Most email platforms send email perfectly well. What matters for a coach is which one fits how you sell: a free guide, a welcome series, discovery calls, a course or a paid newsletter. We compared the seven platforms coaches most often choose between, using each official pricing page in October 2026, and named the best pick for each situation.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is the best email marketing platform for most coaches: it is free for up to 10,000 subscribers, and its Creator plan ($39 a month, or $33 billed yearly) adds unlimited sequences. MailerLite is the best low-cost option, ActiveCampaign the best for detailed automation, and beehiiv the best for a paid newsletter.
Who this is for: Coaches, consultants and creators choosing their first or next email platform.
Choose Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if you sell coaching, courses or workshops and want a big free plan with simple automations that grow with you. Choose MailerLite if you want the lowest monthly bill for a small list and a tidy, easy editor.
Here is the best pick by situation. Best overall for coaches: Kit. Best free plan: Kit, free for up to 10,000 subscribers. Best low-cost paid plan: MailerLite Comfort, from $12 a month. Best for detailed automation: ActiveCampaign, from $15 a month billed yearly. Best for budget sending by volume: Brevo. Best if you only want something familiar for a tiny list: Mailchimp. Best for a paid newsletter: beehiiv. Best if you also sell physical products: Klaviyo.
If you remember one thing, pick the tool whose free or entry plan already includes the welcome sequence you need. That is the feature most coaches hit first.
Independent comparison, last reviewed 29 October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Unbury is not affiliated with, sponsored by or paid by any company compared here. Features and prices change, so check each vendor before you decide.
We checked every price on the vendor's own pricing page. Prices are in US dollars, and several pages show yearly prices by default, so we give both where they differ.
Who it suits: coaches and creators who grow a list from a free guide, a podcast or social media and sell programmes, courses or workshops. What is good: the Free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, and you can sell digital products and subscriptions on every plan. Creator adds unlimited visual automations and email sequences, and Kit says there are no sending limits. The catch: the welcome series you need sits on Creator, not Free, and Creator includes two users. Price from: free, then Creator at $39 a month or $33 a month billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers, checked on Kit's official pricing page.
Who it suits: coaches who want a clean editor, a simple website or landing page and a small monthly bill. What is good: paid plans include automations, landing pages, sign-up forms and selling digital products, and Comfort adds 50 automations with up to 100 steps each. The catch: the Free plan now covers only 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with three automations of five steps, so most coaches will pay quite early. Price from: free, then Comfort at $12 a month on monthly billing or $10.80 billed yearly, and Power at $25 or $22.50 billed yearly, both for 500 subscribers, checked on MailerLite's official pricing page.
Who it suits: coaches with several offers, a sales process and a list that needs to be split by what people do. What is good: multi-step automation is included even on Starter, and higher plans add landing pages, cross-channel messages and conditional content. The catch: Starter has standard and inline forms but no landing pages, and there is no free plan, only a free trial. It takes longer to learn than Kit. Price from: Starter at $15 a month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts, with monthly billing costing more, and Plus at $49 billed yearly, checked on ActiveCampaign's official pricing page.
Who it suits: coaches who send occasionally to a list that is larger than it is active. What is good: Brevo prices mainly by how many emails you send, its Free plan lets you send up to 300 emails a day, and Standard adds unlimited automated workflows, A/B tests and a landing page. The catch: Starter shows Brevo's logo unless you pay extra, and automation proper sits on Standard. Price from: free, then Starter at $9 a month on monthly billing or $8.08 billed yearly for 5,000 emails a month, and Standard at $18 or $16.17 billed yearly, checked on Brevo's official pricing page.
Who it suits: coaches with a very small list who send a monthly newsletter and little else. What is good: it is well known, has more than 300 integrations and gives 24/7 email and chat support on paid plans. The catch: the Free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 emails a month with no automation flows, and Essentials limits flows to 4 steps, so a full welcome series means Standard. When we checked there was 50% off for the first 12 months, so plan for the full price in year two. Price from: free, then Essentials from $13 a month and Standard from $20, checked on Mailchimp's official pricing page.
Who it suits: coaches whose newsletter is a product in its own right, with a paid tier or sponsors. What is good: the Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, and beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions. Lite adds paid subscriptions, a referral programme, an ad network and up to 10 automations. The catch: paid subscriptions and automations are not on Free, and it is built for publishing more than for selling calls. Price from: free, then Lite at $49 a month billed yearly or $59 on monthly billing for up to 1,000 subscribers, checked on beehiiv's official pricing page.
Who it suits: coaches with a real online shop attached, such as books, supplements or merchandise. What is good: it is built around shop data, so emails can react to what people buy and browse, and it has more than 400 integrations. The catch: the Free plan stops at 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month, and for a coach selling calls and programmes it is more than you need. Price from: free, then the Email plan from $20 a month, checked on Klaviyo's official pricing page.
This table uses each vendor's own pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). "From" means the cheapest paid plan.
| Platform | Price from | Free plan | Cheapest plan limit | Automation | Landing pages or forms | Deliverability help | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | $39 a month, or $33 billed yearly | Up to 10,000 subscribers | 1,000 subscribers | Unlimited sequences and automations from Creator | Unlimited, even on Free | Deliverability reporting on Pro | Most coaches |
| MailerLite | $12 a month, or $10.80 billed yearly | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | 500 subscribers, 5,000 emails | 3 on Free, 50 on Comfort, unlimited on Power | 1 site and 1 landing page on Free, 10 on Comfort | Not listed on pricing page | Low monthly cost |
| ActiveCampaign | $15 a month billed yearly | None, free trial only | 1,000 contacts, 10,000 emails | Multi-step on every plan | Forms on Starter, landing pages from Plus | Not listed on pricing page | Detailed automation |
| Brevo | $9 a month, or $8.08 billed yearly | Up to 300 emails a day | 5,000 emails a month | Unlimited workflows from Standard | Forms on Starter, 1 landing page on Standard | Specialist support on Professional | Budget sending |
| Mailchimp | $13 a month | 250 contacts, 500 emails a month | 500 contacts | 4 flow steps on Essentials, 200 flows on Standard | Popup forms on every plan | Not listed on pricing page | Tiny lists, familiarity |
| beehiiv | $49 a month billed yearly, or $59 monthly | Up to 2,500 subscribers | 1,000 subscribers | None on Free, 10 on Lite | Website builder on every plan | Not listed on pricing page | Paid newsletters |
| Klaviyo | $20 a month | 250 profiles, 500 emails a month | 5,000 emails a month | Shop-driven flows | Sign-up forms on every plan | Sender reputation tools on Email | Coaches with a shop |
Two of these are close enough to compare head to head. Read Kit vs Mailchimp and Kit vs ActiveCampaign for the detail.
When you are starting, the best platform is the one you will actually use, with room to grow. For most coaches that is Kit, because you can collect up to 10,000 subscribers on the Free plan and only pay when you want automated sequences. If your list is tiny and you just want a cheap paid plan with everything included, MailerLite Comfort is a good start.
Do not choose on today's list size alone. A coach with 200 subscribers who plans a lead magnet and a five-email welcome series will outgrow Mailchimp's and MailerLite's free plans quickly. Check what the free plan does when you add that sequence, not just how many contacts it allows. Our guide to a high-converting welcome email sequence shows what that series should contain.
Whatever you pick, set up your domain properly on day one, with your own sending address rather than a Gmail one. It is far easier than fixing placement later.
Do not switch just because a list says another tool is better. If your current platform sends on time, your list grows and your emails get replies, moving means rebuilding forms, rewriting automations and re-testing links, and that rarely pays off. Never move in the middle of a launch.
No platform will fix inbox placement on its own. Emails land in spam or Promotions on every tool here, and the cause is usually domain set-up, list quality or how readers engage. Read our guide on email deliverability for coaches and check your set-up with our free email deliverability checker before you blame the platform.
No platform will write a lead magnet people want, make your offer clear or reply to a new lead within minutes. A coach with a vague freebie and a welcome email that arrives a day late will lose people on any of these tools. Look at where people drop off first: the opt-in page, the first email or the booking link. Fix that step, then decide if the tool is really holding you back.
1. How do you make money? Coaching, courses or workshops: Kit, or ActiveCampaign if your sales process has many steps. A paid newsletter: beehiiv. Physical products as well: Klaviyo.
2. What is your budget this year? Free with room to grow: Kit. The smallest paid bill: MailerLite or Brevo. Ready to pay for detailed automation: ActiveCampaign.
3. Will you use automation? If you want a welcome series, a nurture sequence and a launch sequence, price the plan that includes them at your list size, not the cheapest plan. For more options beyond this list, see our Mailchimp alternatives guide.
A done-for-you studio fits when you know email should be bringing in clients but you do not have time to write the sequences, build the automations and check the numbers every week. That is what we do at Unbury: we find where your marketing loses people, build the fix on the platform that suits you and run it week to week. You can start with a free marketing audit.
For most coaches, Kit (formerly ConvertKit). It is free for up to 10,000 subscribers, lets you sell digital products on every plan, and its Creator plan adds unlimited automated sequences for $39 a month, or $33 billed yearly. MailerLite is the cheaper paid option, and ActiveCampaign suits complex automation.
Kit has the biggest free plan of the tools we compared, at up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms. beehiiv is free up to 2,500 subscribers. Mailchimp, MailerLite and Klaviyo all stop at 250 on their free plans.
Yes, but the Free plan now covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with three automations of up to five steps. The paid plans are Comfort, from $12 a month on monthly billing, and Power, from $25, with 10% off when billed yearly.
Kit is usually better for coaches. Its free plan holds far more subscribers, it has no sending limits, and selling and tagging are built in. Mailchimp can be cheaper for a very small list that only needs a monthly newsletter.
Only if your follow-up is complex, for example several offers, lead scoring or a sales team. ActiveCampaign Starter is $15 a month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts, or $19 a month on monthly billing. Most solo coaches get everything they need from Kit or MailerLite.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.