Modern email marketing software, coupled with the power of email marketing automation, has become unstoppable. It allows you to leverage the amazing potential of email marketing, reaping the benefits in the form of customer retention and conversions.
But the struggle to find the best email marketing software is real. Choosing the one that fits your needs perfectly can be daunting.
We will help you out of this paradox of choice.
This blog will help you choose the best software for email marketing by comparing the 10 best email marketing software in detail and weighing their pros and cons. Let’s dive in.
Do life-cycle email marketing with Retainful and eliminate complexity and high costs.
What is Email Marketing Software?
An email marketing software is a tool that helps businesses create, send, and analyze email campaigns to a list of subscribers.
These email marketing tools are used to promote products, inform and engage subscribers, recover abandoned carts, and maintain customer relationships through email marketing campaigns.
Over the years, email marketing software has evolved to do more than just send and track emails. Email marketing has become more targeted and personalized, reflecting a shift towards segmentation and automation. These software offer features that cater to these nuanced business needs.
Why do you need Email Marketing Software?
You need email marketing software to efficiently manage and automate email campaigns and scale your email marketing strategies as your business grows.
Here are the benefits of email marketing software.
Send emails at the right time.
By using email marketing platforms, you eliminate the need to manually send bulk emails to every customer. You just have to set up the email automation, and your email marketing campaign can run on its own.
Email automation allows for sending emails that are triggered automatically based on the customer’s action.
Launch targeted email campaigns
Another important perk is email segmentation.
You can group your customers based on many criteria like demographics, purchase behavior, their interests and send personalized emails to them.
Managing your growing needs
As your business grows, so does your email list.
Email marketing software can effortlessly manage large volumes of contacts and segment them into different lists, ensuring that your marketing efforts scale with your business without losing the personal touch.
Cost-effectiveness
Compared to other marketing channels, email marketing offers a high return on investment (ROI).
Along with that, email marketing platforms often come with various pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets, making it an affordable option for reaching a wide audience directly.
How to Choose the Best Email Marketing Platform?
With an overload of email marketing software at your disposal, you should be clear about what your business needs to choose the right one.
Here are some factors to consider while choosing the best email marketing service.
Features to look for:
- Email automation – Look for email marketing apps that are easy to set up and have pre-built email automation workflows.
- Segmentation – Platforms that allow you to group your customers based on various criteria.
- Sign-up forms – Apps with pop-ups that help you convert site visitors into customers, grow email lists, and ultimately engage them through tailored emails.
- Effortless email customization – Email marketing apps that allow you to spend less time on customization and more on developing email ideas with an intuitive drag-and-drop email editor and pre-designed templates.
Scalability
Choose an email marketing service that can grow with your business. It should be able to handle increasing volumes of emails and contacts without significant performance issues or drastic price increases.
Seamless integration
Your email marketing software should seamlessly integrate with your existing tools and platforms, such as your marketing automation CRM, e-commerce platform, social media, and analytics tools.
Ease of use
The email marketing tool should have an intuitive interface that makes it easy to create email marketing campaigns and analyze results without requiring extensive technical knowledge.
A good email marketing software should allow you to use its features without a steep learning curve and with minimal effort.
Features like a drag-and-drop email editor, customizable templates, and pre-built and easy-to-setup email automation are all hallmarks of ease of use.
Pricing
Evaluate the pricing structure of the email marketing platform to ensure it fits your budget.
Consider both current and future costs as your subscriber list grows. Be wary of hidden fees for features like automation, advanced analytics, or additional integrations.
Email deliverability
High email deliverability of your software for email marketing ensures that your emails land in your subscribers’ inboxes rather than being filtered into spam folders or blocked by Internet service providers (ISPs).
10 Best Email Marketing Software to Grow Your Business
The best email marketing software are:
- Retainful
- Mailchimp
- Hubspot
- Omnisend
- Sender
- Drip
- Constant Contact
- Convertkit
- ActiveCampaign
- Moosend
1. Retainful – Best email marketing software for ecommerce
Retainful is the best free email marketing software specifically designed for ecommerce businesses. It is the only tool you need to cover all your bases in ecommerce email marketing.
It has email automation at its core and is very simple to use – you wouldn’t need a 3-page manual to set it up. With Retainful’s automation feature, you can send personalized emails to a variety of customer actions.
You can create targeted sign-up forms and popups that collect the email addresses of your visitors and grow your email list.
This ecommerce email marketing software’s advanced segmentation feature allows you to group your customers based on many pre-defined or custom criteria and send targeted emails.
Coming to crafting your emails effortlessly, it has an intuitive drag-and-drop editor – so you can design stunning email templates without being a design pro.
Its abandoned cart recovery is the best in the market – boasting a higher cart recovery rate than any other platform.
You can integrate this best email marketing automation software with WooCommerce, Shopify, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Hubspot, ConvertKit, Mailerlite, Sendinblue(Brevo) and more.
Standout Features:
- Abandoned Cart Recovery – Proven huge success in recovering abandoned carts.
- Easy-to-setup automation – Automate in 3 clicks, not 3 pages.
- Exit-intent and Add-to-cart popups – Prevent customers from abandoning the cart at the last minute.
- Teams Feature – Invite your team members and collaborate on tasks.
- Free plan: 500 Emails
- $19/month: 20,000 Emails
- $49/month: 50,000 Emails
2. Mailchimp – Best email marketing software for small businesses
Mailchimp is a full-fledged digital marketing hub, giving you multichannel campaign support, website-building tools, reports, and email marketing automation. It covers almost all of the bases a small business needs to get started.
This best email marketing automation software boasts advanced automation and segmentation features like multiple triggers, predictive analytics, and more.
One of Mailchimp’s most outstanding features is that you can have a taste of almost all its key features with a free plan. You just have to sign up with your email to access the one-step email automation, the marketing CRM, multichannel marketing tools, and pre-designed email templates.
This free email marketing software for small businesses offers 300+ integrations with the most widely used marketing and e-commerce software providers.
Pros:
- Enhanced automated customer journey builder
- AI suggestions for crafting emails
- Surveys and feedback creator
- Landing page builder
Cons:
- Lower pricing tiers offer fewer features than before.
- Offers only single-step automation in Free and Essential plans.
- Transactional emails are not included in the Free and Essential plans.
Price tiers and Email Volume:
- Free plan: 1000 Emails
- $4.60/month: 5000 Emails
- $6.87/month: 6000 Emails
- $137.41/month: 150,000 Emails
Related Reading: Explore the best MailChimp Alternatives in our blog: 8 Best Mailchimp Alternatives in 2024
3. Hubspot – Best CRM and email marketing software
Hubspot is a comprehensive marketing solution where you can implement campaign automation, customer relationship management, and email marketing. As you can do more than marketing, like sales, it is best suited for large companies.
HubSpot allows users to create complex, multi-step, and personalized workflows – all these powering advanced automated email marketing. With its integrated CRM, this best email marketing software offers deep personalization capabilities. Emails can be tailored based on any interaction a customer had with your company or any behavior they’ve exhibited on your website.
This email marketing service boasts an expansive app ecosystem. Whether you want to connect to your e-commerce platform, a video hosting tool, or a customer support system, HubSpot likely has an integration for it.
Pros:
- Dynamic list segmentation
- Advanced detailed analytics
- Integrated CRM
- Advanced email automation
Cons:
- Overkill for small businesses
- Requires a steep learning curve
- Basic features in the Free Plan
Price tiers and Email Volume:
- Free plan: 2000 Emails
- $18/month: 5000 Emails
- $800/month: 50,000 Emails
- $3600/month: 200,000 Emails
4. Omnisend – Best email and SMS marketing software
Omnisend is an omni-channel marketing platform specifically tailored for ecommerce businesses. It provides email marketing automation capabilities, allowing businesses to set up cross-channel automation workflows for cart abandonment, post-purchase emails, welcome emails, and more.
It allows you to include dynamic content using customer data and behavior, ensuring each recipient receives a tailored message.
In this ecommerce email marketing software, you can choose from a plethora of email templates, or you can create one on top of the pre-built layout. It also has a drag-and-drop email editor.
Pros:
- Enhanced customer journey mapping
- Dynamic content and advanced segmentation
- Comprehensive reporting and analytics
- Ecommerce focused features
Cons:
- Lack of advanced reporting
- Basic template editor
Price tiers and Email Volume:
- Free plan: 500 Emails
- $16/month: 6000 Emails
- $59/month: Unlimited Emails
5. Sender – Best free email marketing app for a generous free plan
Sender is known for its simplified email marketing features. One of this email marketing app’s key selling points is its competitive pricing. It provides a free tier, and its paid plans are budget-friendly, making it an attractive option for small businesses.
Like other apps, it also has email marketing automation features like pre-built workflows. It also provides a drag-and-drop email editor and a custom HTML editor.
This free software for email marketing easily integrates with CRMs and ecommerce platforms, including WordPress, Shopify, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Magento, Zapier, and more.
Pros::
- SMS campaigns and push notifications.
- Easy-to-use interface.
- Intuitive drag-and-drop editor
Price tiers and Email Volume:
- Free – 15000 emails/month
- $8.33/month – 12,000 emails
- $29.17/month – 60,000 emails
6. Drip – Best DTC email marketing software
Drip is an e-commerce customer relationship management tool. It’s uniquely built to understand and leverage customer behaviors, making it a go-to platform for online retailers.
This best software for email marketing allows for hyper-targeted segmentation. Users can categorize their audience based on numerous behaviors, such as website interactions, email responses, and purchase history.
With this email marketing app, you’re not limited to linear automation. It allows for intricate, multi-branching automation and sends personalized email drip campaigns.
Standout Features:
- Drip brands itself as an ECRM, focusing on behaviors and actions specific to e-commerce shoppers.
- Advanced workflow automation
- Tag-based system for segmenting customers
- Supports SMS and third-party ads.
Price tiers and Email Volume:
- Flexible pricing starting with $39/month for unlimited emails.
7. Constant Contact – Best email marketing software for small businesses
Constant Contact is an email marketing platform offering user-friendly design tools, extensive templates, e-commerce integrations, and robust analytics, catering primarily to small and medium-sized businesses.
Unique to this email marketing software for small businesses is its event management tool. Businesses can create, promote, manage registrations, and send follow-up emails for events all within the platform.
This email marketing app provides multiple ways to grow your email list, from website sign-up forms to integrations with social media platforms.
Standout Features:
- Extensive template library
- Event management tools
- List building tools
Price tiers and Email Volume
- $12/month – 500 emails
- $55/month – 1000 emails
- $200/month – 5000 emails
8. Convertkit – Best email marketing service for content creators
ConvertKit is the best free email marketing app specifically designed with content creators in mind. It supports creators in building and managing their audiences by providing tools tailored to their needs, such as landing pages, sign-up forms, and integration with various platforms.
One of this best email marketing platform’s standout features is its advanced automation capabilities. It allows users to create automated email sequences that are triggered by subscribers’ actions, making it easier to send targeted, timely content.
Unlike traditional list-based systems, this best software for email marketing uses tags to categorize subscribers. You can tag subscribers based on their interests, behavior, or their purchase history. This flexibility allows for highly granular segmentation.
Standout Features:
- Tag-based subscriber system
- Customizable sign-up forms and landing pages
- Visual automation builder
Pricing:
- Free – 1000 subscribers
- $66/month – 5000 subscribers
9. ActiveCampaign – Best email marketing app for large business
ActiveCampaign stands out as a top choice for businesses seeking a comprehensive email marketing solution due to its advanced automation capabilities.
ActiveCampaign’s automation capabilities allow users to create complex, automated workflows that can trigger personalized emails based on specific actions, behaviors, or time intervals.
Beyond traditional email marketing, this email marketing campaign software offers a built-in CRM system designed to manage and nurture leads throughout the sales funnel.
This email marketing tool also enables site and event tracking, allowing users to monitor subscriber interactions with their website and other digital assets.
For small businesses or those with straightforward email marketing needs, ActiveCampaign’s extensive features may be more than necessary, leading to underutilization of the platform.
Standout Features:
- Predictive sending and content
- Dynamic content personalization
- Comprehensive CRM features
Pricing:
- Free trial is available
- $29/month – 1000 contacts
- $49/month – 1000 contacts, Landing page builder, and more features
10. Moosend – The best affordable email marketing platform
With this best software for email marketing, users can set up automation workflows triggered by specific subscriber actions or behaviors, such as signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or abandoning a cart.
While Moosend offers a range of templates, the variety might not match that of larger competitors, potentially limiting your design choices without custom HTML.
This free software for email marketing offers competitive pricing, including a generous free plan for businesses just starting to use email marketing.
Standout Features:
- Landing page builder
- Automation workflows
Pricing:
- Free trial for 30 days
- $9/month – 500 contacts
- $48/month – 5000 contacts
Email Marketing Software Comparison Chart
| Email Marketing Software | Key features | Free version | Additional features |
| Retainful | Pre-built automation workflows, email segmentation, abandoned cart recovery, drag-and-drop email editor, and pre-designed templates. | Yes – upto 500 emails | Sign-up forms, referral programs, and popups. |
| Mailchimp | Email templates, automation, segmentation, and A/B testing. | Yes | Landing page creation |
| Hubspot | Advanced CRM and sales platform integration | Yes, with limited tools | Full marketing suite integration, including sales, service, and content management. |
| Omnisend | Advanced email segmentation and dynamic email content. | Yes – upto 250 contacts | Combining emails, SMS, and push notifications in automation workflows. |
| Sender | Personalized newsletters, automation workflows, segmentation, and built-in templates. | Yes, with limited features | Autoresponders, transactional emails, and detailed reporting. |
| Drip | Behavioral email automation, deep segmentation visual workflow builder | No, but offers a trial. | SMS messaging, comprehensive e-commerce CRM. |
| Constant Contact | Drag-and-drop email builder, customizable templates, email scheduling, and tracking. | No, but provides a trial. | Social media marketing tools, website builder |
| Convertkit | Native integration with the HubSpot CRM, A/B testing, and extensive automation. | Yes, with limits on subscribers. | Landing pages, commerce tools for selling digital products, and subscriber scoring. |
| ActiveCampaign | Advanced automation, segmentation, dynamic content. | No, but offers a free trial. | Advanced CRM features, machine learning for optimal sending times, and site messaging. |
| Moosend | Automation workflows, list segmentation, personalization, and real-time analytics. | No, but offers a free trial | Landing pages, subscription forms, and countdown timers for emails. |
Allow email automation to assist you from now on. Use Retainful and send all kinds of personalized emails in minutes.
Wrapping Up!!
We’ve delved into the 10 best email marketing software, analyzing their strength and value for money through a detailed email marketing software comparison.
Some are specialized in one niche, and others cover all the bases. Some are suitable for small businesses, others for an enterprise.
Pick one that suits your needs most and allows you to send email marketing campaigns easily.
Also Read:
- 10 Best Klaviyo Alternatives & Competitors for 2025
- Shopify Email vs Klaviyo: A Detailed Review
- Shopify Email vs. Mailchimp – A Detailed Comparison
- 9 Best WordPress Email Marketing Plugins (+ Comparison Chart)
Email marketing automation refers to software that automates marketing tasks like sending out emails, segmenting contacts, and tracking campaign performance, making the email marketing process more efficient and personalized.
With the user-friendly interfaces most platforms offer today, setting up automated campaigns is generally straightforward.
The most common form of email marketing is the newsletter. Newsletters are typically sent on a regular schedule and contain a mix of content tailored to the interests of the recipients. This content can include updates, announcements, promotions, abandoned cart reminders, helpful articles, tips, and more.
Most apps provide analytics on open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and more to gauge campaign performance.
The best email platform for a small business often depends on specific needs, but Retainful stands out for its ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and comprehensive features.
Retainful is among the cost-effective email marketing software, offering a free plan with generous email volume and affordable pricing for its paid plans, making it ideal for cost-conscious businesses.
Email marketing CRM refers to customer relationship management tools that integrate with email marketing efforts, allowing businesses to personalize communications and track interactions to build better customer relationships.
The difference between CRM and email marketing is that CRM focuses on managing and analyzing customer interactions throughout the customer lifecycle, while email marketing specifically targets sending emails to promote products or services.
Yes, small businesses need email marketing as it provides an affordable and effective way to reach customers, build relationships, and drive sales. It allows for targeted messaging and has a high ROI compared to other marketing channels.
