Considering ConvertKit for your next email marketing campaign? Wondering if there are alternatives that would work better?
Email marketing is a critical channel for growing a SaaS business. But it's not just about the strategy. The tool you use would have a tremendous impact on it too.
ConvertKit is surely an option. But is it the best solution for your SaaS needs?
That's what you're going to find out from this post, along with a list of ConvertKit alternatives that might just work better for you.
What is ConvertKit?
ConvertKit is a popular email marketing tool for creators. It helps companies grow and engage their audiences with simple to use tools.
Bloggers, creators, and online publishers use it to connect with their followers and make a living out of their passion.
ConvertKit gives you access to:
- Personalization features
- Easy email templates
- Targeted content for a customized journey
- Automated email funnels
- Building landing pages, and more.
Whether you're new to content creation or a professional, ConvertKit can certainly help you improve your messaging and build meaningful relationships with your audience by sending the right content at the right time.
ConvertKit pricing
ConvertKit offers a free plan for creators with up to 300 subscribers, which includes unlimited email broadcasts, landing pages, and forms. However, it doesn't include migration from other tools, automated funnels, sequences, or advanced reporting.
Paid plans start from $15 per month featuring automated funnels and sequences, while advanced reporting, Facebook custom audiences, and subscriber scoring are part of the Creator Pro plan starting from $29 per month.
But is ConvertKit the right tool for a SaaS business?
ConvertKit is a popular email marketing option for musicians, bloggers, podcasters, and other creators.
It's also a good option if you're new to email marketing and want to combine audience growth with personalization and the creation of landing pages and sign-up forms.
If you need a simple email tool to send targeted emails to leads and customers with good deliverability and customized journeys, then ConvertKit can be the right fit. You don't need to be an expert to make it work and set up your first automation workflow, and its free plan makes it even more appealing.
But if you're looking for features that can cater tospecific SaaS email marketing needs, then you may need to look at alternatives.
ConvertKit was not built with SaaS businesses in mind. Because of that, it does not cater to all the elements of a typical SaaS email marketing strategy.
It misses some critical elements such as:
- User onboarding: as it's not a user onboarding tool for SaaS, ConvertKit does not include the features that help users understand and receive the value from using your product.
- Account management: there isn't an option to manage company accounts. Managing users based on what's happening in the company can help you improve your segmentation and deliverability.
- User profiles and timeline: it doesn't have a good user management system that would help you understand who your users are, and what they do inside your product.
- In-app messages: the lack of in-app messages reduces the chances of reaching users at the right channel.
On a more technical issue, the use of tags instead of properties and events can affect your data management as you're growing your SaaS business.
So, what are your alternatives?
16 Top Alternatives to ConvertKit for SaaS
#1. Userlist
Userlist (disclaimer: this is our product) is a complete email marketing automation tool for SaaS.
We've built Userlist as a dedicated email marketing software for SaaS companies. Our goal is to help founders and product managers engage with their audiences by sending the right content at the right time through all the stages of the funnel.
Being in the same position ourselves — Userlist is a SaaS product, after all — we understand your unique needs. Because of that, it features everything you need to manage your company's email marketing such as:
- User onboarding messages
- Lifecycle emails
- In-app messages
- Company accounts
- Segmentation
- Behaviour-based campaigns
- Broadcasts, and so much more.
When it comes to data management, our model supports properties for users, companies, and relationships to simplify your SaaS needs. Our direct API integration, as well as integrations with Segment, Rudderstack, and Zapier, help you make the most out of your data.You can use Userlist to communicate with users along the entire buyer's journey — from acquisition to retention. Whether you're onboarding a new user or sending a broadcast email to announce a new product, we're here to help.
What's more, Userlist is highly-intuitive and you can set up your first email sequence to nurture and engage your customer in just a couple of minutes.
Userlist pricing. The pricing model is simple. You can access Userlist's basic plan from $99 per month for up to 5,000 users and it scales along with your business. You can also start a free trial here.Want to see how Userlist compares to Convertkit for SaaS? Check out our detailed comparison.
#2. Intercom
Intercom is widely known for its live chat feature but the tool offers way more than that. With Intercom, you get access to a full range of services, from live chat to marketing emails and onboarding tours.
As a popular customer communications platform, it allows you to strengthen your relationships with your customers through multiple channels.
In terms of email marketing and customer engagement, you can use Intercom to:
- Onboard customers
- Send broadcast emails
- Send transactional messages
- Provide proactive support
- Re-engage your customers
Intercom can be a helpful tool to combine support, marketing, and engagement.
But if you're looking for a dedicated email software for SaaS, Intercom might not be the ideal solution.
First of all, it's not necessarily the simplest solution if you only want to focus on your SaaS email marketing strategy. The all-in-one approach is not for everyone.
Its email automation tools, for example, may not cater to all your SaaS needs, such as providing a range of event-based capabilities like the option to manage company accounts.
Intercom pricing. Intercom's pricing is based on the solutions you need, the number of people using it, and the number of people you want to reach.
#3. Customer.io
Customer.io is a popular automation tool for customer messaging. The company makes it clear that it's targeting "tech-savvy marketers" who want to combine email marketing, push notiifcations, and SMS messages.
You can use Customer.io for a range of tasks, such as:
- Building and testing messaging flows
- Segmentation
- Visual workflow builder
- Real-time data
- Turning your segments to ad audiences
- Onboarding new customers
- Re-engaging inactive accounts
- Personalizing messages
There are many capabilities to explore but if you're still new to email marketing automation, you may need a simpler solution.
Customer.io started as a SaaS tool but its customer base is now expanding to e-commerce, health tech, edtech, and other businesses.
It may understand your SaaS needs then but it's still not a standalone SaaS email marketing software.
Customer.io pricing. The basic plan starts from $150 per month and it covers up to 12,000 profiles.
#4. HubSpot
HubSpot is a CRM powerhouse blending marketing, sales, content management, and customer service. It started with a focus on inbound marketing but it's now way more than that.
With tools and integrations that can help multiple teams, you can pick the products that work best for you:
- Marketing
- Sales
- Customer service
- Content management system (CMS)
- Operations
HubSpot helps you manage your client relationships across the funnel – from prospecting and acquisition to conversion and engagement.
In terms of email marketing, you can manage drip campaigns, set automated tasks and targeted workflows that help you improve your email marketing strategy.
Its core is still about managing relationships, generating and nurturing leads, and using the right tools to improve your sales and digital marketing. It may not be a dedicated SaaS email marketing tool but it can still be a great addition to your stack if you want to combine different features in one platform.
HubSpot pricing. HubSpot offers a range of free tools while the marketing hub plan starts from $50 per month for up to 1000 marketing contacts. You can also create bundles based on the tools you want to use.
#5. Encharge
Encharge combines marketing automation with customer messaging.
You can use it to set up your users' journey, convert, onboard, and retain customers, send in-app messages or even automate sales tasks in your CRM.
As a marketing automation tool that specializes on SaaS, it can be a great addition to your digital marketing strategy – from email communication to using its events-based system to build stronger relationships with your audience.
Its integrations with various tools, such as Intercom or Mixpanel, make it a powerful tool that blends flexibility with effectiveness.
What Encharge is lacking is the ability to use company accounts to onboard and engage team accounts. It also doesn't include in-app messages as a channel.
It all comes up to what you want to make out of your email marketing SaaS tool.
Encharge pricing. The Growth plan starts at $49 per month for up to 2,000 subscribers while the Premium plan starts at $59 per month to include more integrations, event-based segments, and free migration.
#6. Ortto
Ortto is a great all-around marketing tool that blends customer data, audiences, marketing channels, and analytics all in one platform.
Its customer base is split between SaaS, e-commerce, and B2B.
When it comes to SaaS, you can use Ortto to engage your audience at every stage of the journey. It can help you improve your customer experience to acquire, grow, and retain your customers.
Some of its features include:
- Email personalization with merge tags
- A/B testing to improve messaging
- Tracking of MRR attribution
- Sending transactional emails
- Tracking of engagement scores
When it comes to data management and segmentation, Ortto lacks the ability to use Company Accounts to engage multiple team members at once.
Ortto pricing. The Campaign plan is for small businesses with up to 2,000 contacts and 8,000 emails per month and it starts at $29 per month. The Professional plan starts at $99 per month for up to 5,000 contacts and 20,000 emails per month.
#7. SendX
SendX is a powerful email marketing software to send campaigns, build your email lists, and automate your marketing.
You can create unlimited email campaigns, boost your opens, nurture your leads and even use their WYSIWYG visual email editor to design beautiful emails.
Its simplicity makes it appealing to many marketers who want an easy-to-use email marketing tool for their business. Think of it as an alternative to MailChimp.
Great support and affordable pricing are also among its selling points.
SendX pricing. The pricing starts from $9.99 per month for up to 1000 subscribers with unlimited emails and all the features included on other plans.
#8. MailerLite
Don't let its name confuse you. MailerLite is not a small tool.
It can help you improve your email communication with automation, personalization, and workflows based on your customized targeting.
If you want to go beyond a good subject line, you can use MailerLite to grow your audience through landing pages, sign up forms and pop-ups.
If you're still new to email marketing and don't need a SaaS email marketing powerhouse, then this could be a great solution for you. The pricing can make it even more appealing.
MailerLite pricing. There is a 'Forever Free' plan for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. If your audience grows, you can upgrade to their paid plan starting from $10 per month.
#9. AWeber
AWeber is a classic email marketing tool.
It allows you to create engaging campaigns, nurture your customers, segment your audience, and set up the automations that work best for you.
AWeber offers what you expect from a classic email marketing tool including features to grow your audience, drive traffic to your website, or create a landing page.
Its pre-built email templates make it easier to launch your campaign or find inspiration until you discover what works best for you.
It is not a dedicated SaaS email marketing tool to cater for advanced SaaS needs but it's still a user-friendly tool to try out.
AWeber pricing. You can use AWeber for free for up to 500 email subscribers and 3,000 emails per month but there will also be AWeber branding. The Pro plan starts at $19.99 per month for up to 500 subscribers and it lets you create unlimited email lists, advanced email automation, split testing, and detailed insights.
#10. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an email marketing platform that blends email marketing, automation, and CRM tools to help you improve your customer experience.
It has a wide range of email marketing features, including advanced segmentation, personalisation, enhanced email deliverability, smart automation feature, integrations and even a CRM to help you manage your relationships in one platform.
There are several triggers and automation actions to use to create a customized set up that suits your needs.
It may even have too many features, especially if you're still new to email marketing.
What it lacks is that it does not focus on SaaS, which is sometimes a deal-breaker for SaaS founders.
It's missing specific features that can improve your SaaS email communication with your customers, such as an improved user identifier, the option of managing company accounts or even using in-app messages as a communication tool. If you're interested in similar features, here are some options.
ActiveCampaign pricing. You can use the Lite plan from $15 per month, with the Plus plan starting at $70 per month and the Professional plan starting at $187 per month. The pricing depends on the features and the number of users you need.
#11. Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is a powerful yet simple email marketing tool.
It helps you manage your customer journeys using smart segments, free templates, drag and drop features and lots of integrations that improve your user experience.
Its focus on simplicity make segmentation and automation less intimidating.
If you need to start your email marketing strategy with a push, and some free templates, then Campaign Monitor can be a good option.
Campaign Monitor pricing. The Basic plan starts from $9 per month for up to 2,500 monthly emails. If you need unlimited emails, the pricing starts from $29 per month while the Premier plan starts from $149 per month whichoffers advanced segmentation and premier support.
#12. Drip
Drip is a marketing automation platform focusing on e-commerce. It helps you grow your business by blending email, SMS, and third-party integrations.
You can build complex automations and numerous segmentations to nurture your leads, engage with your customers, and keep your users coming back.
Drip is not built for SaaS busineses as the main focus so you may not find all the tools you need to scale your SaaS communication.
Drip pricing. The plan starts from $19 per month for up to 500 contacts and unlimited email sends.
#13. GetResponse
GetResponse is an online marketing platform for customer engagement that allows you to engage with your audience, nurture your leads and automate your marketing.
It blends email marketing with marketing automation, optimization of your conversion funnel along with the options to create landing pages and sign up forms.
It is powerful but also simple and it offers a range of features to help you set up your email strategy – from autoresponders to transaction emails, there are several options to explore.
It may not be an exclusive tool for SaaS businesses but there are still several features that might be of use.
GetResponse pricing. There is a free plan for up to 500 contacts, while the basic plan starts from $15 per month for up to 1,000 contacts. There is also the option of the Plus plan from $50 per month.
#14. Vero
Vero offers two marketing tools: Newsletters and Workflows.
Newsletters is a baseless email marketing platform. It's an email marketing tool that allows you to send emails with direct SQL access to your data. This saves you time from syncing your data while you can pay per message.
Workflows helps you create and edit automation without writing code. Its drag and drop feature make it easy to set them up and reach your audience with the right message at the right time.
Vero pricing. The pricing plans depend on various factors, such as the user records, email quota or the number of tracked events.
#15. Sendinblue
Sendinblue is a multi-channel marketing platform that blends email marketing, SMS marketing, and customer marketing.
It can help you engage and convert your customers while its visual focus can improve your email effectiveness.
Marketing automation, personalization, and segmentation can improve your customer journey.
It is not a SaaS email marketing platform though, so you may be missing more advanced features in the communication with your audience across all stages of the funnel.
Sendinblue pricing. Sendiblue charges by the volume of emails you're sending. The free plan is available for up to 300 emails per day, while the paid plans start from $25 and $65 per month accordingly.
#16. Mailjet
Mailjet helps you send beautiful and personalised emails in just a few minutes.
The drag-and-drop email editor simplifies the process of sending an engaging email while its available templates help you send a newsletter without using any code.
It blends email and SMS marketing with contact and role management to help you improve your client communication.
Its SMTP & API integration make Mailjet useful for SaaS companies that want more control of their tech stack.
Mailjet pricing. There is a free plan for up to 6,000 emails per month and basic statistics. The Essential plan starts from $15 per month and up to 15,000 emails per month, while the Premium plan starts from $25 per month.
And there you have it…
Now that you’ve seen the best alternatives to ConvertKit, it’s time to explore what works best for your SaaS needs.
Good luck with finding the perfect fit!
