# MailBluster review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Email marketing with unlimited contacts, on your own SMTP or managed Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. MailBluster is an email marketing platform that does not charge by list size. You can connect your own SMTP provider such as Amazon SES, Postmark, Mailgun or SMTP2GO and pay MailBluster a small subscription plus a per-email fee, or have MailBluster send for you on a Managed plan priced by monthly email volume. - **Category:** Email Marketing & Newsletters - **Made by:** MailBluster - **Website:** https://mailbluster.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Tight if you stay free: 3,000 emails in total, not a month. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, MailBluster has a free plan, and paid plans start at $5 per month, plus $0.60 per 1,000 emails, billed yearly. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Starter plan with your own SMTP provider: up to 3,000 emails in total, with MailBluster branding on your emails. No credit card needed. - **Free trial:** 14-day free trial of Managed plans, up to 100 emails a day, no credit card required. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Starter | $0 | Bring your own SMTP provider. Up to 3,000 emails in total, with MailBluster branding. Meant for testing before upgrading. | | Pro | $5 per month, plus $0.60 per 1,000 emails (billed yearly) | Bring your own SMTP. Unlimited leads, automation, A/B testing, custom fields, no MailBluster branding, WordPress plugin and API access. SMTP fees are billed separately. | | Executive | $10 per month, plus $0.60 per 1,000 emails (billed yearly) | Pro plus dedicated 1-1 setup and support, 3 years of data retention, unlimited automation workflows and a 5% yearly reward on email sending. | | Managed | $15.30 per month for up to 10,000 emails, billed annually ($17 monthly) | MailBluster sends for you, with SMTP included. Steps up to 250,000 emails a month. Extra emails on the 10,000 pack cost $1.96 per 1,000. | Read from https://mailbluster.com/pricing on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with MailBluster before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **10% off Managed plans paid yearly** (Annual discount): The pricing page marks yearly payment on Managed plans as saving 10%. Source: https://mailbluster.com/pricing ## Key features - **No list-size pricing:** Every plan allows unlimited leads; cost follows the number of emails sent. - **Bring your own SMTP:** Connects to Amazon SES, Postmark, Mailgun or SMTP2GO, whose own sending fees are billed by those providers. - **Managed sending:** Managed plans include sending infrastructure, IP blacklist monitoring and sender reputation management, with no separate SMTP account. - **Automation and A/B testing:** Pro and above include automation and A/B testing, with unlimited automation workflows on Executive. - **Ecommerce and WordPress connections:** A WordPress plugin and WooCommerce connection, plus Salesforce, Zoho, Zapier, Make and other connectors. ## Good for - Senders with large lists who want to avoid per-contact pricing - Technical users comfortable setting up Amazon SES or another SMTP provider - Teams that want sending handled for them on a Managed plan ## Worth knowing - With your own SMTP, provider fees are extra; Amazon SES also adds a small Amazon SNS charge past 100,000 requests a month. - The Starter plan allows 3,000 emails in total, not per month, and keeps MailBluster branding. - Managed plans cover up to 250,000 emails a month on the page; above that it is sold through sales. - Pro and Executive are shown as billed yearly, and the page does not show a monthly price for them. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. MailBluster charges a small monthly fee plus $0.60 per 1,000 emails, and you bring your own SMTP provider such as Amazon SES. That keeps the price low but adds a second bill. The free Starter plan caps at 3,000 emails in total, not per month, and keeps MailBluster branding. - **Value for money: B.** $5 a month plus $0.60 per 1,000 emails on yearly billing is inside the cheapest quarter, before your SMTP provider's fees. A managed plan with sending included is $15.30 for 10,000 emails. - **Free plan and trial: C.** Starter is free with your own SMTP, but it allows 3,000 emails in total and keeps MailBluster branding. There is also a 14-day trial of Managed plans with no card. - **Features: C.** Unlimited leads, automation, A/B testing, custom fields, a WordPress plugin and API access. The listing shows no forms or landing pages. - **Ease of use: C.** A web app where you connect your own SMTP provider on the cheaper plans, which is setup work. No rating on record. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with WordPress, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Zoho, Zapier, Make, Pabbly Connect and Amazon SES. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from MailBluster's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among email marketing and newsletter tools - MailBluster's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 27 of the 57 other email marketing and newsletter tools we grade, and level with 15. - It stands best on value for money (B, above 44 of 57) and worst on features (C, above 3). - Its paid plans start at $5 a month, against a middle price of $15 for the category: 1 of the 47 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 2 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 MailBluster 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 $60 a year. - 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: Mail servers with a good name among inbox providers. - You could not: Splitting visitors between versions and telling you which won. - You could not: It plugs into other products, WordPress, WooCommerce and Salesforce among them, and has an API. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with WordPress, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Zoho, Zapier, Make, Pabbly Connect, Amazon SES **Tags:** Email campaigns, Marketing automation, A/B testing, Public API, Transactional email ## Alternatives - [Sendy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sendy): Self-hosted newsletter app that sends through Amazon SES. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailbluster-vs-sendy) - [EmailOctopus](https://toolgpa.com/tools/emailoctopus): Simple, low-cost email marketing with a free plan for 2,500. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/emailoctopus-vs-mailbluster) - [Mailcoach](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailcoach): Email campaigns priced by emails sent, hosted or self-hosted. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailbluster-vs-mailcoach) - [listmonk](https://toolgpa.com/tools/listmonk): Free self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/listmonk-vs-mailbluster) - [MailerLite](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailerlite): Email newsletters, automations, sites and paid subscriptions. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailbluster-vs-mailerlite) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://mailbluster.com/pricing Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailbluster Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).