Email Builder Software (10 Options + Top Pick)

Creating, formatting, and sending emails becomes tricky without exceptional email builder software.

Just like a toddler struggling with building blocks, everything comes tumbling down at the last moment when you thought you had it. It’s frustrating and joy-sapping. But with guidance and the right tools, designing result-getting emails can be effortless and fun.

Here’s our handpicked list of the best email builder solutions available today.

Email Builders FAQ

Let’s start off by asking basic questions you may have about email builders.

What is an email builder?

An email builder is a software used to create, design, and send many email types, including newsletters, blasts, follow-up, transactional, promotional, welcome sequences, triggered email series, and more.

What is the best email template builder?

The contenders for the best email template builder are:

1. beehiiv

2. Substack

3. Mailchimp

4. ConvertKit

5. Ghost

6. Moosend

7. HubSpot

8. Sendinblue

9. Active Campaign

10. BEE Free

Which software do you use to create an email?

Most people use Gmail and Apple to create an email. According to Statista, Gmail and Apple make up 65% of the total email market share.

For professional business emails, most companies use email template builder software like Get Response, Mailchimp, and Klaviyo because they have many templates and customization options.

How do I create my own email design?

Follow these steps to create a custom email design in Gmail:

1. Open Gmail and click Compose.

2. Type your template text In the Compose window.

3. Click More and then Templates.

4. Choose an option: to create a new template, click Save draft as template ＞Save as new template.

5. To change a previously saved template, click Save draft as template and under Overwrite Template, choose a template and click Save to overwrite it.

Is Mailchimp free?

Mailchimp has a free plan that includes 500 contacts and allows 1,000 monthly sends with a daily send limit of 500. Paid plans start at $20/month.

Does Office 365 have email templates?

Yes, Office 365 has email templates.

Here’s how to create an email template in Office 365.

1. On the Home menu, click New Email.

2. In the message body, enter the content that you want.

3. In the message window, click File > Save As.

4. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, click Outlook Template.

5. In the File name box, type a name for your template, and then click Save.

Email Template Builder Software (Key Features)

When hunting for the best email builder software, be on the lookout for these six vital features:

1. User Interface

An email builder might have all the bells and whistles, but it’s frustrating if it doesn’t have a user-friendly interface. The best solutions have a simple, intuitive user interface that even novices get.

2. Integrations

The modern tech stack has various tools that work together to achieve business goals. Leading email platforms allow you to link up all your favorite tools for a seamless workflow.

3. A/B testing

Contemporary marketing is a data-driven game. There’s no guesswork. To win, you must test, read the numbers, discard what’s not working, and do more of what works. Top tools allow you to test all the vital elements of your newsletter.

4. Templates

Not everyone is a coding whizz who can code a newsletter template from scratch. An email builder worth its salt has plenty of templates to help users build faster and save time.

5. Customization

Your business and campaign goals are unique. Excellent HTML email builder software allows you to customize templates. You can tweak every element, including the font, background, body text, header, and footer.

6. Support

With email solutions, tech glitches are inevitable. The big question is what happens when you reach out for help. Five-star platforms have friendly, prompt, knowledgeable, and efficient support teams that fix issues quickly.

HTML Email Builder Software (10 Options)

Considering the key features mentioned above, let’s now dig into the top ten HTML email builder software available today.

1. beehiiv

Launched in 2021 and now boasting a rapidly snowballing 40k+ users, beehiiv deserves its spot on the best email builder software list. It’s a growth-focused all-in-one newsletter solution. The platform is home to big hitters in the newsletter industry, such as The Boston Globe, Exec Sum, Payload, and Milkroad.

beehiiv also plays nicely with popular platforms like Zapier, WordPress, Shopify, and Webflow.

beehiiv Features

• Keep up to 2500 subscribers for free and launch fast.

• Send unlimited email newsletters to your contacts.

• Custom newsletters to match your goals and branding.

• SEO-optimized web hosting and blog.

• Campaign and subscriber analytics to analyze performance.

• Best-in-class customer management system (CMS).

• Pop-ups and advanced email capture for fast list growth

• Unlimited audience segmentation.

• Custom domains (Email + Web)

• Automated journeys and full A/B test customization.

beehiiv Pricing

The Grow Plan is $42 monthly when billed annually, or $49 when billed monthly.

The Scale Plan is $84 monthly when billed annually, or $99 billed monthly.

2. Substack

Substack is a popular newsletter platform with over $1 million in paid subscribers.

It’s a fan favorite for publishers and bloggers who want to make money from their content. Substack allows publishers to make money through paid subscription newsletters and has a simple user interface that even beginners will grasp quickly.

The major drawback of Substack is that they get a 10% cut of your revenue from paid subscriptions.

Substack Features

• A simple, user-friendly interface.

• Unlimited subscribers on the generous free plan.

• Premium subscriptions to boost earnings.

• Embeddable subscribe forms for list building.

• Publication website and podcast hosting.

• User authentication and paywalling to monetize premium content.

• Custom domains for branded email campaigns and brand building.

• Combines newsletters and blogging.

• Built-in content management system (CMS).

• Mobile app for both Android and iOS users.

Substack Pricing

Substack is free to use, but they charge 10% plus Stripe fees (2.9% + 30 cents per transaction) for paid subscriptions.

3. Mailchimp

Another solid email newsletter platform is Mailchimp. Mailchimp is an all-in-one email marketing platform with robust automation features. It’s perfect for small businesses offering online or in-person services. Mailchimp gives you up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month on the free plan.

It also has top-notch e-commerce email features.

Mailchimp Features

• In-built CRM for all your customer data.

• Send custom emails to your subscribers.

• 100+ pre-designed email and landing page templates.

• Advanced audience segmentation and personalization.

• API access for faster integrations and innovation.

• Custom domains to boost brand trust and awareness.

• Pre-built automations and customer journeys.

• One-off email blasts and transactional emails.

• Reports and analytics to analyze audience engagement.

• Dedicated landing pages to boost subscriptions and sales.

Mailchimp Pricing

The Standard Plan costs $20 monthly for 6,000 sends per month, and the Premium Plan costs $350 monthly for up to 150k email sends monthly.

4. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a cloud-based email marketing and lead generation solution. It’s a well-liked email platform with over 557,976 content publishers in its books. It’s ideal for content creators who want to grow and monetize their audiences.

They have a free concierge migration to help you move your subscribers from another platform without breaking a sweat.

ConvertKit Features

• Unlimited dedicated landing pages for tailored campaigns.

• Audience tagging and segmentation for personalized campaigns.

• Sell subscriptions and digital products.

• A “what you see is what you get” editor.

• Three basic email template options.

• Automations based on triggers such as from fills and subscriber purchases.

• Newsletter referral system to accelerate subscriber growth.

• Free migration from another newsletter platform.

• Unlimited forms to boost email signups.

• Unlimited email broadcasts.

ConvertKit Pricing

The Creator Pro Plan costs $25 monthly for up to 300 subscribers. They charge per active subscriber beyond that.

5. Ghost

Ghost is an all-in-one email platform to help publishers collect subscribers, send newsletters, publish premium content, run a successful media company, and earn recurring revenue.

This creator platform integrates with all your favorite apps, plugins, and tools, such as Zapier, Google Docs, Google Analytics, Stripe, PayPal, Slack, Trello, and all major social media platforms.

Ghost Features

• Custom subscription tiers with monthly and yearly billing options.

• Supports rich media like image galleries, podcasts, and videos.

• Custom HTML cards with unlimited flexibility.

• Simple clutter-free editor.

• Automatic structured data and Google sitemaps.

• Referral program for organic subscriber growth.

• Open source software with access to the developer API.

• Short, readable, and customizable URLs.

• Internal tags to categorize different content types.

Ghost Pricing

The Creator Plan accommodates 1,000 subscribers and costs $25/month billed annually, while the Team and Business Plans cost $50 and $199, respectively.

6. Moosend

Moosend touts itself as the easiest email marketing and automation software.

The platform’s drag-and-drop editor allows you to insert videos, images, and other interactive elements to make your emails more engaging. Moosend suits small businesses that want to create and send professional emails easily.

They also have a clean and crisp analytics dashboard.

Moosend Features

• Send blast emails and transactional emails.

• 75+ designer-made email newsletter templates

• Sign-up and subscription forms to grow your audience.

• Email newsletter builder for custom newsletters.

• Drag-and-drop editor for easy design.

• Email list segmentation to manage your list effectively and deliver relevant content.

• Landing page builder for personalized offers that boost conversions.

• Keep tabs on all the vital metrics via the reporting and analytics feature.

Moosend Pricing

The Pro Plan starts at $9/month for 500 subscribers.

7. HubSpot

The HubSpot email builder is an A to Z solution for all your email marketing needs. It has a smooth drag-and-drop builder for designing custom on-brand emails. You can tailor each email to the contact’s funnel stage. Matching design to funnel stages maximizes conversions.

There are plenty of templates, so you don’t start designing from scratch.

HubSpot Features

• A simple drag-and-drop email builder for creating stunning emails.

• A/B testing to improve the performance of your emails.

• Integrations with 300+ marketing tools and third-party apps.

• Analytics to get insights into open, click-through rates, and other metrics.

• Over 100 email newsletter templates.

• Advanced social sharing functionality.

• Custom landing pages for high-converting personalized offers.

• CRM to keep subscriber info and manage contacts efficiently.

HubSpot Pricing

The HubSpot Starter Plan costs $45 monthly and the Professional Plan goes for $800 monthly.

8. Sendinblue

Sendinblue is a digital marketing platform for small and medium businesses (SMBs). The solution includes email builder software, marketing automation, audience segmentation, SMS marketing, sales CRM, email tracking and analysis, live chat, and more.

Sendinblue has a user-friendly email editor even beginners can handle.

Sendinblue Features

• Over 40 eye-catching editable newsletter templates.

• Transactional emails and bulk personalized emails.

• Contact segmentation for relevant emails that target smaller groups.

• Eye-catching forms to grow your email list.

• Measure open and click-through rates to improve performance.

• Email heatmap to see how contacts read and engage with your emails.

• A/B testing for data-based decisions that boost performance.

• Drag and drop editor that makes it easy to design professional emails.

• Send triggered emails such as order confirmations and password resets.

• Connect your email marketing platform to your website, CRM, and apps.

Sendinblue Pricing

The Starter Plan is $25 monthly, and the Business Plan is $65 monthly.

9. Active Campaign

Active Campaign ranks among the top email builder software on the market today.

Its focus is on giving subscribers the best customer experience.

It has all the tools you need to create delightful customer experiences: marketing automation, email marketing, and CRM. Active Campaign is best for high-level marketers who need an email builder with advanced automation features.

Active Campaign Features

• 125 email templates that fit different business types and goals.

• A simple user interface for designing better emails in less time.

• Easily toggle between HTML and drag-and-drop options.

• Email automation workflows to tailor campaigns to customers’ actions and preferences.

• A robust API for easy integration with all your favorite apps.

• Built-in CRM to keep track of all your leads in one place.

• Perfectly timed pop-ups to reach visitors when they are most engaged.

• Email list segmentation for highly targeted campaigns.

• Broadcast emails to talk to everyone at once.

• Triggered emails based on engagement, purchases, or website visits.

Active Campaign Pricing

Active Campaign has three plans: Lite ($29 monthly), Plus ($49 monthly), and Professional ($149 monthly).

10. BEE Free

BEE Free is a fast, no-code email and landing page design tool. You can design all types of emails and pages in one place, from landing pages to transactional emails, product launch pages, sign-up forms, and more. You can even co-edit a template in real time with other team members.

Importantly, BEE Free integrates with all the popular email service providers (ESP).

BEE Free Features

• 1500+ free templates ready-to-go and editable.

• HTML drag-and-drop editor for effortless email design.

• Integrates seamlessly with Gmail, HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Active Campaign.

• A/B test critical elements of your email campaign to improve performance.

• Popup builder for creating attention-grabbing pop-ups.

• Landing page builder for making beautiful conversion-friendly landing pages.

• Fully responsive, mobile-friendly designs.

BEE Free Pricing

BEE Free costs $30/month.

Best Email Builder Software (Top Pick)

Yes, we are a bit biased on this, but beehiiv is the best overall email builder.

Here’s why.

First, their generous free plan allows you a massive 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends. No competitor comes close.

Second, beehiiv’s growth tools make it the platform of choice for fast-growing publishers. In particular, the pop-ups, advanced email capture, and referral engine will accelerate your newsletter’s growth.

Best of all, beehiiv has reasonable prices that don’t blow up when you scale. And they have a fantastic support team.

Email Newsletter Builder Software (Closing Thoughts)

That’s a wrap of the best email builder software available today.

All these options are solid.

To make the right choice, evaluate your business needs and goals. Go for the tool with the feature set that addresses your needs and aligns with your goals. Finally, choose a platform that suits your budget.

Want a simple and affordable email builder? Sign-up for beehiiv’s free plan now!