EmailOctopus Pricing (2025): How Can It Afford To Be So Cheap?

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If you’ve been shopping around for an affordable email marketing platform, chances are EmailOctopus has popped up on your radar. And for good reason — apart from its memorable name 🐙, it also happens to be one of the most budget-friendly tools out there.

The pricing starts with a generous free plan. Paid plans with extra features begin at $9/month, scaling with the size of your list — often at a fraction of what big-name competitors like Mailchimp or AWeber charge.

EmailOctopus keeps costs down by focusing purely on email. You won’t find bells and whistles like SMS marketing or advanced ecommerce automations. And if all you need is clean, effective email campaigns at a low cost, that simplicity can be a strength.

So, is EmailOctopus pricing really as good a deal as it looks on paper? Let’s break down what you get on the free plan, how the Pro plan scales, and whether it’s the right fit for your budget and needs.

EmailOctopus Pricing at a Glance

EmailOctopus keeps things refreshingly simple with just two plans:

• Starter (Free) – Up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month. You’ll get access to core features like landing pages, forms, and basic automations, though with some limits and EmailOctopus branding.
• Pro (Paid) – Starts at $9/month for up to 500 subscribers and scales as your list grows. Pro unlocks reporting history, unlimited automations, priority support, and the removal of EmailOctopus branding.

All plans are month-to-month, and you can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. Prices are based on subscriber count, so you only pay for the size of your list.

EmailOctopus Plan Breakdown: Starter vs. Pro

EmailOctopus Pro Pricing

Unlike some providers that cap email volume or lock features behind higher tiers, EmailOctopus keeps its pricing straightforward — you get the full feature set no matter your list size, with email send limits set at roughly 10x your subscriber count. Here’s how the costs break down:

How EmailOctopus Pricing Works

The Pro plan is structured around your subscriber count:

• You choose a tier based on how many contacts you plan to store; that sets your price.
• If your list exceeds the current tier, EmailOctopus auto-upgrades you to the next level and charges the difference right away.
• Automatic downgrade is available too: enable "Optimize plan pricing," and if your audience shrinks, the tool shifts you to a lower tier at your next billing cycle.
• You can also manage changes manually via the "Change quotas" slider on your account page.

Image source: EmailOctopus

How is EmailOctopus So Affordable?

One of the biggest draws of EmailOctopus is its price tag. Its paid plans are around 40–60% cheaper than mainstream alternatives. That raises an obvious question: how can they afford to be this cheap?

The answer lies in focus. EmailOctopus has deliberately positioned itself as a lean, email-only platform. Unlike many competitors, it doesn’t try to be an all-in-one marketing suite with add-ons like SMS, advanced ecommerce features, or a full CRM. By stripping things back to the essentials, it can keep overheads low and pass those savings on to its customers.

Another cost-saving factor is infrastructure. EmailOctopus was originally built on Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) — a highly scalable, low-cost email delivery system. While today it also offers its own managed sending, this foundation has allowed them to maintain a lightweight model compared to competitors that run all their own delivery infrastructure.

This approach is a breath of fresh air compared to alternatives like Mailchimp. When it first launched, Mailchimp’s appeal was its famously generous free plan and budget-friendly pricing. But over the years, as it added features like landing pages, websites, SMS, and a built-in CRM, prices crept up. Today, Mailchimp’s paid tiers are significantly higher than EmailOctopus for the same subscriber counts, and its free plan has become far more limited:

This is a pattern we’ve seen across the industry: platforms expand into “all-in-one” territory, layer in more tools, and then raise prices to match. EmailOctopus has gone the opposite route — sticking to its core strength (email campaigns), and pricing it in a way that’s still accessible to creators, nonprofits, and small businesses.

So if you’re looking for a tool that does just email, really well, and without breaking the bank, EmailOctopus makes a strong case.

How Does EmailOctopus Pricing Compare?

Let’s see how EmailOctopus compares to other low cost email services that also charge based on list size:

As you can see, EmailOctopus sits comfortably in the low-cost bracket of email marketing tools. While it may not be the cheapest tool for very small list sizes, where it really stands out is at scale. At 10,000 subscribers, the Pro plan costs just $40/month. That’s one of the lowest prices in the entire market. Only Maildroppa, Zoho and Sender are close, and each comes with slightly different limitations in features and support.

There’s also a 20% discount for nonprofits, making EmailOctopus a smart pick for mission-driven teams that want to stretch every donation or grant dollar further.

One thing to note: EmailOctopus doesn’t offer annual contracts like other providers do, which can often reduce prices further. However, considering they’re already so cheap, we don’t think this is a huge disadvantage. In fact, many customers appreciate the flexibility of not being locked into a year-long contract.

Are Transactional Emails Included?

No, transactional emails (e.g., order confirmations, password resets) are not included in the standard EmailOctopus plans.

However, if you're looking to handle both marketing and transactional sends under one roof, EmailOctopus offers a workaround through EmailOctopus Connect. With this add-on, you can link your own AWS account and use Amazon SES, enabling you to send transactional emails through SES while still managing marketing sends via EmailOctopus.

A free plan is available for up to 2,500 contacts and unlimited emails. Paid plans start at $8/month for 500 subscribers and unlimited emails. You can find more information on the EmailOctopus Connect pricing page.

EmailOctopus Pricing: Conclusion

EmailOctopus proves that email marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. By stripping back to the essentials, it delivers a platform that’s refreshingly simple, highly affordable, and scalable as your list grows.

It won’t be the right choice if you need extras like SMS, ecommerce automations, or built-in CRM features — for that, you’ll have to look elsewhere. But if your goal is to run clean, effective email campaigns without draining your budget, EmailOctopus offers some of the best value on the market.

For creators, nonprofits, and small businesses who care more about cost-effective deliverability than all-in-one suites, EmailOctopus remains a smart, future-proof pick.

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