Just need a sensible place to start?
For a newsletter and a few welcome emails, look at MailerLite. If you also need more involved follow-up or tools for courses, compare the relevant GetResponse plan. Neither is the right answer for every business.
Affiliate links: we may earn money if you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you.
Most “best email marketing software” lists pretend every small business needs the same tool. A newsletter writer, a local service company, a consultant chasing down leads, and an online store all need email to do completely different jobs. Naming one overall “winner” makes for a tidy list — it just doesn’t help you pick.
Picking your first platform? You’ve got one advantage: there’s no messy setup to undo. Switching platforms instead? You already know exactly what’s frustrating you. Either way, pick for the next few months — not for some complicated version of your business you might have five years from now.
The short answer
- Choose Kit if the audience is the business: newsletters, courses, memberships, coaching, or digital products.
- Choose HubSpot if you want email plus a way to track leads from their first question to the sale.
- Choose ActiveCampaign if you need emails that change automatically based on what someone clicks, buys, or ignores.
- Choose MailerLite if you mainly need newsletters, forms, landing pages, and a few simple automations — nothing heavy.
- Choose GetResponse if you want email, landing pages, forms, automation, and webinars — plus tools for selling courses or paid newsletters — all in one place.
- Choose Klaviyo if you run an online store and want purchases and browsing activity to decide what emails, texts, and product suggestions each customer gets.
Six sensible starting points
| Platform | Best starting fit | Core strength | Main caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | Your knowledge or content is the business | Growing an audience and selling digital products | Not built to manage a sales team |
| HubSpot | You need to track possible customers | Email, customer records, and sales progress in one place | Advanced plans can cost much more |
| ActiveCampaign | Your follow-up needs several automatic paths | Different messages based on what people do | More system than many beginners need |
| MailerLite | Simple email setup | Approachable campaigns, forms, sites, and automations | Free-plan limits are now modest |
| Klaviyo | Ecommerce store | Using store activity to personalize emails and texts | Overkill for a basic non-store newsletter |
| GetResponse | You want several marketing tools in one place | Email, landing pages, forms, automation, webinars, and knowledge products | Broader than a business that only needs a simple newsletter |
Kit: best for creators building an audience business
Newsletters · courses · memberships · digital products
Kit’s the clear pick when your subscribers ARE the business. You create useful content, build an audience, and make money from courses, coaching, memberships, sponsorships, or digital products.
Kit sorts people by what they actually care about, then sends the right emails automatically. It can answer the questions that matter: What did this person sign up for? What did they click? Did they buy the course? What should go out next? Kit also connects with 100+ other tools and can sell digital products, memberships, and subscriptions on its own.
Current-fact check: Kit’s official features and automation pages, reviewed August 26, 2026.
HubSpot: best when email is one part of the customer system
Finding customers · keeping customer records · appointments · tracking sales
HubSpot’s the right fit when the important word isn’t “newsletter” — it’s “customer.” It includes a CRM (just a system that keeps every customer’s name, conversation, appointment, and sale progress in one place). The free tools alone cover customer records, email marketing, forms, meeting scheduling, live chat, and a way to track deals.
That’s a great fit for consultants, agencies, contractors and other home-service businesses, B2B sellers, and small teams. Someone fills out your form, books a meeting, gets follow-up emails, and moves from “interested” to “customer” — without any of it getting lost across five different spreadsheets.
The catch is cost and complexity. Starting free is easy, but the more powerful tools live behind pricier plans, and the price climbs with your team size and contact count. Before you commit, check what the plan you’ll actually need next year costs — not just what’s free today.
Current-fact check: HubSpot product, email, sales, and pricing pages, reviewed August 26, 2026.
ActiveCampaign: best for more advanced automatic follow-up
Different follow-ups for different actions · email and text working together
ActiveCampaign earns a spot on your shortlist once basic automatic emails aren’t enough. It sends different messages based on what someone clicks, buys, views, or ignores, picks a good time to send, pings a salesperson when someone looks interested, and coordinates follow-up across email, text, WhatsApp, social, and your website. It also connects with 950+ other apps.
Here’s what that looks like in practice: someone visits your pricing page, gets information related to what they were looking at, books a call, and the right salesperson gets pinged automatically. Genuinely useful when you need it — total overkill if your whole plan is “send a welcome email and a newsletter every Friday.”
Current-fact check: ActiveCampaign marketing automation and CRM pages, reviewed August 26, 2026.
MailerLite: best for a simple, easy-to-manage email setup
Newsletters · forms · landing pages · basic automation
MailerLite’s the sensible pick if you just want to collect email addresses and send useful messages, without setting up a bigger customer-management system. You get an easy visual email editor, signup forms, simple web pages, and automatic emails, in a package that doesn’t take long to learn.
One thing worth knowing, since older reviews get this wrong: MailerLite changed its free plan in June 2026. It now covers up to 250 active subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails, with limits of three automations, three forms, one landing page, one website, and one digital product. That’s still enough to test an idea from scratch — just not the generous free runway some older reviews still describe.
Affiliate link. Current-fact check: MailerLite’s June 2026 Free plan update and official product pages, reviewed August 26, 2026.
GetResponse: best for email plus a broader marketing toolkit
Email · landing pages · forms · automation · webinars · courses
GetResponse makes the most sense when email matters, but it’s not the only marketing job on your plate. It bundles newsletters and autoresponders with signup forms, landing pages, visual automation, website tools, webinars, sales funnels, and tools for selling courses or paid newsletters.
That range can replace several separate subscriptions if you’re a creator, consultant, educator, or small online business. It’s also more than you need if your whole plan is a signup form, one welcome sequence, and a monthly newsletter. The free plan currently covers up to 500 contacts and 2,500 newsletters a month; paid plans vary, so check current pricing before you move your list over.
Affiliate link. Current-fact check: GetResponse official features, email marketing, automation, and pricing information, reviewed August 31, 2026.
Klaviyo: best for an online store
Purchase history · product information · email and text · repeat customers
Klaviyo’s the right call when you run an online store and want customer activity to decide what gets sent. It uses what someone viewed, bought, or left sitting in a cart to personalize emails, texts, and product suggestions.
It can welcome a new shopper, nudge someone about an abandoned cart, follow up after an order, suggest a refill, or win back a customer who hasn’t bought in a while. Klaviyo also connects with 350+ other tools.
Current-fact check: Klaviyo email marketing and segmentation pages, reviewed August 26, 2026.
How to choose without overthinking it
1. Describe how your business makes money
If people buy your knowledge or content, start with Kit. Need to track leads before they buy? Start with HubSpot. Different actions need different follow-ups? Start with ActiveCampaign. Mostly need a newsletter and a few welcome emails? MailerLite. Want email, landing pages, automation, webinars, and courses all together? Compare GetResponse. Run an online store? Start with Klaviyo.
2. Write the first follow-up plan on paper
Don’t compare 80 features. Just write down what should happen after someone subscribes. A sensible first plan is often nothing more than: signup form → welcome email → helpful follow-up → regular newsletter. If that’s your whole plan, you don’t need an expensive, complicated system yet.
3. Price the next stage, not only day one
Free plans are great for testing an idea, but they shouldn’t be the only reason you pick one. Estimate how big your list might be in a year. Check which paid plan actually includes the automatic emails, reports, team seats, or support you’ll need. Compare that real-world cost, not the free one.
4. Make it easy to move later
Send from a business email address you control, keep a clear record that people agreed to get your emails, and back up your contact list now and then. Keep your labels and customer info simple. An organized list is a lot easier to move if you switch platforms later.
How we evaluated these tools
We grouped these products by the job a new small business actually needs done, then went through each one’s current official product, feature, pricing, and help pages. Here’s what we weighed:
- Fit between the platform and the business model
- Usability for a true starting-from-zero setup
- Growth path without premature complexity
- How well it handles automatic emails, customer records, or online-store information when those things matter
- Being honest about the tradeoff instead of naming a fake universal winner
We didn’t rank anything by affiliate payout — buttons without an active partner relationship just go straight to the company’s official site. Facts and plan limits change, so double-check the provider’s current page before you buy. Read our editorial standards and funding policy.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free email marketing software for a brand-new small business?
Depends what you’re testing. HubSpot’s free tools are unusually good if you need to keep customer info and deals organized. Kit’s free Newsletter plan is built for people growing an audience around their content. MailerLite’s free plan is approachable for simple email, but as of June 2026 it’s capped at 250 active subscribers and 2,500 monthly sends. Use a free plan to test your idea — just check the paid plan you’ll likely need down the road, too.
Should a small business use Mailchimp?
Mailchimp’s still a recognizable, perfectly fine option if you’re already using it. We didn’t make it a primary pick here because this guide gives you clearer starting points: building an audience, tracking leads, running advanced automation, keeping email simple, or running a store. If you want to compare Mailchimp, compare it to the one path that actually matches your business — not to every tool at once.
Is HubSpot too expensive for a small business?
Not necessarily. HubSpot has free tools and a lower-cost Starter option, but the more powerful Marketing Hub plans get expensive fast. Price climbs as you add team members or contacts, and some higher plans tack on a setup fee. Judge it as a full customer-management system, not just a newsletter tool.
When should I move from a simple tool to ActiveCampaign?
Move once you can clearly describe the different follow-ups you need based on what people click, buy, or ignore — and those automatic paths would save enough time or bring in enough sales to justify keeping them running. Don’t move just because “advanced automation” sounds impressive.
See every SevenCactus guide
Compare practical software choices by the job your business actually needs done.
Try a small test before moving your customer list
Use your own email address first. You don’t need to move everything to see whether the basics work for you.
- Create a signup form with a clear sentence about the emails people will receive.
- Sign up with an address you own. Check that the confirmation and welcome message arrive.
- Open the message on your phone. Can you read it and find the link?
- Try unsubscribing. Check that the address stops receiving the test messages.
- Find the price at your current list size and at twice that size. Check which plan includes the messages you want to send automatically.
This is a suggested test for your own decision. We have not presented it as a test we performed.
Check these plan limits before you choose
| Tool | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | The Free plan lists 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails per month. | Check what you will pay when your list grows. |
| GetResponse | Check the features in the plan you will keep after the trial. | A trial may include tools your eventual plan does not. |
Checked September 25, 2026: MailerLite pricing and GetResponse pricing. This comparison uses published information; it is not a hands-on test.
Before you pay for another app
Use our free checklist to check the full cost, try one real task, and decide whether the app is worth keeping.
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