Buying decision / Desk research / 3 November 2026
Outgrown MailerLite Free? Decide what to change before you migrate.
For a consultant, passing a free-plan limit is a budgeting decision. It does not automatically mean you need a different platform.
We have not tested these products. This guide compares published limits and gives an original planning example. Vendor links are direct and contain no affiliate identifiers.
First identify the limit you actually hit
MailerLite’s current Free plan allows 250 active subscribers and 2,500 monthly sends. Its published update also lists three automations and three forms. Those are separate constraints: a small list can need more workflows; a larger list can exceed the contact ceiling despite sending only one newsletter. Check your account and current billing guide before deleting contacts or changing software.
Do not discard consenting, interested readers merely to stay under a free allowance. Compare the cost of an appropriate plan with the effort and risk of moving forms, contacts, suppression information and automations.
A concrete planning example: 500 contacts
Suppose you begin with 500 opted-in readers, add 20 in a month, send four newsletters and use a three-email welcome sequence. A conservative upper planning estimate is (500 + 20) × 4 + 20 × 3 = 2,140 sends. This is an illustrative calculation, not a customer result.
The monthly total is below 2,500, but the list is above MailerLite Free’s contact ceiling. Brevo Free stores more contacts, but sending one newsletter to the whole example list on the same day would exceed its 300-send daily allowance. Moving solely because of the contact cap would not solve the same-day sending requirement.
Calculate your own newsletter and welcome-sequence requirement.
Three options to evaluate
| Option | When to shortlist it | What could rule it out |
|---|---|---|
| Stay with MailerLite and compare paid tiers | Your existing forms and sequences do the job; the constraint is capacity. | The quoted plan still lacks your required automation, users or send allowance. |
| Evaluate Brevo | You need a broader communication setup and its actual contact/send tier matches your use. | You assume a large stored-contact allowance means unlimited sending, or ignore paid-tier contact limits. |
| Evaluate Kit | Your consulting business also publishes an audience-led newsletter or sells digital resources. | You select Free for its contact allowance without checking whether your required sequences and automations need a paid plan. |
Kit publishes a free option up to 10,000 subscribers. Its Creator plan lists unlimited visual automations and email sequences. A larger free subscriber allowance alone does not establish workflow equivalence.
Use a migration break-even worksheet
Record the current tool’s total subscription for the next 12 months, then the alternative’s quote for the same list, send volume, users and workflow. Add required connectors, messaging charges and the time needed to rebuild forms and automations. Separate annual upfront payments from monthly billing and note tax and currency.
Illustrative arithmetic: saving $5 a month saves $60 over 12 months before tax. If migration takes four hours, that is $15 saved per migration hour, before assigning any value to maintenance or errors. These figures are assumptions for the exercise, not vendor prices or a claim about your hourly rate.
Download the blank evaluation worksheet and add dated quotes. Keep the old and new system from sending the same sequence at the same time during evaluation.
Questions to answer before you commit
- Can you export contacts with consent information, groups and suppression status?
- Which forms and links must be replaced?
- Does the target plan include your exact triggers, delays and stop conditions?
- Can you test with addresses you control before moving the live audience?
- What happens to unsubscribed contacts, and how will you avoid re-subscribing them?
These are evaluation questions, not statements that each vendor supports an identical migration. Follow the relevant export/import documentation and verify the result.
Our decision rule
Start by pricing the smallest MailerLite plan that completes your existing job. Compare Brevo if its broader setup or sending model fits a requirement you have today. Compare Kit when audience publishing and digital products are a meaningful part of the business. Staying put is a valid result if switching saves little or introduces unnecessary work.
Official sources and research limits
Checked 3 November 2026: MailerLite plan and billing, MailerLite free-plan update, Brevo plan guide, and Kit pricing and features. Confirm current quotes before paying. We have not tested migration, deliverability or workflow reliability.