Best Email Marketing Software of 2026

Here's what we'll cover:

What you need to know about email marketing software

What is email marketing software?

Essential features of email marketing software

Benefits and competitive advantages of using email marketing software

How to choose the best email marketing software for your business

Software related to email marketing

More resources for your email marketing journey

What you need to know about email marketing software

Email marketing software helps businesses monitor the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and supports the production and management of email communication with prospects and customers. Of nearly 400 marketing software buyers our advisors talked to in the past year, 60% requested marketing software with email marketing capabilities.[1] Buyers most often come from businesses with less than 500 contacts, and from a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing, non-profit, healthcare, and general contractors.

With over 500 different email marketing software products to choose from, with over 9,000 reviews published on our site in the last two years, navigating this purchase decision can be daunting. How do you find the best email marketing software for your needs?

Knowing how much to budget for your new software is a good starting point. Basic systems can be found for as little as $7 per month, while advanced offerings can cost $1,499 per month or more, depending on the number of users and the functionality offered. [2] Free versions (forever free or limited-time free trials) are also common.

But there are other factors you need to consider with your purchase as well, such as feature needs, necessary integrations, and ease of use. You should meet with other stakeholders to figure out answers to critical questions about your purchase, like:

• Does the software support campaign scheduling, audience segmentation, and channel optimization?

• What measurement and reporting features are available for tracking performance and ROI?

• What are the tool's capabilities for managing customer profiles and data?

• Can the platform automate lead capture, scoring, and routing?

• Does the software integrate with CRM systems or sales tools?

Buying new software can feel like a long and arduous task. To help, we offer this guide to tell you everything you need to know about buying email marketing software—with advice from our experienced email marketing software advisors James McKechnie and Marty Moore. To get expert guidance, schedule a free consultation or start a chat with us today.

What is email marketing software?

Email marketing software is a digital tool that enables businesses to create, launch, and track email campaigns to promote a company’s marketing message. Email marketing software offers a centralized platform that allows marketers to manage and automate numerous characteristics of email marketing, including building and segmenting email lists, designing, scheduling and delivering emails, and analyzing their results through various metrics. Email marketing software includes core features such as email campaign management, list management, and template management.

In addition to these core functions, email marketing software solutions often come equipped with robust reporting and analytics capabilities. These features provide valuable insights for ongoing customer relationship management efforts and the effectiveness of marketing strategies, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions.

Email marketing systems are closely related to contact management systems, CRM software, campaign management software, and all-in-one marketing platforms, which are commonly deployed via the cloud. These systems offer flexibility and scalability to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.

Essential features of email marketing software

When comparing email marketing software, it's important to know what features you can expect to see and which features are more advanced add-ons or uncommon. Some functionalities like email campaign management, list management, and template management are core features that will be available in every email marketing software. Other features, such as campaign scheduling, reporting/analytics, and contact management, are still common. We analyzed thousands of reviews to determine the core features of email marketing software: [3]

Common email marketing software features

Benefits and competitive advantages of using email marketing software

Automation is a key benefit in email marketing systems. As McKechnie notes, “Email marketing software buyers primarily seek to automate processes to avoid inefficiencies of manual tasks. With large contact lists, managing individual communications becomes impractical.” The goal of email marketing is to automate workflows and to ensure emails are dispatched effortlessly, adds McKechnie.

Our analysis of over 9,000 user reviews from the past year shows that team support, lead generation, email campaigns, and customer service in marketing are the top-rated benefits of email marketing software. These features directly address the core needs of email marketing, including communication and coordination across teams, optimal use of time and resources for promising leads, and tracking interactions with automated email marketing. 

• Improved team collaboration: Email marketing software fosters enhanced team support and collaboration by providing a centralized platform where team members can share templates, track campaign progress, and access metrics in real-time, ensuring all team members are on the same page. 

• Optimized lead acquisition: Email marketing software streamlines lead generation by automating the process of capturing and nurturing leads through targeted campaigns. With features like segmentation and personalization, businesses can tailor their messages to resonate with specific audiences to increase the likelihood of conversion. By optimizing lead generation efforts, email marketing software helps businesses increase their sales pipeline. 

• Targeted email outreach: Email marketing software enhances the effectiveness of email campaigns by offering advanced tools for design, automation, and analytics. Email marketers can create email campaigns by using customizable templates to ensure brand consistency.  Automation features allow users to schedule and trigger email campaigns based on user behaviour which ensures timely and relevant communication. 

• Proactive customer engagement: Email marketing software supports customer service efforts by enabling personalized and proactive communication with customers. Automated responses and follow-up emails ensure that customers receive timely support and information, which enhances their overall experience.

How to choose the best email marketing software for your business

Step 1: Define your requirements

The first step in any software purchase is to meet with stakeholders and define your requirements. These should include the use cases for your email marketing software, the goals and desired outcomes from your purchase, the features you need, and any necessary integrations with your current software stack. 

This ensures everyone is aligned on the needs with your new software, and also gives you a way to measure if your chosen email marketing software successfully meets your needs after it’s implemented.

Here are some other things to keep in mind early on with your purchase.

Budget for how much email marketing software really costs

As you might expect, the biggest component baked into the price of any new software system is going to be the license cost. That’s no different for email marketing software, where the license cost most often scales based on the number of employees who will use it and the level of functionality offered. 

But there are often other costs to consider as well, some of which vendors may not be as upfront about. These include charges for implementation, data migration, customization, user training, or premium customer support. Knowing the costs you might run into and asking vendors about them can help you avoid sticker shock.

Decide on a standalone tool or an integrated suite

If you have other marketing software needs, like that for CRM or marketing automation, it’s best to seek out an integrated suite with all of your needs packaged into one tool, such as an all-in-one marketing platform. Integrated suites can save you money and provide you with scalable solutions as your business grows.

Get ahead of potential email marketing software challenges

According to the email marketing software reviews on our site, some of the most common challenges with this type of software include spam filtering, payment plans, and contact management. 

Keep these potential issues in mind when reading reviews and talking to vendors.

Step 2: Make your email marketing software shortlist

After carefully defining your requirements, it's time to start narrowing down your options to create a shortlist and seek professional help in making an informed choice. 

Here are some useful resources to help you pare down your options and create a reliable shortlist with ease.

Get qualified help from an advisor 

At Software Advice, our advisors have experience helping hundreds of businesses identify solutions that suit their business needs. If you need guidance on how to make a shortlist or have any doubts regarding your business requirements, you can chat online now with an advisor or schedule a phone consultation. 

Explore our list of email marketing FrontRunners

If you’re not ready to speak to an advisor just yet, you can also start compiling your shortlist of email marketing software with our FrontRunners report. Only products that earn top user ratings make this list. 

Check out our full methodology for more details on how the FrontRunners report is compiled.

For more help creating a shortlist and a free, downloadable comparison chart, check out our Ultimate Software Vendor Evaluation Guide. This guide and comparison chart will help you compare software evaluation criteria for each prospective vendor by tracking functionalities, training and support offerings, costs, and deployment options.

Step 3: Pick the best option

Now that you have your curated shortlist, it's time to pick the best option. But how? Picking the best option means you need to try to get hands-on experience with the chosen software to ensure that it can fulfill a set of criteria before making your final choice. Here are a few things to consider before committing to a vendor:

Schedule a vendor demo

Vendor demos are sessions provided by the vendor to help get you familiar with the features of the product, its capabilities, and understand their pricing. Here, you have the chance to learn more about the product and ask questions to ensure that it aligns with your business needs. Be sure to ask about what is included in the price and whether technical support and training resources are available.

Evaluate your integration needs

Check the software’s ability to integrate with your existing systems and tools, such as email marketing software, website builder software, and project management software. A software solution with seamless integration is vital to streamlined workflows and improved data consistency across platforms. 

Determine customizable options

When making your final choice, it's also important to determine the level of customization the software offers to meet your specific business processes and requirements. A customizable software solution can enhance the software's relevance and effectiveness for your business. 

Step 4: Make the most of your email marketing software

Once you’ve purchased your email marketing software, the implementation process begins. Here are some important considerations you’ll want to pay attention to during this process:

• Training: Offer thorough training sessions for all users to ensure they understand how to use the software effectively. The training should cover an explanation of the software's core features, best practices, and any customizable functionalities specific to your organization. 

• Feature rollout: Users can become overwhelmed if you roll out every performance management feature at once. Start with the most critical components, like annual performance reviews, and then, once all the bugs and hiccups are figured out, you can open up users to more functionality.

• Integration: Map out all of the important integrations you need with your new email marketing software, then work closely with your IT personnel and vendor to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

“Integrations are crucial for email marketing software buyers, as many seek a comprehensive marketing solution that seamlessly connects with their existing CRM systems,” says Moore.

Check out our five critical steps to a successful software implementation for more help with this step.

Software related to email marketing

Depending on which email marketing software you choose, you may need to supplement some features with related software systems in order to support sales, lead generation, contact management, or marketing. Some types of software that are closely related to email marketing software, but may or may not be included in your email marketing setup, include:

• All-in-one marketing software: All-in-one marketing platform provides multiple digital marketing tools for businesses as part of one comprehensive package. The solution offers marketing automation, campaign management, email and social marketing, lead management, landing pages/web forms, dynamic content, and various other marketing features.

• Campaign management software: Campaign management software enables organizations to automate the tracking, delivery, reporting, and analysis of marketing campaigns and promotions through the integration of customer data sources and the ability to parse the data through a broad range of analytic searches. 

• Contact management software: Contact management software enables the storage, tracking, and management of contact information throughout an organization. 

• Customer relationship management (CRM) software: CRM software enables customer interaction, support, and relationship management. The purpose of a CRM application is to enable organizations to better manage their customers through the introduction of reliable systems, processes, and procedures. 

• Marketing automation software: Marketing automation software enables organizations to automate their marketing functions, including campaign creation, marketing workflows, and outcome analysis.

• Survey software: Survey software lets users design and manage electronic surveys, polls, and questionnaires for market research, measuring customer satisfaction, collecting employee feedback, and more. It helps automate designing, scheduling, publishing, and conducting surveys using various user feedback-capturing formats, including radio buttons, check boxes, drop-down menus, and free-form text fields. 

More resources for your email marketing journey

• 5 Top-Rated Email Marketing Software for Small Businesses

• Email Marketing Trends: What SMBs Need To Know To Boost Campaign Performance

• A Marketing Pro’s Tips for Building a Loyal Email Audience

• 5 Top-Rated Lead Management Software For Small Business

About our contributors

Author

Andrew Blair is a content analyst at Software Advice, covering marketing, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies across industries. He leverages his technical expertise and business acumen, acquired from experience as a web developer in the eCommerce industry, to deliver data-driven insights on market and business operations, empowering businesses to embrace the right technology.

Andrew’s research and analysis are informed by more than 150,000 authentic user reviews on Software Advice and nearly 3,000 interactions between Software Advice software advisors and software buyers. Andrew also regularly analyzes market sentiment by conducting surveys of IT and marketing leaders so he can provide the most up-to-date and helpful information to small and midsize businesses purchasing software or services.

His research and data insights for small and midsize businesses have been featured in SBS Media, IT Brief Australia, and Technology Decisions media publications. Andrew’s commentary on tech trends is published in various content forms, including podcasts, videos, and written interviews. In his free time, he enjoys sports and spending time outdoors.

Editor

Caroline Rousseau is a senior content editor at Software Advice.

A former content analyst, Caroline has, for the past five years, built, written, and edited research reports about technological trends, opportunities, and challenges with an SMB audience in mind. Her content has been featured in French Tier 1 media including Le Monde, L’Express, and Le Figaro, among other publications.

Her previous experience as a graphic designer, translator, and LQA specialist in various industries converged into a skill set that allows her to create compelling content about today’s business matters. Caroline’s personal interests include literature and art and she has a passion for Albert Camus, graphic novels, and drawing.

Advisor

Marty Moore is a senior software advisor. He joined Software Advice in 2014 as a software advisor, and he is based in Austin, TX.

As part of the software advisor team, Marty helps a wide range of industry professionals who are seeking construction, field service, CRM, and project management software. He provides a short list of personalized technology recommendations based on budget, business goals, and other specific needs.

Marty’s favorite part of being a software advisor is talking to buyers and helping them understand how software works for them and can really help their business.

Sources

• Software Advice advisor call notes: Findings are based on data from telephonic conversations that Software Advice’s advisor team had with small-to-midsize businesses seeking professional services automation tools. For this report, we analyzed phone interactions from January 1, 2023 to January 1, 2025. Read the complete methodology. 

• Software Advice software pricing data: Only products with publicly available pricing information and qualified software products within the category are included in the pricing analysis. Read the complete methodology.

• Software Advice reviews data: Software Advice reviews are collected from verified users for individual software products. For this report, we analyzed reviews from the past year as of the production date. Read the complete methodology.