How Much Does MailerLite Cost in 2026?

Last updated 2026-10-13

Flat-lay of a printed subscription invoice with a red pen circling the total dollar amount, a few coins, a paperclip, and a muted green envelope on a neutral table in warm side light.

The short answer: MailerLite costs $0 to start (up to 250 subscribers), $12/month on Comfort and $25/month on Power at the smallest paid tier, with both paid plans rising as your list grows. A 5,000-subscriber list costs $49/month on Comfort or $69/month on Power. Annual billing saves 10%, nonprofits save 30%, and every paid plan includes a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Affiliate disclosure. We don’t have affiliate partnerships with any vendor yet, so every link below is a plain link to the vendor’s own site — nobody pays us for clicks or signups, and that won’t change what we recommend. If we add affiliate programs later, this article will say so.

The mechanism: two billing levers, not one

MailerLite’s bill is set by two levers, and understanding both keeps you from picking the wrong plan:

  1. Active subscriber count sets your tier. You pay for a band (up to 500, up to 1,000, up to 2,500…), and the price steps up as your list grows. Crucially, only active subscribers count — unsubscribed and bounced contacts don’t inflate your bill. If your list has 5,000 names but 1,000 are dead, you pay for 4,000, not 5,000.
  2. Monthly send volume is capped on Comfort and unlimited on Power. Comfort allows monthly sends equal to 10× your subscriber tier (so the 500-subscriber tier includes 5,000 sends/month). If you send daily campaigns to a big list, you’ll hit that ceiling — and that’s the actual reason to upgrade to Power, not features.

That’s the whole pricing model. No per-email add-ons, no seat licenses on top, no separate SMS credits. Pick your tier by list size, pick your plan by send frequency.

The four plans at a glance

Plan Price Subscribers Monthly emails Seats Support
Free $0 Up to 250 2,500 2 Community
Comfort $12/mo ($10.80 annual) From 500 tier 10× your tier 3 24/7 email
Power $25/mo ($22.50 annual) From 500 tier Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 live chat + email
Enterprise Custom 200,000+ Unlimited Unlimited Dedicated manager + IP
  • Free includes the essentials: campaigns, automation (3 workflows), 1 website and 1 landing page, 3 signup forms, and 100+ integrations. You can’t remove MailerLite branding or use the template library.
  • Comfort unlocks the full toolkit: unlimited templates, 50 automations, 10 websites and landing pages, dynamic emails, the AI writing assistant, smart sending, preference center, and no MailerLite logo.
  • Power is Comfort without the caps: unlimited monthly emails, unlimited seats, unlimited automations and landing pages, multiple automation triggers, live chat support, and partner discounts (including 15% off Google Workspace).
  • Enterprise adds a dedicated success manager, custom sending volume, dedicated IP, deliverability support, onboarding training, and account audits.

Full pricing by list size (researched 2026-10-13)

Entry prices are marketing; the tier table is the real cost. Monthly billing, USD, from MailerLite’s official pricing page:

Subscribers (up to) Comfort (monthly) Power (monthly)
500 $12 $25
1,000 $19 $39
2,500 $33 $49
5,000 $49 $69
8,000 $69 $99
10,000 $89 $129
15,000 $129 $179
20,000 $159 $219
25,000 $179 $239
30,000 $229 $279
50,000 $319 $389

Annual billing takes 10% off every number above. Taxes may apply depending on your country.

Two things worth noticing:

  • The price ladder is steepest early. Jumping from 500 to 1,000 subscribers raises Comfort from $12 to $19 — a 58% increase for doubling the list. The ladder flattens as you grow (25,000 → 30,000 is only a 28% jump), which is the per-contact model working in your favor at scale.
  • The Comfort-to-Power gap widens with size. At 500 subscribers the gap is $13/month; at 50,000 it’s $70/month. Don’t default to Power for features — at big list sizes it’s a real premium you’re paying specifically for unlimited sending.

Comfort or Power: a worked example

Scenario: a newsletter, 2,500 subscribers, 8 emails per month (20,000 sends).

  • Comfort at the 2,500 tier: $33/month, send cap 25,000 — your 20,000 sends fit. $33/month.
  • Power at the 2,500 tier: $49/month, unlimited sends. $49/month.
  • Verdict: Comfort, saving $192/year for identical sending.

Same list, 16 emails per month (40,000 sends).

  • Comfort: you exceed the 25,000 cap — you’re now shopping Power. $49/month.
  • Verdict: Power is the fix for send frequency, not list size.

The rule of thumb: divide your monthly sends by your subscriber count. Under 10×, Comfort is enough. Over 10×, you’re paying for Power. Most small businesses sending weekly newsletters sit well under the cap — Comfort is the right plan for them.

Ways to pay less

  • Annual billing saves 10%. Comfort at 500 subscribers drops from $12 to $10.80/month ($129.60/year). Only commit annually after you’ve used the platform for a month or two — migrating email lists and automations is painful if you picked wrong.
  • Nonprofits get 30% off on eligible organizations — the best email-marketing nonprofit discount we’ve found. (For context on how MailerLite stacks up for the sector, nonprofits were priced in our email marketing cost guide.)
  • 14-day free trial of paid features with no credit card. The trial applies premium features to your account — a good way to test whether the template library and AI assistant are worth paying for.
  • Keep your list clean. Because only active subscribers count, deleting or re-engaging dead contacts directly lowers your bill. A 6,000-name list with 20% dead weight bills at the 5,000 tier after cleanup — a $20/month ($240/year) difference on Comfort.

What changed in 2026 (read this before trusting old reviews)

In mid-2026, MailerLite overhauled its pricing:

  • Plan names changed. “Growing Business” became Comfort, “Advanced” became Power. Reviews quoting the old names are pre-overhaul.
  • The free plan shrank. It went from 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails/month down to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month. (Free seats went from 1 to 2.) Older content calling MailerLite’s free plan “up to 1,000 subscribers” describes the pre-2025 plan — it’s three generations out of date.
  • Starting prices held at $12 and $25 despite the rename, though the tier ladder above them was adjusted.

The practical upshot: if a review says “MailerLite is $10/month” or “free for 1,000 subscribers,” it’s stale. The numbers in this article were checked against MailerLite’s live pricing page on 2026-10-13.

When free stops being enough

The free plan is a genuine starting tier, not a trial — but it has hard edges:

  1. 251 subscribers. The day you import or grow past 250, you’re on Comfort at $12/month minimum.
  2. 2,501 emails in a month. A 250-subscriber list sending more than 10 emails/month (counting automations, not just campaigns) hits the send cap first — automation sequences quietly consume this budget.
  3. Template library. Free gives you the editor but not the 100+ newsletter templates; if you don’t design your own, this pushes you to Comfort.
  4. Branding. MailerLite’s logo stays in your email footers on free. Most businesses tolerate this until they look established — it’s the cheapest upgrade trigger, not a functional one.

Once you outgrow free, the natural question is what other vendors charge at your size — which is exactly what our email marketing software cost guide compares across ten platforms, including how MailerLite’s pricing model behaves next to Brevo’s per-email model and Mailchimp’s per-contact tiers. If you’re comparing vendors directly, see our MailerLite vs Mailchimp and MailerLite vs Brevo breakdowns.

The bottom line

MailerLite’s pricing is simple on purpose: one axis (list size), one decision (Comfort vs Power), and billing that ignores your dead contacts. For most small businesses the math is easy — start free, move to Comfort at $12/month when you pass 250 subscribers, and only consider Power when your monthly sends exceed 10× your list size. The free-plan shrink in 2026 means the upgrade comes sooner than old reviews suggest, but $12/month remains one of the cheapest paid entry points in email marketing.

Prices checked 2026-10-13 from MailerLite’s official pricing page (mailerlite.com/pricing), with tier pricing cross-checked against independent pricing breakdowns updated September–October 2026. MailerLite changes plans periodically — verify your exact tier on the vendor’s pricing page before committing.

Frequently asked questions

How much does MailerLite cost?

MailerLite costs $0/month on the Free plan (up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/month). Paid plans start at $12/month on Comfort and $25/month on Power at the smallest list tier, rising with your subscriber count. Annual billing saves 10%, and nonprofits get 30% off. The Enterprise plan is custom-priced for lists over 200,000 subscribers.

Is MailerLite actually free?

Yes, with a real free plan — not a trial. You get up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails per month, automation, landing pages, and signup forms at $0. The trade-off is MailerLite branding on your emails and no template library. Note the free plan shrank in mid-2026 (from 500 subscribers to 250), so older reviews quoting 1,000 free subscribers are outdated.

What is the difference between MailerLite Comfort and Power?

Comfort ($12/month from) gives you 3 user seats, monthly sends capped at 10× your subscriber tier, 50 automations, templates, and the AI writing assistant. Power ($25/month from) removes the send cap (unlimited monthly emails), gives unlimited seats and automations, and adds 24/7 live chat support. Frequent senders and teams should price Power, not Comfort.

Does MailerLite charge for unsubscribed contacts?

No. MailerLite bills only by active subscriber count — unsubscribed and bounced contacts don't count toward your tier. This is a genuine cost advantage over platforms like Mailchimp, which count unsubscribed contacts toward your billable total unless you archive them.

Did MailerLite change its pricing recently?

Yes. In mid-2026 MailerLite renamed its plans (Growing Business became Comfort, Advanced became Power) and reduced the free plan from 500 subscribers / 12,000 monthly emails to 250 subscribers / 2,500 monthly emails. Older reviews and videos show the old numbers — always check the live pricing page before deciding.