Constant Contact review: $12 to start, and the price climbs with your list
Constant Contact starts at $12 a month for 500 contacts. Pricing scales aggressively as the list grows, and there is no permanent free plan. What each tier actually adds.
Verdict
Constant Contact is the easiest email tool here to learn, starting at $12 a month for 500 contacts. Pricing climbs steeply with list size, and there is no permanent free plan.
Constant Contact at a glance
- Starting price
- $12/mo at 500 contacts
- Free plan
- No
- We tested for
- Two weeks
Pros and cons
What works
- Genuinely the simplest of the mainstream email tools to learn, with less configuration standing between signup and a sent campaign
- The $12 entry price at 500 contacts is the cheapest paid starting point among established email platforms
- Annual prepayment saves up to 15 percent, and registered nonprofits get 30 percent off annual plans
- Long-established provider with reliable deliverability, which matters more than feature count for email
What does not
- No permanent free plan; the trial is 14 to 30 days and capped at around 100 test sends
- Pricing scales aggressively with list size: Standard goes from $35 at 500 contacts to $110 at 5,000
- Automation and segmentation require the $35 Standard tier; the $12 Lite plan is broadcast email only
- Less automation depth than ActiveCampaign at comparable prices, so it is the wrong pick if workflows matter
What Constant Contact is genuinely good at#
Being easy. That sounds like faint praise, but it is the actual reason to pick it: a business owner with no marketing background can sign up and send a decent-looking campaign the same afternoon, without working out what a segment is or how a trigger fires.
Every other tool in this category asks more of you before you send anything.
The pricing structure to understand#
$12 → $110
Standard plan, 500 contacts versus 5,000
Pricing is tiered by contact count, and the escalation is steep. A list that grows tenfold roughly triples the bill on the same plan.
Lite is newsletter-only#
The $12 headline price buys broadcast email: write a campaign, send it to a list. No automation, no segmentation, no A/B testing.
| Lite | Standard | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price at 500 contacts | $12 | $35 | $80 |
| Broadcast campaigns | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Segmentation | No | Yes | Yes |
| Automation | No | Yes | Yes |
| A/B testing | No | Yes | Yes |
| Custom reporting | No | No | Yes |
For a genuine newsletter business, Lite is honest value. For anyone who will eventually want a welcome sequence, Standard at $35 is the real starting price.
No free plan, which matters at this price point#
Mailchimp offers 250 contacts free. Constant Contact offers a capped trial and then asks for money. For a business testing whether email marketing works for them at all, that difference is significant.
Where ActiveCampaign wins#
At $35 Standard versus $49 ActiveCampaign Plus, the gap is $14 a month, and ActiveCampaign's automation is in a different class. Anyone whose plan involves behavioural sequences rather than newsletters should pay the difference.
Constant Contact pricing
| Plan | Price | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $12per month at 500 contacts | Broadcast email campaigns, templates, basic list management | A business sending a regular newsletter with no automation needs |
| Standard | $35per month at 500 contacts ($110 at 5,000) | Everything in Lite, plus segmentation, automation, and A/B testing | Most small businesses; the first tier with automation |
| Premium | $80per month at 500 contacts ($200 at 5,000) | Everything in Standard, plus advanced automation, custom reporting, and SEO tools | A business running email alongside broader marketing campaigns |
Prices in US dollars, checked on August 13, 2026. Vendors change pricing without notice.
Who Constant Contact is for
Buy it if
- You want to send good-looking newsletters without learning an automation builder
- Your list is small, where the contact-tiered pricing works in your favour
- You are a registered nonprofit, where the 30 percent annual discount is substantial
Skip it if
- You need real behavioural automation, where ActiveCampaign gives far more at a similar price
- Your list is large or growing fast; the price escalation with contact count is steep
- You want to start free, which Mailchimp allows up to 250 contacts and Constant Contact does not allow at all
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Constant Contact cost?
- At 500 contacts, Constant Contact is $12 a month for Lite, $35 for Standard, and $80 for Premium. Prices scale with list size: at 5,000 contacts, Standard rises to $110 and Premium to $200.
- Does Constant Contact have a free plan?
- No. It offers a free trial of 14 to 30 days capped at around 100 test sends, but there is no permanent free tier. Mailchimp offers a genuine free plan up to 250 contacts if starting at zero cost matters.
- What does the $12 Lite plan actually include?
- Lite covers broadcast email campaigns, templates, and basic list management. Segmentation, automation, and A/B testing all require the Standard plan at $35 a month, which is where most businesses actually land.
- Is there a nonprofit discount?
- Yes. Registered nonprofits qualify for 30 percent off annual subscriptions, which stacks meaningfully against the standard 15 percent annual prepayment saving.
Written by
Dana Whitfield
Founder and lead reviewer
Dana spent nine years running a six-person marketing agency in Austin, where payroll depended on picking software that actually shipped work. She started Tested AI after buying one too many tools on the strength of a demo video. She has personally paid for and run every tool reviewed on this site for at least two weeks of real client work before scoring it.
- Nine years running a marketing agency
- Google Analytics 4 certified
- 68 AI tools bought and tested