The awkward middle is where most online stores live. Your list is past a few hundred friends and early customers, so you need proper automation, segmentation and reliable delivery. But it is nowhere near big enough to justify a $300 monthly bill for software built for lists ten times your size. Pick badly at this stage and the cost isn't only money. It's the hours spent forcing a tool to do a job it was never designed for.
The market has also moved. Some platforms now charge by emails sent instead of contacts stored. Several free tiers are generous enough to run a real business on. AI features have gone from gimmick to useful. And the gap between ecommerce specialists and general email tools is wider than ever, so choosing the wrong category means building workarounds for problems another platform solves out of the box.
What follows is an editorial comparison of ten leading platforms, judged on what matters to a store under 10,000 subscribers: price at that scale, the ecommerce features you will actually use, and how much effort each one asks of you. Prices below are the starting points listed when this guide was first published. Vendors change them often, so check before you commit.
The ten, side by side
| Platform | Best fit | Free option | Paid from | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | Ecommerce stores | 250 contacts | $20/month | Deep store data integration |
| Omnisend | Online retail automation | 250 contacts | $16/month | Ready made ecommerce flows |
| MailerLite | Simplicity on a budget | 1,000 subscribers | $9/month | Clean interface, landing pages |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Creators selling products | 10,000 subscribers | $39/month | Largest free subscriber cap |
| Brevo | Multichannel messaging | 100,000 contacts | $9/month | Pay by sends, not contacts |
| Sender | Small stores on a budget | 2,500 subscribers | $10/month | Very generous free tier |
| Mailchimp | Beginners and generalists | 500 contacts | $13/month | Widest integrations |
| ActiveCampaign | Advanced automation | 14 day trial | $15/month | 135+ automation triggers |
| Moosend | Cheapest paid option | 30 day trial | $7/month | Unlimited emails on all plans |
| Constant Contact | Local and event businesses | 60 day trial | $12/month | AI multichannel campaigns |
When email is a revenue line, not a newsletter: Klaviyo
Klaviyo is the default for serious ecommerce, and it earns that. Its Shopify and WooCommerce connections pull in purchase history, browsing behaviour, product interactions and lifetime value, then let you segment and trigger on all of it. The free plan (250 contacts, 500 sends a month) is a test drive, not a business. Paid plans start at $20 a month, and the original guide put a 10,000 subscriber list at around $150 a month. You're paying for predictive analytics and revenue attribution: you can see what each email earns. If you'll actually use that, it's worth it.
The closest thing to plug and play: Omnisend
Connect your store and Omnisend immediately makes sense. Abandoned cart, welcome, order confirmation and post purchase flows are ready to switch on. Product blocks pull from your catalogue, and segments are built on shopping behaviour. The free plan matches Klaviyo's limits, while paid plans from $16 a month add SMS and push alongside email. For a small store selling physical goods, this is our pick for ecommerce value per dollar.
The one that doesn't punish growth: MailerLite
MailerLite keeps getting recommended for a simple reason: it's easy, and it scales gently. The free plan covers 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails a month, with paid plans from $9. The editor behaves, and landing pages, pop ups and a basic site builder come on lower tiers. The weakness is ecommerce depth. No serious product recommendations or revenue dashboards here. For straightforward, dependable email, though, it's hard to beat.
The free tier that covers your whole list: Kit
According to the original guide, Kit's free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited sends. Compare that with Mailchimp's 500. Built for creators, Kit shines at tagging, visual automations and selling digital products like courses, templates and memberships straight from email. The paid Creator plan, from $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers, is pricey. Starting from zero, though, the free tier is a smart first home.
For big lists you rarely email: Brevo
Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, charges by sends, not contacts. You can hold 100,000 contacts free and send 300 emails a day. That suits seasonal stores and anyone who mails segments rather than the whole list. SMS, WhatsApp and a basic CRM come bundled, and paid plans start at $9 a month. The interface is busier than MailerLite's, but the trade is reasonable.
The underrated budget pick: Sender
Sender gets less attention than it deserves. Its free plan allows 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, including automation, segmentation, templates, landing pages and pop ups. Paid plans start around $10 a month, with abandoned cart flows and store integrations. It's less powerful than Klaviyo and less polished than MailerLite, but at the entry level the value is remarkable.
The famous name, at a price: Mailchimp
Mailchimp's big advantage is reach: templates and integrations for almost anything, including obscure store platforms. The free plan is now just 500 contacts and 1,000 emails a month, paid plans start at $13, and pricing climbs steeply as lists grow. Unsubscribed and inactive contacts can count against you unless you clean your list. Fine for beginners; cost conscious stores can do better.
When the simple tools run out: ActiveCampaign
With 135+ triggers, a built in CRM and more than 950 integrations, ActiveCampaign handles branching journeys, lead scoring and conditional logic that cheaper tools can't. No free plan, just a 14 day trial, with paid plans from $15 a month. It's not for a quick newsletter. It's for owners who treat email as a core revenue channel and want depth without enterprise pricing.
The lowest paid entry point: Moosend
From $7 a month for 500 subscribers, with unlimited emails on every plan, Moosend undercuts nearly everyone. A 30 day trial replaces a free plan. You get a solid editor, product recommendation emails, real time analytics and capable automations. Fewer templates, fewer integrations, thin CRM. For a tight budget, it delivers.
For shops that also live offline: Constant Contact
Constant Contact coordinates email, social posts and event marketing from one dashboard, which suits local retailers, pop ups and community driven stores. Its 60 day trial is the longest here, with plans from $12 a month afterwards. Ecommerce automation trails Klaviyo and Omnisend, but as part of a broader local strategy it ties things together neatly.
Got a view on which tools deserve the top spot? Browse more comparisons and join the debate on the Icon Polls blog.
Which platform is best if I want to spend nothing?
Kit has the largest free subscriber cap on this list, while Sender's free plan includes automation and ecommerce flows for up to 2,500 subscribers.
Do I need an ecommerce specialist like Klaviyo or Omnisend?
If you sell physical products and want purchase based triggers and revenue attribution, yes. If you mostly send newsletters, MailerLite or Brevo will do the job for less.
Are these prices fixed?
No. They are starting prices at the time of original publication and change with list size and vendor updates, so confirm on each provider's pricing page.
