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Most buyers should pick MailerLite.
Choose MailerLite if you need a free starting point or sell digital products: its free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails, while paid plans start at $10.80/month with annual billing. Choose Constant Contact if SMS, social, and event marketing matter more; its annual starting price is $10.20/month, but there’s no free plan listed. Both start at $12 month-to-month. MailerLite’s free tier is capped, and Constant Contact’s entry plan has one automation template.
01Side by side
| MailerLite | Constant Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $10.80/month annually; $12 month-to-month | $10.20/month annually; $12 month-to-month |
| Free plan | Yes: 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails | No free plan listed |
| Best for | Email newsletters, automations, and digital products | Email, SMS, social, and event marketing |
| Core strength | Email automation, landing pages, and digital sales | Marketing across email, SMS, social, and events |
| Learning curve | Review gives it an 8/10 ease score | Review gives it a 4.5/10 ease score |
| Integrations/data | Not specified on the vendor's site | Not specified on the vendor's site |
| Team/seat costs | 2 free; 3 Comfort; unlimited Power seats | 2 Lite; 3 Standard; unlimited Premium seats |
| Support | Email support; Power adds live chat | Support options not specified on the vendor's site |
MailerLite Choose MailerLite if
- Choose MailerLite if you need a free plan to start.
- Choose MailerLite if you sell digital products or paid newsletters.
- Choose MailerLite if email automations are your main priority.
Constant Contact Choose Constant Contact if
- Choose Constant Contact if SMS campaigns matter to your marketing mix.
- Choose Constant Contact if you need social media tools alongside email.
- Choose Constant Contact if you manage event registrations and invitations.
02Pricing compared
MailerLite is the only one with a free plan: it allows 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails, three automations and one landing page. Its paid Comfort plan starts at $10.80 per month with annual billing or $12 month to month, and pricing scales with subscriber count. Constant Contact has no free plan listed. Lite starts at $10.20 per month when prepaid annually or $12 month to month. So the annual entry price is slightly lower at Constant Contact, but MailerLite offers a free way to start. Both start at $12 month to month. Constant Contact’s Lite plan includes one automation template; MailerLite’s free plan includes three automations. Check the limits before comparing the headline prices: MailerLite’s paid plans also scale by subscriber tier, while Constant Contact’s plans cap email sends at a multiple of contacts. Annual pricing and allowances are according to each product’s pricing information.
03Features and depth
MailerLite is the more focused choice for email, landing pages and selling digital products. Its listed tools include a drag-and-drop email editor, automations, forms, websites, landing pages, and sales of downloads or paid newsletters. It also lists an AI writing assistant, AI-powered A/B testing, and an MCP server for managing email marketing through ChatGPT or Claude. Comfort includes 50 automations; Power includes unlimited automations, forms, sites and digital products.
Constant Contact covers more marketing channels in one platform: email, SMS, social media and events, alongside contact management and automation. Its tools include event pages and RSVP management, social scheduling and lead-generation ads, and SMS campaigns. The plan limits matter: Lite has one automation template and one custom segment; Standard has three templates and 10 segments. Premium lists unlimited custom automations and segments, plus 500 SMS messages per month. SMS for Lite and Standard is a paid add-on, starting at $10 per month for 1–500 messages. Choose based on the channels you’ll use, not the longer feature list.
04Ease of use and learning curve
MailerLite’s listed setup is easier to scope if your work centers on email, forms and landing pages. The free plan is a low-cost way to learn the basics, though its 250-subscriber and 2,500-email caps make it a trial-sized option, not an unlimited free tier. The product also has more to learn if you want its websites, payments or AI tools.
Constant Contact puts email, SMS, social and events in one platform, which can mean more features to navigate if you only need newsletters. Our review scores rate MailerLite’s ease of use at 8 and Constant Contact’s at 4.5; the Constant Contact review also flags reported editor problems, without details here. Those scores are a caution, not a guarantee of how either product will feel for your team.
Questions people ask
Which is cheaper, MailerLite or Constant Contact?
For annual billing, Constant Contact Lite starts at $10.20 per month and MailerLite Comfort at $10.80. Month to month, both start at $12. MailerLite also has a free plan, but it is capped at 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails. MailerLite paid pricing scales with subscriber count.
Does Constant Contact have a free plan?
No free plan is listed in the published Constant Contact pricing information. Its Lite plan starts at $12 per month, or $10.20 per month when prepaid annually. MailerLite has a free plan with limits of 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails, three automations and one landing page.
Which platform is better for SMS and social marketing?
Constant Contact is the clearer fit if SMS and social tools are priorities: it lists SMS campaigns, social scheduling and lead-generation ads. SMS for Lite and Standard costs extra, starting at $10 per month for 1–500 messages. MailerLite’s listed strengths are email, automations, pages and digital products.
Which platform has more automation?
It depends on the plan. MailerLite’s free plan includes three automations and Comfort includes 50; Power lists unlimited automations. Constant Contact Lite includes one automation template, Standard includes three, and Premium lists unlimited custom automations. Templates and automations are not identical measures, so compare the workflows you need.