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Hey, MailerLite dropped a bomb this week – two of ‘em, in fact. The headline news is:
- Prices are increasing on paid plans.
- Free plans have been hobbled. (Details here.)
It’s a pretty unwelcome one-two, which has many authors (understandably) looking around for alternatives. Today we will run through the changes and compare the two services I use (Kit and MailerLite) along with the two I get most asked about right now (Substack and EmailOctopus). But let me say something first: don’t make any snap decisions. This is a pretty important choice, and I think this is a scenario where you should tailor your approach to your circumstances. There is no one-size-fits-all answer like there was several years ago. I first switched to MailerLite during the Grand Exodus from Mailchimp back in 2019. Mailchimp had been the darling of the newsletter space for many years but then started rising prices and hobbling free plans and bringing in pretty crappy terms – like counting unsubscribes towards your plan total. MailerLite was one of the main beneficiaries and it was an easy service for me to recommend to my fellow authors, being easily the best combination of price and value, and I was happy to become an affiliate too. Things aren’t so clear in 2026 anymore, especially after these changes. MailerLite has had a few service wobbles, especially around the transition to the new platform. Prices have risen. The free plan has gone from 1,000 subscribers, to just 500, and has now been slashed to a paltry 250. I don’t understand that corporate strategy at all so I won’t try to explain it, but I will note that MailerLite was bought by a larger company a few years ago and the direction seemed to change. My recommendation of MailerLite as the best service for most authors is now under review, but this isn’t quite Mailchimp all over again. MailerLite might still be the best choice for many of you, but it’s getting easier to recommend alternatives – especially for authors in certain circumstances – so let’s run through some scenarios. newer authorsAuthors who are starting out, or getting serious about newsletters for the first time, are those who are most affected by these MailerLite changes. A limit of 250 subscribers on the free plan means you will likely start paying for your list before you have gotten your business going. This will lead many to consider alternatives with more generous free plans. Substack will be a popular choice with many but I strongly urge you to reconsider. Substack is not really designed for authors (and our typical use seems to be against the Substack terms). It is missing some key features that authors need and I think you would be better off with a dedicated Email Marketing Service. I’ve covered this topic several times now but keep getting asked about Substack nonetheless. I understand the pricing is attractive, but I recommend reading this Facebook post, the resources I link to there, and the discussion from experience authors who tried Substack underneath to get a full range of perspectives whether you agree with me or not. Kit has a very generous free plan – up to 10,000 subscribers before you start paying. That is an affiliate link, but I have used Kit for this here newsletter for several years, and I’m a big fan. The free plan has some restrictions, as they all do, but that subscriber limit is extremely generous. I plan a more detailed review of this free plan soon because it is a little quirky in some ways. Also imperative to note that Kit is more expensive when you graduate to a paid plan – it is a premium newsletter service with considerable bells and whistles – but you have plenty of time to assess that as you grow to 10,000 readers. And the price gap between Kit and MailerLite has closed considerably (more on that below). EmailOctopus is getting a lot of buzz lately – and is being recommended by lots of you guys as being a more basic but cheaper alternative. I’m going to give it a spin myself and report back in more detail so that’s not an affiliate link as I don’t have enough experience with it to properly recommend it yet, but my initial impressions are positive. The free plan isn’t quite as generous as Kit’s but is a decent 2,500 subscribers – ten times that of MailerLite – and then is very competitively priced once you transition to paid plans. For example:
- 1,000 subscribers costs $12 a month on an annual plan, versus $17.10 a month with MailerLite on its oddly named “Comfort” plan or $35.10 a month on the “Power” plan.
- 5,000 subscribers costs $26 a month vs. $44.10 or $62.10 a month on MailerLite’s two plans.
To be fair here, MailerLite has a lot more features so it’s not a straight comparison at all. I urge you to spend time comparing feature sets. (And if you need to buy yourself some thinking space, consider culling your list to remain within the new free limits.) But there’s a bigger thing to consider with EmailOctopus and indeed any other alternatives. MailerLite has a stellar deliverability record. In independent testing, MailerLite consistently comes at or near the top of Email Marketing Services for deliverability – regularly trouncing more expensive providers. This is an under-discussed point among authors when comparing services and should probably be the primary consideration, in my opinion, along with price. It’s something of a false economy to save money on your Email Marketing Service but then have lots of your emails get dumped into Spam or disappear somewhere along the way. It also affects your growth. If your newsletter service has excellent deliverability, then those initial welcome emails will have a higher open rate, and then your new subscribers will graduate from your welcome sequence in better shape. But if your service has mixed deliverability then some of those hard-won subscribers will be DOA. And what's the value of your list versus the cost? I should note that I really liked the simplicity of EmailOctopus. The onboarding experience is very beginner-friendly with lots of nice touches like pulling your fonts and branding through from your website. This makes creating branded newsletters a breeze. Honestly, it’s probably one of the nicest customer onboarding experiences I have seen and has lots of cool features like checking your knowledge level with email marketing and tailoring the advice accordingly. If you are an email marketing beginner, it’s way more accessible than Kit, which is so feature packed as to seem daunting to new users (and perhaps even to those with some experience). What I can’t assess at this point is deliverability, and EmailOctopus is small enough that it hasn’t been included in the usual independent tests – but I’m hoping that changes soon as it seems to be growing fast right now. Price is an important factor – just don’t let it be the only one. Feature set is important. Deliverability even more so. Consider it all. midlistersUsing this term loosely for authors with some experience in publishing (or email marketing), or who have grown their list a little already and are generating some royalties to cover business expenses. This is the group that I’d suggest can take some time to assess who the best newsletter provider is going forward as they are the least impacted by these changes in an immediate sense. Many are probably on a yearly plan anyway, and will have time before they must decide. The cost of switching service grows as you do – in terms of hassle, I mean – so don’t be hasty. If you are looking at a cheaper alternative like EmailOctopus or something of that ilk, take a very close look at the feature set to ensure you can keep running your business in the same way. Those who are growing fast and have more complex needs might be also looking at a service like Kit, but I wouldn’t recommend switching to that free plan unless you are sure the limitations work for you (it has some quirks, so check it out in detail - I'll cover it soon). And when it comes to paid plans, Kit is a premium service and priced accordingly, so the price of 5,000 subs, for example, jumps to $75 a month (versus $44 or $62 at MailerLite). You can view Kit’s pricing plans here. And you can view MailerLite’s pricing plans here. (Both affiliate links, both services I have used for years.) It is notable how much the pricing gap has closed now between Kit and MailerLite though; the latter used to be considerably cheaper. So, if those extra features at Kit appeal, and you have more budget to spend, it’s a great option and one I’m personally very happy with. bestsellersAgain, using the term loosely here, describing those with considerable experience in publishing or newsletter marketing and/or those who have grown their list to a decent size and are running a sustainable business. This group of authors will likely be the least price sensitive as they are generating good royalties, and will probably place greater importance in deliverability, reliability, customer service, and feature set. They also have the most to lose in terms of disruption from switching providers; it can be a pain to move a big list, switch out all your forms, rebuild your automations and welcome sequences, test everything, and so on. I’m glad I haven’t had to do it for a few years tbh, it is draining. Luckily, most services provide migration support once your list is a certain size. Kit’s migration service is particularly good and will even build all your new automations for you if you give them enough notice, and give hands-on advice on how to warm up your list to minimize any bumpiness in your first sends. (I don’t think smaller/cheaper services provide this kind of help.) Quite frankly, though, bestselling authors who are already with MailerLite and are happy there are unlikely to move just because of this price rise. If they are frustrated with other matters, a price rise can often be the impetus to switch, but if they are otherwise satisfied they will probably remain where they are – that’s my guess, at least. If they do want to switch, they might run into limitations at a cheaper service like EmailOctopus – unless they are paring back their business, in which case it might be an option. But if their operation is growing in complexity, and they have things like more advanced automation needs, then I think Kit is a great option. It is often more expensive than MailerLite (and considerably more expensive than EmailOctopus) but is a premium service with lots of extra bells and whistles that are worth checking out if you have the budget. I do recommend going to the pricing page of any service you are considering and playing with the sliders because the plans aren’t always priced in ways that seem logical – they prices don’t often step up in a regular manner. I’m including EmailOctopus here just as a reference but I think authors with lists this big might run into serious limitations with features at this point. But give a couple of examples:
- 10,000 subscribers is now $80/$116 a month with MailerLite, $116 a month with Kit, and $36 a month with EmailOctopus.
- 20,000 subscribers is now $143/$197 a month with MailerLite, $158 with Kit, and $78 with EmailOctopus.
- 45,000 subscribers is now $260/$323 with MailerLite, $266 with Kit, and $134 with EmailOctopus.
The mapping between list size and price gets weird at different points, so I really do recommend testing a few different sizes at any provider you are considering. Overall though, MailerLite pricing seems to accelerate faster than Kit's as your list grows – something that those with bigger or faster growing lists might keep in mind. (Note: I’m giving the price for the Creator plan at Kit as I don’t see many authors using the features more expensive Pro plan whereas MailerLite gatekeeps important things like Live Chat Support behind the Power plan now; I hope I’m being fair here.) I hope this basic comparison was at least somewhat helpful. Apologies if I missed anything here – I have had the craziest week which I hope I can talk about next Friday if everything gets resolved. Please do feel free to reply with your thoughts on all the services covered above, and any that I did not mention – whether you agree with my take or not. This is a topic under active review since these price changes, I am most certainly open to having my mind changed, and we will return to it all of this again in more detail. OK, my brother is in town for a visit, so I’m off to gorge myself in the manner our forefathers intended. Dave P.S. Writing music this week is Paradis with Moi et Toi. |
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