Answers that name a competitor

If you’re a budget-conscious solopreneur with a growing list, I’d narrow it to MailerLite, Brevo, and Kit. The best choice depends mostly on list size and how sophisticated your automations need to be.

My pick: MailerLite

mailerlite.com is probably the best overall value for your situation.

• Free: up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/month, campaigns, and 3 automations. MailerLite
• Paid: starts at $12/month for the Comfort plan, with 50 active automations and regular newsletter/broadcast capabilities. MailerLite
• You get landing pages, forms, automations, integrations, and email marketing in one relatively inexpensive package.

Why I'd choose it: It gives you the traditional "email marketing business" toolkit without immediately pushing you into a pricey plan.

The cheapest option: Kit

kit.com is extremely compelling if your list is still under 10,000 subscribers.

Its free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited broadcasts, plus forms, landing pages, tagging/segmentation, and digital products. Kit Kit Help Center

The catch: visual automations and automated email sequences require the paid Creator plan. Kit Help Center

So I'd pick Kit if you're primarily a creator/newsletter business and broadcasts are more important than complex automated funnels.

Best if your list is getting large: Brevo

brevo.com uses a somewhat different pricing model: you're primarily paying based on email volume, rather than simply the number of contacts.

• Free: 300 emails/day and up to 100,000 stored contacts.
• Starter: from $9/month, with no daily sending limit.
• Standard: from $18/month, adding unlimited-contact marketing automation, A/B testing, and advanced reporting. Brevo Help

That can be a great deal if you have lots of subscribers who don't receive emails frequently.

My quick decision rule

Bottom line: I'd start with MailerLite unless you're specifically building a creator/newsletter business, in which case I'd seriously consider Kit. Both let you start cheaply without having to migrate your entire business once you begin using automations.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have now (e.g. 500, 2k, 10k) and how many emails you send per month, I can tell you which one is likely to be cheapest at your actual size.

For a small ecommerce store where the priorities are low monthly cost + simple segmentation, I would shortlist these:

SMB Compare Listicler## My recommendation

1. Best overall for a small store: Omnisend

I’d start here for most small ecommerce shops.

Why:

• Built specifically for ecommerce (Shopify/WooCommerce-style stores)
• Email and SMS live together, so you can make simple flows like: - New subscriber → welcome email
• Added to cart → reminder email/text
• Purchased → thank-you + review request
• No purchase in 90 days → win-back campaign
• Segments are easy: - “Bought product X”
• “Spent over $100”
• “Has not purchased in 60 days”
• “VIP customers”

It is generally positioned as a lower-cost alternative to Klaviyo for smaller stores. SMB Compare Listicler

2. Cheapest option: Brevo

Pick this if cost matters more than ecommerce sophistication.

Good for:

• A few thousand contacts
• Regular newsletters
• Basic customer groups
• Occasional SMS blasts

Tradeoff:

• Segmentation and ecommerce automation are not as deep as ecommerce-first tools. SMB Compare

3. Best long-term marketing platform: Klaviyo

Klaviyo is probably the strongest if email/SMS becomes a major revenue channel.

Great for:

• Customer lifetime value segments
• Product recommendations
• Complex flows
• Detailed purchase behavior

The downside is that costs can rise as your customer database grows. Noctilucens

What I would avoid for your situation

• Enterprise SMS tools like Attentive — usually unnecessary for a small shop.
• Building SMS yourself with Twilio — cheap infrastructure, but you would need to build segmentation, compliance workflows, and campaign tools. Resources Rework

A simple setup I’d use

For a small store:

1. Start with Omnisend
2. Create only 5 segments: - New subscribers
3. First-time buyers
4. Repeat buyers
5. High spenders
6. Customers inactive 60–90 days
7. Build 4 automations: - Welcome series
8. Abandoned cart
9. Post-purchase follow-up
10. Win-back campaign

That gets most of the revenue benefit without paying for complicated marketing features.

If you tell me your store platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, etc.), monthly order volume, and roughly email list size, I can narrow this to the cheapest choice that will actually fit.

Yes. For a freelance marketer with several small clients, I’d separate “multi-account management” from true white-label/reseller software—because the cheapest option is often not the one with full white-labeling.

My shortlist

1. MailerLite — my pick for most freelancers

This is probably the best value if your clients can each have their own MailerLite account.

MailerLite explicitly supports agencies: you can manage multiple client accounts from one login, switching between them in two clicks. Each client retains separate subscribers, campaigns, automations and billing. MailerLite MailerLite

The catch: it isn't actually white-label. MailerLite says it doesn't offer a reseller/white-label version. MailerLite

The upside is price. Its current Power plan starts at $25/month for up to 500 subscribers, with unlimited users and unlimited monthly emails; there's also a free plan for small lists. MailerLite MailerLite

Best setup: Have each client own/pay for their MailerLite account, while you get agency access. You can charge them your management fee separately without eating their email-software costs.

mailerlite.com

2. HighLevel — best if you really want white-labeling

If by white-label you mean:

“I want my client to log into my agency's branded platform, not see MailerLite/HighLevel.”

Then HighLevel is much more appropriate.

Its current pricing is:

• $97/mo — 3 sub-accounts
• $297/mo — unlimited sub-accounts
• $497/mo — unlimited sub-accounts + SaaS Mode, which lets you sell the platform as your own software and automate account creation/rebilling. GoHighLevel

So, for example, once you have 10–20 clients, the $297 plan can become attractive because you aren't paying for a separate platform subscription for every client.

The downside is that $297/month is a lot if you're only managing 3–5 small clients. And HighLevel is substantially more than an email platform—it includes CRM, funnels, SMS, automation, calendars, etc. GoHighLevel

gohighlevel.com

3. Brevo — worth considering for inexpensive client email

Brevo is attractive if you're primarily doing email campaigns and automation rather than selling clients a whole marketing platform.

However, its true centralized sub-account functionality is currently an Enterprise feature, so I wouldn't choose it specifically for inexpensive multi-client account management. Brevo Help Brevo Help

It does have inexpensive plans and relatively flexible user/permission management, though. Brevo Help

brevo.com

What I'd do in your situation

If you're a solo freelance marketer with ~3–15 small businesses, I'd probably go:

MailerLite → client owns the account → you manage it → client pays the software bill → you charge a monthly management fee.

That's much cheaper and cleaner than paying $297–497/month for a white-label platform.

I'd move to HighLevel when you have enough clients that you want to turn email/CRM/automation into a standardized agency product and sell it under your own brand.

The key distinction is:

• Want cheap + easy: MailerLite
• Want cheap + separate client accounts: MailerLite
• Want actual agency-branded software: HighLevel
• Want to resell software and recurring subscriptions: HighLevel SaaS Mode
• Want primarily inexpensive email sending: Brevo

If you tell me roughly how many clients you have (e.g. 5, 10, 20) and average subscribers per client, I can calculate the cheapest setup and break-even point between these options.

3. Brevo — worth considering for inexpensive client email

Brevo is attractive if you're primarily doing email campaigns and automation rather than selling clients a whole marketing platform.

However, its true centralized sub-account functionality is currently an Enterprise feature, so I wouldn't choose it specifically for inexpensive multi-client account management. Brevo Help Brevo Help

It does have inexpensive plans and relatively flexible user/permission management, though. Brevo Help

brevo.com

What I'd do in your situation

If you're a solo freelance marketer with ~3–15 small businesses, I'd probably go:

MailerLite → client owns the account → you manage it → client pays the software bill → you charge a monthly management fee.

That's much cheaper and cleaner than paying $297–497/month for a white-label platform.

If your priorities are tiny budget + limited tech skills + getting started quickly, I’d choose MailerLite.

My pick: MailerLite

It’s built around straightforward newsletters, signup forms, landing pages, and simple automations rather than making you configure a bunch of technical infrastructure. Recent comparisons also rate it particularly highly for beginners. ownletter.com beehiiv.com

One important 2026 caveat: its free plan has recently become much smaller—current reports put it at 250 active subscribers and 2,500 emails/month.

The alternatives

• MailerLite — Best if you want a conventional email newsletter with a simple visual editor and signup forms.
• beehiiv — Better if your

It’s built around straightforward newsletters, signup forms, landing pages, and simple automations rather than making you configure a bunch of technical infrastructure. Recent comparisons also rate it particularly highly for beginners.

If you’re starting small, on a tight budget, and don’t want to wrestle with tech, I’d start with **** (formerly ConvertKit).

My pick: Kit

• $0 to start with a

For your situation, Brevo is probably the best budget-friendly choice.

• Best overall: Brevo — Its free plan includes basic automation and allows up to 100,000 stored contacts, though you're limited to 300 emails/day. Starter starts at $9/month, and Standard starts at $18/month with unlimited marketing automation. Brevo Help Brevo
• Best if you're extremely seasonal: Mailchimp — Mailchimp specifically offers a Pay As You Go option aimed at seasonal businesses, so you can buy email credits rather than maintain a monthly subscription. Mailchimp
• Why I'd lean Brevo: A small local shop can set up a welcome series, birthday/customer-reengagement emails, seasonal sale announcements, and coupon campaigns without quickly running into contact-based pricing. Brevo Help

My pick

Brevo + a simple 3–4 email automation setup:

1. New subscriber → welcome + first-visit coupon
2. 7 days later → reminder about the coupon
3. Before each major season → promotional offer
4. After a purchase/visit → thank-you + next-visit incentive

If your list is only a few hundred people and you send heavily only during 2–4 seasons per year, Mailchimp Pay As You Go is worth considering. But if you want ongoing automations at the lowest predictable cost, I'd choose Brevo. Mailchimp Brevo Help

brevo.com
mailchimp.com

For an early-stage SaaS with a tight runway, I’d avoid the “enterprise lifecycle marketing” tools first (for example, platforms that become expensive once you have a few thousand contacts). Your sweet spot is usually: cheap base cost + onboarding automation + event/segment analytics + room to grow.

Here are the options I’d shortlist:

My practical picks by stage

If you have <5,000 users and need onboarding ASAP

Pick: Loops

• Good match for SaaS because emails can be triggered from product events (signup, activated feature, invited teammate, trial ending). Zapier
• A typical setup:

• Day 0: welcome + “get started”
• Day 1: activation checklist
• Day 3: feature education
• Day 7: case study/use case
• Trial expiry: conversion nudge

If you mainly need cheap marketing + onboarding

Pick: Brevo

• Good runway choice because you’re less exposed to a growing subscriber bill.
• Works well for:

• signup confirmation
• onboarding drip
• product announcements
• re-engagement campaigns Brevo

If you’re non-technical and want to ship flows yourself

Pick: MailerLite

• Easy automation builder.
• Good for founder-led marketing teams that don’t want engineering involvement. MailerLite

What I’d avoid initially

• HubSpot Marketing Hub: great ecosystem, but costs can jump quickly once you need serious automation.
• Customer.io/Userlist-style tools: excellent lifecycle capabilities, but often priced for companies that already have meaningful revenue or a larger marketing budget. EmailToolScout
• Mailchimp: fine for newsletters, but many SaaS teams find the pricing/automation tradeoff less attractive as they grow.

A lean SaaS stack I’d consider

• Product events: your app analytics (PostHog, Segment, etc.)
• Lifecycle email: Loops or Brevo
• Transactional email: keep separate if needed (e.g., password resets)
• Measure:

• activation rate
• trial-to-paid conversion
• onboarding email click → product action
• churn/reactivation

If you tell me your approximate user count (e.g., <1k, 1–10k, 10k+) and whether you need behavior-triggered emails (“user didn’t invite a teammate”) vs simple drip sequences, I can narrow this to one or two choices.

My pick: brevo.com. Its pricing is based primarily on email volume rather than subscriber count, and the $18/month Standard tier includes unlimited-contact automation, analytics, A/B testing, and event tracking. Brevo Help Brevo

• Brevo: Best fit if your subscriber base may grow faster than email volume.
• MailerLite: Cheaper initially—free up to 250 subscribers, then Comfort starts at $12/month—but pricing scales with active subscribers. MailerLite MailerLite
• Verdict: For a tight-runway SaaS, I'd start with Brevo to avoid painful per-subscriber scaling.

For a budget-constrained nonprofit, MailerLite looks like the strongest overall value right now—especially if segmentation is important.

My pick: MailerLite

MailerLite nonprofit pricing

MailerLite currently advertises 30% off all paid plans for verified nonprofits. More importantly for your use case, it says you can create unlimited groups and segments at no additional fee—so you could maintain separate audiences for donors, volunteers, board members, event attendees, monthly donors, lapsed donors, etc. www.mailerlite.com

That's particularly attractive when your team needs segmentation but can't afford a sophisticated CRM/marketing-automation platform.

Runner-up: Constant Contact

Constant Contact pricing and nonprofit discount

Constant Contact offers 20% off with a six-month prepayment or 30% off with a 12-month prepayment for eligible nonprofits. Its Standard plan includes 10 custom segments, along with automation and A/B testing. www.constantcontact.com

I'd choose it over MailerLite if events, registrations, social marketing, and hands-on customer support are especially important.

One interesting alternative: Brevo

Brevo can be particularly economical if you have a large donor/contact database but don't email everyone frequently, because its pricing is more oriented around sending volume than simply the number of stored contacts. Its free tier also permits unlimited contacts, subject to a daily sending limit. www.capterra.com

Bottom line:

• Best overall value + segmentation: MailerLite
• Best for events and broader marketing: Constant Contact
• Best for a large list with relatively infrequent campaigns: Brevo
• Best if your team already knows it: Mailchimp

If you tell me roughly how many contacts you have (e.g. 1,000 / 5,000 / 10,000) and how many emails you send per month, I can calculate which would actually be cheapest for your nonprofit.

If your priority is a small paid newsletter audience + keeping costs low + eventually adding SMS, I’d narrow it to MailerLite, Kit, and beehiiv.

My pick: MailerLite if SMS is genuinely important

mailerlite.com

MailerLite is probably the best value if you want email + SMS in one ecosystem. Its paid Comfort plan starts around $12/month, and the platform explicitly supports email and SMS functionality. MailerLite

The catch: it isn't designed around paid newsletters as deeply as beehiiv. If your business is primarily “I publish a newsletter and people pay me for it,” I'd lean toward beehiiv instead.

My pick: beehiiv if newsletter revenue is the main business

beehiiv.com

beehiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers, with paid subscriptions, referrals, advertising/Boosts and newsletter growth tools. It takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue beyond normal payment processing. Beehiiv Beehiiv

For a small list, though, there's an important wrinkle: the free Launch plan goes to 2,500 subscribers, but the monetization-focused paid tier starts around $43–$49/month depending on billing/pricing version. Field Tested Newsletter Cost Calculator

So if you're only making, say, $100–300/month from a small paid list, that monthly software bill can be significant.

Kit is the sleeper choice

kit.com

Kit is especially attractive if you're a creator who might eventually sell courses, digital products, coaching, or other creator products. Its free tier is unusually generous—up to 10,000 subscribers—although monetization and advanced features change the economics. Beehiiv StackDrawer

I'd choose it over beehiiv if your newsletter is part of a broader creator business, rather than the product itself.

What I'd do in your situation

• Under ~1,000 subscribers + SMS is important: MailerLite
• Under ~2,500 subscribers + newsletter is the product: beehiiv Launch, then reassess when you start charging
• Growing creator business + courses/products: Kit
• Already making meaningful recurring paid-subscription revenue: beehiiv, because the 0% platform fee becomes increasingly valuable
• You specifically need serious SMS marketing: MailerLite, or use a separate SMS provider alongside your newsletter platform

One important distinction: “email + SMS” and “paid newsletter monetization” aren't necessarily best handled by the same platform. If you tell me roughly how many free subscribers, how many paid subscribers, your monthly newsletter revenue, and how many SMS messages/month you expect, I can calculate the cheapest setup and tell you exactly which platform I'd use.

mailerlite.com

MailerLite is probably the best value if you want email + SMS in one ecosystem. Its paid Comfort plan starts around $12/month, and the platform explicitly supports email and SMS functionality. MailerLite

The catch: it isn't designed around paid newsletters as deeply as beehiiv. If your business is primarily “I publish a newsletter and people pay me for it,” I'd lean toward beehiiv instead.

My pick: beehiiv if newsletter revenue is the main business

beehiiv.com

beehiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers, with paid subscriptions, referrals, advertising/Boosts and newsletter growth tools. It takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue beyond normal payment processing. beehiiv.com beehiiv.com

For a small list, though, there's an important wrinkle: the free Launch plan goes to 2,500 subscribers, but the monetization-focused paid tier starts around $43–$49/month depending on billing/pricing version. fieldtestedhq.com newslettercalc.com

So if you're only making, say, $100–300/month from a small paid list, that monthly software bill can be significant.

Kit is the sleeper choice

If your main criterion is low starting cost + predictable scaling as the list grows, I’d look closely at Brevo and MailerLite rather than the creator-focused platforms.

Brevo's current Starter plan begins at $9/month for 5,000 emails/month and up to 500 contacts, with higher-volume tiers available; it also offers prepaid email credits if you occasionally need additional sends. Brevo Help

MailerLite's current Comfort plan starts at $12/month for up to 500 subscribers, with 5,000 monthly emails. Its pricing scales based on active subscribers, and it automatically moves you to the next subscriber tier when you exceed your current limit. MailerLite MailerLite

Kit is currently $33/month for 1,000 subscribers on Creator, although its free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers. It's therefore interesting if you're a creator/newsletter business, but less compelling if your priority is minimizing the cost of a growing commercial mailing list. Kit

My practical take

• Large list + relatively infrequent sends: Brevo is probably the pricing model I'd investigate first. You're not punished as heavily simply for having lots of contacts.
• Small-to-medium list + regular newsletters/automations: MailerLite is probably the cleaner fit. Its pricing is easy to understand, and paid plans include substantial functionality.
• Newsletter/creator business: Kit makes more sense if its creator-specific features justify the higher price.

One important distinction: "overage pricing" isn't always the right metric. Some services don't really charge an overage—they automatically move you into the next subscriber tier. MailerLite explicitly does this. MailerLite

If you give me your approximate current list size + emails/month (e.g. 2,000 subscribers, 4 newsletters/month), I can calculate the likely monthly cost at 2k → 5k → 10k → 25k → 50k subscribers and show which one scales most cheaply.

If your priority is low starting cost + a pricing model that doesn’t punish you as the list grows, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Brevo

Brevo is particularly attractive if your list will grow substantially. Its pricing is primarily tied to email volume rather than the number of contacts you store. The free plan allows unlimited contacts but caps you at 300 emails/day; paid Starter begins at $9/month, with tiers based on monthly email sends. Brevo Help

That means, for example, you can have 20,000 contacts sitting in your database without paying simply because you have 20,000 contacts. If you only email them occasionally, that's a major advantage.

brevo.com

When MailerLite makes more sense

MailerLite is better if you're going to send frequently to most of your list and want a straightforward newsletter/automation platform. Its paid Comfort plan starts at $12/month, while Power starts at $25 and includes unlimited monthly emails. Pricing scales with active subscribers. MailerLite EmailTooltester.com

So I'd think of it this way:

• Small list + occasional sends → Brevo
• Large list + occasional sends → Brevo
• Small/medium list + frequent sends → MailerLite
• Large list + frequent sends → compare Brevo vs. MailerLite based on actual monthly volume
• Creator/newsletter business → Kit is worth a look

The key distinction is contacts vs. sends. A subscriber-priced service can become expensive even if you're barely emailing, while a send-priced service can be extremely cheap for a large but relatively inactive list. EveryAny.One

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have now (e.g. 1k, 5k, 10k) and how often you email them, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for Brevo, MailerLite, Kit, and 2–3 other cheap options at 10k/25k/50k subscribers.

For a tiny ecommerce brand testing both email + SMS, I’d look at Brevo first if keeping the monthly bill very low is the priority.

• Brevo: Free plan includes both email and SMS campaigns; paid Starter starts at $9/month for 5,000 emails/month. SMS is purchased separately by credits. Brevo Help
• Omnisend: More ecommerce-focused, but as of May 2026, SMS requires the Pro plan, starting at $59/month, plus SMS usage. Omnisend Help Center
• Klaviyo: Excellent ecommerce functionality, but paid Email + SMS starts around $35/month at the smallest paid tier, with SMS credits included. Omnisend

My practical shortlist

If you're genuinely just testing: Brevo is the inexpensive option I'd investigate first. Its free tier gives you email + SMS without committing to a monthly subscription, although SMS usage itself isn't free. Brevo Help

If you tell me roughly how many email/SMS subscribers you have (e.g. 500, 1,000, 5,000) and whether you're on Shopify, I can calculate the likely monthly cost for each.

For a tiny ecommerce brand that’s mainly testing, I’d shortlist Brevo and Omnisend.

• Brevo — cheapest starting point. Its free plan includes both email and SMS campaigns, with 300 emails/day; paid Starter starts at $9/month, while SMS is purchased separately as credits. Brevo Help Omnisend
• Omnisend — better ecommerce-focused option. Its current Standard plan starts at $16/month normally ($11.20/month for the first 3 months with the current promotion), and SMS is available as an add-on starting at $0.007/SMS for high-volume U.S. sends. Omnisend Help Center Omnisend
• Klaviyo — excellent, but I'd skip it for a tiny-budget test. The free tier supports up to 250 profiles, but paid Email + SMS becomes materially more expensive as your list grows. Klaviyo Omnisend

My pick

If you're validating the channel with minimal spend: Brevo.
If ecommerce automation (abandoned cart, post-purchase, segmentation) is the priority: Omnisend.

One important wrinkle: Omnisend changed its SMS pricing in May 2026, so older comparisons saying SMS is bundled into the basic paid plan are now outdated. Omnisend Help Center

brevo.com · omnisend.com

If you tell me roughly how many email/SMS subscribers you have (e.g. 200, 1,000, 5,000), I can calculate the cheapest option for your actual monthly usage.

For a one-person marketing operation doing newsletters + basic automations, I’d narrow it to MailerLite vs. Brevo.

My practical comparison

MailerLite's current free plan includes 3 visual automations, 2,500 emails/month, landing pages, forms, and its drag-and-drop editor. Its paid Comfort plan starts at $12/month and expands that to 50 automations. MailerLite MailerLite

Brevo currently starts at $9/month for 5,000 emails/month, while its free plan allows up to 300 emails/day. It also brings CRM, SMS, and broader marketing functionality into the platform. Brevo

What I'd choose

If your priority is "I don't want to think about the software": MailerLite.

The interface and workflow are geared toward the exact solo-marketer use case: build a form → add subscribers → create a sequence → send newsletters. You can actually stay on the free plan while you're small.

If your priority is "I want the lowest paid monthly price": Brevo.

At $9/month, it's currently cheaper than MailerLite's $12/month paid entry point. Brevo MailerLite

One important distinction: Brevo's pricing is more send-volume oriented, whereas MailerLite's paid pricing is more subscriber-tier oriented. So which is cheaper long-term depends on whether you have a large list, send frequently, or both.

For a typical one-person operation, I'd start with MailerLite Free and only move to paid when you hit the 250-subscriber ceiling. That gives you basic automation without paying anything initially. MailerLite

mailerlite.com · brevo.com

For a one-person marketing operation, I’d pick MailerLite if your priorities are easy UI + basic automations + low cost.

My pick: MailerLite

MailerLite's current free plan gives you up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/month, and 3 automations. Its paid Comfort plan starts at $12/month and adds substantially more automation capacity. MailerLite

The reason I'd choose it over Brevo for your use case isn't just price: the interface is particularly straightforward, and its visual automation builder is well suited to simple sequences such as:

• New subscriber → welcome email
• Wait 2 days → educational email
• Wait 3 days → offer
• Clicks link → add tag
• Doesn't open → resend/follow-up

Brevo starts cheaper at $9/month, and its pricing is based more on email volume than subscriber count. That's potentially a better deal if you have a relatively large list but send infrequently. Its free plan also includes automation for up to 2,000 contacts. Brevo Help

So I'd use this rule:

• Small list + want the easiest experience: → MailerLite
• Large list + low sending volume + absolute lowest cost: → Brevo
• Creator-focused business/newsletter: → Kit
• Want maximum simplicity and don't mind paying a little more: → MailerLite

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect in year 1) and how many emails you'll send per month, I can calculate which one is actually cheapest for you.

If your priority is good deliverability without paying for premium tiers, I’d focus less on the cheapest sticker price and more on whether the provider lets you use proper authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), has a good sending reputation, and doesn’t cripple automation or sending infrastructure on entry plans.

A shortlist I’d consider:

My practical ranking for a budget + deliverability balance:

1. Brevo — best if you send campaigns but don’t want your bill tied directly to list size. Picktool
2. MailerLite — best if you want a straightforward marketing tool with good usability. Resources Rework
3. EmailOctopus or Sender — best if cost is the main constraint and your automation needs are modest. Email Bump Sprout24

A few things matter more than the vendor for deliverability:

• Use a custom sending domain (not a shared free address).
• Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC before sending volume.
• Avoid buying/importing old lists.
• Start with engaged subscribers and ramp volume gradually.
• Keep bounce rates low and remove inactive addresses.

I’d be cautious about choosing solely based on “unlimited sends” or “cheapest plan.” Some low-cost plans look attractive but limit authentication, automation, support, or reputation controls in ways that can hurt inbox placement.

If you tell me your list size, monthly send volume, and whether this is ecommerce vs newsletter vs B2B, I can narrow it to 2–3 choices.

For a small online store, Omnisend is probably the closest fit to what you described.

• Omnisend — ecommerce-focused, with built-in abandoned-cart workflows, store-linked discount codes, and behavioral/purchase-based segmentation. Its Standard plan is currently listed at $16/month, with a free tier for very small lists. Omnisend Omnisend
• Brevo — potentially cheaper if you send lots of emails, because pricing is more send-volume-oriented. It supports ecommerce automation and abandoned-cart flows, but its ecommerce segmentation/workflows aren't as store-focused as Omnisend. Omnisend
• MailerLite — inexpensive and easy to use, but better suited to simpler ecommerce/email needs. Its segmentation is less ecommerce-specific, so I'd choose it only if advanced customer targeting isn't important. Omnisend
• Klaviyo — very capable for abandoned carts and granular segmentation, but its pricing scales with your contact list and is generally harder to justify for a small store on a tight budget. Omnisend

My pick

Omnisend if you want discount codes + abandoned carts + segmentation with minimal integration work. It connects directly to major ecommerce platforms and is designed around store events such as purchases and abandoned carts, rather than requiring you to stitch together multiple services. Omnisend

If you tell me whether your store is Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, etc. and roughly how many email subscribers you have, I can narrow it down to the cheapest suitable option and estimate the monthly cost.

Omnisend is probably the best fit for a small online store. It includes discount codes, abandoned-cart automations, and unlimited segmentation, with ecommerce integrations built in rather than requiring costly third-party connectors. Omnisend Omnisend

• Free: $0, up to 250 contacts/500 emails monthly.
• Standard: starts at $16/month normally ($11.20 for the first 3 months currently).
• Especially good if you sell through Shopify or another major ecommerce platform. support.omnisend.com

Bottom line: I'd choose Omnisend over a general email platform if ecommerce automation is your priority. support.omnisend.com

If the priority is cheap + dependable list hygiene/suppression, I’d shortlist these:

• Brevo — best budget choice for a large consolidated list. It prices primarily by emails sent rather than contacts stored, so you can retain a sizable master list without paying simply to store it. Its free tier allows unlimited contacts with a daily sending cap, and paid plans start around $9/month. EveryAny.One SMB Compare
• MailerLite — best simple all-around choice for smaller lists. It automatically excludes unsubscribed and bounced subscribers from its billable active-subscriber count, which is a useful sign that suppression is integrated into list management rather than being something you have to manually maintain. MailerLite
• Kit — worth considering if you qualify for its generous free tier. It can be particularly economical if your list is large but you don't need sophisticated CRM functionality. MailToolFinder

What I'd pick for consolidation

Brevo if you're merging several lists and expect the resulting database to be large. The send-based pricing model can make a big difference when you're carrying lots of inactive/suppressed records. EveryAny.One

MailerLite if the resulting list is relatively modest and you value straightforward campaign management over having the absolute lowest storage cost. Its treatment of bounced/unsubscribed contacts is especially relevant to your list-hygiene requirement. MailerLite

One important caveat: don't treat "suppressed" as permission to re-mail old addresses. During consolidation, preserve unsubscribe/complaint status from every source list and use the most restrictive status when records overlap.

If you tell me roughly how many contacts you're consolidating and how often you'll send, I can compare the actual monthly cost of Brevo vs. MailerLite vs. a couple of other budget options.

If your priority is cheap + A/B testing for subject lines, I’d pick MailerLite.

• MailerLite: Best budget choice. Its free plan includes campaign A/B testing, though it’s limited to 250 subscribers / 2,500 emails per month. Paid plans start around $12/month. Humblytics EmailTooltester.com
• Brevo: Better if you have a large list but send relatively infrequently. Its cheaper Starter plan begins around $9/month, but A/B testing requires the Standard plan (~$18/month). Stackmerit Compare Tiers
• Kit: Worth considering if you're primarily a creator/newsletter business, but subject-line A/B testing starts on its paid Creator tier, making it less attractive if price is the main concern. Humblytics

My recommendation

Start with MailerLite. You can actually test subject lines for free, and you don't need to pay just to unlock the basic A/B-testing capability.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have and how many emails you send per month, I can tell you which is cheapest for your specific situation.

For low-volume but important transactional email, I’d pick Brevo if you want one platform for both marketing and transactional sends.

Why Brevo is a strong fit

• One platform for both: Brevo explicitly separates marketing campaigns from transactional email, while supporting both under the same account. Brevo Help
• Transactional API + SMTP: You can send password resets, receipts, account notifications, etc. through its API or SMTP relay. Brevo Help Brevo API Documentation
• Very inexpensive at low volume: The free tier currently includes 300 emails/day, including transactional email; paid plans start at $9/month for 5,000 emails/month. Brevo Help
• Domain authentication: You can authenticate your sending domain, which is important for deliverability and protecting the reputation of your business domain. Brevo Help
• Transactional monitoring: Brevo provides transactional reporting and event tracking, useful when those messages are business-critical. Brevo Help

What I'd do

If your volume is something like a few hundred to a few thousand transactional messages/month plus occasional newsletters, I'd use:

Brevo → marketing campaigns + transactional API/SMTP

I'd also keep the streams conceptually separated:

• news@yourdomain.com → marketing
• notifications@yourdomain.com → transactional
• Authenticate the domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
• Use the API/SMTP transactional service, rather than treating important notifications as ordinary marketing campaigns.

That gives you a reasonably inexpensive setup without putting your critical emails on a marketing-only platform.

One caveat: if the transactional messages are mission-critical—e.g. authentication codes, financial notices, healthcare notifications, or something where even a small delivery failure is unacceptable—I would consider a dedicated transactional provider such as Amazon SES, Postmark, or Mailgun and use Brevo separately for marketing. The extra separation can be worth it.

For your specific description, though, Brevo would be my budget-friendly single-platform choice. Brevo Help Brevo Help

brevo.com

If your priority is the cheapest option that still gives you solid GDPR/CCPA-friendly consent and opt-in management, I’d shortlist Brevo and MailerLite.

My pick: Brevo

brevo.com is probably the best value if compliance/consent management is the deciding factor.

• Free: $0/month, with up to 300 emails/day and up to 100,000 stored contacts. Brevo Help
• Brevo explicitly advertises GDPR & CCPA compliance, including customizable forms, consent records, and data-request management. Brevo
• Its forms support double opt-in, and Brevo records the consent/confirmation events. Brevo Help Brevo Help
• Paid Starter begins at $9/month, so you can stay free for quite a while if your sending volume is low. Brevo Help

Runner-up: MailerLite

mailerlite.com is arguably nicer if you primarily want straightforward newsletter marketing.

• Free: up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. MailerLite
• Built-in GDPR settings, consent checkboxes/permissions, and double opt-in. MailerLite MailerLite
• Paid Comfort starts at $12/month for up to 500 subscribers. MailerLite
• It has a subscriber preference center on the paid plan, which is useful if you want subscribers to manage what communications they receive. MailerLite

Bottom line

I'd start with Brevo Free if GDPR/CCPA consent management is a hard requirement. It's unusually generous on contact storage, and its consent-recording/data-request features make it the stronger fit for your particular requirement. Brevo Help Brevo

One caveat: “GDPR/CCPA compliant” doesn't mean your marketing automatically becomes legally compliant. You still need appropriate privacy notices, lawful consent/opt-out practices, retention policies, etc.