The best email marketing for most authors sends a reader magnet automatically and stays cheap while the list is in the low thousands. At the list sizes priced here, EmailFig is the most affordable all-in-one option of the seven: free up to 4,000 readers and $15 a month at 5,000. Kit has the largest free plan that sends email (10,000 readers) and has a cross-promotion network, MailerLite is the familiar middle ground, and Flodesk suits authors who care most about how the email looks.
Key Takeaways
- At 5,000 readers, billed monthly, the paid plans here range from $15 (EmailFig) to $89 (Kit Creator). At 1,000 readers, EmailFig, Kit and EmailOctopus all have a free plan that fits.
- Kit’s free plan holds 10,000 subscribers to EmailFig’s 4,000, but it has no automated sequences. A reader magnet sent by a welcome series needs Kit Creator, at $39 a month for 1,000 readers.
- Flodesk is no longer flat-rate. Its pricing page says the unlimited plan was retired for new members on December 2, 2025, and Pro is now $28 at 1,000 subscribers and $59 at 5,000.
- EmailFig has no campaign A/B testing and no author recommendation network, and it cannot sell books from your list. For direct sales, look at Kit or Flodesk’s Everything plan.
Comparison table
Prices are monthly, in USD, for the plan named in each row, read from each vendor’s pricing page on November 4, 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | 1,000 readers | 5,000 readers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EmailFig | The lowest price as the list grows | 4,000 contacts, 10,000 emails a month, automations included | Free ($9 to remove branding) | $15 |
| Kit Creator | Cross-promotion and selling books directly | 10,000 subscribers, no automated sequences | $39 | $89 |
| MailerLite Comfort | A familiar editor with automations on the free plan | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | $19 | $49 |
| Flodesk Pro | Design-led emails | No email sending | $28 | $59 |
| Mailchimp Essentials | Authors already on Mailchimp | 250 contacts | $26.50 | $75 |
| EmailOctopus Pro | A simple, low-cost paid plan | 2,500 subscribers, 10,000 emails a month, branded | $13.50 | $31.50 |
| Brevo Starter | Infrequent senders who also want SMS | 300 emails a day | $17 | $32 |
Mailchimp’s 1,000 figure is its 501 to 1,500 contact tier, and its 5,000 figure is the 2,501 to 5,000 tier. Brevo charges by emails sent, not readers, so its figures are the cheapest Starter tier whose contact allowance covers the list (1,500 contacts on the 10,000-email tier, then the 20,000-email tier). Starter has no automation workflows. Every vendor’s full price ladder is in the real cost of email marketing in 2026.
The 7 tools
1. EmailFig
Best for: authors who want reader magnets, tags and automations on a free plan, and the lowest paid price of the tools here once the list passes 4,000 readers.
EmailFig is the most affordable all-in-one option here: free up to 4,000 contacts and $15 a month at 5,000, where the other paid plans cost $31.50 to $89.
The free plan covers the setup most indie authors need. A “Lead magnet delivery” automation recipe and a “Lead magnet” landing page starter are built in, so a new reader signs up on the page and gets the download link in a welcome email without you doing anything. Automations start when someone joins a list or gets a tag, and support waits and yes/no branches. Segments use lists, tags and engagement, so you can keep a fantasy list apart from a thriller list. You also get signup forms, popups, double opt-in, 200+ templates and drag-and-drop or HTML editors. EmailFig connects to Zapier, Make, n8n and WordPress.
Pricing: free to 4,000 contacts and 10,000 emails a month, no card and no expiry. Paid plans remove the EmailFig branding: $9 a month at 1,500 contacts, $11 at 2,500, $15 at 5,000 and $27 at 10,000, billed monthly, each including 10 emails per contact a month. See pricing.
Where it falls short: no campaign A/B testing. You cannot sell an ebook or a signed paperback from your list the way Kit and Flodesk’s Everything plan can. No recommendation network for swapping readers with other authors, which is Kit’s strongest growth feature. And the free plan holds 4,000 contacts to Kit’s 10,000. If your list is 6,000 readers and you only send a newsletter, Kit’s free plan costs nothing and EmailFig costs $21.
2. Kit
Best for: authors who want to grow through other writers’ newsletters and sell books or courses from the same account.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is the usual pick for serious authors. Its Recommendations network lets Kit newsletters recommend each other to new subscribers, and Kit’s pricing page lists it on the free plan. Kit also lets you sell digital products on every plan, including free, for 3.5% plus 30 cents a sale. Tagging and segmentation are on the free plan too.
Pricing: the free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator is $39 a month at 1,000 subscribers, $89 at 5,000 and $139 at 10,000, billed monthly. Yearly billing saves about 17%.
Where it falls short: Kit’s comparison table leaves the visual automation builder and automated email sequences off the free plan. So the standard author setup, a reader magnet sent by a welcome series, needs Creator. So does removing the Kit branding. The jump from free to $89 at 5,000 is the steepest in this list. See Kit compared with EmailFig.
3. MailerLite
Best for: authors who want a widely used editor and automations from day one, with a list under a few hundred.
MailerLite is the other common pick, mostly for its clean editor and free-plan automations. The free plan also includes a landing page, signup forms and one digital product or booking.
Pricing: free up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Comfort is $19 a month at 1,000 subscribers (10,000 emails a month) and $49 at 5,000, billed monthly. Power, with unlimited automations and sends, is $39 and $69. Yearly billing saves 10%.
Where it falls short: the free plan stops at 250 subscribers. Many reviews still quote a 1,000-subscriber free plan, but the pricing page says 250. A list of 1,000 readers costs $19 a month here and nothing on EmailFig, Kit or EmailOctopus. See MailerLite compared with EmailFig.
4. Flodesk
Best for: authors whose brand is visual and who want polished emails without designing them.
Flodesk is known for its designer templates, and its free plan gives you forms, landing pages and link-in-bio pages to start collecting readers. Its Everything plan adds checkout and sales pages for selling directly.
Pricing: Flodesk is no longer flat-rate. Its pricing page says the original unlimited plan was retired for new members on December 2, 2025, and that earlier subscribers keep it. New members pay by subscriber count. Pro, with unlimited workflows, is $28 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers and $59 for up to 5,000. Lite is $25 and $52 but tops out at 25,000 subscribers and includes one workflow as a limited-time bonus. Everything starts at $54 at 1,000. Prices are monthly; annual billing gives a month free.
Where it falls short: the free plan does not send email at all, so Flodesk costs money from the first newsletter. Hiding the Flodesk footer needs Pro or Everything. Advice that calls Flodesk the cheap option for big lists describes the retired plan.
5. Mailchimp
Best for: authors already on Mailchimp who would rather not move a list mid-series.
Many authors started on Mailchimp, and it works. Reviews mostly steer authors away from it on price, and the numbers agree.
Pricing: the free plan is limited to 250 contacts. Essentials is $26.50 a month for 501 to 1,500 contacts and $75 for 2,501 to 5,000, billed monthly, at the regular price after any promotion. Standard, with the full automation builder, is $45 and $100 at the same tiers.
Where it falls short: Essentials allows up to four steps per automation flow, which covers a short welcome series but not much more. At 5,000 readers it costs five times EmailFig’s $15. Moving your list off Mailchimp covers the switch, and Mailchimp compared with EmailFig has the full grid.
6. EmailOctopus
Best for: authors who want a plain tool and a low paid price.
EmailOctopus is often called the budget pick, and the free plan backs that up: 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month, with the visual automation builder and up to three sequences.
Pricing: free to 2,500 subscribers. Pro is $13.50 a month at 1,000 subscribers and $31.50 at 5,000, billed monthly. Yearly billing saves 10%.
Where it falls short: free-plan emails carry EmailOctopus branding, and the three-sequence limit fills up once you add a launch sequence and an ARC sequence to your welcome series. At 5,000 readers, Pro costs about twice EmailFig’s $15. See EmailOctopus compared with EmailFig.
7. Brevo
Best for: authors who send rarely and want SMS in the same account.
Brevo prices by emails sent, not by readers, which suits an author who mails only around a launch.
Pricing: the free plan sends up to 300 emails a day. Starter starts at $9 a month for 5,000 emails, but each low tier also caps contacts: 500 on the 5,000-email tier, 1,500 on the 10,000-email tier ($17), 2,500 on the 15,000-email tier ($25). A list of 5,000 needs the 20,000-email tier at $32, billed monthly.
Where it falls short: Starter’s signup forms can send a follow-up email when someone signs up, but multi-step marketing automation is on Standard, from $18 a month. The 300-a-day free limit means a 1,000-reader newsletter takes four days to go out. See Brevo compared with EmailFig.
What authors need from an email tool
Author email comes down to three jobs, and each rules some tools in or out.
Delivering a reader magnet
A reader magnet is a free short story, prequel or bonus chapter offered in exchange for an email address, usually from the back matter of a book. The tool has to send it the moment the reader confirms, which takes an automation or welcome sequence. Check that it is on the plan you will actually pay for.
- On the free plan: EmailFig (built-in lead magnet recipe), MailerLite (to 250 readers), EmailOctopus (up to three sequences).
- Paid plan needed: Kit (Creator), Flodesk (Lite with one workflow, or Pro).
- Mailchimp: Essentials allows four steps per flow, and the free plan stops at 250 contacts.
- Brevo: Starter forms can send one follow-up email; a real sequence needs Standard.
Host the file with a delivery service or your own site and put the link in the welcome email. Turn on double opt-in so a magnet hunter with a typo address never joins the list.
Launch lists and ARC lists
A launch list is the readers who want release-day news for one series. An ARC list is the smaller group who get an advance review copy and are expected to post a review. Both are subsets of your main list. Run them as tags, not separate lists, so each reader is counted once.
Every tool here supports tags or segments. The difference is what a tag can trigger. On EmailFig an automation can start when a tag is added, so tagging a reader “ARC: Book 3” can send the download link, wait a week, and send a review reminder that branches on whether they clicked. Kit and Flodesk do the same on their paid plans. On Mailchimp Essentials, the four-step limit makes the reminder chain tight.
Growing from a few hundred readers
Most author lists start in the hundreds. At that size the free plan matters more than the paid ladder, and the free plans differ a lot:
| Tool | Free plan holds | Free plan sends automated sequences |
|---|---|---|
| EmailFig | 4,000 contacts | Yes |
| Kit | 10,000 subscribers | No |
| EmailOctopus | 2,500 subscribers | Up to 3 |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers | Yes |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts | Not clear from the pricing page |
| Flodesk | Unlimited, but sends no email | No |
If your list will sit under 10,000 and you only send a newsletter, Kit’s free plan is the cheapest answer. If you want a reader magnet sequence without paying, EmailFig covers you to 4,000 and EmailOctopus to 2,500. Growth itself comes from the back matter link, a landing page for the magnet, and for Kit users, its Recommendations network. Our free tiers compared and cheap email marketing under 2,500 subscribers posts go further on free plans.
If your newsletter is the product and readers pay for it, you want a publishing platform such as Substack or beehiiv.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best email marketing for authors?
For most indie authors, the best email marketing tool sends a reader magnet automatically and stays cheap in the low thousands. EmailFig does that free up to 4,000 readers and costs $15 a month at 5,000. Kit is the pick if you want its cross-promotion network or to sell books directly, at $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers on Creator. MailerLite is a familiar alternative at $19 a month for 1,000 subscribers.
What is the best newsletter platform for authors?
If the newsletter markets your books, use an email marketing tool with automations and tags: EmailFig, Kit, MailerLite or Flodesk. If the newsletter is itself the product and readers pay for it, a publishing platform such as Substack or beehiiv fits better. Kit sits between the two, since it sells digital products and subscriptions alongside email.
Is Kit free for authors?
Yes. Kit’s free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers, the largest free plan here that sends email, and more than EmailFig’s 4,000. But Kit’s pricing page leaves automated email sequences and the visual automation builder off the free plan, so a reader magnet welcome series needs Creator, which is $39 a month at 1,000 subscribers and $89 at 5,000.
Is Flodesk still flat-rate pricing?
No. Flodesk’s pricing page says its flat-rate unlimited plan was retired for new members on December 2, 2025, and members who joined before then keep it. New Flodesk accounts pay by subscriber count: Pro is $28 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers and $59 for up to 5,000, billed monthly.
Should authors use Mailchimp?
Mailchimp is one of the more expensive options for an author list. Its free plan holds 250 contacts, and Essentials costs $26.50 a month for up to 1,500 contacts and $75 for 2,501 to 5,000, with up to four steps per automation flow. EmailFig costs nothing at 1,500 readers and $15 at 5,000.
How many email subscribers does an author need?
There is no minimum. A list of a few hundred engaged readers is enough to make a launch week count, and most author lists live in the low thousands. That is why the free plan matters: EmailFig is free to 4,000, EmailOctopus to 2,500 and Kit to 10,000, while MailerLite and Mailchimp stop at 250.
For the full price grid at larger sizes, see cheap email marketing at 5,000 subscribers and the real cost of email marketing in 2026.