The Best Free Email Marketing Tools in 2026

Most free email marketing tools aren't really free. They're demos. Stripped-down versions designed to frustrate you into upgrading. Limited sends, no automation, watermarks on every email, the kind of restrictions that make the tool unusable for anything real.

The two tools below are different. They're actually free, not trials, not teasers. You can sign up, build your list, run automation, and send campaigns without spending a dollar. And the limitations, when they exist, are reasonable.

If you're starting out or you just don't want to pay for email marketing yet, these are the only two tools worth considering.

Quick Comparison

	MailerLite	HubSpot
Contact limit	500 contacts	Unlimited
Email sends	12,000/month	2,000/month
Automation	Yes, full featured	Yes, basic
CRM included	No	Yes
Landing pages	Up to 10	No
Website builder	Yes	No
Branding removed	No, MailerLite logo on emails	No, HubSpot branding on emails
Best for	Email marketing focused businesses	Businesses that need CRM + email

1. MailerLite: The Best Free Plan for Email Marketing

MailerLite's free plan is the most generous email marketing plan available. You get up to 500 contacts, 12,000 email sends per month, full automation, landing pages, and a website builder, all for $0. No credit card required. No trial countdown. It's just free.

The automation builder is the same one paid users get. You can create multi-step sequences, set behavioral triggers, and build branching flows. For welcome series, nurture campaigns, and standard follow-up automation, it does everything you need without any artificial limits.

Deliverability is strong. MailerLite consistently ranks among the top performers in deliverability tests, which means your emails actually land in inboxes, not spam folders. That matters more than any feature.

The interface is one of the cleanest in the space. Everything is minimal and intuitive. You can set up a campaign or an automation sequence in minutes, not hours. If you've never used an email marketing tool before, MailerLite is the easiest one to learn.

Landing pages and a website builder are included too. If you need a simple site or a lead capture page alongside your email marketing, you don't need another tool. It's all there.

The one real limitation is the 500 contact cap. Once you hit that, you need to upgrade to a paid plan. But that's a reasonable growth threshold — and when you're ready to scale, paid plans start at just $10/month.

Best for:

Anyone who needs a real email marketing tool without paying for it. If you're just starting out, if you're bootstrapping, or if you simply don't want to spend money on email yet, this is the tool. The free plan isn't a demo, it's a fully functional email marketing platform.

→ Go to MailerLite

2. HubSpot: Free CRM and Email Together

HubSpot's free plan is structured differently than MailerLite's, and that difference is what makes it valuable. You don't just get email marketing. You get a full CRM, email marketing, and basic automation, all in one platform, all connected from the start.

The CRM has no contact limit. You can store as many contacts as you want for free. It tracks where they came from, what they've done, and where they are in your pipeline. Email campaigns and automation sequences trigger off that same data. Someone fills out a form, they enter your CRM and start a nurture flow at the same time. No separate tools to manage. No syncing.

The automation on the free plan is basic: simple sequences triggered by form submissions or list membership. It's not as deep as MailerLite's, but it covers the essentials. For businesses just starting out, it's more than enough.

Email sends are capped at 2,000 per month on the free plan, which is lower than MailerLite's 12,000. That's the trade-off. You get unlimited contacts and a full CRM, but fewer monthly sends. For most small businesses in the early stages, 2,000 emails is enough. If you're planning to send more than that regularly, MailerLite is the better free option.

The bigger advantage with HubSpot is that it's a platform you can grow into. When you're ready to scale, paid plans unlock more automation, better reporting, and advanced features, but you stay on the same platform. Your data doesn't move. Your workflows don't break. It's one of the smoothest upgrade paths in the space.

Best for:

Businesses that need a CRM alongside email marketing, even in the early stages. If you have any kind of sales process, or if you want to track how your marketing is actually driving pipeline, HubSpot's free plan gives you that visibility. It's the most complete all-in-one free tool available.

→ Go to HubSpot

What About Everyone Else?

There are other tools with free plans: Mailchimp, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), and others. But they're not in the same category.

Mailchimp's free plan is heavily restricted. You get basic email sends and that's it. No automation. Limited segmentation. It's designed to push you into paid. If you're serious about email marketing, it's not a real option.

Brevo (Sendinblue) offers a free plan with unlimited contacts, which sounds good — but email sends are capped at 300 per day. For most businesses, that's too limiting. And the interface is clunkier than both MailerLite and HubSpot.

The reality is that if you want a free email marketing tool that's actually usable, the choice is between MailerLite and HubSpot. Everything else is a compromise you don't need to make.

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose MailerLite if email marketing is your main focus and you want the most capable free tool for that job. You get full automation, 12,000 sends per month, and one of the cleanest interfaces in the space. The 500 contact limit is the only real restriction, and it's a fair one.

Choose HubSpot if you need a CRM alongside your email marketing. Unlimited contacts, a connected platform, and room to grow without switching tools later. The 2,000 monthly send limit is the trade-off, but for most early-stage businesses, that's enough.

Both are free. Both are legitimate tools, not demos. And both will handle your email marketing better than whatever you're using now. There's no reason not to try them both and see which one fits.

→ Go to MailerLite

→ Go to HubSpot

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