# BenchmarkONE review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> Small-business CRM with email marketing and automation

Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA.

BenchmarkONE combines a contact database, email marketing, automation workflows and landing pages for small businesses and marketing agencies. It offers a Lite plan centered on email and a Pro plan that adds a full CRM with a deal pipeline. Both plans are priced by the number of contacts and include unlimited users.

- **Category:** Email Marketing & Newsletters
- **Made by:** BenchmarkONE
- **Website:** https://www.benchmarkone.com
- **Runs on:** Web, Browser extension
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you stay free: 250 contacts and 500 emails a month.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 13, 2026, BenchmarkONE has a free plan, and paid plans start at $29 per month for up to 500 contacts, billed annually ($49 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Lite and Pro both start at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month for $0, with unlimited users.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lite (free) | $0 per month for up to 250 contacts | Unlimited users, 500 emails a month, contact management, email marketing, marketing automation and landing pages. |
| Lite | $29 per month for up to 500 contacts, billed annually ($49 billed monthly) | Email-focused plan. The price rises with the list: $119 a month at 10,000 contacts, billed annually ($159 billed monthly). |
| Pro | $179 per month for up to 500 contacts, billed annually ($219 monthly) | Adds the full CRM, deal pipeline, Gmail and Outlook integration, a mobile web app and user permissions. $269 a month at 10,000 contacts, billed annually ($329 billed monthly). |
| Agencies | Custom | Special pricing for qualifying agencies, with bundled accounts, co-branding, a master template library and partner certification. |

Read from https://www.benchmarkone.com/pricing/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with BenchmarkONE before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Lower price with yearly billing** (Annual discount): The pricing page shows lower monthly prices when billed yearly: for example Lite at 500 contacts is $29 a month against $49 billed monthly. Source: https://www.benchmarkone.com/pricing/

## Key features

- **Email marketing:** Send personalized email to the contact list; available on the free Lite plan within its 500-emails-a-month limit.
- **Marketing automation:** Follow-up workflows that send targeted messages to leads; listed on Lite and Pro.
- **CRM and deal pipeline:** Pro adds a full CRM with a deal pipeline, social profiles, a live activity feed and user permissions.
- **Landing pages and popups:** Build landing pages and popups to capture leads into the contact list.
- **Gmail and Outlook tools:** A Gmail integration and an Outlook add-in create contacts, notes and tasks from the inbox; a Chrome extension adds leads from web pages.
- **Agency features:** The agency plan adds bundled accounts, co-branding and a master template library for agencies serving several clients.

## Good for

- Small businesses that want a CRM and email marketing in one tool
- Agencies managing marketing for several clients under their own branding
- Teams with many users, since every plan includes unlimited users

## Worth knowing

- The free plans stop at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month.
- Pro costs much more than Lite at the same contact count: $179 against $29 a month at 500 contacts, billed annually.
- Agency pricing is not published and is sold through a sales conversation.
- Prices step up with the contact count, reaching $319 a month for Lite and $619 for Pro at the largest listed tier, billed annually.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. BenchmarkONE combines email marketing, automation and a CRM for small businesses, free for 250 contacts. Lite is $29 a month for 500 contacts, the full CRM needs Pro at $179, and prices step up with contacts.

- **Value for money: C.** Lite is $29 a month for 500 contacts on annual billing, but the CRM sits on Pro at $179, and 10,000 contacts costs $119 on Lite and $269 on Pro.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A free plan of 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, with unlimited users. A cap you will meet.
- **Features: B.** Email, automation, landing pages, popups, a CRM and Gmail and Outlook tools. The full CRM is Pro only.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. A web app where you build lists, automations and pipelines.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web app and Chrome extension with Zapier, Gmail and Outlook.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from BenchmarkONE's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among email marketing and newsletter tools

- BenchmarkONE's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 67 of the 102 other email marketing and newsletter tools we grade, and level with 17.
- It stands best on features (B, above 47 of 102) and worst on ease of use (C, above 11).
- Its paid plans start at $29 a month, against a middle price of $19 for the category: 46 of the 78 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/email-marketing

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace BenchmarkONE you would be making newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $348 a year.

- You could make: Sales pipeline and reports: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
- You could not: Email sent in volume that still reaches the inbox.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Zapier, Gmail and Outlook among them, and has an API.
- You could not: Hooks into the device itself: Live Activities.
- You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: roles and permissions.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Zapier, Gmail, Outlook, Chrome

**Tags:** Email campaigns, Marketing automation, Sales pipeline, Public API, Reports

## Alternatives

- [HubSpot](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hubspot): Free CRM at the center of a marketing, sales and service suite. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/benchmarkone-vs-hubspot)
- [ActiveCampaign](https://toolgpa.com/tools/activecampaign): Email marketing and multi-step automation priced by contacts. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/activecampaign-vs-benchmarkone)
- [Keap](https://toolgpa.com/tools/keap): CRM with sales and marketing automation for small businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/benchmarkone-vs-keap)
- [Mailchimp](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailchimp): Email and SMS marketing with automations, priced by contact count. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/benchmarkone-vs-mailchimp)
- [GetResponse](https://toolgpa.com/tools/getresponse): Email marketing with automation, webinars, courses and landing pages. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/benchmarkone-vs-getresponse)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026:

- https://www.benchmarkone.com/pricing/
- https://www.benchmarkone.com/
- https://www.benchmarkone.com/services-and-integrations/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/benchmarkone
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).