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7 Best B2B Email Marketing Software in 2026, Compared

Compare the 7 best b2b email marketing software tools on starting price, automation depth and free plans, with every price checked November 4, 2026.

Shamim Mia, Founder, SerpAstraLast verified November 4, 202612 min read

We compare pricing pages, documentation and public reviews. We never accept payment for rankings.

Key takeaways

  • HubSpot Marketing Hub leads for B2B teams on its CRM from $20/month per seat, ActiveCampaign is the automation pick from $15/month billed annually, and Zoho Campaigns is the cheapest paid option at $4/month.
  • Every tool here bills by a different unit — seats, contacts or emails sent — so compare prices at your real list size, not the headline price.
  • The single most important buying factor is the billing unit: per-contact pricing punishes list growth, per-seat pricing punishes team growth, and send-based pricing punishes frequent mailing.
  • Free plans are real: Zoho Campaigns covers 2,000 contacts free and Brevo stores 100,000 contacts free, but real automation usually starts on a paid plan.
  • Every price below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on November 4, 2026. Ratings are G2, with review counts shown.
On this page

Quick comparison

Starting prices checked November 4, 2026
ToolBest forStarting priceFree plan
HubSpot Marketing HubB2B teams already on HubSpot CRM who want email, automation and sales handoff in one record$20/mo per seatYes (free tools)
ActiveCampaignGrowing B2B teams that want visual automation and a built-in CRM without HubSpot prices$19/moNo (14-day trial)
BrevoSmall B2B teams on a tight budget who mail a large list only a few times a month$9/moYes (300/day)
MailchimpSmall businesses that want the simplest possible email tool with templates and support$13/moYes (250 contacts)
GetResponseB2B teams that want email, landing pages, funnels and webinars from one vendor$19/moYes (500 contacts)
Constant ContactSmall B2B businesses that run events and want phone support on the cheapest plan$12/moNo (60-day trial)
Zoho CampaignsTeams already on Zoho CRM who want the cheapest paid email tool in this list$4/moYes (2,000 contacts)

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The best b2b email marketing software

#1

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Best for: B2B teams already on HubSpot CRM who want email, automation and sales handoff in one record

Visit hubspot.com
Starting price$20/month per seat (Starter; new-customer promo from $7/month per seat)
Free planYes — free tools (2,000 emails/month)

HubSpot Marketing Hub is the natural pick when email is one part of a wider B2B job: a prospect downloads a guide, the workflow enrols them, lead scoring watches their behaviour, and sales gets the full history at handoff. Because the CRM is the product, nothing is lost between marketing and sales, and the Starter plan at $20/month per seat already includes landing pages, forms, live chat and ad management.

The pricing model is the honest catch. You pay per seat and per 1,000 marketing contacts, with extra contact blocks at $50/month, so a growing list pushes the bill up even when the team stays the same size. Pick HubSpot when your team already lives in its CRM; if email alone is the job, the cheaper tools below do it for less.

What we like

  • Email, landing pages, forms, live chat and ad management share one CRM record with sales
  • Starter includes 1,000 marketing contacts and removes HubSpot branding from emails
  • Free tools cover 2,000 emails a month, so a small team can start before paying anything

Watch out for

  • Priced per seat and per 1,000 marketing contacts, so the bill climbs fast as the list and the team grow
  • Real automation depth starts on Professional at $890/month plus a mandatory $3,000 one-time onboarding fee
#2

ActiveCampaign

Best for: Growing B2B teams that want visual automation and a built-in CRM without HubSpot prices

Visit activecampaign.com
Starting price$19/month (Starter, billed monthly; $15/month billed annually, 1,000 contacts)
Free planNo — 14-day free trial

ActiveCampaign is the automation pick in this list. The visual builder lets a small team map a full nurture sequence — welcome series, lead scoring, deal-stage follow-ups — without a marketing operations hire, and the built-in CRM means sales sees every open and click. Starter costs $15/month billed annually at 1,000 contacts, which buys more automation than any other tool at this price.

The limits are real and worth reading before you buy. Each automation on Starter stops at 5 actions, only one user is included, and the price climbs with every contact band, reaching $149/month at 10,000 contacts per ActiveCampaign's own pricing article. It is the right tool for a team that will actually build workflows; teams that only send newsletters should look at Brevo or Mailchimp instead.

What we like

  • Visual automation builder with conditional logic, plus a standard CRM in the same account
  • Starter sends up to 10 times the contact count a month and includes A/B testing
  • Predictive sending and site tracking are available from the Plus plan at $49/month

Watch out for

  • Starter caps automations at 5 actions each and allows only 1 user and limited segmentation
  • Price rises steeply with list size: ActiveCampaign's own article puts Starter at $149/month at 10,000 contacts
  • No free plan, only a 14-day trial, so there is no free tier to fall back on
#3

Brevo

Best for: Small B2B teams on a tight budget who mail a large list only a few times a month

4.5/5 on G2 (2,776 reviews, checked Nov 2026)
Visit brevo.com
Starting price$9/month (Starter, 5,000 emails/month, 500 contacts; $8.08/month billed annually)
Free planYes — free plan (300 emails/day)

Brevo is the cheapest way into this list, and its pricing model is the reason: you pay for emails sent, not for contacts stored. A team with a large list that mails twice a month pays $9/month for 5,000 emails, while the free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts and sends 300 emails a day. SMS, WhatsApp and a sales CRM come in the same account.

The trade-off is automation. Starter has none at all, so welcome series and nurture flows need Standard at $18/month, and the $9 tier caps stored contacts at 500. Brevo fits a team that sends regular campaigns to a big list on a small budget; teams that need workflows from day one should pay the extra for ActiveCampaign or GetResponse.

What we like

  • Cheapest entry here at $9/month, and pricing follows emails sent rather than list size
  • Free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts and sends 300 emails a day
  • SMS, WhatsApp and a sales CRM sit in the same account for multichannel campaigns

Watch out for

  • Starter has no marketing automation at all; automation starts on Standard at $18/month
  • The $9 tier stores only 500 contacts, so a bigger list pushes the price up fast
  • Removing the Brevo logo from emails costs an extra $12/month on Starter
#4

Mailchimp

Best for: Small businesses that want the simplest possible email tool with templates and support

Visit mailchimp.com
Starting price$13/month (Essentials, 500 contacts)
Free planYes — free plan (250 contacts, 500 sends/month)

Mailchimp is the simplest tool in this list, and for a small business that is the whole point. Essentials costs $13/month for 500 contacts and covers the standard job — templates, scheduling, A/B testing, landing pages and signup forms — with 24/7 email and chat support and three user seats included. A first campaign can go out the same afternoon the account is created.

The ceiling arrives sooner than the price suggests. Automation flows on Essentials stop at 4 steps, so a real nurture sequence needs Standard at $20/month, and unsubscribed contacts still count toward the billing tier until they are archived. Mailchimp is right for a team that wants simple campaigns done well; growing B2B teams will outgrow it.

What we like

  • Easiest tool here to learn, with pre-built templates, scheduling and A/B testing on Essentials
  • Essentials includes 3 user seats, 3 audiences and 24/7 email and chat support
  • Sends up to 10 times the contact limit a month, with landing pages and signup forms included

Watch out for

  • Essentials automation is capped at 4 flow steps; multi-step journeys need Standard at $20/month
  • Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts toward the billing tier until they are archived
#5

GetResponse

Best for: B2B teams that want email, landing pages, funnels and webinars from one vendor

4.3/5 on G2 (1,140 reviews, checked Nov 2026)
Visit getresponse.com
Starting price$19/month (Starter, billed monthly; $15.58/month billed annually, 1,000 contacts)
Free planYes — free plan (500 contacts, 2,500 emails/month)

GetResponse is the all-in-one pick in this list. Starter costs $19/month at 1,000 contacts and includes unlimited sends, a landing page builder, signup forms and popups, and a welcome email series — plus webinars and sales funnels on the higher plans. For a B2B team that runs webinars to generate leads, the bundled webinar tool replaces a second subscription.

The automation limit is the thing to check. Starter allows exactly one custom workflow, so a team running welcome, nurture and re-engagement sequences at once needs Marketer at $59/month. Buy GetResponse when the bundle saves you a second tool; buy ActiveCampaign when automation depth is the priority.

What we like

  • Unlimited monthly email sends on every paid plan, priced by contacts rather than volume
  • Starter bundles a landing page builder, signup forms, popups and a welcome email series
  • Webinars, sales funnels and courses are built in on the higher plans, not bolted on

Watch out for

  • Starter allows only 1 custom automation workflow; unlimited workflows need Marketer at $59/month
  • AI content generation on Starter is limited to 3 uses
  • Prices are net amounts, so local taxes are added at checkout
#6

Constant Contact

Best for: Small B2B businesses that run events and want phone support on the cheapest plan

4.1/5 on G2 (7,625 reviews, checked Nov 2026)
Visit constantcontact.com
Starting price$12/month (Lite, 500 contacts; $10.20/month prepaid for 12 months)
Free planNo — 60-day free trial

Constant Contact is the events pick in this list. Lite costs $12/month for 500 contacts and pairs standard email campaigns with event registration and promotion tools, plus phone support on every plan — a combination none of the other budget tools offers. The 60-day free trial is also the longest trial here, and prepaying a year cuts Lite to $10.20/month.

The price ladder is the steepest in this list. Lite caps sends at 10 times the contact count, and Lite has no segmentation or A/B testing, so growing teams move to Standard at $35/month quickly. Constant Contact fits event-led small businesses with small lists; anyone expecting fast list growth should price the next tier first.

What we like

  • Phone, chat and email support on every plan, including the $12 Lite tier
  • Built-in event registration and promotion tools that the other budget tools lack
  • Prepaying 12 months cuts every plan by 15%, taking Lite to $10.20/month

Watch out for

  • Lite caps monthly sends at 10 times the contact count, so a 500-contact list can send only 5,000 emails a month
  • No free plan, only a 60-day trial, and Lite has no segmentation or A/B testing
  • Lite allows only 1 user and a single automation template
#7

Zoho Campaigns

Best for: Teams already on Zoho CRM who want the cheapest paid email tool in this list

4.3/5 on G2 (1,044 reviews, checked Nov 2026)
Visit zoho.com
Starting price$4/month (Standard, 500 contacts; $3/month billed annually)
Free planYes — free plan (2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails/month)

Zoho Campaigns is the value pick in this list. Standard costs $4/month for 500 contacts with unlimited emails, and the free plan covers 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month — the most generous free tier here. For a team already on Zoho CRM, the native sync means sales and marketing share one contact record with no integration work.

The product is plain next to its rivals. Standard workflows are basic drag-and-drop sequences, contact scoring and dynamic content need Professional at $6/month, and G2 reviewers note limited template customization. Pick Zoho Campaigns when price and the Zoho ecosystem matter most; pick Mailchimp when design flexibility matters more.

What we like

  • Lowest starting price here at $4/month, with unlimited emails on both paid plans
  • Free plan covers 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month with 5 users
  • Syncs natively with Zoho CRM, so sales and marketing share one contact record

Watch out for

  • Standard has only basic drag-and-drop workflows; scoring and dynamic content need Professional
  • Template customization is limited next to Mailchimp and Brevo, per G2 reviewers
  • Paid plans are priced by contact count, so the bill rises with every tier even though sends are unlimited

The best b2b email marketing software is the one that fits how your team actually sells: HubSpot wins when email and the CRM are one system, ActiveCampaign wins when automation does the follow-up, and Zoho Campaigns wins when the budget is tight. This list is sorted by fit for the most common B2B buyer — a small team that needs campaigns, basic automation and a CRM connection — not by brand size.

Every tool below bills differently, and that is the whole story of this category. HubSpot charges per seat and per contact, ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp charge per contact, Brevo charges per email sent, and Zoho Campaigns charges per contact with unlimited sends. The starting prices look close; the bills at 5,000 contacts do not.

How to choose the best b2b email marketing software

  • Name the billing unit first. Seats, contacts or sends — the unit decides whether growth makes the tool expensive. Per-contact pricing punishes list growth; per-seat pricing punishes team growth. Send-based pricing punishes frequent mailing, so a team that mails daily pays far more than a team that mails monthly on the same plan.
  • Count your contacts honestly. Every entry price here holds only at a small band: 500 contacts for Zoho, Brevo, Mailchimp and Constant Contact, 1,000 for ActiveCampaign and GetResponse, and 1,000 marketing contacts per HubSpot seat. Count unsubscribed and inactive contacts too, because Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign bill for them, and clean the list before you price anything.
  • Check what automation the entry plan includes. Brevo Starter has none, Mailchimp Essentials caps flows at 4 steps, and GetResponse Starter allows one workflow. Real nurture sequences often need the next tier, so the plan that includes your workflow is the real starting price, not the cheapest card on the page.
  • Check the free plan before you pay. Zoho covers 2,000 contacts free and Brevo stores 100,000 contacts free, so a small list may cost nothing for months. Read the free plan's send cap and campaign limit, though: Zoho's free plan allows only 3 campaigns a month, which is not enough for a weekly newsletter.
  • Look at the CRM connection. B2B email only works when sales sees the opens and clicks. HubSpot and Zoho Campaigns are native to their CRMs; the rest connect through integrations. Ask whether opens, clicks and form fills sync back to the contact record automatically, or whether someone has to export and import them by hand.
  • Test deliverability on a trial. Every tool here offers a free plan or a trial of 14 to 60 days. Send your real newsletter to a small segment first and check the open rate before migrating the full list. A tool that lands in spam at your volume is expensive at any price.

Pricing: what you will actually pay

Take a 500-contact list mailed four times a month — 2,000 emails. At the entry tier, Zoho Campaigns Standard costs $4/month, Brevo Starter $9/month for 5,000 emails, Constant Contact Lite $12/month, Mailchimp Essentials $13/month, ActiveCampaign Starter $19/month on monthly billing, GetResponse Starter $19/month, and HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter $20/month per seat. Over a year, that is $48 for Zoho, $108 for Brevo, $144 for Constant Contact, $156 for Mailchimp, $228 for ActiveCampaign or GetResponse on monthly billing, and $240 per seat for HubSpot.

Now grow the list to 5,000 contacts. The picture changes completely: Brevo Starter costs $32/month at the 20,000-email tier, Zoho Campaigns Standard costs $31/month, Mailchimp Essentials costs $75/month, Constant Contact Lite costs $80/month, and HubSpot Starter costs about $220/month for one seat — $20 for the seat plus $200 for four extra 1,000-contact blocks at $50 each. ActiveCampaign and GetResponse also rise steeply with list size, so check their pricing pages at your exact contact count before budgeting. The lesson is simple: the cheapest entry price is rarely the cheapest bill at 5,000 contacts.

Annual billing softens the bill, but not evenly. Brevo takes 10% off, bringing Starter to $8.08/month; GetResponse's annual price brings Starter to $15.58/month (the standard 18% discount; a promotional rate of $13.24/month is currently shown); Constant Contact takes 15% off a 12-month prepay, bringing Lite to $10.20/month; and Zoho Campaigns takes 25% off, bringing Standard to $3/month. Mailchimp shows no annual rate for Essentials at small list sizes, and ActiveCampaign's $15/month Starter figure is already the annual-billing rate, with monthly billing at $19. HubSpot's $7/month per seat figure is a new-customer promotion, not an annual discount, so budget against the $20 list price once the promotion ends.

Bar chart of starting prices billed monthly: Zoho Campaigns $4, Brevo $9, Constant Contact $12, Mailchimp $13, ActiveCampaign and GetResponse $19, HubSpot $20 per seat
Starting prices, billed monthly. Annual billing is lower for most tools — the comparison table at the top shows the annual figure.

Know the difference: email marketing vs marketing automation

Buyers confuse these two terms, and vendors encourage it. Email marketing is sending campaigns to a list: a newsletter, a product announcement, a monthly digest. Marketing automation is sending the right email because a contact did something: they downloaded a white paper, visited the pricing page twice, or went quiet for 30 days. The first is a broadcast; the second is a reaction.

Every tool in this list does both, but not on every plan. Brevo Starter sends campaigns and has no automation at all. Mailchimp Essentials runs flows of up to 4 steps — enough for a welcome series, not for a full nurture track. GetResponse Starter allows one custom workflow, so a team running welcome, nurture and re-engagement sequences at once needs the Marketer plan. HubSpot Starter automates with basic if/then rules; lead scoring and custom workflows wait for Professional.

If your B2B motion is mostly a monthly newsletter to existing customers, email marketing is enough and the cheapest tool wins. If leads come from content downloads and need weeks of follow-up before sales calls, automation is the product you are buying, and the plan that includes it is the real starting price.

There is a third thing B2B buyers should check, and it is neither campaigns nor automation: lead scoring and handoff. A download should raise a contact's score, a pricing-page visit should alert sales, and a cold lead should drop back into nurture without anyone remembering to move it. HubSpot does this natively because the CRM is the product. ActiveCampaign does it with its CRM and scoring on the higher plans. The budget tools mostly do not: they send the email and leave the follow-up to a human. That gap is invisible in a feature table and obvious in the first month of use.

Matrix showing what each entry plan includes: daily automation, free plan, AI writing help and white-label reporting
What the entry plan includes, checked November 4, 2026. A dash means the feature is not included on the entry plan.

Quick comparison: tool type by need

BuyerBest pickWhy
B2B team on HubSpot CRMHubSpot Marketing HubEmail and sales share one record, from $20/month per seat
Growing team that needs automationActiveCampaignVisual workflows and a CRM from $15/month billed annually
Big list, small budgetBrevo$9/month for 5,000 emails, free plan stores 100,000 contacts
Simplest tool with supportMailchimpTemplates and 24/7 support from $13/month
Email plus webinars and funnelsGetResponseUnlimited sends and bundled webinars from $19/month
Event-led small businessConstant ContactEvent tools and phone support from $12/month
Zoho shop on a budgetZoho CampaignsUnlimited sends from $4/month, free to 2,000 contacts

How we chose

We checked each vendor's own pricing page on November 4, 2026 and recorded the starting price exactly as shown, including the billing unit and the contact band it applies to. Ratings come from G2, with review counts shown; the counts rest on G2 pages crawled in the last two weeks rather than same-day opens. Two disclosures: HubSpot's $7/month per seat figure is a new-customer promotion against a $20 list price, and Zoho Campaigns' pricing page shows euro figures alongside US dollars, so its $4 and $6 figures match the euro amounts on the page. The 5,000-contact step prices in the worked example were cross-checked against independent reads of the vendors' pricing pages, since the vendor pages show them only through their contact selectors. We ranked the tools by fit for the most common buyer — a small B2B team that needs campaigns, basic automation and a CRM connection — not by brand size. No vendor paid for a place in this list, and none of the links here are affiliate links.

Before you send your first campaign, tag every link with UTM parameters using the free UTM builder so you can see in analytics which emails actually drive signups. And if email is only one part of your growth problem, our SEO audit service checks whether search is bringing you the leads your emails are meant to convert.

What to do next

Start with the decision path above: name your billing unit, count your contacts, and check what automation the entry plan really includes. Then take the free plan or trial of your top pick and send your real newsletter to your most engaged segment first. If the open rate holds and the workflow does what you need, migrate the full list. Once your tools are in place, find out what's holding your rankings back.

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Sources we checked (14)
Shamim

Shamim

Founder of SerpAstra

A full-stack SEO and digital marketer who spends most days on Local SEO for dental practices, AI search visibility and lead generation.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best B2B email marketing software in 2026?

HubSpot Marketing Hub is the best fit for B2B teams already on HubSpot CRM, from $20/month per seat. ActiveCampaign is the best automation pick, from $15/month billed annually. On a tight budget, Zoho Campaigns starts at $4/month and Brevo at $9/month, and both have usable free plans.

How much does B2B email marketing software cost?

Entry prices run from $4 to $20 a month: Zoho Campaigns $4, Brevo $9, Constant Contact $12, Mailchimp $13, ActiveCampaign and GetResponse $19, and HubSpot $20 per seat. The entry price only holds at a small list size, so check what the same plan costs at 5,000 contacts before you commit.

Is there a free B2B email marketing tool?

Yes. Zoho Campaigns is free up to 2,000 contacts, Brevo stores 100,000 contacts free with 300 emails a day, and Mailchimp, GetResponse and HubSpot all have free plans with real sending limits. Free plans cover newsletters well, but automation usually starts on a paid plan.

What is the difference between email marketing and marketing automation?

Email marketing sends campaigns to a list, usually by hand or on a schedule. Marketing automation sends the right email when a contact does something, like downloading a guide or visiting a pricing page. The tools in this list all do both, but Brevo Starter has no automation at all, so check the plan before you buy.

Does HubSpot charge per seat or per contact?

Both. Marketing Hub Starter costs $20/month per seat and includes 1,000 marketing contacts, with extra contacts billed in 1,000-contact blocks at $50/month. A team of three with 5,000 contacts pays far more than the headline $20, which is why HubSpot is the most expensive tool here at real list sizes.

Can I switch email tools without losing my list?

Yes. Export your contacts as a CSV file from the old tool, including custom fields and tags, then import it into the new one and re-check consent records. Expect a short warm-up period: send to your most engaged contacts first so the new sender reputation builds before you mail the full list.

What should I check before paying for email marketing software?

Four things: what unit the price follows, contacts, seats or sends; what the plan costs at your real list size; whether automation is included or gated to a higher plan; and what the free plan actually allows. All four vary widely across this list, and the pricing section above shows the worked example.

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