RGE Studio vs Litmus (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, RGE Studio grades higher than Litmus: 2.0 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
RGE Studio grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
RGE Studio
Drag-and-drop email and landing page designer, formerly Beefree
Free plan · from $25/mo
Which one is for you
Pick RGE Studio if
- Fits if your designers build emails outside the platform that sends them
- Works for several people designing for one brand who need footers and colors locked
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want one tool to design and send, as this one only designs
- Pricey if you need approvals and workspaces, since they start on Business at $134 a month billed yearly
- Tight if you're staying free, at 10 designs, 6 exports a month and the last 2 versions of each
- Watch out: paid plans include 2 users, with extras at $15 a month on Professional and $35 on Business
- Watch out: the builder was renamed RGE Studio and moved to the Really Good Emails site, and the SDK is sold separately
Pick Litmus if
- Fits if your team already sends from an email platform and needs to check rendering before every send
- Works for groups that put every email through a review and sign-off step
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want one tool that also sends your campaigns, because Litmus doesn't
- Not for you if you need a price before talking to anyone: the site only offers a sales form
- Watch out: the site now calls it part of Validity Engage, so product names and packaging may differ from older material
- Too light for a one-person newsletter, since it's built around teams checking and approving emails
How we grade them
| 2.0GPARGE StudioFair | 1.6GPALitmusWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against its own alternatives, since it designs emails rather than sending them. Professional is $25 a month billed yearly ($30 monthly) for 2 users, with extras at $15. That's around Klaviyo's $20 and twice Mailchimp's $13, and you still pay one of them to send. | CNothing is published, so there's no price to set against what email tools charge (middle of the category: $15 a month). That puts it in the ordinary slot until a quote says otherwise. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free Starter plan has no end date, but it stops at 10 designs and 6 exports a month and keeps only the last 2 versions of each. That covers the odd project, not a weekly newsletter for long. There's also a 15-day Business trial. | FNo free plan and no trial on the listing. The Pricing link goes to a contact-sales form. |
| Features | DNext to its alternatives it does one slice of the job: drag-and-drop emails, dark mode preview, synced rows, approvals and pre-send checks. But it doesn't send. Lists, sending and automation all stay in a separate email platform. | DPreviews, monitoring, review and approval, but it doesn't send campaigns. It works beside Mailchimp, Klaviyo or HubSpot, so on its own it can't do the email job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. There are over 1,600 templates, but it's a web app where the work is building the email itself, then setting up brand styles and the connection to your sending platform. | CNo rating on record. It's a web app that you connect to your email platform, so there's some setting up before the first preview. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with one-click export to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, HubSpot, Marketo, Braze, Mailchimp and Klaviyo, plus Canva, or plain HTML. No desktop or phone app, so a B at most. | BWeb only, but it ties into Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo, Eloqua and Responsys. |
| Best for | designing on-brand emails your platform will send | checking how an email looks in 100+ inboxes before it sends |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: RGE Studio and Litmus. How we grade
Where they differ
- RGE Studio also covers no-code.
- Litmus also covers reports.
In commonWebTemplates
At a glance
| RGE Studio | Litmus | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $25 per month for up to 2 users, billed yearly ($30 billed monthly) | Not published |
| Free plan | Starter plan: up to 10 designs, 6 exports a month, the landing page builder, a custom subdomain, 2 reusable blocks and the last 2 versions of each design. | None |
| Free trial | 15-day free trial of the Business plan | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | BEE Content Design, Inc. | Litmus Software, Inc. |
| Price read from | reallygoodemails.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
RGE Studio
- It is an email designer, narrower than the email marketing tools around it: lists, sending and automation stay in a separate email platform or CRM.
- The free Starter plan stops at 10 designs and 6 exports a month and keeps only the last 2 versions of a design.
- Paid plans include 2 users; more cost $15 a month on Professional and $35 on Business, and extra Business workspaces cost $45 a month.
- Beefree renamed this builder RGE Studio and moved it to the Really Good Emails site; Beefree SDK, for embedding the builder in other software, is sold separately.
Litmus
- Prices are not published: the Pricing link leads to a contact-sales form.
- Litmus does not send campaigns; it works with an email service provider such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo or HubSpot.
- The site now describes Litmus as part of Validity Engage, so product names and packaging may differ from older material.
Key features
RGE Studio
- Drag-and-drop email builder
- Build with rows and content blocks, adjust a mobile layout separately, preview dark mode, and add custom HTML, merge tags and display conditions.
- Templates and landing pages
- Start from more than 1,600 email and landing page templates, turn a page into an email and back in one click, and host pages on a custom subdomain.
- Brand controls and synced rows
- Set brand colors and fonts once, lock rows such as legal footers, and use synced rows that update in every design when edited.
- Reviews and approvals
- Comment on a design, run it through an approval workflow and lock it once approved; Enterprise adds multi-step approvals.
- Export to your sending platform
- Push designs in one click to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Account Engagement, HubSpot, Marketo, Braze, Mailchimp or Klaviyo, or copy the HTML or download a ZIP.
- AI assistant and Smart Check
- AI drafts copy and alt text and checks typos and translations; Smart Check flags missing links, missing alt text, low contrast and oversized files before export.
Litmus
- Email previews
- Preview an email in desktop, mobile and web email clients, including dark-mode versions of many of them.
- Email building
- Build on-brand templates so teams can assemble emails quickly, with testing alongside.
- Live monitoring
- Alerts on problems with deployed emails, such as failing links and broken rendering after a client update.
- Review and approval
- A central place for collecting feedback and sign-off on an email before it goes out.
- Personalization
- Add content such as live polls, personalized images and countdown timers to emails.
- Deliverability
- Inbox placement, domain reputation and engagement insights, presented as part of Validity Engage.
Plans
RGE Studio
Starter$0
For occasional projects: up to 10 designs, 6 exports a month and up to 3 custom templates, with users but no roles.
Professional$25
per month for up to 2 users, billed yearly ($30 billed monthly)
Unlimited designs, exports, folders and reusable blocks, user roles and the AI writing assistant. Extra users $15 a month.
Business$134
per month for up to 2 users, billed yearly ($160 billed monthly)
Adds 2 workspaces, approval workflows, a QA assistant and advanced brand controls. Extra users $35 a month, workspaces $45.
EnterpriseCustom
Multi-step approvals, advanced user restrictions, Okta SSO, a customer success manager and custom connectors.
Litmus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See litmus.com.
Ways to pay less
RGE Studio
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
The pricing page labels yearly billing 2 months free: Professional is $25 a month billed yearly against $30 monthly, and Business $134 against $160.
Litmus
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, RGE Studio or Litmus?
As of Nov 12, 2026, RGE Studio starts at $25 per month for up to 2 users, billed yearly ($30 billed monthly), and Litmus has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, RGE Studio or Litmus?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only RGE Studio has a free plan. Litmus does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.