Which Free Email Marketing Tier Is Still Worth It in 2026
MailerLite Just Cut Hard, and It Changes the Answer
Start with the fresh news, because it directly rewrites which free tier is the best one to grab.
As of writing, MailerLite cut its free plan on June 16, 2026, dropping from 12,000 emails per month and 500 subscribers down to 2,500 emails per month and 250 subscribers. Existing free accounts migrate to the new limits on July 1, 2026. So the comfortable 12,000-email allowance you may be on today disappears in early July.
The good news is the features stayed. The free plan still includes custom templates, the HTML editor, pop-up forms, and two seats. MailerLite’s editor is genuinely pleasant to work in, but 2,500 emails a month evaporates after two promo sends.
The backdrop here is that the whole free email space tightened this year. Mailchimp reportedly cut its free contact cap from 500 to 250 in January 2026, and automation left the free plan even earlier, around mid-2025. So the question is no longer which free tier is best in the abstract. It is which of the survivors can still carry your actual list.
The Four Free Tiers Side by Side
Laid out, the gaps are obvious. Everything below is the official line as of writing. Free tiers shift fast, so reconfirm before you commit.
| Tool | Free emails | Contacts/subscribers | Key free features | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | 300/day (about 9,000/mo) | Stores up to about 100,000 contacts | Basic email, marketing automation (capped), transactional email | Large lists, steady volume, no need for fancy features |
| Omnisend | 500/mo + 60 SMS + 500 web push | Reach up to 250 (unlimited storage) | Automations, segmentation, landing pages, full ecommerce feature set | Tiny lists that want ecommerce tactics, Shopify sellers |
| MailerLite | 2,500/mo (from July 1) | 250 subscribers | Custom templates, HTML editor, pop-ups, 2 seats | Editor lovers with low send volume |
| Mailchimp | 500/mo (about 167/day) | 250 (reportedly cut from 500 early this year) | Basic email, automation removed from free | Existing users coasting, weak pick for newcomers |
Two things matter most. Brevo wins on raw send volume and contact storage. About 9,000 emails a month plus storage for roughly 100,000 contacts has no rival on the free tier. Omnisend flips it. Smallest volume, but automations, segmentation, and landing pages are all unlocked on free, which none of the other three do.
For context, the AI features across these platforms (Klaviyo, Omnisend, and Brevo smart sending and copy generation) live on a separate comparison axis and sit outside this piece. Here we stay strictly on the free-tier line.
Picking by List Size and Store Type
Do not pick off the feature table. Pick by how big your list is and where you sell.
Under 250 contacts and selling on Shopify or a DTC store, take Omnisend. The 500 emails a month with 250 contacts sounds small, but you can run abandoned cart, welcome series, and segmentation on the free tier, which means you practice the full ecommerce email playbook for nothing. Upgrade once the list grows. The migration cost is low.
A list already in the thousands or tens of thousands that mostly does periodic broadcasts wants Brevo. The 100,000-contact storage is uncontested on free, and 300 emails a day works out to roughly 9,000 a month, which is plenty. The catch is it meters by the day, not as one monthly pool, which the next section covers.
If you just want a comfortable editor and your send volume is modest, MailerLite still works post-cut. The 2,500 monthly emails covers a low-frequency seller. Mailchimp is hard to recommend for new signups now. Automation is gone and contacts dropped to 250, so unless you are already on it and do not want to move, look elsewhere.
Tactics to Stretch a Free Tier
Whether a free tier holds up is half the tool and half how you run it.
First, schedule around Brevo’s daily cap. Brevo’s 300/day does not roll over. Unsent volume today does not bank for tomorrow. So a broadcast over 300 recipients has to be requeued across days. A 900-contact list splits into three days at 300 each. Block it on the calendar ahead of time instead of discovering at send time that it will not fit in one day.
Second, list hygiene. Every free tier meters by contacts or subscribers, so stuffing your 250 slots with dead addresses that have not opened in three months is pure waste. Prune inactive addresses regularly. It frees slots and lifts deliverability. The deliverability mechanics deserve their own treatment, but the principle is simple: a small live list beats a large dead one.
Third, segment and send small batches. Rather than blasting the full list every time and burning your allowance, slice by behavior and send only to the segment most likely to convert. Five hundred emails a month sounds thin, but if each send goes to 100 high-intent users, you get five sends a month, far better than one full-list blast that drains the allowance in one shot. Omnisend’s free segmentation exists for exactly this.
Fourth, mix email, SMS, and push. Omnisend’s free tier throws in 60 SMS and 500 web pushes on top of the 500 emails. Reserve SMS for the highest-stakes moment (the final abandoned-cart nudge, say), let push handle low-cost reminders, and keep email as the workhorse. Splitting the load across three channels eases the pressure on any single allowance.
One last note: free tiers change without warning, and MailerLite is the live proof. If you genuinely run the business on a free tier, export and back up your core list, and avoid hard-wiring your automation flows into any one vendor so migration hurts less.
阅读本文中文版: 2026 免费邮件营销额度集体缩水后，到底还能薅哪家
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