MailerLite Review: The Flat-Fee ESP After the Free-Plan Cut

A cheap, genuinely easy ESP that charges 0% of your paid-newsletter revenue. The catches: a free plan now capped at 500 subscribers, and a manual approval process that has closed some accounts during onboarding.

By Ivar Berg · Updated May 2026 · How we test

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The verdict: If you want the lowest flat monthly bill and never want a platform taking a percentage of your paid revenue, MailerLite is the value pick: $10/mo to start, 0% revenue cut, and automation plus A/B testing even on the free tier. Two things temper it. First, the free plan was cut from 1,000 to 500 subscribers on 2025-09-23, so the free-forever story is thinner than it was. Second, MailerLite manually vets every account before your first send, and account suspensions and closures during onboarding are reported in user reviews, so keep your old ESP running until your first few sends clear. Deliverability is strong (94.41% average across EmailToolTester's last five rounds). For a 5,000-subscriber writer monetizing on Substack, the fee-math is stark: MailerLite is $39/mo flat versus 10% of every paid dollar plus Stripe fees.

The free-plan cut: what actually changed on 2025-09-23

On 2025-09-23 MailerLite reduced its free-plan subscriber cap from 1,000 to 500 subscribers, while keeping the 12,000-emails/month sending limit. For anyone who picked MailerLite specifically for its generous free tier, that is a real downgrade.

What it does not do is delete your account. Per MailerLite's free-plan update FAQ, if a free account crosses 500 subscribers, sending campaigns, running automations, and manually adding subscribers stop working — but the account stays active with no data loss, and forms, pop-ups and landing pages keep collecting new contacts. There are no automatic charges unless you choose to upgrade. So the failure mode is locked, not billed.

The free tier still includes a drag-and-drop editor, automation, A/B testing, landing pages and a website builder. Automation on a free plan remains unusual among ESPs — most gate it behind a paid tier — so even at 500 subs the free plan is more capable than most.

Real pricing at your subscriber count

MailerLite charges a flat per-tier fee and takes 0% of your paid-newsletter revenue — the contrast that matters if you are weighing it against Substack's 10% cut. The Growing Business plan starts at $10/mo (unlimited emails, 3 seats); the Advanced plan starts higher and adds custom HTML, unlimited seats and an AI assistant; Enterprise is custom for very large lists.

The table below shows the monthly cost at four common list sizes on the Growing Business plan. The Substack row is a cross-reference, not a recommendation: it charges no flat fee but takes 10% of paid revenue plus Stripe fees, so its real cost scales with how much you earn, not how many subscribers you have.

Deliverability: quietly one of the best

Deliverability is where MailerLite punches above its price. Across EmailToolTester's last five test rounds it averaged 94.41% and held the publication's best-of-5 award. That is competitive with platforms costing considerably more.

One honesty note: deliverability percentages vary by testing methodology and round, so treat the 94.41% five-round average as a strong indicator rather than a guaranteed inbox rate for any one campaign.

The real risk: manual approval and account closures

The recurring complaint about MailerLite is not the product — it is the gate in front of it. MailerLite manually approves every account before your first send and may request screenshots of your prior-ESP metrics (bounce, unsubscribe and open rates). Approval is often quick, but onboarding suspensions and account closures are reported in user reviews.

The practical takeaway: do not shut down your old ESP before MailerLite has approved you and you have landed a few clean sends. The vetting exists to protect deliverability across the platform — part of why those numbers stay high — but it means a smooth migration is not guaranteed. Plan for overlap.

Note: the approval-process details here are drawn from MailerLite's own onboarding documentation and third-party migration guides. Where we could not verify a specific user account or quote to a stable permalink, we have not cited it.

Who it fits — and who should look elsewhere

Good fit: solo creators, small publishers, and small businesses who want an easy, affordable ESP with a low flat bill and no revenue cut. Aggregate review scores are consistently high, and ease of use is the single most-cited strength.

Weaker fit: growing ecommerce stores that need deep, store-aware automation may eventually outgrow it. And if a free plan above 500 subscribers was your whole reason for choosing it, the 2025 cut narrows that case.

If you want a free tier built specifically for newsletter monetization, beehiiv is worth a look; if you want a creator-focused alternative with strong automation, see Kit (ConvertKit). For MailerLite itself, the entry point is MailerLite's plans.

Disclosure: links to beehiiv, Kit and MailerLite are affiliate links; we may earn a commission if you sign up. Substack and other platforms named here are editorial references with no affiliate relationship. This does not change the fee-math or scores above.

FAQ

Did MailerLite really cut its free plan?

Yes. On 2025-09-23 the free-plan cap dropped from 1,000 to 500 subscribers, with the 12,000-emails/month limit unchanged. Existing data is not deleted, but once you pass 500 subscribers you can no longer send campaigns, run automations or manually add subscribers until you upgrade.

Does MailerLite take a percentage of my paid-newsletter revenue?

No. MailerLite charges a flat fee per subscriber tier and takes 0% of paid revenue. That is the core contrast with Substack, which charges no flat fee but takes 10% of paid revenue plus Stripe processing fees.

What does MailerLite cost at my list size?

On the Growing Business plan: free or $10/mo at 500 subscribers, about $15/mo at 1,000, about $39/mo at 5,000, and about $159/mo at 25,000. The Advanced plan, which adds custom HTML, an AI assistant and unlimited seats, runs higher at each tier.

Why do some users say their MailerLite account was closed?

MailerLite manually approves every account before the first send and may ask for screenshots of your prior-ESP metrics. Most accounts are approved quickly, but onboarding suspensions and closures are reported in reviews. Keep your old ESP active until your first sends clear.

How good is MailerLite's deliverability?

Strong. EmailToolTester recorded a 94.41% average across its last five rounds and gave MailerLite a best-of-5 award. As with any provider, real-world inbox placement varies by list hygiene and campaign content.