Free Email Marketing Tools That Actually Work in 2026

Visisto is the complete website growth system — and the free plan is genuinely free, not a trial. Unlimited contacts, 15,000 emails/month, full popup builder, and Visi AI insights. No credit card. No expiry.

The 'free email marketing' category is full of tools with asterisks. 'Free up to 500 contacts*', 'Free for 30 days*', 'Free but with our branding on every email*'. Here's an honest comparison of what's actually useful for free.

The free plan comparison (2026)

• Visisto: Unlimited contacts, 15,000 emails/mo, popups, AI insights, automation
• Shopify Email: Unlimited contacts, 10,000 emails/mo, basic automation, Shopify-native
• MailerLite: 1,000 subscribers, 12,000 emails/mo, automation, no popup builder
• Brevo (ex-Sendinblue): Unlimited contacts, 300 emails/day (9,000/mo), no automation on free
• Mailchimp: 500 contacts, 1,000 emails/mo, limited automation
• Klaviyo: 250 contacts, 500 emails/mo — not useful at scale

What 'unlimited contacts' actually means

Most platforms charge by contact count — even for contacts you're not emailing. If you have 50,000 people in your list but only email 5,000 of them actively, you still pay for all 50,000. Visisto charges by emails sent, not contacts stored. This is a significant structural difference for stores with large lists.

What the free tier is missing

Visisto's free plan doesn't include a custom sending domain (your emails go out from a shared domain) or white-label removal (Visisto branding appears in email footers). For professional stores, upgrading to Growth ($29/mo · £24/mo) adds both.

MailerLite's free plan is genuinely clean and capable — it's just capped at 1,000 subscribers, which you'll hit faster than you expect. Shopify Email is the right choice if you're already on Shopify and don't need a popup builder.

If you want the most generous free plan for ecommerce email marketing, Visisto is free to start — no credit card: visisto.com