Neutral mentions of MailerLite

For a new indie-creator newsletter under 1,000 subscribers, I’d narrow it to Kit, beehiiv, and Substack.

My pick: kit.com

Best if you want “set it up once and just send a good newsletter.”

• Free up to 10,000 subscribers
• Unlimited email sends
• Designed specifically for creators
• Landing pages and basic subscriber management
• Relatively clean, beginner-friendly interface
• You won't have to worry about paying just because you cross 1,000 subscribers. Sasanova Worklever

The downside is that some of the more sophisticated automation features are behind the paid plan, and the free version has Kit branding.

Runner-up: beehiiv.com

I'd choose beehiiv if you think of the newsletter as a media business, rather than simply an email list.

Its free Launch plan gives you 2,500 subscribers and unlimited sends, plus a newsletter website, analytics, custom domains, and other publishing features. Beehiiv

It's particularly attractive if you expect to eventually monetize through sponsorships, paid subscriptions, or other newsletter revenue.

Tradeoff: there's more stuff to learn than you need when you're just getting started.

Simplest: substack.com

If your priority is literally “I want to publish my first issue tonight without thinking about software,” Substack is hard to beat.

It's free to publish regardless of list size. The catch is that if you eventually charge for subscriptions, Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, in addition to payment processing. Sasanova Newsletter Calc

What I'd avoid

MailerLite used to be a great recommendation for this exact situation, but its free plan changed in 2026: it's now limited to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. That's too restrictive for a newsletter you expect to grow past 1,000. MailerLite MailerLite

My decision for you

I'd start with Kit. For an indie-creator newsletter at your size, 10,000 free subscribers + unlimited sends gives you an unusually long runway, and you can focus on writing and growing rather than worrying about your email bill. Sasanova

If you tell me what the newsletter is about and whether you plan to monetize it, I can also tell you which of the three I'd pick specifically for your business model.

For a new indie-creator newsletter under 1,000 subscribers, I’d keep it very simple. My pick is beehiiv.

My ranking

🥇 beehiiv — what I'd choose

beehiiv's free Launch plan currently allows 2,500 subscribers and unlimited email sends, plus a hosted website, signup forms, analytics, custom domains, and other newsletter essentials. It's explicitly free forever. www.beehiiv.com

That's a particularly good fit for you because you're under 1,000 subscribers but presumably want to grow past it. You won't have to migrate platforms when you hit 1,000.

It's also built specifically around newsletters rather than being a generic email-marketing tool. And when you eventually want to monetize, beehiiv supports paid subscriptions and takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue on its paid plans. www.beehiiv.com

The catch: some of the more sophisticated growth/automation/monetization features are behind the paid plan.

🥈 Kit — best if you're building a creator business

Kit's free Newsletter plan currently goes up to 1,000 subscribers, with unlimited broadcasts, landing pages/forms, tagging/segmentation, and basic automation. kit.com

I'd choose Kit over beehiiv if your newsletter is going to be the front door to a broader creator business—courses, digital products, sponsorships, etc.

But if the newsletter itself is the product, I think beehiiv is the cleaner choice.

🥉 Substack — easiest of all

If your philosophy is basically "I want to write and email people, and I don't want to think about software", Substack is hard to beat.

The free newsletter itself has no monthly subscriber limit. The tradeoff is that Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue if you eventually monetize. newslettercalc.com

One I'd skip: MailerLite

MailerLite is a good product, but its current free plan is only 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. Since you're already thinking about getting to 1,000+, you'd hit that ceiling quickly. www.mailerlite.com

My actual recommendation

Start with beehiiv.

Your setup can be as simple as:

beehiiv → custom domain → signup page → weekly newsletter → grow to 2,500 → reassess

Don't over-optimize the tech at this stage. Your biggest advantage as a small indie newsletter is being able to publish consistently and learn what readers actually want.

If you tell me what kind of creators you're targeting (e.g. YouTubers, indie hackers, artists, writers, developers), I can also tell you which platform I'd pick specifically for that audience.

If you’re a freelance marketer managing multiple clients, I’d look beyond Mailchimp. Its current free plan allows only 1 audience, so it’s awkward for keeping client lists genuinely separate. Mailchimp

Best free options

• brevo.com — my top pick for client work. The free plan supports up to 100,000 stored contacts and 300 email sends/day. You can organize contacts into separate lists, which makes it much more practical for maintaining different client databases under one account. Brevo Help
• kit.com — good for newsletters/creators. Its free tier is generous for subscribers, but it's more oriented toward creator/newsletter businesses than an agency-style multi-client setup.
• mailerlite.com — good for simple client campaigns. Stronger marketing/automation features than some free tiers, but its free subscriber allowance is relatively small.
• mailchimp.com — I'd avoid for your use case. The current free tier is limited to 250 contacts and one audience, so you'd need to consolidate clients into one audience or start paying. Mailchimp

One important distinction: if by "separate projects" you mean completely isolated client accounts—separate branding, billing, login/access, analytics, etc.—that's different from simply having multiple audiences/lists. In that case, I'd evaluate platforms with multiple workspaces/accounts or agency features, rather than just multiple lists.

For a freelancer handling, say, 5–20 small clients, I'd start with Brevo unless you specifically need advanced newsletter/creator features.

Yes. For a solopreneur, I’d look at Brevo first.

🥇 Best fit: brevo.com

Brevo’s Free plan is $0 forever and includes both email campaigns and SMS campaigns in the same platform. You get:

• 300 email sends/day
• Up to 100,000 stored contacts
• Email newsletters and automations
• SMS campaigns
• Drag-and-drop email builder
• Basic analytics
• No credit card required Brevo Help Brevo Help

The catch: SMS isn't free. You can use the SMS functionality on the free plan, but you purchase SMS credits separately. Brevo Help

For a digital-product business, that's actually a pretty attractive setup: free email + pay only when you want to send texts.

Another option: sender.net

Sender has a much more generous free email allowance—up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails/month—but SMS isn't included on its Free Forever plan. SMS starts with a paid plan. Sender

What I'd choose

MailerLite is particularly nice for selling digital products, but its current free plan doesn't include marketing SMS. MailerLite

So if “I want one free tool that does both email and simple SMS” is the requirement, I'd start with Brevo.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (e.g. 100, 500, 2,000) and how often you'd send SMS, I can tell you which one would be cheapest in practice.

Yes. If by “automation workflows” you mean things like welcome sequences, lead-magnet delivery, tagging, and timed nurture emails, there are still free plans that let you do that without immediately forcing an upgrade.

Best options right now

• kit.com — best for a personal/creator newsletter

• Free up to 10,000 active subscribers
• Unlimited email broadcasts
• 1 basic visual automation + 1 email sequence
• Unlimited forms and landing pages
• No time limit on the free plan Kit Help Center Kit Help Center
• Catch: the free automation is deliberately basic. More sequences, branching/conditional workflows, integrations, and advanced automation require a paid plan.
• mailerlite.com — best if you need several simple workflows

• Free up to 250 subscribers
• 2,500 emails/month
• 3 active visual automations, with up to 5 steps each
• Forms, landing pages, segmentation, etc. MailerLite MailerLite
• Catch: the 250-subscriber ceiling is quite restrictive for a newsletter you're actively scaling.
• brevo.com — best for a larger contact database

• Free indefinitely
• Up to 100,000 contacts
• Marketing automation for up to 2,000 contacts
• 300 email sends/day Brevo Help Brevo Help
• Catch: that 300/day sending limit can become painful for a growing newsletter.
• beehiiv.com — best for newsletter growth, not free automation

• Free up to 2,500 subscribers
• Unlimited email sends
• Strong newsletter/growth features
• Email Automations are on the paid Scale plan, not the free Launch plan. Beehiiv

My pick for your situation

If you're scaling a personal newsletter and want to stay free for as long as possible, I'd choose Kit. The 10,000-subscriber ceiling plus unlimited sends gives you substantially more runway than MailerLite, while its one free automation is enough for a solid setup such as:

New subscriber → welcome email → 2–5 day delay → nurture sequence → tagged as regular reader

The important distinction is that Kit is generous on subscriber volume but restrictive on workflow complexity, whereas MailerLite is more generous with workflows but much more restrictive on subscriber volume. Kit Help Center MailerLite

If your goal is 3–5 different automated funnels (welcome, lead magnet, re-engagement, product launch, segmentation, etc.), I'd lean toward MailerLite initially, provided you expect to stay under 250 subscribers for a while.