# 3 Top-Rated Free Email Marketing Software | Capterra > Looking for free email marketing software? Check these free tools users rate the highest, with research on benefits and drawbacks, and guidance for how to choose. Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/free-email-marketing-software --- Marketing # 3 Top-Rated Free Email Marketing Software By Saumya Srivastava Saumya Srivastava Writer Experience Since November 2021, I've been a writer for Capterra, providing expert insights to help small businesses find the right software solutions.... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/ssrivastava/) Published September 28, 2021 | Updated on June 15, 2023 7 min read As a marketing leader, don’t let design and personalization of your email campaigns take a back seat while you focus on expanding the customer base and increase conversions. You can do both with an [email marketing software](https://www.capterra.com/email-marketing-software/) that comes with capabilities to craft compelling emails, automate workflows, and analyze campaign performance metrics. To compare and find one that matches your business needs, this article highlights 3 top-rated free email marketing software products based on verified software reviews. [Read more](#methodology). During the evaluation, we categorized these products into email marketing (creating, sending, and tracking email campaigns); and email marketing automation (automating email responses based on specific triggers, actions, or time intervals), along with email campaign management. ## 1\. [EmailOctopus](https://www.capterra.com/p/147415/EmailOctopus/) EmailOctopus is a bulk email marketing tool that lets you schedule, send, manage, and track multiple personalized emails to individual or group contacts. One of the tool’s notable features is the provision of hypertext markup language (HTML) email templates. These are pre-designed layouts coded using HTML and cascading style sheets (CSS) for images, text, background, and call-to-action (CTA) buttons to match your brand and content requirements. The templates are pre-optimized for mobile and desktop views.  The free version of EmailOctopus gives access to a single user to create emails with the vendor’s branding and add up to 2,500 subscribers. The email campaign performance reports are available for 30 days. Upgrading to a paid plan gives access to unlimited users, and over 500,000 subscribers, and removes the vendor’s branding. You can also access the performance reports anytime with the paid plan. **Free features**: - **Custom web forms:** Create and embed custom forms on the website to capture leads and prepare a mailing list for email marketing campaigns. - **Landing page builder:** Build and customize landing pages to capture the email IDs of the visitors and promote offers. You can create landing pages from scratch or use pre-built templates.  - **Opt-in options:** Allow users to select single opt-in, in which they confirm once to start receiving emails or double opt-in, where they need to subscribe and then confirm by clicking on the link they’ll receive via email. **Customer support options**: Blogs, knowledge base, FAQs, chat, and email. ### Who should consider EmailOctopus? If you are looking to send personalized and targeted bulk emails to promote products and services, you can benefit from EmailOctopus. Beginners can select from pre-built templates, while experienced marketers can use their HTML and CSS coding to build highly customized and mobile-friendly email campaigns. #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Cost to upgrade $8 per month #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of May 2023 Pro tip Analyze your business’s customer or subscriber pool when selecting free email marketing software. Most free tools cap the number of emails sent and subscribers added, which varies for different vendors. ## 2\. [Smaily](https://www.capterra.com/p/185848/Smaily/) Smaily is an email marketing and automation platform that enables you to create, automate, and track email marketing campaigns. These emails are personalized for individual or group contacts. Use the HTML editor to create visually appealing and responsive emails for mobile and desktop views. As a marketing automation tool, Smaily lets you set autoresponders with targeted emails for website visitors and customers based on their website activity. This includes page visits, products added to the cart or wishlist, services subscribed, and other relevant actions.  The free version of Smaily lets you send emails to up to 2,000 subscribers with a small vendor’s logo in the footer of your emails. Upgrading to a paid plan increases your subscribers up to 250,000, and sends emails without the Smaily logo. However, access to email marketing, automation features, and free plugins and integrations is the same regardless of the free or paid subscription. **Free features**: - **HTML email templates:** Create personalized and responsive emails with design elements and multimedia content through HTML and CSS coding.  - **Subscriber management:** Capture and manage subscribers’ data, including names, phone numbers, and email addresses. This speeds up contact tagging and segmentation or email campaigns.  - **A/B testing:** Test multiple versions of an email template for clicks and conversions before running the email marketing campaign. **Customer support options**: Email, chat, and blogs. ### Who should consider Smaily? If you are looking to automate lead capturing, email scheduling, and responding, you can use Smaily. Also, the free version of this tool gives you access to all email marketing and automation features. If having a small Smaily logo in the email footer is not a concern then Smaily can be a part of your marketing tools. Most affordable #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Cost to upgrade $5 per email, per month #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of May 2023 ## 3\. [Systeme.io](https://www.capterra.com/p/198994/Systeme/) Systeme.io is also an email marketing and automation tool, just like Smaily. Besides lead capturing, email creation, automation, segmentation, personalization, tracking, and testing, the tool lets you integrate your email with your business website and sales funnel. This synchronization simplifies capturing leads, nurturing them through the sales funnel, and converting them into customers via products and services on your website. The free version of Systeme.io lets you send unlimited emails to up to 2,000 subscribers with a vendor’s logo in the email footer. Upgrading to a paid plan lets you add unlimited subscribers and send emails without Systeme.io’s logo. **Free features**: - **Marketing tools:** Include coupon codes, CTAs, blog links, and other marketing tools in your emails.  - **Sales funnel:** Create custom sales funnels for personalized customer journeys based on their website activity and integrate your email list for tracking.  - **Contact tags:** Tag contacts in your mailing list for specifications such as time, region, website activity, etc., to send targeted emails. **Customer support options**: Knowledge base, online form, and how-to videos. ### Who should consider Systeme.io? If you are looking for a single platform to capture, nurture, and convert leads then Syteme.io can be an ideal consideration. Besides email automation and marketing, the tool allows you to create websites, blogs, and sales funnels, which are included in the free plan. Best functionality #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Cost to upgrade $27 per month #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of May 2023 Pro tip Consider the tool’s email-building functionality (visual or coding) that aligns with your team’s design skills and knowledge of programming languages. Visual email builders offer drag-and-drop features and are ideal for marketers with little to no design and coding skills. Email builders that use HTML and CSS programming languages are best suited for marketers with beginner to pro design and coding knowledge. ## What is the cost to upgrade from free email marketing software to a paid one? An email marketing platform upgrade can be as low as $8 per month, or rise to $890+ per month, depending on various factors—features, number of users, emails, contacts, storage capacity, templates, editing capabilities, and mobile application. Most email marketing software typically includes the following subscription plans: - **Free trial:** No-cost trial plans ranging from 14 to 30 days, giving users access to all or limited software features. - **Free version:** Free software plans offer basic features and limited premium feature access; ideal for small businesses or individuals with a limited budget. - **Entry-level:** Ranges between $8 to $61 per month and offers limited features; a good option for small businesses or teams with basic features such as customizable watermarks, sales funnel, automation rules, and more. - **Mid-tier:** Range between $13.88 to $124 per month with advanced features such as role-based access to the dashboard and predictive segmentation along with priority support. - **High-end:** Advanced plans range between $50 per user per month to $890 per month and offer unlimited access to entry and mid-level features. ### Hidden costs associated with email marketing software In addition to the software license itself, there may be added costs associated with email marketing software, including premium template access, exporting, training, integration, and upgrades, which small businesses should budget for when considering a new tool. ## Frequently asked questions when selecting free email marketing software  It’s important to ask the product support team the right questions to determine if a free email marketing tool fits your business. Some common questions include: What are the email tracking abilities of the software? Check the campaign monitor for email tracking abilities, including click rate, open rate, website visits, traffic course, and other relevant insights. Most free email marketing tools let you monitor a few of these metrics for a limited time. Check if the offered metrics align with your business’s marketing goals. Does the software allow customizing customer journeys based on actions on the email? Most free email marketing software offer sales funnel templates for you to select and execute toward conversions. However, some of them let you customize the sales funnel templates specific to your business needs and offerings. It may be noted that the customization is capped for free users and varies for different software vendors. Are there any training and webinars for teams with limited design and coding knowledge? Most email marketing tools offer customer support via blogs, how-to videos, and knowledge base, guiding software features and usage. However, check if any of these support options focus on training users on programming languages for HTML email builders and designing skills to enhance the look and feel of your emails. ## Capterra's 2026 Software Buying Trends Report ### Download our 2026 Software Buying Trends Report to see how successful software adopters avoid disappointment and how your business can, too. * * * **Methodology** We selected the three products with the highest ratings to feature in this article. To be considered for this list, products must: - Have at least 20 unique product reviews published on Capterra within the past two years, with an average rating of 3.0 or higher (as of May 19, 2023).  - Offer a free, stand-alone version of the software (not a trial version of the software where you must purchase the product after a limited amount of time). - Meet our email marketing software market definition: “_Email Marketing software enables the automation of email communication with prospects and customers._” The “best functionality” tool is identified based on the highest user ratings for functionality that a vendor receives based on user reviews as of May 19, 2023. The “most affordable” tool is identified based on the lowest pricing a vendor offered on their website in terms of cost to upgrade as of May 19, 2023. Read more about our editorial independence. Product research for this article was contributed by Akriti Sharma. Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from Capterra’s [email marketing software](https://www.capterra.com/email-marketing-software/) directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in the Capterra directory that offer them. Only products with publicly available pricing information, as of May 19, 2023, were considered for pricing calculation. * * * Looking for Email Marketing software?Check out Capterra's list of the [best Email Marketing software](https://www.capterra.com/email-marketing-software/) solutions. ### Was this article helpful? * * * ## About the Author [### Saumya Srivastava](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/ssrivastava/) Saumya Srivastava is a writer at Capterra. She provides insights to help small and midsize businesses identify the right software for their needs by analyzing over 550,000 Capterra user reviews and nearly 48,000 interactions between Capterra software advisors and buyers. Prior to working at Capterra, Saumya wrote content related to educational and advertising domains. ### RELATED READING - [Marketing ROI: Prioritizing Your Next Sales and Marketing CRM Investment](https://www.capterra.com/resources/marketing-roi-strategies/) - [How Integrating Email Automation With CRM Systems Boosts Customer Engagement](https://www.capterra.com/resources/integrating-email-automation-with-crm-systems/) - [How to Develop an Omnichannel Marketing Strategy for Customer Engagement](https://www.capterra.com/resources/crm-omnichannel-marketing-strategy/) - [CRM cloud vs. on-premise: Which is better for your business?](https://www.capterra.com/resources/crm-cloud-vs-on-premise/) -