Free ESPs: The Real Tradeoffs

ESPs all advertise free tiers. Most are trial-equivalents — limited just enough to be useless for real sending, designed to convert you to paid within weeks. A few are genuinely free forever and worth using for low-volume senders. This guide separates the usable free options from the bait.

The cluster around email marketing esp is narrow but the broader free-ESP question maps to common decisions: which provider can a side project, a small newsletter, or a startup use without paying anything for the first few thousand emails.

Free Tiers That Actually Work

Provider	Free contacts	Free emails	Features included	Forever or trial
Brevo	Unlimited	300/day (~9K/mo)	Full automation, SMS, transactional	Forever
Mailerlite	1000	12K/mo	Automation, landing pages, forms	Forever
AWS SES	Unlimited	62K/mo (from EC2)	API/SMTP, suppression, basic	Forever (with EC2)
Resend	N/A (contact-less model)	3K/mo	Modern API, webhooks	Forever
Maileroo	Unlimited	5K/mo	EU data residency, API	Forever
Mailersend	Unlimited	3K/mo	Templates, API, dashboard	Forever
Sender.net	2500	15K/mo	Basic automation	Forever

The Marketing-Focused Free Tier: Brevo and Mailerlite

For senders running newsletters, ecommerce campaigns, or simple automation, the two strongest free tiers are Brevo and Mailerlite.

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue):

• 300 emails/day cap (no batching — can't burst to 9K on a Monday)
• Unlimited contacts on free tier
• Includes automation, SMS sending, transactional API, chat
• Pushes upgrades aggressively in UI

Mailerlite:

• 1000 subscriber cap, 12K/month send cap
• Real automation (not single-step trigger)
• Landing pages and forms included
• Mailerlite branding in email footer on free
• Cleaner UI than Brevo

For pure newsletter use under 1000 subs, Mailerlite. For mixed marketing + transactional with no contact cap concern, Brevo.

The Developer-Focused Free Tier: SES, Resend, Maileroo

For app email — password resets, order confirmations, notifications — these provide free sending via API/SMTP.

AWS SES — cheapest at scale ($0.10/1000), 62K/month free when sending from an EC2 instance, $1 per 1000 EC2-less. The catch: SES sandbox mode caps you at 200/day to verified addresses only. Production approval requires explaining your use case and takes 1-3 days. See AWS SES review.

Resend — 3K/month free, modern API, best DX of the developer-focused tier. Good for SaaS side projects. See Resend review.

Maileroo — 5K/month free, EU data residency option, newer player. Good for European-targeting projects.

Mailersend — 3K/month free, includes template builder and analytics.

Practitioner note: SES "free 62K/month" is conditional on sending from an EC2 instance. If your app runs anywhere else (Vercel, Render, Fly), you pay $0.10/1000 from the first email. Still cheap, but the marketing makes it sound more generous than it is for non-AWS-native stacks.

Free Tiers That Aren't Worth Using

Mailchimp Free: 500 subscribers, no automation past day 1. Designed as a trial. Mailchimp has gotten expensive for any real sender. See Mailchimp review.

SendGrid Free: 100/day forever, but SendGrid aggressively suspends accounts that look like cold email or low engagement. The free tier is for evaluating their paid tiers, not running production sends.

Klaviyo Free: 250 contacts, 500 emails/month. Borderline useless for ecommerce — you'll outgrow it in week one. See Klaviyo review.

ConvertKit/Kit Free: 10K subscribers but no automation, no sequences, no commerce. Just broadcasts. Misses the reason you'd use Kit.

What Free Tiers Don't Include

Regardless of provider, free tiers don't include:

• Dedicated IPs — you share with thousands of other free-tier senders
• Custom subdomains for the sending IP — your DKIM is the provider's
• Inbox placement seedlist data — basic engagement metrics only
• Priority support — community forums and docs
• Advanced segmentation — most cap at basic filters
• Higher rate limits — burst caps stay low

For small senders, none of these matter. For senders shipping 50K+/month, dedicated IPs are mandatory and that means paid tiers.

Practitioner note: Free tier shared IP pools are noisy. Brevo, SendGrid, and SES shared pools include cold emailers, marginal senders, and occasionally bad actors. Your inbox placement is partly determined by the other senders sharing your IP. Below 10K-25K/month this is acceptable. Above that, move to dedicated.

Migration Cost: The Hidden Free Tier Tax

Switching ESPs costs time even if the platform fees are zero:

• Export subscriber CSV from current ESP
• Import to new ESP (re-confirming consent is best practice)
• Re-create automations from scratch (no portable format)
• Re-authenticate sending domain (new DKIM CNAMEs)
• Warm new IP from zero reputation
• Update all integrations (webhooks, signup forms, app code)

A migration that "saves $50/month" can cost $2000+ in engineering and lost engagement during the transition. Pick something you can stay on.

What I'd Pick by Use Case

• Small newsletter (<1K subs): Mailerlite free
• Side project app email: Resend free, then $20/month
• WooCommerce store starting: Brevo free (covers both marketing + transactional)
• EU-targeting startup: Maileroo free or Brevo EU
• AWS-native SaaS: SES from day 1
• Anyone who'll grow past free in 6 months: start on a paid plan you'll stay on

If you need help selecting an ESP, configuring authentication, or migrating between providers without breaking deliverability, book a consultation. I do ESP selection and migration planning for SaaS teams, ecommerce, and agencies across the major providers.

Sources

• Brevo Pricing
• Mailerlite Free Plan
• AWS SES Pricing
• Resend Pricing
• Mailersend Free Plan
• M3AAWG Sender Best Common Practices

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v1.0 · May 2026