Short answer
MailerLite is our top pick for small businesses, scoring 89/100 when price and ease of use carry more weight. Paid plans start at $10.80/mo (Comfort, 500 subscribers, billed yearly ($12 monthly); $17.10 at 1,000).
This list uses the same tools and ratings as our main email marketing tools ranking, reweighted for teams of roughly 1 to 50 people: price and ease of use count for more, and enterprise depth counts for less. Tools that score 70 or higher on the small-business weights are included.
The reviews
Starting price$10.80/moComfort, 500 subscribers, billed yearly ($12 monthly); $17.10 at 1,000
Free trial / planFree plan (250 subscribers); 14-day trial
Main score85/100
MailerLite is an email marketing tool with an automation builder, landing pages, websites and signup forms. Comfort includes 50 automations and 3 seats; Power ($22.50 billed yearly at 500 subscribers) adds unlimited emails, automations and seats, multiple automation triggers and 24/7 live chat support.
Who it's best for
Small businesses, creators and lean marketing teams that want newsletters and automations without a steep learning curve.
Strengths
- Free plan with 3 automations and a landing page
- Low prices that scale gently with list size
- Easy to learn
Watch-outs
- Multiple automation triggers need Power
- Free plan locks campaigns above 250 subscribers
Skip it if: You need deep ecommerce data or a built-in sales CRM.
Read our full MailerLite review →
Starting price$8.08/moStarter, 5,000 emails a month, billed yearly ($9 monthly); Standard $16.17
Free trial / planFree plan (300 emails a day)
Main score83/100
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) combines email, SMS and transactional email, priced by monthly email volume rather than contacts. Standard adds unlimited multi-step automations, A/B testing, send-time optimization and a landing page, and removes the Brevo footer; Professional ($449.08 a month billed yearly) adds WhatsApp, 10 seats and phone support.
Who it's best for
Businesses with large lists that send a few campaigns a month and want marketing and transactional email in one place.
Strengths
- Priced by emails sent, not contacts
- Unlimited automations and A/B testing on Standard
- Free plan sends 300 emails a day
Watch-outs
- Starter has no automation or A/B testing
- Extra seats are a paid add-on on Standard; 10 included on Professional
- SMS credits sold separately
Skip it if: You need advanced ecommerce flows or a large team on a mid-priced plan.
Read our full Brevo review →
Starting price$33/moCreator, 1,000 subscribers, billed yearly ($390 a year)
Free trial / planFree plan (up to 10,000 subscribers); 14-day trial
Main score77/100
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is email marketing for creators. The free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms; Creator adds visual automations and sequences; Pro adds a newsletter referral system, deliverability reporting and advanced reporting.
Who it's best for
Creators, writers and solo businesses that grow and monetize a newsletter.
Strengths
- Free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers
- Paid newsletters and creator tools
- 14-day trial with no card
Watch-outs
- Automations and sequences need Creator
- Fewer B2B and ecommerce features
- Free plan has 1 user
Skip it if: You run B2B lead nurturing or an online store with complex flows.
Read our full Kit review →
Starting price$15/moStarter, 1,000 contacts, billed yearly; Plus $49, Pro $79
Free trial / plan14-day trial, no card needed
Main score84/100
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform with a multi-step automation builder and 950+ recipes. Starter caps automations at 5 actions each; Plus ($49 at 1,000 contacts billed yearly) removes the cap and adds landing pages and CRM features; Pro ($79) adds predictive sending and conditional content.
Who it's best for
B2B and B2C marketers who build multi-step journeys with branching, goals and lead scoring.
Strengths
- Most capable automation builder on this list
- 950+ automation recipes
- 14-day trial with no card
Watch-outs
- Starter limits automations to 5 actions each
- SMS and Pipelines are paid add-ons
- Steeper learning curve
Skip it if: You only send a monthly newsletter.
Read our full ActiveCampaign review →
Starting price$13/moEssentials, up to 500 contacts; $26.50 up to 1,500; Standard from $20
Free trial / planFree plan (250 contacts); 14-day trial
Main score79/100
Mailchimp is an email marketing platform from Intuit with a drag-and-drop builder, 300+ integrations and plans priced by contacts. Essentials allows automation flows of up to 4 steps; Standard adds up to 200 flows, predictive segments and generative AI; Premium starts at $350 a month.
Who it's best for
Small businesses and first-time email marketers who want a well-known tool with many integrations.
Strengths
- Polished editor and reports
- 300+ integrations
- 24/7 email and chat support on paid plans
Watch-outs
- Essentials limits automations to 4 steps
- Free plan has no automation flows and 250 contacts
- Costs more than MailerLite or Brevo at the same list size
Skip it if: Automation is central to your marketing and budget is tight.
Read our full Mailchimp review →
Starting price$20/moEmail, 500 active profiles, 5,000 emails a month; $30 at 1,000
Free trial / planFree plan (250 profiles, 500 emails a month)
Main score84/100
Klaviyo is a B2C marketing platform built on customer profiles that combine store, email and SMS data. Paid email plans are priced by active profiles, with 10 email sends per profile per month, and SMS, reviews and other products are billed on top.
Who it's best for
Online stores on Shopify, WooCommerce and similar platforms that want flows driven by purchase and browsing data.
Strengths
- Segments and flows built on real-time ecommerce data
- Predictive analytics on paid plans
- 350+ integrations
Watch-outs
- Price rises quickly with active profiles
- Email support on the free plan only for the first 60 days
- More than a B2B newsletter needs
Skip it if: You're a B2B company sending newsletters and lead nurture emails.
Read our full Klaviyo review →
How we weighted this list
| Criterion | Main ranking | Small business |
|---|
| Email builder & templates | 15% | 11% |
| Automation | 25% | 17% |
| Segmentation & personalization | 15% | 10% |
| Deliverability & reporting | 15% | 10% |
| Ease of use | 15% | 26% |
| Price & value | 15% | 26% |
FAQ
What are the best email marketing tools for small businesses?
MailerLite scores highest (89/100) once price and ease of use carry more weight, followed by Brevo, Kit.
How is this different from your main ranking?
Same tools and the same 0 to 5 ratings, but price and ease of use count for more, because small teams rarely have an admin or a big budget. The weights are in the table on this page. Brevo, Kit move into the top three as a result.
Which email marketing tools are cheapest for a small team?
See the starting prices in the comparison table; free plans and trials are listed next to them. Price the plan that covers your team size, not only the entry plan.
What should a small business look for?
A free plan or low entry price, quick setup without an admin, and the two or three features you need on day one. Avoid paying for enterprise controls you won't use yet.
Vettlo Editorial TeamResearched and written by the Vettlo editorial team using our methodology. Prices and plan details come from each vendor's public pricing page.