Email newsletters stand as one of the most effective tools for building relationships, driving traffic, and converting leads. In 2025, the choices for newsletter platforms are more varied than ever. Whether you’re a solo creator, a growing business, or a large organization, selecting the right software platform can make a significant difference in how you connect with your audience. From automation and design flexibility to pricing and analytics, today’s tools offer features tailored to fit every need. Read on to discover the best newsletter platforms that can help inform your decision-making and elevate your email marketing strategy.
- Mailchimp: Best Overall
- MailerLite: Best for Beginners
- Substack: Best for Creators
- Omnisend: Best for E-commerce
- Beehiiv: Best for Monetization
Featured partners
Best email marketing platform comparison chart
Product
Starting price
Free plan
Key features
$13.00/month
Yes
- Email campaign builder
- Marketing automation
- Audience management
$10.00/month
Yes
- Campaign analytics
- A/B testing
- Affordable pricing
$0/month
Yes
- Newsletter editor
- Multimedia support
- SEO optimization
$16/month
Yes
- Email, SMS, and Web Push
- AI assistant
- Form and Popup Builder
$49/month
Yes
- Custom subscribe forms and pop‑ups
- Website and landing page builder
- Advanced analytics
Mailchimp: Best overall
Pros
- Robust analytics
- Advanced segmentation
- All-in-one marketing tools
- Extensive integrations
- Professional templates
Cons
- Higher pricing tiers
- Limited features on free plan
- Complex interface for beginners
- List management limits
- Limited customer support access
Why I chose Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a leading choice for creating newsletters thanks to its ease-of-use, powerful features, and all-in-one marketing capabilities. Its intuitive drag-and-drop editor makes designing professional-looking emails simple, and can prove to be the right fit for certain beginners.
Where Mailchimp truly excels is in its automation and segmentation tools, which allow you to send personalized, timely messages based on user behavior, preferences, and demographics. Whether you’re building your first campaign or managing a complex marketing strategy, Mailchimp provides the flexibility and tools needed to grow and engage your audience effectively through email.
By effortlessly combining user-friendly design with powerful automation and advanced segmentation, Mailchimp gives you control over creating personalized, high-performing newsletters. Unlike many other platforms on the market, it integrates deeply with e-commerce and offers robust analytics, enabling data-driven decision-making. Mailchimp’s all-in-one marketing hub gives it a certain versatility that many competitors seem to lack.
Plan
Price
Key feature inclusions
Free
$0/month
- Limit of 500 contacts
- Email support for first 30 days
Essentials
$13/month
- 500 contacts
- 24/7 email and chat support
- Up to 4 flow steps
Standard
$20/month
- 500 contacts
- 24/7 email and chat support
- Up to 200 flow steps
- No additional cost on Gen AI features add-on
Premium
$350/month
- 500 contacts
- Phone and priority support
- Up to 200 flow steps
- No additional cost on Gen AI features add-on
- Drag-and-drop email builder: Mailchimp’s intuitive editor lets you design newsletters without needing HTML or coding knowledge. Simply drag content blocks like text, images, buttons, and dividers into your layout for fast, professional results.
- Pre-designed email templates: Choose from a large library of customizable newsletter templates suited to different goals, industries, and occasions. These templates are mobile-responsive and save time during design.
- Custom branding tools: Mailchimp allows you to easily add your logo, brand colors, and fonts to keep your newsletters visually consistent. You can save branded design elements to reuse across campaigns.
- Personalization and dynamic content: Insert subscriber names, product recommendations, or other dynamic content blocks to personalize each newsletter. This improves engagement by making messages feel more relevant to individual readers.
- Audience segmentation: Mailchimp enables you to segment your newsletter recipients by demographics, activity, past interactions, or custom tags. This allows you to tailor content for different groups within your list.
- A/B testing: Run A/B tests on subject lines, content blocks, or send times to see what performs best. Mailchimp automatically sends the winning version to your audience for optimal results.
MailerLite: Best for Beginners
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Strong automation features
- Clean, professional templates
- Affordable pricing
- Responsive customer support
Cons
- Limited template access on free plan
- Strict approval process
- Fewer integrations than competitors
- Basic reporting
- Learning curve for complex automations
Why I chose MailerLite
MailerLite stands out as one of the best newsletter platforms for its simplicity, affordability, and robust feature set that caters to both beginners and experienced marketers. Its intuitive drag-and-drop editor makes designing professional newsletters effortless, while its automation tools help streamline subscriber engagement through personalized workflows.
MailerLite excels in list management and segmentation, allowing users to target specific audiences with precision. It also offers built-in A/B testing, RSS-to-email campaigns, and advanced analytics to optimize performance over time. Unique features like embedded signup forms, pop-ups, and landing pages make it easy to grow and convert your audience from a single platform.
MailerLite also integrates with popular apps and e-commerce tools like Shopify and WordPress, which further enhances its versatility. Its generous free plan and transparent pricing make it an attractive option for small businesses, startups, and creators looking to scale their newsletter efforts. Overall, MailerLite balances ease-of-use with professional-grade functionality, making it a top-tier newsletter solution.
Plan
Price
Key feature inclusions
Free
$0/month
- 12,000 monthly emails
- 1 user seat
Growing Business
$10/month
- Unlimited monthly emails
- 3 user seats
Advanced Plan
$20/month
- Unlimited monthly emails
- Unlimited user seats
- Drag-and-drop email editor: MailerLite’s intuitive, no-code editor makes it easy to design visually appealing newsletters using customizable content blocks. Users can add text, images, buttons, videos, and social links without technical skills.
- Prebuilt newsletter templates: A wide variety of mobile-responsive newsletter templates are available for different industries and goals. These templates are easily customizable to reflect your brand’s style and tone.
- Automation workflows: Though often broader in scope, MailerLite’s automation tools allow you to create newsletter series triggered by sign-ups, clicks, or time delays. This helps maintain regular engagement with minimal manual effort.
Substack: Best for Creators
Pros
- Free to start with no ipfront costs
- User-friendly interface
- Built-in monetization
- No coding required
- SEO-friendly web archive
Cons
- Limited customization options
- No automation features
- Limited integrations
- No A/B testing
- Basic analytics
Why I chose Substack
Substack is one of the best newsletter platforms for writers, journalists, and creators who want a streamlined, no-fuss way to publish and monetize their content. It excels in its simplicity and offers a clean interface that lets users focus on writing without the need for design skills or technical setup.
Substack’s standout feature is its built-in monetization, allowing creators to charge for subscriptions and accept payments directly, with no external tools required. Each email also lives on a personal Substack site, giving newsletters the added benefit of Web visibility and SEO.
The platform supports direct ownership of your mailing list, meaning you can export your subscribers at any time. And its strong discovery network and recommendation system help creators grow organically. For solo writers who want an all-in-one, content-first approach without distractions or complexity, Substack provides the essential tools to build, engage, and monetize an audience efficiently and effectively.
No monthly fee; free to publish. However, Substack takes 10% of the revenue made from each paid transaction
- Simple writing and publishing interface: Substack offers a clean, distraction-free editor designed for writing and formatting newsletters quickly. Writers can focus solely on content creation without dealing with design complexities or coding.
- Email and web publishing in one: Every newsletter is sent via email and simultaneously published to your Substack-hosted website. This dual format increases visibility and builds a searchable archive of your content.
- Audience management: You can manage your subscribers through a simple dashboard, viewing metrics like open rates, churn, and subscription status. Exporting your email list is easy, ensuring ownership of your audience.
Omnisend: Best for E-commerce
Pros
- E-commerce-focused features
- Advanced automation
- User-friendly editor
- Strong analytics and reporting
- Prebuilt templates and campaign library
Cons
- Limited free plan
- Primarily e-commerce-oriented
- Learning curve for advanced features
- Fewer integrations outside of e-commerce
- No native blogging or web publishing
Why I chose Omnisend
Omnisend stands out as one of the best newsletter platforms for ecommerce brands thanks to its deep integration of email marketing, automation, and sales tools in a single platform. It excels at helping online stores drive revenue through newsletters by offering unique features like product pickers, dynamic discount codes, and abandoned cart recovery.
The platform’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, paired with its ecommerce-specific templates, enables users to quickly create visually appealing, high-converting newsletters. Omnisend’s advanced automation and segmentation tools allow for personalized, behavior-based campaigns that go beyond basic batch-and-blast emails. Omnisend also supports multi-channel marketing with built-in SMS and push notifications, ensuring cohesive customer communication.
With real-time sales tracking and performance analytics, users can measure exactly how their newsletters contribute to revenue. Ideal for Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce users, Omnisend combines ease-of-use with powerful ecommerce features, making it a top-tier solution for growth-focused businesses.
Plan
Price
Key feature inclusions
Free
$0/month
- 12,000 monthly emails
- 1 user seat
Standard
$16/month
- 500 contacts
- 6,000 emails / month
Pro
$59/month
- 2,500 contacts
- Global SMS messaging
- Unlimited emails
Custom
Custom pricing
- Custom contact amount
- Global SMS messaging
- Unlimited emails
- Unlimited web push notifications
- Drag-and-drop email builder: Omnisend’s visual editor makes it easy to create polished, responsive newsletters without coding. It includes ecommerce-specific blocks like product pickers, discount codes, and dynamic content.
- Prebuilt templates: A wide range of customizable newsletter templates help users launch campaigns quickly and maintain consistent branding. These templates are optimized for mobile and e-commerce conversion.
- Personalized content blocks: Dynamic content fields allow you to tailor sections of your newsletter to each recipient based on past behavior or preferences. This boosts relevance without duplicating campaigns.
Beehiiv: Best for Monetization
Pros
- Generous free plan
- Built-in monetization
- Strong SEO and publisher tools
- Powerful analytics and segmentation
- Intuitive interface
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Pricing for premium features
- Limited integrations
- Spotty UI and support
- Template constraints
Why I chose Beehiiv
Beehiiv is one of the most popular newsletter platforms chosen by creators, indie publishers, and media startups thanks to its robust publishing tools, monetization options, and clean user experience. It combines the simplicity of Substack with the power of advanced marketing features and excels in helping users grow their audiences through built-in referral programs, native ad placements, and cross-promotion tools.
Its SEO-optimized landing pages, custom domain support, and flexible subscription models make it ideal for both free and paid newsletters. The platform also stands out with its intuitive drag-and-drop editor, advanced segmentation, and subscriber analytics, which are powerful tools that are sometimes locked behind paywalls on competing platforms. With a generous free tier supporting up to 2,500 subscribers, Beehiiv lowers the barrier to entry while scaling easily as your audience grows.
Plan
Price
Key feature inclusions
Free
$0/month
- Up to 2,500 Subscribers
- Custom Website
- Custom Newsletters
- Campaign Analytics
- Unlimited Email Sends
Scale
$49/month
- Up to 1,000 subscribers (can add more subscribers for an extra fee)
- Email Automations
- Referral Program
- 3D Analytics
- beehiiv AI
- Survey Forms & Polls
- Teams (3 Seats)
Max
$109/month
- Up to 1,000 subscribers (can add more subscribers for an extra fee)
- Remove beehiiv Branding *
- Teams (Unlimited Seats) *
- Up to 10 Publications *
- Priority Support
Custom
Custom pricing
- Custom 100k+ subscriber limits
- Dedicated IP addresses
- Send API
- Custom publication limits
- Visual email editor: Beehiiv offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop editor that makes it easy to design and format engaging newsletters without needing coding skills. The editor supports images, embeds, custom blocks, and pre-styled templates tailored for content-rich email.
- Custom domains and web Hosting: Each newsletter also lives on a dedicated Beehiiv-hosted site with SEO-friendly formatting. You can use your domain, making your newsletter a permanent, searchable content hub online.
- SEO optimization: Newsletter issues published to your Beehiiv site are automatically optimized for search engines, improving long-term discoverability. Meta tags, page titles, and URLs can be customized for greater control.
Most Common Mistakes First-Time Buyers Make
First-time newsletter software buyers often focus too much on price and overlook important features they’ll need as they grow. Many skip over tools like automation, audience targeting, and analytics, which are key to building a strong subscriber base.
Additionally, users will sometimes select tools that don’t connect well with their website or store, causing problems to occur later. Others pick platforms that are either too complex or too basic, slowing them down or limiting what they can do. Not checking for subscriber limits or hidden fees can also lead to surprise costs. Lastly, many forget how important it is for newsletters to look appealing on mobile and be easy to design.
Do You Actually Need Newsletter Software?
Newsletter software is essential for both individuals and companies looking to build, engage, and grow an audience through email. While sending emails manually may work for very small lists, newsletter platforms offer tools that make communication far more efficient and effective.
Features like audience segmentation, automation, performance tracking, and mobile-optimized templates help ensure your messages reach the right people at the right time and look professional doing it. For creators, it’s a reliable way to monetize content or build a personal brand. For businesses, newsletters drive customer retention, promote products, and nurture leads through the sales funnel.
As inbox competition grows, quality software gives you an edge in standing out and measuring what works and what doesn’t. Whether you’re an individual building a following or a company running campaigns, newsletter software transforms email from a task into a strategic asset.
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