Zoho Campaigns vs MailerLite: lower list-size prices, or more automation on the entry paid plan?
Email marketing and CRM platforms · Verified · By Joonas Rotko
Zoho Campaigns
Desk research
From Standard, billed annually
$3/mo
$4/mo billed monthly
MailerLite
Desk research
From Comfort, billed annually
$10.80/mo
$12/mo billed monthly
vs
Quick answer
Zoho Campaigns is the cheaper buy at every list size I price, on both monthly and yearly billing. Its free plan covers up to 2,000 contacts with 5 users, so a 500-contact list or a three-person team on 1,000 contacts pays nothing, while MailerLite's free plan stops at 250 subscribers and Comfort costs $12/month billed monthly at 500. At 5,000 contacts Zoho Standard costs $31/month billed monthly and MailerLite Comfort costs $49/month billed monthly. The trade-off is automation: Zoho's free plan has no automated workflows and Standard has only basic ones, while MailerLite includes 3 automations even on its free plan and 50 on Comfort. Prices verified 1 Oct 2026.
Across the three setups below: Zoho Campaigns in 3 of 3 scenarios.
Which one fits you?
Solo marketer or small business, a list just past the free tier
Zoho Campaigns
My pick
$0/mobilled annually
A 500-contact list fits inside Zoho's Forever Free plan, so it costs nothing on either billing basis. MailerLite's free plan stops at 250 subscribers, so Comfort is needed and costs $12/month billed monthly, or $10.80/month billed annually. Zoho is cheaper on both billing bases.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if you want automated sequences from day one. Zoho's free plan has no automated workflows and caps sending at 6,000 emails a month, while MailerLite Comfort includes 50 automations and removes MailerLite branding.
At 5,000 contacts Zoho Standard costs $31/month billed monthly, or $23.25/month billed annually. MailerLite Comfort costs $49/month billed monthly, or $44.10/month billed annually. Zoho is cheaper on both billing bases, and Standard sends unlimited emails.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if you need more than basic drag-and-drop workflows. Zoho keeps its full trigger and condition set, contact scoring and webhooks on Professional, so price Professional at your list size on Zoho's selector before you commit, and compare that with MailerLite Comfort.
Three people on a 1,000-contact list fit inside Zoho's Forever Free plan, which includes 5 users, so it costs nothing on either billing basis. MailerLite Comfort costs $19/month billed monthly, or $17.10/month billed annually, with 3 seats. Zoho is cheaper on both billing bases.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if the team sends more than a few campaigns a month or needs automation. The free plan's 6,000-email monthly cap runs out fast on a 1,000-contact list, and the next step, Standard, adds unlimited sending but only basic workflows.
How are Zoho Campaigns and MailerLite really different?
Free plan
Zoho Campaigns
Forever Free: up to 2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails a month and 5 users, with no automated workflows.
MailerLite
Free: up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 2 seats and 3 automations. Past the cap, sending locks until you upgrade or trim the list.
Zoho's free plan holds a much bigger list and team, so a 500-contact list stays free there. MailerLite's free plan is the better place to try automation, but it runs out at a small list size.
Price as the list grows
Zoho Campaigns
Standard: $4/month billed monthly at the 500-contact band, or $3/month billed annually, with unlimited emails.
MailerLite
Comfort: $12/month billed monthly at the 500-subscriber band, or $10.80/month billed annually.
Zoho Standard is cheaper than MailerLite Comfort at 500, 1,000 and 5,000 contacts on both billing bases.
Automation on the cheapest paid plan
Zoho Campaigns
Standard includes basic drag-and-drop workflows. The full trigger and condition set, contact scoring, dynamic content and webhooks need Professional.
MailerLite
Comfort includes 50 automations. Power adds unlimited automations and multiple triggers per automation.
If automation is the reason you're buying, MailerLite Comfort gives you more on its entry paid plan than Zoho Standard does. To match it on Zoho you need Professional.
Seats
Zoho Campaigns
5 users on Free, 10 on Standard, 20 on Professional.
MailerLite
2 seats on Free, 3 on Comfort, Unlimited on Power. MailerLite doesn't publish a per-seat add-on price.
A small team fits on either, but Zoho leaves far more room before you hit a seat limit on the paid plans.
Integrations
Zoho Campaigns
Zoho CRM sync and the API on every plan, Zapier on Standard and Professional. Zoho doesn't list Make in its plan table.
MailerLite
A bucket of 100+ integrations on every plan, including WordPress and Zapier. Full API access with sending on Comfort and Power, and limited, no-sending API access on Free.
If your business already runs on Zoho CRM, Zoho Campaigns plugs straight in. If you want sending through the API on the entry paid plan, both offer it, but MailerLite's free API can't send.
What will Zoho Campaigns or MailerLite cost for your setup?
The cheapest plan that covers each setup, add-ons included. Prices exclude VAT.
Solo marketer or small business, a list just past the free tier
500 subscribers · mailed 3 times a month (for tools priced by emails sent) · 1 user
ToolMonthlyYearly, per month
Zoho Campaigns
My pick
$0
$0
Forever Free
Above 2,000 subscribers: Standard (+$12.75/mo, billed annually).
MailerLite
$12
$10.80
Comfort
Above 200,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.
For each tool I price every current plan plus the add-ons a setup needs, from the vendor's published prices only, and take the cheapest. Monthly and annual billing are priced separately. When a limit or price isn't published, the tool shows as not fitting instead of a guess.
Solo marketer or small business, a list just past the free tier: A list of about 500 contacts, just past the free tiers most vendors offer. One login. Tools priced by emails sent are costed at three mailings per subscriber a month.
Growing list, sending regularly: A list of 5,000 contacts, sending regularly. One login. Tools priced by emails sent are costed at three mailings per subscriber a month.
Small team managing one list together: Three people logging in to the same 1,000-contact list. Seats, not list size, are the deciding limit. Tools priced by emails sent are costed at three mailings per subscriber a month.
Zoho Campaigns vs MailerLite side by side
I compare email/CRM platforms on: Real cost per list size, both billing bases; Free-tier contact ceiling before you must pay anything; Team seats included, and the seat price past that; List segmentation depth; Automation workflow depth and any step/action limits; Deliverability and sending limits (emails per month, per day, or per rolling window); CRM and ecommerce integration depth; What happens past your plan's contact ceiling (overage pricing vs a forced upgrade).
Zoho Campaigns and MailerLite compared on the main buying criteria
Criterion
Zoho Campaigns
MailerLite
Free plan
Yes, up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month.
Yes, up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
Free trial
14 days, no card required.
14 days, no card required. The trial unlocks paid features, and the account reverts to Free afterwards rather than being charged.
Entry paid plan, monthly billing
Standard: $4/month billed monthly.
Comfort: $12/month billed monthly.
Entry paid plan, annual billing
Standard: $3/month billed annually.
Comfort: $10.80/month billed annually.
Seats on the entry paid plan
10 users.
3 seats.
All details, including automation and AI workflows
All compared details for Zoho Campaigns and MailerLite
Criterion
Zoho Campaigns
MailerLite
Automation on the entry paid plan
Basic drag-and-drop workflows. Full workflows on Professional.
50 automations, with unlimited automations and multiple triggers on Power.
Annual billing discount
25% off every published band.
A smaller yearly discount than Zoho's, shown at every band on MailerLite's pricing page.
Published pricing ceiling
100,000 contacts on Standard, 500,000 on Professional.
200,000 subscribers on Comfort and Power. Above that, Enterprise is custom-priced through sales.
Plan ladder
Forever Free, Standard and Professional, all self-serve. Pay-as-you-go email credits are sold separately.
Free, Comfort and Power are self-serve. Enterprise is custom-priced for 200K+ subscribers and requires contacting sales.
Professional and Power entry prices
Professional: $6/month billed monthly, or $4.50/month billed annually, at the 500-contact band.
Power: $25/month billed monthly, or $22.50/month billed annually, at the 500-subscriber band.
How pricing scales
Priced by contact count (not by emails sent): a contacts selector from 0-500 up to 500,000 contacts; Standard and Professional include unlimited emails; Free is capped at 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails/month.
Priced by subscriber count, with a published band table up to 200,000 subscribers. Every paid plan has the full feature set at every band, and only the price changes.
Billing basis and currency
Yearly figures are the monthly equivalent when billed yearly. Zoho publishes one yearly rate per band and doesn't state a separate first-year or renewal rate. Prices here are the US dollar view. Zoho's page shows visitors in the EUR and GBP regions their own currency, so figures there differ.
Yearly figures are the monthly equivalent when billed yearly, in US dollars. Paid plans auto-upgrade to the next subscriber band and bill the card on file when your list outgrows the current one.
Professional features
Advanced segmentation, tags, contact scoring, dynamic content, send time optimization, timezone and batch scheduling, pop-up forms, RSS campaigns, abandoned cart and purchase follow-up workflows, frequency capping, workspaces, webhooks, custom user roles.
Not applicable. Power adds unlimited automations, unlimited landing pages, unlimited seats and multiple triggers per automation.
Landing pages and branding
Zoho doesn't break out a landing-page allowance in its plan table.
1 landing page on Free, 10 on Comfort, unlimited on Power. MailerLite branding comes off at Comfort.
Support
Email and phone support on every plan; in-product chat on Standard and Professional.
MailerLite doesn't break support channels down by plan in its comparison table beyond community support on Free.
Dedicated IP
Add-on, available on a yearly basis (Standard and Professional).
MailerLite doesn't list a dedicated IP add-on on its pricing page.
Refund window
Zoho doesn't state a refund window on its pricing page.
A 30-day window to request a refund, which MailerLite grants at its discretion. It isn't a money-back guarantee.
Who should pick Zoho Campaigns, and who should pick MailerLite?
Zoho Campaigns
Desk research
Best for solo marketers and small businesses
Best for growing lists sending regularly
Best for small teams sharing one account
Zoho Campaigns has a real free plan (2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails a month) and paid plans that start at $4/month billed monthly for the entry contact band, with unlimited emails on both paid tiers. Pricing runs on contact count only, so send volume never changes the bill. Annual billing takes 25% off, and the 14-day trial needs no credit card. It fits best if the rest of your stack is already Zoho.
Best for: Small businesses already on Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps who want a free plan to start and low per-contact pricing as the list grows, with the Zoho CRM sync and the developer API on every plan and Zapier on the paid ones.
Strengths
Free forever plan covers 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month with 5 users, and the 14-day trial needs no credit card.
Paid plans are priced by contact count with unlimited emails: Standard starts at $4/month billed monthly or $3/month billed annually, and Professional starts at $6/month billed monthly or $4.50/month billed annually.
Zoho CRM sync, the developer API and the Zoho app integrations are on every plan, and Zapier is on Standard and Professional.
Limits
The free plan has no automated workflows and caps sending at 6,000 emails a month.
Standard includes only basic drag-and-drop workflows and 10 users; the full trigger and condition set, contact scoring, dynamic content and webhooks need Professional.
Standard stops at 100,000 contacts, so larger lists have to move to Professional.
Skip it if you need the full workflow builder below Professional, or you rely on Make, which the plan table does not list.
MailerLite prices by subscriber count, not by locking features behind tiers, so a $12/month billed monthly plan gets the same automation builder and landing pages as the top tier, just fewer of each. The free plan is a real permanent plan, not a trial, capped at 250 subscribers.
Best for: A small business or solo marketer who wants full features at a low subscriber count and doesn't want to pay for a bigger list than they have yet.
Strengths
A genuine free plan at 250 subscribers, not a time-limited trial.
A 14-day trial of paid features with no card required.
Automation and landing pages scale by count, not by locking the builder away from cheaper tiers.
Limits
Removing the MailerLite logo needs Comfort or above.
API and MCP access on Free is limited and can't send.
Refunds are discretionary, not a guaranteed money-back window; MailerLite's terms only commit to a refund if it cancels your service on you first.
Skip it if you resell email under your own brand (MailerLite offers no white-label version), you need logo removal on the free plan, or you need unrestricted API sending without upgrading past Free.
Plan on exporting your contacts and rebuilding automations and templates by hand in either direction. Testing first costs nothing on both: Zoho's free plan and 14-day trial, or MailerLite's free plan and 14-day trial, and neither trial asks for a card. If you use Zoho CRM, check that your CRM sync has an equivalent in the new tool before you move.
What would change my pick?
Zoho moving the full workflow builder down to Standard would remove MailerLite's biggest advantage on the entry paid plan.
MailerLite raising its free subscriber cap would close the gap for small lists.
Zoho listing Make as a supported integration would matter for anyone who builds automations there.
A price change on either side. The scenario picks recalculate when a vendor changes a published price.
Zoho Campaigns vs MailerLite: questions people ask
Which is cheaper, Zoho Campaigns or MailerLite?
Zoho Campaigns. A list of up to 2,000 contacts can stay on its free plan, and at 5,000 contacts Standard costs $23.25/month billed annually against $44.10/month billed annually for MailerLite Comfort. Zoho is cheaper on monthly billing too, at $31/month billed monthly, while MailerLite Comfort is $49/month billed monthly.
Does Zoho Campaigns or MailerLite have the better free plan?
It depends on what you need. Zoho's Forever Free covers 2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails a month and 5 users, without automated workflows. MailerLite's free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, but includes 3 automations. For a list between 250 and 2,000 contacts, only Zoho's stays free.
How does automation compare on the cheapest paid plans?
MailerLite Comfort includes 50 automations. Zoho Standard has only basic drag-and-drop workflows, and the full trigger and condition set needs Professional. If automation is the main reason you're buying, MailerLite Comfort is the stronger entry plan.
Which is better for a small team?
Zoho Campaigns. Its free plan includes 5 users, so three people on a 1,000-contact list pay nothing. MailerLite Comfort costs $17.10/month billed annually for the same team and includes 3 seats.
Do the prices include a first-year discount that rises at renewal?
Zoho publishes one yearly rate per contact band and doesn't state a separate first-year or renewal rate. The yearly figures I use are the monthly equivalent when billed yearly, which Zoho shows as 25% below the monthly price. All figures are the US dollar view, and Zoho shows visitors in other regions their own currency.
Should I pick Zoho Campaigns if I already use Zoho CRM?
Yes. The Zoho CRM sync is on every Zoho Campaigns plan, including the free one, and it's the cheaper tool at every list size I price.
How I verified this
Every price and limit here comes from the vendors' own pages, last checked . Zoho Campaigns: desk research. MailerLite: desk research.
: New page. Zoho Campaigns is the pick in all three scenarios: its free plan covers the 500-contact and three-person team scenarios, and Standard is cheaper than MailerLite Comfort at 5,000 contacts on both billing bases. MailerLite is the alternative for buyers who need more automation on the entry paid plan.
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Zoho Campaigns
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