EmailOctopus vs MailerLite: A Cheap Sender or a Shop Too
By Joris van Huët
Enterprise Interim CMO & Marketing Leader · 15+ years · 50+ orgs
Published
2026-10-26
The short answer: a newsletter of up to 2,500 readers that sells nothing fits EmailOctopus for free: its Starter plan allows 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month (EmailOctopus pricing), ten times the 250 subscribers MailerLite gives away (MailerLite pricing). The moment the newsletter has to earn money through paid issues, digital products or bookings, MailerLite is the better tool, because EmailOctopus's pricing page lists no way to take payment.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.
EmailOctopus does one thing and prices it low: send email to a list. MailerLite wraps the same job in websites, landing pages, a shop and paid subscriptions, and charges more at every size for the wrapping. The question is whether you need the wrapping this year.
What to settle first:
- Put a yearly figure on the gap. At 5,000 subscribers on monthly billing, EmailOctopus Pro costs $31.50 and MailerLite Comfort $49, a difference of $17.50 a month or $210 a year (EmailOctopus, MailerLite). That is the price of MailerLite's selling tools at that size; decide whether you would use them.
- Merge your lists before you choose a tier. EmailOctopus treats each list as separate, so one person on three lists counts three times (pricing article). For example, 4,000 contacts spread over three lists with 800 people on two of them are billed as 4,800. One list with tags avoids it.
- Choose the figure the newsletter exists for. Clicks to your site, replies, or paid upgrades. EmailOctopus's free plan keeps reports for 30 days, so export that figure every month if you stay free (pricing).
The two free plans
| Free plan limit | EmailOctopus Starter | MailerLite Free |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | 2,500 | 250 |
| Emails a month | 10,000 | 2,500 |
| People on the account | 1 user | 2 seats |
| Pages and forms | 1 landing page and 1 form | 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 active forms |
| Automations | Up to 3 sequences, 5 steps each | 3 active, up to 5 steps each |
| Selling | Not listed | 1 digital product or booking |
| Vendor branding | On every email | Removable on paid plans |
From the EmailOctopus pricing page and the MailerLite pricing page, both read on 26 October 2026.
How they differ once you pay
Counting contacts
The two count differently, and the difference can be larger than the price gap. EmailOctopus counts subscribed contacts per list, upgrades you to the next tier as soon as the list passes it, and moves you down only if you switch on its "Optimise plan pricing" setting, at the start of the next billing period (pricing article). MailerLite counts every address that was active during the billing cycle, even if you delete it later, and resets the count monthly on the billing date (MailerLite pricing FAQ).
Selling and publishing
MailerLite's Comfort plan includes 10 websites, 5 digital products or bookings, paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions; Power removes the count limits (MailerLite pricing). EmailOctopus Pro lists unlimited landing pages, forms and users, reports kept forever and automations of up to 650 steps, and stops there (EmailOctopus pricing). If a sales page and a checkout are already elsewhere, the stopping point costs you nothing.
Bringing your own sending
EmailOctopus Connect routes email through your own Amazon SES account, keeps the 2,500-subscriber free plan and removes the monthly email cap, with Pro from $8 a month billed yearly (Connect pricing). Amazon then bills you for the sending itself, and EmailOctopus describes the service as one for advanced users who know SES (what Connect is). MailerLite's pricing page lists no bring-your-own sending option.
Price ladder, checked on 26 October 2026
Monthly billing in USD, from the EmailOctopus pricing page and the MailerLite pricing page. Both take 10% off for yearly billing. Nonprofits get 20% off for life at EmailOctopus and 30% at MailerLite.
| Subscribers | EmailOctopus Pro | Its monthly emails | MailerLite Comfort | MailerLite Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $10 | 10,000 | $12 | $25 |
| 1,000 | $13.50 | 10,000 | $19 | $39 |
| 2,500 | $20 | 25,000 | $33 | $49 |
| 5,000 | $31.50 | 50,000 | $49 | $69 |
| 10,000 | $44.50 | 100,000 | $89 | $129 |
MailerLite Comfort sends ten times the top of each band; Power has no monthly cap under a fair use policy.
A blog post becomes a draft, a person sends it
MailerLite's MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Cursor to the account, and one of the jobs it lists is turning a blog or social post into an email (MailerLite MCP). Point the assistant at your latest article and ask for a newsletter draft for one group. The draft lands in MailerLite and, per the same page, is never sent without your confirmation; a person reads it, fixes the links and the subject line, and presses send. Sending through MCP needs a paid plan, as the pricing FAQ says the free plan's MCP access does not include sending.
EmailOctopus's homepage lists an API and its documentation rather than an AI connector (EmailOctopus).
Free, then paid
EmailOctopus offers no trial and points you to the free plan instead, which has no time limit (pricing FAQ). For a list under 2,500, that is the whole test: send three issues, export the reports, decide. MailerLite's 14-day trial of paid features asks for no card, which is enough to build one sales page and see whether you would use it.
One structural point, stated once. A tier that rises the moment you pass it and falls only when you ask is set up in the vendor's favour, and EmailOctopus at least states the rule plainly in its help centre. Turn on the downgrade setting the day you upgrade.
Choose EmailOctopus if your job is
- Sending a newsletter to as many as 2,500 people for free.
- Keeping the email bill low as the list grows, with nothing to sell.
- Sending through an Amazon SES account you already run.
Choose MailerLite if your job is
- Selling paid newsletter subscriptions, digital products or bookings from the list.
- Building a website and landing pages next to the newsletter.
- Drafting campaigns with an AI assistant that cannot send without you.
FAQ
What does EmailOctopus Connect change?
It sends through your own Amazon SES account, so the monthly email cap disappears and Amazon bills you for sending, while EmailOctopus Pro starts at $8 a month billed yearly (Connect pricing).
Which is cheaper at 10,000 subscribers?
EmailOctopus Pro, at $44.50 a month against $89 for MailerLite Comfort on monthly billing, both checked on 26 October 2026 on the EmailOctopus and MailerLite pricing pages.
Does deleting contacts lower the bill straight away?
On neither. EmailOctopus moves you down at the next billing period if the downgrade setting is on (pricing article); MailerLite keeps counting a deleted address until the monthly reset (MailerLite pricing FAQ).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am Joris van Huët, an enterprise interim CMO. 15+ years, 50+ organizations, including ING, P&G, Nestlé, BNP Paribas, WeTransfer and Vinted. I take on innovation projects (venture building, design sprints), agentic marketing (setting up and running AI agents) and hands-on multi-channel work. See the track record.
I wrote and published this with AI assistance, and I answer for it. Claims about my own experience are limited to the track record above, and a statistic links to its source or is labelled as an example. I sell interim and fractional CMO work, which is why this site exists. How this site is written.
A senior operator doing the work: campaigns, channels, CRM and AI agents, live from day one.