SFDIFY
For most small businesses, email marketing automation comes down to how many contacts you have and how complex your workflows need to be. Mailchimp is free under 250 contacts [1], ActiveCampaign starts at $15 a month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts with multi-step automation [2], and Brevo has a free-forever plan [3]. GetResponse sells plans by list size [4], Klaviyo has a free plan for 250 active profiles [5], and Campaign Monitor's Lite plan is $13 a month for up to 500 contacts on monthly billing [6].
Picking email marketing automation software is less about which tool has the longest feature list and more about matching three things: the automation builder you will actually use, the way the vendor charges as your list grows, and the other systems (store, CRM, website) the tool has to talk to. Below are six widely used email marketing automation platforms, what their own pricing pages say, and who each one fits.
How we chose
We compared six email marketing automation tools a small business is likely to shortlist: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, GetResponse, Klaviyo and Campaign Monitor. For each we read the vendor's homepage and pricing page on 2026-11-08 and noted the entry price, how pricing scales (contacts, active profiles or email volume), what the cheapest plan includes for automation, and the main limits. This is a desk review of vendor pages, not hands-on testing, and prices change often, so confirm on the vendor's site before you buy.
| Product | Best for | Starting price | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Very small lists that want a familiar tool | Free under 250 contacts; Essentials shown at $13/mo [1] | Essentials allows "Up to 4 flow steps" [1] |
| ActiveCampaign | Teams that want deep, multi-step automation | $15/mo billed yearly for 1,000 contacts [2] | "950+ automation recipes" [2] |
| Brevo | Budget senders and transactional email | Free forever; Starter $9/mo [3] | Unlimited automation workflows on Standard [3] |
| GetResponse | Marketers who also want funnels, webinars or courses | $19/mo monthly, $15.58/mo yearly [4] | Starter includes "1 custom automation workflow" [4] |
| Klaviyo | Ecommerce brands | Free for 250 active profiles; Email $20/mo [5] | Priced by "active profiles" [5] |
| Campaign Monitor | Design-focused newsletters and simple journeys | Lite $13/mo monthly, 0–500 contacts [6] | Essentials adds "Unlimited email sends" [6] |
Mailchimp — the familiar starting point
Mailchimp presents itself as an "Email & SMS Marketing Platform" [7] and is the name many owners already know. Its pricing page is built around contact tiers, with a selector that starts at "0-500" contacts [1]. If you are comparing it against the field in more depth, our Mailchimp alternatives comparison goes further.
Verified features: Automation is gated by plan. The plan table lists "Up to 200 flows" for Standard, "Up to 4 flow steps" for Essentials, and marketing automation flows as not included on Free [1].
Pricing: The Free plan has a "Limit of 250 contacts" [1]. On the pricing page, Essentials is shown at $13 and Standard at $20 per month, labeled "/mo for 12 months" [1]. Standard and Essentials come with a free trial that "lasts for 14 days" [1].
Strengths: A real free tier for tiny lists, a long integration list, and a clear upgrade path.
Limitations: The useful automation sits on Standard; Essentials' four-step cap is tight for anything beyond a short welcome series. Overages are billed: if you hit your contact or sending limit after the trial, "Mailchimp will automatically bill you for your overages" [1].
Best fit: Small businesses with simple newsletters and a short welcome flow, or teams already invested in the Mailchimp ecosystem.
ActiveCampaign — deepest automation for the price
ActiveCampaign positions itself around automation first, with a homepage pitch to "Automate and optimize customer journeys" [8]. It is the closest thing here to a marketing automation suite rather than a newsletter tool.
Verified features: Every plan includes "Multi-step marketing automation" and "950+ automation recipes" [2]. Plus and above add cross-channel marketing, and Plus lists "Enhanced CRM available" [2].
Pricing: Starter "Starts at $15 / Month" and Plus at $49, each "Billed yearly for 1,000 contacts" [2]. The page notes that the "Monthly price scales with contact list size" [2]. There is a "Free 14-day trial with email sign-up" [2].
Strengths: The automation builder and recipe library are the core of the product, and the Plus tier brings sales features closer to the email side, which matters if you want CRM email marketing automation without a second system.
Limitations: Starter is restricted to "5 actions per automation" and is "Email only" for cross-channel marketing [2]. That makes Plus the realistic starting point for serious workflows, which roughly triples the entry price.
Best fit: Service businesses, B2B teams and course sellers who want branching, multi-step journeys and are willing to pay for them.
Brevo — generous free plan, volume-based tiers
Brevo's free plan and low paid tiers make it a common pick for owners who send occasionally or need transactional email alongside campaigns. Brevo describes its platform as covering "marketing, sales, CRM and loyalty" [9].
Verified features: On Standard, Brevo lists marketing automation that lets you "Create an unlimited number of automated, multi-step workflows" [3]. It says "All Brevo plans give you access to transactional email features" [3].
Pricing: The free plan is "Free forever, no credit card needed", and once approved you "can start sending up to 300 emails per day" [3]. The page's structured data lists Starter at $9 and Standard at $18 per month in USD [3]. Starter is described as "From 5,000 emails per month" [3], so tiers are framed around sending volume rather than contact count.
Strengths: Low entry cost, unlimited workflows once you reach Standard, and transactional email on every plan.
Limitations: Marketing automation appears in the Standard plan's feature list rather than Starter's [3], so the $9 tier is mainly for campaigns.
Best fit: Budget-conscious small businesses and developers who want campaigns, transactional email and basic automation in one account.
GetResponse — automation plus funnels and webinars
GetResponse calls itself an "EMAIL MARKETING & AUTOMATION PLATFORM" and bundles landing pages, funnels and webinars alongside email [10].
Verified features: Every plan includes "Unlimited monthly email sends" [4]. Marketer adds "Unlimited automation workflows", "Abandoned cart recovery" and "Sales funnels"; Creator adds "Webinars" and "Course creator" [4].
Pricing: Starter is $19 a month on monthly billing or $15.58 a month paid annually, and Marketer is $59 a month on monthly billing [4]. Plans come in list sizes of "1k, 2.5k, 5k, 10k, 25k, 50k, and 100k" [4]. There is a "14-day Free trial account" [4].
Strengths: Unlimited sends on every plan and a broad toolkit for creators and online sellers who want email, landing pages and webinars from one vendor.
Limitations: Starter includes only "1 custom automation workflow" [4], so anyone planning more than a single journey needs Marketer, at roughly three times the Starter price.
Best fit: Coaches, course creators and small online stores that want automation, funnels and webinars in a single subscription.
Klaviyo — built for ecommerce data
Klaviyo is aimed at online stores. Its FAQ says it offers "native integrations with ecommerce platforms like Shopify" that sync customer, product and order data [11].
Verified features: With customer data and channels in one platform, Klaviyo says "every email, text, and push notification responds to what customers actually do" [11].
Pricing: The free plan covers "Up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails per month" [5]. The Email plan is "$20 /month" for 500 active profiles and "5,000 emails per month" [5]. Klaviyo defines an active profile as "Any contact in your database that you can market to" [5].
Strengths: Store data flows straight into segments and flows, which is the main reason ecommerce brands choose it.
Limitations: Because pricing follows active profiles, costs rise as your marketable list grows, and the free plan's 500 monthly emails is small. For a service business with no store, much of its ecommerce depth goes unused.
Best fit: Shopify and other ecommerce brands that want purchase and browsing data driving their automation.
Campaign Monitor — polished emails, simple journeys
Campaign Monitor leans on design and ease of use, saying journey building is approachable "with the visual journey designer" [12].
Verified features: Lite includes "automated emails access, pre-built journeys, and transactional emails" [6]. Essentials adds "Unlimited email sends" and "Unlimited automated emails" [6]. Campaign Monitor lists "250+ integrations" including Salesforce and Google Analytics [6].
Pricing: For 0–500 contacts on monthly billing, the page shows Lite at $13, Essentials at $31 and Premier at $171 per month [6]. Campaign Monitor also offers "a general free trial" [6].
Strengths: A visual journey designer that suits teams new to automation, and unlimited sends from Essentials up.
Limitations: Lite is capped at "5x subscriber emails/month" [6], and send time optimization is listed on Premier rather than lower tiers [6]. For branching, multi-step logic, ActiveCampaign's recipe library is deeper.
Best fit: Small marketing teams and agencies that care most about how emails look and need straightforward welcome, nurture and re-engagement journeys.
How to choose an email marketing automation platform
Count contacts the way each vendor does. Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, GetResponse and Campaign Monitor sell contact or list-size tiers, Klaviyo counts active profiles, and Brevo frames tiers by email volume. Price the tool at the list size you expect in 12 months, not today.
Check the cheapest plan's automation limit. Several entry plans cap automation: four flow steps on Mailchimp Essentials, five actions per automation on ActiveCampaign Starter, and one custom workflow on GetResponse Starter. Sketch your first email marketing automation workflow (welcome series, abandoned cart, re-engagement) and confirm the plan can run it.
Decide where customer data lives. If your sales team works in a CRM, the email tool has to sync with it cleanly or you will be reconciling lists by hand. Our HubSpot competitors guide covers the CRM side, and when off-the-shelf sync is not enough, a custom CRM build can own the data and push it to any of these tools.
Match the tool to your business model. Ecommerce stores lean toward Klaviyo, creators toward GetResponse, budget senders toward Brevo, and teams that want maximum workflow depth toward ActiveCampaign. If the real gap is process rather than software, GTM engineering work on lead routing and lifecycle stages often matters more than which sender you pick.
FAQ
What is email marketing automation?
It is software that sends emails automatically when a contact meets a condition, such as joining a list or abandoning a cart, instead of sending each campaign by hand. GetResponse, for example, lists welcome emails, drip campaigns and an abandoned cart trigger among its automation features [4].
Which email marketing automation tools have a free plan?
Mailchimp's Free plan has a "Limit of 250 contacts" [1], Brevo's free plan is "Free forever" with up to 300 emails per day [3], and Klaviyo's free plan covers 250 active profiles and 500 emails per month [5]. Mailchimp's plan table lists automation flows as not included on Free [1].
Marketing automation vs email marketing: what is the difference?
Email marketing is sending campaigns and newsletters; marketing automation adds triggered, multi-step journeys that can span channels and sales tasks. ActiveCampaign's plans show the split: Starter is "Email only" for cross-channel marketing, while Plus and above include cross-channel marketing and sales automation [2].
Which platform is best for CRM email marketing automation?
Among these six, ActiveCampaign ties email most closely to a CRM, with "Enhanced CRM available" on Plus [2], and Brevo includes sales tools alongside marketing [9]. Teams already on a separate CRM should check integration lists, such as Campaign Monitor's 250+ integrations including Salesforce [6].
Our recommendation
For most small businesses, start with the email marketing automation platform that fits your business model and your 12-month list size. ActiveCampaign offers the most automation depth if you budget for Plus. Brevo is the low-cost pick, Klaviyo is the default for ecommerce, and Mailchimp works for very small lists. GetResponse makes sense if you also want funnels or webinars, and Campaign Monitor if email design and simple journeys matter most. Whichever you choose, run your first real workflow during the free trial before committing.
Sources
- Mailchimp Marketing Plans and Pricing — checked 2026-11-08
- ActiveCampaign Platform Pricing & Features — checked 2026-11-08
- Brevo Pricing Plans — checked 2026-11-08
- GetResponse Pricing and Service Plans — checked 2026-11-08
- Klaviyo Pricing — checked 2026-11-08
- Campaign Monitor Email Marketing Pricing & Packages — checked 2026-11-08
- Mailchimp: Email & SMS Marketing Platform — checked 2026-11-08
- ActiveCampaign: Marketing automation for any business — checked 2026-11-08
- Brevo: Email & SMS Marketing, CRM & Automation Platform — checked 2026-11-08
- GetResponse: Automation, Landing Pages and Email Marketing Platform — checked 2026-11-08
- Klaviyo: AI Email Marketing & SMS | B2C CRM — checked 2026-11-08
- Campaign Monitor: Email Marketing Platform & Services — checked 2026-11-08
