Last Updated on November 28, 2022 by Chimezie Chidi
Do you want to run effective email marketing campaigns without spending so much?
I’ve put together an extensive list of the best free email marketing software you can use without spending a dime.
It’s already certain that more than 4.3 billion email users will exist in the world by the beginning of 2023.
Already, over 3.8 billion people around the globe use emails.
That’s more than half of the world’s population.
So, if you aren’t using an email marketing strategy, you are missing a lot of things.
Email marketing helps reach a potential audience, retarget existing customers, and build a loyal customer base. There are countless ways you can reach new clients with email marketing.
It’s no wonder Email beats other digital marketing channels by 40X.
You can distribute bulk messages, automate responses, and personalize your promotional offers. You can equally optimize your marketing campaigns with analytics and make great data-driven decisions.
Sadly, most small businesses shy away from using these options because of the popular notion that it’s pretty expensive.
Well, after reading this article, you don’t have to shun email marketing again. Many email marketing companies now offer free products for you.
Most free email marketing products don’t need your credit card information, and you don’t have to remain committed to the platform for life.
But, there’s a catch.
Not all free email marketing software is outstanding.
A lot of email marketing tools out there are pure hype.
So today I’m going to show you some free email marketing tools you can use, and how you effectively maximize these free platforms.
You will also find the list of things you don’t get on their free plan, so you can better understand their specific limitations.
Are you ready? Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
#1. Hubspot
Hubspot is a top-rated marketing solution, and its free plan is super.
Hubspot’s free plan comes with contact form creation alongside many excellent email marketing solutions.
No matter the size of your business, you will enjoy this plan.
However, if you ever plan on switching to the premium plan, you must check your cash reserves. The Starter plan costs $50 per month, reaching as high as $2,400 per month.
All add-ons come at an extra fee.
What’s included for free.
- Lead capture pop-up forms
- Contact database creation
- API integrations with form tools, CMS and email
- As opposed to the traditional unsubscribe button, clients can opt out of specific email topics or take a little break from you.
Cons
- No Conversion and traffic analytics, Lead flows, contact management, and segmentation tools
#2. MailerLite
MailerLite offers a free forever plan which allows you to send unlimited emails to 1000 email subscribers.
The free plan is pretty decent because you receive access to basic structural templates, list management, beautiful web forms, and autoresponders.
Also, you can use their email or chat support. On the other hand, premium plans begin from $10 per month.
What’s included for free?
- Access to basic emailing features
- Landing pages and reports
- Automation
- Email support
- Good looking templates
Cons
- Restricted advanced segmentation and delivery by time-zone
- Mailerlite will add a self-promoting banner to your emails
- No Customer service.
#3. MailChimp
MailChimp offers a terrific free email marketing tool.
The forever plan that provides access to send 12,000 emails to 2,000 subscribers.
You will receive some advanced tools such as single-step email automation. However, you have limited templates and won’t be able to use personal support.
If you would instead use the premium plan, then you have pay-as-you-go pricing plans starting at $10.
What’s included for free?
- Single-step email automation
- E-commerce abandoned cart features
- List management
- Signup forms
- Limited reporting and data insight features
- Limited advanced segmentation and delivery by time zone
- Mobile features
Cons
- MailChimp will add a self-promoting badge to your emails
- Minimal number of templates
- No Customer Service
#4. EmailOctopus
Like Mailerlite and Mailchimp, EmailOctopus has a free plan that allows you send 62,000 emails to 2,500 subscribers, but the emails you send will go via Amazon SES.
The free plan also comes with general features, and you can store analytical information for only 90 days.
Also, Email Octopus is equipped with deliverability management and bounce prevention.
EmailOctopus will also place ads in your emails as well.
Paid plans begin from $19 per month.
What’s included for free?
- Campaign creation tools
- Responsive email templates
- Basic analytics and reporting
- Easy to use email builders
- Autoresponders
- API functionality
Cons
- No image library for the free plan
- Limited API integrations.
#5. Sendwithus
Sendwithus provides a free plan for sending unlimited emails to 1,000 people alongside free tier on Amazon SES.
However, its email templates are really crude. It’s preferably used for basic HTML emails. So if you are looking for an ideal platform for sending transactional and drip emails, this is for you.
What’s included for free?
- Email Templates ( but pretty basic)
- Mobile-friendly email designers
- SMS and email personalization
- Contact management
Cons
- No email scheduling
- No Customer services
- Switching between templates is not a smooth process
- Requires technical knowledge to use the HTML editor.
#6 Benchmark Email
Benchmark also offers a free forever plan which allows you to send 14,000 emails to over 2,000 subscribers.
One unique thing about its free plan is access to basic A/B testing features.
Also, Benchmark works like a simple drag and drop editor so just about anyone can use it.
Even if you don’t want to get the premium plan, you can upgrade image hosting from 10MB to unlimited for $5 a month.
Premium plans start from $21.99.
What’s Included for free?
- List management
- Responsive email templates
- Email analytics
- Webforms
- Basic A/B testing
Cons
- Email deliverability is just above average (77%)
- Data import and export tools are not exceptional
- No sales or social media tracking
#7. Campayn
Campayn provides a free plan with a maximum of 12,500 emails to 500 contacts. The number is a bit discouraging, but the free plan comes with all of its core email features. Campayn comes with a built-in contact manager, which might be too small for a CRM. You can also embed opt-in forms on your website. Premium plans begin from $19 per month.
What’s Included for free?
- Autoresponder
- Automation tools
- Basic reporting tools
- Email and mobile preview
- Forms
Cons
- No customer service
- Poor API integrations and internalizations.
#8.SendinBlue
SendinBlue free plan is discouraging. You can send up to 9,000 emails, but you have a daily limit of 300.
However, you can brand emails as desired and send emails to an unlimited number of subscribers.
There are no landing page editors, segmentation, or dynamic personalization.
SendinBlue works for focused lists that e-commerce businesses will enjoy.
Premium plans begin from #19 per month.
What’s included for free?
- Basic reporting
- Web forms
- Email automation
- Drag and drop email editor
- SMS personalization
- Mobile friendly emails
Cons
- Lagging email deliverability
- All emails will have the SendinBlue branding
- No Customer service
#9. WixShoutOut
WixShoutOut is specially made for small businesses.
It provides an avenue to send up to 5,000 emails and a 3 shoutouts per month.
You can create and share email newsletters without any expertise. It already has an impressive designer made templates and an intuitive builder that handles the heavy load.
The WixShoutOut is owned by Wix so it would synchronize best with your Wix website.
Paid plans begin from $4.90 per month.
What’s included for free?
- 20 Stunning and responsive email templates
- Basic reporting
- Basic forms
- Bounce prevention.
- List management
Cons
- No Segmentation
- No deep level reporting or automation
- No personalization tools
#10. ZohoCampaigns
Zoho Campaigns provides a forever free plan that supports 2,000 subscribers and up to 12,000 emails every month. Also, Zoho campaigns free plan gives you access to all features on the platform.
This means you can quickly send, create, track, and report with a wide range of both basic and advanced tools.
It’s an ideal platform for startups who want to make an impact.
Zoho Campaigns premium plan is a pay-as-you-use system, which means you only purchase email credits per the number of emails you want to send immediately.
What’s included for free?
- Automation tools
- Zoho CRM
- Personalized and permission-based campaigns
- A/B testing functionalities
- Tracking tools
- Engagement measurement tools
Cons
- No Customer Service
#11.Mailjet-Exceptional Delivery for free.
Mailjet integrates with SMTP and REST to guarantee exceptional delivery whether you chose to use its a free plan or premium plan.
The free plan allows you to send up to 200 emails per day or 6,000 emails per month to an unlimited number of subscribers.
Mailjet is also known for its’ analytical capabilities, so if you want in-depth statistics while on a free plan, this is your best bet.
Premium plans begin from $7.49 per month.
What’s included for free?
- Advanced email editor
- Unlimited contacts
- Full API access
- SMTP transactional bulk emails.
- Advanced statistics and analytics
Cons
- No SMS marketing
- No A/B Testing
- No Marketing automation
#12.Pepipost-AI Powered Free Email Blaster.
Pepipost offers a terrific free plan which allows you to send as much as 25,000 emails monthly and 5,000 emails per day.
You can have fun with its email blasting features because it’s email delivery is AI-powered.
It’s a perfect email marketing software for freelancers and small businesses. The pro plan costs $0.20 per 1000 email contacts
What’s included
- Single sending domain
- Efficient bounce prevention
- SMTP
- Email APIs
- Security features
Cons
- No customer support
- No live reporting
- No sub-user management
#13. TinyLetter-The 100% free email service.
TinyLetter is 100% free.
It’s a simple tool that allows you to send free emails unlimited emails about 5,000 subscribers.
You can easily create email newsletters with a bit of branding to the custom background. You can also receive stats on who opens your emails as well.
TinyLetter is perfect if you just created a blog. It is part of the MailChimp family so it may not be available forever, but you can also transfer your contacts to MailChimp to embrace more features.
What’s included for free?
- A simple drag and drop editor
- Custom templates
- Ability to add personal brand impressions
- Track open emails
Cons
- It’s entirely basic.
#14. Moosend-Full custom branding for Free.
Moosend also allows you to send unlimited emails to 5,000 subscribers for three months.
After that, you will have a free forever plan for 1,000 subscribers.
Another unique thing is that they won’t add their logo to your emails.
Moosend has a great drag and editor tool but the HTML email editor can only be used by the tech-savvy.
If you want to move up after the free plan, you will receive a 15% discount for 6 months advance and 20% for 12 months advance.
Premium plans begin from $10 for 2,000 subscribers.
What’s included for free?
- Email analytics
- Email drip campaigns
- Drag and drop editor
- Autoresponder
- No Moosend branding
Cons
- No automation
- No lively support
- You can’t register a Gmail or Hotmail address
#15. SendPulse
SendPulse is a multichannel marketing platform but many know more about its email marketing software.
With the free plan, you can send 15,000 emails to 2,500 subscribers per month.
You can also customize emails using its drag and drop editor as well as analyse click, open and delivery rates.
The paid plan begins at $9 per month.
What’s included for free?
- Drag and drop editor
- Basic analytics
Cons
- No A/B testing tool
- No live or online support
- No scheduled messaging or advanced tools
Concluding thoughts
So, let’s talk about the big question
Should you use a free email marketing tool or skip right to the main meal?
It’s good to use a free email marketing tool when you are on the budget, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan.
I recommend having a vision plan that lets you prepare far ahead about which premium tool you like.
This ensures that you don’t have to spend too much time moving from one platform to the next and learning how to make it work all over again and again.
Even when you don’t want to use a free marketing tool, these freebies are great ways to test run the system, but you should not expect too much from it.
As a rule of thumb, most free emailing tools don’t have the complete package such as social media monitoring, spam filter diagnostics, A/B testing, and autoresponders.
Even freebies with a little of this only provide limited capabilities. For instance, you might make it out of the spam folder, but there’s no way of tracking or knowing.
Also, every free email marketing service offers limited or no customer support. This is understandably so because customer support is mainly carried out by humans who require payment for their efforts.
Even platforms who claim to have help support for you, really don’t have any. So you shouldn’t expect it.
Have you used a free emailing service before? How did it work for you?
Please let me know.
There are lots of newbies who want to figure out their game plan and would love to hear from you.