Email marketing platform Mailrelay is promoting its free plan as a way for businesses to avoid the recurring costs that come with migrating a growing contact list to a paid subscription elsewhere. The company, which has offered a free account for more than a decade, allows users to import and manage up to 20,000 contacts and send as many as 80,000 emails per month without payment, according to details published on Mailrelay’s own site in August 2026.
That contact ceiling sits well above the industry norm. Many competing email marketing platforms cap their free tiers at 250 to 500 subscribers, a threshold third-party reviews describe as easy for a growing business list to outgrow within months.
Where The Hidden Costs Usually Appear
Mailrelay’s own analysis of the category identifies two recurring cost triggers on rival platforms. The first is a low contact limit that forces an upgrade the moment a list crosses a few hundred subscribers, meaning the faster a business grows its audience, the sooner it starts paying.
The second is feature-gating, where automations, advanced segmentation, A/B testing, and third-party integrations are locked behind paid tiers, leaving free-tier users without tools that are often considered standard for running an effective campaign.
What Comes Included On The Free Plan
According to Mailrelay’s current published terms, the free account includes full access to the platform’s SMTP server, API integration, a drag-and-drop email builder, and campaign analytics, rather than a stripped-down version of the product. Contact import supports CSV uploads, direct migration from platforms including Mailchimp, and manual entry.
A/B testing for subject lines and sender names, scheduled sending, and detailed statistics covering open rate, click rate, bounce rate, and most-clicked links are also listed as included features, alongside live technical support available roughly 14 hours a day.
How Reviewers Describe The Paid Tiers
Once a business exceeds the free plan’s limits, Mailrelay’s paid structure includes a Standard plan and an Enterprise plan. Third-party review data lists the Standard plan starting near 48 euros a month with increased deliverability but no click or impression tracking, while the Enterprise plan starts near 67 euros a month and adds advanced tracking and improved deliverability.
Mailrelay also offers prepaid, one-time email packages without an ongoing subscriber limit, an option marketed toward businesses that send occasional bulk campaigns rather than continuous newsletters. Software comparison site Capterra lists a prepaid package of 25,000 emails at a flat rate near 40 dollars, alongside a separate 100,000-email monthly subscription option near 48 dollars.
Some Figures Vary Across Review Sites
Independent reviews of Mailrelay’s free plan do not fully agree on its exact limits. While Mailrelay’s own 2026 materials describe 20,000 free contacts and 80,000 monthly emails, a separate research-focused review published this year lists the free plan capped at 3,000 subscribers and 15,000 emails per month instead, illustrating how quickly published limits on marketing platforms can shift or be reported inconsistently across sources.
The Migration Pitch
Mailrelay is positioning contact migration specifically as a way for growing businesses to sidestep the point where competitors’ free tiers stop being viable. The company’s messaging frames the offer as full functionality without a financial penalty for list growth, contrasting it with platforms where success in gaining subscribers directly triggers a forced upgrade.
Reviewers rate Mailrelay’s overall value for money at 4.4 to 4.6 out of 5 across aggregation sites including Capterra, with the platform generally positioned as a budget-conscious alternative for small businesses and startups scaling their subscriber base.
Current Status
As of September 2026, Mailrelay continues to advertise its free account as one of the most generous in the email marketing category, with the company’s own published figures citing a 20,000-contact and 80,000-email monthly ceiling. Businesses evaluating the platform are advised to confirm current limits directly with Mailrelay, given the discrepancies found across third-party review sources this year.