We read the live pricing page of seven email marketing platforms on the same day. Six of them lead with a price you will not pay. One does not. This is what each page shows first, what it actually costs, and the mechanism in between.
Every figure below was captured on 8 August 2026 from each vendor’s own pricing page, in the USD view, at that vendor’s entry paid tier. No product was tested; this is an audit of how prices are presented, not of the software. Prices change — check before purchasing.
The Finding
| Platform | Page shows first | You actually pay monthly | Mechanism |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | $6 | $12.01 | 12-month introductory rate |
| Omnisend | $11.20 | $16.00 | Three-month prepay promotion |
| Kit | $33 | $39 | Page defaults to annual billing |
| MailerLite | $10.80 | $12 | Page defaults to annual billing |
| beehiiv | $43 | $49 | Page defaults to annual billing |
| ActiveCampaign | $15 | Not published | Annual rates only, no monthly toggle |
| Brevo | $9 | $9 | None — shows the monthly rate |
None of this is hidden, exactly. Every one of these pages discloses its terms somewhere — in small print beneath the figure, in a toggle you have to notice, or in a total you have to divide. But the number set in the largest type is, in six cases out of seven, not the number that will appear on your card each month.
Four Different Mechanisms
1. The default-to-annual toggle
Kit, MailerLite and beehiiv all present a monthly/annual switch already flipped to annual. The displayed figure is the annualised monthly equivalent, and paying monthly costs more — 10% more on MailerLite, 17% on Kit, about 12% on beehiiv. The toggle is visible and honestly labelled. It is simply pre-set to the cheaper number.
This is the mildest version. A reader who notices the toggle gets accurate information immediately.
2. The introductory rate
Mailchimp advertises Standard at $6/month. The small print reads “for 12 months”, then “starts at $12.01/month”. The headline price is real, temporary, and exactly half the ongoing one. Anyone budgeting a year ahead on the displayed figure will be out by 100% in month thirteen.
3. The prepay promotion
Omnisend’s page opens on “Pay 3 months upfront (save 30%)”. The monthly figure shown — $11.20 — is that promotional rate. The ongoing rate is never stated in words anywhere on the page. It is recoverable, though: the page also shows the undiscounted three-month total of $48.00, and $48.00 ÷ 3 = $16.00. The Pro tier works out the same way, $177.00 ÷ 3 = $59.00.
This is the only case in our set where a reader has to do arithmetic to learn the ongoing price.
4. No monthly price at all
ActiveCampaign is the outlier. All four of its plans are labelled “billed annually” and there is no monthly toggle on the page. The monthly rate is not disclosed anywhere before checkout. Whether monthly billing is even offered is not stated on the pricing page.
The One That Doesn’t
Brevo shows $9 and charges $9. The annual saving is displayed beside the monthly rate rather than in place of it. It is the only pricing page in this set where the largest number on screen is the number you pay, and it costs Brevo nothing to do it — the discount is still there, just not disguised as the default.
A Fifth Mechanism: Currency
Two pages served us a non-USD currency based on location without an obvious indication. Mailchimp redirected to ?currency=INR and displayed rupee prices; forcing ?currency=USD was necessary to read the figures above. ActiveCampaign offers a selector spanning USD, BRL, CAD, AUD, EUR and GBP.
This matters more than it sounds. Vendors do not simply convert — regional prices are often set independently, so the local figure may not match the converted dollar figure. If you are comparing platforms from outside the US, confirm which currency each page is showing you before drawing any conclusion.
How to Read Any Pricing Page
Four checks, in order. One: find the billing toggle and confirm which side it is on. Two: read the small print directly beneath the price for the words “for 12 months”, “first year” or “upfront”. Three: look for a total elsewhere on the page and divide it by the term — that is often where the ongoing rate is hiding. Four: check the currency indicator, especially outside the US.
Thirty seconds, and it is the difference between budgeting correctly and being surprised in month four or month thirteen.
Why We Published This
Every review on this site states its capture date and billing mode because of what this audit found. When we say MailerLite Comfort is $12/month, we mean monthly billing, in USD, on 8 August 2026 — not the $10.80 its page shows first. Comparisons built on displayed prices rather than paid prices produce conclusions that are wrong by 10–100% depending on which vendor you happened to read.
Individual breakdowns are in our reviews of MailerLite, Mailchimp, Kit, Brevo, Omnisend, ActiveCampaign and beehiiv.
Method
Each vendor’s pricing page was loaded on 8 August 2026 and read in the USD view at the entry paid tier — 500 subscribers for MailerLite, 0–500 contacts for Mailchimp and Omnisend, 1,000 for Kit, ActiveCampaign and beehiiv, and the published entry rate for Brevo. Where a billing toggle existed, both modes were recorded. No accounts were opened and no product was tested. See our sources and method.