MailerLite Alternatives for Free-Plan Refugees (Post-September 2025)

On 2025-09-23 MailerLite halved its free plan from 1,000 to 500 subscribers. If you're over the new cap, here's where the math actually lands at 500, 1k, 5k and 25k subscribers.

What actually changed on 2025-09-23

MailerLite reduced its Free plan subscriber cap from 1,000 to 500 on 2025-09-23. Accounts over 500 subscribers had sending, automation and manual adds disabled until they either trimmed the list or upgraded. The monthly send limit (12,000 emails) was left unchanged (MailerLite Help, 2025).

"Starting September 23, 2025, the subscriber limit on MailerLite's Free plan will be reduced from 1000 total subscribers to 500." — MailerLite official FAQ

This matters because it's the second free-tier squeeze hitting small publishers in 2025. Mailchimp's free plan is now capped at 250 contacts (down from 2,000, then 500) and no longer includes automation flows (Mailchimp pricing, as of 2026-05-30). So if you crossed 500 on MailerLite, falling back to Mailchimp's free tier is not an option — it's smaller and weaker.

The fee-math wedge: list size vs revenue cut

There are two pricing models in this market, and conflating them is how publishers overpay.

• Flat-fee by list size — Beehiiv, Kit, MailerLite, Mailchimp. You pay for the size of your list. Paid-subscription revenue is yours (minus Stripe).
• Revenue cut — Substack charges no monthly fee but takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue, plus Stripe processing (via Beehiiv, as of 2026-05-30).

For a free newsletter with no paid subscriptions, Substack's 10% is 10% of nothing — genuinely free. But the moment you monetize, the 10% scales with your revenue, not your list. At higher paid revenue the cut exceeds any flat fee a competitor would charge. That's the wedge: a flat $43-$96/mo on Beehiiv can be cheaper than 10% of a few thousand dollars in monthly subscription income.

Run your own number: if you earn more per month in paid subscriptions than the flat fee of a list-size platform divided by 0.10, the flat fee wins.

Beehiiv: the strongest landing spot for refugees (primary pick)

Beehiiv's free Launch plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers at $0 and takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue — you keep everything minus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (Beehiiv pricing, as of 2026-05-30).

"beehiiv takes 0% of your paid subscription revenue. You keep everything you earn, minus Stripe's standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction." — Beehiiv pricing page

For a MailerLite refugee sitting between 500 and 2,500 subscribers, this is the obvious move: you go from being kicked off MailerLite's free tier to $0 with five times the headroom. Above 2,500 subscribers you move onto paid tiers. Beehiiv's pricing page today shows Scale at $43/mo and Max at $96/mo (annual-billing rates); a third-party review cites higher monthly-billing figures, so treat the paid-tier dollar figure as variable by monthly-vs-annual billing and re-verify before committing (Beehiiv pricing).

Check Beehiiv's current free-plan terms before moving your list.

Kit (ConvertKit): secondary pick for automation-heavy publishers

Kit's free Newsletter plan caps at 1,000 subscribers (per the vendor pricing page, as of 2026-05-30). Note: some older references cite a 10,000-subscriber free cap — the vendor page is authoritative, and 1,000 is the current figure. Like Beehiiv, Kit takes 0% of subscription revenue, but it charges 3.5% + $0.30 on digital products and subscriptions sold through its commerce layer.

The vendor page shows Creator at $33/mo and Pro at $66/mo at the entry (1,000-sub) tier (Kit pricing). A third-party tier table puts Creator at $39/mo (1k), $89 (5k), $139 (10k) and $199 (25k) (EmailVendorSelection, as of 2026-05-30); the per-subscriber figures above 1k are from that third-party table, not Kit's vendor page, so confirm your exact tier price on Kit directly before committing.

Kit earns its place when you need real automation, tagging and segmentation that a hobby newsletter outgrows. If that's not you yet, Beehiiv's larger free cap wins. See Kit's current plan tiers.

Staying on MailerLite paid — and why it's not a bad call

If your list is just over 500 and you like the product, upgrading is cheap. MailerLite's Growing Business plan starts at $10/mo (billed monthly), Advanced at $20/mo, with 10% off annual and no revenue cut (MailerLite pricing, as of 2026-05-30). Prices scale with list size above the entry tier; a third-party table puts Growing Business at roughly $15/mo (1k), $39 (5k) and $159 (25k) (EmailVendorSelection) — treat those per-tier figures as third-party estimates, not vendor-listed.

Migration has a cost too — re-importing, re-warming sending reputation, rebuilding automations. If the only thing wrong is that you fell 1-200 subscribers over the new free cap, paying $10/mo to stay put may beat the switching effort. Compare MailerLite's paid tiers.

Where Substack and Mailchimp fit (and don't)

Substack ($0 flat, 10% of paid revenue) is a fine destination if you're not monetizing yet or your paid revenue is small. It stops being cheap as paid revenue grows — that's the whole fee-math point above. It's also a publishing platform with its own discovery network, not a like-for-like ESP replacement for MailerLite's automation. (fee details)

Mailchimp is no longer a viable free landing spot for 500+ refugees: free is capped at 250 contacts with no automation, and paid Essentials and Standard intro rates start in the low double digits per month at 500 contacts (the vendor page rendered in EUR on our fetch: Essentials ~EUR11/mo, Standard ~EUR17/mo intro) (Mailchimp pricing). If you left Mailchimp for MailerLite originally, going back solves nothing.

What real users say

Starting September 23, 2025, the subscriber limit on MailerLite's Free plan will be reduced from 1000 total subscribers to 500.

beehiiv takes 0% of your paid subscription revenue. You keep everything you earn, minus Stripe's standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Beehiiv keeps things simple when it comes to pricing. No feature roulette or hidden costs.

FAQ

Why was I locked out of MailerLite's free plan?

On 2025-09-23 MailerLite cut its free plan cap from 1,000 to 500 subscribers. Accounts over 500 had sending, automation and manual adds disabled until they trimmed the list or upgraded. The 12,000 monthly email limit was unchanged (source: MailerLite Help FAQ).

What's the best free MailerLite alternative for a list over 500?

Beehiiv's free Launch plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers at $0 and takes 0% of paid revenue, making it the strongest free landing spot for refugees between 500 and 2,500 subs. Kit's free plan caps at 1,000 subscribers. Mailchimp's free tier is only 250 contacts and excludes automation, so it's not a fit (sources: Beehiiv, Kit, Mailchimp pricing pages).

Is Substack actually free?

Substack charges no monthly fee but takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue plus Stripe processing. If you don't monetize, it's effectively free. Once you earn paid revenue, the 10% cut scales with that revenue and can exceed a flat fee on Beehiiv, Kit or MailerLite.

Should I just pay for MailerLite instead of switching?

If you're only slightly over the 500-subscriber free cap and like the product, MailerLite's Growing Business plan starts at $10/mo with no revenue cut. Paying that can beat the effort of migrating, re-warming deliverability and rebuilding automations (source: MailerLite pricing).

Why do the Beehiiv and Kit prices show ranges?

Paid-tier dollar figures vary by billing cadence (monthly vs annual) and by source. Beehiiv's vendor page shows Scale at $43/mo and Max at $96/mo on annual billing; Kit's vendor page shows Creator $33/mo and Pro $66/mo at the entry tier, while third-party tables list higher per-subscriber figures. Always re-verify on the vendor's current pricing page before committing.