What you pay at 10k — not the homepage sticker.
Kit free still covers 10,000. beehiiv free stops at 2,500. MailerLite/Mailchimp free are 250–1k. Slider sorts cheapest → dearest.
Green = still free at this size. Grey = unverified or intentional blank (See vendor / No annual price listed — linked). “Contact sales” / “Custom” = vendor hides public list pricing. Sorted cheapest → dearest.
Monthly cost curve · 500 → 100k
Free plans, ranked by contact headroom
Highest free contact ceiling first. Sends and branding rules matter as much as the number.
| Tool | Free contacts | Free sends / mo | Automations | Branding off? | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brevo | unlimited | ≈9,000 (300/day) | No | No | Visit |
 Substack | unlimited | unlimited | No | No | Visit |
 Kit | 10k | unlimited | No | No | Visit |
 beehiiv | 2.5k | unlimited | No | No | Visit |
 EmailOctopus | 2.5k | 10000 | No | No | Visit |
 Sender | 2.5k | 15000 | Yes | No | Visit |
 Systeme.io | 2k | — | Yes | No | Visit |
 HubSpot | 2k | — | limited | No | Visit |
 AWeber | 500 | 3000 | limited | No | Visit |
 MailerLite | 250 | 2500 | Yes | No | Visit |
Bill at 10,000 subscribers
Primary paid plan used for comparison — or $0 while free still covers the list. Grey cells elsewhere mean unverified.
| Tool | Plan used | Monthly | Annual /mo | Still free? | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | Lite | $139 | $119 | Paid | Visit |
| Kit | Free | $0 | $0 | Yes | Visit |
| MailerLite | Comfort | $89 | $80.10 | Paid | Visit |
 ActiveCampaign | Starter | — | $149 | Paid | Visit |
| Brevo | Free | $0 | $0 | Yes | Visit |
 Mailchimp | Essentials | $110 | $110 | Paid | Visit |
| EmailOctopus | Pro | $44.50 | $40 | Paid | Visit |
 Flodesk | Lite | $72 | $66 | Paid | Visit |
| Sender | Standard | $69 | $69 | Paid | Visit |
 Omnisend | Standard | $132 | — | Paid | Visit |
 Klaviyo | $150 | — | Paid | Visit | |
 GetResponse | Starter | $79 | $64.78 | Paid | Visit |
| Systeme.io | Startup | $47 | $39.17 | Paid | Visit |
| Substack | Free | $0 | $0 | Yes | Visit |
Start from how you send
Short desks with concrete numbers — not “best for everyone” fluff.
Cheapest email tools for 10,000 subscribers
At 10,000 contacts Kit can still be $0 on Creator free. MailerLite, Sender, and EmailOctopus are usually the next verified rungs — ActiveCampaign-class ladders cost several times more.
Best free email marketing plans
Ranked by free contact headroom: Kit 10k beats beehiiv’s 2.5k and MailerLite/Mailchimp’s 250-class caps. Check send limits and branding before you pick “free.”
Best email tools for newsletters
Writer-first stacks: Kit free to 10k, beehiiv free to 2.5k then Lite, Substack $0 ESP cost (takes a cut of paid), Ghost for owned audience, MailerLite as cheap paid.
Best email tools for creators
Creators who need free headroom or monetization: Kit and beehiiv for growth, Substack for paid subs, Systeme.io / Flodesk when the product stack matters more than ESP depth.
Best email tools for ecommerce
Klaviyo and Omnisend price on active profiles — the bill climbs with store size. ActiveCampaign, Drip, and Brevo are the cross-shop alternatives we track.
Best email tools for small business
Straightforward campaigns without creator-only packaging: MailerLite and Brevo usually undercut ActiveCampaign once you leave free; Sender and GetResponse stay in the mix.
Explore by search intent
Hubs for alternatives, comparisons, and best-of shortlists.
Alternatives
Mailchimp, Kit, beehiiv, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, Substack and every tool we track.
Compare
Kit vs beehiiv, Mailchimp vs MailerLite, Brevo vs Mailchimp, and more pairs.
Best-of
Cheapest at 10k, free plans, newsletters, creators, ecommerce, small business.
Pricing changes
Dated reprice log plus per-tool history pages.
How the numbers stay honest
Comparison blogs invent “$29 at 5,000” from outdated screenshots. We only publish figures we can point to on a vendor pricing or help page. If a slider is JS-only and we couldn’t verify a tier, the cell is unknown — not guessed.