- 1Email marketing is essential for service businesses to engage clients between bookings
- 2Crafting compelling subject lines and segmenting your audience improves email performance
- 3Platforms like Mailchimp, Brevo and MailerLite have free plans for small lists; limits change, so check them before you commit
This list covers 20 of the best free resources for email marketers: 12 email platforms you can start on for free, and 8 free utilities for writing, testing and designing emails. It is written for small business owners, freelancers and marketers at service businesses who send newsletters and client follow-ups on a small budget. Free-plan limits and prices change often, so each entry describes what the free option is for and you should check the vendor's current limits before you commit. At the end is a worked example of a simple monthly workflow using only free tools.
This article covers the following:
- Omnisend
- AWeber
- Mailchimp
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
- MailerLite
- Mailjet
- Sender
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
- Buttondown
- Cakemail
- VerticalResponse
- Campayn
- The Hemingway App
- Mail Tester
- Can I email
- Really Good Emails
- Social Media Share Link Generator
- HTML Formatter
- Google Postmaster Tools
- Canva
- Conclusion
20 Best Free Resources for Email Marketers
The tools below range from full campaign platforms to focused utilities for writing, testing and formatting. The right combination depends on your list size, technical comfort level, and whether you need automation or just a straightforward way to send a newsletter.
Email Platforms With a Free Option
Omnisend
Omnisend is a marketing automation platform built mainly for eCommerce stores. It makes automated sequences (welcome, abandoned cart, win-back) quick to set up and offers SMS alongside email for multi-channel campaigns.
Free option: a free plan with a small monthly email allowance; paid plans scale by contacts.
AWeber
AWeber is a long-running email tool for small businesses. It handles importing contacts, designing emails, sign-up forms and scheduled sends. Its strength is ease of setup for businesses that want a straightforward newsletter.
Free option: a free plan for small lists; paid plans add automation and remove limits.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the most widely used email marketing platforms. It covers campaign design, contact management, segmentation and reporting on opens and clicks.
Free option: a free plan for a small audience (at the time of writing, 500 contacts and 1,000 sends a month). Paid plans are priced by contact count.
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
Brevo combines marketing email, transactional email and SMS on one platform, with a free CRM. You can import a template for your newsletter, segment subscribers, and build automation workflows.
Free option: a free plan limited by daily sends (300 emails a day at the time of writing); paid plans are priced by email volume rather than contacts.
MailerLite
MailerLite is known for a clean drag-and-drop editor, landing pages and simple automations. FreshMail users are being moved to MailerLite after the two companies joined forces, so it is also the natural next stop for former FreshMail customers.
Free option: a free plan for small lists with core features.
Mailjet
Mailjet handles both transactional and marketing emails and is popular with teams that want to send from their own apps as well as run campaigns. It supports segmentation, personalization and A/B testing on paid plans.
Free option: a free plan with a monthly and daily sending cap.
Sender
Sender offers a template-based editor, automation and sign-up forms, and is known for a comparatively generous free tier, which makes it a good starting point for a growing list.
Free option: a free plan with subscriber and monthly email limits.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Kit is built for creators and solo businesses that sell courses, products or services to their audience. It focuses on simple broadcasts, tags and landing pages rather than heavy design.
Free option: a free newsletter plan; automations and integrations are on paid plans.
Buttondown
Buttondown is a minimalist newsletter tool, a good fit for people who want to write in plain text or Markdown and send without fuss. It is a common choice for former TinyLetter users (TinyLetter closed in 2024).
Free option: free for small lists.
Cakemail
Cakemail is a straightforward option for marketers who want simplicity. You choose a template, add your message, and send to your contacts, then use its reports to see how each campaign did.
Free option: check the site for the current free or trial offer.
VerticalResponse
If you prefer to skip HTML coding entirely, VerticalResponse is worth a look. Its email wizard builds emails through a simple interface and includes campaign statistics.
Free option: check the site for the current free or trial offer.
Campayn
Campayn offers a template library, list imports, scheduled sending and social sharing options, with basic analytics to measure each campaign.
Free option: check the site for current plans.
Free Utilities for Writing, Testing and Design
Beyond sending platforms, email marketers need tools to write clearly, catch deliverability and rendering problems, and find design ideas before messages reach inboxes.
The Hemingway App
This online editor highlights long sentences, passive voice and complex wording, so your emails read clearly. Paste your draft in and fix what it flags before you send. The web version is free.
Mail Tester
Send a test email to the address Mail Tester gives you, and it scores your message for common spam and authentication problems (SPF, DKIM, blocklists, broken links). A few free tests a day are enough for most small senders.
Can I email
Can I email is a free reference that shows which HTML and CSS features work in which email clients. Check it before you use a layout trick that might break in Outlook or Gmail.
Really Good Emails
A free gallery of real marketing emails, sorted by type (welcome, newsletter, re-engagement and more). Use it for layout and copy ideas.
Social Media Share Link Generator
This small tool generates share links for social media platforms. Embed the links in your emails to make it easy for readers to share your content.
HTML Formatter
A free online HTML formatter cleans up your email's code, fixing spacing and indentation so the HTML stays readable when you or a developer edit it later.
Google Postmaster Tools
If you send to many Gmail addresses, Google Postmaster Tools shows your domain's spam rate and reputation with Gmail for free, which helps you spot deliverability problems early.
Canva
Canva's free plan includes email header and banner templates, so you can make branded images for newsletters without a designer.
Workflow Example: A Monthly Newsletter for a Small Studio
A yoga studio with a few hundred subscribers runs its monthly email on free tools:
- Plan: On the first Monday of the month, the owner picks one class spotlight, one tip and one offer.
- Design: She makes a header image in Canva and borrows a layout idea from Really Good Emails.
- Write: She drafts the copy in her email platform and pastes it into Hemingway to shorten long sentences.
- Check: She sends a test to Mail Tester and fixes anything it flags, such as a missing DKIM record.
- Send: She schedules the campaign on her free Mailchimp or Brevo plan for Tuesday morning, with a link to the studio's booking page.
- Review: A week later she compares opens and clicks with last month and notes which subject line style worked better.
Conclusion
Many email marketing tools are free and offer all the core features you need to get started. If your business needs are more complex, paid plans unlock advanced automation, larger subscriber limits, and deeper analytics. The key is to start with a tool that matches your current list size and grow into more powerful options as your audience expands.
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