Creator Three email editors
Drag & drop, a simple editor, and custom HTML. All three are available on Free, according to MailerLite's pricing FAQ.
MailerLite pros and cons
Pros
- Automations on Free: 3 active workflows of up to 5 steps, so a welcome email works from day one. Kit’s free plan has no visual automations.
- Low, published prices at every tier: Comfort starts at $12/month for up to 500 subscribers, and yearly billing saves 10%.
- One tool for email, forms, landing pages and a website with a blog section and SEO tools, on every plan.
- Paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions through Stripe on Comfort and Power, and digital products or bookings on every plan (1 on Free).
- No credit card to start, plus a 14-day premium trial for new accounts (not all paid features are included; check in your account).
- 2 user seats and all three email editors on Free.
Cons
- Free stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Going over 250 locks sending until you upgrade or remove subscribers.
- Paid newsletters, RSS campaigns, custom domains and removing the MailerLite logo all need Comfort or Power.
- Kit’s free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers, 40 times MailerLite’s by our arithmetic.
- Comfort caps sending at 10× your tier; unlimited sends and multiple automation triggers need Power.
- After the 14-day trial, Free gets community support only. Email support starts on Comfort, and 24/7 live chat on Power.
The full Free plan breakdown, including what happens at each limit, is in MailerLite free plan explained. For the closest head-to-head, see Kit vs MailerLite.
MailerLite plans at a glance
MailerLite says every paid plan gets the full feature set and that "you only pay more for a bigger list or more sending." The exact price depends on your subscriber count and billing period, so use the calculator on the pricing page for your list size, or see every tier in our MailerLite pricing guide.
| Plan | Price (per MailerLite) | Sending & seats | Key limits / extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, up to 250 subscribers | 2,500 emails/month · 2 user seats · live chat for the first 14 days, then community support | 3 automations (up to 5 steps each) · 1 website + 1 landing page · 3 signup forms · 1 digital product or booking · MailerLite logo stays on |
| Comfort | "Starting $12/month" | Monthly emails = 10× the top of your subscriber tier · 3 seats · 24/7 email support | 50 automations (up to 100 steps each) · 10 websites & landing pages · 10 signup forms · 5 digital products or bookings · remove MailerLite logo · preference center · AI writing assistant · smart sending |
| Power | "Starting $25/month" | Unlimited monthly emails (fair use) · unlimited seats · 24/7 live chat & email support | Unlimited automations (up to 100 steps each) · unlimited landing pages, signup forms, digital products & bookings · multiple automation triggers · partner discounts |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom sending volume · unlimited seats · dedicated support | For 200K+ subscribers · dedicated success manager · dedicated IP (add-on) · deliverability support |
Source: MailerLite’s pricing page (plan cards, comparison table and FAQ), re-checked October 11, 2026. Prices can be subject to tax. MailerLite also lists a yearly-billing discount on the pricing page.
Comfort and Power prices by list size
| Subscribers (up to) | Comfort, monthly | Comfort, billed yearly (per month) | Power, monthly | Power, billed yearly (per month) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $12 | $10.80 | $25 | $22.50 |
| 1,000 | $19 | $17.10 | $39 | $35.10 |
| 2,500 | $33 | $29.70 | $49 | $44.10 |
| 5,000 | $49 | $44.10 | $69 | $62.10 |
| 10,000 | $89 | $80.10 | $129 | $116.10 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
USD, from the pricing calculator on MailerLite’s pricing page and MailerLite’s pricing.md, checked October 11, 2026. Yearly billing is 10% off. Comfort includes 10× your tier in monthly emails (5,000 at up to 500 subscribers); Power has unlimited monthly emails under fair use. Prices can be subject to tax.
Older reviews may quote different numbers. On June 16, 2026, MailerLite renamed Growing Business to Comfort and Advanced to Power, and cut the Free plan from 500 to 250 subscribers and from 12,000 to 2,500 monthly emails (it also raised Free from 1 to 2 seats). Content from before then, including some older MailerLite videos, describes a bigger free plan. Go by the live pricing page.
How MailerLite counts subscribers and sends
This is the easiest part to get wrong when estimating costs. According to MailerLite's pricing FAQ:
- You pay for active subscribers. Unsubscribed and bounced contacts don't count.
- The count is cumulative within a billing cycle. Anyone who was active at any point in the cycle counts toward your limit, even if you delete them later. The count resets on your monthly billing anniversary.
- On a paid plan, if you go over your tier, MailerLite automatically moves you to the next tier and charges for it.
- On the Free plan, going over 250 active subscribers locks sending (campaigns and automations) until you upgrade or remove subscribers.
- Comfort's email allowance is 10× the top of your subscriber tier. MailerLite's example: on the up-to-1,000 tier you get 10,000 emails a month whether you have 200 subscribers or 900. One email to one subscriber counts as one send.
What this means for a weekly newsletter: four or five issues a month to your whole list uses about 4–5× your list size in sends. That fits inside Comfort's 10× allowance, with room for a welcome sequence. If you send daily, compare Comfort's cap with Power's unlimited sending before you choose.
The 14-day premium trial
New accounts automatically get a 14-day trial of paid features. No payment method is required. Per MailerLite's trial help article:
- During the trial you can add up to 250 subscribers and send up to 2,500 emails (test emails don't count), with 2 users.
- The trial lets you try features from the Comfort and Power plans, but not all paid features are included, so check in your account before you plan around one.
- When the trial ends, your account reverts to the Free plan. Nothing is deleted, but paid features switch off until you upgrade.
Features that matter for newsletter creators
Forms, landing pages, a website
Embedded and pop-up forms, landing pages and a website builder. How many you can have live depends on the plan (see table).
Visual automation builder
Workflows start from a trigger, such as joining a group. Free allows 3 active automations of up to 5 steps. Power allows up to 3 triggers per workflow.
Groups vs segments
Groups (tags) are managed by hand. Segments update automatically based on rules such as signup date or field values.
RSS campaigns
Automatically email new blog posts on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule. RSS campaigns are a paid feature (Comfort and Power).
Paid newsletters via Stripe
Sell one-time digital products and recurring subscriptions (including paid newsletters) on MailerLite landing pages and websites through Stripe. Requires Comfort or Power.
Setup checklist: your first MailerLite newsletter
Based on MailerLite's getting-started guide and related help articles. Menu names are MailerLite's, as documented on October 11, 2026.
- Create an account. Sign up with your organization name, email and password. The 14-day premium trial starts automatically.
- Authenticate your sending domain. Go to Account settings → Domains → Add domain. MailerLite says authentication is required when you send from a custom domain, and new accounts can skip it only during the 14-day trial. Plan an afternoon for DNS records. See domain authentication.
- Import subscribers you have permission to email. Subscribers → Add subscribers. Options include CSV/TXT upload, pasting from Excel, adding people one by one, importing directly from Mailchimp, or the API. MailerLite requires that everyone you import has consented to marketing email. See importing subscribers.
- Set up one group for newsletter readers. Keep it simple: one group for your newsletter, then segments later (for example "joined in the last 30 days"). See groups vs segments.
- Publish one signup form or landing page that adds people to that group, and link it from a page you control.
- Build a welcome automation. Trigger: subscriber joins your newsletter group. Add a short welcome email, and put delay steps between emails, because MailerLite notes that email steps with no delay between them all arrive at the same time. See automation workflows.
- Send your first campaign. Campaigns → Create → Regular campaign. MailerLite recommends sending from your own domain email and name, and avoiding no-reply addresses. Fill in the subject, preheader and recipients, then send a test before scheduling.
- If you also blog, add an RSS campaign (Comfort or Power) so new posts go out automatically. See RSS campaigns.
Honest limitations to weigh
- The Free plan is small. With 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, a weekly newsletter reaches the ceiling quickly. Price Comfort at the list size you expect in 12 months, not today's.
- Monetization needs a paid plan and Stripe. Paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions run through the Stripe integration on Comfort or Power, so you need a Stripe account too.
- Automation caps differ a lot by plan: 3 on Free (up to 5 steps each), 50 on Comfort and unlimited on Power (up to 100 steps each on both). Multiple triggers per workflow are Power-only.
- Positioning. MailerLite presents itself as an email marketing tool and website builder for businesses of all sizes. If you want a newsletter-as-publication platform with built-in growth loops, compare it with Beehiiv. If deep creator-commerce automations are your focus, also look at Kit.
- API and MCP sending is available only on paid plans. On Free, API/MCP access is limited and can't send email.
Who MailerLite is for, and who it isn’t for
Good fit MailerLite is for you if…
- You’re starting a newsletter and want a welcome email or onboarding sequence without paying.
- You expect to pay soon and want a low price as you grow: Comfort is $33/month at up to 2,500 subscribers and $49 at up to 5,000.
- You want your newsletter, signup forms, landing pages and a website with a blog in one place.
- You plan to sell a paid newsletter or digital products through Stripe on Comfort.
Poor fit Look elsewhere if…
- You want to stay free past 250 subscribers. Kit’s free plan goes to 10,000 (see Kit vs MailerLite), and EmailOctopus’s to 2,500 (see MailerLite vs EmailOctopus).
- You want to charge readers before paying for software. Kit lets you sell subscriptions on its free plan.
- Your plan depends on publication-style growth tools such as a referral program and recommendation network. Read Beehiiv vs MailerLite.
- You send very often to a large list on a tight budget. Comfort caps monthly sends at 10× your tier, and unlimited sending starts at $25/month on Power.
MailerLite vs the alternatives
- MailerLite free plan explained: every Free limit, the 14-day trial and when to upgrade.
- Beehiiv vs MailerLite: newsletter growth platform vs approachable ESP.
- MailerLite vs EmailOctopus: more tools and paid newsletters vs a bigger free list and lower prices.
- Kit vs MailerLite: automations on free and a lower paid price vs Kit’s 10,000-subscriber free plan.
- Kit vs Beehiiv: creator automations vs growth-first publishing.
- How to choose a newsletter tool: a decision framework by list size, automation, growth and budget.
- Best newsletter tools for creators: the full shortlist.
- Best free newsletter platforms: MailerLite Free next to the free plans from Beehiiv, Kit, Buttondown, Substack and others, with subscriber and send limits.
All our MailerLite pages
- Guides: MailerLite pricing · MailerLite free plan · How to switch from Mailchimp to MailerLite
- Comparisons: Kit vs MailerLite · Beehiiv vs MailerLite · MailerLite vs Mailchimp · MailerLite vs Substack · MailerLite vs ActiveCampaign · MailerLite vs Brevo · MailerLite vs EmailOctopus · MailerLite vs Sender · MailerLite vs MailerSend · MailerLite vs GetResponse
FAQ
Is MailerLite free?
Yes. There is a Free plan for up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with limits on automations, forms and pages. New accounts also get a 14-day premium trial with no card required; not all paid features are included, so check in your account (checked October 11, 2026). Every limit, and what happens when you hit it, is in MailerLite free plan explained.
How much does MailerLite cost for a small newsletter?
MailerLite's pricing FAQ lists Comfort as "starting $12/month" and Power as "starting $25/month". At up to 1,000 subscribers, Comfort is $19/month or $17.10/month billed yearly (checked October 11, 2026). Your actual price depends on your subscriber tier and whether you pay monthly or yearly. Check the calculator on MailerLite’s pricing page.
Can you run a paid newsletter on MailerLite?
Yes, on Comfort or Power, by connecting Stripe and selling a recurring subscription from a MailerLite landing page or website. See MailerLite's Stripe help article.
Can you move your list from Mailchimp?
MailerLite has a direct Mailchimp import (by logging in or with an API key) and a migration guide. From other tools, you can export a CSV and import it. For the two side by side, see MailerLite vs Mailchimp.
Is MailerLite better than Kit?
For most beginners on a budget, yes: MailerLite includes automations on Free and costs less when you pay ($17.10 vs $33 a month at 1,000 subscribers, both billed yearly). Kit is better if you want a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers. See Kit vs MailerLite.
Where does MailerLite store data?
MailerLite's pricing FAQ says its data storage center is in the European Union and holds ISO 27001 certification.
Sources (checked October 11, 2026)
- MailerLite pricing page: plans, limits, pricing FAQ
- MailerLite help: the 14-day premium trial
- MailerLite help: getting started
- MailerLite help: verify and authenticate your domain
- MailerLite help: import subscribers
- MailerLite help: groups vs segments
- MailerLite help: create an automation workflow
- MailerLite help: create an RSS campaign
- MailerLite help: sell digital products with Stripe
- MailerLite help: switch from Mailchimp
- MailerLite pricing (text version, pricing.md): prices by subscriber tier, monthly and yearly (October 11, 2026)
- MailerLite help: Free plan update FAQ: June 16, 2026 Free plan changes (October 11, 2026)
- Kit pricing page: Kit free plan limit and Creator price at 1,000 subscribers (October 11, 2026)
MailerLite is a trademark of its owner. We run Creator Mail Stack independently, and it is not endorsed by MailerLite. We’re in MailerLite’s affiliate program, as described in the disclosure. Found something out of date? Tell us.