Best Email Marketing Under $30/Month in 2026

If you need email marketing and your budget tops out at $30/month, you have strong options. Here are the best, ranked by overall value:

Rank	Tool	Starting price	Emails/mo	Automation	Best for
1	Moosend	$9/mo	Unlimited	Yes	Best overall value
2	ActiveCampaign	$15/mo	Unlimited	Yes	Best automation engine
3	Mailchimp Essentials	$13/mo	10x contacts	Basic only	Best integrations
4	Mailchimp Standard	$20/mo	12x contacts	Full	Best if you need advanced journeys

All prices assume 500–1,000 contacts. Here’s what each actually gives you.

1. Moosend Pro — $9/month (best value)

Price: $9/mo monthly, $7/mo annual (500 subscribers)

Moosend’s Pro plan includes everything other tools lock behind higher tiers: automation workflows, landing pages, A/B testing, segmentation, transactional emails, and unlimited sends. There’s no feature-gating — the only variable is your contact count.

What you get for under $30:

• Up to ~2,500 contacts ($32/mo) stays under $30 on annual billing ($25/mo)
• Unlimited emails to every contact
• Visual automation builder
• Landing pages and forms
• A/B testing on emails and subject lines
• AI Writer for copy assistance

What’s missing: Smaller integration library than Mailchimp. No free plan (30-day trial instead). Less brand recognition.

Best for: Budget-conscious businesses that want full-featured email marketing without tier-climbing.

Full breakdown: Moosend pricing

2. ActiveCampaign Starter — $15/month (best automation)

Price: $15/mo monthly, $8/mo annual (1,000 contacts)

ActiveCampaign’s automation engine is genuinely best-in-class. Even the Starter plan includes marketing automation, inline forms, site tracking, and API access. The automation workflows are more sophisticated than what you get at this price anywhere else.

What you get for under $30:

• 1,000 contacts at $15/mo (monthly) or $8/mo (annual)
• Unlimited emails
• Marketing automation with visual builder
• Site tracking and event-based triggers
• Segmentation and personalization
• 900+ integrations

What’s missing: No CRM (requires Plus at $49/mo). No landing pages on Starter. Limited to 1 user.

Best for: Marketers who need advanced automation logic — conditional workflows, branching, multi-step sequences — at a low price.

Full breakdown: ActiveCampaign pricing

3. Mailchimp Essentials — $13/month (best integrations)

Price: $13/mo for 500 contacts

Mailchimp connects to everything. If you use Shopify, WordPress, Squarespace, or any major platform, Mailchimp’s integration will be the most polished. The Essentials plan removes branding and adds A/B testing.

What you get for under $30:

• 500 contacts at $13/mo
• A/B testing
• Basic (single-step) automation
• 24/7 email and chat support
• Remove Mailchimp branding

What’s missing: Multi-step automation requires Standard ($20/mo). Predictive segmentation is Standard-only. Send limit is 10x contacts (5,000 emails at 500 contacts). Unsubscribed contacts count toward your limit.

Best for: Businesses that need rock-solid integrations with their existing tools and don’t need complex automation.

Full breakdown: Mailchimp pricing

4. Mailchimp Standard — $20/month (best customer journeys)

Price: $20/mo for 500 contacts

If you need Mailchimp’s full automation — multi-step customer journeys, predictive segmentation, send time optimization — this is the entry point. The customer journey builder is genuinely well-designed and more visual than most competitors.

What you get for under $30:

• 500 contacts at $20/mo
• Full multi-step automation
• Customer journey builder
• Predictive segmentation
• Send time optimization
• Custom-coded templates

What’s missing: Still has the 12x send limit. Still counts unsubscribed contacts. Premium features (multivariate testing, phone support) require the $350/mo plan.

Best for: Mailchimp users who’ve outgrown Essentials and need proper automation without switching platforms.

What $30/month actually gets you

Here’s the feature comparison at or near the $30/mo price point:

Feature	Moosend ($9)	ActiveCampaign ($15)	Mailchimp Essentials ($13)	Mailchimp Standard ($20)
Unlimited emails	Yes	Yes	No (10x limit)	No (12x limit)
Automation	Full	Full	Basic only	Full
Landing pages	Yes	No (Plus only)	Yes	Yes
A/B testing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Segmentation	Yes	Yes	Basic	Predictive
CRM	No	No (Plus only)	No	No
Free plan	No	No	Yes (250 contacts)	No

The bottom line

Under $15/month: Moosend is the clear winner. Full features, unlimited sends, no tricks. ActiveCampaign Starter on annual billing ($8/mo) is even cheaper and has superior automation.

$15–$30/month: If automation sophistication matters most, ActiveCampaign wins. If integrations matter most, Mailchimp Standard’s customer journey builder earns its $20 price tag.

Our overall pick: Moosend Pro. You get the most features for the least money, with no send limits and no contact-counting games. It’s the best starting point for any business that doesn’t have a specific reason to choose Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign.

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Pricing sourced from Moosend, ActiveCampaign, and Mailchimp official pricing pages. Last checked February 2026.