ESP pricing models explained

Pricing pages mix several meters. Read the unit first, then the number. The examples below are current official snapshots as of 2026-11-05; they are not interchangeable line items.

Billing bases you should not treat as equivalent

Current official examples

Currency, billing cycle, and applicable region notes are taken from the cited pages. Always re-check before purchasing.

Contacts + monthly email volume (Brevo)

• Free: $0 per month; 300 daily email sends; up to 100,000 contacts stored. Unused daily sends do not carry over.
• Starter: from $9 per month; tiers pair monthly email sends with contact storage (example tier: 5,000 monthly emails with up to 500 contacts).
• Standard: from $18 per month with similar volume/contact tiering and additional features such as marketing automation for unlimited contacts (per plan docs).
• Professional: from $499 per month for higher volumes (docs describe 150,000 to 10 million monthly sends and up to 2 million contacts).
• Billing notes: published prices are exclusive of taxes; yearly subscriptions are described with a 10% discount; prepaid email credits are a separate add-on that never expire and can cover marketing and transactional sends.

Source: https://help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/208589409-About-Brevo-s-pricing-plans · As of 2026-11-05 · Source: https://help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409354969746-Customize-your-plan-with-add-ons · As of 2026-11-05 · Source: https://www.brevo.com/pricing/ · As of 2026-11-05

Continue: Brevo profile.

Billable contacts + email credits (Omnisend)

• Free: $0/month; up to 500 emails/month to a maximum of 250 unique contacts (you may upload more contacts, but campaign reach stays capped until you upgrade).
• Standard: starting at $16/month; email credits = billable contacts × 12 per billing cycle (example: 3,000 contacts → 36,000 emails/month).
• Pro: starting at $59/month; unlimited emails with fair-use language; SMS is a separate credits subscription with volume-based rates described from $0.007/SMS depending on spend and recipient country.
• Billing notes: tiers adjust with billable contacts (subscribers + non-subscribers; unsubscribed contacts excluded). Omnisend states charges are in USD; prices do not include VAT; banks may convert to local currency.

Source: https://support.omnisend.com/en/articles/3533018-omnisend-pricing-plans-2026 · As of 2026-11-05 · Source: https://www.omnisend.com/pricing/ · As of 2026-11-05

Continue: Omnisend profile · Brevo vs Omnisend.

Active subscribers + monthly sends + seats (MailerLite)

• Free: first 250 active subscribers; up to 2,500 emails every 30 days; 2 user seats; feature-use caps (for example up to 3 automations on Free per billing docs).
• Comfort: public pricing copy starts at $12/month (referenced at 500 subscribers); monthly emails described as 10× the ceiling of your subscriber tier; 3 seats in plan comparison materials.
• Power: public pricing copy starts at $25/month (referenced at 500 subscribers); unlimited monthly emails subject to fair use.
• Billing notes: Comfort/Power available monthly or annually (annual described with 10% discount). MailerLite accepts payments in EUR and USD based on billing address; VAT or other taxes may apply at checkout.

Source: https://www.mailerlite.com/help/plan-and-billing · As of 2026-11-05 · Source: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing · As of 2026-11-05

Continue: MailerLite profile · MailerLite vs Kit.

Marketing contacts + seats + send multipliers (HubSpot Marketing Hub)

• HubSpot’s product catalog states Marketing Hub email send limits are based on purchased contacts: Starter 5× per contact per calendar month; Professional 10× contact tier per calendar month; Enterprise 20× contact tier per calendar month (Marketing Contacts model).
• Core Seats are priced separately in the catalog (examples published as monthly per-seat figures by edition). Professional and Enterprise marketing packages also advertise included Core Seat counts on the marketing pricing page.
• Billing notes: figures on HubSpot marketing pricing pages are presented in USD; confirm whether you are on Marketing Contacts pricing or flexible seats-and-credits pricing, because HubSpot documents that these models treat contacts differently.

Source: https://legal.hubspot.com/hubspot-product-and-services-catalog · As of 2026-11-05 · Source: https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/marketing · As of 2026-11-05

Continue: HubSpot profile.

Worked reading method

1. Identify the primary meter on the pricing page (contacts, sends, seats, or credits).
2. Note free limits separately from paid entry prices.
3. Check overage behavior: auto-upgrade, hard stop, prepaid credits, or fair use.
4. Record currency, billing cycle (monthly vs yearly), and tax/VAT posture.
5. Only then compare two vendors that share a similar meter—or keep them on separate scorecards if meters differ.

Editorial opinion

“Cheapest entry price” is a weak comparator when one product meters sends and another meters billable contacts including non-subscribers. Forecast with your real list definition and send frequency. When you shortlist a multichannel automation suite, continue on the SendPulse profile; when you want a focused email/newsletter tool, continue on the EmailOctopus profile—then confirm the current pricing unit on each vendor’s official page.