In this blog post, let’s do a comparison between two of the most affordable email marketing software Moosend and MailerLite.
Email marketing is one of the essential methods used by businesses to engage clients and entice new prospects. Lead nurturing is hard. I get it.
That’s why to take some of the weight off your shoulders, marketing automation tools like Moosend and MailerLite are here. I compare the two to an extra marketing team only that they don’t complain when working overtime.
Over the past decade, email marketing has evolved. Sending the same email blasts to every Tom, Dick, and Harry without considering where they are in the buyer’s journey is a no-no.
Personalization and audience segmentation are now the smart way to communicate with your customers.
Unfortunately, it’s tedious and time-consuming if you choose to do it manually. The good news, like so many other tasks in 2020, there are apps for it.
Moosend and MilerLite are two email marketing apps that surely save you some moolah. Let’s get under-the-hood and see what’s good for you.
Let’s get started with the review.
| Features | Moosend | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $8/mo | $10/mo for 1000 contacts with unlimited emails |
| Free plan available? | Yes | Yes |
| Split testing | You can test the subject line, content, timing, or campaign sender | You can test subject, sender details, and email content |
| Automation templates | 18 different automation recipes available | There are no pre-made templates |
| Cart abandonment | It has an inbuilt cart abandonment automation | You need to use external integrations to achieve this |
| Landing page builder | Not available with the free plan | Available on all plans |
| Zapier integration | Available | Available |
| Explore more | Explore Moosend | Explore MailerLite |
What do I like about Moosend vs. MailerLite?
- It has extensive email automation capabilities.
- They have an A+ advanced automation workflow builder for your campaigns.
- It has powerful segmentation options with numerous filtering capabilities e.g.
- All customers, regardless of the price level, have access to support via phone, email, and live chat. Also, their support is unmatched from day zero.
- You can analyze a subscriber’s activity by location.
- They offer a pay as you go plan. If you can’t justify a monthly subscription, the credit-based payment is for you.
- The ‘Forever free plan’ is a steal, and it doesn’t come with a branded logo.
What do I like about MailerLite vs. Moosend?
- It has an extensive library of email templates.
- The user interface is clean, simple, and easy to use.
- It allows you to send unlimited traffic even in the free plan.
- The landing page is one unique feature that lets you create and design landing pages on your website or hosted by MailerLite.
- They offer bounce management after five soft bounces and one hard bounce.
- Their support team speaks 12 different languages, and there is an extensive knowledge base to sort you out.
Moosend vs MailerLite: Features compared
Overview
Moosend describes themselves as, “The ultimate email marketing software and marketing automation platform that will not break your bank.”
I agree they won’t break your bank, but for the rest, I’ll let you be the judge.
It was founded in 2011 by Yannis Psarras and Panos Melissaropoulos. It takes the tedium out of email marketing by helping you ‘milk’ your email automation. It’s pretty new in the market, but it works, and it’s affordable to any size of business.
MailerLite, on the other hand, has been around the block for a longer time than Moosend. This web-based email marketing tool has over 800,000 users around the globe. If this were a popularity contest, MailerLite would win hands down.
It was founded in 2005 to help freelancers and SMBs to enjoy the perks of email marketing at affordable prices.
MailerLite describes themselves as, “A simple email marketing solution for all types of business with simplicity as the fundamental idea behind their solution. “
Interface
Moosend has an intuitive user interface that’s easy to navigate and quick to learn for newbies. The dashboard is neat, thanks to modern graphics.
The UI may look a bit overwhelming at a glance; you might miss some features. But there is a wizard to guide you through, flattening all your anthills.
Creating a campaign is pretty much straightforward, as the templates and newsletters are easy to make. Besides, they have different workflow options to help you out.
MailerLite, on the other hand, shines in simplicity and user experience. The UI is user-friendly, straightforward to navigate even for a novice.
Pretty modern, clean, and most features are accessible with a click. For instance, from your dashboard, you can create campaigns in a click. It’s a very logical structure where you can view everything at a glance. MailChimp users will feel at home in MailerLite.
Winner: MailerLite. The interface is clean, simple, and easy to use. From the dashboard, you can see your subscriber growth, campaign stats, forms, automation, etc. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create just about anything.
Listing management
Moosend personalization makes email marketing more effective. It allows you to connect with your audience like never before.
It’s effortless to import subscribers with Moosend. You can import them via Google contacts, excel sheets, CSV files, or simply copy and pasting contacts.
With Moosend, you can collect detailed information on your subscribers and use it to create targeted lists.
You can add custom fields like date/time, texts, checkboxes, dropdown menus, etc. and use them for list segmentation. As a result, customer experience and engagement is enhanced.
One downfall of Moosend list management is the tedious process of cleaning up your list. You have to do it manually by going to the name you want to kick out and deleting it.
Otherwise, It’s automatically possible by integrating Moosend with Mailfloss. As in you have to go to integrations, copy the API key, and connect Mailfloss before you begin the cleanup.
Another unique feature is real-time tracking. Moosend tracks the events on your website and groups your contacts based on their behavior on your site. Resulting in more personalization and sending high-value emails to customers that visit your site.
With MailerLite, importing contacts is as easy as in Moosend.
MailerLite uses segments and groups to manage subscribers. These two help you send more personalized emails to your contacts by categorizing them into their diverse personas.
The two might sound similar, but they are so different, making MailerLite’s approach a wee bit confusing.
Segments are based on specific rules. When a subscriber meets the set rules, they are allowed to join a segment. Groups are similar to tags used in other email marketing tools like ActiveCampaign, Drip, or Sendinblue.
However, the tag-based segmentation isn’t that fluid. The groups can be manually or automatically updated.
MailerLite’s help center has made it clear on when to use groups or segments.
MailerLite also has a ‘Clean up Inactive’ tab that allows you to clean your list. It removes the members who have been inactive for over six months. It’s a cool feature available across all plans.
Winner: Moosend. You can segment your contacts into more than 20 different categories and the same number of subcategories. MailerLite has limited filtering options, so you can only do so much.
Email broadcasts and templates
Moosend comes with about 40+ email templates, so there’s pretty much something for everyone. The templates have a responsive and intuitive drag-and-drop feature that allows you to add your branding and content.
But if you’re a bit more tech-savvy, you can use the HTML code with the visual template builder to create something you adore.
All the email campaign templates can be used for mobile, tablet, and desktop right off the box. They have a preview email option to help you see how your contacts will view the email once sent.
Also, Moosend allows you to use your previous template designs for your next email, making work easier for you.
Plus, your contacts get familiar with the style of your brand. Your library will hold all your template designs. You can custom fonts, add images, and videos in your emails and include them in your broadcasts.
MailerLite comes with 60+ email and newsletter templates for your campaigns. The templates are pretty excellent and mobile responsive. You also have the option of creating your template. Your brand is unique!
The drag-and-drop email editor is WYSIWYG, and you can import the HTML. Once created, you can re-use it as much as you’d like.
Now to the fun stuff! MailerLite allows you to create dynamic content blocks. It takes personalization to the next level. You can show one block to a specific group of people. They have survey blocks, product feature blocks, social media posts, countdown timers, etc.
One unique thing is that it not only allows you to schedule when to send the emails, but it has an auto-resend feature. This feature lets you resend a broadcast after the X period. I use this all-the-time to make sure that most of my subscribers get my message heard.
Like in Moosend, you can opt to send emails using HTML or create rich-text emails. With rich-text, you can add formatting, color, bullets, etc.
The email editor also lets you add content blocks for text, signatures, images, dividers, and the like. Very similar to Moosend.
Winner: Tie. Both have immaculate email campaigns and template features. Spot on edits, intuitive drag and drop editors, and they’re both great for sending email broadcasts.
Automation builder
Moosend’s drag-and-drop automation is available in all plans, including the freebie. It’s a time saver and removes the boredom from creating workflows.
It comes with 18 different automation ‘Recipes’ for ease in creating an automation workflow. You also have the option of custom making automation.
One thing I love about the recipes is that they make it easy to run a drip campaign in a snap. If you choose to create your own, the automation builder is fluid and easy to use.
Once you’re in, you can set the initial trigger for your workflow. You can choose to filter by if/else, time interval, and weather condition. Then select an action after the trigger. It can send mail, subscribe to a list, unsubscribe from the list, ping me, posts a webhook, etc.
MailerLite, on the other hand, has an automation workflow builder with no pre-made templates. Yes, it has some examples on how to DIY, but that’s not as cool as having already set up options for you to customize.
You can use the automation editor to create a workflow, set triggers, and actions. Unfortunately, you can’t use web page visits to activate triggers.
There are modules to guide contacts down the workflow, i.e., email, delay, condition, and action. These sets of options can result in an advanced automation workflow. You can power a sophisticated setup.
Another kicker is that with MailerLite, email editing is a killer task. It takes you loading a totally different page from the automation email sequence to change some words.
You wish you were on ConvertKit that offers you a seamless email editing experience.
Compared to MailChimp, it’s way up there, but it’s not playing in the same league as ActiveCampaign or Drip.
Winner: Moosend. The recipes on Moosend are a big deal. The fact that you have pre-made drip campaign templates saving you the pain of creating one from scratch is a huge bonus. Even veteran digital marketers would enjoy working on it.
A/B testing
Moosend A/B split campaign can be created using the campaign editor or the HTML source. So, you create two campaigns, choose a portion of your audience, and run tests on equal ratios. The winning email is sent to the bulk of your contacts.
You can test the subject line, content, timing, or campaign sender. You’ll be able to know how your contacts respond to the particular changes for your website and email campaigns.
With MailerLite, you can test 3 variables i.e., subject, sender details, and email content. You are also allowed to set the sample size and winning criteria.
Then the winner is automatically sent to the bulk of your contacts. However, you can opt to select the winner manually.
The kicker is that you can only test your email campaigns with MailerLite, not your landing pages. And the results only show the percentage of opened and clicked emails.
Winner: Tie. Both tests are of similar variables, and the process is the same.
eCommerce CRM
Moosend has an eCommerce AI that contains a bag of tricks in terms of automation that saves you lots of time and hassle. The eCommerce AI feature was developed for running online stores.
It has an inbuilt cart abandonment automation. This helps solve cart abandonment issues by allowing you to follow up with your contacts to try to recover lost sales.
Also, the eCommerce AI lets you send product recommendations, upsell similar products, and suggest re-purchase items to your contacts. Other automation includes restocking reminders, customer journey charting, and shoppable emails.
Its integration with WooCommerce adds to its eCommerce functionalities. You can also integrate with Salesforce to add more CRM capabilities to Moosend.
Integrating your CRM platform with Moosend allows you to SMS campaigns to your contacts.
For MailerLite, it’s eCommerce, and CRM capabilities are available through numerous integrations. You can integrate with Shopify, WooCommerce, PayPal, etc.
Winner: Moosend. Thanks to eCommerce AI, you can perform many online store functionalities. Also, the SMS campaigns are a plus. MailerLite can only achieve these functionalities through 3rd party integrations.
Forms and landing pages
Moosend has an inbuilt drag and drop landing page builder. If you need simple landing pages or opt-in forms, you are covered.
Starting a lead generation campaign with Moosend is easy peasy thanks to this cool feature. The only downfall is that they’re not available with the free plan.
There are a few landing page templates like lead generation templates, webinars, and eBook templates.
You can create different opt-in forms for your site from modal popups to inline forms, floating bars, floating box, and full-page forms with Moosend. They help you capture your audience’s needs and send personalized emails.
MailerLite also has a landing page builder with a responsive drag and drop editor. You can choose to use the 30+ landing page templates available or build a page from scratch.
It’s also pretty straightforward to create forms from scratch or using a template. You can easily customize color, texts, add images, etc.
In both Moosend and MailerLite, you can create various form triggers including time-based, scroll-based, and exit intent triggers.
You can automate anything with the forms to build an advanced email campaign.
Winner: Tie. They both have fully-customizable landing page templates and responsive drag and drop builders. Or you can use the landing page builder to create landing pages and forms from scratch. You can’t beat these functionalities for the prices offered.
Reporting and analytics
The unique thing about Moosend reporting and analytics is the ability to give ‘Real-time reporting.‘ Immediately someone opens your campaign or visits any stage of your sales funnels, you get the report. Pap!
The reports lab will show you the real-time performance of your campaigns from open rates to CTR, bounces, unsubscribes, etc.
Another unique thing is you get to see the exact location of your subscribers and heatmaps of each email campaign.
As a result, you can customize your emails, know what to improve, and see what is working.
On the other hand, MailerLite has got no report dedicated area. Instead, you can view the reports in your campaign or subscribers.
You’ll see the individual stats on different lists. Well, it has click-mapping, and you can add Google Analytics. You can see eCommerce tracking, but it’s limited to Shopify or WooCommerce.
Winner: Moosend. It gives you an excellent overview of the real-time performance of your email campaigns. MailerLite has only the basic reporting covered.
Deliverability
Moosend offers a content spam test. The content spam test allows you to rate your email campaign against common spam filters. This ensures your email doesn’t end up in spam. As a result, Moosend’s email deliverability is high.
Both Moosend and MailerLite offer excellent email authentication facilities with regards to security mechanisms SPF and DKIM.
However, with MailerLite, you have to ensure your emailing practices are above board as they are a bit stricter than other ESPs. Otherwise, you’ll have a lot of bounce mail. When it comes to deliverability, it didn’t make it to our top 5 list.
Winner: Moosend. The spam deliverability tests reduce the chances of emails landing in people’s spam.
Integrations
In terms of integrations, Moosend is a bit lacking compared to Mailchimp with 100+ integrations. Moosend has about 76 integrations.
Regardless of it having a limited selection, it integrates well with WooCommerce, Facebook Lead Ads, and Zapier. With Zapier, you can utilize hundreds of apps but at a higher subscription.
MailerLite also has quite a few eCommerce, CRM, and app integrations. From Shopify to WooCommerce, to PayPal, Zapier, Facebook, ClickFunnels, among others.
You can also access team management apps like Trello, Slack, Google Docs Sheets & Forms, etc. Also, you can access the developer API to help you integrate with other apps.
Winner: Tie. They both don’t have an extensive list of integrations, but thanks to Zapier, you can be hooked up to 2000+ apps.
Support
If you hit a bump down the road, Moosend support is on point. Whether it’s by phone, email, or live chat, they have an excellent response time.
They also have a help section with help documentation on how-to-go about various issues on the platform.
However, priority support and onboarding & Migration are available only in its highest plan. Moosend also has dedicated account managers assigned to anyone who signs up.
Regardless of the size of your business, you have someone to give you actionable steps to grow your business.
MailerLite also has swift, friendly, and responsive email and chat customer service. Their knowledge base and video tutorials are more than thorough.
Also, their support team speaks 12 languages making it easy for people from all around the globe to explain their problems.
Winner: Tie. They both have very responsive support. Moosend lacks in knowledge base and tutorials, which they make up with their dedicated account managers.
Pricing
Moosend has a free plan, pro plan, and enterprise plan. If you choose to pay annually, you get a 20% discount and 15% for biannual payment.
If you’re only interested in sending emails then the free plan is a plot, But, for anything else, it lacks landing pages making it a bummer.
They also have a pay as you go plan where you buy credits based on the services you need. $3 buys you 1000 credits, and one credit is equal to one sent email. MailChimp also offers this pay as you go plan giving a seasonal email-sender a flexible option.
MailerLite has four pricing plans based on the number of subscribers with a free plan for up to 1000 subscribers.
The free plan used to be a deal, but they limited some features like the number of emails and templates.
But if you’re okay with the drag and drop editor, then go for it. Otherwise, use their $ 10 plan to have access to all features.
Winner: Moosend. Both platforms are pretty much affordable but Moosend pay as you go plan assures you of all features without having to spend on a monthly subscription.
Conclusion
Are you interested in creating email automation sequences to maximize your conversions and sales? Moosend is for you.
If you are serious about automation, you need real-time reports, need to use list segmentation, and deliverability testing, Moosend won’t disappoint.
It’s best for both fledging startups and Fortune 500 companies who need to grow their business and engage their email subscribers.
For small businesses, freelancers, writers, or online entrepreneurs looking for a simple email marketing platform with 5-star user experience, MailerLite is your jam. It’s a bit thin on automation, so you have to be okay with that.
But, both platforms give you a bang for your buck.
What are you going to choose? Let me know down below.
