10 Best Email Marketing Software for Affiliate Marketing in 2026, Compared
The 10 best email marketing software for affiliate marketing, compared on price, free plans and affiliate-link rules, with real prices checked in 2026.
Shamim Mia, Founder, SerpAstraLast verified November 4, 202616 min readWe compare pricing pages, documentation and public reviews. We never accept payment for rankings.
Key takeaways
- GetResponse is the best all-round pick for affiliates: unlimited sends, funnels and webinars from $19/month ($15.58 billed annually), with no restriction on affiliate links.
- AWeber and Kit are the safest bets for creators: AWeber is explicitly affiliate-friendly with a 14-day free trial, and Kit's Creator Network pays you to cross-promote.
- The cheapest way in is Brevo or Moosend at $9/month — but Brevo caps contacts at 500 on Starter, and Moosend has no free plan.
- The single most important buying factor is the affiliate-link policy: Mailchimp, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign ban affiliate marketing as an industry, so read the fine print before you build a list on them.
- Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, cross-checked against independent trackers that read those pages in October 2026 and re-verified on November 4, 2026. Ratings are G2, with review counts shown.
On this page
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| GetResponse | Affiliate marketers who want email, landing pages, funnels and webinars in one account | $15.58/mo (annual) | Yes (500 contacts) |
| AWeber | Affiliate marketers who want a veteran, explicitly affiliate-friendly sender — trial only, no free plan | $12.50/mo (annual) | No (14-day trial) |
| Kit | Creators and bloggers who monetize a newsletter with affiliate recommendations and paid products | $33/mo (annual) | Yes (10,000 subs) |
| Brevo | Affiliates on a tight budget who send a lot of email to a small list | $8.08/mo (annual) | Yes (300/day) |
| MailerLite | Affiliates who want the cleanest editor and the lowest bill at 500 subscribers | $10.80/mo (annual) | Yes (250 subscribers) |
| ActiveCampaign | Affiliates who live in automation and want behavior-triggered sequences at scale | $15/mo (annual) | No (14-day trial) |
| Mailchimp | Affiliates with their own products who only occasionally recommend third-party tools | $13/mo | Yes (250 contacts) |
| Constant Contact | Beginners and small businesses who want phone support and simple broadcast email | $10.20/mo (annual) | No (trial only) |
| Moosend | Budget-conscious affiliates who want every feature for one flat price | $7/mo (annual) | No (30-day trial) |
| Drip | Affiliates who also run a store and want revenue-per-subscriber reporting | $39/mo | No (14-day trial) |
Make one of these tools?
We re-check this list every quarter. Send a correction, request a review, or ask about a clearly labeled sponsored spot.
Request a listingThe best email marketing software for affiliate marketing
GetResponse
Best for: Affiliate marketers who want email, landing pages, funnels and webinars in one account
GetResponse is the most complete affiliate toolkit in this list because the email is only the start: the same account builds landing pages, sales funnels, webinars and online courses, so a product review can go from email to checkout without a second subscription. Every paid plan includes unlimited sends, which matters when you mail a list three or four times a week.
The catch is the automation gate. Starter includes exactly one automation workflow, so a welcome series plus a post-purchase follow-up needs Marketer at $59 a month. Annual billing saves about 18% but is non-refundable, so try the 14-day trial on monthly billing first and only commit yearly once the funnels earn.
What we like
- Unlimited email sends on every paid plan, so a busy affiliate calendar never triggers overage fees
- The only tool here that bundles webinars, sales funnels and online courses with email — the whole affiliate funnel in one login
- No restriction on affiliate links in its terms — the most permissive policy in this list alongside Brevo
- Free plan covers 500 contacts and 2,500 emails a month with landing pages included
Watch out for
- Starter includes only one automation workflow; unlimited workflows start on Marketer ($59/month)
- Annual billing saves about 18% but is non-refundable if you cancel mid-term
- Prices rise steeply with list size — Starter is $54/month at 5,000 contacts
AWeber
Best for: Affiliate marketers who want a veteran, explicitly affiliate-friendly sender — trial only, no free plan
AWeber has sold email to affiliate marketers for more than 25 years, and it shows in the policy: affiliate links are explicitly welcome, support understands the business model, and a 14-day free trial lets you test the workflow before paying. It is the calmest place to start a list when your income depends on recommendations.
Lite is tightly capped — one list, three landing pages, three automations, three users — and sending stops at ten times your subscriber count a month. AWeber branding also stays on your emails until Plus. If you mail often or run several lists, budget for Plus at $30 a month, or pick a tool with unlimited sends.
What we like
- Explicitly affiliate-friendly — AWeber has served affiliate marketers for over 25 years and its support understands the model
- 14-day free trial with no credit card required, so you can test the affiliate workflow before paying
- Landing pages, signup forms and ecommerce tools included on every plan, with a 1% transaction fee on Lite
- 24/7 support on every plan
Watch out for
- Lite caps you at 1 email list, 3 landing pages, 3 automations and 3 users
- Sending is capped at 10x your subscriber count a month on Lite, so frequent mailers hit the ceiling fast
- AWeber branding stays on your emails until Plus ($30/month)
Kit
Best for: Creators and bloggers who monetize a newsletter with affiliate recommendations and paid products
Kit is built for creators who earn from recommendations. Tag-based segmentation and visual automations handle the welcome sequence, the product launch and the evergreen pitch, while the Creator Network and Paid Recommendations put your newsletter in front of other creators' audiences — and pay you to promote theirs. The free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers.
The price is the problem now. Creator rose from $29 to $39 a month in September 2025, and it counts every subscriber including the unengaged ones, so a cold list costs real money. Advanced A/B testing and subscriber scoring need Creator Pro at $79 a month. Kit earns its place when your list is your business; for a side-project newsletter it is expensive.
What we like
- Creator Network and Paid Recommendations let other creators promote your newsletter — and pay you to promote theirs
- Tag-based segmentation and visual automations built for creators who sell courses, ebooks and affiliate offers
- Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms
- No sending limits on any plan, and Kit Commerce sells digital products at 3.5% + 30c
Watch out for
- Creator jumped from $29 to $39 a month in September 2025 — the biggest recent price rise in this list
- Advanced A/B testing and subscriber scoring need Creator Pro ($79/month)
- The bill counts every subscriber including unengaged ones, so a cold list costs real money
Brevo
Best for: Affiliates on a tight budget who send a lot of email to a small list
Brevo is the cheapest way into this list: $9 a month for 5,000 emails, a free plan that sends 300 emails a day, and pricing by volume rather than contacts, so a big list mailed rarely stays cheap. Its acceptable use policy puts no restriction on affiliate links, and transactional email, SMS and WhatsApp live in the same account.
The low headline hides two catches. Starter stores only 500 contacts at the $9 tier, so a growing list pushes the price up even if you mail once a month, and Brevo's logo stays on your emails unless you pay $12 a month extra to remove it. Automation is also capped at 2,000 contacts on Starter. Count your contacts before you count the savings.
What we like
- Cheapest paid entry here — $9 a month for 5,000 emails — and the free plan sends 300 emails a day
- No restriction on affiliate links in its acceptable use policy, and the free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts
- Prices by emails sent, not contacts, so a large list mailed rarely stays cheap
- Transactional email, SMS and WhatsApp available from the same account
Watch out for
- Starter stores only 500 contacts at the $9 tier — a bigger list pushes the price up even if you mail rarely
- Brevo branding stays on Starter emails unless you pay $12 a month extra to remove it
- Automation is capped at 2,000 contacts on Starter, and A/B testing starts on Standard
MailerLite
Best for: Affiliates who want the cleanest editor and the lowest bill at 500 subscribers
MailerLite has the highest G2 score in this list, and the reason is simple: a clean drag-and-drop editor, honest pricing and support that answers fast. Comfort costs $12 a month for 500 subscribers and includes 50 automations, 10 landing pages and 5 digital products, and only active subscribers count toward your tier.
The affiliate rules need care. Links are allowed when they are clearly presented as another company's offer and part of your own content, but affiliate marketing as a business model is banned, and new accounts can face manual review before sending. The free plan was also cut in June 2026 to 250 subscribers. Read section 13 of the terms before you commit.
What we like
- Highest G2 score in this list (4.6/5) — reviewers praise the editor, support and price in that order
- Affiliate links allowed when clearly presented as another company's offer and part of your own content
- Only active subscribers count toward your tier — unsubscribed and bounced contacts are free
- Comfort includes 50 automations, 10 landing pages and 5 digital products for $12 a month
Watch out for
- Free plan was cut in June 2026 from 500 to 250 subscribers and from 12,000 to 2,500 emails a month
- Sends cap at 10x your subscriber tier on Comfort — a weekly newsletter plus automations can eat the allowance
- Strict approval process: new accounts with affiliate content can face manual review before sending
ActiveCampaign
Best for: Affiliates who live in automation and want behavior-triggered sequences at scale
ActiveCampaign is the automation engine of this list: more than 900 triggers, conditional logic, site tracking and a built-in CRM from Plus upward, so an affiliate can trigger a pitch when a subscriber clicks a review link twice and buys nothing. Starter already includes multi-step automation for $15 a month billed annually.
The limits bite early. Starter caps each automation at five actions with no branching, and accounts created after November 2025 are billed for every contact including unsubscribed and bounced ones. AI, SMS and transactional email are paid add-ons that can lift the real bill well above the plan price. Buy Plus if automation is the point.
What we like
- The deepest automation in this list — 900+ triggers, conditional logic and a built-in CRM from Plus up
- Starter already includes multi-step automation, site tracking and predictive sending basics
- Affiliate links allowed when they are not the main point of the message, per its help pages
- 14,699 G2 reviews at 4.4/5 — the most-reviewed tool here by a wide margin
Watch out for
- No free plan, and Starter caps each automation at 5 actions with no branching
- Accounts created after November 3, 2025 are billed for every contact, including unsubscribed and bounced ones
- AI, SMS and transactional email are paid add-ons that lift the real bill well above the plan price
Mailchimp
Best for: Affiliates with their own products who only occasionally recommend third-party tools
Mailchimp is the best-known name here, with the most polished builder, the largest template library and more than 250 integrations. Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts and includes A/B testing, multi-user seats and customer journey automation, and the free plan covers 250 contacts for a brand-new list.
The policy is the reason it sits seventh. Mailchimp's acceptable use policy lists affiliate marketing as a prohibited industry; its help pages say links are usually fine when they are not the main point of the message, but accounts built only around affiliate offers get shut down. It also bills for unsubscribed contacts and its prices climb steeply as the list grows.
What we like
- The most polished builder and template library here, with strong analytics and 250+ integrations
- Essentials includes A/B testing, multi-user seats and customer journey automation from $13 a month
- Free plan is genuinely usable for a brand-new list, with landing pages and signup forms included
Watch out for
- Its acceptable use policy lists affiliate marketing as a prohibited industry — links are usually fine only when they are not the main point of the message
- Free plan was cut in February 2026 to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, and support ends after 30 days
- Bills for every contact including unsubscribed ones, and prices climb steeply — Standard is $135 a month at 10,000 contacts
Constant Contact
Best for: Beginners and small businesses who want phone support and simple broadcast email
Constant Contact is the easiest tool in this list to learn: a drag-and-drop editor, live one-to-one onboarding and phone support on the $12 Lite plan, plus an AI copy generator, social posting and event marketing tools in the same subscription. It does not bill for unsubscribed contacts, which keeps the bill honest.
The price curve is the catch. There is no free plan since June 2025, and Lite jumps from $12 to $30 a month the moment you pass 500 contacts — a 150% rise for one extra subscriber. Lite also allows only single-step automation and one user, so real automation starts on Standard at $35 a month. Fine for a small, simple list; expensive once it grows.
What we like
- The simplest tool in this list to learn — drag-and-drop editor, live 1:1 onboarding and phone support on Lite
- Lite includes an AI copy generator, social posting and event marketing tools for $12 a month
- Does not bill for unsubscribed contacts, unlike Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign
Watch out for
- No free plan since June 2025 — only a trial — and Lite jumps from $12 to $30 a month the moment you pass 500 contacts
- Lite allows only single-step automation and 1 user; real automation starts on Standard ($35/month)
- Send cap of 10x your contact count, with overages billed at $0.002 per email
Moosend
Best for: Budget-conscious affiliates who want every feature for one flat price
Moosend keeps pricing simple in a way no other tool here does: one paid plan, every feature, priced only by contacts. Pro starts at $9 a month for 500 contacts and includes unlimited sends, automation workflows, landing pages, A/B testing and analytics, with a 30-day trial that needs no credit card.
The trade-off is depth. The automation builder handles basic drip campaigns but lacks complex branching, engagement-based waits and advanced behavioral triggers, and the template library is smaller than the bigger names. There is no free plan at all. Moosend is the right pick when the budget is fixed and the campaigns are simple.
What we like
- One plan, every feature: unlimited sends, automation, landing pages and A/B testing from $9 a month
- Cheapest annual entry here at $7 a month, with a 30-day trial that needs no credit card
- Unlimited sends on every tier, so mailing frequency never changes the bill
Watch out for
- No free plan — the 30-day trial is the only free taste
- Automation builder is functional but basic: no complex branching or engagement-based waits
- Smaller template library than the bigger names, and reporting stays basic at larger list sizes
Drip
Best for: Affiliates who also run a store and want revenue-per-subscriber reporting
Drip is an ecommerce CRM disguised as email software, and that is exactly why affiliates who also sell products like it: revenue-per-person reporting ties every subscriber to actual sales, and the visual workflow builder designs sequences around browsing, abandoning and buying. Every plan includes unlimited sends and all features from $39 a month.
It is the priciest way in for a non-suite tool, with no free plan and no annual discount, and half the features sit idle if you have no store data. SMS needs the Pro plan from $59 a month. Drip earns its $39 when purchase data drives your emails; for a pure newsletter, the cheaper tools do the same job.
What we like
- Every feature on every plan — unlimited sends, automation, segmentation and reporting from $39 a month
- Revenue-per-person reporting ties each subscriber to actual sales, which is exactly what affiliates need to prove
- Visual workflow builder with up to 50 workflows and deep Shopify and WooCommerce integrations
Watch out for
- Highest starting price in this list for a non-suite tool, and there is no free plan or annual discount
- Built for stores: if you have no purchase data, half the features sit idle
- SMS sending needs the Pro plan from $59 a month
What email marketing software actually does
The best email marketing software for affiliate marketing does two jobs at once: it delivers your emails reliably, and it keeps your account in good standing with the company sending them. That second job is the one most buyers miss. An affiliate list lives or dies on two things — whether the emails reach the inbox, and whether the vendor's acceptable use policy allows the way you earn. Get those two wrong and the cheapest tool becomes the most expensive mistake.
The money in email is real. Litmus's State of Email survey puts the average return at $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing — the highest return of any digital channel. For an affiliate, that return comes from the list itself: a welcome sequence that builds trust, a review email that recommends a product, and a follow-up that answers objections. The tool's job is to automate that sequence, segment the people who click from the people who never open, and report which email actually produced the sale.
We sorted the 10 tools below by fit for the most common affiliate buyer: someone building a list around honest recommendations, not blasting offers. Affiliate-friendly policy comes first, then automation depth, then price — because a $9 tool that suspends your account costs more than a $39 tool that does not.
Free plans first
If your list is new, you may not need to pay at all. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms, and Brevo sends 300 emails a day free while storing up to 100,000 contacts. AWeber has no free plan — only a 14-day trial — so its $15 Lite plan is the entry point. GetResponse, MailerLite and Mailchimp all have smaller free plans too — 500, 250 and 250 contacts respectively.
Free plans are honest products, not demos, but they cap out fast. The moment you mail weekly to a few hundred people, the send caps bite: MailerLite's free plan allows 2,500 emails a month, and Mailchimp's allows 500. A $9–$12 paid plan is cheaper than the time you lose working around a cap, and the paid plans are where the automation lives. Start free, upgrade when the list — or the send volume — outgrows the tier.
Affiliate-friendly automation
The three tools that welcome affiliates most openly are also three of the strongest on automation. GetResponse gives you unlimited sends plus funnels and webinars, AWeber pairs an explicitly affiliate-friendly policy with 24/7 support, and Kit adds a Creator Network that grows your list while you sleep. If your income depends on recommendations, start your shortlist here.
Automation is what turns a list into income. The pattern is the same on every tool: a welcome sequence that delivers the lead magnet and sets expectations, a review email that recommends one product with a clear disclosure, and a follow-up that answers the objections people reply with. The tools that do this well — GetResponse, Kit and ActiveCampaign — let you trigger the next email on a click, a purchase or a missed open, instead of blasting the same message to everyone.
Budget picks and all-in-one suites
If the budget is fixed, Brevo and Moosend both start at $9 a month, and MailerLite's Comfort plan is $12. Brevo prices by emails sent rather than contacts, which suits a large list mailed rarely; Moosend charges one flat price for every feature; MailerLite counts only active subscribers, so unsubscribed and bounced contacts never appear on the bill. All three allow affiliate links, with MailerLite adding a condition on how they are presented.
The suites sit above them. ActiveCampaign is the deepest automation engine here, Drip ties every subscriber to revenue, and Constant Contact is the easiest to learn with phone support on the entry plan. Mailchimp is the best-known name and the most polished builder — but its policy lists affiliate marketing as a prohibited industry, which is why it sits seventh despite the brand. If you also need the search side of the business, our guide to the best SEO tools for affiliate marketing covers the other half of the funnel.
The policy trap: affiliate links are not affiliate marketing
Here is the distinction that saves accounts. Mailchimp, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign all list "affiliate marketing" among prohibited content in their acceptable use policies — and many guides stop there and call them banned. Their own help pages say something narrower: affiliate links are usually fine when they are not the main point of the message, the message is not sent only for another company's product, and the link is clearly presented as an offer from someone else. Brevo and GetResponse go further and put no restriction on affiliate links at all.
The practical rule follows from that. Build a newsletter people would read even without the links, disclose the affiliate relationship plainly, and link to your own review page rather than the raw affiliate URL whenever you can. An account that exists only to blast offers gets shut down on every tool in this list; a real newsletter that occasionally recommends a product does not.
How to choose the best email marketing software for affiliate marketing
- Read the policy before the pricing page. If your list exists to recommend products, pick a tool whose terms welcome that — GetResponse, AWeber, Brevo or Kit. The policy section above explains the exact distinction.
- Count your subscribers honestly. The entry price covers 500 contacts on most tools, 1,000 on GetResponse and ActiveCampaign, and 2,500 people on Drip. Price the plan at your real list size, not the headline.
- Check what counts as a subscriber. MailerLite charges only for active subscribers; Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign bill for unsubscribed and bounced contacts too. A list with 30% dead addresses costs 30% more on the wrong tool.
- Match the automation to your sequence. One welcome series needs one workflow (GetResponse Starter covers it); behavior-triggered pitches need branching (ActiveCampaign Plus or Drip).
- Try before you pay. Every tool in this list has a free plan or a free trial. Send your real welcome sequence for a week and check the numbers — deliverability, opens and clicks — before you commit. Before you publish the landing page your emails link to, run your titles through the free SERP snippet preview tool so the page looks right in search too.
Email marketing software for affiliate marketing pricing: what you will actually pay
Take an affiliate with a 500-contact list who mails weekly for a year. At the entry tier, Moosend Pro costs $9 a month billed monthly, or $7 a month billed annually — $108 a year monthly, $84 a year annual. Brevo Starter costs $9 a month, or $8.08 billed annually — $108 a year monthly, $96.96 a year annual. MailerLite Comfort costs $12 a month, or $10.80 billed annually — $144 a year monthly, $129.60 a year annual. Constant Contact Lite costs $12 a month, or $10.20 billed annually — $144 a year monthly, $122.40 a year annual.
The middle of the list costs more but adds automation. AWeber Lite costs $15 a month, or $12.50 billed annually — $180 a year monthly, $150 a year annual. GetResponse Starter and ActiveCampaign Starter both cost $19 a month billed monthly; GetResponse drops to $15.58 a month billed annually ($186.96 a year) and ActiveCampaign to $15 a month ($180 a year). Mailchimp Essentials costs $13 a month with no annual discount published, so $156 a year either way.
At the top, Kit Creator costs $39 a month, or $33 billed annually — $468 a year monthly, $396 a year annual — and Drip costs $39 a month with no annual rate published, so $468 a year. The same year of email costs $84 at the cheap end and $468 at the dear end — a $384 gap that comes from automation depth and list size, not from the sending itself.
Two costs sit outside those numbers. First, the contact cap: Brevo's $9 Starter stores only 500 contacts, and Constant Contact's Lite jumps from $12 to $30 a month the moment you pass 500 — so price the plan at your real list size. Second, the extras: Brevo charges $12 a month extra to remove its branding from Starter emails, and GetResponse Starter includes only one automation workflow, so a welcome series plus a follow-up needs Marketer at $59 a month. Annual billing saves real money where it exists — $48 a year on ActiveCampaign, $41.04 on GetResponse, $72 on Kit — but Drip publishes no annual rate and Mailchimp publishes no annual discount, so there is nothing to save there.
Know the difference: affiliate links vs affiliate marketing as a business model
The confusion in this category is between two things that share the word "affiliate". An affiliate link is a single link inside an email — a recommendation in a newsletter that also carries your own content. Affiliate marketing as a business model is a list that exists to send offers: the emails are the offers, and there is no newsletter underneath. The tools in this list treat those two things very differently, and mixing them up is how accounts get suspended.
Three tools ban the business model while tolerating the link. Mailchimp, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign all list affiliate marketing among prohibited content in their acceptable use policies, but their help pages say affiliate links are usually fine when they are not the main point of the message and the message is not sent only for another company's product. MailerLite adds that the link must be clearly presented as another company's offer and part of your own content. On these tools, a genuine newsletter that occasionally recommends a product is fine; a list that exists only to blast offers is not.
Two tools draw no line at all. Brevo and GetResponse put no restriction on affiliate links in their acceptable use policies, and AWeber and Kit go further still — AWeber has served affiliate marketers explicitly for over 25 years, and Kit is built for creators who earn from recommendations. If your list exists to recommend products, start with one of these four and read the policy of the other three before you build on them.
Quick comparison: tool type by need
| Buyer | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New affiliate, first list | AWeber | Explicitly affiliate-friendly, 14-day trial, 24/7 support |
| Creator monetizing a newsletter | Kit | Creator Network, paid recommendations, free to 10,000 subscribers |
| Full funnel in one account | GetResponse | Unlimited sends, funnels, webinars and courses from $19/month |
| Tightest budget | Brevo or Moosend | Both from $9/month; Brevo prices by sends, Moosend is flat-rate |
| Deepest automation | ActiveCampaign | 900+ triggers and a CRM from $15/month billed annually |
| Store owner tracking revenue | Drip | Revenue-per-person reporting, every feature from $39/month |
Mistakes to avoid
- Building an affiliate-only list on a tool that bans it. Mailchimp, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign ban affiliate marketing as a business model. A list that exists only to blast offers gets shut down; a genuine newsletter with occasional links does not.
- Comparing monthly prices without checking billing. The annual price is usually 10–20% lower, and Drip has no annual rate at all. Kit's Creator plan also jumped from $29 to $39 in September 2025 — old roundups still show the stale figure.
- Ignoring what counts as a contact. Brevo's $9 Starter stores only 500 contacts, and Constant Contact's Lite jumps from $12 to $30 the moment you pass 500. The contact cap decides the bill, not the headline price.
- Paying for a suite when you only need broadcasts. A $9–$12 tool sends newsletters just as well as a $39 suite. Buy automation depth only when you have a sequence that needs it.
- Forgetting the landing page. Your emails link somewhere, and if that page ranks badly the clicks are wasted. Our monthly SEO service covers the pages your emails point to, so the traffic you paid to build actually converts.
How we chose
We verified every price against the vendor's own pricing page, cross-checking two or more independent price trackers that read those pages between October 7 and October 29, 2026, and re-verified the figures on November 4, 2026. Ratings come from G2, with review counts shown; Kit's G2 page was opened on November 4, 2026, and the other G2 figures come from G2 pages crawled within the previous two weeks. The affiliate-policy claims come from the vendors' own terms and help pages, as compared in September 2026. We ranked the tools by fit for the most common buyer — an affiliate marketer building a list around honest recommendations — not by brand size. 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 decision path above: check the policy, count your subscribers, and pick the tool that fits your sequence. Then take the free plan or trial of your top pick and send your real welcome sequence for a week. If the emails land, the links track and the reports make sense, you have your tool. Once your tools are in place, find out what's holding your rankings back.
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Get a free audit→Sources we checked (22)
- GetResponse pricing — getresponse.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- GetResponse on G2 — 4.3/5, 1,124 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- AWeber pricing — aweber.com/pricing.htm (checked November 4, 2026)
- AWeber on G2 — 4.2/5, 649 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Kit pricing — kit.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Kit on G2 — 4.4/5, 236 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Brevo pricing — brevo.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Brevo on G2 — 4.5/5, 2,776 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- MailerLite pricing — mailerlite.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- MailerLite on G2 — 4.6/5, 1,114 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- ActiveCampaign pricing — activecampaign.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- ActiveCampaign on G2 — 4.4/5, 14,699 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Mailchimp pricing — mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Mailchimp on G2 — 4.3/5, 12,998 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Constant Contact pricing — constantcontact.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Constant Contact on G2 — 4.1/5, 7,399 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Moosend pricing — moosend.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Moosend on G2 — 4.6/5, 746 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Drip pricing — drip.com/pricing (checked November 4, 2026)
- Drip on G2 — 4.4/5, 482 reviews (checked November 4, 2026)
- Litmus State of Email — $36 return per $1 spent on email (checked November 4, 2026)
- Affiliate links in newsletters — seven tools' terms compared (checked November 4, 2026)
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 email marketing software for affiliate marketing?
GetResponse is the best all-round pick: unlimited sends, landing pages, funnels and webinars from $19 a month, with no restriction on affiliate links in its terms. AWeber is the safest budget choice with a 14-day trial before the $15 Lite plan, and Kit is the best pick for creators who monetize a newsletter. Avoid building an affiliate-only list on Mailchimp — its policy bans affiliate marketing as a business model.
Can I put affiliate links in my emails?
Yes, on most tools — with a condition. Brevo and GetResponse put no restriction on affiliate links at all. Mailchimp, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign ban affiliate marketing as a business model, but their help pages say links are fine when they are not the main point of the message. The safe rule everywhere: your own content first, the affiliate offer second, and never a list that exists only to blast offers.
Is there a free email marketing tool for affiliates?
Yes. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, Brevo sends 300 emails a day free, and GetResponse, MailerLite and Mailchimp have smaller free plans. AWeber has no free plan — only a 14-day trial — so budget $15 a month. Free plans cap sends or subscribers fast; once you mail weekly to a few hundred people, a $9–$12 paid plan costs less than the time lost to limits.
How much does email marketing software for affiliate marketing cost?
Between $9 and $39 a month at the entry level. Brevo and Moosend start at $9, MailerLite at $12, Constant Contact at $12, Mailchimp at $13, AWeber at $15, GetResponse and ActiveCampaign at $19, and Kit and Drip at $39. Every tool here prices by list size or send volume, so the entry price is only the starting rung — check the cost at your real list size.
Why do some email tools ban affiliate marketing?
Spam complaints. Lists built only around affiliate offers generate far more spam complaints and unsubscribes than normal newsletters, and that hurts the sender's deliverability for every other customer. That is why Mailchimp, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign ban affiliate marketing as a business model while still allowing the occasional affiliate link inside a genuine newsletter.
GetResponse vs AWeber: which is better for affiliates?
GetResponse if you want the whole funnel: unlimited sends, landing pages, sales funnels, webinars and courses in one account from $19 a month. AWeber if you want the lowest-risk start: an explicitly affiliate-friendly policy, a 14-day trial and 24/7 support, from $15 a month. Both welcome affiliate links; GetResponse does more, AWeber costs less to start.
Can I switch email tools later without losing my list?
Yes. Every tool in this list lets you export your subscribers as a CSV file, and most offer a free migration service — Kit, for example, rebuilds your forms, templates and automations for paid plans. The part that does not transfer is your sender reputation, so warm up the new account by mailing your most engaged subscribers first.
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