

• Autoresponders

• Transactional emails

• Forms and popups

• SMS campaign option

• 100+ email templates

• Flexible segmentation

• Email automation

• Landing pages

Pros ✅

• Ease of use: Campaign Monitor is very easy to use which is good for beginners and people who aren’t super tech-savvy

• White-label option: They offer a discounted white-label version of Campaign Monitor for agencies 

• Email templates: Campaign Monitor offers robust, good-looking responsive email templates

Cons ❌

• Basic landing page builder: The landing page builder in Campaign Monitor is a bit basic compared to its competitors and offers limited customization options

• Limited customer support: Campaign Monitor support is only accessible on weekdays from 9AM-5PM (BST) in Europe, 9AM-5PM (AEST) in Australia and Asia and 6AM-5PM (PST) in the Americas

ActiveCampaign is all about automation. They aim to help businesses automate and optimize their marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including email, social media, and SMS messaging. ActiveCampaign is a solid option for businesses of all sizes looking to improve their customer engagement and drive growth through targeted and effective marketing.

Key features:

• Drag & drop email designer

• Forms and popups

• Inbox browser extension

• SMS automation

• Lead scoring

• Inbox previews

Pros ✅

• Predictive email sending: ActiveCampaign has a nifty feature that predicts the optimal send time for your subscribers and delivers your newsletter accordingly

• Deliverability: ActiveCampaign is among the top 3 email marketing services when it comes to deliverability

• Free migration: If you’re migrating from a different email marketing platform, ActiveCampaign will handle your migration for free

Cons ❌

• Charges for inbox previews: Users must pay $1 per test to preview how their emails will look in different email clients

• No free plan: While there is a free trial for ActiveCampaign, unfortunately, there is no free plan option

• Steeper learning curve: Non-techies who need a quick and simple solution may want to opt for a more user-friendly email marketing service

ConvertKit is an email marketing tool that solely targets content creators like bloggers and YouTubers. It aims to help them create email newsletters, build landing pages and connect with their audiences.

Key features:

• Landing page editor

• Email automation templates

• Digital products

• Signup forms

Pros ✅

• Unlimited email sending: All plans, including ConvertKit’s free plan, have unlimited email sending

• Tip jar feature: ConvertKit offers a unique feature where you can invite subscribers to tip you for your content

• Paid newsletters: ConvertKit allows you to charge a subscription fee for your newsletter

Cons ❌

• Limited free plan features: The free plan doesn’t include basic features like automation, autoresponders and reports

• Basic email editor: ConvertKit’s email editor only allows you to create text-based emails with extremely limited design options

Sendinblue markets itself as an all-in-one digital marketing platform helping B2B and B2C businesses build customer relationships through end-to-end digital marketing campaigns, transactional messaging, and marketing automation.

Key features:

• Drag & drop email builder

• Automation workflows

• CRM

• Transactional emails

• SMS marketing

• Landing pages

• Facebook ads

• Phone support (for the first 60 days)

Pros ✅

• Free CRM software: All Sendinblue plans come with its sales CRM, including the free tier, which is handy for small businesses looking to keep costs down

• Unlimited contacts: Sendinblue’s paid plans are based on the number of emails you send, rather than the number of subscribers you have, which is a pro for people who send infrequent but highly targeted emails 

Cons ❌

• Free plan send limit: There’s a daily send limit of 300 emails on the free plan which is considerably low

• Loading times: Occasionally Sendinblue can be a bit slow when loading specific pages

Choosing the right email marketing platform is crucial for any business looking to grow its online presence. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to make a decision. By considering factors like features, pricing, and user-friendliness, you can narrow down your options and find the perfect fit for your needs.

With MailerLite, you can easily create and send professional-looking emails, automate your campaigns, track your results, and take advantage of more advanced tools—all without breaking the bank. So if you’re looking for an email marketing platform that's not too big, not too small, but just right, then MailerLite is the way to go.