Key Takeaways
- •Mailchimp continued tightening its free tier — the free plan now covers just 250 contacts (down from 500 in early 2025 and 2,000 in 2019). Paid plans saw no list-price increase this quarter, but the practical cost of using Mailchimp rose as lower-tier features were further gated.
- •Kit and ActiveCampaign held pricing steady through Q1. Kit's Creator plan remains $29/mo at 1K subscribers. ActiveCampaign's Starter remains $15/mo for 1K contacts.
- •Ghost restructured pricing significantly — from $9/$25/$50 tiers to $15/$29/$199. The entry point nearly doubled and the top tier quadrupled, pricing out many small publishers.
- •beehiiv remains the cheapest verified option at every tier above 2,500 subscribers when accounting for features included in the base price.
- •Mailchimp is the most expensive per-subscriber at scale — at 100K contacts, Mailchimp Standard costs roughly 4–7x more than beehiiv or Brevo.
Platforms That Raised Prices or Tightened Tiers
Mailchimp
No headline price increase in Q1 2026, but the free tier continued shrinking. The 250-contact free plan is now functionally a trial — it lacks automations, A/B testing, and custom send-time optimization. Mailchimp also tightened the Essentials plan by removing some segmentation features that were previously included, pushing users toward the $20+/mo Standard tier earlier in their growth.
Ghost
The biggest pricing change in email this quarter. Ghost restructured from its longstanding $9/$25/$50 tier system to $15/$29/$199. The Starter plan went from $9 to $15/mo (67% increase). The Creator plan moved from $25 to $29/mo (modest). The Business plan jumped from $50 to $199/mo (298% increase). Ghost remains a strong choice for independent publishers, but the new Business tier prices out most small teams who previously used it for membership sites.
Platforms That Held Pricing Steady
Kit (ConvertKit)
No pricing changes in Q1 2026. Free plan still supports up to 10,000 subscribers (with limited features). Creator remains $29/mo at 1K, Creator Pro at $59/mo at 1K. Kit has been the most pricing-stable platform in this category for the past 18 months.
ActiveCampaign
No changes. Starter $15/mo (1K contacts), Plus $49/mo, Professional $79/mo, Enterprise $145/mo. ActiveCampaign has not changed list prices since mid-2025.
beehiiv
No changes. Free (2,500 subscribers), Scale $42/mo, Max $84/mo, Enterprise custom. beehiiv's pricing has been stable since launch, with the free tier remaining the most generous in the newsletter category.
Brevo
No changes. Free (300 emails/day), Starter $25/mo (20K emails/mo), Business $65/mo (unlimited contacts). Brevo's email-based pricing model continues to make it the cost leader at high contact counts.
Best Value at Each Subscriber Tier
Monthly cost of the cheapest plan that supports the stated subscriber count with standard email marketing features (automations, segmentation, analytics). Monthly billing rates. Verified March 2026.
| Subscribers | Mailchimp | Kit | beehiiv | ActiveCampaign | Brevo | Best Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $13/mo | $29/mo | Free | $15/mo | Free* | beehiiv / Brevo |
| 5,000 | $75/mo | $79/mo | $42/mo | $49/mo | $25/mo | Brevo |
| 10,000 | $110/mo | $100/mo | $42/mo | $79/mo | $25/mo | Brevo |
| 25,000 | $260/mo | $166/mo | $84/mo | $145/mo | $65/mo | Brevo |
| 50,000 | $385/mo | $266/mo | $84/mo | $209/mo | $65/mo | Brevo |
| 100,000 | $775/mo | $466/mo | $159/mo | $375/mo | $115/mo | Brevo |
*Brevo Free limits to 300 emails/day with Brevo branding. Brevo's paid plans charge by email volume, not contacts — a critical advantage at scale. beehiiv caps subscribers per tier but includes growth tools (referrals, ad network) that can offset cost. Mailchimp remains the most expensive per-contact at every tier above 5K.
Price Transparency Ranking
How easy is it to find the actual price you'll pay? We rank each platform on whether all plan prices are publicly listed, whether enterprise pricing requires a sales call, and whether overage fees are clearly documented.
| Rank | Platform | All Plans Public? | Overage Fees Documented? | Transparency Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | beehiiv | Yes (all tiers listed) | Yes (pauses new subs at cap) | A |
| 2 | Kit | Yes (slider for all tiers) | Partial (grace period, then auto-upgrade) | A− |
| 3 | Brevo | Yes (all tiers listed) | Yes (stops sending at limit) | A− |
| 4 | ActiveCampaign | Mostly (Enterprise requires contact) | Partial (auto-upgrades without clear docs) | B |
| 5 | Mailchimp | Yes (but confusing tier structure) | No (auto-upgrades without confirmation) | B− |
beehiiv earns the top spot for transparent pricing with no surprise charges: when you hit the cap, new subscribers pause rather than triggering an auto-upgrade. Mailchimp ranks last because its auto-upgrade on contact overages has been the single largest source of unexpected billing complaints in our research.
Biggest Pricing Change: Ghost's Restructure
Ghost's move from $9/$25/$50 to $15/$29/$199 is the most significant email platform pricing change in Q1 2026. Here is the breakdown:
| Plan | Old Price | New Price | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $9/mo | $15/mo | +67% |
| Creator | $25/mo | $29/mo | +16% |
| Business | $50/mo | $199/mo | +298% |
The Business tier increase is the steepest single-plan price jump we have recorded in email marketing tooling. Ghost remains open-source and self-hostable, which provides an escape valve that proprietary platforms do not. For publishers currently on Ghost's Business plan, self-hosting on a $20–40/mo VPS may now make financial sense.
Most Expensive Per-Subscriber: Mailchimp at Scale
Mailchimp's per-contact cost increases faster than any other platform as you scale. At 100,000 contacts on the Standard plan, Mailchimp charges approximately $775/mo. The same contact count on beehiiv Max costs $159/mo and on Brevo Business costs $115/mo (assuming moderate send volume). That means Mailchimp at scale costs 5–7x more than the cheapest alternatives for equivalent functionality.
The gap widens further when you factor in Mailchimp's contact counting: unsubscribed contacts still count toward your plan limit unless you manually archive them. A list of 100K contacts might include 15–25% dead weight, inflating the effective per-subscriber cost by an additional 20–30%.
Cheapest Verified: beehiiv Above 2,500 Subscribers
When comparing platforms on features-included-per-dollar (not just raw price), beehiiv offers the best value at every tier above 2,500 subscribers. beehiiv's Scale plan at $42/mo includes custom domains, advanced analytics, referral programs, and ad network access — features that require $100+/mo plans on competing platforms. Below 2,500 subscribers, beehiiv's free plan is also the most generous newsletter-focused option.
Brevo is technically cheaper at high volumes if you only measure price-per-email-sent, but Brevo lacks the creator-focused growth tools (referral system, Boosts, built-in ad network) that make beehiiv's total value proposition stronger for newsletter operators.
Predictions: Where Email Pricing Is Heading
Mailchimp will raise list prices in 2026
Mailchimp has not raised headline prices recently, but the pattern of free tier shrinkage and feature gating suggests a formal price increase is coming. Under Intuit ownership, revenue-per-user growth is an explicit priority. We expect a 5–10% increase on Standard and Premium tiers by Q3 2026.
Free tiers will continue shrinking everywhere
beehiiv and Kit are the last platforms with genuinely useful free tiers. As investor-backed platforms face pressure to increase ARPU, expect free tiers to either shrink in contact limits or lose features. beehiiv's ad-supported model may let it maintain free longer than Kit.
AI features will become the new pricing lever
Every email platform is adding AI subject line generation, send-time optimization, and content suggestions. These features are being placed on mid-tier and premium plans. AI will be the justification for the next round of tier restructuring, similar to how automation was used to justify price increases in 2020–2023.
Brevo will gain market share on price alone
Brevo's email-volume pricing model becomes more attractive as other platforms raise per-contact rates. For teams with large but lightly-emailed lists, the cost differential is now large enough to justify migration. We expect Brevo to be the top migration destination for Mailchimp users in 2026.
Methodology
This report is compiled quarterly by the Sasanova editorial team. Data collection follows a consistent process:
- • All pricing is captured directly from vendor pricing pages during a defined collection window (March 10–20, 2026 for this edition).
- • Historical pricing changes are sourced from Sasanova's archived snapshots, vendor blog announcements, and documented community reports.
- • “Best value” assessments consider features included at each price point, not just raw monthly cost.
- • Transparency rankings are based on public availability of pricing, clarity of overage policies, and absence of surprise charges.
- • Predictions are editorial assessments based on observable pricing trends, not insider information.
If you identify a pricing error or a change we missed, contact us at sasanova.com/contact. We correct verified errors within 48 hours.