How Email Platforms’ Free Tiers Changed in 2025–26
MailerLite and Mailchimp both halved their free plans’ list limits in 2026, to 250 subscribers each; beehiiv kept 2,500 and added features, and Flodesk’s free plan doesn’t send email at all. The dated changes, from the vendors’ own notices.
As of · dated changes to free plans, from each vendor’s notice or pricing page1
| Platform | Free tier before | Free tier now | Date of change | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | 500 subscribers · 12,000 emails/mo · 1 seat | 250 subscribers · 2,500 emails/mo · 2 seats; adds custom templates, blogs, pop-ups and the HTML editor; caps of 3 automations, 3 forms, 1 landing page, 1 website | 2026-06-16 | Smaller list, fewer sends, more features | 1 |
| Mailchimp | 500 contacts · 1,000 sends/mo (as reported) | 250 contacts · 500 sends/mo · 250 sends a day | 2026-02-17 (as reported) | Smaller list, fewer sends | 3, 4 |
| Flodesk | No free-plan figures on a page we could open | Free plan: forms, landing pages and link-in-bio pages; no email sending or workflows | 2025-12-02 (paid plans: flat-rate unlimited plan retired for new members) | Paid pricing moved to subscriber tiers | 8 |
| beehiiv | Launch plan: up to 2,500 subscribers | Free plan: up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends; adds community, alongside website and podcast | 2026-10-01 | Same list size, more features | 6, 7 |
Every change here is dated by the vendor’s own notice, except Mailchimp’s: its “before” limits and its February 17, 2026 start date are as reported by Energise, a New Zealand marketing agency, quoting Mailchimp’s email to users, because Mailchimp’s own announcement wasn’t on a page we could open; its current limits come from Mailchimp’s help center. Flodesk’s dated change was to its paid plans, not its free plan; we list it because it moved new members off a flat price. “Subscribers” and “contacts” are each vendor’s own counting unit, as defined on its pages.
MailerLite: half the list, a fifth of the sends
On June 16, 2026, MailerLite cut its Free plan from 500 to 250 active subscribers and from 12,000 to 2,500 emails a month, and raised it from one user seat to two.1 In the same change it opened features that had been paid-only: custom campaign and landing-page templates, blogs, promotional pop-ups and the HTML campaign editor. It also set feature caps on Free: 3 automations, 3 forms, 1 digital product, 1 landing page and 1 website of up to five pages.1
What happens at the limit is spelled out. A free account over 250 subscribers can’t send campaigns, run automations or add subscribers until it upgrades or cleans its list; forms and landing pages keep collecting sign-ups without showing visitors an error, and no data is deleted.1 MailerLite gives its reason as keeping the Free plan “running faster and more reliably” and protecting deliverability.1 The next step up, Comfort, is $19 a month on monthly billing for up to 1,000 subscribers.2
Mailchimp: 250 contacts and a daily cap
Mailchimp’s Free plan now includes up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a daily limit of 250 sends; going over the contact limit puts a hold on sending live and test emails until you upgrade or reduce your contact total.4 Energise reported in February 2026 that the change started on February 17 and cut the plan from 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly sends.3 Mailchimp counts unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts toward the total.4
Its cheapest paid plan, Essentials, is $26.50 a month on the 1,500-contact tier.5
beehiiv: the same 2,500, more on top
beehiiv went the other way on its free plan. New plans for new customers took effect on October 1, 2026: the free Launch plan became Free and “still supports up to 2,500 subscribers”, now with community features alongside the website and podcast; beehiiv says every core product is on every plan, including Free.6 Its pricing page lists unlimited email sends on every plan.7 The paid plans changed price instead; existing customers keep their current price until their first renewal on or after November 1, 2026.6
Flodesk: a free plan that doesn’t send
Flodesk retired its flat-rate unlimited plan for new members on December 2, 2025, and now prices by active subscribers; members who subscribed before then keep the legacy plan while their subscription lasts.8 Its Free plan builds forms, landing pages and link-in-bio pages to grow a list, but doesn’t include email sending or workflow automations; sending starts on Lite, at $25 a month billed monthly for up to 1,000 subscribers.8
Where free tiers stand now
Across ten platforms, the free list limit runs from no sending at all (Flodesk) and 100 subscribers (Buttondown) to 100,000 stored contacts on Brevo, which instead caps sending at 300 emails a day.8913 For the time side, a free tier’s limit is also a workload: Brevo’s free campaigns to more than 300 people go out 300 a day, and the rest must be re-queued by hand.13
As of · free plans as listed on each pricing page or help center9
| Platform | Free list limit | Sending limit | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buttondown | 100 subscribers | Not stated | — | 9 |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts | 500 sends/mo, 250 a day | No scheduling on Free (as reported) | 4, 3 |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers | 2,500 emails/mo | 3 automations, 1 website | 1 |
| Loops | 1,000 newest contacts | 4,000 sends per rolling 30 days | All features, Loops footer | 12 |
| EmailOctopus | 2,500 subscribers | 10,000 emails/mo | 1 landing page, 1 form, branding | 10 |
| Sender | 2,500 subscribers | 15,000 emails/mo | Automation, landing pages, branding | 11 |
| beehiiv | 2,500 subscribers | Unlimited sends | Website, podcast, community | 7 |
| Kit | 10,000 subscribers (via secondary source) | Unlimited broadcasts (as reported) | 1 sequence, 1 visual automation | 14 |
| Brevo | 100,000 stored contacts | 300 emails a day | Brevo sticker on every email | 13 |
| Flodesk | No email sending | None | Forms and landing pages only | 8 |
Free plans as each vendor lists them on 2026-10-13, sorted by list limit. Kit blocks automated visits to its site, so its figures come from Email Vendor Selection’s Kit pricing guide (updated 2026-08-09), a secondary source; Mailchimp’s “no scheduling” note is as reported by Energise. We found no dated change to the free plans of Buttondown, EmailOctopus, Sender, Loops, Kit or Brevo on the pages we opened, so they are listed here and not in the table of changes.
Sources
- MailerLite, Free plan update: What you need to know, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- MailerLite, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Energise (secondary source), Is Mailchimp’s Free Plan Still Worth It?, published 2026-02-25, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Mailchimp, About Mailchimp Pricing Plans, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Mailchimp, Mailchimp Pricing Plans, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- beehiiv, beehiiv Launches New Plans and Pricing (October 2026), published 2026-10-01, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- beehiiv, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Flodesk, Flodesk Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Buttondown, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- EmailOctopus, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Sender, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Loops, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Brevo Help Center, FAQs - What are the limits of the Free plan?, retrieved 2026-10-13.
- Email Vendor Selection (secondary source), Kit Pricing 2026: How much does it really cost?, updated 2026-08-09, retrieved 2026-10-13.