For years I’ve been using MailChimp to send out my newsletters – I like it because it’s free up to 1,000 subscribers. Unfortunately, it does have some drawbacks – if I want to create an autoresponder message, I would have to upgrade my account to a paid account. Earlier this year, I tried out Aweber – they are not free, their service costs $19 but I was able to create autoresponders in addition to sending out email newsletters. Recently I found out about a third option, MailerLite. Like MailChimp, MailerLite is free up to the first 1000 subscribers, but they cost much less than MailChimp, and they provide autoresponders to everyone, even those who have free accounts. In this post, I’ll take a closer look at each service.
MailChimp
This is the email service I started with. It’s great for people who are new to internet marketing and creating mailing lists because members can use it for free until they get 2,000 subscribers across all their mailing lists. They also provide some helpful tips along the way to help users create more effective campaigns. However, it does have a few drawbacks. For one thing, MailChimp does not provide autoresponders to free members. You’re also limited on how many emails you can send across all your campaigns – you can only send 12,000 as a free member. For most free members, this more than enough, but once they start getting a lot of customers and sending more emails, they’ll have to start paying $25 a month. With paid accounts, you can use their advanced testing tools and create autoresponders.
MailerLite
This is one I just discovered. It’s similar to MailChimp in that it’s free, but only up to 1,000 subscribers. However, this should still be more than enough for marketers who are just getting started. Unlike MailChimp, MailerLite does provide autoresponders and landing pages even to its free members, and once you get over 1,000 subscribers across your mailing lists, paid accounts start at $10 a month. The one disadvantage to MailerLite is that it doesn’t provide an integration for Medium on Upscribe, so if you use Medium and want to include a link so people can subscribe to your mailing list, you’ll have to provide a hyperlink.
Aweber
Aweber is another newsletter service I’ve tried out – they provide all the same features as MailerLite and MailChimp, but they don’t provide a free option – you can do a free trial with them, but after the trial is over you’ll have to pay for it. Just like the other two, they provide a drag and drop editor so you can create email newsletters, and they also provide HTML templates. Their service is $19 a month for up to 500 subscribers, after that the price goes up. One good thing about them is they provide the same features for all their plans, no matter which one you choose. You can also pay monthly, quarterly or annually.
My choice
To me, it seems like the best choice for people who are just getting started with email marketing would be MailerLite. However, the other two do provide some other features that email marketers may want to take advantage of. For example, Aweber provides access to over 6,000 stock photos that people can use in their mailings, the others don’t provide that – you have to find or create your own graphics. So, it depends on the features you need and how much you’re willing to pay.
I hope you’ve found this post helpful – if you’ve had any positive or negative experiences with any of these services, I’d love to hear about them – please feel free to comment below.
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