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MailerLite are relatively new when it comes to the world of email marketing, and that youthfulness permeates throughout its design, features and support offered. Not in a ‘young, crazy, fun!’ kind of way, but more of a ‘modern, clean and simple’ kind of way. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that their average office age is 25? Well, whatever it is, it’s working for them.
Also, reflecting of their staff and values, MailerLite is a more international tool than some of the others we’ve reviewed. The interface is available in 5 languages, and their support agents are all over the world. They also have a mobile app! Though it's only currently available on iOS.
MailerLite Review Summary
MailerLite offers a Free Forever plan, but even when you start paying, it's cheaper than a lot of other tools. Prices start from $10 for 1,000 subscribers and include unlimited emails and user accounts. Their easy-to-use interface makes it a great solution for beginners.
Even with their aforementioned simplicity, they still manage to offer a wide range of choices when it comes to things like newsletter, landing page and form options. And this, coupled with their fast and simple editor, really feels like a steal when you’re on their ‘Free Forever’ plan. Sound too good to be true? Let’s have a look and see:
MailerLite screenshots
MailerLite Pricing
MailerLite is one of the more affordable email providers on the market. If you’d like to read more about their prices and plans, check our pricing guide.
Pros and Cons
Free plan:
A good amount of features is included in their free plan, including marketing automation. However, some features such as newsletter templates aren’t included.
Easy-to-use:
A clean and simple interface make this a great service for new, and advanced, users alike.
Landing page editor:
A unique feature, allowing you to easily create and design a landing page hosted by MailerLite or on your own domain.
Excellent deliverability:
MailerLite consistently does very well in our deliverability tests, often taking the number one spot.
Missing some pro features:
Even though it has great prices, you do miss out on a few pro features, such as full reporting, advanced automations, CRM features and spam/design testing.
Rigorous approval process:
Not necessarily a bad thing if it keeps their deliverability rates up, but it may feel a bit overkill to some users who want to get started quickly
Is MailerLite the right newsletter service for you?
Recommended if:
You’re a smaller business, solopreneur or freelancer:
MailerLite is the perfect tool for those who have a modest budget, but still need a tool that does more than just send newsletters. Features include automation workflows, contact tagging and segmentation, and even a landing page editor, so even sophisticated campaigns can be run.
You’re a blogger or creative:
Apart from its affordable pricing, MailerLite is also packed with features tailored to bloggers, including RSS campaigns, WordPress integration, and video marketing.
You’re a complete beginner:
With a simple interface, intuitive navigation and easy-to-use email editor, MailerLite is the top choice for anyone who’s just getting started with email marketing. With the introduction of MailerLite Academy, where their courses seek to turn you into a MailerLite certified email marketing expert, everything just got a whole lot easier – it’s also totally free!
Not recommended if:
You need comprehensive reporting:
The reports for MailerLite are the standard ones you’ll find in any email marketing tool (with stats for opens, clicks, etc.), plus purchase tracking for Shopify and WooCommerce. However, they don’t include any social tracking, for example, so if you really need these we’d recommend a tool like GetResponse.
You need complex automations:
While MailerLite lets you set up automated workflows based on a handful triggers (e.g. when subscribers join a group, click a link or have a contact field updated), it lacks automations for more advanced triggers such as when they visit a page on your website.
Rating details
| criterion | rating | comments |
|---|---|---|
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Ease of Use |
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MailerLite is very easy to navigate with most sections working fast. It has a logical structure and a clean interface. |
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Newsletter Creation |
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Editor |
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The editor works smoothly and has everything you’ll need. There are tons of content blocks included, which makes adding columns and interactive elements such as surveys and image carousels super simple. They also allow you to track changes, which makes undoing mistakes easy. A feature quite unique to MailerLite is the ability to add Facebook and Twitter posts directly to your email. A user-friendly HTML editor is also available. |
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Personalization |
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Simple personalization is possible, but not if/then/else logic. You also have the ability to add ‘dynamic content’ blocks, which will display only to selected groups/segments. |
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Email types |
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Classic, A/B testing, autoresponders, surveys, recurring newsletters and date-based (specific, and one-off, for things like membership reminders). |
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Choice and Flexibility of Template Designs |
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There is a good selection of modern templates to choose from, which are all easily customizable. Note that templates aren’t included in the free plan, though you’ll have a huge range of interactive content blocks to choose from, including discount vouchers, carousels and videos. |
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Email Marketing Automation |
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MailerLite offer marketing automation, allowing you to create workflows based on campaign actions, such as opens and links clicked, or conditions based on custom fields and segments. While unable to track page visits, automation is offered to all users even on their free plan. |
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List Management |
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You are able to segment your subscribers using a wide variety of variables. There is even a tagging system which MailerLite calls “groups”. Through their automations you can even set up certain actions such as “when a subscriber joins one group, remove them from another group”. But it’s also not a problem for the same user to be on multiple lists, it won’t count against your subscriber limit. |
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Registration Forms/ Opt-in & Opt-out- Process |
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Very easy to create and use, with several types of forms available, including pop-up, embed, unsubscribe forms and subscribe buttons. |
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Deliverability |
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MailerLite offers solid deliverability rates. They’ve actually taken the winning spot in a number of our tests, including the two most recent ones. |
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Reports and Analysis |
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MailerLite has basic reporting available, but no dedicated section. Rather you reach it either within campaigns, or subscribers (where you can find handy individual stats on each list). While it has ecommerce tracking, this is limited to WooCommerce and Shopify, and is lacking in social tracking. What it does have is click-mapping and Google Analytics tags can be added. |
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Languages |
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MailerLite is available in 5 languages. |
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Further Features |
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Spam- and Design-Testing |
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You can preview how your design will look on desktop and mobile, but not on different email clients, and there is no spam testing. |
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Bounce Management |
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After five soft bounces, or one hard bounce, subscribers are automatically moved to a bounce folder where they can be managed. |
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Blocklist |
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You can exclude segments or groups from receiving emails from you. |
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Storage available for data and images |
Unlimited |
There’s no limit on the size or amount of images you can store. |
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Pro Features |
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Authentication |
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SPF and DKIM (Domain Keys). |
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Own Domain |
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You can add a custom domain on the Premium plan. The ‘domain alignment’ feature means that all links across campaigns and confirmation emails will have your domain, instead of the MailerLite domain. This also improves deliverability. |
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Different levels of account access |
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You can choose exactly what a team member has access to. There’s also two-factor authentication (2FA) available through the Google Authenticator App. |
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Integrations |
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MailerLite have plenty of integration options available (Shopify and WordPress, for example), and allow access to the developer API which will help integrate it within other apps. Also, they support Zapier, which can connect to a multitude of services. |
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Landing Page Editor |
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This is where MailerLite really shines, offering lots of really cool templates. Your landing pages can either be hosted by MailerLite, or on your own domain, and you can even create an entire website with their site builder. You design it in exactly the same way as the newsletter, so it feels logical and is very easy to use. |
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Support |
4.5/5 |
Using email and chat is very fast and friendly, with the same few agents responding to your requests. The knowledge base was thorough, and their free online courses are packed full of useful info. |
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Overall rating |
4.4/5 |
MailerLite is a fast and easy to use email tool, with enough features for a small business. Considering you can have up to 1,000 subscribers for free, it’s not a bad deal. |
Conclusion
MailerLite really shines in the areas of user experience and simplicity, and it has enough features for the needs of most small businesses. Of course, being cheaper than a lot of other tools means that there are some drawbacks, for example, the automations are a little thin, and spam/design testing isn’t available.
Another area MailerLite excels in is deliverability, consistently getting top scores in our tests. We even awarded them our Best of 5 badge in October 2021 for their excellent track record.
We used to be big fans of their ‘Forever Free’ plan, but are a little disappointed that they’ve limited some of its features now, including the number of emails you can send and newsletter templates. However, if you have fewer than 1,000 subscribers, it’ll do the job. Note that MailerLite are a little stricter on their approvals processes than other providers – you’ll need to make sure that your list collection and email sending practices are above board.
Basically, MailerLite does newsletter creation better than any other tool out there, and if that’s what you’re after then you don’t need to look any further.
Try MaillerLite now for free for up to 1,000 recipients.
Other tools by MailerLite include:
MailerCheck, their email verification tool to help you improve your deliverability
MailerSend, their transactional email service. Find out more here.
MailerLite Alternatives
Sendinblue is one of the cheapest all-in-one email marketing tools on the market. It’s available in 6 languages and comes with advanced automation options and a built-in CRM.
ActiveCampaign stands out for being one of the platforms with smarter automations – the options available to you are much more advanced than with MailerLite. They are not only very powerful, but also straightforward to use.
GetResponse is a powerful alternative to MailerLite with loads of pro options (e.g. Conversion Funnel) and good automations. Unlike MailerLite, they offer their platform in more than 20 languages, and their design and testing tools are top notch.
Still not sure which is the right newsletter tool for you? Try our Smart Finder.
FAQ
Where does MailerLite host my data?
MailerLite is based in Vilnius, Lithuania, and store all of their data there. In case you are wondering: yes, Lithuania is part of the European Union and thereby covered by EU data protection laws.
Why did MailerLite reject my account application/close my account?
In an effort to reduce spam rates and keep deliverability rates high, MailerLite have recently introduced strict approvals processes for new accounts. They also take enforcing their Terms of Use seriously, and are known to immediately shut down accounts that they deem to be in violation (e.g. Forex industries, MLM, affiliate marketing). Please make sure to read their Terms of Use and Anti-Spam policy before signing up for an account.
Is MailerLite any good?
We really rate MailerLite. Not only is their service affordable, it’s also really easy-to-use, and comes with some great email and landing page designs.
About Roberta Phillips
Latest Updates
19 Jul 2021 - Added 'domain alignment' feature
28 Apr 2021 - General update
19 Apr 2021 - Added best deliverability badge
26 May 2020 - Added Alternatives section.
28 Apr 2020 - Updated video.
7 Jan 2019 - Deliverability rating updated.
2 Jan 2019 - Pricing and free plan updates.
6 Nov 2018 - General updates.
21 Aug 2018 – Two-factor authentication launched.
08 Jun 2018 – New Shopify integration.
20 Mar 2018 – Deliverability rating added.
27 Nov 2017 – New segmentation options added.
13 Jan 2017 – Marketing Automation.
12 Sep 2016 – Initial Tests.
