With about 293.6 billion emails being sent and received each day, it takes the right tools to ensure your marketing messages stand out from the crowd (and get delivered in the first place). However, with an average expected ROI of $42 for every $1 you spend on email marketing, there’s a reason so many brands are making sizable investments in email marketing.
Of course, part of the reason you can achieve such an amazing ROI is that there are many effective free email marketing tools to choose from. But not every tool matches every company’s needs.
Because of that, let’s consider 20 that might fit the bill.
#1: HubSpot
Monthly Send Limit: 2,000 email sends per calendar month
Nothing can ruin an email marketing campaign faster than a poorly designed email that doesn’t display correctly. If you can’t send an email properly, customers likely won’t trust you to do anything else.
With HubSpot, you won’t need an IT team at the ready to draft professionally designed email campaigns that display responsively across all platforms. By customizing goal-based templates with its easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, you can quickly add images, calls to action, custom color schemes, and content.
Key Features:
- Personalize your emails to increase open rates and click-throughs. Personalization can be based on list membership, contact record information, or subscribers’ life cycle stage.
- Schedule your email campaigns so they arrive in a prospect’s inbox at the optimal time for engagement.
- Focus on optimizing your campaigns with A/B tests and analytics. Test which subject lines, content, calls to action, and images generate the most engagement.
#2: Mailchimp
Monthly Send Limit: 12,000 email sends per month, up to a subscriber limit of 2,000
With a free plan that offers up to 12,000 email sends for up to 2,000 subscribers a month, Mailchimp is an ideal choice for marketers who are working for small- or medium-sized businesses.
But note that unless you have a premium plan, you won’t have full access to its support system. Likewise, Mailchimp branding will be in the footer of your emails.
Key Features:
- It easily integrates with your e-commerce business through WooCommerce and Magento.
- It also integrates with WordPress.
- You can optimize your campaigns with A/B tests.
#3: SendPulse
Monthly Send Limit: 15,000 emails per month for free for up to 2,500 subscribers
When creating a professionally designed email, you can choose from SendPulse’s more than 130 templates or create your own with its intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Additionally, the simplicity of the design process allows you to quickly and easily build slick emails or modify a template to sync with your company’s branding.
Key Features:
- With the free plan, you’ll still have access to SendPulse’s robust support team, including live chat support.
- Take advantage of the “Resend” feature, which allows you to resend any emails that haven’t been opened with a different subject line. While this can capture new prospects, it can also help you figure out what drives the most engagement.
- You can purchase access to additional features individually, paying only for what you truly need.
#4: Omnisend
Monthly Send Limit: 15,000 emails per month
Source: Omnisend homepage
On average, your marketing emails are only getting opened 20 percent of the time. That means a significant number of subscribers aren’t ever seeing what you have to say.
With Omnisend’s most popular feature, Campaign Booster, you can resend your emails to only the people who didn’t open them the first time. This powerful feature can increase sales by up to 30 percent.
Key Features:
- Use A/B testing to determine which subject line is best for engaging your audience.
- Take advantage of Omnisend’s powerful content editor, which allows you to quickly build engaging emails.
- Try boosting your click-through rate with Omnisend’s Gift Box, Scratch Card, or unique Discount Coupon Codes.
#5: Zoho Campaigns
Monthly Send Limit: 12,000 emails per month for up to 2,000 subscribers
Zoho Campaigns is really only ideal if you’re already using Zoho CRM. The seamless integration between the two tools (even if you’re just using the free plan) can help get your email marketing campaigns rolling.
Key Feature:
- Test various aspects of your campaigns with A/B testing.
#6: Moosend
Monthly Send Limit: Unlimited email campaigns per month, with up to 1,000 subscribers
If you’re new to email marketing, Moosend is the ideal solution for your company. Though it doesn’t offer a CRM, the free version of Moosend is packed with useful features to help you get started.
Note that if you’re quickly scaling your business, you won’t want to get too used to the free version — you’re limited to 1,000 subscribers.
Key Features:
- It offers automation triggers for your email marketing campaigns.
- It provides real-time analytics.
#7: Sendinblue
Monthly Send Limit: 300 email sends per day (approx. 9,000 emails per month), with unlimited contacts
If you need a tool that’s less about marketing and more about transactional emails, Sendinblue is the right option. With extensive developer APIs, you can integrate the system to efficiently help with forgotten passwords, invoice receipts, or any other types of basic transaction emails. Overall, the email marketing tool is simple to use, but the primary interface offers so many options that it can be overwhelming for a new user.
Key Features:
- It offers a vast array of templates that are easily personalized.
- It provides access to an intuitive workflow editor.
- Deliverability rates are not an issue with Sendinblue.
#8: Mailjet
Monthly Send Limit: 200 emails per day (approximately 6,000 emails per month)
Mailjet’s user-friendly design allows you to quickly roll out your email campaign to an unlimited number of contacts. The free plan hooks you up with full API access.
Key Feature:
- Mailjet provides access to an advanced email editor. Note that the free plan doesn’t include automation features or A/B testing.
#9: Benchmark
Monthly Send Limit: 2,000 subscribers and 14,000 emails per month
(Image from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-free-email-marketing-tools)
Designed to meet the needs of enterprise-level businesses, Benchmark offers one of the top email marketing services for organizations experiencing rapid growth.
However, there are drawbacks to the system. The free version doesn’t offer automation features or A/B testing, and contacts can only be added through Benchmark subscriber forms.
Key Features:
- It offers an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor.
- Its sign-up forms for campaigns are straightforward.
- It facilitates basic drip campaign functionality.
#10: MailerLite
Monthly Send Limit: 12,000 emails per month, with up to 1,000 subscribers
MailerLite is an ideal system for your small business if you send lots of marketing emails to a relatively small subscriber list.
Key Feature:
- A solid preview tool allows you to see what your email looks like on a desktop computer, as well as a mobile device, before sending it. Note that integration and API features fall short of many companies’ needs.
#11: ExpressPigeon
Monthly Send Limit: 1,000 messages for up to 500 subscribers; one user only
ExpressPigeon allows you to quickly design and personalize emails for a relatively small subscriber list. This makes it ideal for companies focused on high-priority subscribers. Though you get all the premium features with the free plan, you’ll have to be prepared to upgrade soon if your business really gains traction with email marketing.
Key Features:
- You can create automated email responses for when you can’t get back to clients immediately.
- It offers access to some of the best customer service in the industry.
#12: Sender
Monthly Send Limit: 15,000 emails per month for up to 2,500 subscribers
From Sender Homepage
Sender’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to quickly design powerful content. It also ensures that your messages get where they’re supposed to be going.
Key Features:
- It offers advanced email analytics allow you to tweak and optimize your email campaigns.
- You can create push notifications as part of a more advanced marketing campaign.
#13: Freshmarketer
Monthly Send Limit: Free for up to 500 contacts
From Freshmarketer homepage
With Freshmarketer (brought to you by Freshworks), you can upload HTML code or use its drag-and-drop email builder to design engaging email content. Additionally, the tool provides hundreds of responsive templates that will appear exactly as expected on a desktop computer or mobile device.
Key Features:
- Personalizing emails for your subscribers is simple and effective.
- Trigger-based customer journeys ensure your audience is getting the right messages at the right time as they move down your sales funnel.
- It also facilitates single-location contact management for your business.
#14: Wix ShoutOut
Monthly Send Limit: Three ShoutOuts per month, where you can send up to 5,000 emails
From Wix ShoutOut homepage
If you’re already using Wix as your website builder, Wix ShoutOut is probably the most logical email marketing tool for your business. The intuitive editor allows you to quickly create a background, style text, and add your logo to a responsive design.
Key Features:
- Design a custom signup form to help build your subscriber list.
- Utilize powerful social media tools to share emails on social media platforms or easily transform them into Facebook Ads.
#15: EngageBay
Monthly Send Limit: 1,000 contacts and 1,000 branded emails per month
EngageBay allows you to create appealing email designs with an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder. Effortlessly integrate social share buttons, images, and text into design blocks.
Key Features:
- Segment and target subscribers based on a variety of filters, including country, source, tag, and date the subscriber account was created.
- Rich-text formatting takes your emails to the next level of engagement.
- Personalization is automated, including subscribers’ first and last names.
#16: Mailgun
Monthly Send Limit: 5,000 emails monthly for three months (you then pay for what you use)
Mailgun marketing software gives you access to powerful APIs that allow you to track personalized emails. This focus makes it ideal if you’re managing a lot of transactional emails.
Key Features:
- A/B testing with tagging and tracking allows you to get better insights into what’s best connecting with your subscribers.
- Advanced analytics assist you in recognizing patterns so you can optimize the frequency of the messages you send and when you send them.
#17: FreshMail
Monthly Send Limit: 200 emails per month, with up to 500 subscribers
Award-winning artists have created stunning templates for newsletters and emails on FreshMail. However, limits on the number of subscribers and the emails you can send makes this tool best for businesses in niche markets.
Key Feature:
- No coding skill is required to create beautiful emails with FreshMail’s template editor.
#18: EmailOctopus
Monthly Send Limit: 10,000 emails per month, with up to 2,500 subscribers
EmailOctopus offers stellar templates, in addition to the option to build your own responsive email designs.
Key Features:
- Create automated email sequences to save time and energy.
- Take advantage of advanced analytics to keep track of every unsubscribe, click, and bounce.
#19: Pepipost
Monthly Send Limit: 30,000 emails in the first month, with a daily limit of 1,000 emails and 3,000 emails per month and a daily limit of 100 emails for the succeeding months
Pepipost offers a robust suite of email marketing tools to help you optimize campaigns and increase engagement. From email tracking to a globally distributed email API service, Pepipost gives you in-depth data to improve your email marketing performance.
Key Features:
- Use webhooks for real-time tracking of email activity.
- The stats API allows you to remotely call up and download email activity logs.
- Use custom metadata to keep track of email messages and link to responses.
#20: Right Inbox
Monthly Send Limit: The free version of Right Inbox allows you to sync an unlimited number of emails via your CRM and provides 10 monthly “send later,” reminder, and private note emails.
Right Inbox’s add-on feature brings tools and functionality to Gmail that the format doesn’t offer on its own. Also, it includes five templates and five different signatures per account.
Key Features:
- Add contextual notes visible to you only.
- Sync and push CRM-originated conversations without leaving Gmail.
Final Thoughts: 20 Free Email Marketing Tools To Check Out in 2020
Because of email’s influence on visibility and decision-making, it’s essential to have the right tools to get your email marketing campaign off the ground in 2020. But the best email marketing tool for your company depends on the kind of campaigns you run and the size of your business.
However, with so many high-quality options, you’ll without a doubt find one to fit your needs. Because of its importance, remember to do your due diligence and test options out.
Tell us what you care most about regarding email marketing tools below.