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These are the top newsletter software options for integrations, automations, content creation, and more.
You might be considering a switch to a new email marketing platform. Maybe your current one feels clunky and outdated, you’re hoping AI features can solve nagging deliverability problems, or you’ve hit a wall: The tool that worked fine at a few hundred subscribers can’t keep up now that you’re managing thousands—or tens of thousands—of contacts. Whatever the instigator for your email marketing platform research, know that the wrong software doesn’t just cost you money in wasted subscription fees; it can cost you subscribers, lost revenue, and team resources when your audience doesn’t open, click, or buy.
That’s why a new email newsletter program should be carefully evaluated based on business needs and be tested before bringing your entire list over and ditching the current email platform.
We came up with this list of the best email marketing platforms by looking at reviews, talking to marketing professionals for the features they’d give the most weight to in an evaluation, and referencing third-party website testing and write-ups that highlighted pros and cons of various software features.
We researched dozens of platforms, but three rose above the rest.
Our Top Picks
HubSpot wins for being robust and multifaceted. It’s the platform for founders who want more capabilities, are less concerned about budget, and want sales, marketing, and customer service working off the same data.
ActiveCampaign wins for having strong automation features, especially for B2B teams that need CRM-level sophistication at a lower price point than HubSpot.
Beehiiv is our top pick for anyone building a business around their audience. It’s easy to use and great for long-form newsletter writing. (Disclosure: Inc. uses Beehiiv, as does the writer of this guide, Diana Kelly Levey.)
Below, we cover common email marketing platform categories so you can match the software to what your business needs.
The Best Email Marketing Platforms
HubSpot: This email marketing platform is established as an all-in-one CRM that provides visibility into every step of the sales funnel (HubSpot Sales Hub) while offering great customer support. Brands can create landing pages, navigate an intuitive interface, get help from Breeze AI assistants, and see how marketing efforts are paying off with multi-touch revenue attributions. It’s not the cheapest email marketing software, but for those who need omnichannel campaigns and reporting with adaptive marketing and sales solutions, it’s a great choice.
ActiveCampaign: For the brand that wants an email marketing platform with powerful automation capabilities and good customer segmentation options, that acts as a CRM-connected marketing system, that offers sales team handoff options, that tracks purchase history, and works with SMS, WhatsApp, and other cross-channel marketing platforms, ActiveCampaign is a top pick.
Beehiiv: Beehiiv is great for creators and business owners who want to build an audience and connect with a community, as well as small businesses that are looking for an easy-to-use newsletter that emphasizes deliverability, automations, and growth opportunities through sponsorships, and integrates with platforms like Shopify.
Best Overall: HubSpot
HubSpot was our top selection for the best overall email marketing platform because it’s feature-rich. For businesses that want an all-in-one marketing platform that allows everyone from sales to marketing to customer service to see the same data, the full-funnel visibility this software offers is why it’s in our top position. The platform makes data collection, segmentation, and automation easy and integrates with over 1,000 apps.
Best for Small Businesses: MailerLite
This email marketing software earns recognition for beginner-friendly ease of use, intuitive marketing features, affordability, scalability with SMS and inbound components on a different tier, good segmenting abilities, automations, and features that include appointment bookings, selling digital products, and landing pages.
Best for Startups: Brevo (formerly SendInBlue)
This email marketing platform is considered one of Europe’s top customer engagement software platforms, but plenty of American companies and leaders are also fans of its affordability and scalable elements. Standout features include a full CRM with customizable stages for your pipeline, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, and more. The pricing model is send-based, which means you’re only paying for the emails that go out, not stagnant subscribers. Brevo connects with over 150 integrations and gets positive marks for having good drag-and-drop functionality.
Best Budget Option: Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
This platform is great for those who want to build their list without thinking about the cost per subscriber—as long as they have fewer than 10,000 subscribers, since it’s free until you hit that threshold. Send as many emails as you want. You can also do a 14-day free trial of their Creator Version before committing to $116 per month. It’s a favorite amongst creators and those selling digital products and subscriptions.
Best for E-Commerce: Omnisend
This platform is popular amongst online retailers because it’s great for e-commerce, has Shopify and WooCommerce integrations (among 200-plus others), is good for CPG brands, and offers good revenue attribution features, SMS features, and insights. Reviews say it’s easy to use, making it a great option for a solopreneur or small team.
Best for B2B: ActiveCampaign
This is one of the software brands that stood out in our research. It’s best for B2B teams prioritizing email marketing features over their CRM but who want sales and marketing alignment with CRM capabilities, strong automation features with complex workflow capabilities, and an intuitive user experience. You still get SMS marketing and WhatsApp messaging options, as with other platforms mentioned above, but it’s more affordable than HubSpot, with 1,000-plus integrations for your team.
Best for Newsletters: Beehiiv
Beehiiv and Substack were our top contenders for the best newsletter software if you’re sending out emails with community building in mind. Content creators, podcasters, and those releasing long-form newsletters will probably lean toward these email marketing platforms.
Beehiiv nudged forward as the winner since it has more versatility for businesses looking to grow through ad networks, great segmenting options, and automated sequencing capabilities. It offers podcast hosting capabilities, website builder features, and the ability to sell digital products. Substack, meanwhile, now has the Substack Recording Studio for podcasters, website building capabilities, and allows you to go live through the app.
How We Chose the Best Email Marketing Platforms
In doing research into the best email marketing platforms, we gave weight to companies that ranked well on integrations, segmentation, and personalization, and automation features, since the experts we spoke with said those should be prioritized. We read through user reviews and testing evaluations from websites like G2, Website Tool Tester, Venture Harbour.
What to Look for in an Email Marketing Platform
A newsletter platform like Substack or Beehiiv works well if the newsletter itself is the product or your main goal is community-building. That’s different from a business that needs a CRM-connected system supporting lifecycle campaigns, sales handoffs, segmentation, and reporting, says Amanda Natividad, co-author of the book Zero Click Marketing (Damn Gravity, October 2026) and chief evangelist for SparkToro. Her company uses Intuit Mailchimp and has a database of over 50,000 people.
Start by asking what your business model actually requires. “A creator sending a weekly newsletter, a B2B company nurturing leads, and an e-commerce brand sending abandoned-cart flows have very different needs,” Natividad says. Treat deliverability, ease of use, and analytics as baseline requirements most credible platforms already handle. Instead, prioritize integrations first, segmentation second, and automation third.
AI features are becoming standard, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessary. “If it’s not on brand, the AI design looks terrible, or the copy suggestions aren’t good, you could be paying for advanced features you don’t need,” says Lauren Meyer, an independent email strategist and founder of Send It Right. “Decision makers need to analyze what they truly need and the types of emails they’re sending out, a simple welcome email and a drip series for your business needs good reporting but you might not need the extra bells and whistles sophisticated email platforms offer that intimidate you and go unused.”
If community-building is a goal, look to Beehiiv or Substack instead. “Substack is great for building and deepening customer relationships and community, and it’s a great place to find your fans,” says Shaun Chavis, a consultant who helps founders and creators with email marketing, newsletters, Substack, and podcast production. “The way AI is changing search and marketing, there’s value and importance in building relationships with your target audience and your customers,” Chavis says.
Brands like Tory Burch use Substack this way, publishing style content that links back to their e-commerce site rather than only sending purely transactional emails. Think about newsletter writing on these platforms like you’re building an experience or bringing people into your world and building relationships with them versus a transactional email platform like Klaviyo or Mailchimp, says Chavis.
The Email Marketing Features That Actually Matter
When you’re weighing the most important features for your business, think about where your company is right now, the capabilities you’d like to have in the future (maybe SMS or sophisticated automation workflows), and how the costs will change based on these desires. Here are the features that matter most, according to our experts:
Integrations
“A big consideration that people tend to overlook is how well that platform is going to connect with the rest of your business,” including your CRM, e-commerce platform, and customer support software, says Meyer. Many of the popular email marketing platforms integrate with hundreds, if not thousands, of apps and software, so check that your tech stack is included. Test how seamless that integration actually is before you commit.
Segmentation
Segmentation lets you separate customers by where they are in the journey—like who purchased, who abandoned their cart, who was unsatisfied or complained—so you’re not sending the same email to everyone. For businesses with multiple teams pulling from different data sources, a platform that consolidates that data in one place is what makes strategic segmentation possible.
Automations
Almost every business needs a few reliable automated sequences, like welcome emails, nurture flows, re-engagement, and abandoned cart. “Don’t overbuy here. There’s a big difference between needing a few reliable automations and needing a complex marketing operations system,” says Natividad.
Email Marketing Platforms Versus CRM Platforms
“The simplest way I’d explain it to a small business owner is: A CRM is the customer ledger. An email marketing platform is the communication engine,” says Natividad. There’s overlap between the two, but the distinction matters: If you mainly need to send campaigns, you may only need email software, she says. “If you need to track relationships, sales conversations, purchase history, pipeline, and customer handoffs, you need a CRM.”
How Much Email Marketing Software Costs
Pricing for email marketing software varies because platforms count usage differently—contacts, marketing contacts, active profiles, or emails sent. Doing a “monthly pricing for 10,000 subscribers” comparison can be misleading once you add SMS, WhatsApp, or higher-tier features.
Decision makers should ask: Am I paying for everyone in my database, only people I can market to, or only people I actually email? “The sticker price is rarely the whole price,” Natividad says. “The real cost is usually a combination of database size, send volume, channels, feature tier, number of users, and how much help you need to get the platform running well.”
Subscriber-based pricing charges for contacts stored in your account, regardless of how often you email them—and even unsubscribed contacts you haven’t deleted can count. Send-based pricing charges by email volume instead.
Factor in implementation, migration, training, and the cost of switching again later if the platform isn’t the right fit, says Meyer. Those costs can outweigh the subscription price difference for mature programs.
For a business sending to about 10,000 subscribers, budget $100 to $300 a month as a starting estimate. Email marketing drives an average $36 for every dollar spent, a high return, since you’re reaching people who signed up because they’re already interested in your brand.
Common Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
You already know the obvious newsletter mistakes, like over-emailing your list and buying contacts instead of earning them. But some of the mistakes that really cost you subscribers don’t get talked about much. Here, are some other mistakes stakeholders might make before switching to a new email service provider:
Choosing on the basis of where your favorite newsletter lives, not what your business needs. One common mistake is picking a platform because you admire a brand that uses it, says Natividad. That doesn’t mean it fits your company’s strategy.
Focusing on the wrong cost factors. Know exactly what you’re paying for—whether that’s contacts, sends, seats, or SMS credits—and whether you need it, Natividad says. Identify what you need now versus what’s simply nice to have.
Skipping the real trial-period test. “The trial period is an understanding of how intuitive the email marketing platform is, showing me how quickly can I jump in and find what I need,” says Meyer. Reach out to support during the trial, too, to see if they’re a partner or a stumbling block.
Trusting inflated engagement numbers. Apple Mail Privacy Protection and bots can make metrics look stronger than they are. “Before filtering for those, our reported open rates at SparkToro looked close to 40, which is very high for a B2B list. Once filtered, the realistic number was closer to the high 20s or low 30s,” says Natividad. Focus on click-through rates and conversions over open rates alone.
Why You Should Trust Us
While we’ve disclosed that both Inc. Magazine and the writer use Beehiiv, we sought out experts who suggest leaders choose the best email marketing software based on their own research and business priorities. Our research into the brands that won for each category is based on third-party reviews and testing. The writer has used email marketing platforms for several clients and her own brand building over the past 20 years, including AWeber, Intuit Mailchimp, MailerLite, Beehiiv, and Sailthru.
FAQ
What’s the best email marketing platform overall?
It depends on your business needs. Use the guidelines above to build a list of options against what your business actually needs rather than assuming the highest-ranked platform is automatically the best choice.
What’s the easiest email marketing platform for beginners?
The easiest platforms for beginners have a simple interface and offer templates. They make getting started and analyzing data simple for someone who isn’t a marketer. MailerLite, Kit, Beehiiv, and Intuit Mailchimp are solid beginner-friendly options.
Are free email marketing tools worth it?
Yes, they can be great for testing. Most platforms offer a free tier or a trial period, so you can try out features before committing to a paid plan.
How much should businesses spend on email marketing software?
Expect $100 to $300 a month, depending on your list size, sends, features, and seats.
What’s the difference between email marketing and marketing automation?
Email marketing is sending messages, whether that’s newsletter content or information about a product, says Meyer. Marketing automation is the system behind it as you’re considering the customer journey complexities—deciding who gets which email, when, and why.
Can I switch platforms without losing subscribers?
Yes, says Meyer. “Recipients don’t notice if you’re changing things that are outside their view if your template, sender name, and subject lines stay consistent. As long as you’re able to reach the inbox, you’re good.”
This post originally appeared at inc.com.
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