Etsy edition · Updated October 8, 2026

Email software for Etsy sellers: what to pick, what it costs, how to start.

For most Etsy shops, Kit is the best place to start. Its free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers and lets you sell digital products such as patterns and printables from the free tier. Visual automations start on the Creator plan at $33 a month billed yearly. The reason is practical: an Etsy shop needs a list of buyers and followers that it controls, and Kit is built around that audience-first job.

By the Email Marketing Software editorial team. Prices are taken from each vendor's pricing page as checked on October 7, 2026.

The short answer for Etsy shops

Start here

Kit: a free plan up to 10,000 subscribers, with digital products and launch pages. Automations from $33 a month billed yearly.

MailerLite: the lowest paid start, from $12 a month, or $10.80 a month billed yearly.

Mailchimp: a familiar editor with a free plan to 250 contacts, then $20 a month at 500 contacts.

Klaviyo: for shops that have grown into their own online store, from $20 a month at 500 profiles.

Enterprise tools such as Customer.io (from $100 a month) and Loops' paid plan ($99 a month) are not built for a maker shop. Skip them unless you have an engineering team.

Why an Etsy shop needs an email list it owns

Etsy controls the storefront. It decides how listings appear, what promotions you can run, how messages reach buyers and what happens when rules change. A shop that depends only on the marketplace has no way to reach a customer who bought last spring and wants to know when the next collection drops. Email is the one channel that stays with the seller, provided the seller collected the address with permission.

That makes the list the core of the business rather than a side project. Three jobs matter most for makers. The first is launches: a new collection, a seasonal run or a limited batch of prints gets announced to people who asked to hear about it. The second is post-purchase messages: care instructions, sizing help, or a thank-you note that arrives when the parcel does. The third is repeat business: restock alerts for popular pieces, a reminder for consumables such as candles or yarn, and gift guides before holidays.

Digital products add one more question. Patterns, printables and tutorials are delivered as files, so the download link and the follow-up email have to work together. Decide early which system is the source of truth for download links. Etsy's own delivery message is usually the safest record, and your email tool handles the follow-up sequence: a how-to video a day later, a request for a photo of the finished piece, or an offer for the next pattern.

Most shops start with a small list, which is why the free plan matters. The tools below differ mainly in how they price growth. Some charge by contact count, some by sends, some by profiles. Choosing a tool that matches the way your list will grow is more important than the entry price.

Tool comparison for Etsy shops

Entry prices and plan names come from each vendor's pricing page. Monthly and yearly billing are shown where the vendor publishes both.

Tool	Best for an Etsy shop	Entry price (plan, billing)	Key limitation
Kit	Launch lists, digital products, creator storefront	Free to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33/mo billed yearly for automations	Automations and sequences need a paid plan
MailerLite	Lowest honest paid start	Free to 250 subscribers; Comfort $12/mo monthly or $10.80/mo billed yearly	Free plan stops at 250 subscribers
Mailchimp	Shops already using its templates	Free to 250 contacts; Standard $20/mo at 500 contacts	Price steps up by contact band
Brevo	Frequent promotions at volume	Free at 300 sends a day; Starter $9/mo from 5,000 emails a month	Priced by monthly email volume
Klaviyo	Shops moving to an online store	Free to 250 profiles and 500 sends; email plan $20/mo at 500 profiles	Price rises with profiles; more depth than a new shop needs
Moosend	Automation on a lean budget	Pro $9/mo at 500 contacts, or $7/mo billed yearly	Thinner audience and branding tools
Drip	Stores with onsite campaigns	$39/mo for 1 to 2,500 people; 14-day trial, no card	No free plan
GetResponse	Sellers who also teach or run webinars	Starter $19/mo monthly, or $15.58/mo billed yearly	Abandoned-cart value depends on store data
Campaign Monitor	Visual, design-led product emails	Lite $13/mo monthly, or $11.70/mo billed yearly	30-day trial only, no free plan
ActiveCampaign	Wholesale alongside retail	Starter $15/mo; plans start at 1,000 contacts	Free trial only; priced from 1,000 contacts

Each tool, for an Etsy shop

Top pick for most shops

Kit

Best for: shops that build an audience around makers' work and sell digital files alongside physical goods.

Kit's free plan includes unlimited landing pages, forms and email broadcasts, plus tagging and segmentation. Tags matter for a maker: a buyer of one pattern can be tagged differently from a buyer of finished goods, so the next message reflects what they bought. Kit also lets you sell digital products and subscriptions on the free plan, which suits pattern sellers and printable shops.

Where it falls short: visual automations and email sequences start on the Creator plan, so post-purchase flows and multi-step launch sequences cost $33 a month billed yearly. Kit is not an ecommerce platform, so it will not replace a store's inventory or cart logic.

Price: free up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator is $33 a month billed yearly, and Pro is $66 a month billed yearly. A 14-day trial is available on paid plans without a credit card. Kit's pricing page lists the current details.

Lowest paid start

MailerLite

Best for: a shop with a small list that wants a simple paid tool without a long learning curve.

The free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails, which is enough to test a first newsletter and a welcome message. The Comfort plan is the first paid step and is priced by subscriber tier, with a monthly email allowance that grows with the list. Power adds unlimited monthly emails. For a maker who sends one launch and one newsletter a month, this is a sensible start.

Where it falls short: the free plan caps at 250 subscribers, so a shop that gains followers quickly will need to upgrade. Launch-day sequences and repeat-buyer flows are simpler than what Kit or Klaviyo offer.

Price: Comfort is $12 a month billed monthly or $10.80 a month billed yearly for the 500-subscriber starting tier. Power is $25 a month, or $22.50 a month billed yearly. MailerLite's pricing page shows the current bands.

Familiar first step

Mailchimp

Best for: shops whose owners already know the interface from a newsletter, a side project or a previous job.

The free plan allows one audience, up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a daily cap of 250. That is enough for a first list and a few announcements. Templates are easy to adapt, and the editor is familiar to most new sellers.

Where it falls short: the price steps up with each contact band. The Standard plan is $20 a month at 500 contacts, and the 2,501 to 5,000 band is $100 a month. A shop whose list is growing quickly should check the next band before buying the current one.

Price: free up to 250 contacts. Standard starts at $20 a month for the 500-contact tier, which includes up to 6,000 emails a month at that size. Mailchimp's pricing page has the full band table.

Volume-priced sending

Brevo

Best for: shops that send frequent promotions and want to keep a large contact list without paying per contact.

The free plan allows 300 email sends a day and stores up to 100,000 contacts. Starter removes the daily limit and starts at 5,000 emails a month. Standard adds automation, A/B testing and advanced reports. A shop that sends one or two campaigns a month can stay on the free plan longer than a shop that mails daily.

Where it falls short: the price follows sending volume, so a flash-sale calendar can raise the bill quickly. Design and audience tools are plainer than some competitors.

Price: free at 300 sends a day. Starter is $9 a month from 5,000 emails a month, and Standard is $18 a month at the same starting volume. Brevo's pricing page shows yearly options.

When the shop becomes a store

Klaviyo

Best for: a shop that runs its own website and catalog and wants email built around profiles and purchase data.

The free plan covers 250 profiles and 500 sends a month, plus $5 of mobile messages. Email plans scale by profile count, which makes the cost easy to predict as the list grows. Klaviyo suits a seller who has moved past Etsy's messaging limits and is planning a store with its own checkout.

Where it falls short: a new maker rarely needs this depth. The price rises quickly as profiles accumulate, and the setup takes longer than the lighter tools in this guide.

Price: email plans start at $20 a month for 500 profiles, $30 for 1,000, $60 for 2,500, $100 for 5,000 and $150 for 10,000. Klaviyo's pricing page lists the current bands.

Automation on a budget

Moosend

Best for: shops that want automated welcome flows, popups and post-purchase messages at a low monthly cost.

Pro is priced by contact count, with unlimited emails within the plan. A 30-day trial is available without a credit card, which gives time to test the automations before committing.

Where it falls short: the audience tools and template range are thinner than Kit's or Mailchimp's. A maker who wants a full brand presence in email will need to work harder on design.

Price: Pro is $9 a month at 500 contacts, or $7 a month billed yearly. At 1,000 contacts the price is $16 a month, or $13 billed yearly. Moosend's pricing page has the full table.

Store-side campaigns

Drip

Best for: a store with its own site that wants onsite campaigns and workflows tied to visitor behavior.

Drip's plans are priced by the number of people on the list and include unlimited email sends in each band, dynamic segments and up to 50 workflows on the lower tiers. A 14-day trial is available with no card required.

Where it falls short: there is no free plan, and most Etsy shops do not yet have the site traffic that onsite campaigns need.

Price: $39 a month for 1 to 2,500 people, $49 for 2,501 to 3,000, $89 for 4,501 to 5,000 and $154 for 9,001 to 10,000. Drip's pricing page has the full list.

Teaching makers

GetResponse

Best for: sellers who also run workshops, pattern courses or webinars and want landing pages and funnels next to their product emails.

Starter includes unlimited monthly email sends, a welcome series, one automation workflow, landing pages and signup forms. Marketer adds unlimited workflows, advanced segmentation, abandoned-cart recovery and sales funnels.

Where it falls short: abandoned-cart recovery only works when cart data reaches the tool, which usually means a store with its own checkout. A shop that sells only through Etsy will not get that value from the feature.

Price: Starter is $19 a month billed monthly or $15.58 a month billed yearly. Marketer is $59 a month, or $48.38 billed yearly. GetResponse's pricing page shows the current plan details.

Visual makers

Campaign Monitor

Best for: painters, jewelers, stationers and other visual makers whose emails should look as carefully finished as the work.

Campaign Monitor is priced by contact band. Lite includes five times the subscriber count in emails each month. Essentials offers unlimited email sends in its band, which suits a shop that mails often.

Where it falls short: there is no free plan, only a 30-day trial with a 500-contact limit. Behavioral commerce features are lighter than the store-focused tools.

Price: Lite is $13 a month billed monthly or $11.70 billed yearly. Essentials is $31 a month, or $27.90 billed yearly, at the 500-contact band. Campaign Monitor's pricing page lists the other bands.

Wholesale alongside retail

ActiveCampaign

Best for: makers who sell to boutiques or stockists as well as to Etsy buyers and want contacts, deals and automations in one account.

ActiveCampaign combines email automation with a CRM, which helps when a wholesale buyer and a retail buyer share a contact record. Plans include progressively deeper segmentation as you move up.

Where it falls short: a retail-only shop pays for complexity it will not use. There is no free plan, only a free trial, and plans are priced from 1,000 contacts.

Price: Starter is $15 a month, Plus is $49, Pro is $79 and Enterprise is $145, each with a starting price at 1,000 contacts. ActiveCampaign's pricing page has the details.

Plain email, human support

AWeber

Best for: sellers who want straightforward broadcasts and a familiar, low-complexity setup.

Lite covers 500 subscribers and 5,000 email sends a month for $15. Plus raises the send allowance to 6,000 at $30 a month for the same subscriber count.

Where it falls short: automation and segmentation are basic, and the plans have no ongoing free tier. A 14-day trial is available.

Price: Lite is $15 a month and Plus is $30 a month. AWeber's pricing page has the current terms.

Local fairs and events

Constant Contact

Best for: sellers who mostly announce craft-fair appearances, pop-ups and local events.

Constant Contact is simple to set up for event announcements and includes scheduling. Standard adds automation and A/B testing, and Premium adds advanced reporting.

Where it falls short: there is no free plan, only a free trial without a card. Automation depth is limited for online-first shops.

Price: Lite is $12 a month billed monthly or $10.20 billed yearly. Standard is $35 a month, or $29.75 billed yearly. The exact price depends on contact count. Constant Contact's pricing page shows the bands.

Not built for makers

Customer.io and Loops

Best for: engineering teams running product messaging at scale. Neither is designed for a craft shop.

Customer.io's Essentials plan starts at $100 a month and is built around event pipelines. Loops' Growing Audience plan is $99 a month, and its free Early Stage plan is capped at 4,000 sends in any rolling 30 days to the 1,000 newest contacts. Both are designed for software onboarding rather than product launches or patterns.

Where it falls short: for an Etsy shop, the setup cost and technical work outweigh the benefit. Pick a tool in the sections above instead.

Price: Customer.io's pricing page and Loops' pricing page list the current plans.

What it costs at three list sizes

The table shows the monthly price at 500, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts. Where a vendor does not publish a price for that size, the cell says so. Check the pricing page before buying.

Tool	500 contacts	5,000 contacts	10,000 contacts
Kit	Free	Free	Free (up to 10,000 subscribers)
MailerLite	$12/mo monthly, or $10.80/mo billed yearly (Comfort)	Pricing on request	Pricing on request
Mailchimp	$20/mo (Standard)	$100/mo (2,501 to 5,000 band)	$135/mo (5,001 to 10,000 band)
Klaviyo (email plan)	$20/mo	$100/mo	$150/mo
Moosend (Pro)	$9/mo monthly, or $7/mo billed yearly	$48/mo monthly, or $38/mo billed yearly	$88/mo monthly, or $70/mo billed yearly
Drip	$39/mo (1 to 2,500 people)	$89/mo (4,501 to 5,000 people)	$154/mo (9,001 to 10,000 people)
Campaign Monitor (Essentials)	$31/mo monthly, or $27.90/mo billed yearly	Pricing on request	Pricing on request
ActiveCampaign	Pricing on request (plans start at 1,000 contacts)	Pricing on request	Pricing on request

Kit's automations are not included in the free plan. Creator is $33 a month billed yearly, so a shop that needs post-purchase flows at 5,000 contacts should budget for that plan. Brevo is priced by monthly email volume rather than contact count, so use your planned sends per month to estimate its cost. Constant Contact's Lite plan starts at $12 a month, with the exact price set by contact count.

Sending volume matters as much as list size. A 5,000-contact list mailed weekly costs more on a volume-priced plan than the same list mailed monthly. Calculate both numbers before you pick a tool. For example, a list of 2,000 contacts that receives four launch emails a month and two newsletters works out to 12,000 sends a month, which is a different plan from a list that only gets one newsletter a month.

Which tool for which need

Start from the job you need done, then check the price against your expected list size.

If you need	Pick	Because
A free start and a place to sell digital files	Kit	The free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers and includes digital product sales
The lowest paid price for a small list	MailerLite	Comfort starts at $12 a month, or $10.80 billed yearly
A tool your team already knows	Mailchimp	Free up to 250 contacts, and a familiar editor
Frequent promotions at high volume	Brevo	Plans are set by monthly sends, with a free 300 sends a day
A full online store next to Etsy	Klaviyo	Profile-based plans that scale with a store's audience
Cheap automation for a lean shop	Moosend	Pro starts at $9 a month at 500 contacts
Onsite campaigns on your own site	Drip	Workflows and onsite campaigns from $39 a month
Design-led product emails	Campaign Monitor	Unlimited sends in its Essentials band, from $31 a month at 500 contacts
Wholesale and retail in one account	ActiveCampaign	Contacts, deals and automation in one record

How to choose

Start with three questions. How many people will be on your list in twelve months? How many emails will you send each month? Will you run your own website and checkout, or will you stay on Etsy? Those answers narrow the field faster than any feature comparison.

If you are on Etsy only, the list is small, and you want to learn the workflow, begin with Kit's free plan or MailerLite's free plan. Both let you collect sign-ups, send a welcome email and send a launch announcement without a bill. If your list grows past the free limits and you need automations, the Kit Creator plan at $33 a month billed yearly is the next step for most makers.

If you already run a store with a checkout, look at Klaviyo or Drip. Their plans are built around visitor and purchase data, which makes abandoned-cart and post-purchase flows more useful. Expect to spend more time on setup. A store-side tool pays off when the store has traffic to justify it.

If you mainly sell wholesale to boutiques, ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp can keep stockists and retail buyers in one place, but test the workflow before moving your whole list. If you mainly announce craft-fair dates, Constant Contact's event tools are enough. Avoid paying for features you will not use in the next year, and recheck the price once a year as your list changes.

Setup checklist for a new Etsy list

Follow these steps in order. Each one depends on the step before it.

Step	What to do	Check before moving on
1. Choose a plan	Open a free plan or trial that matches your list size	The contact cap and send limit fit your next six months
2. Set up sign-up sources	Create a form, a QR code for package inserts and a download page for patterns or printables	Each source is tagged so you know where a subscriber came from
3. Import consented contacts only	Bring in people who joined through your own forms, inserts or events	You can show when and how each contact opted in
4. Write the welcome email	Thank the subscriber, say what they will receive, and offer a first-order code if you use one	Send a test to a personal address and check the link
5. Build the post-purchase flow	Send care notes on delivery day, a cross-sell a week later and a review request after that	The trigger uses the delivery date, not the order date
6. Set up a launch template	Tease, early access, last call, for each release	Dates are on your calendar before the drop
7. Review monthly	Check unsubscribes, list growth and the price band	The plan still matches your list and send volume

Migration is usually small at this stage. A shop with a few hundred opted-in subscribers can rebuild its sign-up forms and welcome flow in an afternoon. Keep the old list active until the new forms are live and the first automated message has been tested. Then switch the links on the package insert and in the shop's about section.

When moving from one tool to another, export only the people who consented and keep a record of the consent date and source. Do not carry over addresses you collected for another purpose. A clean list of 800 people who chose to hear from you is worth more than a longer list of people who did not.

Email workflows that suit a maker shop

Collecting opt-ins. Put a QR code on every package insert. The offer should be specific: a care guide, a first-order code or early access to the next collection. Double opt-in is worth the extra step, because it keeps the list clean and gives you a record of consent.

Launch sequences. A new collection needs three messages: a teaser a few days before, early access to subscribers the day it goes live, and a last call before it closes. Keep each message short and link straight to the listing. Repeat the pattern for every release so subscribers learn when to expect it.

Post-purchase messages. Send care instructions when the parcel arrives, then a cross-sell a week later for something that goes with the purchase. Ask for a review after the buyer has had time to use the item. These messages are where repeat orders usually start.

Restock and back-in-stock alerts. For handmade pieces with limited batches, a subscriber who asked to be told when an item returns is a warm lead. Keep the number of alerts small so the list does not feel like a sales feed.

Seasonal guides. Gift guides for major holidays give subscribers a reason to open messages between launches. Plan them at least a month ahead, and reuse the best-performing product photos from the year before.

Digital product follow-ups. After a pattern or printable is downloaded, send a short how-to message the next day, then a request for a photo of the finished piece a week later. Use the photos with permission in your next announcement.

Maker verdict

Building an audience? Start with Kit. Watching the budget? Start with MailerLite.

Pick the tool that matches your list size in twelve months, not the one with the longest feature list. Then add a QR code to your next order and start collecting opt-ins.

Kit pricing ← Ecommerce brands guide

Frequently asked questions

Which email tool should a new Etsy shop start with?

For most new shops, Kit is the best start. Its free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, including unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms, and it lets you sell digital products from the free tier. If you need visual automations, the Creator plan is $33 a month billed yearly. If your budget is smaller than that and your list is under 250 people, MailerLite's free plan is the other sensible start.

Can I email my Etsy buyers directly?

Be careful. Etsy's seller policies limit how you may use buyer information outside the platform, and rules change, so read the current policy before importing any buyer details. The safe route is to collect your own opt-ins: package inserts with a sign-up link, a pattern or printable download that asks for an email, or a waitlist for new releases. Only add people who chose to join.

How much does email marketing cost for a shop with 1,000 contacts?

It depends on the tool. Kit's free plan covers broadcasts at that size, and automations start at $33 a month billed yearly on Creator. Klaviyo's email plan is $30 a month at 1,000 profiles. ActiveCampaign's plans start at 1,000 contacts, with Starter at $15 a month. Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor do not publish a price for every size, so check the pricing page for the exact band before you commit.

Do I need a separate tool for digital downloads?

Not necessarily. Kit lets you sell digital products and subscriptions on its free plan, which covers patterns, printables and similar files. Other tools in this guide focus on email broadcasts and automations. If you already sell files through Etsy, keep Etsy's own delivery message as the source of truth for download links and use your email tool for follow-up.

When should a shop move off Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is easy to start with, but its plans step up by contact band. Move when your contact count reaches the next band and the price stops matching the value you get, or when you need automations that the lower tiers do not include. Export only the subscribers you collected yourself, with their consent history, and import them into the new tool before you switch the sign-up forms.

Is it worth paying for a shop that is still mostly on Etsy?

Yes, if the list is the reason to do email at all. Even a small list of repeat buyers and followers gives you a channel you control for launches, restocks and thank-you notes. A free or low-cost plan lets you learn the workflow before your list grows. Do not pay for enterprise features until you run an online store with its own catalog and checkout.