12 Top Email Newsletter Services and Software to Know

The capabilities of email newsletter services offered today go beyond those of traditional email service providers, allowing for things like newsletter curation to formatting and sending — all on one platform. They’re especially helpful for making the newsletter process intuitive, affordable and not too technical for beginners and independent writers.

We rounded up the best email newsletter services to know, covering their advantages, disadvantages and the use cases they suit best.

12 Top Email Newsletter Services and Platforms

1. Mailchimp

Debuting in 2001, Mailchimp is the longest-tenured member on this list. It’s mostly used by businesses both big and small, and works for a broad array of use cases. With Mailchimp, you can build and send email newsletters using its pre-made and customizable templates. And, depending on how much you pay, you can access sophisticated marketing CRM tools and set up pre-built automations. 

Best for: Any business size.

Mailchimp Advantages

• Free to get started.
• Offers advanced analytics.
• Has marketing automation tools and subscriber segmentation.
• Allows third-party integrations.

Mailchimp Disadvantages

• Free trial ends after one month, with plans starting at $20 per month. 
• Lots of tools might not be necessary for independent writers.
• Lacks a directly integrated payment processing system.

2. MailerLite

MailerLite is an email marketing service that can be used to create and publish newsletters for which you can charge a subscription fee. Since it’s designed first and foremost for email marketers, MailerLite comes with automation capabilities. You can tag subscribers, assigning them to segments based on their interests or behaviors, as well as set up email sequences and conduct A/B tests for newsletters. As for the email compose interface, it offers a rich-text editor with drag-and-drop capabilities.

Best for: Any business size.

MailerLite Advantages

• Free to get started.
• Offers advanced analytics.
• Allows for custom domain.
• Can integrate with Stripe to allow monetization.

MailerLite Disadvantages

• Sliding price scale kicks in after 1,000 subscribers and/or 12,000 monthly emails.
• Various tools and features may feel extra if all you want to do is publish a first newsletter.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot’s newsletter builder is designed to make newsletter creation simple for professionals with various levels of technical expertise. Combining the company’s CRM data, a drag-and-drop editor tool and pre-made templates, users can quickly craft newsletters that target specific audiences. In addition, HubSpot’s email newsletter software comes with “personalization tokens,” so creators can adjust details like customer names and buying habits to mass-produce tailored emails. 

Best for: Any business size. 

HubSpot Advantages

• Free to get started.  
• Personalization tokens make it easy to tailor emails to individuals on a mass scale.
• Access to CRM data provides insights on customer habits and preferences. 

HubSpot Disadvantages

• Access to other HubSpot tools and features requires a paid plan, with marketing plans starting at $800 per month. 

4. Constant Contact

Constant Contact combines intuitive features with artificial intelligence to reduce the time it takes to build and launch email marketing campaigns. Users can get started with email templates and a drag-and-drop editor, monitor email metrics and stay on top of email campaigns with a mobile app. For faster workflows, Constant Contact’s AI tool can automatically generate branded assets and written content for emails and other formats. 

Best for: Any business size. 

Constant Contact Advantages

• AI features speed up email design. 
• Offers basic analytics. 
• Can integrate with Stripe to allow monetization.  

Constant Contact Disadvantages

• Only offers paid plans, starting at $12 per month. 
• All features are only available with premium plan, which is $80 per month. 

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5. Brevo

Brevo provides newsletter software that supports creators with over 40 templates, a drag-and-drop editor tool, an AI assistant that helps write subject lines and responsive emails that adjust to mobile formats. The platform also caters to those who prefer a hands-on approach, enabling users to build emails from the ground up in HTML and make any needed tweaks to newsletters in response to real-time data.  

Best for: Any business size. 

Brevo Advantages

• Emails automatically adjust to mobile formats for an improved reader experience.
• AI assistant makes writing emails faster. 
• Users can send up to 300 emails per day for free. 

Brevo Disadvantages

• Users must choose a paid plan to send 5,000 emails per month, starting at $9 per month. 

6. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is mainly for individual creators who want to take their newsletter game beyond simple newsletter writing and delivery and build targeted email campaigns. The service offers the ability to set up automated email funnels, create customizable segments and even perform A/B tests with different subject lines. Its editor prioritizes basic, clean formatting for simple text emails, which you can format into templates and save for later use. You can also create a customizable landing page for email capture.

Best for: Any business size.

ConvertKit Advantages

• Free to get started.
• Offers basic analytics.
• Can integrate with Stripe to allow monetization.
• Lets you segment subscribers, automate emails, perform A/B tests.

ConvertKit Disadvantages

• Sliding price scale kicks in after 1,000 subscribers or right away to unlock additional features (starts at $9 per month).

7. Aweber

AWeber aims to make email marketing accessible and scalable to all, even for users with no prior newsletter experience. The platform boasts a number of email design and customization options, where users can create templates from their own pre-made website or Facebook page, or even get creative with thousands of free stock images, drag-and-drop and built-in Canva features. For technical needs, A/B testing, message automation and open-rate tracking are also readily available. 

Best for: Individuals or small businesses.

AWeber Advantages

• Free access to email templates, builder tools and account migration.
• $20 per month for full-access AWeber Plus plan.
• Able to connect over 750 apps within the platform (like Facebook, PayPal, WordPress).

AWeber Disadvantages

• Continuous email automation and split testing only available with paid plans.
• Charges 0.6 to 1 percent transaction fee for all e-commerce products/services.

8. EmailOctopus

EmailOctopus is a quick, simple solution for anyone looking to start a newsletter, either for personal use or to engage customers for their small business. It allows for a streamlined way to design and send basic emails, as well as create automated email sequences that can onboard new subscribers. The email newsletter service has a reputation for being an easy-to-use, affordable and GDPR-compliant email marketing solution.  

Best for: Any business size.

EmailOctopus Advantages

• Free to get started.
• Offers basic analytics.
• Can use a custom domain.
• Integrates with third-party apps, including Stripe.

EmailOctopus Disadvantages

• Sliding price scale kicks in after 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month (starts at $9 per month).

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9. Beehiiv

Beehiiv offers a suite of newsletter tools that help creators publish, customize and grow their written content and reader base. With its launch version, which is available for free up to 2,500 subscribers, the platform offers its own CMS, analytics, audience segmentation and ad network options to curate email and website-optimized content. The company also provides creator and community resources, such as a best practices blog, API documentation and a designated partner program.

Best for: Any business size.

Beehiiv Advantages

• Takes 0 percent from subscription revenue.
• No pricing plan contracts required.

Beehiiv Disadvantages

• Tools not sold separately, must be purchased in bundled plan.
• Publications with more than 100,000 subscribers must purchase an Enterprise plan.

10. Ghost

Ghost’s all-in-one, open-source platform allows solo operators to create customizable publications and set up free or paid newsletters for their subscribers. This email newsletter service also lets you gate specific members-only content and send newsletters to different segments of your audience, based on whether or not they are paying. You can even control your pricing model, determining how much and how often subscribers pay for your content. Ghost uses a markdown text editor and integrates with third-party apps like Zapier. 

Best for: Any business size.

Ghost Advantages

• Takes 0 percent transaction fees.
• Integrates directly with Stripe for payment processing.
• Offers advanced member management and content-gating.
• Open source makes it easy to switch services.

Ghost Disadvantages

• Pricing starts at $9 per month for Starter version.

11. Substack

Substack is intuitively designed and integrated with the payment processing service Stripe, so that newcomers can publish and monetize their newsletters quickly and with little friction. While the service is free (no matter how big the email list grows), Substack takes 10 percent off the top from every paid subscriber. The company regularly adds new product features, allows comments on posts for the web version of each newsletter, offers podcast support and provides the ability to add a custom domain for a one-time $50 fee.

Best for: Individuals or small businesses.

Substack Advantages

• Free to use.
• Integrates directly with Stripe for payment processing.
• Offers basic analytics, segmenting, sorting abilities and post comments.
• Can use custom domain ($50 one-time fee).
• Has RSS reader for organization and discovery.

Substack Disadvantages

• Substack takes a 10 percent cut of every paid subscription.
• Limited design customization.

12. Buttondown

Buttondown is built for people who want a newsletter editor that’s easy to use and that prioritizes reader and data privacy. It doesn’t collect unnecessary data, and it gives users the ability to opt out of tracking. The tool itself allows for third-party integrations and lets writers use a markdown editor. And, if you want to launch multiple newsletters from one account, Buttondown lets you do just that.

Best for: Individuals or small businesses.

Buttondown Advantages

• Free to get started.
• Offers basic analytics.
• Allows for third-party integrations.
• Lets users run multiple newsletters from one account.

Buttondown Disadvantages 

• Must buy a paid plan of $29 per month upon reaching 1,000 subscribers.
• Costs $79 per month to unlock access to all features.

Frequently Asked Questions