Email marketing for newsletter creators
What this situation needs
A newsletter starts with no revenue, so the free ceiling and the first paid step matter more than the depth of the automation builder. The products below are ranked from their official pricing pages on the size of the free tier, the entry price, and whether the platform offers a way to earn from the list.
Suitability scores follow a published rubric: 40 points when the free tier holds at least 2,500 subscribers (20 points for a smaller free tier), 30 points when the first paid step is under US$15 a month, 20 points when the vendor states publishing or revenue features for creators, and 10 points when the free tier keeps sending limits generous enough to mail weekly.
Ranked for Email marketing for newsletter creators
Suitability is an editorial score out of 100; facts on each row are verified- Rank 1
beehiiv
Newsletter platform with a free plan to 2,500 subscribers and paid tiers that add advertising and paid subscriptions.
Free plan, paid from $43/mo
Suitability 95 of 100. 2,500 free subscribers with unlimited sends, plus an advertising network and paid subscriptions on the US$43 tier.
Not yet scored - Rank 2No preview yet
EmailOctopus
Two-plan sender: a free tier for 2,500 subscribers and one paid plan with unlimited subscribers at a fixed price.
Free plan, paid from $9/mo
Suitability 88 of 100. 2,500 free subscribers and 10,000 monthly emails, with a single US$9 step to unlimited subscribers.
Not yet scoredCompare with beehiiv - Rank 3No preview yet
Sender
Low-cost email and SMS sender with a permanent free plan for 2,500 subscribers and paid tiers from US$7.
Free plan, paid from $7/mo
Suitability 82 of 100. 2,500 free subscribers and 15,000 monthly emails; the first paid tier is US$7.
Not yet scoredCompare with beehiiv - Rank 4No preview yet
MailerLite
Newsletter and automation tool with a 250-subscriber free plan and two paid tiers priced by subscriber count.
Free plan, paid from $12/mo
Suitability 70 of 100. Smaller 250-subscriber free tier, but US$12 buys automation, A/B testing and unlimited landing pages.
Not yet scoredCompare with beehiiv - Rank 5
listmonk
Self-hosted newsletter manager released under AGPLv3, run as a single binary with PostgreSQL.
Free
Suitability 55 of 100. No licence fee at any list size, if you are willing to run a server and arrange your own sending route.
Not yet scoredCompare with beehiiv