Buttondown #2 vs MailerLite #6 of 9 on /best/email-marketing
Buttondown vs MailerLite
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Buttondown and MailerLite, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
Buttondown
- Free
Up to 100 subscribers with markdown editor, custom-domain sending, and hosted archives.
Free - $9 add-ons
Pay per feature; this bundle is illustrative of the $9 add-on tier.
$9/mo - $29 add-ons
Pay per feature; this bundle is illustrative of the $29 add-on tier.
$29/mo - $79 add-ons
Pay per feature; this bundle is illustrative of the $79 add-on tier.
$79/mo
MailerLite
- Free
Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month
Free - Growing Business
Most popular paid tier, starts at 500 subscribers
$10/mo - Advanced
Power features for active senders
$20/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares $9 add-ons (Buttondown) against Growing Business (MailerLite). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Buttondown | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Custom | 500 subscribers (anchor; scales up) |
| Emails / month | · | Unlimited |
| Team seats | · | 3 |
When Buttondown wins
- Independent writers and indie creators running a paid newsletter.
- Privacy-minded operators who want to avoid tracking pixels.
- Markdown-native authors who prefer plain text over WYSIWYG bloat.
Where Buttondown is the wrong fit
- High-volume senders pushing multiple campaigns per day.
- E-commerce teams needing deep behavioral automation and segmentation.
- Marketing teams that want a single flat tier covering every feature.
When MailerLite wins
- Solo creators and small businesses replacing Mailchimp
- Teams that want one tool for emails, landing pages, and a small website
- Nonprofits (30% discount on paid plans)
Where MailerLite is the wrong fit
- B2B teams needing deep CRM and pipeline workflows (use HubSpot or ActiveCampaign)
- Operators wanting native ad network or paid subscriptions (use beehiiv)
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend)
Compare across the category
This page is Buttondown vs MailerLite. To put both side by side with every other email marketing tool we track on a single price-only table, see the email marketing pricing comparison . Free tiers, entry paid plans, and mid-tier plans for the full email marketing cohort.
Common questions
- Is Buttondown cheaper than MailerLite?
- Both Buttondown and MailerLite have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does Buttondown or MailerLite have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. Buttondown: Up to 100 subscribers with markdown editor, custom-domain sending, and hosted archives.. MailerLite: Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month.
- Are Buttondown and MailerLite in the same category?
- Yes. Both are primarily email marketing tools, which is why this is a natural head-to-head comparison.
- Which has more plans, Buttondown or MailerLite?
- Both Buttondown and MailerLite ship 4 plans. Tier counts match; the differentiation is in features and pricing structure rather than tier ladder depth.
- Where can I see alternatives to Buttondown or MailerLite?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/buttondown for Buttondown and /alternatives/mailerlite for MailerLite. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Buttondown: https://buttondown.com/pricing · MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.