GetResponse vs MailerLite: Webinars or Cheap Automation

The short answer: for 1,000 contacts, both entry plans cost $19 a month on monthly billing, and they buy different things. GetResponse Starter gives unlimited sends and one automation workflow (GetResponse pricing); MailerLite Comfort gives 50 automations and 10,000 emails a month (MailerLite pricing). Choose GetResponse when a live webinar or a course is the centre of how you sell, because its Creator plan bundles both. Choose MailerLite when the work is newsletters and automations on a tight budget.

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On a feature list the two look alike. The useful difference is where each one puts its limits: GetResponse rations features by plan and leaves sending open, while MailerLite opens the features early and rations sending on its cheaper paid plan.

Three questions decide most of it:

1. How many automations will run at once? Write them down: welcome series, re-engagement, post-purchase. At 1,000 contacts, unlimited workflows cost $59 on GetResponse Marketer, while MailerLite Comfort allows 50 for $19, a gap of $40 a month (GetResponse, MailerLite).
2. Do you already run webinars somewhere else? If you host them on a video tool and send invitations from your email tool, count last year's sessions and the largest audience. GetResponse's plans article puts webinars on Creator for up to 100 attendees (plans article); a bigger room needs another answer.
3. Which figure will you judge the move on? For a webinar funnel, registrations that turn into attendees and attendees who buy. For a newsletter, clicks per issue. Take the current number from the tool you use today.

Who covers which job, and from which plan

Sources: the GetResponse pricing page, its plans article and MCP article, and the MailerLite pricing page with its plan comparison and FAQ.

Three differences that move the decision

One workflow, or fifty, for the same $19

GetResponse Starter allows a single custom automation workflow and three uses of its AI tools, per its plans article. That is enough for one welcome series. MailerLite Comfort at the same price runs 50 active automations with up to 100 steps each (MailerLite pricing). If you automate more than one journey, MailerLite is the cheaper road until well past 1,000 contacts.

Live events belong to GetResponse

Creator adds webinars, a course creator, a website builder and premium newsletter subscriptions to everything in Marketer (pricing). MailerLite's pricing page lists no webinar or course tool. For a business that sells through a monthly live session, keeping the registration, the reminder emails and the replay follow-up in one account removes the step where people fall out between two tools.

Paid newsletters cost far less on MailerLite

Both can charge readers. GetResponse keeps premium newsletter subscriptions on Creator, $69 a month for 1,000 contacts; MailerLite puts paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions on Comfort, $19 at the same size (GetResponse, MailerLite). A writer who only needs a paywall pays $50 a month less on MailerLite.

Prices at four list sizes

Monthly billing in USD, checked on 26 October 2026 on the GetResponse pricing page and the MailerLite pricing page.

GetResponse's yearly toggle takes 18% off, so Starter for 1,000 contacts is $15.58 a month; MailerLite's takes 10% off. Charities and NGOs get 50% off GetResponse's monthly plans, and nonprofits 30% off MailerLite's paid plans (GetResponse, MailerLite FAQ).

An agent finds the quiet contacts and drafts the win-back

GetResponse documents an MCP server that connects Claude or ChatGPT to the account, free on every plan (MCP article). Two of its listed tasks make one job: ask for contacts who have not opened a message in the last 60 days, then ask for a campaign for them with a landing page, an invitation newsletter and a welcome message. The pieces arrive as drafts. GetResponse's own article tells you to review anything the AI created before publishing or sending it, so a person checks the offer, the dates and the segment before the first email goes.

MailerLite's MCP server covers the same ground for analysis and drafting, with sending kept behind your confirmation.

What the free plans let you test

GetResponse's free account holds 500 contacts and 2,500 newsletters a month, and its first 14 days include the premium features, webinars among them, capped at 10 people including presenters with one 30-minute recording (free account article). That is enough for a rehearsal webinar with colleagues. MailerLite's free plan covers 250 subscribers and 3 automations, and its paid trial asks for no card (pricing).

Note how that GetResponse trial is built: two weeks of premium tools, then the account drops back to free. A trial shaped like that exists to get your workflows built on features you lose on day 15. Build the one workflow you would keep on Starter first, and treat the rest as a demo.

Choose GetResponse if your job is

• Selling through live webinars, with invitations, reminders and replays in one place.
• Running a course alongside the newsletter.
• Mailing a large list often on Starter's unlimited sends with one simple automation.

Choose MailerLite if your job is

• Running several automations on the cheapest paid plan.
• Charging for a newsletter without paying for webinar tools you will not use.
• Keeping the bill low between 1,000 and 5,000 contacts.

FAQ

Is GetResponse's free account limited in time?

The account itself is not, but the premium features last 14 days; after that it keeps 500 contacts, 2,500 newsletters a month and one landing page with 1,000 unique visits (free account article).

Which is cheaper at 10,000 contacts?

GetResponse Starter at $79 a month, against $89 for MailerLite Comfort on monthly billing, checked on 26 October 2026 (GetResponse, MailerLite). Starter's single workflow is the catch.

Can MailerLite host a webinar?

Its pricing page and plan comparison list no webinar tool, so you would pair it with a separate video platform (MailerLite pricing).