01Start with list size and send volume, because they set the price
Email platforms charge by how many contacts you hold and how many emails you send, so work out both before you compare anything. A newsletter four times a month to 250 people is 1,000 sends. Free plans exist, and their limits differ more than their names suggest. As shown on their own pricing pages on 10 October 2026, MailerLite's free plan allows up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month with 3 automations, and locks campaigns and automations if active subscribers go over 250. Mailchimp's free plan allows 250 contacts and a maximum of 500 sends a month or 250 a day, with no scheduling and no automation flows, and it keeps Mailchimp's branding. These figures change, so read the pages again before you decide.
- Count contacts and monthly sends first: 250 contacts emailed four times is 1,000 sends
- MailerLite free plan, read on 10 October 2026: up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 3 automations
- Mailchimp free plan, read on 10 October 2026: 250 contacts, 500 sends a month or 250 a day, no automation flows, Mailchimp branding stays
- For any paid plan, read the price at your list size today and at twice that size
02Consent, sign-up records and unsubscribe
Where processing is based on consent, Article 7(1) of the GDPR says the controller must be able to demonstrate that the person consented, and Article 7(3) says withdrawing consent must be as easy as giving it. In practice that makes two features matter more than any template: a record of when and through which form each person signed up, and an unsubscribe link that works in one step. Which of your existing contacts you may email depends on how you got them, and that is a question for your data protection adviser, not for a platform's marketing page. Do not import people who never asked to hear from you, and do not buy a list.
- A record of when and through which form each person signed up
- An unsubscribe link that works in one step
- Which existing contacts you may email depends on how you got them: ask your adviser
- No imported strangers and no bought lists
03Automations that start from something a customer did
A blast to the whole list is the weakest use of email. The useful part is a message that starts because a customer did something: signed up through a form, booked, bought, went quiet. When you compare platforms, test that on a free plan. Can a sequence start from one specific sign-up form? Can it stop when the person books or buys, so nobody gets a reminder for something already done? Can you tag or segment people without a spreadsheet? Plans differ here: by their pages, Mailchimp's free plan has no automation flows and MailerLite's has three. Write each message for one real moment and keep it short and plain, as our post on follow-ups that do not feel robotic describes.
- Can a sequence start from one specific sign-up form?
- Can it stop when the person books or buys?
- Can you tag or segment without a spreadsheet?
- One message per real moment: short and plain
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice
We do not resell any email platform and have no partnership with any vendor. We read two free-plan pages for this article and compared nothing else, so this is a set of criteria, not a ranking. Our marketing plans do not send your emails. BROADCAST, at 597 EUR a month, includes 4 AI blog posts and 12 AI videos a month, ready to post, with a monthly content calendar, and GROWTH adds ad management. AUTOMATE includes AI email auto-responders, which reply to messages that arrive; we do not claim it runs newsletters or campaigns. If you only need to write to a few hundred people, a free plan and an hour of your time cost less than anything we sell. A sign-up form needs a website, so with none yet: 500 to 2,500 EUR, 48 hours, paid after the preview.
- We resell no platform and hold no vendor partnership
- Our marketing plans do not send your emails; AUTOMATE's email auto-responders reply, they do not run campaigns
- A few hundred contacts: a free plan costs less than anything we sell
- No website yet: the sign-up form needs one, and the 48-hour site comes first
An email we built: order confirmations
Rotiseria Baba Novac, a rotisserie in Bucharest, gets an order confirmation email on every order, sent through Resend. That is transactional email, built into the ordering system, and it is the only email work in that case study. We did not build a newsletter for them, and we claim no open rate or repeat-order figure, because we do not publish their numbers. The lesson is narrower: the first email a small business needs is often the one that confirms what the customer just did.
See the build: Rotiseria Baba NovacQuestions, answered
Is a free email plan enough for a small business?
For a list of a few hundred people, often yes, but the limits differ. On 10 October 2026 MailerLite's free page listed 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, Mailchimp's 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Check the pages again before you decide.
Does PROOF48 send newsletters for its clients?
No. Our marketing plans produce blog posts, videos and ad management. AUTOMATE includes email auto-responders that reply to incoming messages, and we do not claim it runs newsletters or campaigns.
Can I import my customer list into a new platform?
That depends on how you collected those contacts and what they agreed to. Under Article 7(1) of the GDPR you must be able to demonstrate consent where you rely on it. Ask your data protection adviser before you import.
Which platform does PROOF48 recommend?
None. We do not resell any platform, hold no partnership with any vendor and have compared none beyond two free-plan pages. Use the five criteria and test two platforms with a real list of 250.
Where PROOF48 fits
Choose an email platform by list size and send volume, a record of consent with one-step unsubscribe, automations that start from a customer's action, the price at twice your list size, and a full export. PROOF48 resells no platform and sends no newsletters. BROADCAST, at 597 EUR a month, produces the posts and videos you might send, and a free plan is the cheaper start.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.