The best email marketing tools for creators in 2026

Full disclosure: we make Eden, which is on this list, and we say plainly where the others are the better pick. Prices were checked on each company's site in October 2026.

What creators need from an email tool

Most email tools were built for one of two jobs: sending a newsletter, or selling for an online shop. Creators usually need a bit of both. Check each tool for:

1. A free or cheap start. Your list is small at first. You shouldn't pay much until it grows.
2. Signup forms and pages. A way to turn visitors into subscribers.
3. Sequences. Emails that go out on their own, like a welcome series.
4. Selling. A way to sell a product, and emails that know who already bought.
5. A price that grows fairly. Every tool here charges more as your list grows. Some count people you can't even email.

The short version

Tool	Best for	Free plan	Price at 10,000 subscribers
Kit	Creators with a newsletter and products	Up to 10,000 subscribers	Creator $116/mo
beehiiv	Growing a newsletter as the business	Up to 2,500 subscribers	Lite $139/mo ($119 yearly)
Eden	Emails that sell your own products	No email on Free	Pro $158/mo (Starter $108/mo, broadcasts only)
Mailchimp	Small businesses and online shops	250 contacts, 500 sends/mo	Essentials $110/mo, Standard $135/mo
Substack	Writers with a paid newsletter	Free, 10% of paid subs	$0 (10% of paid subscriptions)
MailerLite	The lowest price for a full-featured tool	250 subscribers	Comfort $89/mo ($80.10 yearly)

Eden's price is a plan plus a list size add-on. Eden also takes 5% of each product sale, and Kit takes 3.5% + 30¢ on its own sales. Card processing applies to every tool that sells.

1. Kit: best all-rounder for creators

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) was built for creators from the start. You get forms, landing pages, broadcasts, tags, and the ability to sell digital products and paid newsletters.

What it does well:

• The biggest free plan. Up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited landing pages, forms, and broadcasts.
• Visual automations. On Creator and up, you can build sequences and branching flows.
• Growth tools. Free recommendations on every plan. Paid recommendations and sponsorships on Creator and up. A referral program on Pro.
• No sending limits on any plan.

Where it falls short: the free plan has no sequences or automations, so even a simple welcome series needs Creator. The price climbs quickly with your list, from $33 a month at 1,000 subscribers to $116 at 10,000. Selling costs 3.5% + 30¢ per sale. Abandoned checkout emails work for Shopify, Fourthwall, and Wix stores, not for every kind of product.

Price: Free up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator from $33/mo ($390/yr). Pro from $66/mo ($790/yr). Full comparison: Eden vs Kit.

Best for: creators who write a regular newsletter and sell now and then.

2. beehiiv: best for growing a newsletter

beehiiv is built for newsletters that want to grow and make money from the list itself: a website, an ad network, referrals, and paid subscriptions.

What it does well:

• Growth tools. A recommendation network on every plan, plus a referral program and paid recommendations from Lite.
• Money from the newsletter. An ad network and paid subscriptions from Lite. beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions and digital products.
• Selling. Digital products on every plan. Pro adds order bumps, upsells, webinars, and coaching.
• Unlimited sends on every plan.

Where it falls short: automations, A/B tests, and custom domains start on Lite, which is $59 a month at 1,000 subscribers. The free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers. It's newsletter first, so selling your own courses or coaching isn't its main job.

Price: Free up to 2,500. Lite from $59/mo ($49 billed yearly). Pro from $109/mo ($95 billed yearly). Full comparison: Eden vs beehiiv.

Best for: creators whose newsletter is the product.

3. Eden: best when your emails sell your own products

Eden is a creator store with email marketing built in. Your products, checkout, and emails live in one place, so your emails know who bought what.

What it does well:

• Sequences that start from what people do. A sequence can start when someone buys or claims a product, signs up on your page, starts checkout but doesn't buy, gets a tag from a form, or when a membership ends.
• Buyers stop getting pitched. Give a sequence a product to sell. Anyone who buys it leaves the sequence right away.
• Checkout recovery. People who start checkout and don't finish get a follow-up, on Eden's own checkout.
• Results in money. Each broadcast and each sequence email shows sent, opened, clicked, and money earned.
• Your list fills in on its own. Buyers, free product claims, page signups, form answers, and people who start checkout all land in your contacts.
• Ready-made sequences. Welcome, Free to paid, Upsell, Abandoned checkout, Ask for testimonials, and Win back. Write with AI drafts a whole sequence from the product it sells.
• No setup. Emails send from your store handle on Eden's sending address, so there's no sending domain to set up or warm up.

Where it falls short: Eden can sell a paid newsletter, but it isn't a full newsletter platform. There's no public web archive of past issues, no ad network, and no referral or recommendation network. There are no A/B tests, no visual branching builder (sequences are a list of timed emails with skip rules), and you can't send from your own domain. The Free plan has no email, and sequences need Pro.

Price: Starter $29/mo includes broadcasts, 250 contacts, and 5,000 sends a month. Pro $79/mo adds sequences and checkout recovery. Bigger lists use a list size add-on priced for the whole list: $15/mo for 1,000 contacts, $79 for 10,000, $149 for 25,000. Eden takes no extra fee on email, and 5% per product sale.

Best for: creators who sell courses, coaching, downloads, or memberships and want the emails to follow the sale.

4. Mailchimp: best for small businesses already on it

Mailchimp is the best-known email tool, built for online shops and small businesses. It has landing pages, forms, 300+ integrations, and pre-built automations like abandoned cart.

Where it falls short for creators: the free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with no scheduling. Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts toward your bill, so you can pay for people you can't email. Essentials only allows automations up to 4 flow steps. Selling courses or coaching isn't part of its pricing page.

Price: Free for 250 contacts. Essentials from $13/mo, Standard from $20/mo, Premium from $350/mo (500 contacts). At 10,000 contacts: Essentials $110, Standard $135. See Eden vs Mailchimp.

Best for: businesses that sell physical products through an online store.

5. Substack: best for writers with a paid newsletter

Substack is free to start and takes 10% of paid subscriptions, plus Stripe. It's the simplest way to publish a paid newsletter, with a public archive and a built-in reader app.

Where it falls short: it's built for writing, not for selling your own products. There are no sequences to sell a course, and no official way for other apps to add subscribers. (Eden adds signups to Substack through its desktop app or Chrome extension.) See our Substack growth strategy.

Price: free. 10% of paid subscriptions.

Best for: writers whose paid newsletter is the main product.

6. MailerLite: best low price for a full tool

MailerLite renamed its plans in June 2026. Paid plans are now Comfort and Power. It's simple to use and cheaper than most at every list size.

What it does well:

• A visual automation builder on every plan, with e-commerce triggers.
• Email A/B tests on every plan, including Free.
• Selling. Digital products and bookings on every plan (1 on Free, 5 on Comfort, unlimited on Power). Paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions from Comfort.
• Websites and landing pages included.

Where it falls short: the free plan stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with 3 automations. Comfort caps sends at 10 times your subscriber tier. It wasn't built around creators the way Kit or beehiiv were.

Price: Free up to 250. Comfort from $12/mo at 500 subscribers ($19 at 1,000, $89 at 10,000). Power from $25/mo ($39 at 1,000, $129 at 10,000). Annual billing takes 10% off.

Best for: small lists and anyone who wants the lowest bill.

Which one should you pick?

• Pick Kit if you write a regular newsletter, sell a product now and then, and want a big free plan.
• Pick beehiiv if the newsletter is your business and you want ads, referrals, and paid subscriptions.
• Pick Eden if your emails are there to sell your own products, and you want buyers to leave a sequence once they buy.
• Pick Substack if you write a paid newsletter and don't need sales emails.
• Pick MailerLite if you want automations and A/B tests for the lowest monthly price.
• Pick Mailchimp if you run an online shop and you're already set up there.

You can also use two. Plenty of creators keep their newsletter on Kit, beehiiv, or Substack and use Eden's emails for sales. Head-to-head: Kit vs beehiiv.

How to do it with Eden

1. 01

   Open Email marketing

   Go to Your store → Email marketing and fill in Settings once: from name, reply-to, and mailing address.

2. 02

   Let your list fill in

   Add a newsletter block to your store page, or a free product. Buyers, signups, and form answers land in Contacts on their own. Import only people who bought or agreed to hear from you.

3. 03

   Turn on a sequence

   On Pro, click New sequence, pick what starts it (like a signup on your page), and pick what it sells. Click Write with AI to draft the emails, then turn it on.

4. 04

   Send a broadcast

   Click New broadcast, filter Who gets it, send yourself a test, and send now or pick a time.

Want to keep your newsletter where it is? Eden still sends buyers and signups to Kit, beehiiv, GoHighLevel, or Substack. See connect your email list and the Email marketing help article.

Where Eden falls short

Be clear on what Eden is not. It sells paid newsletters, but it's not a full newsletter platform: no public web archive, no ad network, no referral program. It has no A/B tests and no visual branching builder. It sends from Eden's address, not your own domain. It includes 250 contacts before you add a list size, and broadcasts open after your first paid month on Eden. If any of those matter most, Kit, beehiiv, or MailerLite will serve you better.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free email marketing tool for creators?

Kit. Its free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, forms, and landing pages. beehiiv's free plan goes to 2,500. Substack is free but takes 10% of paid subscriptions.

Which email tool is best for selling digital products?

If you only sell now and then, Kit or beehiiv works. If selling your own products is the main job, Eden ties emails to your store, so sequences start on a purchase and stop when someone buys. See how to sell digital products.

Which is cheapest at 10,000 subscribers?

Of these, MailerLite Comfort at $89 a month, then Mailchimp Essentials at $110, then Kit Creator at $116. Substack costs nothing to send but takes 10% of paid subscriptions.

Can I use Eden and Kit or beehiiv together?

Yes. Eden can send buyers and signups to Kit, beehiiv, GoHighLevel, or Substack, so you can keep your newsletter there and run sales emails from your store.

Want emails that know who bought? Start Eden free, set up your store, and turn on your first sequence.