MailerLite's free plan dropped from 1,000 to 500 subscribers: what it means and where to go
On 23 September 2025, MailerLite halved its free subscriber cap. If your list is between 500 and 1,000, you may be locked out of sends and automations. Here's the fee-math on staying versus switching.
What actually changed on 23 September 2025
MailerLite cut the subscriber ceiling on its free plan from 1,000 to 500, effective 23 September 2025 (MailerLite free plan update FAQ, accessed 2026-05-30).
Once a free account is over the 500-subscriber cap, three things stop until you upgrade or shrink the list:
- Active automations stop running.
- Scheduled campaigns won't send.
- You can't add new subscribers manually.
The monthly send allowance was not touched: the free plan still includes 12,000 emails per month (mailerlite.com/pricing, accessed 2026-05-30). So the bind is purely about list size, not volume. If you're at 480 subscribers sending weekly, nothing about your account changed. If you're at 700, your free account stops sending until you upgrade or trim the list.
MailerLite's stated reason for the change is continued investment in platform infrastructure and newer features, including an AI Assistant and digital-product-selling tools (free plan update FAQ, accessed 2026-05-30).
The fee-math at your actual subscriber count
Flat-fee platforms charge by list size. Substack charges nothing monthly but takes a cut of paid revenue. Those are different cost models, so compare them at the count that matters to you.
| Platform | 500 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 25,000 | Revenue cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | $0 or $10/mo | ~$15/mo* | slider-based* | slider-based* | 0% |
| Beehiiv | $0 | $0 | Scale (base $43/mo) | Max (base $96/mo) | 0% |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | $0 | $0 or $33/mo | not publicly listed | not publicly listed | 0% |
| Substack | $0 flat | $0 flat | $0 flat | $0 flat | 10% of paid revenue |
Sources: MailerLite, Beehiiv, Kit, all accessed 2026-05-30. The vendor pricing for MailerLite, Beehiiv and Kit above 1,000 subscribers is set by an interactive slider (or, for Kit, sales/custom) and is not published as a flat figure; we list what the vendor pages confirm and mark the rest "not publicly listed." *The ~$15/mo MailerLite figure at 1,000 subs comes from a third-party tracker, not the vendor slider — confirm on the live slider before you commit.
The headline: between 500 and 2,500 subscribers, Beehiiv is free and MailerLite is not. That gap is the whole story for most people the cut affected.
If you don't sell paid subscriptions
This is the simplest case. You want a list, a sender, and ideally automations, for as little as possible.
Beehiiv's free Launch plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited email sends (beehiiv.com/pricing, accessed 2026-05-30) — five times MailerLite's new free ceiling. For a 500-to-1,000-subscriber writer, that's the difference between $0 and $10-15/mo. Check Beehiiv's free Launch plan if your list is in that band.
Kit's free Newsletter plan covers up to 1,000 subscribers and includes one basic visual automation (kit.com/pricing, accessed 2026-05-30 — note: the included-subscriber tier is 1,000, not the 10,000 some third-party matrices claim). Unlimited and more advanced automations require the paid Creator plan ($33/mo billed monthly at 1,000 subs). So Kit free works as a sender with one automation; if you need full sequences, you're paying. See Kit's free Newsletter plan.
And if you'd rather just stay put: under 500 subscribers, MailerLite free is unchanged and remains a strong option. View MailerLite's plans if upgrading to the $10/mo Growing Business tier is fine with you.
Disclosure: links marked sponsored are affiliate links — we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no cost to you. Substack, Mailchimp and other editorial mentions are not affiliate links.
If you DO sell paid subscriptions, the cut is a sideshow
Here the monthly fee is the wrong thing to optimise. Substack charges no flat fee but takes 10% of all paid subscription revenue, on top of Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (plus a 0.7% billing fee on subscriptions started after July 2024) — see this Substack cost breakdown (note: published by Beehiiv, a competitor; we cite it for the fee figures, which match Substack's public terms).
Run the math. Say 200 of your subscribers pay $60/year — that's $12,000/year in paid revenue. Substack's 10% is $1,200/year before Stripe. Beehiiv takes 0% of subscription revenue, only the Stripe fee (beehiiv.com/pricing, accessed 2026-05-30), so on a flat paid plan your platform cost is fixed regardless of how much paid revenue you earn. The more paid revenue you earn, the worse Substack's percentage looks against any flat fee.
That's the wedge MailerLite's free-plan cut should make you notice: if you're already monetising, the question was never $10/mo versus $0. It's whether you want a platform taking a percentage of everything you earn. Beehiiv charges 0% on paid subscriptions.
Why this isn't only a MailerLite story
Free email tiers across the board shrank in 2025-2026, so don't assume a competitor's free plan will hold either.
Per reporting, Mailchimp's free plan now caps at 250 contacts with 500 monthly sends, and it removed the Classic Automation Builder from free around June 2025 (emailexpert.com, accessed 2026-05-30). Always confirm the current free limits on Mailchimp's own pricing page before relying on them. At 500 subscribers you'd need Mailchimp's Essentials plan, around $11/mo per that reporting (mailchimp.com).
The pattern is clear: free tiers are being trimmed as on-ramps, not destinations. That makes the move worth making once — to a platform whose free plan has real headroom (Beehiiv at 2,500) — rather than chasing the next vendor that cuts its cap.
FAQ
What exactly did MailerLite change on 23 September 2025?
It cut the free plan's subscriber limit from 1,000 to 500. The 12,000-emails-per-month send allowance was left unchanged (mailerlite.com/help/free-plan-update-faq, accessed 2026-05-30). Only list size was affected.
What happens if my free MailerLite list is over 500 subscribers?
Active automations stop, scheduled campaigns won't send, and you can't manually add new subscribers until you either upgrade to a paid plan or reduce your list back under 500 (MailerLite free plan update FAQ, accessed 2026-05-30).
What does it cost to stay on MailerLite after the cut?
The Growing Business plan starts at $10/mo (billed monthly) for up to 500 subscribers, with a discount when paid yearly, per mailerlite.com/pricing (accessed 2026-05-30). A third-party tracker lists roughly $15/mo at 1,000 subscribers; confirm on the live slider.
Is there a free alternative that covers more than 500 subscribers?
Yes. Beehiiv's free Launch plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, and Kit's free Newsletter plan covers up to 1,000 subscribers (with one basic automation). Both are $0 in the 500-1,000 band where MailerLite now charges (beehiiv.com/pricing, kit.com/pricing, accessed 2026-05-30).
I sell paid subscriptions — should I care about the monthly fee?
Less than you'd think. Substack charges $0 monthly but takes 10% of all paid subscription revenue plus Stripe fees. Beehiiv and Kit take 0% on subscription revenue. Above modest paid revenue, the percentage cut costs more than a flat plan.