10 Best Email Automation Tools in 2026 (Free and Paid, Compared)

Quick comparison

The best email automation tools

#1

ActiveCampaign

Best for: Small teams that want the deepest automation builder and CRM in one tool

Visit activecampaign.com

Starting price$19/month (Starter, 1,000 contacts, billed monthly; $15/month billed annually)

Free planNo — 14-day free trial

ActiveCampaign is the automation benchmark in this list, and the reason is the builder: visual multi-branch workflows with conditions, lead scoring, site tracking and CRM pipelines in one flow, from $19 a month for 1,000 contacts billed monthly ($15 billed annually). Starter covers the essentials — multi-step automation, more than 250 templates and A/B testing — and the depth is real, not a teaser.

The catch is the 5-action cap: each Starter automation stops after five steps, so a welcome series with branching needs Plus at $49 a month. The price also climbs with contacts, reaching $149 a month at 10,000. Buy ActiveCampaign when automation is the job; buy MailerLite or Brevo when a simple welcome sequence is enough.

What we like

• The strongest automation builder here: visual multi-branch workflows, lead scoring and site tracking
• Built-in CRM pipelines keep sales and email in one place, with no separate tool to buy
• AI automation and campaign builders are included on Starter, not held for a higher tier
• More than 950 integrations cover stores, forms and support tools

Watch out for

• Starter caps each automation at 5 actions — real multi-step flows need Plus at $49/month
• Price climbs steeply with contacts: Starter is $149/month at 10,000 contacts
• AI, SMS and transactional email are paid add-ons, not included

#2

Brevo

Best for: Small businesses with a large list that send modest volumes and want to pay by emails sent

Visit brevo.com

Starting price$9/month (Starter, 5,000 emails/month; automation starts on Standard at $18/month)

Free planYes — free plan (300 emails/day, up to 100,000 contacts)

Brevo is the cheapest way into this list, and it prices differently from every rival: by emails sent, not contacts stored. Starter costs $9 a month for 5,000 emails, and the free plan sends 300 emails a day with up to 100,000 contacts stored — by far the most generous free tier here. A big list you email rarely stays cheap on Brevo in a way it cannot on Mailchimp or Klaviyo.

The catch matters for this list: Starter has no automation at all, so the real automation price is Standard at $18 a month. Removing the Brevo logo costs another $9 a month on Starter, and each volume tier caps stored contacts. Buy Brevo when the list is large and the sending is light; buy ActiveCampaign when the workflows are the point.

What we like

• The cheapest entry here at $9/month, and the free plan sends 300 emails a day
• Bills by emails sent, not contacts stored, so a big list you email rarely stays cheap
• Built-in CRM plus SMS and WhatsApp on one platform, at no extra subscription
• Free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts, far more than any other free plan here

Watch out for

• Starter has no automation at all — automation starts on Standard at $18/month
• Removing the Brevo logo costs an extra $9/month on Starter
• Each volume tier caps stored contacts (500 contacts at the 5,000-email tier)

#3

Mailchimp

Best for: Small businesses that want the biggest template library and the widest integration list

Visit mailchimp.com

Starting price$13/month (Essentials, 500 contacts; no annual-billing discount on marketing plans)

Free planYes — free plan (250 contacts, 500 sends/month)

Mailchimp is the default recommendation for a reason: it is the easiest tool here to start with, the templates look good out of the box, and it connects to almost everything a small business already uses. Essentials costs $13 a month for 500 contacts and adds A/B testing, scheduling and pre-built templates, while the free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month for a brand-new list.

The automation is the weak spot. The free plan has none, and Essentials caps flows at four steps, so a real welcome series with branching needs Standard at $20 a month. The price also climbs with every contact band, reaching $75 a month at 5,000 contacts. Pick Mailchimp for the ecosystem and the easy start; pick ActiveCampaign when the flows get complicated.

What we like

• The largest template and integration ecosystem in this list — it connects to almost everything
• Cleanest onboarding for a first-time buyer, with a guided setup and 24/7 email and chat support
• Essentials includes A/B testing, scheduling and pre-built templates from $13/month
• Landing pages and popup forms are built in, so no extra tool is needed to grow the list

Watch out for

• Free plan excludes automations and A/B testing entirely
• Essentials caps automations at 4 steps — multi-step flows need Standard at $20/month
• Price climbs fast with contacts: Essentials is $75/month at 5,000 contacts

#4

MailerLite

Best for: Solo founders and small teams that want full automation on the free plan and the cheapest paid step

Visit mailerlite.com

Starting price$12/month (Comfort, up to 500 subscribers; $10.80/month billed annually)

Free planYes — free plan (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/month)

MailerLite is the value pick in this list because the free plan is a real automation tool, not a demo: up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with visual automations included, so a welcome sequence runs at $0. Comfort costs $12 a month for up to 500 subscribers and adds the AI writing assistant, dynamic emails, smart sending and unlimited templates.

The catches are the ceilings. The free plan was cut in June 2026 from 500 subscribers to 250, Comfort caps at 50 automations and 10 forms, and there is no lead scoring or native CRM. Choose MailerLite when the budget matters most and the automations are straightforward; choose ActiveCampaign when the sales team needs scoring and pipelines.

What we like

• The only free plan here with real automation included — welcome sequences work at $0
• Comfort is $12/month and adds the AI writing assistant, dynamic emails and smart sending
• Clean, fast editor with landing pages, a website builder and paid newsletters built in
• 10% off on yearly billing drops Comfort to $10.80/month

Watch out for

• Free plan stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month after the June 2026 cut
• Comfort caps at 50 automations and 10 forms — heavy senders need Power at $25/month
• No lead scoring and no native CRM, so sales-led teams will outgrow it

#5

Klaviyo

Best for: Online stores that want deep segmentation and predictive analytics tied to purchase data

Visit klaviyo.com

Starting price$20/month (Email plan, up to 500 active profiles; no annual discount)

Free planYes — free plan (250 active profiles, 500 sends/month)

Klaviyo is built for stores, and it shows in the flows: they trigger on what shoppers actually do — browse a product, abandon a cart, buy, then buy again — with predictive analytics and deep segmentation included on the base Email plan. The Email plan costs $20 a month for up to 500 active profiles, with 5,000 sends a month, and the free plan covers 250 profiles.

The price rises with every profile band, reaching $60 a month at 2,500 profiles and $150 at 10,000, and there is no annual discount to soften it. SMS is a separate paid add-on with unpublished Email+SMS prices. Pick Klaviyo when the store is the business; pick MailerLite or Brevo when the list is a newsletter, not a customer base.

What we like

• Predictive analytics and deep ecommerce segmentation are included on the base Email plan
• Flows trigger on real store behaviour: browse, abandon, buy and repeat purchase
• Free plan includes $5 of mobile message credit a month for testing SMS
• Integrates natively with Shopify, WooCommerce and the major store platforms

Watch out for

• No annual discount on self-serve plans — the monthly price is the price
• Price rises with every profile band: $60/month at 2,500 profiles, $150 at 10,000
• SMS is a separate paid add-on, and Email+SMS plan prices are not published

#6

HubSpot

Best for: B2B teams that want CRM, email automation and sales tools in one system

Visit hubspot.com

Starting price$20/month per seat (Marketing Hub Starter, billed monthly; $15/seat billed annually; $7/seat annual promo for new customers)

Free planYes — free plan (free CRM, 2,000 email sends/month with HubSpot branding)

HubSpot's strategy is the free CRM as a wedge: unlimited contacts with deal pipelines, basic marketing tools and reporting at no cost, with marketing, sales and service sharing one database. Marketing Hub Starter costs $20 per seat a month, or $15 billed annually, and adds email automation, landing pages and lead scoring for 1,000 marketing contacts. New customers can also find a $7-per-seat annual promo.

The cliff is the thing to plan for. Professional jumps to $890 a month with a mandatory $3,000 onboarding fee, and extra marketing contacts cost $50 a month per 1,000 on Starter. Buy HubSpot when the CRM is the centre of the business; buy ActiveCampaign when the automation matters more than the sales pipeline.

What we like

• Free CRM with unlimited contacts is the wedge — marketing, sales and service share one database
• Starter includes email automation, landing pages and lead scoring for $20 per seat
• The only tool here where the free plan genuinely covers a small team's first year
• Strongest reporting and attribution of the tools in this list, once you reach Professional

Watch out for

• Professional jumps to $890/month with a mandatory $3,000 onboarding fee — a steep cliff
• Extra marketing contacts cost $50/month per 1,000 on Starter
• Advanced automation, A/B testing and paid ad tracking wait for Professional

#7

Kit

Best for: Creators and newsletter writers who want visual automations and paid subscriptions built in

Visit kit.com

Starting price$39/month (Creator, billed monthly; $33/month billed annually)

Free planYes — free plan (up to 10,000 subscribers)

Kit is the creator pick, and the free plan is the reason: up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts at $0, which no other tool here comes close to. The visual automation builder is built for writers — tags, sequences and simple flows that stay out of the way — and paid newsletters and paid recommendations are built in, so the list can earn directly.

The paid step is the dearest in this list for a small list: Creator costs $39 a month, or $33 billed annually, and the emails are text-first, with no visual templates for retail-style design. The segmentation is also shallower than ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo. Pick Kit when the list is a newsletter audience; pick Klaviyo when it is a customer base.

What we like

• The biggest free plan here: up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts
• Visual automation builder is built for creators, with tags and sequences that stay simple
• Paid newsletters and paid recommendations are built in, so the list can earn directly
• Free migration and a clean, fast editor make switching painless

Watch out for

• Creator at $39/month is the dearest entry for a small list in this list
• No visual email templates — emails are text-first, which suits newsletters, not retail
• Shallow behavioural segmentation compared with ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo

#8

GetResponse

Best for: Small businesses that want email automation plus webinars and funnels in one subscription

Visit getresponse.com

Starting price$19/month (Starter, 1,000 contacts, billed monthly; $15.58/month billed annually)

Free planYes — free plan (500 contacts, limited; no automation)

GetResponse is the all-rounder in this list: email automation, webinars, landing pages and funnels in one subscription, from $19 a month for 1,000 contacts on monthly billing. Starter includes the AI email generator, autoresponders, a landing page builder and 3 user seats, with unlimited monthly sends — a real advantage over the send-capped rivals here.

The limit to watch is the single workflow: Starter allows only one custom automation workflow, so serious multi-flow setups need Marketer at $59 a month. The free plan covers 500 contacts but shows GetResponse branding and has no automation. Pick GetResponse when webinars are part of the plan; pick ActiveCampaign when the workflows are.

What we like

• Webinars are built into the same subscription — no separate webinar tool to buy
• AI email generator and autoresponders are included on Starter
• Landing page builder, signup forms and 3 user seats come with the entry plan
• Unlimited monthly sends on every paid plan, unlike the send-capped rivals

Watch out for

• Starter allows only one custom automation workflow — serious flows need Marketer at $59/month
• The free plan shows GetResponse branding and has no automation
• Prices rise with contacts: Starter is $54/month at 5,000 contacts

#9

AWeber

Best for: Bloggers and small publishers with steady lists who want simple automation and 24/7 support

Visit aweber.com

Starting price$15/month (Lite, 500 subscribers; $150/year billed annually)

Free planNo — 14-day free trial

AWeber has been sending email since 1998, and it shows in deliverability and reliability rather than flash. Lite costs $15 a month for 500 subscribers and includes the AI writing assistant, landing pages, 3 users and 3 automations, with 5,000 sends a month. Annual billing drops it to $150 a year, about $12.50 a month.

The caps are the thing to watch: 3 automations, 3 landing pages and 1 list on Lite, with split testing and behavioural triggers waiting for Plus at $30 a month. There is also no free plan on the main pricing page, only a 14-day trial. Pick AWeber when the list is steady and the support matters; pick MailerLite when the budget is tighter.

What we like

• Sending email since 1998 — deliverability and reliability are the long record here
• Lite includes the AI writing assistant, landing pages and 3 users for $15/month
• 24/7 human support is included on Lite, which most rivals reserve for higher tiers
• Annual billing drops Lite to $150 a year, about $12.50 a month

Watch out for

• Lite caps at 3 automations, 3 landing pages and 1 list — tight for a growing business
• No free plan on the main pricing page, only a 14-day trial
• Plus at $30/month is needed for split testing and behavioural triggers

#10

Drip

Best for: Online stores that want one simple price, unlimited sends and ecommerce workflows

Visit drip.com

Starting price$39/month (single plan, 1–2,500 people; no annual billing option)

Free planNo — 14-day free trial

Drip is an ecommerce CRM disguised as email software, and its pricing is the simplest in this list: one plan, every feature unlocked, priced only by list size. It costs $39 a month for 1 to 2,500 people, with unlimited email sends, dynamic segments and up to 50 workflows — the whole product, not a teaser tier, and the workflows trigger on browse, abandon, buy and repeat.

The price is also the floor: there is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and no annual billing option to cut the monthly figure. At 5,000 people it costs $89 a month and at 10,000 it costs $154. Pick Drip when the store is small and the workflows are the priority; pick Klaviyo when predictive analytics matters more than simple pricing.

What we like

• One plan with every feature unlocked — no tiers, no upgrade decisions, no gated automation
• Unlimited email sends at every list size, with up to 50 workflows on the entry band
• Workflows trigger on store behaviour: browse, abandon cart, purchase and repeat
• Free migration and personalised onboarding are included from day one

Watch out for

• No free plan and no cheap entry — $39/month is the floor, even for a tiny list
• No annual billing option, so there is no way to cut the monthly price
• SMS is not part of the channels the pricing page lists

The best email automation tools send the right email at the right moment without anyone pressing send: a welcome sequence when someone joins, a cart reminder when they leave, a win-back offer when they go quiet. We ranked the ten tools below by fit for the most common buyer — a small business that wants real automation without an enterprise bill — starting with the deepest automation and ending with the simplest ecommerce options, and every price was checked against the vendor's own pricing page on November 5, 2026.

How to choose the best email automation tools

• Count the automations on the entry plan first. Brevo Starter has none, Mailchimp Essentials caps flows at 4 steps, ActiveCampaign Starter at 5 actions, GetResponse Starter at 1 workflow and AWeber Lite at 3 automations. The cap you hit first is your real starting price.
• Check the triggers, not just the word "automation". A welcome email on signup is table stakes; the tools that earn their price trigger on behaviour — purchases, cart abandons, page visits and inactivity.
• Price the list you will have in a year, not today. Every tool here charges by contacts or sends, so a 500-subscriber list at $13 a month can cost $75 at 5,000. Move the slider to your twelve-month list size before you compare.
• Decide whether the CRM matters. HubSpot and ActiveCampaign keep contacts and deals in one database; MailerLite, Kit and Brevo do not have a real CRM, so sales-led teams will need a second tool.
• Check what is an add-on. SMS, transactional email, AI features and extra seats are billed on top of the plan price on several tools here — add them to the comparison before you buy.

Automation is one system in your stack, not the whole stack. If the business also needs to be found online, our guide to marketing automation platforms covers the wider picture. And when your automated emails go out, tag every link so you can see what worked — the free UTM builder tool builds clean campaign links in seconds.

Whatever you shortlist, try it with real data before you pay. The free plans and trials in this list are long enough to run one genuine automation — your welcome sequence, your subscribers, your products — and that test tells you more than any review can. Check two things in the trial: that the flow triggers when a contact acts, and that the reporting shows who opened, clicked and bought. Every tool here lets you export your contacts, so there is no reason to buy before you have tested the automation itself.

Email automation tools pricing: what you will actually pay

Take a small business with a 500-subscriber list that sends one email a week. On list prices, the subscription costs $9 a month on Brevo Starter, $12 on MailerLite Comfort, $13 on Mailchimp Essentials, $19 on ActiveCampaign Starter, $15 on AWeber Lite, $19 on GetResponse Starter, $20 on Klaviyo Email or HubSpot Starter, and $39 on Kit Creator or Drip. One of those numbers needs adjusting before it is real: Brevo Starter has no automation, so the real Brevo automation price is Standard at $18 a month.

Over a year, that is $108 on Brevo Starter or $216 on Brevo Standard, $144 on MailerLite Comfort billed monthly or about $130 billed annually, $156 on Mailchimp Essentials, $180 on ActiveCampaign Starter billed annually or AWeber Lite billed monthly, $228 on GetResponse Starter billed monthly or about $187 billed annually, $240 on Klaviyo Email or HubSpot Starter billed monthly, and $468 on Kit Creator or Drip billed monthly. The same 500 subscribers and the same weekly email cost $108 a year at the cheap end and $468 at the dear end — a $360 gap that comes entirely from automation depth and billing choices, not from features.

Three costs sit outside every number above. First, the list will grow: at 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Essentials costs $75 a month, GetResponse Starter $54 and ActiveCampaign Starter $149, so budget on the twelve-month list size. Second, SMS and transactional email are add-ons on several tools here, billed per message on top of the plan. Third, the onboarding: HubSpot Professional carries a mandatory $3,000 onboarding fee, and Drip, Kit and HubSpot all include free migration, which is worth real money if you are switching. If you run an ecommerce store rather than a general small business, the automation that matters most is purchase behaviour — see our guide to the best email marketing platforms.

Annual billing cuts the bill on most tools here: MailerLite Comfort drops from $144 to about $130 a year, ActiveCampaign Starter from $228 to $180, AWeber Lite from $180 to $150, GetResponse Starter from $228 to about $187, and Kit Creator from $468 to $396. Mailchimp publishes no annual discount on its marketing plans and Klaviyo has none on self-serve plans, so the monthly figure is the whole story there. One more cost to check before you commit: a second brand is a second subscription on every tool in this list, so an owner with two businesses pays double whatever the chart shows.

Know the difference: email automation vs an autoresponder

The confusion in this category is between one timed sequence and real automation. An autoresponder sends a fixed series of emails on a schedule after someone signs up — day one, day three, day seven — and every subscriber gets the same messages in the same order. Email automation reacts to behaviour: a cart abandon triggers a reminder, a purchase triggers a cross-sell, sixty days of silence triggers a win-back offer, and each subscriber follows a different path through the same workflow.

There is a second, quieter confusion: an email marketing tool is not a marketing automation platform. An email tool sends email and runs email workflows; a marketing automation platform adds lead scoring, CRM pipelines, multi-channel journeys and attribution across email, SMS and ads. ActiveCampaign and HubSpot sit on the platform side of that line, while MailerLite, Kit and Brevo are email tools with automation. Both are legitimate buys — the mistake is paying platform prices for email-tool needs, or buying an email tool and then discovering the sales team needs a CRM.

A third distinction worth knowing is the trigger list versus the workflow count. A tool can advertise "automation" while offering only three triggers and one workflow, as GetResponse Starter does, or while gating automation behind a higher tier, as Brevo Starter does. Before you buy, open the automation page and count three things: the triggers available, the workflows allowed, and the steps per workflow. Those three numbers decide what you can actually build.

Quick comparison: tool type by need

Mistakes to avoid

• Buying Brevo Starter expecting automation. Starter has no automation at all — it starts on Standard at $18 a month. If the welcome sequence is the reason you are buying, count Standard in the price from day one.
• Budgeting on the entry tier when the list will double. A 500-subscriber list at $13 a month becomes a 5,000-contact list at $75 on Mailchimp Essentials. Price the list you will have in twelve months.
• Ignoring the automation cap that bites first. Mailchimp Essentials stops at 4 flow steps, ActiveCampaign Starter at 5 actions, GetResponse Starter at 1 workflow and AWeber Lite at 3 automations. A cheap plan with a cap you hit in week two is not cheap.
• Paying per seat without counting the team. HubSpot Starter is $20 per seat a month, so a five-person team pays $100 a month before contacts. Count the seats before you compare it with a flat-priced tool.
• Forgetting the add-ons. SMS, transactional email and AI features are billed on top of the plan on several tools here. Add the credits and the seats to the comparison before you commit.

How we chose

We checked each vendor's own pricing page on November 5, 2026 and recorded the starting price exactly as shown, including the annual-billing figure where the page lists one, and we ranked the tools by fit for the most common buyer — a small business that wants real email automation without an enterprise bill — not by brand size. This list carries no review ratings because the G2 review pages could not be opened fresh on November 5, 2026, and we would rather show no rating than a stale or estimated one. No vendor paid for a place in this list, and none of the links here are affiliate links.

What to do next

Start with the free plan or trial of your top pick and build one real automation — a welcome sequence for new subscribers — before you pay for anything. Check that it triggers when a contact acts and that the reporting shows opens, clicks and sales. If the automation is sorted but new customers are not finding you, our monthly SEO service handles the visibility side — or compare platforms in our guide to B2B email marketing software. Once your tools are in place, find out what's holding your rankings back.

Sources we checked (10)

• ActiveCampaign pricing — activecampaign.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• Brevo pricing — brevo.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• Mailchimp pricing — mailchimp.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• MailerLite pricing — mailerlite.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• Klaviyo pricing — klaviyo.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• HubSpot Marketing Hub pricing — hubspot.com/pricing/marketing (checked November 5, 2026)
• Kit pricing — kit.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• GetResponse pricing — getresponse.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• AWeber pricing — aweber.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)
• Drip pricing — drip.com/pricing (checked November 5, 2026)