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We awarded MailerLite our Best Email Marketing Tool For Ease of Use badge for 2023 & 2024!
Find out why in this extensive review of the product.
MailerLite is relatively new when it comes to the world of email marketing, and that youthfulness permeates throughout the tool's 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.
MailerLite’s company values show that MailerLite is a progressive email marketing software. Their employees and support agents are located all over the world, so getting help in your native language shouldn’t be a problem. The application itself is currently available in English and Spanish.
MailerLite recently launched a new version of their software, now affectionately calling the old version MailerLite Classic. This MailerLite review has been updated to reflect the changes to the design interface, the new features, and pricing model.
MailerLite Review Summary
MailerLite offers a Free Forever plan, but even when you start paying, it's cheaper than most email marketing tools.
Prices on the Growing Business plan start from $10 for 500 subscribers and include unlimited emails and landing pages, and over 60 modern newsletter templates.
Their easy-to-use interface makes it a great email marketing software for beginners.
Excellent email deliverability
Some may find their reporting and marketing automation options slightly limited.
Even with their aforementioned simplicity, they still manage to offer a wide range of choices when it comes to things like email campaigns, landing pages, 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.
MailerLite is one of the more affordable email providers on the market.
The prices you see here refer to the Growing Business plan. They also have a higher tier called Advanced that adds unlimited account users, Facebook integration, promotion pop-ups and multiple automation triggers. For subscriber lists of 100k and more, they offer the Enterprise tier, where you get access to dedicated IP addresses and deliverability consultations.
A good amount of features are included in their free version, including single trigger automation workflows, a landing page builder and survey maker. This is a big reason for naming it a top ActiveCampaign alternative.
Easy-to-use
A clean and simple interface makes this a great service for new and advanced users alike. Using MailerLite is in no way overwhelming, as is the case for some other email marketing platforms.
Landing page builder
MailerLite’s landing page builder allows you to easily create and design a landing page hosted by MailerLite or on your own domain. Thanks to MailerLite’s integration with Stripe, you use landing pages to sell digital products.
Excellent deliverability
MailerLite consistently does very well in our deliverability tests, often taking the number one spot. With MailerLite, you can be confident your email campaigns arrive in your subscribers’ inbox.
Fair way to count subscribers
With MailerLite, you will not be charged for inactive contacts that have unsubscribed or bounced.
Instead, only “unique subscribers used” are taken into account towards your quota. If you, for example, are only sending half your customer base emails regularly, the other half won’t count for your invoice.
Cons
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
No templates on the free version
Unfortunately, you’ll need to be on one of the paid plans in order to access the newsletter and landing page templates. You’ll also need the Advanced plan to use the HTML editor.
Subscriber management
While it includes all the basics, it lacks some advanced subscriber management tools. The database field types are restricted to text, number, and date fields, and it does not feature a comprehensive tagging system.
No migration support
A major drawback of MailerLite is that they don’t offer direct migration assistance, as it’s a “self-serve platform.” This means you’ll have to manage the migration yourself or hire a certified expert from Upwork, adding extra costs to your transition.
Is MailerLite the right newsletter service for you?
Recommended if:
Not recommended if:
You’re a small business owner, solopreneur or freelancer
MailerLite is the perfect email marketing software 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 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!
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 an email marketing service like GetResponse.
You need complex automations
While MailerLite lets you set up automated workflows based on a handful of 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
Ease of Use
Using MailerLite couldn’t be easier. Navigating the tool feels very intuitive, with most sections working fast. It has a logical structure and a clean interface. I’d say it’s one of the most user-friendly email marketing services we’ve used.
Editor Info popup
The drag and drop email editor works smoothly. There are tons of content blocks included, which makes adding text blocks, 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 user-friendly custom HTML editor is also available, though only on the Advanced plan. Another feature of the Advanced plan is a GPT-powered AI writing assistant that helps you come up with newsletter copy.
Personalization Info popup
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.
Email types Info popup
Classic, A/B testing, autoresponders, surveys, recurring newsletters and date-based (specific and one-off for things like membership reminders).
Choice and Flexibility of Template Designs Info popup
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.
MailerLite offers 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. You can also A/B split test different subject lines and campaign emails. While unable to track page visits, automation is offered to all users, even on their free plan. The automation editor is straightforward to use.
List Management Info popup
Your contacts are organized in ‘groups’, often also called ‘lists’ in other newsletter tools. You are able to segment your subscribers using a wide variety of variables. 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.
Unfortunately, MailerLite does not have a proper tagging feature, even though it sometimes refers to groups as ‘tags’.
Registration Forms/ Opt-in & Opt-out- Process Info popup
Very easy to create and use, with several types of forms available, including pop-up, embed, unsubscribe forms and subscribe buttons. The form templates are well-designed and easily customizable. Best of all, you can even create A/B tests to split test different versions of your registration form. Form fields are limited to text, number and date fields though.
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 geolocation stats, and Google Analytics tags can be added.
Languages Info popup
The new version of MailerLite (available since March 2022) is only available in English. Classic users will continue to be able to use the 4 other languages.
Spam- and Design-Testing Info popup
You can preview how your design will look on desktop and mobile, but not on different email clients, and there is no spam testing. Find out how to avoid spam filters here.
Bounce Management Info popup
After five soft bounces, or one hard bounce, subscribers are automatically moved to a bounce folder where they can be managed.
Blocklist Info popup
You can exclude segments or groups from receiving emails from you.
Storage available for data and images
Unlimited
There’s no limit on the size or amount of images you can store. There is a section called ‘File Manager’ where you can find your files. Unfortunately you can only upload images but no other files (e.g. PDFs) to MailerLite.
Authentication Info popup
SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Own Domain Info popup
You can add a custom domain on the Growing Business 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.
Different levels of account access Info popup
You can choose exactly what a team member has access to. There’s also two-factor authentication (2FA) available through the Google Authenticator App.
Integrations
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.
Landing Page Builder Info popup
This is where MailerLite really shines, offering 200+ 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 website builder, making it one of just a handful of email marketing services to offer website-building features. You design it in exactly the same way as the newsletter, so it feels logical and is very easy to use. They also have an unsubscribe page builder, which allows you to add a survey and find out why users unsubscribed from your mailing list.
Customer Support
Using email support and live chat is very fast and friendly, with the same few agents responding to your requests. Note that the free plan just includes 30 days of personal support. The knowledge base is thorough, and their free online courses are packed full of useful info. No phone support is available.
Overall rating
4.4
MailerLite is a fast and easy to use email tool, with enough features for small business owners. Considering you can have up to 1,000 subscribers for free, it’s not a bad deal.
A More Detailed Look at MailerLite’s Top Features
As you can see from this MailerLite review, it offers a good range of features, and gains points for being so user-friendly. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of its key features:
MailerLite Landing Page Builder
MailerLite’s landing page builder has always been highly recommended by us, and now even more so with its recent revamp. The new updates make the landing page creation process even faster and more efficient.
One of the standout features is that you can build and publish up to 10 landing pages and one website for free, which is pretty generous considering the average cost of dedicated landing page builders can range from $40 to $90 per month.
However, if you wish to publish your page on a custom domain, you’ll still need to upgrade to the Growing Business paid plan at ($15/month).
So what’s so good about the brand new MailerLite landing page builder?
You’ll be happy to know it’s still a drag-and-drop builder, which makes the entire process really easy.
MailerLite’s new builder uses AI to quickly create landing pages based on your goals and brand styles. Available on the Advanced plan, with limited trials for Free and Growing Business plans.
You can now save and reuse sections like sign-up forms and product blocks across pages, which saves tons of time!
Popular templates are included for a head start on the design process, adjustable to your brand, but only on paid plans.
You have plenty of content elements you can add, like countdown timers, events, surveys, etc.
Form fields can be easily edited, and form submissions go straight into whichever list you select and even trigger automation.
There are options to edit SEO settings (including whether you want your landing page to be indexed).
You can use split testing to determine the most effective landing page version.
The Stripe integration means you can sell services and products on your landing pages.
What’s not so good?
MailerLite’s free plan still doesn’t include any landing page templates.
Pro users will be missing the option to add personalized dynamic content. For example, you may wish to show users in New York an event that’s specific to them and users in San Francisco another. If this sounds like something you’re in need of, check out ActiveCampaign’s landing page builder.
Files like PDFs can’t be uploaded. To achieve that, you need a workaround via Google Drive or Dropbox, for example.
With the addition of features such as the ability to sell digital products and newsletter subscriptions (requires the Growing Business plan or higher) on top of the website and landing page builder, MailerLite is definitely heading towards all-in-one marketing platform territory.
MailerLite Templates
As I mentioned above, MailerLite’s paid plans come with unlimited landing page templates and 50 newsletter templates. And to access these, you’ll need to be on one of the paid plans.
It’s definitely disappointing that no templates are included for free, though you won’t actually be starting with a blank canvas. The screenshot below shows what you’ll be working with if you select ‘Start from scratch’ in the newsletter editor. I’d say, then, that the free plan actually includes one template to help get you started.
We rate MailerLite’s templates very highly, as they’re all responsive and were clearly made by experienced designers.
You can sort by category and edit the content with ease. You can also create your own template and save it for future use.
If you want to insert your own custom code or password protect your pages, you’ll need the Advanced plan ($21/month).
Drag and Drop Editor
The drag and drop interface is one of the best editors we’ve used (and we’ve tested a lot!). It’s fast and provides you with tons of content elements (video, testimonials, image carousels, quizzes, etc.) so you can make your campaigns as engaging as possible. Dynamic content means you can make your emails ultra-personalized, too.
Pros of Mailerlite’s Editor
RSS feed: You can have MailerLite automatically fetch information from your RSS feed, so you can automatically send an email with all your new blog articles.
Social sharing: Integrate your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram posts directly in your newsletter.
Ecommerce listings: Integrate with your ecommerce and include your listings directly in your newsletter/campaigns.
Images: MailerLite has a direct integration with Giphy and Unsplash, meaning you can find and upload beautiful images in no time. What’s more, MailerLite includes image editing software within the editor, which is a big plus.
Dynamic content: You can set the visibility for any block so it shows only to specific subscriber segments.
Cons of Mailerlite’s Editor
Spam & design testing: Unfortunately, there is no spam testing, and it’s not possible to preview how your email will look on different email clients.
HTML editor: Custom HTML editor is only available on the Advanced plan
List Management
MailerLite doesn’t limit the number of lists you can have, and this may be a key reason why Mailchimp users, for example, migrate to MailerLite.
There are two kinds of lists you can build with MailerLite: Segments and Groups.
Segments: This is a dynamic group. Each segment has at least one rule or condition that subscribers must meet to be part of this list. Once the rule is met, the subscriber is automatically added to the segment. This allows you to send targeted communications to those contacts who it’s most relevant to.
Groups: This is a static group. Think of these as interest groups. Here, you manually add and remove contacts, and they don’t need to meet any kind of criteria. One subscriber can be part of multiple groups.
An example for a (dynamic) segment in Mailerlite
Segmentation filters include if a subscriber has opened/clicked on a certain campaign, if they are in a particular time zone or have been inactive for a certain amount of time. These segments can be used in your marketing automation campaigns.
Subscriber Fields: An important limitation we found in MailerLite is that its database fields can only be text, number, or date fields. Unlike other email service providers, MailerLite does not offer dropdown fields or radio buttons, both of which make it easier to collect structured subscriber data.
Consider a scenario where you are collecting ‘Country’ information through a free-text field. This could lead to inconsistent entries such as ‘USA’ or ‘United States’. While both refer to the same country, the inconsistency hinders effective data segmentation.
ActiveCampaign (left) also offers dropdown fields, which MailerLite (right) doesn’t
So compared to pro email marketing tool ActiveCampaign, MailerLite’s list management tools are not as sophisticated. They are much easier to use, though.
Mailerlite Deliverability
We’ve included Mailerlite in our bi-annual deliverability tests over the last five years. We’ve found that MailerLite’s deliverability is consistently excellent, scoring 90% or above in most of the rounds. It’s clear this is an area MailerLite takes very seriously.
In our latest round, they drastically moved down from first place to sixth. They unfortunately saw a big number of emails go missing.
However, despite this decrease in their deliverability rate, they still managed to win an award. The “best of five” award for 2024.
Find out how Mailerlite performed over the years, and how it compares to other emailing services in our detailed deliverability analysis.
Conclusion
MailerLite really shines in the areas of user experience and simplicity, and it has enough features for the needs of most small businesses’ email marketing strategies.
Of course, being cheaper than a lot of other tools means that there are some drawbacks, for example, MailerLite’s automation capabilities are a little thin, and spam/design testing isn’t available.
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 access to email and landing page templates and the HTML editor. However, if you have fewer than 1,000 subscribers, it’ll do the job quite nicely.
MailerLite also sports a mobile app, though sadly, it’s only currently available on iOS. It allows you to create and schedule newsletters as well as checking your campaign stats.
Note that MailerLite is a little stricter on their approval process than other providers – you’ll need to make sure that your list collection and email sending practices are above board.
Basically, their excellent drag and drop editor and beautiful designs make MailerLite one of the best email marketing solutions for newsletter creation. So if that’s what you’re after, then you don’t need to look any further.
MailerLite is based in Vilnius, Lithuania, and stores all of its data there. In case you’re wondering: yes, Lithuania is a part of the European Union and is thereby covered by EU data protection laws.
They also provide a Data Processing Addendum, where they outline what happens to your data, and offer all the tools you need to stay GDPR-compliant (e.g. double-opt in, consent checkboxes etc.).
Find more information on MailerLite’s dedicated GDPR page.
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.
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. MailerLite competitors include Brevo and Mailchimp.
Yes, MailerLite is a legit email marketing platform for small businesses. Your customer data will be safely stored on its servers.
MailerLite’s deliverability rates are consistently excellent in our bi-annual deliverability tests. In fact, they won the “best of five” award for the second time, with the highest deliverability rate of all providers tested in the last five rounds.
Brevo is one of the top MailerLite alternatives we recommend, offering great value for money. It’s available in 6 languages and comes with advanced automation options and a built-in CRM. The most important difference to Mailerlite is that Brevo charges based on your email volume rather than the number of subscribers you have in your database (there is no limit).
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. Learn more about MailerLite vs ActiveCampaign in our guide.
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.
Hey, I'm Roberta! Having worked as a digital marketer for a host of online businesses, I've tried, tested, fallen in love with and despaired with so many marketing tools. I'm excited to help you find the email marketing and CRM tools you need to thrive. I know the ins and outs of tools like Brevo, MailerLite, and Hubspot, so let me know if you need help picking the right one!
Hi, I'm Inka! I spent the earlier part of my career in agency land, helping businesses of all sizes get their email marketing campaigns up and running. Now, at EmailTooltester, I'm using my experience to help businesses like yours find the best email marketing services for your needs. Although I've used dozens of different tools, I'm most familiar with Mailchimp and Kit (I use the latter for my personal newsletter!).
28 Oct 2024 - Introduction of pricing tiers for up to 500 subscribers
26 Aug 2024 - Added lack of migration support as a con
01 Aug 2024 - Updated landing page editor
06 Feb 2024 - Updated deliverability section
17 Jan 2024 - Added MailerLite vs Mailchimp video
28 Oct 2023 - The editor now includes an AI writing assistant + other small updates
24 Aug 2023 - GDPR information added
21 Aug 2023 - Smaller updates and corrections
12 July 2023 -Added Mailerlite tutorial video
11 July 2023 - Mailerlite deliverability section
10 July 2023 - Price increases
07 July 2023 - Added best deliverability badge
25 May 2023 - Additions related to Subscriber Managment
22 Mar 2023 - Free users now only have 30 days of personal customer support
18 Jan 2023 - Added deliverability badge
15 Dec 2022 - Added badge
30 Nov 2022 - Languages removed from new version
16 Nov 2022 - Added new video
13 Sept 2022 - Small edits
26 May 2022 - Top features section added
11 May 2022 - Updated screenshots
27 Apr 2022 - Added new deliverability badges
30 March 2022 - Reviewed new MailerLite version
23 March 2022 - Prices updated
17 March 2022 - Note added about legitimacy
07 Feb 2022 - General update
11 Oct 2021 - Updated references to deliverability
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.
Our Methodology
This review has been written and researched following our EmailTooltester methodology.
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