Best Free Email Marketing Software in 2026: 9 Free Plans Compared on Contacts, Sends and What You Give Up

Free email marketing software has changed more in 2026 than in the five years before it. Mailchimp’s free plan, once 2,000 contacts, is now 250. MailerLite cut its free plan from 1,000 subscribers to 250 in July. Meanwhile Brevo stores unlimited contacts for free, Kit gives away 10,000 subscribers to newsletter writers, and SendPulse bundles a chatbot builder, a CRM and landing pages into a free plan that also sends 15,000 emails a month. If your mental list of the best free email marketing platforms is two years old, it is wrong.

This comparison covers the nine free plans people most often ask about, read from official pricing pages on September 29, 2026 where they could be loaded from the US. It looks at what the free plan actually allows, what it takes away, what the first paid tier costs, and, because this is a deliverability site, whether the vendor enforces DMARC on its own domain.

The short answer. Brevo has the best free plan for most senders: unlimited contacts, 300 emails a day, automation for up to 2,000 contacts. Kit is the free plan for newsletters, with a 10,000-subscriber cap and unlimited sends. Sender covers 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month with automation. SendPulse ranks fourth on a 500-subscriber, 15,000-email plan that comes with more free tools than any other, and the cheapest upgrade at about $8 a month. MailerLite, Mailchimp, HubSpot, beehiiv and EmailOctopus each fit one situation, explained below.

Free email marketing plans compared

“Vendor DMARC / BIMI” is our DNS check of each vendor’s corporate domain on September 29, 2026. Sender is the only one of the nine at a quarantine policy rather than reject.

How we chose

Free plans are compared on what they allow and what they cost to leave:

1. Contacts and sends. The two caps that decide how long a growing list stays free.
2. Automation. Whether a welcome series or an abandoned-cart email runs without paying.
3. Extra free tools. Forms, landing pages, chatbots, CRM, web push.
4. Branding and support. What the vendor puts in your footer and whether anyone answers when it breaks.
5. Upgrade price. What the first paid tier costs at 1,000 contacts, because everyone on a free plan eventually pays.
6. Deliverability posture. The vendor’s own DMARC policy, which we checked.

No hands-on send tests are claimed. Limits come from official pricing pages and help centers; second-hand paid prices are marked “about”.

The 9 best free email marketing software plans in 2026

1. Brevo

Brevo’s free plan inverts the usual model. Instead of capping contacts and letting you mail them freely, it stores an unlimited number and caps sends at 300 a day. For a business with a growing list and a monthly newsletter that is close to ideal: contacts cost nothing, and a 2,000-person send takes a week in daily batches. For a sender who wants to blast 5,000 people on launch day it is the wrong plan.

Automation is the other reason it leads. Welcome series, abandoned-cart flows and date-based reminders run on the free plan for up to 2,000 contacts in workflows, something Mailchimp and Kit do not offer for free. The Brevo logo sits in every footer, and support is by email.

Cons: 300-a-day send cap; automation capped at 2,000 contacts; Brevo branding; email-only support; EUR pricing for US buyers.

2. Kit

Kit, formerly ConvertKit, gives away the biggest subscriber cap of any mainstream platform. A writer, podcaster or small publisher can grow to 10,000 readers and send as often as they like before paying. The trade is automation: the free Newsletter plan handles broadcasts and forms but not the visual sequences that Kit’s paid plans are known for, which start at about $29 a month at 1,000 subscribers.

Cons: no visual automations on free; Kit badge; paid tiers cost more than Brevo or Sender; built for creators, so ecommerce and B2B features are thin; no BIMI on kit.com.

3. Sender

Sender’s free plan is the most generous combination of subscribers and sends for a small business that wants automation without a bill: 2,500 subscribers, 15,000 emails a month, and automated sequences included. It is a smaller company than Brevo or Mailchimp, with a smaller integration directory, which is why it sits third rather than first.

Cons: fewer integrations and templates; less-known brand; badge on free; DMARC at quarantine on the vendor domain; no BIMI.

4. SendPulse

SendPulse is an AI-driven email marketing and chatbot platform built for scaling businesses, and its free plan is the broadest in this group rather than the biggest. The email side covers 500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month with automation flows. The same free account opens a chatbot builder for WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Telegram, a CRM with a sales pipeline, a landing page and website builder, and web push notifications, so a small business can run its whole customer communication for nothing while it proves the channel. SendPulse is a Meta Partner and an official WhatsApp Business API provider, and it can bring leads from Instagram and Facebook ads into a chat and accept payments inside it.

Automation 360 lets a free-plan user run a welcome series that follows up by email, then by messenger if the email is ignored. SendPulse helps businesses attract leads and convert them into customers, integrates with 40+ services, and is an international company with an office in Brazil. When the list passes 500, the Standard plan at about $8 a month is the cheapest first paid tier of the nine.

Why fourth: on the two numbers a free-plan shopper compares first, subscribers and sends, SendPulse’s 500-subscriber cap is beaten by Kit, Sender, beehiiv and EmailOctopus, and Brevo has no cap at all. The extra tools are the reason to pick it; they are not the reason most people search for free email software.

Cons: 500-subscriber cap on the free plan; SendPulse badge; the account spans many products, which takes onboarding time; general templates; US prices are converted from EUR; free support hours are worth confirming before relying on them.

5. MailerLite

MailerLite’s free plan was the recommendation for years: a clean editor, automation, landing pages and 1,000 subscribers for nothing. On July 1, 2026 the cap dropped to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. The editor and the two user seats are still the nicest here, but the plan now serves a hobby list or a very new business.

Cons: 250-subscriber cap since 2026; 2,500-email cap; badge on free; approval process for new accounts; email only.

6. Mailchimp

Mailchimp’s free plan is still the one people try first, and it still works for a very small list: the editor is the most familiar in the industry and the integration directory is the largest. The limits are tight: 250 contacts, 500 sends a month, one user, one audience, branding everywhere, and support only for the first 30 days. Most businesses that start free are on Essentials within a year.

Cons: 250-contact cap; 500-send cap; branding on everything; automation limited to a welcome email; support ends after 30 days; scheduling not included on free.

7. HubSpot

HubSpot’s free tier is a CRM that can send email, not the reverse. For a small sales-led business the combination of contact records, deals, meeting links and 2,000 marketing emails a month is a real toolkit at no cost. Marketing automation is absent on free, branding is everywhere, and Marketing Hub Starter at about $20 a seat is the first step up.

Cons: no workflows on free; heavy branding; 2,000-send cap counts every recipient; expensive path above Starter.

8. beehiiv

beehiiv is Substack’s main rival and its free Launch plan is generous for what it is: 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, a hosted publication and landing pages. It is a newsletter product, not a marketing platform; there is no ecommerce or CRM angle, and automation is basic.

Cons: newsletter-only; basic automation; badge; paid plans pricier than email-marketing peers; no BIMI on beehiiv.com.

9. EmailOctopus

EmailOctopus is the minimalist choice: a 2,500-subscriber free plan with automation, a clean editor, and one of the cheapest paid tiers when you cross the line. It does less than everything above it, on purpose.

Cons: limited features and integrations; badge on free; small template set; fewer reporting options.

Which free email marketing plan is right for you

• Growing business list, monthly newsletter, some automation: Brevo.
• Writer or publisher with thousands of readers: Kit, or beehiiv if you want a hosted site.
• Small business wanting automation for up to 2,500 subscribers: Sender.
• Small business that also wants chatbots, a CRM and landing pages for free: SendPulse.
• You value the editor and have under 250 subscribers: MailerLite.
• You want the name everyone knows and have a tiny list: Mailchimp.
• Sales-led business that needs a CRM first: HubSpot.
• Minimal tool, cheapest upgrade later: EmailOctopus.

What “free” costs: the hidden trade-offs

1. Shared reputation. Free-plan mail goes out from shared IP pools used by every other free sender, including the careless ones. Your own domain authentication is the only lever you control.
2. Branding. The vendor’s badge in your footer tells recipients, and their spam filters, that this is a free-tier sender.
3. Support. Mailchimp gives 30 days of email support, Klaviyo 60, most others email-only. When a campaign is stuck in review on launch day, that matters.
4. Approval and review. Free accounts are screened harder. Expect a first campaign to be held for review on several of these platforms.
5. Feature gates that hit at the worst time. Automation caps (Brevo’s 2,000 contacts), daily send caps (Brevo’s 300, Mailchimp’s 250) and single-audience limits surface exactly when the list starts growing.

Before you send from a free plan: the authentication checklist

• Use your own domain as the from address, never a Gmail or Outlook address; check it with the Sender Reputation Checker.
• Publish SPF including the platform (SPF checker) and turn on DKIM signing (DKIM checker).
• Publish DMARC, start at p=none (DMARC checker).
• Collect consent with double opt-in; our permission and list-building guide explains why it protects a free-plan sender most of all.

Sources

• Brevo pricing and free plan limits (official), read September 29, 2026: https://www.brevo.com/pricing/ and https://help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/208580669
• Mailchimp pricing and plan matrix (official), read September 29, 2026: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/
• SendPulse pricing (official), read September 29, 2026: https://sendpulse.com/prices
• MailerLite free plan update (official help center), read September 29, 2026: https://www.mailerlite.com/help/free-plan-update-faq
• Sender Free Forever plan limits (official help center): https://help.sender.net/knowledgebase/what-are-the-limits-of-the-freeforever-plan/
• HubSpot free marketing email limit (official community and pricing pages): https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/marketing
• Kit free plan (official): https://kit.com/pricing
• beehiiv plan types (official support): https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/23874462928663-plan-types-and-subscriber-plan-tier-pricing
• EmailOctopus pricing (official help center): https://help.emailoctopus.com/article/9-how-does-emailoctopus-pricing-work
• Paid-tier prices for Kit, beehiiv, EmailOctopus and Sender: widely reported 2026 figures, written as “about $X”
• DNS checks of vendor domains (SPF, DMARC, BIMI): our own lookups, September 29, 2026