Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Brevo, MailerLite or HighLevel?
Choose the tool that fits how you'll use email. Mailchimp, Brevo and MailerLite have free plans for small lists; Constant Contact and HighLevel offer free trials. A newsletter tool suits regular updates. HighLevel suits a business that wants email, texts, forms and follow-up in one place. Check the vendor's own pricing page before you sign up.
The short version
- Decide what you need first: a newsletter now and then, or email tied to your leads and follow-up.
- Mailchimp, Brevo and MailerLite list free plans; Constant Contact and HighLevel list free trials.
- Free plans have limits on contacts, sends or features, and they change. Check on the day you sign up.
- Whatever you pick, it must let you authenticate your own domain and export your contacts.
- E-3 uses HighLevel for clients’ leads and follow-up, so weigh that when you read our view.
How do the five compare?
These details come from each vendor’s own pricing or help pages, checked on October 31, 2026. We haven’t ranked them, and we don’t list prices, because they change often and depend on list size.
| Free option | What the vendor’s page highlights | |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Free plan: “Limit of 250 contacts,” “Max of 500/mo or 250/day” sends, 1 seat, 1 audience | Paid plans named Essentials, Standard and Premium. On Free, marketing automation flows and scheduling aren’t included, Mailchimp branding stays, and email support lasts the first 30 days |
| Constant Contact | 30-day free trial with “up to 100 total email sends”; no ongoing free plan described | Welcome emails and automated email series under Campaigns, then Email automation |
| Brevo | “Free forever, no credit card needed”; up to 300 emails a day once Brevo approves the account for sending | Email and SMS on one platform. Multi-step marketing automation and A/B testing are listed with the Standard plan, along with removing the “Sent with Brevo” footer |
| MailerLite | Free plan: 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails, 2 user seats, 3 active automations, 3 active signup forms | Paid plans named Comfort, Power and Enterprise. Removing the MailerLite logo is listed with paid plans |
| HighLevel | 14-day free trial on its self-serve plans; no free plan described | Email and SMS marketing, workflow automation, and forms, surveys and quizzes on every plan. Email and SMS are billed by usage on top of the plan |
Two things in that table catch people out. Mailchimp’s free plan pauses sending if you go over the contact or send limit, its pricing page says. And Brevo’s free plan only starts sending after Brevo approves your account.
How do I choose?
Work through these questions in order.
- What will you actually send? A monthly or seasonal newsletter needs a newsletter tool. Automatic follow-up after a form, a quote or a missed call needs a system that ties email to your leads.
- How big is your list today, and in a year? Free plans are built for small lists. If you’re near the limit already, look at what the next plan includes.
- Do you need automation? A welcome email is the first one most businesses want. Check whether the plan you’d use includes it; Mailchimp’s free plan doesn’t include automation flows, for example.
- Who will do the work? Count the people who need logins. Some free plans include one seat.
- Will it send as your domain? Every tool here supports domain authentication. Plan to set it up before your first send; our deliverability guide explains why.
- Can you leave? You should be able to export every contact, including unsubscribes, as a CSV. See switching email marketing platforms.
Then sign up for the one or two that fit, import a small test list, build one email and send it to yourself. You’ll learn more from 30 minutes in the editor than from any comparison chart.
Newsletter tool or all-in-one system?
This is the real choice for most small businesses.
A newsletter tool (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Brevo, MailerLite) is built around a list and campaigns. You write an email, pick who gets it and send it. They all add sign-up forms, unsubscribe handling and reports. It’s the simpler choice if email is something you do once a month.
An all-in-one system like HighLevel puts email beside your contact records, text messages, forms, booking and pipeline. A form on your website can start a follow-up the same minute. It does more, and it takes more setting up. It makes sense when the goal is following up with every lead, not just sending a newsletter.
A business can use both, but then contacts live in two places. Pick one home for the list if you can.
Why does the choice matter?
Switching later is possible, but it takes a few hours: export, import, rebuild forms, redo authentication, rebuild your templates and automations. Picking a tool that fits how you’ll work saves that. And a tool you find awkward is one you’ll stop using, which is worse than any limit on a free plan.
What are the common mistakes and edge cases?
- Choosing on free-plan size alone. The free plan that fits today’s list may not include the welcome email you want.
- Several tools, several lists. A Mailchimp list, a list in your booking system and a spreadsheet drift apart. Someone who unsubscribes from one keeps getting the others.
- Sending from a free address. Use your business domain so you can authenticate it.
- Signing up with someone’s personal login. Create the account with a business email address the owner controls. Our article on owning your digital assets explains why.
- Ignoring the footer branding. On some free plans the service’s logo stays in every email. That’s fine for many businesses; just know it’s there.
What if the tool I picked isn’t working out?
- You’ve hit a free limit. Check whether you can clean the list first; archiving inactive contacts can bring the count down. See list cleaning.
- Your account hasn’t been approved to send. Some services review new accounts. Answer their questions honestly, including how people joined your list.
- The editor is too hard. Try another tool with a test list before you move everything.
- You want follow-up, not just newsletters. That’s the point to look at an all-in-one system.
How much does it cost, and how long does it take?
The free plans and trials above cost nothing to try. Paid plans are usually priced by contacts or sends, so check each vendor’s pricing page against your list size. Trying two tools with a test list takes an afternoon.
How does E-3 handle this?
For clients who want newsletters only, we can help with whichever service they already use, such as getting the list ready for import and adding the authentication records to their domain. For clients who want email tied to their leads and follow-up, we use HighLevel as part of our leads and follow-up service, so you should know we have a stake in that one. For many businesses a simple newsletter tool does the job, and that’s worth asking about first.
Related questions
Sources
- Mailchimp pricing: Marketing plans (Mailchimp)
- Constant Contact free trial (Constant Contact Knowledge Base, updated July 10, 2026)
- Create a new welcome email campaign (Constant Contact Knowledge Base, updated August 3, 2026)
- Brevo pricing plans (Brevo)
- MailerLite pricing (MailerLite)
- HighLevel pricing (HighLevel)
Next step
- Next: How do I build an email list with real consent?The next guide in Email campaigns.
- Free website checkPublic checks on your own site, then an action plan of what to fix first.
Still stuck? Ask E-3 for an answer from our help guides.
Rather we handled email campaigns for you?
It’s part of what we do every week for small businesses, as part of leads and highlevel. Start with a free check of your site and profile, or call and ask.