About True Cost of Email

Last updated: September 2026

True Cost of Email is an independent pricing guide for people shopping for email marketing software. We are buyers' editors, not a vendor directory: our only job is to work out what each platform will actually charge you, at your list size, on your billing cycle — and to say plainly when a popular choice is the wrong one.

How we verify prices

• Official sources only. Every figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page or published plan documentation. We never estimate a price we cannot source.
• Both billing cycles. We check monthly and annual prepay separately, because the gap between them is often the single biggest saving available.
• List-size modelling. Email tools charge by contact tier, so we model bills at 500, 2,500 and 10,000 subscribers — the sizes where plan boundaries actually bite.
• Dated, then re-checked. Each guide carries the month we verified its numbers. Vendors reprice constantly; when they do, we update the page and the date.
• Conflicts become ranges. If a vendor's page and its own help docs disagree, we publish the range and say where each number came from.

Our editorial rules

• Every comparison includes a "who should not switch" section. Cheaper is not always better, and we say when it isn't.
• We cover the billing traps vendors don't advertise: contacts that still count after they unsubscribe, SMS billed separately, automation gated behind higher tiers.
• Our rankings change when the facts change. Pages carry the date of the last verification so you can judge freshness yourself.

Questions, corrections or a price you've spotted that's out of date? That feedback makes the site better for the next buyer. See also our disclosure of how the site earns money.