{"id":5509,"date":"2026-09-02T07:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mailercloud.com\/blog\/?p=5509"},"modified":"2026-10-09T18:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T18:53:13","slug":"email-marketing-automation-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mailercloud.com\/blog\/email-marketing-automation-software","title":{"rendered":"12 Best Email Marketing Automation Software Tools in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last updated: September 2026 | Pricing verified on 1 September 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most email marketing automation software doesn’t give you automation at the price on the pricing page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HubSpot’s Starter plan allows 10 automated actions. Real workflows start at $800\/month. GetResponse’s Starter plan gives you exactly one automation. ActiveCampaign’s Starter caps each automation at five actions. Kit hands you 10,000 free subscribers and zero automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We checked all 12 vendors’ own pricing and plan-comparison pages on 1 September 2026 and wrote down what each plan actually permits \u2014 not what the marketing page implies. Here’s what we found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quick Answer:<\/strong> The best email marketing automation software in 2026 is Mailercloud<\/strong>, because it is the only platform on this list that includes a working advanced automation, 1,000 contacts and 12,000 monthly emails on a permanently free plan, with Premium at $10\/month for 5,000 contacts. The other 11 tools worth comparing are ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Omnisend, Klaviyo, MailerLite, Mailchimp, HubSpot, GetResponse, Kit, Drip and Customer.io<\/strong>. The figure that decides most purchases is not the headline price but the automation limit on the entry plan — HubSpot allows 10 automated actions before jumping to $800\/month, and GetResponse allows exactly one workflow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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