How much does email marketing cost a small business?

On Brainito, 25 credits per 1,000 emails, with contacts free. A 1,000-contact list sent four times a month is 100 credits, which is $5 as a one-off pack or a small part of the $20 plan with its 600 credits. Plans are $20, $50, $100 and $500 a month, cancel any time, and the credits also pay for SEO, the website builder and audits. Most small businesses sit at $20 to $50.

Can I start for free?

Yes. Starting from this page gives you 50 free credits, about 2,000 emails, with no card. The templates, the designer, segments and all 11 automation flows are open on a free account, and your first newsletter can go out from a Brainito address the same day.

Do I need my own domain to start?

No. You can send from a Brainito address right away, up to 100 emails a day. When you want to send to the whole list from your own brand, add the DNS records Brainito shows you once. Your own domain is available on every account, including free.

What about deliverability for a small sender?

Small senders mostly get into trouble by emailing old or bought lists. Addresses are validated on import, so typos and dead mailboxes are caught, and bounces, complaints and unsubscribes are suppressed on every later send. Once your domain is verified it is authenticated, warm-up is guided, and the daily safety cap rises with your plan.

How are consent and unsubscribes handled?

Every email carries an unsubscribe link and the choice is honored immediately on every channel. Consent is recorded per contact and per channel, so adding a phone number does not mean a person agreed to texts. You are responsible for importing only people who gave you permission.

Yes, any time, from the billing page. Credits you already hold never expire, so canceling does not take back what you paid for. If email is occasional for you, skip the plan and buy 100 credits for $5 whenever you have something to send.

I run a local business. Do I need SMS as well?

Not on day one. Start with the newsletter and the two flows. If appointments, reminders or flash offers matter to your trade, SMS and WhatsApp are included on the $50 plan and above, on the same contacts and consent records, paid in credits per message with the cost shown before you confirm.

What should a small business ignore?

A dedicated IP, predictive analytics, send-time optimization, A/B tests on every send and a stack of separate lists. They are built for lists in the hundreds of thousands. Keep one list clean, send the newsletter every month, let the two flows run, and read the revenue report. Add the rest when the list has grown enough to show a difference.

Email Marketing for Small Business

Small business email marketing is one list, one newsletter and two automations

You do not need a marketing team to run email well. You need a clean list, a template that looks finished, a newsletter that goes out every month, a welcome flow, one follow-up flow, and a sender that works today. All of that is open on a free Brainito account. Email is 25 credits per 1,000, contacts are free, and the first send can go from a Brainito address before you touch DNS.

What a small business list costs to email

Most small businesses hold a list in the hundreds or low thousands and email it a few times a month. Set your own numbers. Contacts are free, email is 25 credits per 1,000, and the credits come from the same balance that pays for everything else in the workspace.

Contacts on your list1,000

Free and unlimited on Brainito. This only prices the others.

Emails you send a month4,000 (4 per contact)

Campaigns plus automations. Not sure? 4 per contact is typical.

Your Brainito cost

4,000 emails is 100 credits at 25 per 1,000. One pack covers the month; credits never expire.

The same list elsewhere

Published prices at the 2,500-contact tier, the smallest each vendor lists that covers 1,000 contacts.

MailerLiteComfort, not published at this size$25/mo
MailchimpEssentials, not published at this size$45/mo
Constant Contactnot publishedNot listed

Brainito at the same volume: $5, 100 credits for $5.

Competitor figures are published list prices, verified September 2026, at the nearest published tier rather than your exact count. Some are annual-billing or calculated rates, marked on the row. Check the vendor’s own calculator before you switch.

1,000 contacts emailed four times a month is 4,000 emails, which is 100 credits: $5 as a one-off pack, or a small part of the $20 plan. Plans from $20 a month, cancel any time, or 100 credits for $5.

What a small business actually needs

Six things, in the order to set them up, then the two things most small businesses should ignore until the list is much bigger.

One list, kept clean
Import a CSV or connect your store. Addresses are validated on the way in, and bounces, complaints and unsubscribes are suppressed on their own afterward. Use tags and segments instead of separate lists, so a customer is one record, not three.
Learn more
Templates that look finished without a designer
19 designs covering welcome, newsletter, promotion, product, seasonal, event, transactional and feedback emails, edited by dragging blocks. Change the logo, the colors and the words. They are built to look complete before you add a single photo.
Learn more
A monthly newsletter you can keep up
Four screens: pick a template, design it and send yourself a test, choose who gets it and when, review, send. Schedule it for the same week every month. One newsletter a month to 1,000 people is 25 credits.
Learn more
A welcome series
Three emails over a week to every new contact: who you are, how to get the most from you, something to get started. It comes ready in the automation gallery and costs at most 75 credits per 1,000 new contacts.
Learn more
One follow-up automation
Pick the one that fits your business. A store wants Abandoned Checkout Recovery or Post-Purchase Thank You. A service business wants Win-Back for customers who have gone quiet. A local shop can run Birthday. All 11 flows are open on every account.
Learn more
A sender that works today
Send from a Brainito address right away, up to 100 emails a day, which covers a test to the team and a first small campaign. When you are ready, add the DNS records once to send from your own domain and lift the limit.
Learn more
What to ignore for now
A dedicated sending IP, predictive scoring, send-time optimization and A/B tests on every campaign. None of these move the numbers for a list under a few thousand. When you need a dedicated IP, it comes with the $500 plan, not as a separate purchase.
Learn more
What it should cost
For a 1,000-contact list sent four times a month, about 100 credits. That is $5 as a one-off pack, or part of the $20 plan, whose 600 credits also pay for SEO, the website builder and the weekly audit. Credits never expire, and you can cancel any time.
Learn more

What a small business pays for, here and elsewhere

	Brainito	Typical email tool
Price basis	Brainito:25 credits per 1,000 emails sent, contacts free	Typical email tool:A contact tier that steps up as the list grows
A 1,000-contact list, four sends a month	Brainito:100 credits: $5 as a pack, or inside the $20 plan	Typical email tool:The entry tier at 1,000 contacts, whether or not you send
Templates	Brainito:19 designs and the visual designer on every account	Typical email tool:The full library on paid tiers
Automations	Brainito:11 flows on every account, free included	Typical email tool:A single welcome email or a few steps on free and entry tiers
Sending from your own domain	Brainito:Every account, with a Brainito address while you set it up	Typical email tool:A shared domain by default, your own on paid tiers
Other channels	Brainito:SMS and WhatsApp from the $50 plan, same contacts and consent	Typical email tool:SMS as a separate add-on with its own plan, if offered

Set it up in an afternoon

Import the list and pick a template
Upload your CSV or connect your store. Only people who agreed to hear from you, which the acceptable use policy also requires. Pick a newsletter design, drop in your logo and colors, and send yourself a test.
Send the first newsletter from a Brainito address
Choose the whole list or a segment, send now or schedule, check the review screen and send. Up to 100 emails a day go from a Brainito address with no DNS setup, which is enough for a first send to a small list or a test run to your regulars.
Switch on two flows, then verify the domain
Open the automation gallery, activate Welcome Series and one more flow that fits your business, and edit the copy. Then add the DNS records shown in the app so every future send comes from your own domain with the daily limit lifted.

Send your first campaign

Questions people ask

One list, one newsletter, two flows. Start this afternoon.

Import the list, send the first newsletter from a Brainito address, switch on Welcome Series and one more flow. 50 free credits when you start here, contacts free, no card.

Small business email marketing is one list, one newsletter and two automations

What a small business list costs to email

What a small business actually needs

One list, kept clean

Templates that look finished without a designer

A monthly newsletter you can keep up

A welcome series

One follow-up automation

A sender that works today

What to ignore for now

What it should cost

What a small business pays for, here and elsewhere

Set it up in an afternoon

Import the list and pick a template

Send the first newsletter from a Brainito address

Switch on two flows, then verify the domain

Questions people ask

One list, one newsletter, two flows. Start this afternoon.

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