Best Email Marketing Tools for Course Creators (2026)
A course platform sells to whoever's already looking. An email list is how you build the audience that looks in the first place — here's what to use to run it.
| Tool | Free plan | Cheapest paid plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Up to 10,000 subscribers, limited features | ~$25/mo (Creator, annual) | Creators specifically — built-in landing pages, digital product sales |
| MailerLite | Up to 1,000 subscribers | ~$10/mo (annual) | Budget-conscious creators wanting clean, simple automation |
| ActiveCampaign | No free tier | ~$15/mo (annual) | Advanced automation and CRM-style tagging for larger lists |
Pricing shown reflects publicly listed rates as of mid-2026 and can change — check each vendor's pricing page before buying.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) (full review →)
Kit was built by and for creators specifically, not general businesses, and it shows: landing pages, simple digital product/course checkout, and subscriber tagging based on what someone clicked are all built with a course-seller's workflow in mind rather than a generic e-commerce one. The free plan is unusually generous at up to 10,000 subscribers, though automation features are limited until you upgrade.
MailerLite
MailerLite trades some of Kit's creator-specific features for a lower price and a cleaner, faster interface — a solid choice if you mainly need reliable newsletters and a straightforward automation sequence (like a welcome series or launch sequence) without a steep learning curve.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign's automation and contact-tagging capabilities go well beyond what most solo course creators need — it's built more for teams running complex, multi-branch email/CRM workflows. Worth considering once your list is large enough that you're segmenting audiences in detail, but likely overkill (and overpriced) for a first course launch.