The 10 Best Email Marketing Software for 2023 [Free & Paid]

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How we wrote these reviews: We used testimonials and ratings from popular peer-to-peer review platforms G2 and Capterra to give an objective overview and help you find the best email marketing software for your business.

Businesses are always looking for better ways to find and communicate with their ideal customers. Email marketing makes this easy and effective, with an estimated return on investment of $36 for every $1 spent. 

Email marketing has advanced leaps and bounds in the last few years. It allows brands to not only send blast emails to their customers, but also collect subscribers, automate the communication, segment lists, and combine various channels to make it a full-featured solution for generating sales day after day.

But getting the most out of your email marketing means you’ll need to find the right email marketing software that can help you meet your goals. 

We tested the 10 most popular email marketing software to help you make an informed decision.

Download now: Why Choosing an Ecommerce-First Email Provider Matters

How to choose the best email software?

There are quite a few email service providers (ESPs) and CRMs out there. This can make it quite difficult to figure out which of these is the best fit for your business.

To help you decide, we looked at the following factors to analyze the email marketing software:

• Price. We consider various business sizes and needs, favoring email software that offer free-forever plans, free trials, or good bang for your buck.
• Ease of use. It’s 2023, and you shouldn’t need technical skills to use email marketing software. We’re favoring email software that allow both novice and experienced marketers to use the software with little to no problems
• Deliverability. It’s important that your emails land in your customers’ inboxes. We give higher priority to email software that have excellent email deliverability
• Integrations. You should be able to connect your tech stack with your email software, so the number and breadth of integrations is key.
• Customer support. You should be able to get timely help. In our review, we asses this based on ratings given on review platforms.

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Best email marketing software: comparison

Best forFree planCheapest planRating from usersOmnisendEcommerce stores of all sizes✅$16 for 6,000 emails/500 contactsG2: 4.6
Capterra: 4.7MoosendNew ecommerce storesps❌$9 for unlimited emails/500 contactsG2: 4.7
Capterra: 4.7DripExtensive automations❌$39 for unlimited emails/2,500 contactsG2: 4.4
Capterra: 4.4HubSpotSaaS businesses✅$45 for 5,000 emails/1,000 contactsG2: 4.4
Capterra: 4.5MailchimpSolopreneurs and startups✅$11 for 5,000 emails/50,000 contactsG2: 4.3
Capterra: 4.5MailerliteSmall ecommerce businesses✅$9 for unlimited emails/1,000 contactsG2: 4.7
Capterra: 4.7ActiveCampaignEmail marketing with built-in CRM integration❌$9 for unlimited emails/500 contactsG2: 4.6
Capterra: 4.6AWeberExtensive library of email templates✅$16.15 for unlimited emails/500 contactsG2: 4.2
Capterra: 4.4GetResponseB2B businesses✅$15.58 for unlimited emails/1,000 contactsG2: 4.2
Capterra: 4.2SendinblueBusinesses on a budget✅$25 for 20,000 emails/unlimited contactsG2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.6

Best email marketing software

Now let’s take a close look at each.

1. Omnisend — Best for ecommerce stores of all sizes

G2 rating: 4.6

Capterra rating: 4.7

Omnisend is an email & SMS marketing software that’s made to help ecommerce stores build customer loyalty and generate more sales. It has one-click integration with Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and more, meaning that not only is it easy to get started but also to sync data with the platform seamlessly.

Omnisend covers the entire on-site marketing funnel: from helping you collect subscribers with popups and landing pages, to engaging and activating them through email, SMS and push notifications. Use automated workflows like abandoned cart or welcome messages to get more sales in less time.

Key features:

• Ecommerce-focused email features, like recommended products, direct product listings, unique discount codes, and much more
• Branding automatically pulled from your store and applied to your email and popup templates
• Popups, signup forms, and landing pages that are pre-loaded with seasonal and goal-oriented templates
• Flexible segmentation that lets you target any customers, so you can communicate relevant messages
• Customer insights so you can understand what’s working, what’s not, and suggestions on how to improve

Why choose Omnisend?

Omnisend is set up to make it easy for ecommerce brands to get and keep their customers, with loads of high-converting email, popup, workflow and segmentation templates. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why it’s a top-rated email marketing solution, with more than 4,000 five-star reviews on Shopify.

Pros & cons

ProsConsAward-winning 24/7 supportFree plan is limited to 500 emails/monthFull-featured ecommerce email marketingFeatured are tailored to ecommerce only

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Standard: $16+ per month
• Pro: $59+ per month

2. Moosend — Best for new ecommerce stores

G2 rating: 4.7 

Capterra rating: 4.7 

Moosend is both a newer email marketing software, and one that’s often thought of as cheap and effective. It is focused on helping new ecommerce stores get familiar with email marketing, with tools such as their Ecommerce AI that provides useful suggestions to improve performance.

It boasts other features that email marketers will enjoy, including the option to easily customize templates or use one from their library of templates. 

Key features:

• Their campaign editor will help you create professional-looking emails
• You can use forms and popups to build your email list
• Get real-time reporting and analytics to help you gain customer insights
• Their email personalization features help you target customers better
• Ecommerce AI tool that can provide suggestions to improve your email marketing

Pros & cons

ProsConsVery affordable pricingSmall number of integrationsEasily customizable templatesNot great for established or advanced marketers

Why choose Moosend?

Moosend offers one of the most affordable entries into email marketing, so you should consider this if you’re a new ecommerce business.

Pricing: 

No free plan available.

• Pro: $9+ per month
• Enterprise: custom pricing

3. Drip — Best for extensive automations

G2 rating: 4.4 

Capterra rating: 4.4 

Drip is well-known for having great automation workflows that you can combine with its segmentation. This allows you to better target your customers and send them relevant messages at the right time.

We really appreciate that Drip’s 20 workflow templates cover the entire customer journey. They’re easy to customize and the ability to use targeted, segmented lists helps ecommerce business owners give the best experience to their customers.

Key features:

• Simple but powerful customer journey automation workflows
• Email builder helps you build create on-brand emails
• A/B testing allows you to see what works and what doesn’t
• Audience segmentation

Pros & cons

ProsConsEasy to set up and use automated workflowsLacks some drag-and-drop features for designing templatesVery good customer supportLimited ecommerce integrations

Why choose this email marketing software?

If you want to improve your email marketing automation, Drip offers a good amount of ready-made templates to get started or customize quickly.

Pricing: 

No free plan available.

• Paid plan start from $39 per month

4. HubSpot — Best for SaaS businesses

G2 rating: 4.4 

Capterra rating: 4.5 

HubSpot is an all-encompassing platform, with loads of features that can help not only your marketing, but also sales, affiliates, and much more. For that reason, we find that it’s best suited for larger companies, especially SaaS businesses.

It has a great reputation, especially since it boasts strong deliverability and has native integration with a whole host of popular marketing and sales tools. It allows you to A/B test content and template designs, and use powerful segmentation and personalization.

Key features:

• Easy-to-use email editor and well-designed templates that are easy to adapt to your business
• Natively integrated with HubSpot’s free CRM integration for better sales outreach and customer support communications
• Great A/B testing for different content and template designs
• Strong landing page editor to help create quick, campaign-specific pages
• Powerful segmentation for personalization to extend customer LTV

Pros & cons

ProsConsCollect data on more of your marketing effortsCan be overwhelming for small or medium businessesEasy lead generationGets expensive quickly

Why choose Hubspot for email marketing?

If you have a SaaS business, HubSpot allows for easier customer management, plus allows you to integrate extra customer support features like live chat and chatbots.

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Starter: $45+ per month
• Professional: $800+ per month
• Enterprise: $3,600+ per month

5. Mailchimp — Best for solopreneurs and startups

G2 rating: 4.3 

Capterra rating: 4.5 

Mailchimp is perhaps the most popular email marketing software, and it’s for a reason: it’s very easy to use and can help all kinds of businesses—ecommerce, bloggers, influencers—communicate with their customers. 

Because of its focus on the starting businesses, or the one-man/woman team, this email marketing software doesn’t offer as many advanced features as other tools on this list. For that reason, many brands begin to look for Mailchimp alternatives when they begin to grow.

Key features:

• A pretty generous free plan
• Content optimizer with suggestions for more engaging emails
• Great reporting features to help you quickly track email campaign efficiency
• Advanced automation to send triggered emails to subscribers
• Segmentation that’s easy to get started, helping you target your customers better

Pros & cons

ProsConsA generous free planGets expensive for larger contact listsVery easy to use and build campaignsNot for established or advanced marketing

Why choose this email marketing tool?

If you’re starting out, Mailchimp is one of the easiest tools to use, and it’ll help you get the hang of email marketing. However, once you’re established, you might want to use a stronger email marketing software.

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Essentials: $11+ per month
• Standard: $17+ per month
• Premium: $299+ per month

6. MailerLite — Best for small ecommerce businesses

G2 rating: 4.7 

Capterra rating: 4.7

MailerLite has gained a well-won reputation over the years for its simplicity and ease of use. In fact, its intuitive interface makes it easy to get what you want from this email marketing software. That allows small ecommerce businesses more time to focus on other parts.

It covers the essential features that even established brands will find useful, although it tends to lack more advanced features for bigger teams. We enjoy additional features like a website builder and surveys that can help small businesses innovate against their competitors.

Key features:

• Its website builder helps you create landing pages, so you don’t need to pay for other separate apps
• Loads of pre-built workflows to help easily automate your marketing campaigns
• Its email verifier helps clean and optimize your subscriber list for better deliverability
• The drag-and-drop interface makes designing emails pretty easy
• A wide selection of email templates to choose from

Pros & cons

ProsConsEasy and simple to useNot a lot of integrationsA good amount of email templatesTake a while to set up account

Why choose MailerLite?

MailerLite has created an email marketing software that’s not just easy to use, but simple enough that small teams or solopreneurs can do essential email marketing with no problem.

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Growing Business: $9+ per month
• Advanced: $19+ per month
• Enterprise: custom pricing

7. ActiveCampaign — Best for email marketing with built-in CRM integration

G2 rating: 4.6 

Capterra rating: 4.6 

Similar to Hubspot, ActiveCampaign boasts a built-in CRM, which includes sales automation.  The Sales Suite also includes contact lead scoring, and SMS prospect nurturing.

For brands that need these features, Active Campaign is a powerful workhorse and may mean subscriptions to other sales tools aren’t needed. However, that means it’s also best suited for larger businesses that have more comprehensive needs and bigger budgets.

Key features:

• Automation workflows that are easy to customize with a simple drag-and-drop interface
• Set triggers that will notify your sales team and create new tasks, or use workflows that will nurture leads automatically.
• A wide variety of segmentation options available, allowing you to personalize your messages better
• Lead scoring shows how your contacts have interacted with your business and their likelihood to make a purchase.
• You can use not only email, but also SMS, Facebook Custom Audiences, and on-site messaging.

Pros & cons

ProsConsStrong automation featuresLite plan is quite limited (and requires Lite+ upcharge)Customer support is friendly and responsiveGets expensive quickly (with big price jumps due to contact size)

Why choose this email marketing tool?

If you use a CRM and email marketing software separately, ActiveCampaign can help you get the best of both of these features inside one tool.

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Lite: $9+ per month
• Plus: $49+ per month
• Professional: $149+ per month

8. AWeber — Best for an extensive library of email templates

G2 rating: 4.2 

Capterra rating: 4.4 

For email marketing, having professional, on-brand emails is key. Even better is when you can create great-looking emails easily. That’s where AWeber shows most strength, where its email editor integrates well with the popular graphic design tool Canva. 

AWeber also has an extensive library of email templates to help you get started more quickly. Beyond that, they have excellent deliverability so you can rest easy knowing that your emails are landing in your customers’ inboxes.

Key features:

• A drag-and-drop email editor that comes with 600+ pre-built email templates
• The landing page editor makes it easy to create campaign-specific pages
• Email segmentation that lets you target specific customers
• Automated email campaigns to win back abandoned carts or welcome subscribers
• Web push notifications so you can reach your shoppers in more ways

Pros & cons

ProsConsLarge library of email templatesLimited pricing optionsIncludes web push notificationsNot great for established brands

Why choose AWeber as an email marketing software?

AWeber has a good set of wide-ranging features, but if you really value extensive options for email templates, this might be the email marketing software for you.

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Pro: $16.15+ per month

9. GetResponse — Best for startups and SMBs

G2 rating: 4.2 

Capterra rating: 4.2 

GetResponse has a lot under its hood, but it really shines as with its inbound marketing features. Combined with its affordable pricing plans, it really is suited best for startups and small businesses.

GetResponse has an impressive visual automation builder that helps you easily create custom automated workflows. Beyond that, its pre-built email templates and product recommendations make it a great overall email marketing software.

Key features:

• Email and SMS marketing that helps you reach customers in more ways
• Smart product recommendations that can lead to better upsells and cross-sells
• Behavioral targeting for more personalized messaging
• Loads of useful ecommerce integrations
• Website and landing page builder for more ways to acquire and engage visitors

Pros & cons

ProsConsGreat marketing automation that’s affordableImperfect drag-and-drop for landing pages and formsLive chat and webinar capabilitiesLimited customer support

Why pick GetResponse?

GetResponse offers a comprehensive email & SMS marketing suite, but it would fit best for startups and small businesses who are also focused on inbound marketing.

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Email Marketing: $19+ per month
• Marketing Automation: $59+ per month
• Ecommerce Marketing: $119+ per month

10. Sendinblue — Best for businesses on a budget

G2 rating: 4.5 

Capterra rating: 4.6 

Sendinblue can help you combine your email marketing and SMS marketing in order to create better, higher-converting campaigns. However, its most impressive feature is its price, allowing 20,000 emails for $25 per month.

However, there’s a catch. You’ll need the Lite+ add-on, an extra $12/month, to remove the Sendinblue logo and use other features like A/B testing, heatmaps, and more. Nonetheless, for most small businesses on a budget, even the basic Lite plan can get the job done.

Key features:

• Both email and SMS marketing to reach more customers
• Easy-to-customize email templates
• A drag-and-drop editor that requires no technical knowledge
• More than 60 advanced integrations
• Insightful reporting & analytics

Pros & Cons

ProsConsEasy to use email marketingLimited email layout optionsA good variety of email templatesLimited customer support

Why choose Sendinblue?

If you’re eager to get started with email marketing software, but are focused on budget, Sendinblue offers a good suite of features for a reasonable price.

Pricing: 

Free plan available.

• Lite: $25+ per month
• Premium: $65+ per month
• Enterprise: custom pricing

Methodology: how we chose the best email marketing tools

In order to assess the quality and suitability of these email marketing software we listed here, we analyzed reviews from independent platforms, including the various tools’ features, the channels and integrations, their reputation, price, customer support, and limitations. 

We favored apps that have high (4.5 and above) ratings on independent review sites, offer free plans, and have strong customer support reviews. Beyond that, we also personally assessed the ease of use of the various tools and noted that in the reviews.

Honorable mentions

Even though we looked at quite a good amount of email marketing software, we couldn’t review them all. In order to be laser-focused on the best email marketing software for various business needs, we had to leave out some apps that could have overinflated the list.

Some of the top email marketing software that we analyzed but that didn’t make the list include: Klaviyo, Campaign Monitor, Ontraport, TotalSend, SharpSpring, Ortto (Autopilot), Rejoiner, InfusionSoft (Keap), Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot by Salesforce, iContact, Emma, MailPoet, Sendloopo, and more.

Best email marketing software: summary

Once again, here are the best tools for email marketing based on reviews from trusted platforms: 

1. Omnisend: great for ecommerce business focused on increasing sales
2. Mailchimp: an easy-to-use tool if you’re just starting out
3. Drip: an extensive library of automation workflows
4. HubSpot: best for SaaS businesses 
5. MailerLite: simplified email marketing for small ecommerce stores
6. ActiveCampaign: best for both email marketing and CRM
7. Moosend: an affordable email marketing tool for new ecommerce stores
8. AWeber: great for lots of ready-made email templates
9. GetResponse: email marketing that works best with startups and SMBs
10. Sendinblue: an affordable option for budget-conscious businesses 

FAQ

#1 What is email marketing? 

Email marketing software helps you to create and send emails, plus track their performance with your list of subscribers. Email marketing includes not only email creation and sending, but also automation workflows that go out based on user behavior. This makes it more personalized and increases the engagement rate.

#2 Is email marketing the same as CRM? 

Email marketing is different from CRM. CRM software is focused on contact management with a strong focus on lead scoring for sales teams. CRMs normally don’t have the robust features of dedicated email marketing software.

#3 How to choose an email service provider? 

Choosing an email service provider involves looking at its price, customer support, and features. These features should include a drag-and-drop email builder, signup forms to collect subscribers, segmentation for targeting, and automation workflows for greater personalization. A strong email service provider will have good reviews and ratings on independent review sites and platforms.

#4 Which are the best tools for email marketing automation? 

All of the tools listed above have strong email marketing automation capabilities. However, the ones that have the best automation features include Omnisend, Drip, MailerLite and Moosend. The rest of the apps have good automation, but lack in either basic features or are not very user-friendly.

#5 Which are the free email marketing tools 

Nearly all of the tools have free plans. The best free email marketing tools include Omnisend, Mailchimp, HubSpot, MailerLite, AWeber, GetResponse and Sendinblue. Moosend, ActiveCampaign and Drip don’t offer free plans, but do offer free trials.

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