What church email has to do
Church email is not one job. It is at least five jobs that share a list and a small staff, and they have different timing. The weekly bulletin goes out on a fixed day and needs to arrive before the service times it announces. Newcomer follow-up depends on the week after a visit, when a guest is still deciding whether to come back. Giving appeals are occasional and sensitive, and they should read as thanks and vision rather than pressure. Volunteer notices are short and time-bound: a rota change, a setup reminder, a cancellation. Campus or small-group messages go to a subset of people only.
A tool that does one of these well may fail at another. Bulletin senders care about templates a volunteer can edit without help, and about reliable sending on a fixed weekday. Newcomer follow-up needs automations that start when someone is added to a list and stop when they are placed in a small group. Giving appeals need segments, so that a one-time giver is not treated like a member who gives every month. Multi-campus churches also need a way to keep one person’s record in one place when they move between sites.
Most email platforms are not giving platforms. They send the appeal, the thank-you and the statement, but payments go through a separate giving system. Keep that line clear when you compare tools: a gift is processed by your giving provider, and the email tool handles the message around it. Confirm what each vendor connects to on its pricing or integrations page before you assume a link exists.
Consent and privacy matter more in a church than in most small businesses. Families share addresses, children’s ministries have parents on the list, and people who visited years ago may not expect a regular mailing. Confirm how each address was collected before you import it, and record that source with the contact. Check your local data-protection rules before you import any list.
Each tool, for this use
Each section below covers the same four questions: what the tool does well for a congregation, where it falls short, what it costs at the level a church is likely to need, and where to read the current prices. The sections are in rough order of how often churches start with them, not in a ranking.
MailerLite
MailerLite is the tool we would suggest first to a congregation that is just starting. The free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, so a church of that size can send four bulletins a month and stay inside the limit without paying. Its plan structure is simple enough that a secretary can learn the editor in an evening, and the email allowance on paid plans is generous: the Comfort plan’s monthly allowance is ten times its subscriber ceiling, which is 5,000 emails a month at the 500-subscriber tier.
Where it falls short: the free plan ends at 250 subscribers, so a congregation with a larger directory will move to a paid plan quickly. Its journey depth is lighter than ActiveCampaign’s, which matters for a multi-campus assimilation process. Plan for a simple newcomer welcome sequence rather than a full pipeline.
Price: free to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month; Comfort is $12 a month billed monthly or $10.80 a month billed yearly at the 500-subscriber tier; Power is $25 a month or $22.50 billed yearly with unlimited monthly emails. See MailerLite’s pricing page.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp suits a church where several volunteers will take turns on the bulletin, because many people already know its editor and its template library. Its free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a limit of 250 sends a day, which is enough for a small congregation’s weekly send. The Standard plan is $20 a month at the default 500-contact selector, which covers up to 6,000 emails a month at that size.
Where it falls short: the price rises with each contact band. At 2,501 to 5,000 contacts the page lists $100 a month, and at 5,001 to 10,000 contacts it lists $135 a month, so a directory that keeps growing will cost more than the active congregation alone would. Count the people you actually mail, and decide whether inactive names belong on the list before you choose the band.
Price: free to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month; Standard from $20 a month at 500 contacts; contact bands above that are listed on the pricing page. See Mailchimp’s pricing page.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact works well for a congregation that wants a template-led tool with events and a clear workflow for a rotating volunteer team. The Lite plan includes email and social media tools with monthly sends up to ten times the contact count. The Standard plan adds automation, scheduling, A/B testing and sends up to twelve times the contact count, which is useful for a welcome sequence for new people. Premium adds advanced automation, segmentation, reporting and 500 SMS a month.
Where it falls short: there is no free plan, only a free trial that needs no credit card. The price depends on your contact count, so you will need to check the page for your exact size before you budget. For a church with a large directory and a small staff, that makes the total cost harder to predict than a flat per-tier price.
Price: Lite from $12 a month billed monthly or $10.20 billed yearly; Standard from $35 a month or $29.75 billed yearly; Premium from $80 a month or $68 billed yearly. See Constant Contact’s pricing page.
Brevo
Brevo is useful for a church with a large directory of past visitors and members who receive an occasional mailing rather than a weekly one. The free plan holds up to 100,000 contacts and allows 300 email sends a day, so storage is not the constraint. That makes it a sensible home for a directory that is much larger than the active congregation.
Where it falls short: the 300-per-day cap on the free plan means a bulletin to a few thousand people takes several days to send, which does not suit a fixed Sunday-morning send. The Starter plan lifts the daily limit and starts at 5,000 emails a month, and the Standard plan adds automation, A/B testing and advanced reports. Plan the send schedule before you rely on the free tier for regular bulletins.
Price: Free with up to 100,000 contacts and 300 sends a day; Starter from $9 a month for 5,000 emails a month with no daily sending limit; Standard from $18 a month. See Brevo’s pricing page.
Kit
Kit suits a pastor who teaches through a newsletter that extends the sermon during the week. The free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited broadcasts, landing pages, forms and tagging, so a teaching list can grow without a bill. The writing and landing-page tools are the reason a pastor chooses it, not the congregational operations.
Where it falls short: visual automations and sequences start on the Creator plan, so a newcomer welcome flow needs a paid plan. Kit is a publishing tool at heart, and it does not replace a church’s operations, rota or campus handoffs. Pair it with a bulletin tool if the congregation needs both.
Price: Free for up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator is $33 a month billed yearly, adding visual automations, unlimited sequences and A/B subject-line tests; Pro is $66 a month billed yearly. See Kit’s pricing page.
AWeber
AWeber is a sensible choice for a congregation that has run a long-established list and wants to keep it in one familiar place. The Lite plan is $15 a month for 500 subscribers and 5,000 email sends a month, and the Plus plan is $30 a month for 500 subscribers and 6,000 sends. A 14-day free trial lets you test the editor with a real list before paying.
Where it falls short: there is no ongoing free plan, and the tiers shown are for 500 subscribers, so a larger directory needs the pricing page for the exact figure. Check the send allowance against your actual weekly volume before committing.
Price: Lite $15 a month and Plus $30 a month, both for 500 subscribers; 14-day free trial. See AWeber’s pricing page.
Moosend
Moosend is a low-cost option for a lean ministry that wants automation without paying for a large suite. The Pro plan at 500 contacts is $9 a month, or $7 billed yearly, with unlimited emails. That is enough to run a newcomer welcome flow and a seasonal reminder without moving to a higher tier.
Where it falls short: there is no free plan, and the price climbs quickly with the contact count. At 1,000 contacts the page lists $16 a month, at 5,000 it lists $48, and at 10,000 it lists $88, or $70 billed yearly. A church with a large directory should count its contacts before choosing this option. The vendor also offers a 30-day free trial that needs no credit card, which is a good way to test a flow.
Price: Pro from $9 a month at 500 contacts, or $7 billed yearly; higher contact counts are listed on the pricing page. See Moosend’s pricing page.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the tool for a multi-campus church that wants a formal assimilation process, with guest-to-member journeys, segments and handoffs between campuses. The Starter plan includes email marketing, marketing automation and standard CRM integrations, starting at $15 a month at 1,000 contacts. The Plus plan at $49 a month adds standard segmentation and landing pages, and the Pro plan at $79 adds advanced segmentation.
Where it falls short: a single-site church that mainly sends a bulletin and a welcome note pays for complexity it will not use. Setup takes longer than with the bulletin tools, and the staff member who owns it needs some time to learn the segmentation model. There is no free plan; a free trial is available.
Price: Starter $15 a month starting at 1,000 contacts; Plus $49 a month; Pro $79 a month; Enterprise $145 a month; all with a free trial and no free plan. See ActiveCampaign’s pricing page.
How to choose
Start with three numbers: the people you mail each week, the total size of the directory, and the number of volunteers who will edit messages. Most churches have a much larger directory than their active list, so decide which group you are paying for. A list of 250 active families and a directory of 3,000 past visitors are different purchases, and the price difference between them can be large.
Then decide who sends. If one person owns the bulletin, a tool with a simple editor and a free start is enough. If several volunteers rotate, pick the tool with the most familiar editor and templates. If a pastor writes a newsletter, consider Kit. If the church has several campuses that need to share one record, consider ActiveCampaign, and be prepared for a longer setup.
Finally, decide what must be automatic. A welcome message to a new guest is the most common automation, and most tools in this guide can send one. Automations that move a person from newcomer to small group, or that stop when someone is placed, need a higher tier on most platforms. Check which automation features sit on which plan before you commit, because the difference often matters more than the headline price.
Which tool fits which situation
| If you need | Pick | Because |
|---|
| A free start for a small congregation | MailerLite | Free to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month |
| A free start on a familiar editor | Mailchimp | Free to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month |
| A pastor’s teaching newsletter on a free plan | Kit | Free to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts |
| A very large directory with occasional sends | Brevo | Free to 100,000 contacts, with a 300-per-day cap |
| Automation at a low price for a few hundred people | Moosend | Pro from $9 a month at 500 contacts |
| A template-led bulletin and events tool | Constant Contact | Lite from $12 a month, with a free trial |
| Guest-to-member journeys across campuses | ActiveCampaign | Starter from $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, with journeys above it |
A weekly workflow that a volunteer can keep
The most useful habit a church can build is a fixed weekly rhythm. Pick one day for the bulletin, one day for the newcomer check-in, and one day in each month for the giving appeal or statement. Write the bulletin from a shared template so that anyone on the rota can edit it without starting from a blank page. Keep service times, event dates and prayer needs in the same place each week, so the volunteer is copying rather than inventing.
Newcomer follow-up is the place where a short automation pays off. A visitor who fills in a card should get a short welcome from a named person within days, not weeks, and the next step should be one clear invitation, such as a small group or a coffee meet-up. Keep the message personal and short, and make sure the unsubscribe link is present on every automated message.
Giving appeals should be sent rarely and kindly. Explain what a gift funds, link to your giving page, and send a thank-you that the donor can read without feeling chased. Keep the receipts and statements in the system your finance team already uses. Do not let a tool’s automation decide who receives a giving appeal; the people who should not receive one are often the people who have asked to stop.