Simplifying Your Email Marketing Decisions: A Comparison of Top Platforms for Small Business Owners

Navigating the landscape of email marketing platforms can be daunting, particularly when your small business operations span multiple services such as HR, Finance and Marketing. As a business owner, you need a system that can cater to your diverse needs, be easy to use, and importantly, have a price point that matches your budget.

To help you make an informed decision, we’re comparing some of the top email marketing platforms in the market: Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailjet, Mailchimp, MailerLite and Benchmark. Please note that these are not in any particular order!

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

Brevo is a relatively new player in the field, having rebranded from Sendinblue. What was once a solid newsletter and email marketing platform, has now become an all-in-one CRM. Whilst we didn’t cover Brevo in our recent blog ‘Choosing the Right CRM for Professional Services Businesses: Hubspot, Dubsado, Capsule and More, purely due to its somewhat new appearance as an all-in-one, it’s absolutely made the list when it comes to email marketing.

This platform has become a favourite among small business owners due to its affordability and versatility. Brevo’s strength lies in its robust set of features such as CRM integration, SMS marketing, and advanced automation, all tailored for small businesses. At Laura Robson VA we’re confident that this email marketing platform is one that your business can grow with. Following its rebrand, it’s so much more than ‘just’ an email marketing platform.

Emailtooltester awarded Brevo their Best Email Marketing Tool for Value for Money Badge for 2023 and said, “Unlike other providers, they charge based on the number of emails you send, rather than how many contacts you have.” In our opinion, this is revolutionary. What this space as it’s absolutely a great ‘selling point’.

Brevo offers a free plan with unlimited contacts. Their ‘starter’ plan is priced competitively at £16/month, or if you pay annually, you’ll save 10%, bringing the monthly payment equivalent to £14/month. Please always check the Brevo pricing page for current pricing and any offers.

Mailjet

Mailjet is a great choice for teams who work collaboratively on their email campaigns. With its real-time collaboration feature, multiple users can edit and optimise emails at the same time, which is perfect if more than one person needs to review outgoing, or indeed internal comms. No more waiting around for a draft to be approved!

Mailjet also provides users with robust tracking and reporting features, which is key to optimising open rates.

In a review on TrustRadius, one of their users stated, “Mailjet is suitable for organizations that need to send many emails quickly, reliably, and affordably with minimal fuss and maximum flexibility.”

Mailjet also offers a free plan with unlimited users. Their ‘Essential’ plan is priced at £12/month, with a 10% discount, if you pay annually, bringing the monthly equivalent price down to a respectable £10.84/month. As always, we recommend checking the pricing page for up-to-date information, or if you want to find out more about the platform, just get in touch with us.

Please note that Mailjet is, at the time of writing, purely an email marketing platform and not a CRM all-in-one.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is probably the most well-known platform, especially in the UK. It’s renowned for its easy-to-use interface and comprehensive set of features. It also provides numerous integrations and advanced analytics to monitor your email campaign performance.

In our experience, Mailchimp is one of ‘those’ platforms that’s like Marmite, some of our clients love it, whilst others hate it. In its defence, we have to say that we think it’s fantastic for businesses with less technical know-how, as it doesn’t require any coding skills.

In their review, PC Mag said “…the service has hiked its pricing…following its acquisition by Intuit. Mailchimp is constantly evolving and improving, but its pricing is less competitive now, despite its prominent free service tier.”
Nonetheless, they did award it one of their Editor’s Choice awards.

Mailchimp also offers a free plan, although this is limited to 500 contacts. Their ‘Essentials’ plan is priced at £10.18/month, with the first month free, but they do have additional charges if you go over the permitted amount of either contacts or sends.

If you want to find out more about the Email Marketing Packages we offer, please visit our services and pricing page.

MailerLite

MailerLite is very much the platform of choice for beginners in email marketing. It offers an intuitive, easy-to-use platform that doesn’t skimp on features, including user-friendly design tools, and the ability to create landing pages, pop-ups, and surveys.

G2 recently awarded MailerLite a Leader Award with 4.7* based on customer reviews, which is what really counts in the email marketing world.

Jason H (Small Business Owner) gave MailerLite 5* stating that “…has all of the necessary functions for an email service provider and lots of bells and whistles as well. Automations, landing pages, and A/B testing, auto-resend.”

Capterra agree with G2. They said, “MailerLite is incredibly easy to use, beautifully laid out, and perfect for new businesses just starting out with email marketing.”

Mailerlite has a Forever Free Account for up to 1,000 subscribers and offers 24/7 support for the first 30 days, which can, and has proved to be a lifesaver, for those urgent, late-night campaign tweaks. Its ‘Growing Business’ plan is $9.00/month when paid annually for 500 subscribers and comes with unlimited monthly emails.

Benchmark

Last, but by no means least let’s take a look at Benchmark. Benchmark is known for its user-friendly interface and beautiful, responsive email designs. It also features automation capabilities and numerous integrations to ease your marketing processes. Benchmark is particularly suited to businesses that prioritise aesthetics and simplicity.

Benchmark has jumped on the AI bandwagon and offers ‘Smart Content’ which they say “…will keep your email content fresh without draining your time and creative resources.”

Email Vendor Selection recently reviewed Benchmark. They suggest that “Benchmark email marketing is email software that small to medium businesses will love.”

Benchmark offers a free plan with a maximum of 500 contacts and a monthly sending restriction of 3,500 emails. Their ‘Lite’ plan (when paid annually) costs $8/month.

As always, we recommend checking the pricing page for up-to-date information, or if you want to find out more about Benchmark, just get in touch with us.

Conclusion

Each of these email marketing platforms has its own unique strengths and it’s important to choose the one that fits your specific needs best. There are so many platforms to choose from and it’s not an easy decision to make. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it will do everything you need or want from it.

If you’re not sure which one will work for you, or if you’d like more personalised advice, feel free to book a call with Laura Robson VA. I have years of experience helping small to medium-sized businesses streamline their marketing efforts and would be happy to help you find the perfect solution for your business.

Please note prices and features vary and may be subject to change. Always check the provider’s website for the most current and detailed information.

Ready to get started?

We're excited to discuss how Back Pocket Office can support you and your business. Click below to book a discovery call.

Scroll to Top