Campaign Monitor vs Dotdigital (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Campaign Monitor if

• Fits if you're an agency sending for several clients under your own brand
• Works for teams where lots of people need to log in, since every plan has unlimited users

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you're on Lite and email your list often, as sends stop at 5 times your contacts a month
• Pricey if you want phone support, send-time optimization or section locking, which need Premier from $153.90
• Skip it if you want a free plan, as there's only a 30-day trial for 500 contacts
• Watch out: the website builder costs $10 a month more on Lite and Essentials
• Watch out: lists over 50,000 contacts are priced through sales, and Lite is $117 a month at 10,000

Pick Dotdigital if

• Fits if you run an online store on Shopify, BigCommerce or Adobe Commerce
• Makes sense if you want email and other channels from one vendor

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want a published price, as we could not confirm one
• Not for you if you want a free plan or trial, because none is shown
• Watch out: loyalty is a separate product from the main platform
• Watch out: the home page does not say which plans include the AI agents
• Skip it if all you send is a monthly newsletter

Campaign Monitor

• Lite caps sends at 5 times the contact tier each month; Essentials and above have no cap.
• Phone support, send time optimization and section locking need Premier, from $153.90 a month billed annually.
• The drag-and-drop website builder costs $10 a month on Lite and Essentials.
• Lists over 50,000 contacts are priced through sales.

Dotdigital

• Prices could not be confirmed: the vendor's pricing pages refused automated reads, so none are listed.
• The pages that could be read state no free plan or trial.
• Loyalty is a separate product, and the home page does not say which plans include the AI agents.

Campaign Monitor

Email builder and templates

A drag-and-drop builder with over 100 templates, custom-coded HTML imports and branded templates generated from your website's URL.

Marketing Studio and AI tools

Marketing Studio drafts a branded email from your site and a goal. AI Writer, AI Email Booster and AI Segment Mapper help with copy, review and segments.

Automated journeys

Pre-built journeys, date-based Campaign Series, RSS-triggered emails and transactional emails, with volume tied to the plan's limits.

Segments and personalization

Engagement segments, dynamic content, custom fields, a preference center and countdown timers; send time optimization comes with Premier.

Agency accounts

Client sub-accounts under one admin account, private labeling, a markup on the base price billed through Campaign Monitor, and shared templates.

Reporting

Marketing Monitor benchmarks, campaign scores, real-time world-map reporting and a filter that drops bot clicks from results.

Dotdigital

Marketing automation

Customer journeys that trigger messages, such as cart recovery emails and SMS offer reminders, from one platform.

Channels

Email, SMS/MMS, WhatsApp, mobile app push, web personalization and ads and retargeting.

AI agents

A Segment Agent that builds audiences from a plain description and a Content Agent that writes messaging for any channel.

MCP server

A Model Context Protocol server that lets an AI tool read Dotdigital results and add leads to a list.

Loyalty and retention

A loyalty product for rewarding and retaining customers, sold alongside the marketing platform.

Campaign Monitor

• Lite$11.70

  per month for up to 500 contacts, billed annually ($13 monthly)

  Sends 5 times the list a month, unlimited users, AI Writer, automations and transactional email. Price rises with the list: $117 a month billed monthly at 10,000 contacts.

• Essentials$27.90

  per month for up to 500 contacts, billed annually ($31 monthly)

  Unlimited sends, automated emails and AI features, priority support, inbox preview and Marketing Studio. $182 a month billed monthly at 10,000 contacts.

• Premier$153.90

  per month for up to 500 contacts, billed annually ($171 monthly)

  Phone support, send time optimization, engagement segments, section locking, team templates and the website builder. $300 a month billed monthly at 10,000.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom annual contract, a dedicated account manager, multi-brand accounts, deliverability monitoring and invoice or PO billing.

Dotdigital

Pricing could not be confirmed. See dotdigital.com.

Campaign Monitor

• Annual discount

  10% off with annual billing

  Campaign Monitor's pricing page takes 10% off Lite, Essentials and Premier billed yearly: Lite at 500 contacts is $11.70 a month instead of $13.

Dotdigital

No public discounts listed.