If you’re searching for the best email marketing software, chances are you’ve hit a wall of endless options, conflicting advice, and feature overload. I’ve been there. 

As a writer and content strategist, I have used various email platforms for the past decade. Mailchimp, Substack, beehiiv, you name it — I’ve tried it. I’ve spent many late nights going down the rabbit hole of free trials, comparison articles, and Reddit threads. Every tool promised to be “the best,” but after trying dozens, I realized no single platform works for everyone. It all depends on what you actually need.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer because email marketing platforms serve different needs. Some are built for e-commerce and automation, others focus on newsletters and audience growth, and some try to do everything (but don’t always do it well).

So, instead of throwing you into another long list of software you could use, let’s break it down simply. In this article, I’ll share my favorite email software solutions for every need, how you can compare the top options, and why I recommend beehiiv for newsletters and monetization. It’s not an exhaustive list of every email marketing tool on the market but rather a curated list of my top recommendations.

Table of Contents

• The Three Main Types of Email Marketing Platforms

• The Top 10 Email Marketing Platforms

• My Favorite Email Software Solutions For Every Need

• The Best Email Marketing Software for 2025 (Ranked by Use Case)

• Why I Recommend beehiiv For Newsletters & Monetization

• My Final Thoughts on Choosing the Best Email Software

The Three Main Types of Email Marketing Platforms

Not every email platform addresses the same problems. One might offer top-notch automation but provide limited tools for audience growth. Another might help you monetize easily but lack the CRM integrations you need for advanced funnels. By understanding which category a platform falls into, you can avoid wasted time on free trials that don’t match your business model.

1. General Email Marketing Platforms (Mailchimp, Brevo, HubSpot, etc.)

These are often the first stops for small businesses and marketers who need a reliable (and sometimes all-in-one) system for sending newsletters, promotional campaigns, and basic automations. Think of them as the entry-level or catch-all solutions.

🟢 Best for: Small businesses, agencies, or brands that need all-in-one marketing tools.

🔴 Not ideal for: Creators or publishers who focus primarily on newsletters and audience growth.

My experience: I’ve used Mailchimp for basic email marketing, and while it’s beginner-friendly, I always felt like I was using a tool meant for general business emails — not something built for true audience-building. HubSpot, on the other hand, offers powerful CRM tools alongside email but can be overkill if you’re just managing a newsletter.

LA Magazine, for example, struggled with high costs, workflow inefficiencies, and limited features on their old email marketing platform while managing eight distinct publications. Switching to beehiiv cut their annual expenses by $32,000 and provided a more reliable, user-friendly newsletter solution designed for growth and monetization.

2. E-commerce & Sales-Focused Email Tools (Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Drip, etc.)

These platforms excel at data-driven campaigns, advanced tracking, and behavioral automations. If you’re running an online store or a sales-heavy operation, you’ll want a tool that can trigger emails based on customer actions, purchase history, and website behavior.

🟢 Best for: Online stores, especially on Shopify or WooCommerce, requiring abandoned cart flows and product recommendations

🔴 Not ideal for: Content creators or newsletter-focused businesses.

My experience: Klaviyo is amazing for tracking customer journeys. However, it’s not the kind of platform you pick if your only goal is to publish a weekly newsletter and monetize with sponsorships. It’s designed for transactional triggers, upsells, and precise revenue tracking.

3. Creator-Focused & Newsletter Platforms (beehiiv, Kit, Substack, etc.)

This is where things get interesting. These tools are built specifically for creators, writers, and media businesses. Instead of focusing on product sales, they’re designed to help you grow an audience, engage them with great content, and monetize through subscriptions, sponsorships, and referrals.

These platforms address a core need: publishers, writers, and content creators who want to build a loyal audience and monetize that relationship — often without the complexity of e-commerce funnels.

🟢 Best for: Newsletter writers, independent media brands, and creators building an engaged audience.

🔴 Not ideal for: Large businesses looking for complex automation or sales funnels.

My experience: I’ve tried all three platforms for my own newsletter. While Substack is simple to get started, it locks you into their ecosystem and doesn’t offer much flexibility in terms of branding or sponsorship integration. 

In my opinion, it’s more like a social media platform than an email marketing company. Kit is great for creators, but it doesn’t have the same monetization and growth tools that beehiiv offers. That’s why beehiiv became my go-to — it gives me the freedom to own my audience and scale my newsletter into a real business.

The Top 10 Email Marketing Platforms

I’m going to go more in-depth for my top choices below — but if you’re looking for a quick overview, here are the top email marketing platforms and the key details you should know.

How to Compare the Top Email Software Choices

Every email software company promises the same things: great automation, easy-to-use templates, high deliverability, and powerful analytics.  But when you start using them, you realize that some platforms feel intuitive, while others make simple tasks frustratingly complex.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself: 

• Is it easy to use? Some platforms are intuitive; others feel like solving a puzzle. The best way to find out if you’ll click with the interface is to sign up for a free trial. Send a test email to yourself, create a simple automation, and see if the workflow feels natural.

• Does it have the features you need? Ignore flashy extras — stick to email editing, automation, segmentation, and analytics. Make sure it will scale with your business.

• Will your emails actually get delivered? Poor deliverability = wasted effort. To test it, you can send emails to Gmail and Outlook — do they hit the inbox or land in spam?

• Can you monetize easily? If you plan to earn money from your emails, check whether the platform supports sponsorships, subscriptions, and referral programs. Some general tools focus on e-commerce integration but ignore creator-friendly monetization features.

• How does pricing scale? Many platforms start cheap but get expensive fast. Run the numbers — look at pricing at 10K, 50K, and 100K subscribers.

Cost is another serious factor that you should consider — and it’s often a reason I see newsletter creators jump from legacy marketing platforms to newer alternatives. 

Adam Beach, founder of MyGolfSpy, didn’t start his newsletter on beehiiv. But, he eventually realized he needed to find a new solution as his previous software wasn’t cutting it for him.

He recalled, “It was a nightmare situation. You should want both sides to grow. We were with a company called Sailthru and it was very limited. The more emails you send to people, the more you have to pay. It was 10x what beehiiv is.”

Key Features I Look For

Custom Domain Authentication

This can help to improve deliverability by allowing you to send from your own domain (e.g., [email protected]). Platforms like beehiiv and ActiveCampaign offer robust domain authentication steps to protect sender reputation.

Flexible Automation

Even if you don’t need complex workflows now, you may in the future. Choose a tool that can grow with you. Tools like Drip and ActiveCampaign excel at multi-branch, trigger-based automation.

Segmentation at Scale

Basic segmentation is good, but advanced segmentation (like dynamic content based on behavior) can revolutionize your campaigns. Tools like Klaviyo and Kit handle segmented content well, though for different audiences.

Monetization Integrations

If you rely on sponsorships or paid newsletters, look for built-in referral programs and payment gateways. beehiiv shines here by offering embedded sponsorship tools and full subscriber ownership.

User Experience & Support

Intuitive interfaces save time, and responsive customer support is invaluable if you run into setup issues. Platforms like MailerLite and Brevo emphasize user-friendliness, while HubSpot provides extensive (though sometimes pricey) help resources.

My Go-To Email Automation Tools

Once you’ve evaluated ease of use, deliverability, monetization, and pricing structure, automation becomes the true differentiator. The ability to trigger relevant emails and simplify recurring tasks can save hours each week — and significantly boost subscriber engagement. Below are the email marketing tools (and connectors) I rely on for sophisticated, time-saving workflows:

• Zapier: Zapier is indispensable for connecting your email tool with thousands of apps and automating tasks you’d otherwise handle manually, like adding new customers to a segment, syncing webinar signups to your email list, and pushing data to a CRM. 

• HubSpot: More of a full marketing suite, but valuable if you want sales pipelines and service ticketing in one place.

• Drip: A balanced choice for mid-level automations, especially if you sell digital products or online courses.

beehiiv also has some great automation options. For example, you can set up automated welcome sequences when someone subscribes or trigger campaigns if a reader opens certain links. You can also set up automated sequences to clean up your email lists, removing inactive subscribers and improving your overall deliverability and open rates. 

Here is a look at some common types of triggers and automation series you can run through beehiiv. 

Why automation matters: It frees you up from manually sending follow-ups, welcome emails, and re-engagement campaigns, ensuring subscribers get the right message at the right time — even when you’re offline. 

Regardless of which tool you choose, map out your subscriber journey first. Know which triggers and events you want to track (opens, clicks, purchases, referrals, etc.), then choose a platform that makes it easy (or uses Zapier to fill in the gaps). 

My Favorite Email Software Solutions For Every Need

I’ve tested just about every email platform out there — some for my own newsletters, some for client work, and others just out of pure curiosity (and maybe a little obsession). After doing such rigorous, unofficial testing I have some good and bad news: there’s no one single perfect tool. But there are a lot of really great options on the market right now and they are improving on a near-constant basis.

Here’s my deep dive into the best options, including what they get right, where they fall short, and my honest experience using them.

1. beehiiv

If you’re serious about building a newsletter-driven business, beehiiv is hands down the best platform. It was built by the same team that scaled Morning Brew to millions of subscribers, so they understand what it takes to grow, engage, and monetize an audience better than most.

Unlike Mailchimp or Kit, which are more general email marketing tools, beehiiv is built specifically for newsletter creators. It has the kind of growth and monetization tools that most platforms don’t even think about — like built-in referral programs, a sponsorship marketplace, and audience segmentation designed for long-term engagement.

beehiiv also has the numbers to back up its value: In 2024, the beehiiv Ad Network generated more than $3M for newsletters and paid subscriptions generated more than $8M in revenue.

Pricing:

• Free: Up to 2,500

• Scale: $43/month

• Max: $96/month  

• Enterprise: Custom

*Note: prices are based on annual billing and include up to 1,000 subscribers. Costs will increase as you scale. Check the pricing page for more information. 

Key Features:

• Referral & recommendation network to accelerate organic audience growth

• Built-in sponsorship marketplace to monetize newsletters easily

• Segmentation & automation for targeted email campaigns

• Custom domain support so you fully own your audience

I will admit that there is a small learning curve when you’re new to beehiiv — but this is because the platform is so personalizable. You can tailor everything from your website experience to tailored user journeys, which is great for skilled marketers but can be more daunting for those new to email marketing. Overall, though, the platform is intuitive and easy to find your way around. The CS team is also immensely helpful in solving bugs or answering questions when needed. 

2. Klaviyo

Klaviyo is the gold standard for e-commerce email marketing. If you’re running a Shopify store and want deep segmentation, advanced automations, and behavior-triggered emails, this is the tool for you. Its data-driven approach means you can drill down into individual customer interactions—viewing abandoned cart behavior, product preferences, and purchase history—to craft highly personalized campaigns.

Unlike general platforms like Mailchimp or HubSpot, Klaviyo was built from the ground up to serve e-commerce brands. By integrating seamlessly with Shopify and other platforms, it centralizes all your customer data and uses it to trigger relevant and timely emails.

Pricing:

• Free: Up to 250 subscribers

• Email: Starts at $45/month

• Email and SMS: Starts at $60/month

*Note: Price will depend on the number of active profiles/subscribers you have as well as monthly SMS/MMS credits (if you opt for the SMS plan).

Key Features:

• Deep e-commerce integrations (especially with Shopify)

• Advanced segmentation & automation for highly personalized emails

• SMS marketing support alongside email campaigns

The level of data that Klaviyo provides is insane. You can see every single interaction a subscriber has had with your store—what products they viewed, what they abandoned in their cart, how often they open emails — and use that to trigger highly personalized email sequences.

The downside? It’s not beginner-friendly. If you’re new to email marketing, Klaviyo’s interface can feel overwhelming. It’s also expensive compared to other platforms. But if you’re in e-commerce, this is the tool you want.

3. Active Campaign

ActiveCampaign is best known for its advanced automation and CRM integration—making it ideal for businesses that need more than just newsletters. Whether you’re orchestrating complex sales funnels or multi-step automated campaigns, ActiveCampaign offers a robust set of tools to create highly personalized email journeys.

Unlike simpler platforms like MailerLite or Kit, ActiveCampaign requires a bit more technical know-how. However, if you’re aiming to deeply segment your audience and tie email marketing directly into your sales process, it provides an unparalleled level of detail.

Pricing:

• No free plan

• Starter: Starts at $15/month

• Plus: $49+/month (adds CRM & sales automation)

• Pro: $79+/month

• Enterprise: $145+/month

Key Features:

• AI-powered automation & lead scoring for high-converting email sequences

• CRM integration for full sales funnel tracking

• Multi-channel marketing tools (email, SMS, site tracking, and more)

If you’re running highly complex campaigns and need enterprise-level automation, ActiveCampaign is a strong choice. But for newsletters and content-driven email strategies, it’s overkill — and the setup can be time-consuming.

4. MailerLite

MailerLite is one of the top budget-friendly email marketing platforms. It’s perfect for small businesses, bloggers, and creators who need a straightforward solution without a steep learning curve. It offers a clean drag-and-drop editor, basic segmentation, and essential automation features.

Unlike feature-heavy tools like ActiveCampaign, MailerLite focuses on usability and affordability—which can be a relief if you just want to send out newsletters or a few automated sequences.

Pricing:

• Free: Up to 1,000 subscribers, 12,000 emails/month

• Growing Business: Start at $9/month, increasing as your subscriber base grows

• Advanced: $18+/month

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop email builder that’s beginner-friendly

• Landing pages and pop-ups for lead capture

• Affordable pricing with solid core features

I’d recommend MailerLite to beginners who need a straightforward tool that won’t break the bank. It’s not as powerful as beehiiv or ActiveCampaign, but for small businesses or personal projects, it’s one of the easiest tools to get started with.

5. Drip

Drip is another option built for online stores and digital marketers who want to trigger automated flows based on behavioral data — similar to Klaviyo, but often considered a bit lighter. It syncs well with e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, giving you insights into who’s buying what, and when.

Unlike Klaviyo, Drip keeps the interface somewhat simpler, though it’s still data-driven and offers robust automation. It’s especially popular among content creators with a storefront or membership product attached.

Pricing:

• No free plan

• Starts at $39/month, scales with subscriber count

Key Features:

• Behavior-based workflows to convert and re-engage customers

• Tagging and events for subscriber actions (e.g., visits to your product pages)

• Visual workflow builder to map out automated sequences

If you’re a creator who sells digital products, Drip’s event-based tagging system can help you customize your funnel efficiently.

The Best Email Marketing Software for 2025 (Ranked by Use Case)

Best Overall Email Marketing Software

• beehiiv – Best for newsletters, audience growth, and monetization.

• Klaviyo – Best for e-commerce brands.

• ActiveCampaign – Best for advanced automation and CRM integration.

Best Free Email Marketing Platforms

• beehiiv – Unlimited emails, referral growth tools.

• MailerLite – 1,000 free subscribers, simple automation.

• Brevo – Free 300 emails/day, automation tools included.

My thoughts: beehiiv stands out because it offers unlimited emails for free, something most platforms restrict. MailerLite and Brevo are good for beginners who want basic automation.

Best Email Software for Newsletters & Creators

• beehiiv – Best for scaling newsletters with sponsorships, referrals, and audience growth.

• Kit – Good for creators selling digital products.

• Substack – Simple setup, but takes a 10% revenue cut.

My thoughts: beehiiv is the best newsletter platform because it allows full audience ownership and has tools for sponsorships, referrals, and monetization that Kit and Substack lack. Substack is beginner-friendly but locks you into its ecosystem.

Best Email Software for e-commerce & Sales

• Klaviyo – Best for Shopify & e-commerce brands.

• Drip – Strong automation for online stores.

• Omnisend – Multi-channel, including SMS and push notifications.

My thoughts: Klaviyo dominates e-commerce email marketing because of its deep Shopify integration and advanced segmentation.

If you’re still unsure, here’s a quick recommendation:

Why I Recommend beehiiv For Newsletters & Monetization

If your primary goal is to build and monetize a newsletter, beehiiv is, in my opinion, the strongest choice on the market. Unlike traditional email tools designed for general business or e-commerce, beehiiv was built by creators who understand what it takes to grow an engaged audience and turn that audience into a revenue stream.

It stands apart from platforms like Mailchimp and Kit by focusing on features that truly matter to newsletter publishers—such as built-in referral programs, sponsorship management, and flexible paid subscription options. Rather than forcing you to cobble together third-party solutions to handle everything from growth to monetization, beehiiv offers a seamless experience under one roof.

Rohan Mahtani, founder of Resume Worded and Career Supplement, is a great case study to consider when choosing which email marketing tool is right for you. Resume Worded struggled with slow sends, inaccurate metrics, and deliverability issues for its million-subscriber newsletter. By migrating to beehiiv, they solved these challenges with faster sending times, more reliable analytics, and specialized features for newsletter growth and monetization.

“I started looking for standard email marketing providers. I came across Mailchimp, SendGrid, and things like that. Then I started going a little bit deeper in my search, and that's when I came across beehiiv,” he said. 

“I was looking at the toolkits available and it really did seem that beehiiv in terms of raw feature sets, there was a lot of good stuff there. Things like the polls, segmentation, and A/B testing out of the box. I could see a lot of value immediately.

“That was when I realized if I want to make newsletters a priority, what I need to be doing is not just thinking of non-transactional marketing (like sending emails) but thinking of a tool kit that helps me grow. If I'm making it a priority in our business, how do I make it a real priority in the business and have those growth levers?

“[beehiiv] seems to be successful as an email marketing solution, but also combined with some elements of growth as well.” 

Who Should Use beehiiv? My Take

• Newsletter creators who want fast, organic subscriber growth

• Entrepreneurs & creators who plan to monetize through ads, memberships, or paid content

• Businesses & startups that rely on email engagement for brand loyalty and community building

For newsletter publishers, monetization is often the biggest hurdle—finding sponsors, setting up paid subscription tiers, or managing affiliate deals can be time-consuming. beehiiv addresses these challenges head-on. Whether you want a simple referral reward program or a more advanced sponsorship model, the platform offers the infrastructure to scale without relying on ad-hoc integrations.

I switched to beehiiv after struggling with Substack’s limited control over branding and revenue share. With beehiiv, I could customize my newsletter’s look and feel, own my subscriber data outright, and set up sponsorships without ceding a percentage of my earnings. 

The platform does have a bit of a learning curve for users unfamiliar with advanced newsletter features, but you can learn the ropes quickly thanks to its extensive resource library.

If your livelihood depends on delivering compelling content and earning revenue from it, beehiiv provides the tools you need—from robust audience segmentation and domain authentication to a dedicated sponsorship marketplace. In a sea of generalist email platforms, beehiiv remains the standout solution for newsletter entrepreneurs who want both growth and control.

My Final Thoughts on Choosing the Best Email Software

Nothing is worse than adding another buzzy tool to your tech stack that you don’t actually use. So my top advice is to avoid chasing trends or what seems like the flashiest software. Instead, think about the biggest pain points in your business and current marketing strategy and try to match that to a software that fits best. 

If you’re running a sales-heavy business, e-commerce platforms like Klaviyo or Drip might be a perfect fit. If you need advanced automation and a built-in CRM, ActiveCampaign or HubSpot could serve you well. For beginners or tight budgets, MailerLite offers an easy entry point with just enough functionality to get you started.

But if you’re building a newsletter-driven business — one that relies on audience loyalty and monetization — beehiiv is a clear choice. It addresses the unique challenges of newsletter growth, sponsorship management, and list ownership in a way that more general platforms simply don’t. Add in robust deliverability controls, custom domain support, and a referral network that can exponentially increase subscriber growth, and you have an all-in-one platform tailor-made for serious creators.

If you’re interested in testing out beehiiv, you can get started here today for free. 

Taylor Cromwell is a freelance writer, content strategist, and storyteller who helps MarTech, Sales, and other B2B SaaS companies showcase the real-world impact of their tools. You can follow her work on LinkedIn and through her newsletter Creator Diaries.