Migration guide
MailerLite → Flodesk
Inverse of iteration 174's flodesk-to-mailerlite path; closes the flodesk-mailerlite bidirectional pair. MailerLite is the friendly small-business ESP at $10/500 subs (Growing Business) scaling per-500; Flodesk is the design-led creator platform at $25 Lite / $28 Pro / $54 Everything flat regardless of subscriber count up to 255k. Migration pencils when (a) design aesthetic is the value-add (Flodesk's templates are meaningfully nicer for design-conscious creators), (b) your subscriber list is large enough that Flodesk's flat-fee crossover beats MailerLite's per-500 scaling, or (c) you want integrated checkouts and sales pages bundled (Flodesk Everything). Most small-business operators on MailerLite stay there; the migration is for design-led creators or high-volume senders past the cost-crossover.
Published · By the TierGauge editorial team
When this migration makes sense
- Brand aesthetic is genuinely a value for you or your audience. Flodesk's templates are the product's signature; MailerLite's drag-drop editor is functional but visually plainer. If your audience opens emails because they look beautiful, the design upgrade is real.
- Your subscriber list is past 25,000 and approaching the cost-crossover. MailerLite Advanced at 25k subs is roughly $145/mo (per-500-band scaling); Flodesk Pro at $28/mo covers up to 255k subs flat. The crossover is around 5-10k subscribers depending on which MailerLite tier you're on; past that, Flodesk Pro is cheaper.
- You want integrated checkouts, sales pages, and subscription billing bundled. Flodesk Everything at $54/mo ships these natively; MailerLite has digital products on Growing Business but the checkout depth is shallower and sales pages aren't a feature.
- You're a visual creator (designer, photographer, course-maker, content creator with a brand-heavy aesthetic). Flodesk's editorial framing is shaped for that buyer; MailerLite's is small-business-first.
- You need unlimited active subscribers on the free tier. Flodesk Free is unlimited; MailerLite Free is capped at 500. If you're testing list-building strategies on a free tier and want to grow past 500 before committing to paid, Flodesk's free tier is structurally generous.
- You want abandoned-cart automation for digital-product launches. Flodesk Everything ships abandoned-cart on the integrated checkout flow; MailerLite doesn't ship a comparable abandoned-cart primitive shaped for digital-product sales.
When it doesn't
- Your subscriber list is below 5,000 and you're on MailerLite Free or Growing Business at $10/500 subs. At this volume MailerLite is meaningfully cheaper than Flodesk Lite at $25/mo (25k cap). Don't migrate just for aesthetics if cost is a constraint at small volume.
- You depend on MailerLite Advanced's multivariate testing, AI writing assistant, smart sending, custom HTML editor, or enhanced multi-trigger automations. Flodesk Pro doesn't ship multivariate testing or AI writing; the Pro tier covers unlimited workflows but the testing primitive isn't first-class.
- You use MailerLite's bundled website + blog builder included in every paid tier. Flodesk has landing pages but no website-builder story; if you're hosting your site on MailerLite, you'd ladder a separate site host before migrating.
- You're a nonprofit and rely on MailerLite's 30% self-serve nonprofit discount. Flodesk doesn't have a comparable nonprofit pricing program.
- You depend on MailerLite's larger general integration ecosystem (CMS, CRM, payment, e-commerce, analytics). Flodesk's integration surface is smaller and creator-aesthetic-focused.
- Your business is small-business-shaped (consultant, coach, local business, B2B service provider) rather than visual-creator-shaped. MailerLite's product framing is calibrated for the former; Flodesk's is calibrated for the latter.
- You write in markdown or want clean RSS-to-email pipelines. MailerLite supports both natively; Flodesk's editor is template-and-block-shaped without strong markdown or RSS-to-email support.
What you lose by leaving MailerLite
- Cost advantage at low subscriber counts. MailerLite Free covers 500 subs; MailerLite Growing Business at $10/500 subs is meaningfully cheaper than Flodesk Lite $25/mo at any list size up to ~5k.
- Multivariate testing on MailerLite Advanced. Flodesk doesn't ship multivariate testing.
- AI writing assistant on MailerLite Advanced. Flodesk doesn't ship AI-assisted copywriting.
- Bundled website + blog builder included in every paid tier.
- 30% self-serve nonprofit discount on paid plans.
- Larger general integration ecosystem (CMS, CRM, payment, e-commerce, analytics).
- Smart sending, custom HTML editor, and enhanced multi-trigger automations on MailerLite Advanced.
- MailerLite's clean markdown editing and RSS-to-email pipeline support.
What you gain with Flodesk
- Design-led template library. The single most-cited reason creators land on Flodesk; the visual register is meaningfully nicer than MailerLite's drag-drop editor.
- Flat-fee pricing past ~5k subscribers. Flodesk Pro at $28/mo covers up to 255k subs; MailerLite scales per-500. At 25k subs MailerLite Advanced is ~$290/mo while Flodesk Pro stays at $28.
- Integrated checkouts and sales pages on Everything tier. MailerLite has digital products but the checkout depth is shallower and sales pages aren't a feature.
- Abandoned-cart automation for digital-product launches (on Everything tier).
- Unlimited active subscribers on Flodesk Free. MailerLite Free caps at 500.
- Visual-creator editorial alignment. If your business is photography, design, course-creation, or content with a strong brand aesthetic, Flodesk's positioning fits better than MailerLite's small-business framing.
- Apple-style aesthetic register. Some brands specifically want the Flodesk look as part of their email-experience design.
Plan mapping at the entry paid tier
The lowest non-free, non-custom tier on each side. Use this for the "if I'm on $X with MailerLite, what's the equivalent on Flodesk?" gut check.
| Limit | MailerLite (Growing Business) | Flodesk (Lite) |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 500 subscribers (anchor; scales up) | 25,000 subscribers |
| Emails / month | Unlimited | · |
| Team seats | 3 | 1 |
Step-by-step migration
- 01
Export your list from MailerLite
Pull a fresh CSV of every active subscriber. Capture the fields you actually use downstream: email is required, name is standard, signup date and tier (free/paid) are useful when MailerLite provides them.
- 02
Provision Flodesk
Sign up, set sender identity, and verify your sending domain (DKIM, SPF, DMARC). Do this before importing the list; sending from an unverified domain is the single fastest way to land in spam at the moment of cutover.
- 03
Import the list and map fields
Upload the CSV. Map email + name + any custom fields. Decide whether to import as one list or split into segments/tags. MailerLite-style organization rarely maps 1:1, so plan the split before the upload, not after.
- 04
Rebuild automations and templates
Flodesk's automation builder is structurally similar but won't import MailerLite's flows directly. Rebuild only what you actively use; the move is a chance to delete the unused ones rather than lift-and-shift dead infrastructure.
- 05
Send a test broadcast
Pick a small segment and send a real broadcast (not just a preview). Verify deliverability, link clicks, and unsubscribe flow. If anything's off, you find it before the announcement, not after.
- 06
Announce the move and cut over
Send your last broadcast from MailerLite announcing the new sender domain and what to expect. Cut over DNS and sending from Flodesk on the same day, not staggered. A dual-send week creates more confusion than it prevents.
MailerLite-to-Flodesk specific gotchas
Universal steps cover most of the work. These are the failure modes unique to this exact pair.
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#1
Subscriber import: MailerLite exports CSV with subscriber + group + segment data; Flodesk imports into a single subscriber list with optional segments. Audit your MailerLite groups; the load-bearing 5-10 audience-segmentation groups become Flodesk segments, the rest become tags or get dropped.
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#2
Custom-fields rebuild: MailerLite's custom field types (text / number / dropdown / datetime / image / boolean) don't all 1:1 map to Flodesk's custom fields. Image fields don't transfer. Audit which custom fields drive automation logic; rebuild only the load-bearing ones.
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#3
Workflow rebuild: MailerLite's automation builder uses time-delays + group/segment triggers; Flodesk Pro's workflows are sequence-shaped with simpler triggers. Plan to rebuild flows from scratch with the equivalent Flodesk triggers; the migration is a structural simplification rather than a feature port.
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#4
Website / blog migration: if you've hosted a MailerLite website + blog, those don't transfer to Flodesk (Flodesk has landing pages only). Pick an alternate host (Webflow, Squarespace, Astro / Eleventy) BEFORE migrating; rebuild the site there. Don't underestimate this lift; it can take 2-4 weeks for content-heavy sites.
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#5
Email-template re-author: MailerLite's drag-drop editor produces structurally different HTML than Flodesk's design-system templates. Pick the 3-5 templates you actually use and re-author them in Flodesk using its template library and editor. The visual upgrade is the entire point; don't try to port the existing template aesthetic.
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#6
Sender-domain DNS: MailerLite issues `mlsend.com` / `k.mlsend.com` patterns; Flodesk issues different selector names. Add Flodesk's DNS records alongside MailerLite's, verify Flodesk, warm Flodesk's sender for 7-14 days on a percentage of traffic before flipping the from-address.
Compare on price across the category
This guide is MailerLite to Flodesk specifically. To see both side by side with every other email marketing tool we track on a single price-only table, see the email marketing pricing comparison . Useful before committing to the migration, in case a third option fits the cost-and-feature combination better than either side of this guide.
Common questions
- Is Flodesk cheaper than MailerLite?
- Both start at the same headline price (Free). The reason to migrate is the pricing model and feature scope, not the entry-tier number.
- Will I lose subscribers in the move?
- Email lists transfer as raw addresses; subscriber relationships transfer with you because the addresses haven't changed. What you can lose: re-engagement (some readers won't notice the new sender domain immediately), paid subscriptions if MailerLite handles billing differently from Flodesk (the gotchas above call out the specific cases), and any "engagement" or warmth signals that MailerLite's deliverability inferred from your sending history. Plan a clear announcement and a deliverability warm-up week.
- How long does the migration take?
- For a list under 10,000 subscribers, a clean migration is one focused week: domain setup and verification, list import, automation rebuild, test broadcast, announcement, cutover. Larger lists or complex automations can stretch to 2 or 3 weeks. The constraint is rarely the import itself; it's the deliverability warm-up and the time to rebuild flows you actually depend on.
- Are MailerLite and Flodesk direct competitors?
- Yes. Both are primarily email marketing tools, which is why this is a defensible head-to-head migration rather than a cross-category consolidation.
- Where can I see MailerLite vs Flodesk side-by-side?
- The /compare/flodesk-vs-mailerlite page on TierGauge shows side-by-side plans, headline pricing, included features, and limit comparison at the entry paid tier. This migration guide is the long-form decision narrative; the compare page is the data-only dashboard.
Sources
- MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing
- Flodesk: https://flodesk.com/pricing
Pricing verified . Migration mechanics are based on the public pricing pages and standard ESP migration patterns; verify destructive steps (DNS cutover, paid subscription transfer) against the vendor's current docs before executing.