Email platforms advertise a monthly price, but bill you on four very different models. The model — not the headline number — decides what you actually pay as you grow. A sourced comparison of 15 platforms.
Two tools at "$20/mo" can cost wildly different amounts at 10,000 contacts depending on whether they charge per contact, per email sent, per revenue share, or bundle everything flat. This page maps which platform uses which model in 2026 — and flags the gotchas (like being billed for contacts who unsubscribed).
| Model | How you're billed | Best for | Worst for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-contact | Cost scales with list size, often regardless of how often you send | Small lists you email frequently | Large lists you email rarely |
| Per-send | Cost scales with emails sent, contacts effectively unlimited | Big lists, infrequent sends | Small lists, very high frequency |
| Per-revenue (creator) | Platform takes a cut of paid-subscription revenue (or 0%) | Paid newsletters | Free newsletters that want flat cost |
| All-in-one / flat | Bundles email with funnels, courses, automation at a flat tier | Solopreneurs wanting one tool | Teams needing best-in-class email only |
| Platform | Model | Free tier | Notable pricing fact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Per-send (rare) | 300 emails/day, unlimited contacts | Priced per-email-sent, not per-contact — cheap for big infrequent lists |
| beehiiv | Per-revenue (0%) | Up to 2,500 subs, unlimited sends | Takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue (only Stripe 2.9% + $0.30) |
| Systeme.io | All-in-one / flat | 2,000 contacts, unlimited emails, never expires | 0% transaction fees; bundles funnels + courses |
| MailerLite | Per-contact + send | 500 subs / 12,000 emails/mo | New pricing June 16, 2026 scales by subs AND send volume |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Per-contact | Free up to 10,000 subs (1 automation) | Creator ~$39/mo at 1k subs; ~$199 at 25k (Sept 2025 price hike) |
| ActiveCampaign | Per-contact | No free plan | Cost rises with both contact count AND plan tier |
| GetResponse | Per-contact | 500 contacts | Scales by list size; annual saves ~18% |
| Klaviyo | Per-contact (steep) | 250 profiles / 500 sends | ~$150/mo at 10k, ~$1,380/mo at 100k contacts |
| AWeber | Per-contact | Up to 500 subs | Unlimited sends at ~10x subscriber count/mo |
| Constant Contact | Per-contact | No free plan (60-day trial) | Send overage $0.002/email above 10–24x contact count |
| Omnisend | Per-contact | 250 contacts / 500 emails | ~$44 at 2.5k, ~$132 at 10k contacts |
| Mailchimp | Per-contact (gotcha) | 250 contacts / 500 sends (cut Jan 2026) | Bills subscribed, unsubscribed AND non-subscribed contacts |
| HubSpot | Per-contact (+ fees) | Free CRM + basic email | Professional ~$890/mo + mandatory ~$3,000 onboarding fee |
| Kajabi | All-in-one / flat | None | Basic $179/mo, 0% transaction fees; Kickstarter pulled Jan 2026 |
15 widely-used email/marketing platforms classified by their primary 2026 billing model from a sourced pricing dataset. "Per-contact" means cost scales with list size; "per-send" with emails dispatched; "per-revenue" takes a share of paid-subscription income. Tiers and figures are as published at compile time. This is a pricing-model map, not a feature ranking.