Drip vs Userlist (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Drip and Userlist share a 2.0 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Drip starts cheaper, at $39 a month against $119 a month.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Drip grades higher on features. Userlist grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Userlist
Lifecycle email and in-app messages for SaaS user and company accounts
Which one is for you
Pick Drip if
- Fits if you run a Shopify store and want cart, back-in-stock and price-drop emails without building them
- Works for teams where several people work on marketing, since every plan has unlimited users
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're a small shop, at $39 a month before your list has grown
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as there's only a 14-day trial that rolls into a paid subscription
- Not for you if you like knowing next year's bill, since the price steps aren't published
- Watch out: free migration and personalized onboarding come only with some plans
- Too light for anyone who wants a phone or desktop app, as Drip is web only
Pick Userlist if
- Fits if you run a SaaS product and want mail triggered by what users and companies do
- Works for teams with developers who can send events from the app
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you just want to send a newsletter to a list
- Pricey if you need A/B tests or goals, which are on Professional at $279 a month
- Tight if you store lots of dormant users, since every user counts, active or not
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as there is only a 14-day trial
How we grade them
| 2.0GPADripFair | 2.0GPAUserlistFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$39 a month to start, in the dearest tenth of what email tools charge and three times the middle. The price then rises with active people and emails sent, and Drip doesn't publish the steps. Unlimited users are included. | DBasic is $119 a month for up to 10,000 users billed yearly, which is in the dearer end of this category. A/B tests, goals and webhooks need Professional at $279, and each extra 1,000 users is $10 to $12 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | DNo free plan. The 14-day trial leads straight into the paid subscription, so cancel before it ends if Drip isn't for you. | CA 14-day free trial, and no free plan. The page we read doesn't say if the trial needs a card. |
| Features | BStore-data segments that update live, ready-made welcome, cart, browse, back-in-stock, price-drop and win-back flows, pop-ups, quizzes, forms and A/B tests inside workflows. For a shop, that's the whole job. | CUsers and companies, visual workflows, in-app messages, transactional email and an API. A/B tests, goals and outbound webhooks are Professional only. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. You connect your store, switch on flows and design pop-ups, and ready-made flow templates cover part of the building. | CNo store rating on record. You have to send data from your product through the API or integrations first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Shopify, Judge.me, Junip, LoyaltyLion, Meta ads and Segment, an API, and Claude and ChatGPT able to run it for you. No desktop or phone app, so it stops at a B. | BWeb only, with an API and integrations like ActiveCampaign, Airtable and Amplitude. |
| Best for | email flows and pop-ups for Shopify stores | email and in-app messages for SaaS products |
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: Drip and Userlist. How we grade
Price against what you get
Drip starts at $39 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Userlist starts at $119 a month and scores 2.3.
Drip scores higher and starts $80 a month lower. Of the other email marketing and newsletter tools on the chart, 3 score higher than Drip for less, and 33 score higher than Userlist for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Drip also covers forms.
- Userlist also covers workflow automation, transactional email and a/B testing.
At a glance
| Drip | Userlist | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $39 per month and up, by list size and email volume | $119 per month for up to 10,000 users, billed annually ($149 monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial | 14-day free trial |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Drip | Userlist, Inc. |
| Price read from | apps.shopify.com | userlist.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Drip
- There is no free plan; the 14-day trial leads to a paid subscription.
- The price rises with active people on the list and emails sent, and the listing does not publish the steps.
- Free migration and personalized onboarding come only with some plans.
Userlist
- Priced by the number of users stored, counted at the highest level in the previous 30 days, and all users count whether active or not.
- A/B testing, conversion goals and outbound webhooks are Professional features.
- There is no free plan; new accounts start on a 14-day trial.
- Built around data sent from a SaaS product, so it suits a product with an API or integration more than a simple newsletter list.
Key features
Drip
- Store-data segments
- Groups customers automatically from Shopify order and browsing data, such as top spenders, and keeps segments updated in real time.
- Pre-built ecommerce flows
- Templates for welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, back-in-stock, price-drop and win-back emails, with A/B split tests inside workflows.
- Pop-ups, forms and quizzes
- On-site pop-ups including spin-to-win and exit intent, embedded forms and quizzes to collect email addresses.
- Run it from an AI assistant
- Connect Drip to Claude or ChatGPT to pull data and launch campaigns by asking, at no extra cost.
- Email editor with store branding
- Templates, AI-generated content and brand assets pulled from the store, with custom code and custom fonts.
Userlist
- Users and companies
- Stores many-to-many relationships between users and company accounts, with profiles, activity feeds and segments for each.
- Visual workflows
- A visual builder for onboarding and lifecycle campaigns, triggered by user or company events.
- In-app messages
- Sends messages inside the product as well as by email, plus internal notifications to your own team.
- Transactional email
- Receipts and notifications can be sent from the same tool as marketing and lifecycle email.
- Developer API
- Data comes in through an HTTP API and client libraries, or through customer data platform integrations.
- Conversion goals and A/B tests
- Measure whether a workflow reached its goal and split-test messages. Both need the Professional plan.
Plans
Drip
Subscription$39
per month and up, by list size and email volume
Email and automation builder, pop-ups and forms, A/B tests in workflows, AI access and unlimited users. Price rises with active people and emails sent.
Userlist
Basic$119
per month for up to 10,000 users, billed annually ($149 monthly)
Marketing, lifecycle and transactional email, broadcasts, visual workflows, in-app messages and company accounts, with 5 team seats. Each additional 1,000 users costs $10 a month.
Professional$279
per month for up to 10,000 users, billed annually ($349 monthly)
Everything in Basic plus A/B split testing, conversion goals, advanced workflow logic, outbound webhooks and 10 team seats. Each additional 1,000 users costs $12 a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom message limits, a dedicated account manager and monthly review calls, sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
Drip
No public discounts listed.
Userlist
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Userlist's pricing page shows annual billing at a 20% saving over monthly billing.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Drip or Userlist?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Drip is cheaper to start with: $39 a month, against $119 a month for Userlist. Drip starts at $39 per month and up, by list size and email volume, and Userlist starts at $119 per month for up to 10,000 users, billed annually ($149 monthly).
Which has a free plan, Drip or Userlist?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Drip nor Userlist has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
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.