Email marketing platforms for small business should be compared on three things: which contacts count toward the bill, how much automation the entry plan includes, and how well the platform authenticates your sending domain. Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, Kit and Klaviyo all cover the basics, but they count your list in different ways.
An email marketing platform is software that stores subscribers and their consent, sends campaigns and runs automated email sequences. This comparison is part of the marketing automation hub. Prices and limits below come from each vendor's own pricing pages and help centers as of November 2026, and they change often. The short recommendation: run the Billable Contact Check on your real list before any demo, because the billing rule moves your cost more than any feature does. If you also need CRM, sales handoff or lead scoring, start with the broader guide to marketing automation tools instead.
What should a small business compare in email marketing platforms?
A small business should compare email marketing platforms on five criteria: the billing basis, the automation limits of the entry plan, domain authentication, store and CRM integrations, and compliance features such as unsubscribe handling. An email marketing platform is software that stores subscribers and consent, sends campaigns and runs automated email sequences.
The five criteria in detail:
- Billing basis. The billing basis is the record or volume a platform charges for: stored contacts, active subscribers, emailable profiles or emails sent.
- Automation depth. An automation flow is a sequence of emails and conditions that a trigger starts for each contact. Check how many flows, steps or active automations the plan allows, and whether triggers can use store data.
- Domain authentication. Domain authentication is the set of DNS records (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) that proves mail sent under your domain really comes from you. Your platform should sign mail with DKIM on your own domain, not a shared vendor domain.
- Integrations. Store and CRM syncs decide which data your flows can use and which records get added to your bill.
- Compliance features. Look for one-click unsubscribe headers, double opt-in, consent fields and a footer that carries your postal address.
For the flows you will build first, see the guide to email automation.
How do Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, Kit and Klaviyo price their entry plans?
Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, Kit and Klaviyo all offer a free plan, and their first paid plans start between $9 and $33 per month as of November 2026. The free plans differ more than the prices: as of November 2026, Kit allows up to 10,000 subscribers for free, while Mailchimp, MailerLite and Klaviyo stop at 250.
| Platform | Free plan limit | Entry paid plan | Listed starting price | What the price scales with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts, 500 sends per month | Essentials | From $13 per month | Contact tier |
| Brevo | 300 emails per day, up to 100,000 stored contacts | Starter | $9 per month for 5,000 emails per month | Monthly email volume |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails per month | Comfort | From $12 per month | Active subscribers |
| Kit | Up to 10,000 subscribers | Creator | $33 per month, or $390 billed yearly, for 1,000 subscribers | Confirmed subscribers |
| Klaviyo | 250 active profiles, 500 emails per month | From $20 per month for 500 active profiles | Active profiles |
Sources: Mailchimp pricing, Brevo pricing, MailerLite pricing, Kit pricing and Klaviyo pricing. As of November 2026, Mailchimp's pricing page shows its Essentials and Standard prices as rates for the first 12 months and does not name the contact tier behind them, so price your own list size. MailerLite lists its Power plan from $25 per month as of November 2026.
Which contacts count toward the bill on each email marketing platform?
Each email marketing platform counts a different set of records toward the bill. Mailchimp includes unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts, MailerLite counts only active subscribers, Kit counts only confirmed subscribers, Klaviyo counts every profile it can email, and Brevo ties paid tiers to monthly email volume with a contact storage cap.
The rules, from each vendor's help center as of November 2026:
- Mailchimp: "subscribed, non-subscribed, and unsubscribed contacts all count toward your contact limit," per Mailchimp's pricing tiers article. Archived and cleaned contacts do not count.
- MailerLite: only Active subscribers count, and "Unsubscribed and Bounced contacts don't count toward your limit," per MailerLite billing help.
- Kit: only subscribers with the Confirmed status count toward the billing total, per Kit's subscriber status article. Cold subscribers are still confirmed, so they count.
- Klaviyo: "Any profile that can be emailed through Klaviyo is considered an active email profile," per Klaviyo's active profile article. Suppressed profiles do not count.
- Brevo: tiers set the monthly email volume, and as of November 2026 the first three tiers store 500, 1,500 and 2,500 contacts, per About Brevo's pricing plans. Going over the cap upgrades the plan.
The Billable Contact Check is a hypothetical worked example that applies those rules to one list: a store with 3,000 records, of which 2,000 opted in, 600 unsubscribed and 400 bought without opting in to email.
| Platform | Records that count | Billable count |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Subscribed, non-subscribed and unsubscribed | 3,000 |
| Klaviyo | Every emailable profile, including buyers without opt-in | 2,400 |
| MailerLite | Active subscribers only | 2,000 |
| Kit | Confirmed subscribers only | 2,000 |
| Brevo | Stored contacts against the tier's storage cap | 3,000 stored, above the 2,500 cap of the 15,000 email tier |
For Brevo, the table follows a Brevo Community answer that every stored address counts, because the help center does not address unsubscribes. On Mailchimp, archiving the 600 unsubscribes in the example brings the count down to 2,400.
What do Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook require from your email marketing software?
Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook.com require bulk senders to authenticate mail with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and Gmail and Yahoo also require one-click unsubscribe. Your email marketing software has to support all of it on your own domain, because mailbox providers judge the domain in the From address, not the platform.
SPF is a DNS record listing the servers allowed to send for your domain. DKIM is a signature proving a message came from your domain unaltered. DMARC is a DNS policy telling inboxes what to do when those checks fail.
Google's Email sender guidelines require, since February 1, 2024, that senders of more than 5,000 messages per day to Gmail accounts set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC and keep spam rates below 0.30%. In Google's words: "Marketing messages and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe." Yahoo's Sender Hub adds: "Honor unsubscribes within 2 days." Microsoft announced in April 2025 that Outlook.com rejects failing mail from domains sending over 5,000 emails per day, effective May 5, 2025.
How do you authenticate your sending domain on an email marketing platform?
Authenticating your sending domain on an email marketing platform takes five steps: send from your own domain, add the DKIM records the platform generates, publish a DMARC record, confirm the branded domain is live and check the compliance footer. The platform generates the records, so most of the work happens in your DNS settings.
- Send from your own domain. Mailchimp's authentication article strongly recommends moving off a Gmail or Yahoo From address.
- Add the DNS records the platform generates. Mailchimp asks for two CNAME records for DKIM and one TXT record for DMARC.
- Publish a DMARC record. A policy of p=none meets the Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook.com minimum and starts the reports.
- Confirm the branded domain is live. Klaviyo starts accounts on a shared domain shown as "via klaviyomail.com" until you set up your own.
- Check the footer. The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide (edited January 2024) requires a valid physical postal address and opt-outs honored within 10 business days.
How much automation do free and entry plans include?
Free plans on email marketing platforms include little or no automation as of November 2026, and entry paid plans still cap flows or steps on some vendors. Mailchimp Free has no Marketing Automation Flows, MailerLite Free allows 3 active automations, the Kit free plan has none, and Brevo and Klaviyo free plans include automation with volume limits.
An automation flow is a sequence of emails and conditions that a trigger starts for each contact. Limits per vendor as of November 2026:
- Mailchimp: Marketing Automation Flows are "Not included" on Free, "Up to 4 flow steps" on Essentials and "Up to 200 flows" on Standard, per the pricing page.
- MailerLite: Free allows 3 active automations with 5 steps each, and Comfort allows 50 active automations, per MailerLite pricing.
- Kit: the free plan has no visual automations or email sequences, and Creator includes "Unlimited Visual Automations," per Kit pricing.
- Brevo: Free lets up to 2,000 unique contacts enter automations, per the Brevo Free plan FAQ, and Standard adds unlimited multi-step workflows.
- Klaviyo: the pricing page lists "Campaigns and flows" on every plan, including the free plan, which stops at 500 emails per month.
A four-step limit is tight: a welcome series and an abandoned cart email sequence each need several emails plus waits, so test your first two flows against the plan.
Which email marketing tool fits which type of small business?
The right email marketing tool follows from what triggers your emails and how your list grows. Online stores fit Klaviyo, newsletter and course creators fit Kit, budget-first senders with a large list and few sends fit Brevo, and service businesses with a simple newsletter fit MailerLite or Mailchimp.
This decision path is a rule of thumb from each vendor's billing rule and integrations.
| Business type | What drives the emails | Shortlist first | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online store on Shopify or WooCommerce | Orders, carts, browsing | Klaviyo | Flows run on store events; buyers count as active profiles |
| Newsletter, creator or course seller | Signups and content | Kit | Free up to 10,000 subscribers; only confirmed subscribers are billed |
| Large list, sends once or twice a month | Occasional campaigns | Brevo | Paid tiers priced mainly by monthly email volume |
| Local service business or consultant | Monthly newsletter, welcome series | MailerLite or Mailchimp | Low entry price; check automation step limits |
| Business that also needs a sales CRM | Deals and sales stages | A CRM suite | See the B2B marketing automation platform guide |
As of November 2026, Klaviyo lists over 400 integrations, including Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce. Check that any sync carries consent status both ways. A list built on first-party data with a recorded opt-in date and source moves between vendors easily, and the email list guide covers how to collect it.
Common mistakes when choosing email marketing platforms
The common mistakes when choosing email marketing platforms come from comparing headline prices instead of the billing rule, skipping domain authentication, and buying a plan whose automation limits block the first real flow. Each one raises cost or hurts inbox placement before the first campaign goes out.
- Comparing the starting price, not the billable count. A cheap plan that bills old unsubscribes costs more than it looks. Run the Billable Contact Check on your own export first.
- Importing every store customer. On Klaviyo, buyers synced without an opt-in count as active profiles. Suppress records you will not email.
- Sending from a Gmail or Yahoo address. Free mailbox domains cannot be authenticated by your platform. Send from your own domain with DKIM and DMARC in place.
- Ignoring the automation cap. Four flow steps or 3 active automations will not hold a welcome series plus a cart flow. Map your first two flows against the plan.
- Leaving unsubscribes to chance. Gmail and Yahoo expect one-click unsubscribe, and Yahoo expects it honored within 2 days. Confirm the platform adds the List-Unsubscribe header to every marketing email.
