Choosing an email marketing platform feels simple until you start comparing prices and features. Every provider has a pricing page, and almost every page is designed to show you the lowest possible number in the largest possible font. What you’re paying at 500 contacts looks nothing like what you’ll pay at 5,000, and the features you actually need are often sitting one or two tiers above the plan you thought would work.
This guide is here to make that process easier for all marketing professionals who find themselves having to look for an email platform alternative. Below, we’ll explain how email marketing pricing works (it varies from one platform to another), what the major billing models mean for your budget, and what Canadian organizations specifically need to watch for before signing up.
A Guide to Email Marketing Platform Pricing
How Email Marketing Platforms Charge
Before comparing specific numbers, you should know that there are three dominant billing models in the email marketing scene. The best model for you depends on your organization, business model and goals.
Subscriber-based pricing is the most common model. You pay based on the number of contacts in your list, regardless of how many emails you send. Platforms like Cyberimpact, Mailchimp, and Klaviyo use this approach.
It fits most businesses as your billing grows with you and there’s no penalty for higher send volume. Remember to read the small letters on how the platform counts the number of subscribers. Cyberimpact counts a subscriber as one contact; they can be in multiple groups and still count as one. However, Mailchimp’s pricing model counts each contact appearance as a subscriber, which means that you can be paying multiple times for the same contact.
Volume-based pricing charges by the number of emails sent per month rather than by contacts stored. Brevo is the best-known example of this pricing model.
If you send infrequently or very low volume per year, it’s worth considering if the platform you choose ticks all the other boxes for you. But if you have (or plan on having) a consistent email calendar, this might rank up your billing.
Feature-tiered pricing layers both contact count and access to features. Many platforms combine this with subscriber-based billing, so you pay more both as your list grows and when you need to add extra features, like advanced automation or custom reporting.
Understanding which model a platform uses before you sign up is the single most useful thing you can do to avoid surprises on your monthly invoice.
What Free Plans Actually Give You
Most email platforms offer a free tier. They’re useful for testing the interface and features and ideal for those who are just starting with email marketing. Here’s an honest look at what each major platform gives you at zero cost.
Cyberimpact offers a free plan for up to 250 contacts with unlimited sends and no credit card required to create your account. Though you won’t have access to automation or live customer support on the free plan, the sending tools, template library and landing page editor are fully available. It’s a practical way to test the platform before upgrading.
Mailchimp has significantly scaled back its free tier over the past few years. In 2026, Mailchimp’s free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 monthly email sends, down from 2,000 contacts in 2022 and 500 contacts as recently as 2023. Automation was removed entirely from the free tier by mid-2025. Their free plan is useful for exploring the interface but not much else at this point.
Constant Contact does not offer a free plan at all. It provides a 30-day money-back guarantee, but you’ll need to enter payment information when you sign up.
Envoke doesn’t advertise a standard free plan; pricing is quote-based which makes the research process harder.
MailerLite has a generous free tier for a US-based platform. Its free plan supports up to 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month, though it excludes email templates and priority support.
Cakemail offers a free plan that allows up to 6,000 emails per month to 500 contacts. The sending cap limits your marketing plans, and the free plan is restricted to one user and one audience, making proper segmentation impossible at that tier.
Free plans are best treated as a trial period, not a long-term operating model. For most organizations with any consistent sending cadence, a paid plan is where the real comparison begins.
How Pricing Scales as Your List Grows
When looking for a platform you must consider not only your organization now but what it will realistically look like 18 months from now. Scaling your list also means scaling your business, so you can invest more in tools that help you get there. Here’s how each platform scales, using common list sizes as reference points.
Cyberimpact prices in Canadian dollars and bills by subscribed contacts only. The Basic plan starts at only $23.50 CAD per month for up to 500 contacts and includes unlimited sends and unlimited users. A key advantage in how Cyberimpact counts contacts: a subscriber who belongs to multiple groups still counts as one contact, not multiple. This is very important as your list grows and you start using segmentation.
Mailchimp operates on subscriber-based pricing, but its methodology for counting contacts is a huge cost driver. Subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts are all included in your contact count. That means contacts who opted out years ago are still contributing to your monthly bill unless you actively archive them.
The Essentials plan starts at $13 USD (about $18 CAD) per month for 500 contacts, and the Standard plan starts at $20 USD (~$27 CAD) per month.
Constant Contact uses a three-tier structure with no free plan. The Lite plan starts at $12 USD (~$16 CAD) per month for 500 contacts, the Standard plan at $35 USD (~$48 CAD), and the Premium plan at $80 USD (~$110 CAD) for the same contact range. The price jumps as your list grows can be steep: the Lite plan goes from $12 at 500 contacts to $30 at 1,000 contacts, a 150% increase for doubling your list.
Envoke uses a sub-account and volume-based pricing model aimed at organizations managing communications across departments, branches, or member groups. Publicly listed prices for 1,000 contacts and no additional sub-accounts) sit around $29 CAD per month for the Standard plan and $74 CAD for Professional.
MailerLite‘s Growing Business plan starts at $10 USD (~$14 CAD) per month for 500 contacts with unlimited emails. One useful distinction: like Cyberimpact, MailerLite only counts active contacts towards billing, so you won’t pay for unsubscribed or inactive contacts.
Cakemail prices in both CAD and USD depending on the plan. Paid plans start at around $15 CAD per month for 500 contacts at the basic tier. The Premium plan, which includes the full feature set, starts at $26 CAD. The platform keeps sending caps in place on all paid plans, which can push organizations into more expensive tiers sooner than expected simply to maintain their sending volume, not because their list grew.
When comparing prices across these platforms, convert to CAD and factor in applicable taxes and conversion rate. A platform listed at $35 USD per month can cost $65 CAD or more once those extra fees are considered. Cyberimpact is a Canadian platform that prices in CAD, removing that variable entirely and helping organizations plan their budget accurately.
Email Platform Comparison at 5,000 contacts (in CAD)
| Platform | Basic Plan | Mid-tier Plan | Premium Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberimpact | $70 | $87 | $105 |
| Mailchimp | $104* | $139* | $486* |
| ConstantContact | $109* | $150* | $272* |
| Envoke | $64 | $99 | |
| MailerLite | $54* | $70* | |
| Cakemail | $66 | $111 |
*These are estimates as this platform bills in USD.
What’s Usually Locked Behind Higher Tiers
The basic plan gets you access to the platform and some (not all) of the features you might need as you grow. Here’s what typically requires upgrading across the platforms in this comparison:
Automation is the most commonly gated feature. On Mailchimp, multi-step automation requires the Standard plan ($20 USD/month starting). The Essentials plan includes only basic email templates, A/B testing, and scheduling, with no multi-step automation. On Constant Contact, automation is available on Standard and above.
Cyberimpact includes automation on all paid plans, making it easier for you to test the feature from the get-go and improve your automated scenarios as you go.
If you want to learn more about using marketing automation for email marketing, take this free course on Marketing Automation Basics at the Cyberimpact Academy.
Segmentation and dynamic content become more acessible as you move up tiers on most platforms. Cyberimpact includes segmentation tools across all plans, paid and free. But Cakemail restricts advanced segmentation to higher tiers, and businesses without access to these features often miss out on effective targeting, leading to more manual effort and lower conversion rate.
Customer support access is almost universally gated. Free plan users across all platforms typically get documentation and forums at best. Cyberimpact includes bilingual (English and French) chat, email, and phone support on all paid plans, and for 30 days for Free users, which is a huge advantage for Canadian organizations that operate in both official languages.
It also offers the Cyberimpact Academy with free online courses open to all (no need to be a Cyberimpact user to join).
Branding removal is a cost that catches people off guard. Both Mailchimp and Cakemail add platform branding to emails on their free plans. On Cakemail, paid plans remove the logo. On Mailchimp, branding removal is included with Essentials and above.
The Hidden Costs Worth Watching
Pricing pages often show the monthly subscription, but they rarely expand on the additional charges that can come along.
Contact counting policies are the biggest source of unexpected cost. Mailchimp counts unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts toward your monthly billing. If you’ve been using Mailchimp for a few years without archiving inactive contacts, your effective contact count could be significantly higher than your actual active list. Check out this Mailchimp Pricing Guide for more details.
Cyberimpact and MailerLite both bill on subscribed contacts only, which keeps your budget aligned with the original pricing you saw.
Send caps versus unlimited sending matters for any organization that sends frequently or sends time-sensitive communications.
Mailchimp, Cakemail, Constant Contact and MailerLite all apply monthly send limits tied to contact count. This can lead to operational constrains so it’s important to be clear about your needs before committing to a platform. Luckily, Cyberimpact includes unlimited sends on all plans, including the free tier, making it a more flexible option for organization of all sizes.
Currency conversion applies to every USD-priced platform. The difference between the listed price and what you actually pay in CAD depends on your bank’s exchange rate and any foreign transaction fees your card applies.
Over a year, this adds a meaningful premium to platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and MailerLite that bill in USD.
What Canadian Businesses Specifically Need to Consider
For Canadian organizations, pricing is just one factor. There are bigger issues to consider, such as compliance, data hosting, data governance and a support service that understands your market and needs. Let’s break them down:
CASL compliance
CASL requires every commercial email you send includes proper identification, a working unsubscribe mechanism, and verifiable consent. Most US-based platforms weren’t designed around these requirements. You can configure them to be compliant, but that responsibility sits entirely with you. Among the platforms in this comparison, Cyberimpact and Envoke both build CASL compliance into the platform by default, including consent tracking and automated compliance reporting. Cakemail also positions itself as CASL-compliant by design and stores data on Canadian servers.
Data residency
This is a practical concern for any Canadian organization, specially the ones subject to Quebec’s Law 25, PHIPA, FIPPA, or similar provincial frameworks. When your contact data is stored on servers in the United States, it may be accessible under US federal law regardless of what the platform’s privacy policy says.
Cyberimpact, Cakemail, and Envoke all host data on Canadian servers. Mailchimp and Constant Contact, as US-based companies owned by US parent corporations, do not.
Bilingual operations
This matters more for Canadian organizations than any other market. If you’re operating in Canada, having a platform that allows you to send bilingual emails is essential for providing quality experience to all of your clients. 21% of Canadians say their first language is French, so if you don’t have the tools to give them quality service, you’re missing out on a big chunk of market.
Cyberimpact is available in English and French across both the platform, operations and its support team. Envoke also offers bilingual features. Among the US-based platforms, bilingual support is not a standard offering.
A Practical Framework for Choosing a Plan
Rather than picking a platform by its starting price, work backwards from what your organization actually needs.
Start with your current list size and a realistic estimate of where it will be in 18 months. Price out that future tier across each platform, not the entry-level price. A platform that looks affordable at 500 contacts can become your most expensive option at 5,000.
Then identify the three or four features you consider non-negotiable: automation, segmentation, Canadian data hosting… Double-check if each is included at your target plan and not just listed as an upgrade option.
Finally, factor in your operational context. For Canadian organizations with any compliance requirements, data residency considerations, or bilingual audiences, the field narrows quickly. Cyberimpact is the clearest fit for most organizations. It offers unlimited sends, automation is included on paid plans, it’s CASL-compliant by design; plus, you’ll have a bilingual platform and support, and pricing in CAD.
Start with a free Cyberimpact account and bring your contact list with you. Migration support is included.
Conclusion
Email marketing platform pricing is designed to look simpler than it is. The starting price is just what it is — a starting point. What matters is how the platform counts contacts, what’s included at the plan you can afford and whether it’s built for the market you operate in.