What email marketing actually costs at 1,000 subscribers

Compare free plans, annual bills and selling fees for a 1,000-subscriber newsletter. Check what an upgrade buys before paying for more capacity.

About this guide

Published by StackOnSale. Publisher: Emmanuel Grenier. Guide updated: 2026-09-13.

Research based on official vendor pages, not a hands-on review.

StackOnSale may earn a commission through disclosed affiliate links on the site. This does not decide which tool fits your needs.

Paid-plan snapshot for a 1,000-person list

Check the free options below first. These are different feature bundles, not a cheapest-to-best ranking. Dollar prices are before taxes, processing and add-ons; confirm your billing currency.

Sources reviewed 2026-09-13. These are dated plan details, not a live checkout quote. Confirm current pricing and eligibility on the official pages.

Some vendor links on offer pages are disclosed affiliate links; this is not a paid ranking.

Plans recorded in this guide, with billing and important limits
Plan	Recorded price	Billing and limits	Before choosing
Kit Creator	$390/year	Billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers	Compare the paid automation features with what your newsletter needs.
GetResponse Marketer	$48.38/month	Paid annually at 1,000 contacts	The displayed rate × 12 is $580.56, calculated. Starter costs less; contacts may count across lists.
Systeme.io Startup	$170/year	Billed annually, up to 5,000 contacts	The vendor's table and FAQ conflict on funnel limits. Confirm the allowance.
beehiiv Lite	From $588/year	Starting tier, $49 a month billed yearly; read October 5, 2026	Select your subscriber count. The maximum supported audience is not included at this price.

At 1,000 subscribers, check the free plan first

Kit's free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers, Systeme.io Free up to 2,000 contacts, and beehiiv Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Each can accommodate a list of 1,000 within its published capacity; that does not mean each includes the same workflows or selling tools.

This guide compares published pricing and documented limits, not deliverability tests or promised earnings. Prices below are the dollar amounts displayed during our review, before taxes and add-ons. GetResponse also serves localised currencies, so confirm your billing currency and final total; these are not Canadian-dollar conversions.

Find the feature you would actually pay for

Kit Free includes broadcasts, tagging, forms, digital products and subscriptions. Its help centre places visual automations, sequences, rules, RSS campaigns and earning from Paid Recommendations on paid plans. Sending a newsletter and running an automated welcome sequence are different requirements.

beehiiv Free includes unlimited email sends. Lite adds email automations and monetisation tools, including paid subscriptions and ad monetization. Access to a monetisation feature is not a promise of advertisers, paying readers or revenue.

Systeme.io Free includes 3 funnels and 1 automation rule in the comparison table. Map out the funnel and automation you need before choosing an upgrade. A high contact limit does not remove other plan limits.

Use annual totals and the correct audience tier

Kit Creator shows $390 billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers. Twelve payments at its $39 monthly rate total $468, so annual billing saves $78. Use the $390 total, not the rounded $33 monthly badge multiplied by twelve.

GetResponse Marketer displays $48.38 per month paid annually at 1,000 contacts, compared with $59 monthly. Multiplying the displayed annual-billing rate by twelve gives $580.56; that is a calculation, not a checkout quote. Marketer is not its entry plan: Starter displays $15.58 per month paid annually at the same list size, with fewer automation features.

Systeme.io Startup displays $170 annually or $17 monthly. Twelve monthly payments total $204, a $34 difference. The plan includes 5,000 contacts and 5 courses. Its table lists 10 sales funnels, while the FAQ says unlimited funnels; we do not promise unlimited funnels. Confirm that conflict before buying for funnel capacity.

beehiiv Lite starts at $49 a month billed yearly, $588 a year, at 1,000 subscribers (read October 5, 2026). Pricing increases with the selected subscriber count; the plan's 100,000-subscriber maximum is not included at the entry price. Use the subscriber selector, not just the plan's maximum capacity.

The same person can count differently across platforms

Kit's pricing table defines subscribers as unique, active subscribers. GetResponse says an address on multiple lists counts separately on each list. A thousand people spread across overlapping lists can therefore represent more than a thousand billable contacts.

GetResponse also bases billing on the month's peak active subscriber count and total contacts added. Removing contacts later does not necessarily undo a higher billing tier. Check counting rules and your import plan before assuming that your current list size is the whole bill.

Separate the subscription from fees on sales

Systeme.io advertises 0% platform transaction fees, and beehiiv Lite advertises a 0% take rate on paid subscriptions. Payment processing fees remain separate. A zero platform fee is not the same as receiving every dollar of a sale.

For a planning example only, assume a hypothetical platform charges 5% on $20,000 of eligible annual sales. The fee would be $1,000 ($20,000 × 0.05), before processing. This is not a claimed rate for any platform here or a forecast of your sales.

Compare your expected subscription, platform fee and payment-processing costs separately. If you do not sell through the platform, a sales-fee comparison may not affect your decision at all.

Nonprofits: request the discount before purchasing

Mailchimp offers a 15% discount to verified nonprofits and charities. It says it cannot apply retroactive discounts or refund past purchases for this purpose, so request the discount before purchasing a marketing plan.

US organisations supply an EIN and may be asked for a 501(c)(3) letter. Organisations elsewhere provide their website and may need additional evidence. Confirm the eligible plan and approved price with Mailchimp; the public help page is not an individual approval.

Choose with a short test, not just a discount

Write one sentence describing the job you need: send a weekly newsletter, run a welcome sequence, sell a subscription, or connect a course funnel. Test that workflow with the actual free-plan limits, including branding, integrations and export options. Avoid importing a full list merely to explore a tool.

Consider a paid plan when it unlocks a feature or capacity you need. Before an annual commitment, confirm the amount due now, renewal and cancellation terms, subscriber-count rules and fees on sales. The offers below link to recorded conditions and official proof; some have disclosed affiliate links, which do not determine our editorial comparison.

Questions

Can I run a newsletter for free at 1,000 subscribers?

Kit Free, Systeme.io Free and beehiiv Free all have published capacities above 1,000. Check the workflow as well as the list size: some automations, monetisation features and branding controls require a paid plan.

Does 0% mean there are no payment fees?

No. A 0% platform transaction fee or take rate does not include free payment processing. Check the processor's charges, your currency and any other applicable costs separately.

How much does Systeme.io annual billing save?

At the displayed Startup prices, $17 × 12 is $204 versus $170 billed annually: a $34 base-subscription saving. The table and FAQ disagree about funnels, so confirm the limit instead of assuming it is unlimited.

Does beehiiv's starting price include 100,000 subscribers?

No. The starting price is for an entry subscriber tier. The maximum supported audience is not the audience included at that price; select your actual count on the pricing page.

Is GetResponse Marketer the cheapest GetResponse plan?

No. Starter is priced lower and has fewer automation features. Compare the plan, contact count, billing currency and period, and remember that the same email address on multiple GetResponse lists can count more than once.

Should I choose a platform because it has an ad network?

Not by that feature alone. Check eligibility, available opportunities and your audience fit. Paying for access to monetisation tools does not guarantee revenue.

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