A design-led email platform with polished templates and a drag-and-drop builder, sold on a subscriber ladder with no free plan.
Best for
US teams and agencies that care most about how the email looks and are willing to pay more than the budget platforms for design polish.
Every fee we track, grouped by where it applies.
Campaign Monitor (owned by Marigold) is built around design: its template library and drag-and-drop builder are among the best looking in the category, which is why it is popular with agencies and brand-led teams that care how an email looks in the inbox.
It is sold on three plans. Lite is the cheap way in but caps your monthly sends at five times your subscriber count and throttles automation to that same allowance. Essentials removes the send cap and the automation limit, which is where most serious senders end up. There is no free plan, only a 30-day trial, and pricing is published up to 50,000 subscribers; above that Campaign Monitor quotes.
Campaign Monitor was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Nashville, USA.
Side-by-side with the closest alternatives by estimated cost.
Tier pricing based on 1,000 subscribers and 5,000 emails per month, using each free plan where it fits.
Campaign Monitor
$47/mo est.
Constant Contact
$35/mo est.
Klaviyo
$30/mo est.
Mailchimp
$27/mo est.
The same questions US merchants ask before signing up.
Campaign Monitor starts at $13/mo (Lite) on the Lite plan and steps up at every subscriber tier. Essentials costs roughly double Lite at the same list size, and it is the plan most senders actually need, because Lite caps your monthly sends and throttles automation. Campaign Monitor publishes prices up to 50,000 subscribers; above that it quotes.
No: No (30-day free trial). The column headed "Free" on Campaign Monitor's own pricing page is a 30-day trial capped at 500 contacts and 500 sends, not a permanent free tier. If a genuinely free plan matters, MailerLite, Brevo, Kit and Mailchimp all have one.
Two things, and they are the reason Lite is cheap. Your monthly sends are capped at five times your subscriber count, so a 1,000-subscriber list can only send 5,000 emails a month, which is about five campaigns. And automation on Lite is throttled to that same allowance rather than being unlimited. Essentials removes both limits. The calculator on this page applies the send cap, so if you tell it you send more than five times your list size it will move you to Essentials, which is what Campaign Monitor would do too.
Design. Its templates and drag-and-drop builder are the best looking in this comparison, and that is the main reason agencies and brand-led teams choose it over cheaper platforms. Its analytics and engagement reporting are strong too. What it is not is the value pick: at the same list size MailerLite and Kit both cost less.
Campaign Monitor holds a 4.1-star rating on Capterra. Reviewers consistently praise the template quality and how easy the builder is, and the most common complaints are about price at larger list sizes and the limits on the entry plan, which matches what the pricing ladder above shows.
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