Email marketing cost by business size: it's really about list size
Email tools charge by how many contacts you have, so a small list costs $0 to about $40 a month and a 5,000-person list costs about $100 on Mailchimp or Klaviyo. The software is the cheap part. Writing something people want to open is the real cost.
Here are the real prices by list size, and what I'd check before you pay for anything. Hope this helps.
Founder, Handled. Greenville, SC. Updated October 2026, 6 min read.
What it costs at each list size
Monthly list prices, checked October 2026. Tiers change often, so plug your own number into each pricing page before you choose.
| Tool | Small list | About 5,000 | About 10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | Free up to 10,000 subscribers. Paid Creator plan $39 at 1,000 | Check current pricing | Check current pricing |
| Mailchimp | From $13 at 500 contacts | About $100 | Check current pricing |
| Klaviyo | Free up to 250 active profiles, $20 at 500, $30 at 1,000 | About $100 | About $150 |
| ActiveCampaign | Starter from $15, Plus from $49, billed yearly | Check current pricing | Plus is about $239 |
| HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional | $800 a month with 2,000 marketing contacts included, more contacts cost more, plus a required $3,000 onboarding fee | ||
So "by business size" really means "by list size." A five-person shop with a big list can pay more than a twenty-person firm that emails 400 clients.
What moves the price
Four things, and you control most of them.
The big one. Klaviyo goes from $20 at 500 active profiles to $100 at 5,000. Cleaning out people who never open anything is free and can drop you a tier.
Automations, segments and reporting often live one tier up. ActiveCampaign Plus is $49 against Starter's $15. Write down the one feature you need before you upgrade.
Text messages are usually priced on top of email, by the message. If you add texting, check the per-message cost, not just the plan price.
Your time or a writer's fee. This usually costs more than the software, and it's the part that decides whether email works at all.
What I'd do at each stage
1Just starting
Use what you already have, or a free plan. Write a short welcome email and one regular email a month. Learn what people open before you pay for automations.
2Email is bringing in work
Pay for the plan that has the one automation you need, like a welcome series or a follow-up after a purchase. Clean the list every few months so you're not paying for ghosts.
3The tools stop fitting
If email, your CRM and your store all hold different versions of the same customer, that's a system problem, not an email problem. That's the kind of thing we build for, from $5,000 with a fixed quote. We don't write or run newsletters.
Questions people ask me
Got one that isn't here? Ask me on a free call →
How much does email marketing cost for a small business?
Mostly it depends on how many contacts you have, not how big your business is. Under 1,000 contacts you can pay nothing (Kit's free plan) or roughly $13 to $40 a month on Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign or Kit's paid plans. Around 5,000 contacts, Mailchimp and Klaviyo are both about $100 a month. Around 10,000, Klaviyo is about $150 and ActiveCampaign Plus is about $239.
What's the cheapest way to start email marketing?
Kit has a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, and Klaviyo has a free plan for up to 250 active profiles. Before you sign up for anything, check whether your store, booking tool or CRM already includes email. A lot of them do, and the cheapest tool is the one you're already paying for.
Why does my email marketing bill keep going up?
Because most email tools charge by list size. Every new contact, including people who never open anything, can push you into the next tier. Clean out contacts who haven't opened in a long time. It's free, and it can drop you a tier.
Is HubSpot worth it just for email?
Usually not for a small business. Marketing Hub Professional is $800 a month with 2,000 marketing contacts and a required $3,000 onboarding fee. That makes sense when the CRM has to connect to a lot of other software. For sending a newsletter and a few automated emails, a dedicated email tool costs a fraction of that.
Should I pay someone to run my email marketing?
Only if email is already making you money and you don't have time to write. The software is the cheap part. The real cost is writing something worth opening, every week or every month. If you're just starting, write the first few emails yourself so you learn what your people actually respond to.
When you don't need me
For most email questions, honestly, you don't.
You need someone to write your emails. That's a copywriter, not me.
You're picking your first email tool. Start free, learn it, and upgrade when you hit a real limit.
Your bill is high because your list is full of ghosts. Clean the list yourself. It's free.
What changed
- October 12, 2026: ActiveCampaign's $15 and $49 starting prices are its yearly-billing rates, and the table now says so. Kit, Mailchimp, Klaviyo and HubSpot prices re-checked, no change.
- October 2026: rewritten top to bottom, organized by list size instead of revenue bands. Removed the four example businesses, agency and copywriting fee ranges, enterprise totals and other figures we couldn't source. Kit, Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign prices updated. Klaviyo prices from current coverage because its own page didn't show paid tiers.
- April 2026: first published.
Sources
Every price and outside fact on this page comes from the sources below, checked October 12, 2026. Prices change often, so check before you buy.
More from the resource library
What Marketing Automation Costs
Email plus the rest of the follow-up.
Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign
Two of the tools in the table, head to head.
Klaviyo vs ActiveCampaign
If you sell online.
How to Automate Email Marketing for Coaches
Setting up the first few automations.
What Small Businesses Spend on Software
Your email bill next to everything else.
What CRM Setup Costs
And whether you need a CRM at all.
Start with what you have. Build what's missing.
If your email, CRM and store don't agree on who your customers are, tell me how your week actually goes. I'll tell you honestly whether it's a setting, a different tool, or something worth building.
Book a free call15 minutes. No sales pitch.
Get the free missed-money checklist.
Seven places a service business quietly leaks revenue, with the actual text message for each one. None of them are about working harder, and none of them involve firing anybody. Steal the templates and change the words so they sound like you.
Sent. Check your inbox in a minute, and your spam folder if it's being weird.
Email's being stubborn on our end. Grab the PDF directly.
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