The 11 Best Email Newsletter Platforms for 2026 - Expert Reviews

Best email newsletter platform summary

Here's the TL;DR

• MailerLite is my favorite newsletter platform. 🔥🔥
• Kit is the best platform for individual creators.
• ActiveCampaign is a versatile platform with numerous integrations.
• Omnisend is the best for email and SMS.
• Klaviyo is great for eCommerce newsletters.
• Beehiiv is a new competitor with incredible features. 🔥🔥
• MailChimp is the largest newsletter software platform.
• AWeber is great for small businesses.
• GetResponse has a suite of tools to help grow your newsletter.
• Flodesk is best for designing slick emails.
• Substack is great for offering paid newsletter subscriptions.

When I think of email newsletters I think of The Hustle, Morning Brew, and of course, Ticker Nerd, my very own email newsletter.

Over the years, email newsletters have evolved far beyond monthly brand updates. In 2026, they’ve become full-fledged publishing tools, revenue streams for creators, and conversion engines for marketers. The good news is that they are easy to start, and there’s a proven playbook for growing and scaling them.

So whether you’re starting your first email newsletter or about to scale past 100,000 subscribers, I’m going to help you choose the most suitable email newsletter platform.

What should you look for in an email newsletter platform?

Running an email newsletter might seem straightforward, but it’s far from effortless. From managing growth to handling daily operations, the process can quickly become demanding. As your audience expands, it’s essential to have the right tools and systems in place to maintain organization and efficiency. That’s why evaluating your specific needs, long-term goals, workflows, and budget is essential before choosing a platform.

Here are some key features you should consider before selecting an email newsletter platform:

• Deliverability - are your emails going to hit the recipient's inbox?
• Email capture forms - can you build pop-ups?
• Landing page builder - can you create a landing page if you need to?
• Scheduling & automation features - can you schedule and/or build automations?
• Design & editors - is there a flexible editor so you can design custom newsletters?
• Ease of use - can you set everything up and run your newsletter easily?
• Pricing - how expensive is it to start? what about when you scale?
• Reporting and analytics – can you make informed decisions based on the reports?
• User seats – can you invite other users to help produce the reports?
• Compliance & Data Privacy - does it have GDPR/CCPA readiness, consent management, and secure data handling?

11 best email newsletter platforms for creators, marketers, and small businesses (2026)

1. MailerLite

MailerLite is a top-tier email newsletter platform that I have personally used for various businesses since 2020.

My confidence in the tool is such that I’ve integrated it into this very website and consistently recommend it to my clients. Interestingly, MailerLite began as an agency in Lithuania before shifting direction, and today the company has grown to more than 130 team members spread across 40+ countries.

MailerLite is best suited for small to medium businesses that want an affordable yet reliable email newsletter platform. The solopreneur or creator will also find MailerLite to be a suitable option, given its low entry point, comprehensive product suite, and excellent reputation.

Key features

• Easy to create and manage automated sequences.
• The interface is easy to use and navigate.
• You can create and embed forms onto your website.
• Option to receive a daily update on the performance of your list.
• A handy mobile app makes it easy to stay on top of everything.
• It has an advanced website builder that, in some cases, competes with other basic website builders such as Wix or Ghost.

Pros

• Very affordable.
• Great email deliverability.
• MailerCheck helps validate subscribers to keep your list clean.
• Offers a transactional email and sms service.
• Simple to use, whilst still offering advanced features for when you scale.

Cons

• Facebook integration & multiple trigger automation is only available on the advanced plan.
• The footer is hard to customize in the drag-and-drop email editor.
• The stripe integration isn’t straightforward to set up.

MailerLite Pricing

• MailerLite's pricing is scalable based on the number of subscribers and the features you need.
• Free Plan: $0 for 500 subscribers with basic features.
• Growing Business Plan: $39/mo for 5,000 subscribers and additional features such as
• Advanced Plan: $50/mo for 5,000 subscribers and all available features (including Facebook custom audience integration and multiple trigger automation).
• Enterprise clients need to request a quote.
• Plans are discounted on a yearly subscription.

Overall score

Click here to start for free.

2. Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Kit, formerly known as ConvertKit, is another email newsletter platform I often recommend. I’ve experimented with it a few times, and it was great. Although it is not the best fit for my use case. The platform is uniquely tailored for creators, making it one of the best options on the market.

Signing up for Kit is one of the smartest moves a creator can make. Nearly every feature is built with solopreneurs and creators in mind, making it easier to grow, engage, and monetize your audience. Whether you’re an author, blogger, coach, or podcaster, Kit gives you the tools to simplify every part of your newsletter workflow.

Key features

• Email capture forms with exit-intent functionality.
• Excellent integrations with popular software, including Teachable, Shopify, Zapier, and Squarespace.
• Built to help creators scale and monetize their audience (check out the sponsor network).
• Advanced reporting to give you the whole picture, including A/B testing, growth, broadcast, and sequence analytics.

Pros

• ConvertKit Creator University teaches you how to earn a living as a creator.
• Loads of integrations with popular courses, e-commerce, and website platforms.
• Concierge migration services for lists over 5,000.
• Advanced subscriber scoring features.

Cons

• Doesn’t have a drag-and-drop template editor.
• Expensive if you’re not a creator since the features are niche and the pricing is much higher compared to other tools on this list.
• Free tier is very limited and almost unusable.

Jaskaran Singh, Founder of The Social Juice Newsletter, has been using ConvertKit to grow his marketing newsletter for over 2 years. His favorite feature is the engagement tracker, Jaskaran says:

“For Top subscribers, sending email sequences to ask for referrals can help you grow faster & removing subscribers with lowest engagement rate can help you improve the email deliverability.”

Kit's Pricing

• Kit's pricing is scalable based on the number of subscribers and the features you select.
• Free Plan: $0 for 10,000 subscribers; however, it is constrained.
• Creator Plan: $75/mo for 5,000 subscribers with access to most features, excluding the newsletter referral system, subscriber scoring, and advanced reporting.
• Creator Pro Plan: $116/mo for 5,000 subscribers with access to every feature.
• Plans are discounted on a yearly subscription.

Overall score

Click here to start ConvetKit for free.

3. Beehiiv

Beehiiv is a relatively new email newsletter platform but is slowly becoming a strong competitor. Successful newsletters such as Milk Road and Fantasy Life use Beehiiv to connect with their audience. Milk Road was actually acquired for eight figures, so this should give you a lot of confidence that Beehiiv is a great option, especially if you want to scale.

The product suite and pricing make Beehiiv a great option for newsletter businesses that want to achieve scale. I briefly explored Beehiiv when it was first released but unfortunately, the product wasn’t as polished as it is today so I decided to move forward with MailerLite.

Related article: Beehiiv Review

Key features

• Ultra flexible newsletter editor.
• Built-in referral system to help you grow your subscriber list.
• Advanced segmentation with metrics, attributes, and events.
• Recommendation network that helps you achieve scale with other newsletter businesses.

Pros

• They offer a well-rounded newsletter course.
• Native one-click poll feature that helps collect feedback.
• Advanced subscriber attribution metrics.
• Super simple onboarding process to help you get started immediately.

Cons

• Core features such as the referral program are only available on the most expensive plan.
• Haven’t been around as long as some of the competitors.

Related article: Beehiiv vs MailerLite

Beehiiv Pricing

• Free plan: $0 up to 2,500 subscribers with access to some features.
• Scale plan: $89/mo with up to 5,000 subscribers with access to most features.
• Max plan: $169/mo with up to 5,000 subscribers with access to all the features.
• All plans are cheaper if paid annually.

Overall score

Click here to get started with Beehiiv for free.

P.s. Beehiiv is constantly releasing new features like Beehiiv AI, so I highly recommend looking into them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJLJWvAwFqU

4. Omnisend

Omnisend is an email & SMS marketing platform designed to help online merchants and marketers grow their audience and land more sales. The platform’s standout features are its strong email & SMS automation capabilities that let you automate a good part of your marketing actions effortlessly. If you compare Omnisend and Klaviyo you will notice they're very similar tools, however, the SMS feature that Omnisend offers is much stronger.

Once you’ve got your emails, texts, and push notifications the way you want them, Omnisend will send them out at the perfect time so you can reach your customers just when they want to hear from you.

On top of that, Omnisend’s drag-and-drop email & form builders are built with ecommerce in mind, featuring intuitive interfaces to help merchants generate signups and land even more sales.

Key features

• Drag-and-drop email & signup forms builders
• Ready-made templates for emails and signup forms
• Dozens of integrations with ecommerce platforms & apps
• Award-winning 24/7 customer support

Pros

• A/B testing for emails & signup forms to learn what works best
• Integrated email & SMS workflows for omnichannel marketing
• Award-winning 24/7 support on every plan (including free)
• Great deliverability ensures your messages reach your customers

Cons

• Web push notifications and Facebook retargeting features are only supported on Shopify and API integrations
• Interface only available in English

Omnisend pricing

• Free: $0 up to 250 subscribers with 500 monthly email sends and access to all features
• Standard: $88/mo for 5,001-5,500 contacts with 66k monthly email sends.
• Pro: $105/mo for 5,001-5,500 contacts with unlimited monthly email sends & 7,000 SMS credits.

5. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a versatile all-in-one solution for email marketing, automation, and CRM. It supports every stage of the customer journey: reach, nurture, convert, and grow, making it a powerful tool to manage everything from a single platform.

Whether you’re running an e-commerce store, a SaaS product, or a service-based business, ActiveCampaign provides the flexibility and depth you need to scale. It handles email newsletters effortlessly while managing the rest of your customer communication workflows with ease.

It also supports WhatsApp marketing, making it even more valuable for businesses looking to expand their engagement channels.

ActiveCampaign is an email marketing platform best suited for medium- to large-sized businesses. While beginners and less advanced users can achieve great success with ActiveCampaign, its product suite is tailored for businesses that want to scale and go beyond email.

Looking for an experienced email marketer to boost revenue? I've got you covered. Let's chat and see how we can maximize revenue from existing traffic

Key features

• Features specifically designed to improve your deliverability.
• Over 870 integrations with commonly used apps.
• Flexible and easy-to-build email capture forms.
• Drag and drop landing page builder.
• Integrated website tracking.

Pros

• The landing page and capture form builder make it easy to choose the right list/segment to integrate with.
• Easy to split test landing pages to see which converts best.
• If you run ads to grow your newsletter you can use attribution tracking to see where your best leads come from.
• Contact migration is available in all plans.

Cons

• Relatively expensive for a small list and basic features.
• Unreliable customer success and support.
• No exit intent popup functionality.
• Free trial, but no free plan.

ActiveCampaign Pricing

• Starter Plan: ~$79/mo for 5,000 subscribers and basic features. This is best for solopreneurs or small newsletters that don’t need all the bells and whistles.
• Plus Plan: Approximately $145/mo for 5,000 subscribers and advanced features.
• Pro Plan: $205/mo covers all the features except Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Dedicated account team
• Enterprise Plan: $375/mo, best for big businesses
• All plans are more affordable with a yearly subscription.

Overall score

Start sending emails with ActiveCampaign.

6. Klaviyo

Klaviyo is one of the best email marketing platforms for eCommerce businesses. They boast powerful automation technology that helps businesses capture the most value from their website traffic. One thing that stands out with Klaviyo is their ability to forecast the ROI through using the product suite.

Klaviyo is best suited to eCommerce businesses that want to start an email newsletter. Unless you already have an eCommerce store, it doesn’t make sense to get set up with Klaviyo.

Key features

• The automation feature allows you to send targeted emails based on a user's behavior.
• Email personalization features based on user behavior.
• Ultra-detailed analytics about every touch point.
• Simple to use and understand.

Pros

• You don’t need to be technical to make the most of the platform.
• Advanced data and reporting that helps you track KPIs and determine ROI.
• Allows you to track the revenue generated from your campaigns.
• Automated A/B testing to ensure the best results.
• Email benchmarking to let you know how your campaigns perform relative to your competitors.

Cons

• Only eCommerce businesses will get the most value out of Klaviyo.
• Support channels are limited, which is important for Klaivyo since it integrates closely with your eCommerce website.

Klaviyo Pricing

• Free: $0 for up to 250 subscribers, with no onboarding or customer success representative.
• Email: $110/mo for 5,001-5,500 contacts with 55k monthly email sends.
• Email & SMS: $125/mo for 5,001-5,500 contacts with 55k monthly email sends & 1,250 SMS credits.

Overall score

Click here to get started with Klaviyo.

7. Mailchimp

It’s not uncommon for people to associate email marketing with Mailchimp. They have over 14 million users and boast a whopping 67% market share in the email marketing software category. Similar to MailerLite, Mailchimp started off as an agency called The Rocket Group. The team pivoted in the early 2000s, and eventually, Mailchimp was created. The product served as an alternative solution to expensive and complicated email marketing software.

Mailchimp has been around since 2001, which means it has an extensive and well-rounded product suite. Whilst they live up to the bold claim of being an “all-in-one marketing platform” it’s not exactly a value-add to businesses that simply want to run an email newsletter.

Related article: The Profitable Guide to Email Copywriting.

Key features

• Unlimited survey responses in the free survey tool.
• Leverages AI to create content and build custom template designs based on your branding.
• Dynamic content feature allows you to create multiple variations of an email based on segments.

Jordan Figueredo, Senior Content Strategies at Online Optimism prefers working with Mailchimp and says “My favorite MailChimp features are the A/B testing, stat benchmarks, and clear reporting.”

Pros

• A free tier is available for up to 500 subscribers (limited functionality)
• You can use the surveys to collect and tag email addresses.
• Subject line analyzer to help you get the most open rates.
• Includes native A/B and multivariate testing.

Cons

• Email deliverability is not as high as other competitors.
• The content optimizer and custom-coded templates are only available on the standard plan and above which is more expensive.
• Multivariate testing is only available on a premium plan which is the most expensive.

Mailchimp Pricing

• Free plan: $0 for 500 subscribers with limited functionality.
• Essentials plan: Starts at $75/mo for 5,000 subscribers and includes slightly more features.
• Standard plan: Starts at $100/mo for 5,000 subscribers and almost every feature.
• Premium plan: Starts at $350/mo for 5,000 subscribers and access to all features, including multivariate testing, comparative reporting, and advanced segmentation.
• Note: Mailchimp currently offers a 50% discount on all their packages, meaning if you pay now, you will be paying half the price.

Overall score

Click here to start a free trial

8. AWeber

AWeber is an email marketing tool that helps small businesses scale their marketing efforts through email, landing pages, automation, e-commerce, and even web push notifications. They boast amazing reviews from small businesses all over the world.

AWeber is a great option for solopreneurs, small businesses, and creators that aren’t tech-savvy but still want to leverage the most essential features.

Key features

• Over 600 email marketing & newsletter templates to choose from.
• Ability to automatically design a template based on your website.
• Free high-quality stock photos to use in your campaigns.
• Pre-built auto responders for new subscribers.
• Advanced split testing features.

Pros

• You buy and host a domain in AWeber, there’s no need to use a third party.
• The landing page builder has a Canva integration.
• The email templates are already mobile-responsive.

Cons

• The Lite plan only allows 3 x landing pages and 3 x automations. This seems relatively limited compared to competitors.
• The premium plans say “unlimited subscribers” although the price increases when you update the number of subscribers which seems a bit misleading.
• You can’t remove the Aweber branding unless you’re on a Plus plan or higher.

AWeber Pricing

• Lite plan: $70.83/mo for 5,001-7,500 subscribers, including 3 email automations.
• Plus plan: $100/mo for 5,001-7,500 subscribers, including unlimited email automations.
• Done-For-You plan: $100/month for unlimited subscribers and access to every feature.

Overall score

Get started with AWeber for free.

9. GetResponse

GetReponse is an all-rounder marketing platform that handles email, SMS, paid ads, sales funnels, and lead collection. The product suite is broken into three sections: Build a List, Communicate, and Promote and Sell. Although the build-a-list features (email marketing features) are highly capable and used by companies of all sizes, including Revolut and Stripe.

Not only does GetResponse has amazing features, but the free suite is also packed with value. Free users can send 2,500 newsletters per month, build a website and landing pages, create signup forms, and host 500 contacts.

Key features

• New AI email generator to help you if you’re stuck.
• You can build and host a website for free (up to 5 GB bandwidth)
• You can build sales funnels easily and based on templates
• You have the ability to create Google and Facebook ads within GetResponse

Pros

• You can keep all of your marketing efforts in one place. This is helpful if you run ads for your email newsletter.
• Loads of templates to choose from when creating email newsletters.
• The customer success team is very helpful.
• The visual workflow builder was flexible and powerful; it made it much easier to create sequencea. campaigns.

Cons

• You need to pay for all the additional features.
• Advanced segmentation costs extra, which should be standard on all paid plans.
• I noticed there were a lot of features making it a bit overwhelming to use.

GetResponse Pricing

• Starter plan: $44.28 per month for 5,000 contacts and additional features.
• Marketer plan: $77.90 per month for 5,000 contacts and advanced segmentation and automation features.
• Creator Plan: $89.39 per month for 5,000 contacts, covers all the available features.
• All plans are discounted for 12 or 24-month plans.

Overall score

Get started with GetResponse for free.

10. Flodesk

Flodesk is a new entrant into the email newsletter market. They have a huge emphasis on design and simplicity. Flodesk isn’t as capable as the other tools on this list, but they are great for building basic email newsletters with simple automation.

Flodesk reminds me of Wix due to its intuitive, design-focused editor, emphasizing simplicity and beautiful aesthetics. While it isn't built for marketers needing complex workflows, Flodesk is the ideal platform for the creator who needs a functional, great-looking email newsletter.

Key features

• On the basic plan, you have unlimited emails, subscribers, forms, landing page forms, workflows, and segments.
• Drag and drop editor makes it easy to create nice emails.
• It’s easy to use, and if you get stuck, the Flodesk Univeristy is handy.
• Ability to sell digital products natively.

Pros

• The email newsletters look nice.
• You can collect payments and even run upsells on the advanced plans.
• The tutorials/guides are genuinely helpful and make it easy to follow along.
• No coding knowledge is required.

Cons

• You get a 30-day free trial but all plans require monthly payment.
• It’s a basic platform with no advanced features like MailChimp or ActiveCampaign.
• It’s a new platform, so it’s hard to know if it will roll out better features in the future.

Flodesk Pricing

• Free Plan: $0 per month for beginners who are just starting to build their list.
• Pro plan: $35 per month for unlimited emails, subscribers, forms, landing page forms, workflows, and segments.
• Everything (Email + Checkout): $59 per month for unlimited access to all features.

Overall score

Get started with Flodesk for free.

11. Substack

Substack is one of the most popular newsletter platforms. It’s a very niche platform that can only create posts, send newsletters, and capture payments. I subscribe to over ten substack newsletters, including some premium ones like Ultra Successful. As a reader and content producer, I think the Substack experience is fantastic.

One reason creators should consider using Substack for their email newsletter is the application. Not only can readers access content through their inboxes, but they can also get it directly in their feeds. In some cases, Substack is a better alternative purely because it’s easier to grow and reach more customers, especially with its referral system.

Key features

• The mobile app makes tracking each newsletter you subscribe to easy.
• You can voice record each newsletter so your subscribers can listen instead.
• It’s easy to add a premium version of the newsletter and gate content.
• Acts as a newsletter and blog in one.

Pros

• Very easy to use.
• The existing user base is already accustomed to Substack newsletters.
• Great paid subscription suite making it easy to run a paid newsletter.
• Each newsletter can be its own blog post.

Cons

• Not that advanced.
• Lacks automation and email capture tools.
• Segmentation is not as advanced as other tools on this list.
• No transaction email service.

Substack Pricing

• Free plan if you collect no payments.
• If you collect a payment, Substack charges 10% of each transaction.

Overall score

Get started with Substack for free.

Pricing Snapshot (For 5000 subscribers and below)

Methodology for choosing the best email newsletter platforms & software

Since I’ve been building email campaigns and running newsletter businesses for years, I’ve naturally had experience with each tool. For some of them, I carefully reviewed each feature, whilst, for others, I logged into a client's dashboard to create and schedule an email. But it doesn’t end here, I also spoke with email marketing experts to get their opinions on which platforms they think are best and why.

The main criteria for selecting and rating an email newsletter platform are based on the following:

• The email deliverability
• How easy and beautiful the email capture forms are
• Whether there’s a landing page builder
• How flexible and easy the automation features are
• Whether there are specific features that benefit email newsletter businesses
• The overall ease of use
• The value for money
• The reporting and analytics
• How many user seats come with each plan