MailerLite Review 2023 – Does it live up to the hype?

MailerLite is an email platform that has made leaps and bounds in the last five years. 

As a Certified MailerLite Expert and power user, I’ve seen these improvements firsthand. 

Whether it’s with my own business or for the clients I help, MailerLite has demonstrated that it’s one of the best email marketing providers on the market.

So in this article, I’m going to review the core features, pros and cons, pricing, documentation and support, and examples so that you can make an informed decision.

The Mailerlite TL;DR

Everyone is short on time these days so the chances of you reading the entire article are slim to none. But I still want you to hear the important stuff quickly so you can make an accurate decision. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

• MailerLite is my favorite email marketing provider. 
• MaielrLite is versatile but shines most for small businesses and information businesses. 
• MailerLite’s ideal customer wants access to more features than just email marketing such as popups, landing pages, and e-commerce. Newsletters, small businesses, SaaS companies, or information businesses would benefit the most.
• The pricing is great if you have less than 10,000 subscribers compared to its competitors.  
• The user interface is easy to understand, and fast to navigate.
• I’m a Certified MailerLite Expert & most of my clients are on MailerLite. 

MailerLite features

MailerLite key features

As mentioned MailerLite shines in many areas, which is why I’ve decided to make it my go-to email marketing provider. Below is a summary of the features that make this platform the most competitive in my experience.

• Offers a transactional email and sms service.
• It’s easy to create and manage automated sequences.
• MailerCheck helps validate subscribers to keep your list clean.
• It’s very affordable at the early stages of your business growth.
• You can test up to five variations of a landing page and run A/B tests on each (Here’s an example).
• MailerLite takes extreme measures to ensure strong deliverbaility. You must be approved before you can even send emails. The same applies to each stage of growth.
• The interface is easy to use and navigate, if you’re new you won’t be overwhelmed. 
• You can create and embed forms onto your website (including popups, inlines, exit intents, etc).
• A handy mobile app makes it easy to keep an eye on everything (I check this daily).
• The website builder is becoming more advanced and in some cases competes with other basic website builders such as Carrd, Wix, or Ghost. 
• In comparison to software like MailChimp or ActiveCampaign it is great value for money.
• There’s an option to receive a daily update on the performance of your list. 

My favorite features

Split testing functionality in the popups: This feature goes hand-in-hand with email marketing. I often need to test various opt-in offers and copy to make sure I’ve optimized a campaign. MailerLite makes it easy to create variations of your popup to see which performs best. You can update the design or the copy and continually test until you find a high-performing combination.  

Automation from groups: For most businesses, email automation is a core feature that is required to operate. Whether it’s a welcome email or a value-based sequence, they’re an easy way to earn additional revenue from your list. The MailerLite automation product suite is incredibly easy to navigate, build, duplicate, and edit.  

The template editor: The emails I create are usually clean, easy to read, and simple. So many platforms have advanced creativity options that make it hard to build simple emails. MailerLite has done a great job with the email editor which helps 

Mobile app: Whilst this is an additional feature that isn’t necessary for everyone I use it almost every day. The iOS app allows me to health check my accounts very quickly and attend to any issues. I can easily login in and get a high-level overview of performance without needing my laptop. 

MailerLite’s pros and cons 

Pros

• Very affordable.
• Great email deliverability.
• MailerCheck helps validate subscribers to keep your list clean.
• New AI assistant in the drag and drop editor.
• Offers a transactional email and sms service.
• Easy to split-test every form or email campaign.
• The automation is easy to set up and visualize at a high level.
• 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. 
• Pricing gets more expensive as you scale, the best value is under 20k subscribers.
• The footer is hard to customize in the drag-and-drop email editor. 
• The full page popup doesn’t always work properly so it can defeat the purpose of using this feature. 
• The stripe integration isn’t straightforward to set up.

MailerLite pricing

At the entry level, MailerLite has great pricing, making it an attractive option for smaller businesses or beginners. However, if you scale beyond 10k subscribers the pricing can become less competitive. 

• MailerLite pricing is scalable based on the number of subscribers and features.
• Free Plan: $0 for 1,000 subscribers with basic features.
• Growing Business Plan: $32/mo for 5,000 subscribers and additional features such as 
• Advanced Plan: $39/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.

MailerLite’s support & documentation

It’s inevitable that you will run into an issue or have a question. 

This might be the last thing you care about but from experience, it’s critical to consider before signing with a platform. Despite what SaaS companies promise, the switching costs are very real. You’ll lose time, and money and can annoy your customers.

So it’s important to ensure you have the appropriate support and documentation from day one.  

MailerLite offers the following support options:

• Knowledge base
• Video tutorials 
• Courses / Academy 
• Blog 
• API documentation
• Support via email system (24-48hr response time)

How MailerLite stacks up against the competitors

In a previous article comparing email newsletter platforms, I ranked each on a variety of factors including deliverability, capture forms, landing page builders, automation, design, usability, pricing, reporting, and user seats. Below were the results:

• MailerLite: 8.1/10
• AWeber: 7.9/10
• ConvertKit: 7.8/10
• Beehiiv: 7.7/10
• ActiveCampaign: 7.4/10
• MailChimp: 7.4/10
• Klaviyo: 6.70/10 (for newsletters, when it comes to eCommerce Klaviyo is best)

MailerLite is the best email newsletter platform, but it is also one of the best all-rounder email marketing software. If you have a specific use case such as an eCommerce store or you’re an individual creator then it is worth exploring a tool like ConvertKit or Klaviyo. 

Examples of businesses and newsletters using MailerLite

Ticker Nerd (my own newsletter)

Marketing Examined

TweedLove

What I dislike about MailerLite

As much as I love MailerLite, there are some things I wish were different. The main issue I have is with the automation. I wish it was easy to pinch-zoom out and add one master sequence with many rules and flows. Instead, I have to create multiple sequences for various groups. After using Beehiiv I realized this is a feature I needed for Ticker Nerd (my own newsletter). 

The other issue is that some of my clients are using MailerLite Classic, which doesn’t have the new design or features. This isn’t an issue for any new customers but it does annoy me a little bit since we need to migrate if we want to access all of the features we pay for.

My final thoughts

By now you probably know that I really do love MailerLite. Everything from the intuitive design to the additional form functionality, all makes sense to me. This is why most of my clients operate on MailerLite. The deliverability is exceptionally high and the learning curve is low. I highly recommend trialing MailerLite since they offer a free forever plan for up to 1,000 subscribers. 

Frequently asked questions

Related articles:

Beehiiv vs MailerLite

ConvertKit vs MailerLite

The profitable guide to email copywriting