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Convertkit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp. Whew. I’ve used all three of these email marketing tools for bloggers on my site over the years.
And to be clear, there are plenty of other email marketing tools out there beyond just these three. But when it comes to choosing the best email marketing tool for bloggers specifically, only a select few rise to the top of the pack—and I’ve tested many alternatives, myself.
At the end of the day, we’re left with a decision between my personal favorites: ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp. The best part? All 3 of these tools now offer free plans to get started with up to at least 500 subscribers.
To help you navigate this comparison guide, I’ve compiled a hyperlinked menu—where you can click on the corresponding section you’d like to jump straight down to.
ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp: Comparison and Review for 2024 |
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1. Pricing Comparison Chart: ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp |
2. How to Choose Which Email Marketing Tool is Right for You |
3. ConvertKit Analysis, Feature Breakdown and Comparison |
4. AWeber Analysis, Feature Breakdown and Comparison |
5. Mailchimp Analysis, Feature Breakdown and Comparison |
Alright, now quickly before we dive in…
Disclosure: I’m big on transparency, so please know that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you purchase one of these email marketing tools. Know that I only recommend products I’ve personally used and believe are genuinely helpful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to use them.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I want to start this guide off by making it ultra clear that today, I use ConvertKit as my email marketing tool of choice (as a blogger).
I strongly believe they’re hands down the best email marketing tool for bloggers today. If you want to try them out risk-free, you can start on their free plan today to give it a real test run for yourself.
I’ll be the first to tell you though, no single email marketing tool is going to be the absolute best fit for everyone.
And it might make more sense for you to start elsewhere depending upon your blogging goals.
Before we get any further, it helps to have some more context around where I’m at in my blogging journey (to further explain why ConvertKit is the best email marketing tool for bloggers where I’m at today).
Don’t worry—we’ll be digging into how to decide which email marketing tool is best for you based on the stage you’re currently at.
Today, my blog reaches an average audience of over 400,000 monthly readers and I have 113,000+ email subscribers that get my weekly guides for bloggers and podcast episodes delivered straight to their inboxes.
While on the surface these statistics look pretty exciting, it’s important to understand that as you generate more traffic and your blog grows, you’ll also collect more email subscribers.
That means the cost to simply maintain your email list naturally goes up over time—but it also assumes that you’re simultaneously learning how to monetize your blog.
How much does it cost to maintain an email list for your blog?
When you’re just starting a blog, your costs for email marketing tools should be very low (or even free).
Now, let’s break down all of the actual costs for each of these email marketing tools.
Pricing Comparison Chart: ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp
Here’s a chart that breaks down the pricing comparison of ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp in 2024:
(ConvertKit, AWeber, and Mailchimp 2024 updated pricing comparison. Sources: ConvertKit pricing page, AWeber pricing page, Mailchimp pricing page)
ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp Pricing Breakdown (2024 Updated):
In case this pricing comparison chart infographic isn’t easily viewable for you, here’s a text breakdown of the pricing for each of these email campaign marketing tools between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp:
Campaign Subscriber Count | ConvertKit | AWeber | Mailchimp |
---|---|---|---|
0 – 1,000 subscribers | Free – $25/month | Free – $12.5/month | Free – $6.5/month |
1,001 – 2,000 subscribers | $41/month | $22.5/month | $13.25/month |
2,001 – 3,000 subscribers | $41/month | $42.5/month | $22.5/month |
3,001 – 5,000 subscribers | $66/month | $42.5/month | $37.5/month |
5,001 – 10,000 subscribers | $88 – $100/month | $62.5/month | $55/month |
10,001 – 15,000 subscribers | $125/month | $142.5/month | $90/month |
15,001 – 25,000 subscribers | $150 – $166/month | $142.5/month | $115 – $130/month |
25,001 – 50,000 subscribers | $216 – $266/month | $385.5/month | $150 – $190/month |
50,001 – 100,000 subscribers | $316 – $516/month | $785.5/month | $315 – $400/month |
As you can see, all 3 of these tools offer free plans for up to 500 subscribers (ConvertKit goes up to 1,000 subscribers, but is feature-limited). From there, the prices for each of these email marketing tools stay relatively low for your first few thousand subscribers. A few notable pricing changes as we head into 2024 with these email marketing tools:
- Both ConvertKit and AWeber are now offering a free plan (for up to 1,000 subscribers)
- The pricing for both ConvertKit and Mailchimp have gone up considerably for plans with higher numbers of subscribers
- AWeber has positioned themselves as the most budget-friendly option amongst these three tools, almost across the board
It’s only once you start to climb above the 5,000 subscriber mark that costs begin to climb significantly with any of these tools. And for good reason… with that many subscribers, you should be monetizing your blog to a degree that more than covers your expenses.
How to Choose Which Email Marketing Tool is Right for You
The place I’m at in my blogging journey today is probably different than where you are right now (and that’s ok)…
If I’d been paying monthly, my last ConvertKit bill would’ve been $783.00 for my 113,000 subscribers at the time of this screenshot.
However, I pay annually, which gives me a discount and drops my per-month cost down to $616.00.
But before your jaw completely hits the floor, let’s talk about how much using ConvertKit has earned me in the last couple of months—because that’s why this is one of the invoices I’m most excited to pay each month. That’s the real equation that matters most when deciding between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp for your email marketing.
In just two months alone (June and July of 2019), the automated email sequences I have configured in ConvertKit—more later on why only ConvertKit can create a sequence like mine—have helped me generate over $94,372 in passive income from my blog.
And much of the money I make from my blog comes from a combination of Bluehost affiliate commissions and sales of my advanced blogging course, Built to Blog—both of which are heavily tied to my ability to deliver high-converting automated email sequences.
Without ConvertKit, I wouldn’t be able to implement these automated email sequences as easily—or in the same clean, functional manner.
I happily pay the price for a more premium email marketing tool with advanced functionality like ConvertKit, because it helps me generate more revenue than I otherwise would.
But I (obviously) didn’t start my blog and instantly have this kind of traction…
It took me three years to get to the point where I finally started earning six figures (annually) from my blog.
Here’s what my progression looked like in terms of email marketing tools I’ve used over the years:
- Months 1 – 6: I used Mailchimp for up to ~1,000 subscribers, mostly because it was free for less than 2,000 subscribers (now in 2024 it is free only for up to 500 subscribers)
- Months 6 – 18: I used AWeber up to ~10,000 subscribers, largely because it was easy to use and the leading brand back in 2014
- Years 2 – 8 (Present): I use ConvertKit today, and switched in order to unlock their more advanced tools (like automation)
During my first six months of blogging, I collected email subscribers using a free Mailchimp plan.
At the time, my blog was a side project and I was on a tight budget. I had no idea whether or not I’d be able to build something real here, so using a free tool helped me validate my business without throwing a ton of financial resources into the pot.
And if you’re a new blogger, know that you’re not alone in wondering where to start with an email marketing tool… especially when it comes to making a call between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp.
I get a variation of this question just about every week from readers:
Curious what my reply to Vlado’s email said?
“My advice is to always go for as long as you can with free tools. I recommend starting and continuing with ConvertKit. Their free plan supports up to 1,000 subscribers, which provides more room for growth without the need to switch platforms as your subscriber base expands.
Here’s another way to think about it—once your blog is generating the $25/mo it’d cost to have a ConvertKit subscription, then you can start to justify the expense. ConvertKit is a way better product with much more functionality that’ll help you generate more revenue from your email list, but you do pay for that ability. And you shouldn’t pay for it until it truly makes sense to, in my opinion. So it does depend a little bit upon what your goal is with your blog, but ultimately I recommend sticking with free until your blog can safely pay for the addition of a more advanced email marketing tool.”
So, there you have it. That’s my opinion on how to best decide between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp, especially in 2024.
If you’re brand new to being amongst the 31 million bloggers in the world today, and your blog isn’t earning enough to justify a paid email marketing tool yet…
Stick with a free email marketing tool until you grow. Thankfully, ConvertKit (by far the top choice in this space today) now offers a 100% free plan to get started and try out their incredible suite of email marketing tools with up to 1,000 subscribers.
Now, let’s dive into an analysis of each of our email marketing tools to really compare ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp.
ConvertKit Analysis, Feature Breakdown and Comparison
Who is ConvertKit Best for?
ConvertKit bills itself as the best email marketing tool for bloggers and creators.
When you get into the nitty-gritty of what their tool suite offers and what it focuses on, this makes complete sense.
If you’re a blogger, influencer, YouTuber, or any other type of modern creator, ConvertKit is going to be very well set up for your specific needs—both today and moving forward into the future as you grow your blog into a real business.
ConvertKit is also subscriber-centric in how their tool functions, meaning you have one single list of email subscribers, with different tags and segments applied to individual subscribers in order to indicate their behaviors and dictate how they’re interacted with. This is an incredibly important feature of their product that can’t be understated.
Many email marketing tools (like AWeber and Mailchimp) are list-centric, meaning that you’ll eventually have many different lists within your account as you grow—and some subscribers could be members of multiple different lists, which can at times cause confusion and even duplicate email deliveries. This was a major factor in my choice to switch to ConvertKit.
Which Features Does ConvertKit Have?
In my opinion, ConvertKit’s biggest selling points are their advanced visual automations, and how well you can tag and segment your subscribers.
Visual Automations in ConvertKit
Here’s a snapshot of just a few of the visual automations I have running in my ConvertKit account.
Some of my visual automations are designed to keep my email list active & engaged, while other automations deliver both free and paid course content to my subscribers.
You can set up email automations to do just about anything—including integrating and passing data between other blogging tools like Teachable, Stripe, Gravity Forms, Unbounce, Sumo, and many more.
Tagging and Segmenting in ConvertKit
If you have a subscriber that signs up asking for updates when new podcast episodes are published for example, you’ll probably only want to send them those specific emails. Side note: If you’re going to start a podcast, be sure you’re signed up with the best podcast hosting you can get.
On the other hand, if you have an engaged fan who signed up via a more general “send me all of your new content” form, you can send them everything you publish.
The delivery of your email broadcasts can be easily controlled based on tags and segments each time you draft a new campaign (instead of needing to send a separate email broadcast to lists #1, #4, and #5).
It’s honestly difficult to describe how unique and efficient this feature is unless you’ve tried out a list-centric email marketing tool before.
Emailing your subscribers is SO much easier to do intelligently with filter groups in ConvertKit because it’s subscriber-centric.
This highly detailed tagging and segmenting is one of ConvertKit’s greatest selling points—so if your head is nodding furiously right now—this is probably the best email marketing tool for you. Try it out for yourself with a free trial today.
Another nice bonus feature ConvertKit offers is subject line A/B testing of your email broadcasts:
As you know, getting the subject line right (and blog headline for that matter) can mean the difference between a subscriber opening your email or not, so it makes sense to experiment a little bit.
With ConvertKit, you can try out two options that’ll randomly start by delivering to 30% of your subscribers… 15% receiving each subject line option. Whichever one does better, they use for the remaining 70%.
What are the Drawbacks of ConvertKit?
The biggest drawback of ConvertKit today, is that they don’t allow a high amount of customizability to their email templates (unless you’re willing to do a little coding).
According to their founder Nathan Barry, simple text-based emails perform better with most audiences—which I tend to agree with. That’s why this isn’t a big drawback to me, as my emails to subscribers rarely contain images or any styling at all.
If you’re a blogger too, this is probably ringing true for you. Your target audience wants to feel like they have a personal connection with you, like you’re reaching out to them individually—and a stripped-down, approachable email look & feel will accomplish that much more than a slick, highly stylized email.
If you’re a larger company, an eCommerce brand, or someone who really likes their emails to be packed with design features, you’re probably not going to love ConvertKit.
Not until you get some custom-designed email templates whipped up, at least. It’s important to note that you can hack their templates to look any way you want them to, but you’ll need to know HTML in order to reach a design-heavy email.
How Much Does ConvertKit Cost in 2024?
Free Trial: 14 days
Free Plan: Yes, for up to 1,000 subscribers
ConvertKit Pricing Breakdown:
- 0 – 1,000 subscribers: Free
- 1,001 – 2,000 subscribers: $41/mo
- 2,001 – 3,000 subscribers: $41/mo
- 3,001 – 5,000 subscribers: $66/mo
- 5,001 – 10,000 subscribers: $88 – $100/mo
- 10,001 – 15,000 subscribers: $125/mo
- 15,001 – 25,000 subscribers: $150 – $166/mo
- 25,001 – 50,000 subscribers: $216 – $266/mo
- 50,001 – 100,000 subscribers: $316 – $516/mo
As we’ve covered already, ConvertKit has a pricing plan that’s subscriber-based—where you won’t get double-charged for subscribers like you can on other email marketing tools (where subscribers can technically be members of multiple lists at the same time). For more than 100,000 subscribers on ConvertKit, you can use their calculator to determine your costs.
The best part about ConvertKit’s pricing structure is that you get unlimited emails at whichever price level you’re at (and all their features are the same across the board)—another pro in their column when deciding between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp.
They’re also killing it in the marketing game and are pushing hard for bloggers to jump ship from whichever email marketing tool they’re using already…
So they also offer free migration from your email marketing tool. You can join their free plan (up to 1,000 subscribers) or start a free 14-day trial to see for yourself today.
AWeber Analysis, Feature Breakdown, and Comparison
As one of the longest-standing in the industry, AWeber has been in the email marketing game for over 20 years and boasts over 100,000 customers.
In fact, they claim to have invented the autoresponder (the automatic email that’s delivered as a welcome to new subscribers on your list).
So who’s most well-positioned to get a good value and experience from this email marketing tool? How do they stack up against newcomers like ConvertKit?
Who is AWeber Best for?
AWeber is going to be the best email marketing tool if you’re:
- A brand new blogger that wants a fully-featured, simple, free (for up to 500 subscribers and low-cost from there) tool to get started with collecting subscribers & emailing them
- A small business owner that relies on simple autoresponder-style emails yet doesn’t need a tool with everything a serious blogger will want
The features AWeber does offer are heavy on practicality and ease of use, without much of a learning curve in getting to use the product.
Which Features Does AWeber Offer?
First, we have to address the autoresponder, a time-based email sequence, that they’ve been building upon for over two decades.
Creating an auto-response campaign in AWeber is quick, and easy and you can customize it pretty well in terms of the content of your emails. However, in full transparency—it’s nothing fancy. Something to take into account when comparing ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp, no doubt.
You can set up an auto-response email to be delivered when someone subscribes to a form on your blog, or when a tag is applied to that subscriber. They’ve stuck with this simple but effective approach, and if you don’t need the more advanced email automation customizations you can do with a tool like ConvertKit, then you won’t miss anything.
AWeber also offers a pretty impressive number of visually appealing email templates right out of the box—and they’ve made sure they’re responsive too.
You never know if your subscriber is going to open your emails on their phone, tablet, desktop computer (or brain chip implant), so you have to make sure it looks correct no matter the device they’re viewing on. In terms of email templates, AWeber wins big time if you’re looking for something that utilizes graphics or design-heavy layouts. Building them to be responsive is a must today, too.
Their templates are also extremely user-friendly. You can choose a pre-made template to tweak yourself, build a custom one, or even mix and match with their drag-and-drop tools.
One of AWeber’s main selling points is their hands-on customer service, which is one of the most common comments you hear about them.
They offer fast support in many different ways, beyond just email and phone calls—everything from webinars to podcasts and live chat—their dedication to creating a positive customer experience is clear to see.
Finally, as you’d expect from a company that’s been in the email marketing tool space for a long time, they’re also integration pros.
You can drag and drop email elements from all sorts of other platforms you have integrated—ranging from Etsy to Shopify, Facebook, and more.
Their integrations list is at least comparable to Mailchimp in variety and depth.
What Are the Drawbacks of AWeber?
They don’t offer a very wide range of features and capabilities, especially when looking at the full comparison between ConvertKit vs AWeber.
That being said, AWeber weighing in as a pretty simple email marketing tool, doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t consider them as you’re new to your blogging journey. Their product is still beautiful, user-friendly, and effective at helping you send engaging emails to your subscribers—plus, they also offer a fully free plan for up to 500 subscribers that’ll majorly impress amongst the free options out there.
AWeber won’t “wow” you the same way as the more fully featured ConvertKit, but it’s less expensive on average (for most subscriber counts).
If you’re interested in a straight-to-the-point autoresponder, where you won’t have to spend much time in your email marketing tool, then AWeber may be the right fit for you.
How Much Does AWeber Cost in 2024?
Free Trial: 30 days
Free Plan: Yes (up to 500 subscribers)
AWeber Pricing Breakdown:
- 0 – 1,000 subscribers: Free – $12.5/mo
- 1,001 – 2,000 subscribers: $22.5/mo
- 2,001 – 3,000 subscribers: $42.5/mo
- 3,001 – 5,000 subscribers: $42.5/mo
- 5,001 – 10,000 subscribers: $62.5/mo
- 10,001 – 15,000 subscribers: $142.5/mo
- 15,001 – 25,000 subscribers: $142.5/mo
- 25,001 – 50,000 subscribers: $385.5/mo
- 50,001 – 100,000 subscribers: $785.5/mo
One major pro for using AWeber vs Mailchimp is that they offer access to every single feature in the product—available even from their free and lowest pricing tiers—which is a solid bonus for the features you get at that price point compared to Mailchimp’s feature-limited free plan.
AWeber’s pricing is also entirely subscriber-based, which scales up only based on the number of people on your email list (unlike Mailchimp where you need to select specific plans)—an important factor in comparing ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp from a billing perspective. You can check out all of the features available on their free plan right here and give it a test run today.
Mailchimp Analysis, Feature Breakdown and Comparison
I bet you’ve seen that cheeky monkey logo and heard the name before, right? Mailchimp is one of the oldie-but-goodies in the email marketing tool space.
Their own brand marketing is great, and they’re not afraid to spend a fortune on advertising, either. That’s made them one of the most well-known email marketing tools around.
However, they’ve got some pretty stark differences in what their email marketing tool can do when it comes to features, how it’s priced, and who’s best suited to benefit from the product. So, how are they holding up in a comparison between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp?
Who is Mailchimp Best For?
Mailchimp is the perfect starter email marketing tool for beginning bloggers, simply because it’s free to get going (with their feature-limited plan).
Their more fully-featured paid plans can also be a pretty reasonable choice for someone who needs lots of integrations in their emails, or specifically if you’re an eCommerce business.
First, their free plan, which now includes up to 500 contacts and a 30-day free trial, is a competitive offer. If you’re a beginner looking to start with a minimal budget, this should be your first consideration—making it a cost-effective choice among ConvertKit, AWeber, and Mailchimp.
The forever free plan was likely a large part of why Mailchimp became so popular—you could get the basics for free, which was pretty hard to argue against (if that’s where you were at).
Second, because they’re so popular, they have A LOT of companies that partner with them on integrations.
Finally, their email templates, image hosting, and a wide variety of signup forms make them a pretty good choice for those running with eCommerce website builders.
Let’s dig into more detail about what Mailchimp offers.
Which Features Does Mailchimp Offer?
As I mentioned already, Mailchimp offers a pretty unparalleled number of smart integrations (over 200+ of them). This is one of the areas they really shine.
For eCommerce businesses, their integrations with tools like Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify and more—will be absolutely crucial.
You’ll also find that many of the best CRMs and analytics tools popular with bloggers and businesses today—like Salesforce and Google Analytics, will find a home here too.
This is one of Mailchimp’s greatest selling points because it integrates effortlessly with the tools you’re probably already using… or ones you’re likely to use in the future.
Their email templates are another big plus. Almost the complete opposite of ConvertKit’s approach to templates, theirs are visually driven, beautiful, and have a drag-and-drop builder that’s simple to use.
eCommerce companies that need well-designed and professional-looking email templates to showcase products will be in heaven here.
Finally, it’s worth noting that Mailchimp has recently expanded into offering a much wider range of marketing tools for their customers (not many of which will be specifically appealing to most bloggers however) including:
- A lightweight marketing CRM
- Address finder
- Postcard delivery
- Demographic prediction
- Landing pages
- Social media posting & ad building
- Photo editing tools
What are the Drawbacks of Mailchimp?
The biggest drawback to Mailchimp is that their product just isn’t built with bloggers in mind.
Everything about it is geared more toward a small business owner or eCommerce brand that needs heavily styled emails.
Since they no longer offer a forever-free plan, it’s important to consider your options carefully in the early days of your blogging journey. As you start to collect subscribers and try to figure out how to monetize your blog, even on a small scale, you should choose a platform that can support your growth without requiring an immediate switch at the 500 subscriber mark.
Another downside to Mailchimp is that they only offer social media integrations with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. For such a large company, it’s surprising they don’t include integrations for every major social media platform.
One final drawback is how Mailchimp’s pricing tiers function. A common complaint you’ll hear is that they’ll charge you twice if you have one subscriber on multiple lists. That’s true if you don’t set up your tags properly, but nevertheless, it does happen. Though to be truthful, it’s more of a design flaw than an intentional double-charge… yet again, something to consider in your evaluation between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp.
How Much Does Mailchimp Cost in 2024?
Free Plan: Yes (Feature-Limited)
Free Trial: 1 month
Mailchimp Pricing Breakdown (Using Their Standard Plan):
- 0 – 1,000 subscribers: Free – $6.5/mo
- 1,001 – 2,000 subscribers: $13.25/mo
- 2,001 – 3,000 subscribers: $22.5/mo
- 3,001 – 5,000 subscribers: $37.5/mo
- 5,001 – 10,000 subscribers: $55/mo
- 10,001 – 15,000 subscribers: $90/mo
- 15,001 – 25,000 subscribers: $115 – $130/mo
- 25,001 – 50,000 subscribers: $150 – $190/mo
- 50,001 – 100,000 subscribers: $315 – $400/mo
Mailchimp’s free plan limits you to 500 subscribers and sends no more than 1,000 emails per month.
For a new blogger still learning about everything from using WordPress to generating blog post ideas, figuring out your blog SEO strategies, learning how to write a blog post, and whether or not to pursue guest blogging yet, Mailchimp’s free plan does more than you’ll need for now.
You probably won’t be sending a high volume of emails while you’re still testing the water with this business and learning so much about how your blog works.
That being said, their free plan is limited to just their most basic features.
- No custom branding
- No chat or email support
- No tagging or segmentation
- No reports
- A Mailchimp ad is included at the bottom of your emails
For an existing eCommerce business or growing blogger, the forever free plan probably won’t be a smart move. You’ll need to upgrade in order to unlock more features—and once you start paying them, you might as well consider (instead) ConvertKit vs AWeber for your email marketing tool of choice.
Their pricing beyond the forever free plan is a bit more subscriber-based and comes with unlimited emails (though you do still need to choose one of the plan levels depending upon the features you want to unlock).
So, What’s the Best Email Marketing Tool for Bloggers in 2024?
The honest answer is… it depends.
I believe very strongly that ConvertKit is by far the best email marketing tool for at least somewhat established bloggers—and the addition of their free plan makes them a pretty unbeatable force in this space. Their tool suite will align perfectly with any blogging strategy you have in mind to grow your audience this year.
For that reason, ConvertKit is the #1 email marketing tool I recommend today—even for brand new bloggers to start out with from day one thanks for a free plan offering (up to 1,000 subscribers).
Remember what my progression looked like?
- Months 1 – 6: I used Mailchimp up to ~1,000 subscribers, mostly because it WAS free for less than 2,000 subscribers
- Months 6 – 18: I used AWeber up to ~10,000 subscribers, largely because it was easy to use and the leading brand back in 2014
- Years 2 – 8 (Present): I use ConvertKit today, and switched in order to unlock their more advanced tools (like automations)
Going with a tool that has a robust free option (like both ConvertKit and AWeber offer) to collect email addresses and send a couple of monthly updates is a great way to test the waters for a little while as you figure out how to start a blog and begin laying the foundation for a real business to come. Side note: Make sure your blog is being powered by one of the best hosting plans for bloggers too.
Each of these email marketing tools has its strengths and can be the right fit for different use cases—all with different approaches to their email marketing pricing.
Like I said at the beginning, no email marketing tool is going to be perfect for everyone, but if you want something fully featured then I’d recommend keeping your evaluation to ConvertKit vs AWeber primarily.
Take a good look at where your blogging business is at today, and where you’re expecting to go over the next 6-12 months.
That’ll help you decide between ConvertKit vs AWeber vs Mailchimp—and make the right call for where to invest.
All the while, never forget that you can always make a change down the line.
For a good while now, I’ve been up in the air with thoughts of how to use an email lead capture service to build a natural permission based email marketing list. I’ve used a service in the past that gave me some email addresses of people who subscribed. But I assume that their support was limited due to the fact that they didn’t charge.
I may look into using an email lead capture or email marketing service in the future, because as traffic and revenues are trickling in… I’m looking to outsource some of my marketing activities down the road hopefully.
Yeah, in my opinion it’s never too early to start collecting email subscribers (from the pool of readers who are already coming to your blog).
So if you have traffic, you should (probably) be offering an opportunity for those subscribers to join your email list—whether to get updates about new content, product/service recommendations, details about your own upcoming launches, etc. More than anything else, having an engaged email list is a way to hedge against depending too much on other external sources of traffic over time.
AWeber’s list management logic has always seemed flawed to me – it’s far more logical to tag a single email address with multiple interest tags, rather than count each interest as a separate subscriber. Thanks for the comparison review on ConvertKit – it sounds like they are on the right track.
Klaviyo looks like a good merchant email system, and I’ll look forward to your review of it. They could use a mid-tier pricing level, IMO – the jump from 500 to 15,000 subscribers is a big one.
Agreed on the list logic point! Always scratched my head at that too, especially once ConvertKit came along.
I’ll look into Klaviyo, seems like they also do some pretty advanced segmentation & automation. Feels more enterprise-y though, no?
This is Chris from AWeber. I just wanted to note that on AWeber you can either do a tag or list based approach to your list. For my personal list, I mainly use tags as a way to segment people who subscribe to my different email newsletters and products.
We maintain lists as an option because we have a number of customers who want to make sure that there is a very clear distinction between subscriber bases (for example, realtors who have a list for their different agents).
If you have any questions or if I can help out or demo anything, just let me know!
Aha! Thanks for clarifying, Chris. I see I’m due for taking a fresh spin through the product again now 🙏
If you need anything, please let me know! Also, I should’ve started with this. great article!
From the mentioned three, I’d rather go with ConvertKit. At least for me it rings the truest for my needs.
For Aweber I’m lacking Pop-up possibility and auto resend option for unoped recipients, for ConvertKit – well, I’m a fan of nice looking emails. So I’m a sucker for templates.
Currrently I’m enjoying a nice ESP called Mailerlite – it has auto resend, also pop-up possibilities and my hear swells on all template options. It’s all about finding the right one for you, right?
Nice! Absolutely—find what works best for your blog and your specific needs 🙂
Heyy! Just found your website. It’s amazing. Just wanted to let you know that convert kit recently came out with a free plan (yippie)!
YES! They’re so awesome, thanks for the kind words Stormy!
I’m sold on getting Mail Chimp after reading this article. You could probably add an affiliate link for it in this article! As an upcoming blogger, I am so close to launching my website. However, choosing an email marketing provider today felt like a speed bump today. This article was very helpful in helping me make the decision.
Thanks, Tiphany! Really glad you found this guide so helpful 🙂
As always Ryan, THANK YOU for the straight facts and USEFUL help, advise and guidance!
So happy to hear that! 🙏
Hi Ryan!and thanks for this insightful post. I’m an upcoming blogger and I’ll like to know which Email service provider is the best for monetization at the cheapest rate? I probably would go for MailChimp for starters but I’m kinda confused on whether its good enough for monetization at the free plan level
You’re welcome, Tomi! I’d recommend starting with the free Mailchimp in your very early days… because nothing can beat free when you’re on a tight budget 🙂
Once you’re able to afford an upgrade though, ConverKit is definitely going to be your best bet for an email marketing tool that’s built around helping you better monetize your site. They’re constantly rolling out new features including a way to directly sell your products/services through ConvertKit now too, which is looking great so far!
Hey Ryan, I’m totally with you on Convertkit. I switched from a free Mailchimp account to a paid one on Convertkit because it is so much easier to use – the time saved is easily worth it.
This is the second project where I’ve done it and for some reason the deliverability rate has gone up significantly in both projects. Do you have any idea why?
Yes! I’ve 100% noticed that in my own experience with ConvertKit too… some of the free email marketing tools (like Mailchimp) have less authoritative/reliable reputations (their sending servers that technically deliver your emails to your list/MX records) in the eyes of big email inboxes like GMail and Outlook.
So yeah, I’d agree with you that it’s not a coincidence a higher quality (and paid) email marketing tool also has a stronger overall sender reputation across their customer base than a free tool like Mailchimp that has thousands… possibly millions of accounts that get created to quickly send much more questionable content to email addresses that often aren’t acquired in smart or ethical ways.
Hi Ryan, thanks for this great post.
I used to use Mailchimp, but in 2019 they kicked me out, arguing I would promote “online business and working from home”!?
After that unpleasant experience, I switched to ConvertKit. Not only do I have no problems with CK, but I came to love it. It is super simple to use, and their support team is fantastic.
I don’t miss Mailchimp a bit!
Cheers
Wilfried
Wow, that’s very odd about Mailchimp kicking you off for something like that… perhaps it had something to do with links somehow? Maybe affiliate links being used in email campaigns and being perceived as possible spam by their filtering software? Might be something to that… but I’m glad to hear that moved you toward ConvertKit, it’s the best tool I’ve used for email marketing, hands down.
If convertkit had something similar to Mailchimp’s up to 2000 free subscribers, then I would definitely jump on it. Once 2000 is met, then I’ll do my shopping. Does convertkit offer anything like that?
Hey Gerry! ConvertKit does actually offer a free (for up to 1,000 subscribers) plan. I’ll make sure that’s more clear in this article/pricing table above 🙂
Can’t recommend them enough!
What a great comparison, Ryan. I’m using ConvertKit’s free plan as I haven’t started building my email list (making plodding progress on my blog right now).
I don’t know yet how great ConvertKit’s features are, but one of the reasons why I chose ConvertKit was because of its founder — Nathan Barry. I love his philosophy and ways of doing things.
Oh, and thanks for the Interview Series in the course — if it wasn’t for your interview with Nathan, I mightn’t have known about Nathan’s story and got to learn more about ConvertKit.
Cheers,
Kim
That’s so great to hear, Kim! Yeah, Nathan is a very genuinely awesome, authentic person—and you can see that ethos translated directly into the foundation of ConvertKit, which is a very cool thing. You made a great choice of email marketing platform, which you’ll see in time as you start growing your list soon 🙂
Hi Ryan,
Does the migration of subscribers work smoothly? I mean, if I go with MailChimp for free and after a couple of months if I want to migrate to ConvertKit, is it possible and won’t affect my subscribers?
Hey Faisal! Yeah, importing subscribers over to ConvertKit is very straightforward (and easy). There are plenty of guides that walk through the process on the CK help site and they have a great support team that can also help with migration tasks. To be honest, now that CK has a free plan, I wouldn’t be considering Mailchimp much when you compare the features & longer-term growth options on CK!
Hi Ryan,
Thank you so much, will go with CK 🙂
🙏
Excellent article – thank you! I am left with just one question, how intuitive and easy to learn is ConvertKit? I have ditched platforms in the past which were a steeping learning curve and took me away from the real focus at hand, in this case blogging. Thanks in advance!
You’re so welcome, Janey! And GREAT question, thanks for asking. Personally, I found ConvertKit to be insanely easy to learn & get the hang of (especially when compared to an AWeber that feels a bit more on the dated/clunkier side)… plus, ConvertKit is also very smooth, sleek and everything is located in pretty intuitive places in the platform. I think you’ll be right at home if you give it a try—and they have a free test drive plan you can get started with (here: https://convertkit.com/?lmref=gW8kVA)
In my opinion though, every new tool/platform comes with some sort of learning curve to it, so I’d say expect that there will be some things you’ll have to learn. That being said, I’m happy to answer any questions you have as you move along with ConvertKit in particular (that’s what I use today and am most versed in the nuances over there these days) 🙂
Thanks for the detailed answer Ryan – I’ve made the leap to CK and I’m already impressed by what I’ve found!
So glad to hear that! 🙌
1) Aweber has more templates over 700 than mail chimp
2) It has a functional free plan to get started
3) It autoresponder are simpler to setup
4) Its autoresponder options are more extensive.
🙌