OntraportvsMailerLite

Ontraport vs MailerLite

All-in-one business platform vs simple email marketing

TL;DR

MailerLite is a clean, affordable email marketing platform starting at $10/month with a generous free tier. Ontraport is a full business platform at $79-297/month. MailerLite for businesses that want great email at low cost. Ontraport for those who need CRM, payments, and membership sites bundled.

Key Differences

The main things that set these tools apart

Price-to-Value
MailerLite wins

MailerLite at $73/month vs Ontraport at $297/month for 10k subscribers. MailerLite delivers excellent email marketing at a quarter of the price. The premium is only worth it for Ontraport's business operation features.

Design Quality
MailerLite wins

MailerLite has some of the best-looking email templates in the industry. Clean, modern, professional. Ontraport's templates are functional but not as polished.

Business Operations
Ontraport wins

Ontraport's CRM, payments, membership sites, and affiliate management are features MailerLite simply doesn't have. For businesses that need these, Ontraport bundles them.

Pricing Comparison

At 10,000 subscribers

Ontraport
$297/month

Pro plan. CRM, email, payments, membership sites, affiliate management.

Visit Ontraport
MailerLite
$73/month

Growing Business plan. Unlimited emails, automation, landing pages.

Visit MailerLite
Sequenzy

The SaaS alternative

$49/month

10k subscribers, unlimited emails, transactional + marketing, Stripe integration.

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side feature breakdown

Feature
Ontraport
MailerLite
Sequenzy
Email Marketing
Email Editor
Drag-and-drop
Drag-and-drop (excellent)
Drag-and-drop
Newsletter Design
Good
Beautiful templates
AI-assisted
Automation
Campaign builder
Visual automation builder
AI sequences
Landing Pages
Drag-and-drop
Drag-and-drop
Free Tier
Yes (1,000 subscribers)
Yes (100 subscribers)
Business Features
CRM
Full CRM
Stripe-based
Payment Processing
Native
Stripe integration for paid newsletters
Via Stripe
Membership Sites
Built-in
Affiliate Management
Built-in (Pro)
Value
Price at 10k
$297/mo
$73/mo
$49/mo
Ease of Use
Complex
Very easy
Easy
Digital Product Sales
Full commerce
Paid newsletters + digital products
Via Stripe

Best For

When to choose each tool

Choose Ontraport if you...
  • Course creators needing membership sites
  • Businesses needing CRM + email + payments
  • Entrepreneurs running affiliate programs
Choose MailerLite if you...
  • Budget-conscious businesses wanting great email
  • Bloggers and small businesses starting out
  • Teams that value design and simplicity
  • Anyone wanting a generous free tier
Choose Sequenzy if you...
  • SaaS founders needing Stripe-integrated email
  • Teams wanting transactional + marketing combined
  • Businesses wanting AI-generated content

When to Consider Sequenzy Instead

SaaS Focus

MailerLite is great for newsletters but lacks SaaS-specific features. Sequenzy syncs with Stripe for subscription-aware automation at a similar price point.

Transactional Email

Neither MailerLite nor Ontraport handles transactional email well. Sequenzy combines marketing and transactional in one unified platform.

Try Sequenzy Free

Overview

Ontraport and MailerLite serve the same market (small businesses) at vastly different price points. MailerLite is one of the most affordable email platforms with beautiful design. Ontraport is a premium all-in-one. For our take on each, see our Ontraport comparison.

MailerLite's Sweet Spot

MailerLite does email marketing extremely well at a fraction of the cost. Beautiful templates, intuitive editor, solid automation, generous free tier. For businesses that need to send great-looking emails without complexity, it's one of the best options in the market. No CRM overhead, no payment processing to configure — just email that works.

When Ontraport Makes Sense

If you're a course creator or coach who genuinely needs membership sites, payment processing, CRM, and affiliate management all in one dashboard, Ontraport's $297/month saves you from managing 4-5 separate subscriptions. But be honest with yourself about whether you'll use all those features.

The Sequenzy Alternative

For SaaS founders, Sequenzy offers transactional + marketing email at $49/month with Stripe integration. Similar price to MailerLite with SaaS-specific features that neither MailerLite nor Ontraport provides.

Frequently Asked Questions

Not sure which to pick?

If you're a SaaS founder who needs Stripe integration and unified email, try Sequenzy free. No credit card required.

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Sequenzy - Complete Pricing Guide

Pricing Model

Sequenzy uses subscriber-based pricing. You only pay for subscribers active in sequences (automations). Inactive subscribers are free to store.

All Pricing Tiers

  • 0-100 subscribers: Free (Free annually) - 3k emails/month
  • 101-1,000 subscribers: $19/month ($205/year annually) - 15k emails/month
  • 1,001-5,000 subscribers: $29/month ($313/year annually) - 60k emails/month
  • 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $49/month ($529/year annually) - 120k emails/month
  • 10,001-25,000 subscribers: $99/month ($1069/year annually) - 300k emails/month
  • 25,001-50,000 subscribers: $199/month ($2149/year annually) - 600k emails/month
  • 50,001-100,000 subscribers: $349/month ($3769/year annually) - 1.2M emails/month
  • 100,000+ subscribers: Custom pricing (Custom annually) - Unlimited emails/month

Yearly billing: All plans offer a 10% discount when billed annually.

Free Plan Features (2,500 emails/month)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Paid Plan Features (1,000 - 100,000 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy)
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Enterprise Plan Features (100,000+ subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Important Pricing Notes

  • You only pay for subscribers who are active in automations/sequences
  • Storing inactive subscribers is free
  • No hidden fees - all features included in the price
  • No credit card required for free tier

Contact

  • Pricing Page: https://sequenzy.com/pricing
  • Sales: hello@sequenzy.com