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The Verdict
MailerLite wins on value, features, and pricing.
While Constant Contact offers phone support and 27 years of reliability, MailerLite delivers better automation, a free plan for 500 subscribers, and more features at lower prices.
Choose Constant Contact if
- +Small businesses needing phone support
- +Users who prefer simple, basic email marketing
- +Teams requiring extensive social media posting features
- +Organizations prioritizing brand name recognition
Choose MailerLite if
- +Startups and small businesses on tight budgets
- +Users wanting advanced automation without complexity
- +Content creators selling digital products
- +Teams needing modern design capabilities
Pricing
Which one costs more?
The pricing difference reveals two completely different approaches to email marketing software.
| Plan / Tier | Constant Contact | MailerLite | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Not available | $0 | MailerLite: 500 contacts, 12,000 monthly emails |
| Starter/Growing Business | $12/mo | $10/mo | 500 contacts, unlimited emails on both |
| Standard/Advanced | $35/mo | $20/mo | Advanced features, automation templates |
| Premium/Enterprise | $80/mo | Custom | Unlimited automation, priority support |
Buddy's Take on Pricing
MailerLite wins decisively on pricing with a generous free plan and lower costs across all tiers. You pay 20% less for the entry tier and 43% less for advanced features, while getting more functionality at every level.
Features
Capability comparison
Both platforms cover email marketing basics, but they differ significantly in automation capabilities, pricing structure, and modern features.
| Capability | Constant Contact | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Automation | ○ | ★ |
| Landing Pages | ✗ | ★ |
| Website Builder | ✗ | ✓ |
| Digital Product Sales | ✗ | ✓ |
| Phone Support | ✓ | ✗ |
| Social Media Tools | ★ | ○ |
| AI Writing Assistant | ✓ | ✓ |
| A/B Testing | ○ | ★ |
| Custom HTML Editor | ✗ | ✓ |
| 24/7 Support | ✓ | ◐ |
| Money-Back Guarantee | ✓ | ✗ |
The feature gap between these platforms is significant. MailerLite operates as a modern, comprehensive marketing platform while Constant Contact feels like legacy email software with limited expansion.
MailerLite's automation builder stands out with visual workflows, multi-trigger capabilities, and behavioral targeting that Constant Contact simply can't match. The ability to create unlimited landing pages and websites, plus sell digital products with zero commission, makes MailerLite feel like getting multiple tools for the price of basic email marketing. Constant Contact's automation is limited to basic welcome series and birthday campaigns.
Constant Contact's main advantages are live phone support on all plans and extensive social media management features. If your business relies heavily on social media posting and scheduling across multiple platforms, Constant Contact's social tools are more robust than MailerLite's basic offerings.
Who It's For
Who should choose which?
Choose Constant Contact if you...
- +You absolutely need live phone support
- +Social media management is a primary requirement
- +You prefer working with established, well-known brands
- +30-day money-back guarantee is important for your decision
Choose MailerLite if you...
- +You want modern automation capabilities
- +Budget is a primary concern
- +You need landing pages and website building
- +You plan to sell digital products or newsletters
Final recommendation
The bottom line
MailerLite is the clear winner for most businesses. The combination of a truly useful free plan, lower pricing, superior automation, and modern features like landing pages and digital product sales makes it significantly better value than Constant Contact. The user experience feels like 2026, not 2006.
Constant Contact only makes sense if phone support is absolutely critical to your operation, or if you need extensive social media management features that justify the price premium. For pure email marketing with room to grow, MailerLite delivers more functionality for less money. The 14-day free trial of premium features lets you test advanced capabilities before committing.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, for most businesses. MailerLite offers better automation, lower pricing, and more modern features like landing pages and digital product sales. Constant Contact only wins on phone support and social media tools.
MailerLite is significantly cheaper. It offers a free plan for 500 subscribers while Constant Contact starts at $12/month. Paid plans are also 20-43% less expensive on MailerLite.
Yes, MailerLite provides import tools to transfer your contact lists and basic campaign data from Constant Contact. You'll need to rebuild automations since the platforms use different systems.
No, MailerLite offers 24/7 email and chat support, but no phone support. Constant Contact includes live phone support on all paid plans, which is its main advantage.
MailerLite has significantly better automation with visual workflow builders, multi-trigger capabilities, and behavioral targeting. Constant Contact's automation is limited to basic welcome series and simple workflows.
Only MailerLite includes landing page creation. Constant Contact focuses purely on email and social media marketing without landing page functionality.
More on these tools
Joonas Rotko
Author & founder of That Marketing Buddy
I score marketing software for AI-stack fit (MCP, API, agent-readiness), backed by 10+ years in digital marketing. This comparison is based on structured data from 60+ tools in the marketing software category.
This page may contain affiliate links. I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never influences the comparison.
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