Best Email Marketing Software for Small Business
There is no single "best" email marketing software for every small business — there's a best tool for your list size and how much automation you actually need. This page starts with the two situations that cover most small businesses; if yours is more specific, see the situational guides linked below.
Last verified 2026-08-22
Situation covered here: General small business, list under a few thousand contacts, without heavy automation needs.
Not sure you need automation at all? See our guide: What Is Email Marketing Automation?
Want an all-in-one CRM instead of a dedicated email tool? See our HubSpot review.
Running a newsletter or online course rather than a traditional small business? See our Kit review.
What to look for in email marketing software
- How pricing scales as your contact list grows — contact-based tiers can escalate faster than the headline price suggests
- Whether you need simple broadcast sending or true behavior-triggered automation (cart abandonment, lead nurture)
- Native integrations with your ecommerce platform, if you're selling online
- How much setup time you're realistically willing to invest before your first campaign goes out
- Whether CRM-lite features (deal tracking, contact scoring) are worth bundling in, or better handled separately
Mailchimp
The easiest on-ramp, and the free plan is genuinely usable for a small list.
ActiveCampaign
Choose this instead if behavioral automation is a real requirement, not a nice-to-have.
Who should look elsewhere
- You expect to scale past several thousand contacts quickly — Mailchimp's contact-based pricing accelerates fast at that range, so it's worth budgeting for your expected list size, not today's, before committing.
- You're a solo creator or newsletter publisher rather than a business with products or services to sell — both picks here are built more around commercial sending (ecommerce automation, lead nurture, behavioral targeting) than personal publishing. That's a distinct enough use case that it deserves its own guide rather than being force-fit here.
- You want real automation on day one with no learning curve — ActiveCampaign's automation builder has genuine depth, which means genuine setup time; if that's a dealbreaker and Mailchimp's automation ceiling isn't enough either, neither pick here is the right fit yet.
Which one is right for you?
Sending your first few campaigns
Mailchimp's drag-and-drop builder, large template library, and genuinely usable free plan make it the lowest-friction way to get a first newsletter out — most first-time senders can launch a campaign within an hour.
You've outgrown broadcast-only sending
Once the goal is behavior-triggered sequences — welcome series, cart abandonment, lead nurture based on what a contact actually does — ActiveCampaign's visual automation builder is the deeper tool, at the cost of real setup time.
Running email alongside ecommerce
Mailchimp's native integrations lean toward ecommerce platforms specifically, which matters if most of your sending is order confirmations, abandoned-cart nudges, and post-purchase follow-ups layered onto a store you already run.
How to choose email marketing software
- Do you need to launch a campaign today, or can you invest setup time for deeper automation later?
- Is your list under a few thousand contacts, or do you expect to scale quickly?
- Do you need CRM-lite features (deal tracking, pipelines) bundled in, or is email enough on its own?
- Are you running ecommerce and need cart-abandonment or post-purchase automation specifically?
Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign at a glance
| Mailchimp | ActiveCampaign | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free (500 contacts) · from $13/mo on Essentials | From $15/mo (Starter, billed annually) |
| Free plan | Yes | No — trial only |
| Automation depth | Basic; deeper tiers gated to Standard+ | The deepest automation builder in this category |
| Learning curve | Lowest — same-day launch typical | Steeper — real setup investment |
| Best for | First-time senders, simple sending needs | Behavior-triggered automation, CRM-lite needs |
Frequently asked questions
Does email marketing software integrate with ecommerce platforms like Shopify?
Mailchimp specifically has a wide range of native integrations leaning toward ecommerce platforms, which is worth checking directly against your specific platform before assuming coverage. ActiveCampaign's ecommerce automation (cart abandonment, post-purchase flows) is a core strength once you're past its setup phase.
Is email marketing software priced per contact or per feature?
Often both. Mailchimp's four tiers (Free, Essentials, Standard, Premium) scale by contact count, with meaningful automation features gated behind Standard and above. ActiveCampaign's pricing is also contact-based, but split across separate Email, WhatsApp, and Cross-Channel product lines — worth deciding which product line you actually need before comparing headline prices.
Is Mailchimp's free plan actually usable, or is it just a trial?
It's a genuine free plan, not a time-limited trial — covering up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends a month indefinitely. The tradeoff is limited automation, which is why growing lists tend to move to a paid tier.
Do I need a separate CRM if I use ActiveCampaign?
Not necessarily — CRM and sales-pipeline features are included from the Plus tier up, so a small team can get lightweight deal tracking without adding a separate tool. Mailchimp doesn't offer this; it's an email-and-light-ecommerce platform rather than a CRM-adjacent one.
Ready to pick one?
More email marketing tools are being added to this shortlist as we complete full reviews — see the Email Marketing category for what's live now.
Ranking reflects our published methodology, not affiliate commission rates. Some links above are affiliate links — see our affiliate disclosure.