HEAD TO HEAD
GetResponse vs MailerLite: a bundle against a newsletter tool
vs
These two are not competing on the same thing. MailerLite sells a newsletter platform and prices it tightly. GetResponse sells a bundle where webinars, courses and a site builder ride alongside the email. Pick on whether you will use the bundle, because you pay for it either way.
Pick it ifGetResponse
Worth the premium only if the bundle replaces something you already pay for: webinars, an online course, a site builder. Sending is unlimited on every paid plan, but the entry plan allows a single conditional workflow.
From €16/mo · paid plans onlyTry GetResponseOur pick for most readersMailerLite
The better buy when the newsletter is the point. Cheaper at the same list size, a large automation allowance on the entry plan, and an upper plan that removes the sending cap outright. It does not try to host your product.
Free plan, paid from $12/mo · Free up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/moTry MailerLiteTwo ladders, side by side
| At a glance | GetResponse | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Automation, webinars, courses and multi-list management under one subscription. | Newsletter-first platform with clean tooling and automations, priced by active subscribers. |
| Billing unit | per contact | per contact |
| Free plan | paid plans only | Free up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo |
| Plans | Starter: €48/mo at 5,000 contacts Marketer: €82/mo at 5,000 contacts Creator: €94/mo at 5,000 contacts | Comfort: $49/mo at 5,000 contacts Power: $69/mo at 5,000 contacts |
| Entry price | from €16/mo | free plan, paid from $12/mo |
| Billing notes | Priced by list size with unlimited sends on paid plans; annual billing saves about 18%. The list-size selector starts at 1,000 contacts. | Priced by active subscribers; annual billing saves 10%. EUR prices are also published. |
Amounts come from each provider's official pricing page and can change: the official GetResponse pricing page · the official MailerLite pricing page.
Read the currencies before the numbers: the GetResponse ladder is published in euros as served in Europe, MailerLite in dollars, and the two are not a straight conversion. The shape still tells you something. MailerLite is the cheaper entry at small list sizes; the gap narrows as the list grows, because GetResponse never meters sending while MailerLite prices its uncapped plan as a separate rung.
Unlimited sending against a multiple of the list
This is the structural difference and it decides more than the price does. Every paid GetResponse plan sends without limit: frequency is a free variable, and a daily newsletter costs exactly what a monthly one costs. MailerLite's entry plan allows ten times your subscriber tier each month, and lifts the cap only on its upper plan.
For a weekly campaign with a welcome sequence attached, that allowance is comfortable and the difference is theoretical. For daily sending, heavy automation volume or frequent re-engagement pushes, it is the whole decision: either pay MailerLite for the uncapped plan, or take GetResponse where the question does not arise.
One workflow against fifty
The automation ceilings run the other way, and the gap is wide. GetResponse's entry plan allows a single conditional workflow, with unlimited plain autoresponders alongside it. MailerLite's entry plan allows a large number of automations outright.
So a sender running a welcome series, a re-engagement path and one behavioural trigger is already outside the GetResponse entry plan and comfortably inside MailerLite's. That inverts the price comparison above: compare MailerLite's entry plan against GetResponse's middle plan, not against its cheapest, whenever more than one branching flow is in play.
What the bundle is actually worth
GetResponse's upper plan adds webinars, a course creator, a website builder and paid newsletters. MailerLite has nothing equivalent and does not pretend to. The comparison is therefore not feature against feature but spend against spend: add up what the bundle would replace in your current stack, then compare that to the difference between the two ladders.
Two honest cautions. Replacing a tool you are happy with to save a subscription rarely ends well, and a bundled webinar product is not the same product as a dedicated one. We have not run either bundle in anger, so what is written here stops at what each provider publishes.
Who should pick which
- Newsletter first, weekly or monthly cadence: MailerLite, cheaper at the same size and generous on automations.
- Daily sending or heavy automation volume: GetResponse, where sending is never metered, unless you are willing to pay for MailerLite's uncapped plan.
- Several branching workflows: MailerLite on the entry plan, or GetResponse one plan up.
- Webinars or courses you would otherwise buy: GetResponse, after adding up what the bundle replaces.
The plan by plan detail is in the GetResponse plans dossier and the MailerLite plans dossier.
The same newsletter and the same welcome sequence
| The same brief | GetResponse | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| What the bill follows | contacts stored | contacts stored |
| Cheapest plan that covers the brief | Starter at 5,000 contacts €48/mo | Comfort at 5,000 contacts $49/mo |
| Monthly sends included | unlimited | 50,000 emails |
| Headroom after the brief | no ceiling published | 27,750 sends left |
The brief, identical on every comparison here: a list of 5,000 contacts, one newsletter to everyone each week (21,650 sends a month) and the same three email welcome sequence for 200 new subscribers (600 sends), so 22,250 sends in all. Prices and allowances are read from each provider's published ladder. Where an allowance is not published we say so rather than estimate it.
The two providers publish in different currencies (EUR and USD), so the two amounts above are not directly comparable. The cost calculator converts them to one currency before ranking.
What the two products actually look like
What we checked, and where it comes from
GetResponse
- No permanent full free plan: a 14-day trial, after which a limited free account keeps a GetResponse badge on emails. Source: the official GetResponse pricing page
- Sending is unlimited on paid plans; pricing follows list size from 1,000 contacts up. Source: the official GetResponse pricing page
- Each list is treated independently for billing: an address on several lists counts once per list (help example: 4 people on 3 lists = 8 contacts). Source: www.getresponse.com/help/how-does-getresponse-pricing-work.html
- Each list carries its own From address, opt-in settings, confirmation email and language. Source: www.getresponse.com/help/how-do-i-create-a-new-contact-list.html
- Newsletters are deduplicated across lists at send time: one copy per address. Source: www.getresponse.com/help/i-have-the-same-contact-on-more-than-one-list-will-they-get-my-message-several-times.html
- Automation treats the same person on different lists as separate contacts; the Unique contacts filter stops repeat runs. Source: www.getresponse.com/help/how-can-i-filter-out-duplicate-contacts-in-a-workflow.html
MailerLite
- Current plan names are Comfort and Power; the old Growing Business and Advanced names are gone. Source: the official MailerLite pricing page
- Comfort caps monthly emails at 10x the subscriber tier ceiling; Power is unlimited under fair use. Source: the official MailerLite pricing page
- Exceeding a paid tier triggers an automatic, notified upgrade to the next tier; free accounts over 250 subscribers have sending locked. Source: the official MailerLite pricing page
How to read this: every capability above is taken from the provider's own published pages, and each line names where it came from. We have not run a paid side by side test of these two platforms, so nothing on this page is presented as a test result. The hands on protocols we do publish, and their limits, are on the tests page. Where a provider does not publish something, we say so instead of estimating it.
Questions people also ask
Which is cheaper, GetResponse or MailerLite?
MailerLite at the entry level and at small list sizes, on the rungs published above. The comparison flips if you need more than one branching workflow, because that moves GetResponse up a plan, or if you send daily, because that moves MailerLite up a plan.
Does MailerLite really cap my sending?
Its entry plan allows ten times your subscriber tier in emails each month, which a weekly campaign plus a welcome sequence sits well inside. Its upper plan removes the cap. GetResponse does not meter sending on any paid plan.
Can I compare the two prices directly?
Not as raw numbers. The GetResponse ladder here is in euros as served in Europe and MailerLite's is in dollars, and GetResponse also publishes a dollar ladder that is not a conversion of the euro one. Compare the shape and the plan boundaries, then verify the currency at checkout.
Have you run both platforms side by side?
No. This is a documentary comparison: every capability above is read from each provider's published pages and sourced below, and no paid account was run on either. Our hands on protocols, and their limits, are on the tests page.