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MailerLite vs Omnisend: What not to miss in 2023?

Last update: June 16, 2023

It’s no secret that email marketing ROI is huge for businesses. Omnisend reports that brands get an ROI of $72 for every single $1 spent on Omnisend.

However, with limited resources at hand, you want to ensure that you’re investing your time and money in the correct tools and strategies.

But with so many email marketing platforms, making the right choice can be a challenging task.

Ideally, the platform you choose will boast features like marketing automation, A/B testing, reporting and analytics, audience segmentation, strong integration capabilities, and more.

Two software that really nail it in terms of their offerings are MailerLite and Omnisend.

But which one should you pick?

In this article, we compare MailerLite vs Omnisend against different variables, including:

  • The main features
  • Integrations and compatibility
  • Pricing
  • Customer support

Let’s get started.

MailerLite vs Omnisend: An overview

Both Omnisend and MailerLite are highly sought-after platforms and can do a lot to ramp up your email marketing efforts.

The tools are similar in that they’re both geared toward people of all skill levels, appealing to both startups and big businesses. With that said, there’s a high chance you’ll benefit more from one of the two.

One of the major differentiators among the two is that Omnisend has a particular focus on ecommerce. It also offers a host of advanced features including pre-built automation workflows, customer lifecycle-based segmentation, a sophisticated email builder, and international SMS capabilities.

On the other hand, MailerLite is widely touted for its high deliverability rates and generous monthly email limits. It’s a spectacular tool with a simple interface and affordable pricing, making it fit for small businesses.

However, making an informed decision about choosing the right tool warrants an in-depth comparison.

In this article, we’ll be doing just that. Keep on reading to find out more.

MailerLite vs Omnisend: A side-by-side comparison

Omnisend
MailerLite
Ease of signing up
Very easy
Very easy
Intuitive email builder
Modern-looking email templates
Unique coupon codes
Email personalization
Pre-built automated workflows
Yes - only structure, no copy
Modern-looking signup forms
Landing page builder
Signup form/landing page analytics
Customer segmentation
Robust email campaign analytics
Customer support 24/7
Yes, for all customers
Seamless integrations with ecommerce platforms
Compatibility with other marketing channels

Now, let’s take a deeper look into the two platforms’ features and capabilities.

MailerLite vs Omnisend: Feature by feature comparison

In this section, we’ll compare and analyze the key email marketing features offered by MailerLite vs Omnisend.

Ease of getting started

When it comes to the ease of getting started, both Omnisend and MailerLite rank pretty high. Signing up on both platforms is straightforward, even for beginners.

Additionally, both provide a number of articles and tutorial videos to help new users get familiar with the interface.

Feature
MailerLite
Omnisend
Signup process
Need to answer too many questions and strict account approval process
Smooth and easy, with no credit card required
Interface and navigation
Nice and clear with steps to guide new users
Clear steps to help users make the most of the tool
Customer support
Yes, but live chat support is only available for top-tier plans
Yes, for all plans
MailerLite vs. Omnisend: who wins?

Signing up on both platforms is straightforward, even for beginners.

It’s a tie

Building an email campaign

When the ease of building email campaigns is in question, both Omnisend and MailerLite are excellent tools.

Launching marketing campaigns on Omnisend is a breeze—thanks to its visual automation workflow builder, and the ability to build targeted campaigns without any coding knowledge required.

While MailerLite also features automation workflows, we found it to be less intuitive than Omnisend, especially when you want to create complex campaigns. That being said, the platform’s drag-and-drop email builder is said to be one of the best in town.

Some capabilities you’ll find in both tools include a variety of customizable templates, personalization options, and more. 

Let’s compare:

Feature
MailerLite
Omnisend
Templates
90 professional-looking templates; Adding logos and other elements is straightforward; Only available on paid plans
250 modern-looking templates; Extremely easy to apply brand colors and logo; Available across all plans
Personalization
Option to personalize subject lines, preheaders, and email content; Add personal touches using dynamic content blocks and unique segments
Vast range of email personalization features available in the text editing functionality, also subject lines and preheaders; Recommendation content block for content personalization
Email types
Standard email campaigns; A/B test campaigns; Auto-resend campaigns; Automated RSS campaigns; Many kinds of automated campaigns
Regular email campaigns; A/B test campaigns; Campaign Booster (for re-sending campaigns); AI-generated campaigns (still in beta version); Many kinds of automated campaigns
Unique tools
The ability to add social posts directly to your email; Automatically resend email to non-openers
Automatically generated discount codes to increase conversions and customer retention; Personalized recommendations to promote new products and top sellers to drive sales; Automates product listing and allows for easy drag-and-drop of products into the email builder; Campaign Booster to resend campaigns to non-openers and boost overall performance.
MailerLite vs Omnisend: Which one takes the lead?

Omnisend is the winner here. Although both tools offer similar features, Omnisend’s unique tools such as the Product Recommender and Product Picker make it more lucrative. Moreover, MailerLite’s advanced features are only included in its paid plans.

Omnisend

Marketing automation

Here’s a head-to-head comparison of the automation features offered by both tools:

Feature
MailerLite
Omnisend
Channels
Channels other than email require third-party app integrations
Supports SMS and web push notifications, Facebook and Google retargeting
Triggered emails
Triggered emails for every time a subscriber joins a group, completes a form, clicks a link, updates a field, or is celebrating a special event, etc.
Triggered emails based on customer engagement, events, purchase history, etc. The list of triggers is longer on Omnisend.
A/B testing
Reporting
Real-time automated reports
Real-time automated reports; Advanced reporting using aggregate workflows’ revenue and engagement date

What’s more, Omnisend’s Automation Editor is especially strong. It enables users to build custom workflows using data from loyalty & reward programs, help desks, and even shipment tracking services.

Omnisend also makes cross-selling possible, thanks to its dynamic recommendations.

MailerLite or Omnisend: Which one offers better marketing automation?

Whether you invest in MailerLite or Omnisend, automation will be a major part of the features you enjoy. However, Omnisend is definitely a more complete tool in this regard.

Omnisend

Signup forms and landing pages

If you’re looking for an email marketing platform, you are also probably on a mission to build your email list.

Lucky for you, both MailterLite and Omnisend are strong contenders in this regard.

While there are several overlaps in the features offered by both tools, there are also key differences. 

Let’s take a look at these:

Features
MailerLite
Omnisend
Pre-built sign up forms
24 customizable templates; Signup popups, promotion popups, embedded forms, half-screen forms, narrow bars, etc.; GDPR-compliant
80+ professional-looking customizable templates; Popups, teasers, embedded forms, sharable forms; Mobile-optimized; GDPR-compliant; Gamified popup - Wheel of Fortune - an interactive wheel which gives visitors a prize in exchange for their email addresses.
Landing page templates
49 landing page templates; Embedded quizzes, surveys, and the builder for custom pages.
6 ready-to-use landing page templates; Wizard for building custom landing pages
List management
Doesn’t count the same contact multiple times; Easy importing and mapping of contacts
Doesn’t count contacts appearing in two or more lists; Multiple behavior tags such as clicked, purchased, viewed the page, etc.; Easy contact import
Signup form analytics
Performance analysis based on the number of subscribers and views, conversation rates, etc.; Heatmaps for a visual representation of landing page visitors’ activities
Ability to analyze data by metrics such as the number of views, actual signups, device, language, gender, etc.
Option to grow SMS lists
Who wins: MailerLite or Omnisend?

Both MailerLite and Omnisend have strong list-building capabilities. However, Omnisend has the upper hand in that it offers the ability to leverage text marketing. If that’s not something you’re looking for, both tools are equally good.

It's a tie

Segmentation

Next, let’s talk about customer segmentation.

Omnisend offers 23 pre-built segments, whereas MailerLite offers none.

Here are some of the options for segmentation offered by both tools:

Some of the options for segmentation by both tools

MailerLite
  • Interests
  • Email engagement
  • Geography and timezone
  • Signup forms filled
Omnisend
  • Shopping behavior
  • Email campaign activity
  • Contact properties
  • Web browsing activities

With Omnisend, users can even expand their targeting across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google with its built-in audience sync. On MailerLite, this feature is limited to Facebook audiences.

Also, since Omnisend caters to ecommerce users, it allows advanced segmentation based on a range of transactional events and purchase behaviors.

And that’s not it.

Omnisend’s customer segmentation intelligence automatically assigns each customer a lifecycle stage, allowing you to prioritize valuable shoppers and personalize retention strategies.

Speaking of MailerLite, users can manually create interest groups, which is a list of subscribers with no particular criteria in common. This is a great feature for those who want to add and omit subscribers based on their wishes.

Which tool wins when it comes to segmentation?

Omnisend takes the cake with its advanced segmentation features.

Omnisend

Analytics

Analytics plays a crucial role in helping you understand and analyze the impact of your email campaigns.

So which one is right for the job — Omnisend or MailerLite? Let’s compare:

Feature
MailerLite
Omnisend
Reporting dashboard
Yes, with data presented in the form of visual charts and graphs
Yes, with data on metrics such as messages sent, open rate, click rate, revenue, etc.
Unique offerings
The ability to learn what device emails are being read on—mobile, desktop, or webmail; Insights into where subscribers opened your email, geographically
Compare performance by different metrics across a variety of channels; Spot-on revenue attribution to see where your money is coming from
Track form signups

One drawback with Omnisend’s analytics features is that it only displays data from the past 18 months. Similarly, for MailerLite you’ll need third-party apps to experience the full potential of its analytics.

MailerLite vs Omnisend: Which tool has the best analytics?

Omnisend has a slight edge here. This is because its features are more advanced, and it also reports data from several channels.

Omnisend

Customer support

Understandably, this aspect is often the dealbreaker for many users. After all, you’d want help to be accessible when you need it.

Omnisend truly shines in this round. Here are some reasons why:

  • The platform’s award-winning customer support is available via both live chat and email all day, every day.
  • Both email and live chat are accessible to users of all plans, including the free version.
  • The team’s average response time is three minutes or less and covers all time zones.

Also, customers that pay over $400 per month are given access to a dedicated Customer Success Manager.

The only drawback? There’s no phone support.

Similarly, MailerLite offers 24/7 email and chat support. It’s also available in multiple languages. However, free plan users only get access to this for the first 30 days.

Both platforms also provide other resources such as podcasts, video tutorials, blog posts, guides, and ebooks.

Which tool offers better customer support?

Because Omnisend has bagged awards for its customer service two times consecutively, it fares better than MailerLite. Also notable is the fact that it offers support across all plans.

Omnisend

Integrations

Platforms with strong integration capabilities make it easy for businesses to respond to market demands and other needs that may come up as they expand. They also eliminate the need to switch between platforms needlessly.

Ecommerce businesses typically need multiple third-party services, and Omnisend offers integrations to over 130 apps. All of these can be integrated for free with just a few clicks.

Some of the areas these apps will help you with include:

  • Email capturing
  • Customer support
  • Shipping and logistics
  • Capturing and following up on customer reviews
  • Ad targeting

Like Omnisend, MailerLite also allows you to connect to 140 third-party apps and web services. These include CRM platforms, social media platforms, ecommerce platforms, analytics and tracking tools, etc.

However, integrations with ecommerce sites look pretty poor and have low ratings on the Shopify App Store.

MailerLite vs Omnisend: Which offers more integrations?

In this round, both tools win. That said, MailerLite does offer more integrations than Omnisend. But, on the other hand, Omnisend has a better rating on ecommerce platforms.

It's a tie

Compatibility with other channels

Finally, let’s compare MailerLite vs Omnisend in terms of compatibility with other marketing channels.

Omnisend is a rockstar on this front because you can integrate SMS and web push notifications into the workflow on it. As if that weren’t enough, you can retarget cart abandonment with Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads.

On the other hand, MailerLite may not be the best choice if you want to leverage omnichannel marketing. At the moment, it only allows Facebook retargeting under its Advanced plan, although other channels can be accessed through third-party apps.

Which tool is more compatible with other marketing channels?

Omnisend is the clear winner. The name Omnisend itself implies that it’s a strong tool when it comes to omnichannel marketing. On the other hand, MailerLite is more heavily focused on email marketing.

Omnisend

Price comparison

On both Omnisend and MailerLite, you’ll have two paid plans and a free version to choose from.

Both free plans are pretty good but are generous on different fronts.

With Omnisend, you get 500 monthly emails, 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications, plus the ability to add up to 250 contacts. Most importantly, there are no feature limits on the Free plan.

On the other hand, MailerLite allows 12,000 emails per month for up to 1,000 subscribers.

That said, Omnisend seems a lot more appealing when it’s the capabilities and functionalities in question. 

Here’s a quick overview of the free plan features:

Overview of the free plan features

MailerLite
  • Email automation builder
  • Unlimited segmentation
  • Email A/B split testing
  • Newsletter editor
  • 24/7 live chat support for the first 30 days only
  • Limited email automation templates
  • Image library
  • Analytics and reporting
Omnisend
  • Email and SMS automation
  • Unlimited segmentation including customer lifecycle stages
  • Email and automation A/B testing
  • Pre-built popups, signup forms, and landing page builder
  • 24/7 email and live chat support forever
  • Email and landing page templates, pre-built, copy-ready ecommerce workflows
  • Unique tools such as Product Recommender, Product Listing, and discount coupon codes
  • Sales and performance reports for all channels

The features included in Omnisend’s free version are excellent. Small businesses with tight budgets or those in the experimentation phase will find the tool very valuable.

Now, let’s move on to the paid plans. 

Which tool gives users more bang for the buck?

Both platforms come with a pricing calculator to help you work out the exact monthly costs, which look like this:

Number of subscribers
MailerLite Growing Business
Omnisend Standard
Up to 500
$0 up to 12000 email sends/month
$16
Up to 1,000
$0
$20
Up to 5,000
$29
$65
Up to 10,000
$47
$115
Up to 50,000
$205
$330
Up to 100,000
$360 (exceeds Growing Business plan, needs switching to Advanced plan)
$720

MailerLite’s paid plans offer additional features like:

  • Unlimited email templates
  • Dynamic emails
  • Unlimited signup forms and popups
  • Facebook custom audiences

Still, most of these features can be used for free with Omnisend. And if you opt for a paid Omnisend plan, you can access the same features at a much larger scale.

That being said, the tool tends to get more expensive than MailerLite as your subscriber count grows.

All in all, Omnisend triumphs over MailerLite even when its paid plans are in question. And given that you’ve got award-winning customer support to help you through it all, it’s the clear winner in terms of pricing. 

However, if you are just starting out, MailerLite’s free plan is great as it helps you send emails in bulk for free. 

MailerLite vs Omnisend: Who wins?

Evidently, both MailerLite and Omnisend are powerful options for your email marketing needs.

Here’s a quick summary of everything we’ve discussed in the article:

Criteria
MailerLite
Omnisend
Rating

3.9

4.8

Pricing

Free plan – Yes

500 subscribers – $0

1,000 subscribers – $0

5,000 subscribers – $29

10,000 subscribers – $47

50,000 subscribers – $205

100,000 subscribers – $360

Free plan – Yes

500 subscribers – $16

1,000 subscribers – $20

5,000 subscribers – $65

10,000 subscribers – $115

50,000 subscribers – $330

100,000 subscribers – $720

Features you can get for free
  • Limited automation features
  • Full reporting
  • 12,000 email sends
  • Unlimited contact list
  • 1 website
  • Up to 10 landing pages
  • Unlimited popups
  • Segmentation
  • 24/7 live chat and email support for the first 30 days
  • All Pro plan features (automation workflows, unlimited segmentation, gamification, landing pages, etc.)
  • Reach up to 250 contacts (unlimited contact list size)
  • 500 emails per month
  • Up to 60 SMS
  • Up to 500 web push notifications
  • 24/7 email and live chat support
Pros
  • Very easy to use even for beginners
  • The price is very affordable
  • Nice and clear design
  • Beautiful email and landing page templates
  • Lots of nice elements to include in your emails and signup forms
  • Robust automation
  • Advanced analytics
  • Beautiful signup forms
  • Modern looking newsletters
Cons
  • Strict new account approval process
  • Lack of advanced reporting and automation features
  • Doesn’t provide geopolitical reports
  • More expensive than generic email marketing tools
Best for
  • Bloggers
  • Solopreneurs
  • Non-profit organizations
  • Startups
  • Complete email marketing beginners
  • Ecommerce stores of all sizes
  • Both beginners and advanced users
Not recommended for
  • Ecommerce businesses
  • Experienced marketers that wear many different hats at their daily work
  • Solopreneurs
  • Bloggers
  • Governmental and non-governmental organizations

MailerLite is a highly suitable platform for newbies, owing to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. It’s a straightforward tool with limited features, making it perfect for those with basic email marketing needs.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for something more advanced, Omnisend would be the better choice, despite the higher prices. And if omnichannel marketing is on your radar, don’t even look the other way.

Still doubtful?

Go ahead and experiment with both platforms by signing up for the free plan and make a better decision based on your experience.

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Our team strives to be accurate and unbiased in reviewing email tools. However, we recognize that mistakes can happen, and it’s essential for us to stay up to date. If you come across any errors or things that need to be reviewed again, please let us know.

Stacy Kimbell
Stacy Kimbell
Co-founder & Chief Editor
Stacy Kimbell has nine years of experience in email marketing. She's worked with different email platforms and created many successful email campaigns for online and offline, well-established as well as family businesses. Stacy is excited to share her expertise with readers.