Answers that mention MailerLite

For a small ecommerce shop on a tight budget, I’d pick Klaviyo if your list is still small.

• Klaviyo Free — up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails/month. It includes automations, basic segmentation, and ecommerce integrations, and you can build an actual abandoned-cart flow. Klaviyo Klaviyo Help Center

klaviyo.com

• Brevo Free — more generous sending volume (300 emails/day), but its marketing automation is on the paid Standard tier, so it doesn't fit your specific requirement as well if abandoned-cart automation is essential. Brevo
• MailerLite Free — strong segmentation and automation, including ecommerce purchase-data segmentation, but I'd favor Klaviyo for a store where cart recovery is the primary goal. MailerLite

Bottom line

Klaviyo is the strongest free option for your use case, provided you're under 250 active profiles and 500 monthly sends. Its free tier lets you start with abandoned-cart automation and segmentation rather than forcing you onto a paid plan just to automate those basics. Klaviyo

If you tell me whether you're on Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, or another platform, I can narrow it down to the cheapest option that integrates cleanly with your store.

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.

If you’re a freelance marketer handling multiple client lists, you’ll want more than just a free email tool—you’ll want something that lets you keep audiences separated by client, brand, or project without accidentally mixing contacts.

Here are some free-tier options worth considering:

My shortlist for a freelance marketer

1. Best simple free option: MailerLite

• Easy for client newsletters.
• Create separate groups/audiences for each client.
• Good if you’re managing maybe 3–10 smaller accounts. MailerLite
• Best agency-style setup: Zoho Campaigns

• Better if clients need their own access, reporting, or separation.
• More aligned with a freelance marketer becoming an agency. Zoho
• Best if client separation is the top priority: Tarvent

• Designed around multiple brands and audiences rather than one business list. Tarvent

One thing to watch: many popular email platforms’ free tiers are designed for one business with multiple segments, not necessarily a freelancer managing separate client accounts. If each client needs their own login, billing, branding, or data isolation, an agency-oriented tool is usually a better fit.

If you mean email marketing lists specifically (Mailchimp alternatives), I’d lean MailerLite. If you mean CRM/contact databases for many clients, the recommendation changes.

Yes. For a solopreneur selling digital products, you have a few good options — but a key distinction: truly free email + SMS together is rare. Most tools give you free email and charge for SMS usage (because texts have carrier costs). StackFYI Toolradar

Here are the ones I’d look at:

Zapier ToolradarFor your situation (one-person business + digital products), I’d narrow it down:

Best overall starter setup

Kit + a separate SMS tool later

• Build your audience with email first.
• Use automations like: - lead magnet → welcome sequence
• product launch emails
• abandoned checkout reminders (if supported by your checkout platform)
• Add SMS only for high-value moments (launches, limited offers, reminders).

Kit is specifically built around creators selling digital products. Zapier

Best if you really want email + SMS in one dashboard

Brevo

• Manage email campaigns and SMS from one place.
• Good for simple broadcasts like: - “New product is live”
• “Sale ends tonight”
• “Webinar starts soon”
• SMS is usually not free because messages themselves cost money. StackFYI

What I’d avoid as a solo creator

• Heavy enterprise tools (too much setup)
• SMS-first platforms unless you already have a large phone list
• Paying for SMS before you know your audience responds to texts

One practical stack for many digital-product creators:

• Landing pages + email list: Kit or MailerLite
• Checkout: Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify Digital Products, etc.
• SMS later: Brevo, Klaviyo, or a dedicated SMS provider

If you tell me what kind of digital products you sell (courses, templates, ebooks, software, memberships, etc.) and your current list size, I can suggest the cheapest stack that won’t require switching later.

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.

For a nonprofit with limited funds, I’d shortlist Brevo and MailerLite, with Mailchimp as the easiest familiar option.

My recommendation: Brevo

If your list is growing but your cash budget is essentially $0, Brevo has an unusually useful free structure: you can store up to 100,000 contacts, although you're limited to 300 email sends per day. Its free plan includes a drag-and-drop editor, reusable sections, custom templates and analytics. Brevo Help Brevo Help

For donor communications, that makes it particularly attractive if you send relatively small newsletters, thank-you campaigns, event announcements, and occasional appeals rather than blasting thousands of donors simultaneously.

Brevo also provides tools for domain authentication—including SPF, DKIM and DMARC—which are important for protecting deliverability. Brevo Help

When I'd choose MailerLite instead

Choose MailerLite if your priority is beautiful, easy-to-build donor newsletters and you have fewer than about 1,000 subscribers. Current nonprofit comparisons consistently highlight its template quality and generous free tier. Capterra

And Mailchimp?

It's still a very solid choice if your volunteers already know it or you need its broad ecosystem of integrations. Importantly, Mailchimp currently says verified nonprofits and charities can receive a 15% discount on marketing plans. Mailchimp

Bottom line:

• $0 budget + growing donor list → Brevo
• Best-looking newsletters → MailerLite
• Easiest/familiar ecosystem → Mailchimp

One important caveat: no platform can guarantee inbox placement. Your sending practices—using your own authenticated domain, keeping bounced/unengaged addresses clean, obtaining donor consent, and avoiding spammy fundraising language—matter enormously for deliverability. Brevo Help

If your list is growing but your cash budget is essentially $0, Brevo has an unusually useful free structure: you can store up to 100,000 contacts, although you're limited to 300 email sends per day. Its free plan includes a drag-and-drop editor, reusable sections, custom templates and analytics. help.brevo.com help.brevo.com

For donor communications, that makes it particularly attractive if you send relatively small newsletters, thank-you campaigns, event announcements, and occasional appeals rather than blasting thousands of donors simultaneously.

Brevo also provides tools for domain authentication—including SPF, DKIM and DMARC—which are important for protecting deliverability.

When I'd choose MailerLite instead

For a nonprofit with limited funds, I’d prioritize deliverability, easy donor communication, and a free tier that won’t force you to upgrade too quickly. The best choices are usually:

My recommendation by nonprofit situation

• Under ~1,000 donors/supporters: Start with MailerLite. It tends to be the best balance of professional-looking donor emails, simplicity, and cost. Capterra
• A larger list but only occasional newsletters: Consider Brevo because contact storage and send-based pricing can be more economical as your list grows. Capterra
• You need lots of integrations (CRM, events, forms): Mailchimp is often the easiest ecosystem to plug into, though costs can rise as your audience grows. Fullstaxx
• You send frequent fundraising campaigns and want generous free limits: Look at Sender as a budget-focused alternative. Sender

A few deliverability practices matter more than the platform:

• Use your nonprofit’s domain email (for example, name@yourorganization.org) rather than a free Gmail/Yahoo sender address.
• Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• Keep your donor list clean by removing hard bounces and inactive addresses.
• Avoid sending every donor the exact same message—segment new donors, recurring donors, volunteers, and event attendees.

For a typical small nonprofit starting from scratch, I’d choose MailerLite first, Brevo if the list is growing quickly, and Mailchimp if your team values familiarity and integrations most. Capterra Fullstaxx

If you tell me your approximate donor list size (e.g., 500, 5,000, 20,000) and whether you send monthly newsletters or fundraising appeals, I can narrow it down.

For a local café, I’d start with mailerlite.com.

Its current free plan gives you:

• Signup forms and pop-ups you can put on your website.
• Up to 3 automations—perfect for things like “new subscriber → send welcome email.”
• Up to 250 active subscribers.
• 2,500 email sends/month.
• A landing page if you don't have a website. MailerLite MailerLite

A simple café setup could be:

QR code at the counter → signup form → instant welcome email → occasional offers/events.

Another good option is brevo.com. Its free plan allows up to 300 emails/day, and automations can be triggered when someone submits a signup form; automation is available for up to 2,000 contacts. Brevo Help Brevo Help Brevo Help

My pick: MailerLite if you're starting from scratch and want something simple. Brevo if you expect the list to grow beyond a few hundred people fairly quickly.

If you tell me whether you have a website (and what platform it's on), I can tell you the easiest way to put the signup form + QR code together for your café.

For an early-stage SaaS with a tiny list, I’d shortlist two:

• mailerlite.com — my pick. Free up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/month, and 3 active automations with up to 5 steps each. No credit card required. That’s plenty for a basic SaaS onboarding sequence like signup → Day 1 → Day 3 → Day 7. MailerLite MailerLite
• brevo.com — better if your list may grow quickly. Its free plan allows unlimited contacts, 300 email sends/day, and marketing automations for up to 2,000 contacts. No credit card and no time limit. Brevo Help Brevo Help

What I'd choose

MailerLite if you're talking about, say, 50–200 early users and want the simplest setup. Its visual automation builder is particularly well suited to onboarding sequences, and the free plan explicitly includes automations. MailerLite

A simple setup could be:

1. Immediately: Welcome + "here's how to get value"
2. Day 1: Quick-start/use-case email
3. Day 3: Tips + common mistake
4. Day 7: "How's it going?" / activation CTA

One caveat: if by "onboarding" you mean transactional product emails such as password resets, verification emails, receipts, or event-triggered emails directly from your app, I'd use a transactional email provider rather than treating those as marketing automation. MailerLite itself distinguishes those use cases. MailerLite

Bottom line: start with MailerLite. It's unusually generous for a tiny SaaS and you can get the onboarding automation running without entering a card. MailerLite

Yes. For a tiny SaaS list, I’d shortlist MailerLite and Brevo.

My pick: MailerLite

For something like:

Signup → Welcome → Day 2 “get started” → Day 5 tip → Day 10 check-in

MailerLite's free plan gives you visual automations and 2,500 monthly emails, and explicitly requires no credit card. www.mailerlite.comwww.mailerlite.com

The big catch is that the free plan is now only 250 active subscribers. Once you exceed that, sending—including automations—is locked until you upgrade or reduce the active list. www.mailerlite.comwww.mailerlite.com

When I'd choose Brevo instead

If "tiny list" means you might go from 200 → 1,000 users fairly soon, Brevo is worth considering. Its free plan has no contact limit, no credit card, and supports marketing automation; the tradeoff is the 300-email/day sending ceiling. www.brevo.com

Bottom line: Start with MailerLite if you're comfortably under 250 users and want the easiest onboarding workflow. Start with Brevo if avoiding a subscriber cap matters more than having the simplest automation experience.

MailerLite free plan
Brevo free plan

Yes. MailerLite is probably the best fit if tags/custom fields are your priority.

• MailerLite — Free plan supports unlimited interest groups (tags), dynamic segments, and custom fields. You can segment subscribers by tags, engagement, location, or custom-field values. MailerLite MailerLite
• Current free limits: 250 active subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. MailerLite MailerLite
• Brevo — also has a strong free tier: up to 100,000 contacts, custom contact attributes, and segmentation. However, the free plan is limited to 300 email sends per day, which can matter for newsletters. Brevo Help Brevo Help

My pick

If you're managing multiple newsletters with relatively small lists, I'd choose MailerLite because its tagging/group system is particularly straightforward. You can have tags such as tech, finance, weekly, premium-interest, etc., and combine them with custom fields for more sophisticated segmentation. MailerLite MailerLite

If your combined audience is much larger than 250 subscribers, Brevo is worth considering because its free contact allowance is dramatically larger, although its daily sending cap is restrictive. Brevo Help

mailerlite.com
brevo.com

Yes. MailerLite is probably the best fit if tags/custom fields are your priority.

• Tags: Unlimited “interest groups” (effectively tags) are included on the free plan. You can manually tag subscribers or automatically tag them based on behavior. www.mailerlite.com
• Custom fields: You can create your own subscriber fields—e.g. Newsletter, Industry, Customer type, Interest, etc.—and use them for personalization and segmentation. www.mailerlite.com
• Segmentation: Dynamic segments can be built from subscriber data and behavior. www.mailerlite.com
• Free limit: Currently up to 250 active subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. www.mailerlite.com

MailerLite free plan

If you have several newsletters, I'd structure it as:
Newsletter A / Newsletter B / Newsletter C → tags/groups, while things like industry, role, or subscription source → custom fields.

If your subscriber count is over 250, tell me roughly how many you have (e.g. 1k, 5k, 10k), and I can point you to the best genuinely-free option for that size.

For someone new to email marketing, I’d prioritize learning experience over raw features. The best free-forever platform is the one that teaches you good habits: building a list, creating a welcome sequence, writing campaigns, reading analytics, and improving deliverability.

My top pick:

🥇 Best onboarding + learning resources: MailerLite

MailerLite is probably the strongest starting point for a beginner because the product itself is designed to feel simple while still teaching real email marketing skills. Its free resources include a knowledge base, step-by-step tutorials, video tutorials, and a free academy/certification-style learning path. MailerLite

Why it stands out for beginners:

• Very clean drag-and-drop editor (less time fighting the tool, more time learning marketing)
• Guided setup for creating campaigns, forms, landing pages, and automations
• Good educational content around email fundamentals, not just button-click tutorials
• You can learn automation early instead of needing to upgrade immediately MailerLite EmailToolScout

Best fit:

• Solo businesses
• Creators
• Coaches/consultants
• Small newsletters
• Anyone sending their first 10–50 campaigns

🥈 Best “learn the basics” ecosystem: Mailchimp

Mailchimp has arguably the most beginner-oriented brand recognition and a huge library of beginner guides. Its getting-started resources walk users through setting up audiences, signup forms, campaigns, and reports. Mailchimp

Advantages:

• Tons of tutorials online
• Familiar interface
• Lots of third-party courses and videos

Downside:

• The free tier is more restrictive than it used to be, so beginners can hit limits quickly. SaaS Scored

Best fit:

• Someone who wants the most widely used beginner platform
• Someone likely to take online courses about email marketing

🥉 Best for creators/newsletters: Kit

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is excellent if your goal is:

• Building a personal brand
• Growing a newsletter
• Selling digital products later

Its free plan is attractive for creators because it supports a large subscriber count compared with many competitors, though some advanced automation features are limited. SaaS Scored

Also worth considering: Brevo

Brevo is a good choice if you expect a large contact list but don’t email very frequently. Its free plan focuses on contact volume rather than a small subscriber cap. AccelRio

My beginner ranking (based on learning, not just features)

1. MailerLite — best overall teacher + easiest first platform
2. Mailchimp — best beginner ecosystem and tutorials
3. Kit — best if you’re building a creator newsletter
4. Brevo — best if list size matters more than learning curve

If you’re starting from zero, I’d spend your first month learning:

1. Build a signup form
2. Create a 3–5 email welcome sequence
3. Send one useful newsletter per week
4. Study opens, clicks, and unsubscribes
5. Improve one thing each campaign

MailerLite is the platform I’d choose for that learning path.

If your priority is being genuinely taught how to do email marketing—not just given software tutorials—I’d pick MailerLite.

🥇 Best for a complete beginner: MailerLite

Why it stands out:

• Excellent structured onboarding: its free “Getting Started” course walks you through account setup, importing subscribers, your first campaign, domain authentication, and more. MailerLite Academy
• Free marketing education beyond the software: MailerLite Academy has courses covering fundamentals, email automation, lead collection, selling with email, and more. MailerLite Academy MailerLite Academy
• Actually hands-on: the automation course teaches welcome sequences, segmentation, re-engagement, testing, and optimization—not merely where to click in the interface. MailerLite Academy
• The learning is free: Academy courses are free and self-paced, with lifetime access and certificates available. MailerLite Academy
• The free product is usable for learning: currently, MailerLite's free tier includes up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails, signup forms, landing pages, and three visual automations. MailerLite

🥈 Strong alternative: Brevo

Brevo probably has the best standalone educational academy. Brevo Academy is free, includes interactive courses, tutorials, assessments, and certifications, and explicitly caters to beginners. Brevo Academy Brevo Academy

Its free platform is also genuinely free forever, with 300 email sends/day and up to 100,000 stored contacts. Brevo Help Brevo Help

The tradeoff is that Brevo is more of a broader CRM/multichannel platform, whereas MailerLite feels more approachable if your immediate goal is simply learning email marketing.

My beginner ranking

Bottom line: If you're starting from zero, I'd choose MailerLite, follow its Getting Started course first, then take MailerLite Fundamentals and Email Automation Master Class. That gives you both how email marketing works and how to execute it, without paying for a course. MailerLite Academy MailerLite Academy

academy.mailerlite.com
mailerlite.com

If you tell me whether you're a freelancer, small business, ecommerce store, or creator/newsletter, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options for your situation.

For a GDPR-conscious email setup on a shoestring, look for two core capabilities:

1. Consent capture — signup forms with GDPR checkbox fields, consent timestamps, double opt-in, and a record of what the person agreed to.
2. Data subject rights support — exporting subscriber data and deleting it when requested. Mailflow Authority

Here are some of the better free (or free-tier) options:

My shortlist for a shoestring budget

1. Brevo — strongest compliance/value balance

Good choice if GDPR is a priority. It is EU-based and offers consent tracking, double opt-in, exports, and deletion tools. Sequenzy Sequenzy

2. MailerLite — easiest for a small newsletter

A good fit if you mainly need:

• a signup form with a consent checkbox
• a clean subscriber list
• occasional exports/deletions

Mailflow Authority### 3. Mailchimp — easiest if you already use it

It supports GDPR fields and lets you export consent-related information such as signup timestamps from hosted forms. Mailchimp

Minimum GDPR setup regardless of tool

• Use an unchecked consent checkbox (never pre-ticked).
• State exactly what emails people are signing up for.
• Enable double opt-in where practical.
• Keep proof of consent (date/time, form source, wording shown).
• Have a process for: - exporting someone’s data
• deleting someone’s data
• honoring unsubscribes

A free tool alone does not make email GDPR-compliant; the configuration and recordkeeping matter. mailcompare.eu

For a one-person business or tiny newsletter, I’d usually start with Brevo or MailerLite; for a creator audience, Kit is worth considering; for maximum familiarity, Mailchimp works if configured carefully.

Yes. For a shoestring-budget GDPR-conscious setup, the strongest free options I’d shortlist are:

1. brevo.com — my first pick

Brevo's signup-form builder has a dedicated GDPR field for collecting newsletter consent and linking your privacy policy, plus a GDPR declaration explaining the transfer of submitted data to Brevo. It also supports double opt-in. Brevo Help Brevo Help

Its free plan currently allows 300 email sends/day and storage for up to 100,000 contacts, with no time limit. Brevo Help Brevo Help

For portability, Brevo supports CSV exports, including contact/list data and campaign data. It even documents exporting information useful for demonstrating consent, such as campaign click date/time and IP address. Brevo Help Brevo Help

Why I'd choose it: you get unusually strong consent tooling without paying, and the 300/day limit is generous for a small newsletter.

2. mailerlite.com — easiest alternative

MailerLite's free plan currently includes 2,500 emails/month, signup forms, and automation. MailerLite

Its forms support double opt-in, and you can use interest groups/fields to let subscribers choose what they want to receive. MailerLite explicitly advertises subscriber-data export, and its documentation says subscriber lists can be exported as CSV. MailerLite MailerLite

Why I'd choose it: particularly attractive if you're running a small newsletter and want a less complicated interface.

Bottom line

If GDPR consent evidence + portability are your top priorities, I'd start with Brevo. If you send relatively little email and prioritize simplicity, MailerLite is a very good free option.

One important caveat: a tool being “GDPR-compliant” doesn't make your mailing operation automatically GDPR-compliant. You still need an appropriate lawful basis, clear consent wording where consent is your basis, records of consent, an unsubscribe mechanism, appropriate privacy information, and a suitable data-processing agreement with the provider.

help.brevo.com is a particularly useful starting point.

For a boutique store with under 500 contacts, I’d pick Brevo.

Why Brevo

Brevo's free plan lets you store up to 100,000 contacts, gives you basic statistics/reporting, and supports marketing automation for up to 2,000 contacts. The main catch is 300 email sends per day. Brevo Help Brevo Help

For your use case, that means you can segment customers into things like:

• New subscribers
• Past purchasers
• Repeat customers
• High-value customers
• Customers who haven't purchased recently
• Product/category interests

If by "ecommerce analytics" you mean revenue, orders, and sales attributed to campaigns, I'd verify the exact capabilities of your store integration before committing—the free Brevo tier is explicitly limited to basic reporting, with more advanced analytics on paid tiers. Brevo Help

MailerLite is the other one I'd consider, especially if you have fewer than 250 active contacts. Its free plan now caps active subscribers at 250, but includes dynamic segments, tags/groups, automations, and ecommerce integrations with sales-tracking capabilities. MailerLite MailerLite

Bottom line: If you're somewhere between 250–500 contacts, choose Brevo. If you're under 250 and prioritize a simpler email-marketing interface, MailerLite is worth considering.

If you want free email sending + actual A/B subject-line testing, I’d start with one of these:

1. MailerLite — best overall free pick

mailerlite.com

Why try it:

• Free plan includes A/B testing (including subject lines). MailerLite
• Very easy interface for newsletters, simple automations, landing pages, and signup forms.
• Good fit if you’re a solo creator, small business, newsletter operator, or early-stage startup.

Best if: you want something simple that you’ll actually use every week.

2. Mailchimp — best-known option, but check the free limits

mailchimp.com

Why try it:

• Strong reporting and mature analytics.
• Supports testing subject lines, content, sender names, and send times. Mailchimp

Watch out: A/B testing availability has moved between plans over time, so verify the current free-tier features before committing. Mailchimp

Best if: you expect to grow into a more advanced marketing stack.

3. Klaviyo — best for ecommerce

klaviyo.com

Why try it:

• Strong customer segmentation and revenue tracking.
• Good if your emails are tied to Shopify, products, or customer journeys.

Best if: you care about purchases more than newsletter opens.

4. Brevo — best if you send a lot of transactional email

brevo.com

Why try it:

• Generous free sending allowance.
• Good mix of marketing and transactional email features.

Watch out: A/B testing may require a paid tier depending on the feature. Biztoolkit

My recommendation:

• Newsletter / audience building: try MailerLite
• Ecommerce: try Klaviyo
• Professional marketing team: try Mailchimp
• High-volume sending: try Brevo

One thing to keep in mind: subject-line “A/B testing” is only useful if you have enough recipients. With a tiny list (e.g., under a few hundred people), results can bounce around too much; you’ll get better learning by testing across several sends rather than trusting a single winner.

If your main requirement is free + A/B subject-line testing, I’d start with mailerlite.com.

My pick: MailerLite

• Free plan: up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. MailerLite
• A/B testing is included on the free plan, including email campaigns. MailerLite MailerLite
• You can test subject lines, sender name, content, and sending time. MailerLite
• It can automatically identify the better-performing version and send the winner to the remaining audience. MailerLite
• Reporting includes opens, clicks, and other campaign performance data. MailerLite

Another good option: Brevo

brevo.com has a free plan with 300 email sends/day and supports A/B tests for subject lines or email content. You can choose the winner based on open rate or click rate. Brevo Help Brevo Help

I'd choose:

• MailerLite → best if A/B testing is the priority and you have a small list.
• Brevo → better if you expect to have a larger contact database but don't send huge volumes every day.

One caveat: if by "performance testing" you mean testing different emails and measuring actual conversions/revenue, rather than just opens/clicks, the recommendation changes somewhat.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have and how many emails/month you send, I can narrow it down to the best 2–3 free options.

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.

If your priority is real automation on a genuinely free plan, the shortlist in 2026 is surprisingly small.

My pick: MailerLite, with a caveat

mailerlite.com currently allows 3 active automations on its free plan. However, as of August 13, 2026, its free tier is capped at 250 active subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. If you exceed those limits, sending and automations are paused until you reduce usage or upgrade. MailerLite

That's actually useful if you're starting small and want workflows such as:

• New subscriber → welcome email → wait → newsletter
• Lead magnet signup → delivery → follow-up
• Tag/segment → targeted follow-up

If you're expecting to grow quickly: Kit

kit.com has a vastly larger free audience allowance—up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited sends—but the free automation capability is much more restricted. Current comparisons indicate one basic visual automation, with more sophisticated sequences, conditions and integrations requiring paid features. Worklever Beehiiv

So I'd choose Kit if avoiding an audience-size upgrade is more important than having lots of workflows.

What I'd avoid

beehiiv is excellent for a newsletter business, but its free Launch plan's automation builder cannot actually be activated; you need the paid Scale plan to run automations. Mr Review AI

Bottom line:
If you mean “I want to build actual automated workflows today without immediately hitting an upgrade wall,” MailerLite is the strongest match. If you mean “I want the biggest possible free runway as my subscriber count explodes,” Kit is more attractive.

If you tell me roughly whether you're starting at <250, 250–2,500, or 2,500+ subscribers, I can narrow it to the best 2–3 options for your specific newsletter workflow.

For your use case, MailerLite is probably the best free option right now.

• mailerlite.com — Free plan includes email campaigns, landing pages, signup forms, pop-ups, and automations. As of August 2026, the free tier allows 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails/month, 1 landing page, and 3 forms/pop-ups. MailerLite MailerLite
• It also has useful launch-oriented features such as countdown timers, promotional pop-ups, segmentation, and automation, so it fits occasional product launches particularly well. MailerLite MailerLite
• Brevo has a much larger free contact allowance—up to 100,000 contacts—but its free plan doesn't include landing pages or popups, making it a worse fit for your specific list-growth needs. Brevo Help Brevo Help

My pick

MailerLite → best overall for you if your priority is:

popup → landing page → email list → automated launch sequence

The main catch is the 250-subscriber free limit, which you'll likely hit fairly quickly if your list-growth efforts work. MailerLite

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have now and how often you launch, I can compare MailerLite against Kit, Beehiiv, Mailchimp, and Brevo specifically for your situation.

If list-growth popups + landing pages are the priorities, I’d shortlist MailerLite and Kit.

My pick: MailerLite

For your mix of paid subscriptions + occasional product launches, MailerLite is probably the better all-around choice. Its free tier includes landing pages, pop-up forms, email automation, A/B testing, and 2,500 monthly emails. MailerLite MailerLite

The limitation is that the free plan is only 250 subscribers and gives you 1 landing page + 3 signup forms/popups. MailerLite

But Kit has a big advantage

If you're primarily trying to build a large email list before monetizing it, Kit's free Newsletter plan is unusually generous: up to 1,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages, unlimited forms, and unlimited broadcasts. Its forms can be modal popups, slide-ins, sticky bars, or inline forms. Kit Kit Help Center

So I'd choose:

• MailerLite → you want a more traditional marketing platform with automations and occasional launches.
• Kit → you want to aggressively grow a creator/newsletter audience and don't want the free plan capped at 250 subscribers.

For your specific description, I'd start with MailerLite unless you expect to pass 250 subscribers quickly. If you do, Kit's 1,000-subscriber free tier makes it very compelling.

For your mix of paid subscriptions + occasional product launches, MailerLite is probably the better all-around choice. Its free tier includes landing pages, pop-up forms, email automation, A/B testing, and 2,500 monthly emails. mailerlite.com mailerlite.com

The limitation is that the free plan is only 250 subscribers and gives you 1 landing page + 3 signup forms/popups. mailerlite.com

But Kit has a big advantage

If you're primarily trying to build a large email list before monetizing it, Kit's free Newsletter plan is unusually generous: up to 1,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages, unlimited forms, and unlimited broadcasts. Its forms can be modal popups, slide-ins, sticky bars, or inline forms.

So I'd choose:

For a small list + automated welcome sequences + free-forever, I’d focus on tools that include multi-step workflows on the free tier (many popular tools only offer a single welcome email for free). Main Street AI SaaS Scored

Automation Atlas Sprout24### My shortlist for a typical welcome sequence

1. MailerLite — probably the best starting point for a small list:

• Trigger: “new subscriber joins form”
• Email 1: immediate welcome
• Email 2: send after 2 days
• Email 3: send after 5–7 days
• Add tags/segments as people click links

It is designed around exactly this kind of nurture flow. Main Street AI

2. Brevo — better if your list may grow quickly:

• Stores large contact lists
• Useful if you send less frequently but want to keep contacts
• Automation availability depends on current free-plan limits. Automation Atlas
• Sender — worth considering if you want a simple tool with generous free limits and automation included. Automation Atlas

I would not start with Mailchimp for this specific use case: its free tier is good for basic newsletters, but multi-step welcome journeys generally require a paid plan. Main Street AI

A simple starter stack:

• Lead magnet/signup form: MailerLite form
• Sequence: 4 emails over 10–14 days
• Segmentation: tags based on clicks
• Upgrade point: only when the list or automation needs exceed the free limits

If you tell me your approximate list size (e.g., 100, 1,000, 5,000 subscribers) and whether this is for a business, SaaS, course, newsletter, or ecommerce, I can narrow it down.

Yes. For a small list + automated multi-step welcome sequence + genuinely free forever, I’d narrow it to these two:

My pick: MailerLite

For something like:

1. Subscriber signs up
2. Immediately send welcome email
3. Wait 2 days
4. Send helpful/resource email
5. Wait 3 days
6. Send product/service introduction
7. Wait 4 days
8. Send final follow-up

MailerLite is probably the cleanest fit. Its current free plan includes 250 active subscribers, 2,500 emails/month, and 3 active visual automations with up to 5 steps each. Its automation builder explicitly supports welcome sequences. MailerLite MailerLite

The important catch is the 5-step limit. If your welcome funnel needs lots of branches, conditions, or more than five steps, Brevo becomes more attractive.

When I'd choose Brevo instead

brevo.com is unusually generous with contacts: its free plan lets you store up to 100,000 contacts, and its marketing automation can handle contacts entering workflows up to a 2,000-contact limit. The free plan is genuinely free with no time limit, but email sending is capped at 300/day. Brevo Help Brevo Help

So if you expect to go from 100 → 500 → 1,500 subscribers without wanting to migrate platforms, Brevo is worth serious consideration.

Bottom line: For a small business/creator starting a straightforward automated welcome sequence, I'd start with MailerLite. If your priority is a larger free contact database and more elaborate automation, choose Brevo.