7 email platforms judged on what actually pushes people off AWeber: whether the free plan stretches past a few hundred subscribers, whether the automation goes beyond the basics, whether the tool understands a store, and whether you pay for contacts you never mail. Prices read from each vendor's own page on 14 September 2026.
7 tools compared · Last reviewed
AWeber is one of the oldest email platforms still standing, and on 14 September 2026 its pricing page listed Lite at $12.49 and Plus at $19.99 a month billed annually for up to 500 subscribers, with a free plan for small lists. It is simple and reliable, and people leave it because simple stops being enough: they want deeper automation, a store-aware tool, or a free tier that stretches further than a few hundred subscribers.
The alternatives split by what you outgrew. Kit and GetResponse are the automation upgrades. Omnisend is the store upgrade. MailerLite is the like-for-like at a lower price with a full feature set on every plan. Constant Contact is the sibling incumbent with social and events. Brevo changes the pricing model to emails sent. Mailchimp is the default.
Every figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page on 14 September 2026 with its billing term, and any page that could not be read is named rather than guessed at.
AWeber's automation and segmentation are fine for a welcome sequence and little more. Kit's visual automations and GetResponse's workflows and funnels are the step up.
The free plan is small
AWeber's free plan suits a very small branded list. Kit's free tier runs to 10,000 subscribers per its page; MailerLite's and Mailchimp's to 500 with more features.
Not built for stores
AWeber connects to shops but does not think in carts. Omnisend's pre-built e-commerce flows across email, SMS and push are the reason store owners move.
Per-subscriber tiers on a list that mails rarely
AWeber's Plus climbs by subscriber tier ($30 a month at 500, $90 at 5,000 on monthly billing). Brevo's send-based pricing suits a large list that mails monthly.
How we chose
AWeber's departing users tend to want one of three things — a bigger free tier, deeper automation, or store-aware workflows — so we ranked against those rather than on feature counts. We added Kit, Omnisend and Constant Contact to the directory alongside MailerLite, GetResponse, Brevo and Mailchimp, which were already listed, then read each vendor's pricing page on 14 September 2026. MailerLite's renders client-side and was read through a rendering fetch; Constant Contact's was read once before its edge began refusing our checker; Brevo's returned no readable figures at all and its entry says so. ActiveCampaign, Drip and Moosend could not be read — blocked or slider-priced — so none of them is ranked. Promotional pricing displayed that day (Omnisend's 30% offer, AWeber's own setup-fee discount) is noted as a promotion rather than quoted as the rate.
Best for: Leaving AWeber's tier ladder without giving up a free plan
The closest swap for an AWeber user who wants more capability without paying more for it: every paid plan carries the whole feature set, so you are charged for list size alone rather than climbing a feature ladder. Read through a rendering fetch on 14 September 2026, its page listed Comfort from $12 a month billed monthly or $10.80 billed yearly, and Power from $25 or $22.50 yearly at the smallest list size, with a free plan to 500 subscribers — the same free ceiling AWeber gives you, at a lower paid entry point.
Free tier: Yes — up to 500 subscribers.
Watch out: Prices still scale with subscribers, and the page cannot be read without a browser. Automation runs deeper than AWeber's but stops well short of GetResponse's workflows.
Best for: AWeber users whose list is an audience rather than a customer database
The largest free-plan upgrade available from AWeber: free to 10,000 subscribers per its own pricing page, against AWeber's few hundred. Kit (ConvertKit renamed) is built for creators — visual automations, landing pages, paid newsletters and digital products. Creator was listed at $33 a month or $390 a year and Pro at $66 a month or $790 a year for 1,000 subscribers on 14 September 2026, with free migration.
Free tier: Yes — free for up to 10,000 subscribers per its pricing page.
Watch out: Per-subscriber pricing climbs steeply past 10,000, store integrations are thinner than Omnisend's, and the templates are deliberately plainer than AWeber's library.
Best for: AWeber users who have since started selling something
The direct answer to AWeber's weakest area. Omnisend writes automations for carts rather than campaigns — Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce — and runs email, SMS and push inside one workflow. On 14 September 2026 its page showed Standard at a regular $16 a month for 500 contacts and Pro at $59 with unlimited emails and SMS credits, with a 30%-off first-three-months promotion displayed that day. Free migration.
Free tier: Yes — 250 contacts and 500 emails a month.
Watch out: The promotional price is easy to mistake for the regular one; the regular rate is the three-month total divided by three. If you do not sell anything, this is more tool than the job needs.
Best for: Marketers who want automation, webinars and courses in one subscription
GetResponse is the automation-heavy alternative: visual workflows, conversion funnels, webinars and, on Creator, course hosting. Its listing carries Starter at $19, Marketer at $59 and Creator at $69 a month, and its pricing page on 14 September 2026 states plans start at $19 a month for unlimited messages to 1,000 subscribers.
Free tier: No; a free trial.
Watch out: Tier prices above the $19 line render client-side; confirm them on getresponse.com. No free plan any more.
Best for: Staying with something as simple and supported as AWeber
The nearest match to AWeber in temperament: a small-business incumbent with phone support, plus email, social posting, events, surveys and US SMS. Its page on 14 September 2026 listed Lite from $10.20, Standard from $29.75 and Premium from $68 a month billed annually by contact tier, with annual billing stated as 15% off monthly.
Free tier: No; a free trial.
Watch out: There is no free plan at all, so on the one thing AWeber hands you for nothing this is a step backwards. Monthly rates were not readable, and automation is shallower than most of this list. The page began refusing our checker later that day, so it was read once.
Best for: AWeber users who want the largest integration catalogue in email
The default, and the one most people leaving AWeber try first. It has the biggest integration catalogue, the most familiar editor, a free plan to 500 contacts that matches AWeber's own free ceiling, and Essentials from $13 a month for small lists per our listing.
Free tier: Yes — up to 500 contacts with Mailchimp branding.
Watch out: Contact-based pricing rises faster than AWeber's and counts unsubscribed contacts on some plans, so a long-held AWeber list can cost more here than the headline suggests. See our Mailchimp alternatives page for the full comparison.
Best for: Large AWeber lists that are mailed rarely
The structural fix for per-subscriber billing. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) charges by emails sent rather than contacts stored, so a big dormant list costs nothing simply to hold — the opposite of the tier ladder that pushes people off AWeber — and it bundles transactional email, SMS, WhatsApp and a CRM.
Free tier: Yes — a free plan with a daily send limit.
Watch out: Brevo's pricing page returned no readable figures on 14 September 2026, even through a rendering fetch, so we quote none here — confirm the current ladder on brevo.com before moving a list across. Volume billing also cuts both ways: a sudden campaign spike costs more than the flat AWeber tier you are used to.
Yes. Kit (free to 10,000 subscribers per its page), MailerLite and Mailchimp (500), Omnisend (250 contacts) and Brevo (daily send cap) all have free plans, and most stretch further than AWeber's.
What is the cheapest AWeber alternative?
Constant Contact Lite from $10.20 and MailerLite Comfort from $10.80 a month, both on annual billing, as read on 14 September 2026; AWeber Lite was $12.49 billed annually.
Which is best for creators?
Kit: paid newsletters, digital products and a creator network, free to 10,000 subscribers. AWeber's creator features are lighter.
Which is best for e-commerce?
Omnisend, with Shopify-native automations, SMS and push and a free plan for 250 contacts.
What does AWeber cost?
Lite $12.49 and Plus $19.99 a month billed annually for up to 500 subscribers, with Plus at $30 a month on monthly billing at that tier and rising with subscribers, plus a free plan, as listed on 14 September 2026.
Will my AWeber list move?
Yes; export subscribers as CSV and import, and Kit, MailerLite and Omnisend offer free migrations. Sequences must be rebuilt, and a new sending domain should be warmed before a full send.
