Quick answer: GetResponse is a strong all-in-one tool — EmailTooltester’s Inka Wibowo calls its $19/mo Starter plan “a fantastic deal” — but she also warns that “GetResponse can be quite expensive compared to other tools,” and that crossing a contact limit means “you are automatically bumped to the next tier” (EmailTooltester). People leave for three reasons: automation is gated behind the $59/mo Marketer plan, you pay for contacts you never email, and monetization features cost $69/mo. Ranked by need: Bluey Email (best all-round value), Brevo (best free plan), MailerLite (best for beginners), ActiveCampaign (best automation), Omnisend (best for ecommerce), Moosend (cheapest) and Kit (best for creators). Full disclosure: Bluey is my own product; same criteria for everyone, and I say where each rival wins.
GetResponse is genuinely good. EmailTooltester lists its automation triggers, ecommerce tracking and 24/7 support among its strengths (EmailTooltester). This page is for the people it prices out, not the people it serves.
Why look for a GetResponse alternative?
1. Automation is gated. Starter ($19/mo) includes exactly one custom automation workflow. A welcome series and a re-engagement flow requires Marketer at $59/mo (GetResponse).
2. Contact-based tiers step, hard. At 1,001 contacts you pay the 2,500-contact price of $29 (EmailTooltester). At 10,000 contacts, Starter is $79/mo and Marketer $114/mo — regardless of whether you send one email a month or thirty.
3. Monetization is expensive. EmailTooltester’s verdict on the Creator plan: “Compared to other providers, you will be paying a lot more to be able to sell newsletter subscriptions, as its Creator plan starts at $69/month.”
If none of those bite — if you email a small list daily and want webinars, courses and a website builder in one place — stay. GetResponse is the right tool for that job.
The 7 best GetResponse alternatives
1. Bluey Email — best all-round value
Best for: businesses with a big list and a normal cadence. Price: free (500 contacts / 500 sends); ~$14/mo at 10,000 sends; Grow $30/mo with unlimited contacts; Business $300/mo adds CRM and ecommerce flows. Why over GetResponse: Bluey meters emails sent, not contacts stored, so a 10,000-contact list emailed monthly costs about $14 versus GetResponse Starter’s $79 — and there is no tier bump at 1,001 contacts. It also runs transactional and marketing email on one bill, which GetResponse does not offer at all. Trade-off: GetResponse beats it outright on unlimited sends for daily senders, on webinars, courses and paid newsletters, and on its website builder.
2. Brevo — best free plan
Best for: anyone who wants automation without a subscription. Price: free plan sending up to 300 emails a day to as many as 100,000 contacts; paid plans from $29/mo (EmailTooltester). Why over GetResponse: the free plan includes automation and a CRM, where GetResponse’s free tier caps you at 500 contacts and 2,500 newsletters. Trade-off: EmailTooltester found Brevo’s deliverability “pretty low in our recent email deliverability tests,” and you cannot sell digital products through it. See Brevo alternatives.
3. MailerLite — best for beginners
Best for: small businesses who want a clean editor and strong deliverability. Price: free to 1,000 subscribers with a visual automation builder; paid from $19/mo. Why over GetResponse: “one of the easiest email marketing tools we have tested,” per EmailTooltester, and “one of the highest-scoring tools in our email deliverability tests” — with automation available on the free plan, where GetResponse gates it. Trade-off: no CRM, no webinars, thinner reporting; email templates are not on the free plan. See MailerLite alternatives.
4. ActiveCampaign — best automation
Best for: teams whose sales and marketing automation must share a CRM. Price: Email Marketing plans from $19/mo, no free version. Why over GetResponse: unlimited workflows from the entry plan and a built-in CRM; EmailTooltester describes it as “a tool for those serious about email marketing automation and omnichannel marketing.” Trade-off: a steeper learning curve and, as they put it, “at the pricier end of the spectrum.” See ActiveCampaign alternatives.
5. Omnisend — best for ecommerce
Best for: Shopify and WooCommerce stores. Price: free plan; paid from $16/mo. Why over GetResponse: “almost all advanced features are available on their free plan, including marketing automation, landing pages, website tracking,” per EmailTooltester — GetResponse charges $59/mo for abandoned-cart recovery. Trade-off: it is an ecommerce tool; if you do not run a store, much of what you pay for is idle. See Omnisend alternatives.
6. Moosend — cheapest
Best for: anyone whose only complaint is the bill. Price: from $9/mo, no free plan (30-day trial). Why over GetResponse: multi-step marketing automation and ready-made workflow templates at less than half the Starter price. Trade-off: EmailTooltester notes it is “not the easiest of tools to use” and that its campaign and landing-page builders “could do with some improvements in terms of usability.”
7. Kit — best for creators
Best for: writers and creators who sell digital products. Price: free plan; paid from $15/mo. Why over GetResponse: free migration, 50 landing-page templates and digital-product selling without GetResponse’s $69/mo Creator tier. Trade-off: limited design options and, per EmailTooltester, an editor that “is not the easiest to use.” See Kit alternatives.
How to choose your GetResponse alternative
- Count sends, not contacts. A large list emailed monthly favours send-based pricing (Bluey). A small list emailed daily favours GetResponse’s unlimited sends.
- How many automations do you actually need? If the answer is more than one, GetResponse Starter is already the wrong plan and the comparison is against $59/mo, not $19.
- Do you sell courses, webinars or paid newsletters? Then nothing here replaces GetResponse Creator directly — decide whether $69/mo beats stitching together a dedicated tool.
- Is deliverability the priority? MailerLite scores highest in EmailTooltester’s tests; Brevo scores poorly.
- Do you run a store? Omnisend gives you free automation; GetResponse charges $59/mo for the same job.
- Is it purely budget? Moosend at $9/mo, or Brevo’s free plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to GetResponse? Yes. Brevo’s free plan allows 300 emails a day to up to 100,000 contacts and includes automation and a CRM; MailerLite is free to 1,000 subscribers with automation; Omnisend and Bluey both have free tiers (EmailTooltester).
What is the cheapest GetResponse alternative? Moosend at $9/mo. For a free option, Brevo.
Why is GetResponse expensive? Two reasons: you pay for contacts rather than sends, and the tiers step automatically — 1,001 contacts is billed at the 2,500-contact rate (EmailTooltester).
Which GetResponse alternative has the best automation? ActiveCampaign, on features and depth. Bluey is the better value if your automations are standard and your list is large.
Does GetResponse have a free plan? Yes — 500 contacts, 2,500 newsletters a month, one landing page, with premium features open for the first 14 days only (GetResponse).
The verdict
Stay on GetResponse if you send often to a small list and use its webinar, course or website tooling — the $19 Starter plan is, in Wibowo’s words, “a fantastic deal” for what it includes.
Leave if you are paying for dormant contacts or being pushed to $59/mo just to run a second automation. Bluey Email is the natural landing spot for large lists on a normal cadence; ActiveCampaign if automation depth is the point; Brevo if free matters most. Compare everything in Best Email Marketing Software in 2026, see the head-to-head in Bluey vs GetResponse, or start with the complete email marketing guide.
— Shivam