Free Email Marketing Plan Limits Compared (2026)
Short answer: Free email marketing plan limits vary far more than the word "free" suggests. As read on each provider's pricing page on September 28, 2026: Mailchimp Free allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month with no automation flows; MailerLite Free allows 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month and 3 automations; Kit's free Newsletter plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts but no automations; Sender Free allows 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month with automation; EmailOctopus Free allows 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month. Every one keeps its own branding on your emails.
The subscriber number is the one everyone compares. For a blog, it is often not the limit you hit first.
Why these numbers need a date on them
Free plans on email tools change, sometimes sharply. MailerLite's own help center (read on September 28, 2026) records that on June 16, 2026 its free plan went from 500 active subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails to 250 and 2,500. Comparison articles written before a change like that keep ranking with the old figures.
The figures below come only from each tool's own pricing page, read on September 28, 2026. If you are reading this months later, treat the table as a snapshot and check the source before you sign up. Nothing on this page is a ranking or a recommendation, and none of these tools were tested for this article: this is a documented comparison of what each provider says its free plan includes.
Free email marketing plan limits, side by side
| Tool (free plan) | Subscribers | Emails per month | Automation | Branding removable? | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Free | 250 contacts | 500 (max 250 a day) | Marketing automation flows not included | No | 1 |
| MailerLite Free | 250 | 2,500 | 3 automations | No | 2 |
| Kit Newsletter (free) | Up to 10,000 | Unlimited broadcasts | No automations | No | 1 |
| Sender Free | 2,500 | 15,000 | Included | No | 1 |
| EmailOctopus Free | 2,500 | 10,000 | Not stated on the pricing page as read | No | 1 |
Sources, each read on September 28, 2026: the Mailchimp marketing pricing page, the MailerLite pricing page, and the Kit, Sender and EmailOctopus pricing pages on their own sites.
The limit that bites first: sends per subscriber
This is the number nobody prints, and it is simple arithmetic from the table. Divide the monthly send allowance by the subscriber cap, and you get how many emails each subscriber can receive in a month if your list is full.
| Tool (free plan) | Sends divided by subscribers at the cap | What that means for a blog |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Free | 500 / 250 = 2 | Two emails a month to a full list. A weekly newsletter does not fit. |
| MailerLite Free | 2,500 / 250 = 10 | Weekly sends plus a welcome sequence fit comfortably. |
| Kit Newsletter | Unlimited broadcasts | The send count is not the constraint; the missing automation is. |
| Sender Free | 15,000 / 2,500 = 6 | Weekly sends fit with some room. |
| EmailOctopus Free | 10,000 / 2,500 = 4 | Roughly weekly to a full list, with little room for extras. |
A blogger who publishes weekly and wants to email every post needs four or five sends per subscriber a month, plus whatever the welcome emails use. On a plan where that ratio is low, the send cap arrives long before the subscriber cap. Mailchimp's pricing page is plain about what happens then: "Sending will be paused if contact or email send limit is exceeded."
Automation: the quiet dividing line
For a content site, automation mostly means one thing: a welcome sequence that sends new subscribers a few emails over their first week or two, without you pressing send each time. It is often the most useful email a small blog has.
On the pricing pages as read, the free plans split cleanly:
- Automation included: MailerLite Free (capped at 3 automations) and Sender Free.
- No automation: Mailchimp Free ("Marketing Automation Flows: Not included") and Kit's free Newsletter plan.
- Not stated: EmailOctopus's pricing page did not state an automation allowance for the free plan when read. Check inside the account before relying on it.
This changes how you read the generous numbers. Kit's free plan has by far the highest subscriber ceiling in the table, but without automations there is no welcome sequence. If a welcome sequence is the main reason you want email, the plan with the biggest subscriber number may not be the one that fits.
Other limits hiding in the small print
Subscribers, sends and automation get the headlines. These are the ones that tend to surprise people later.
Branding on every email
All five free plans keep the provider's branding in your emails, and none offers branding removal at the free level according to their pricing pages. For most blogs this is cosmetic. For a site that wants a clean, professional footer, it is a reason to pay sooner.
Seats
Four of the five allow one user. MailerLite Free lists 2 user seats. That matters if a co-writer or virtual assistant needs to send.
Forms and landing pages
The free plans cap these differently. MailerLite Free lists 3 signup forms and 1 landing page; EmailOctopus Free lists 1 landing page and 1 form; Kit's free plan lists forms and landing pages as unlimited; Sender Free lists up to 10 landing pages. If you plan different opt-in forms for different posts, a cap of one or three forms will be felt quickly.
Reports and history
EmailOctopus Free lists reports as available for 30 days. Kit's free plan excludes its engagement analytics. If you want to look back at how a send did months later, check how long the free tier keeps that data.
Support
Support at the free level is thin. Mailchimp lists email support for the first 30 days only, and MailerLite Free lists community support.
What the table cannot tell you
Honest limits of this comparison, because a table makes everything look equal:
- Deliverability is not on any pricing page. How reliably mail reaches inboxes depends on the provider's infrastructure, your authentication setup and your list. None of that is measurable from a pricing table.
- "Subscribers" is not defined the same way everywhere. MailerLite's help center says it counts each unique, active address and does not count unsubscribed or bounced contacts. Other tools publish their own definitions, and "contacts" and "subscribers" are not always the same thing. Read each tool's definition before assuming you have room.
- Free plans change. MailerLite's June 2026 revision is one example. A plan that fits today may not fit after the next revision, which is a reason to keep your list exportable.
That last point is worth acting on early. Keep a current export of your subscribers wherever you are, the same habit covered in how to export your data before a SaaS tool shuts down. A list you can move is a list that survives any plan change.
How to read these limits for your own blog
Instead of picking the largest number, work through three questions in order:
- How often will you email? Multiply your planned sends per month by your expected list size in six months. Compare that with each plan's monthly allowance, not just its subscriber cap.
- Do you need a welcome sequence? If yes, rule out the free plans without automation, however generous their other limits.
- How many forms do you need? One site-wide form fits almost every plan. A form per topic or per lead magnet does not.
If the answers point toward paying soon anyway, it is worth thinking about how you pay. Email tools also turn up as one-off lifetime deals, and whether that math works is a separate question covered in lifetime deal vs subscription break-even math. Sending infrastructure is also one of the categories where a lifetime price deserves extra caution, for reasons set out in which SaaS tools you should never buy lifetime.
FAQ
Which free email marketing plan has the most subscribers?
Among the five plans compared here, as read on their pricing pages on September 28, 2026, Kit's free Newsletter plan lists the highest ceiling at up to 10,000 subscribers. It does not include automations.
Does Mailchimp's free plan include automation?
According to Mailchimp's pricing page as read on September 28, 2026, marketing automation flows are not included on the Free plan, which allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
What happens if I go over a free plan's limit?
It depends on the tool. Mailchimp's pricing page says sending will be paused if the contact or email send limit is exceeded. Check each provider's own terms, since the behavior differs.
Can I remove the provider's branding on a free plan?
Not on any of the five free plans compared here. Each pricing page lists branding removal only on paid tiers.
Why do different websites list different free plan limits?
Because the plans change. MailerLite, for example, cut its free plan limits on June 16, 2026, and older articles still quote earlier figures. The provider's own pricing page is the only reliable source.
