Buttondown vs MailerLite
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Buttondown and MailerLite, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
Buttondown
- Free
Up to 100 subscribers with markdown editor, custom-domain sending, and hosted archives.
Free - $9 add-ons
Pay per feature; this bundle is illustrative of the $9 add-on tier.
$9/mo - $29 add-ons
Pay per feature; this bundle is illustrative of the $29 add-on tier.
$29/mo - $79 add-ons
Pay per feature; this bundle is illustrative of the $79 add-on tier.
$79/mo
MailerLite
- Free
Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month
Free - Growing Business
Most popular paid tier, starts at 500 subscribers
$10/mo - Advanced
Power features for active senders
$20/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares $9 add-ons (Buttondown) against Growing Business (MailerLite). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Buttondown | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Custom | 500 subscribers (anchor; scales up) |
| Emails / month | · | Unlimited |
| Team seats | · | 3 |
When Buttondown wins
- Independent writers and indie creators running a paid newsletter.
- Privacy-minded operators who want to avoid tracking pixels.
- Markdown-native authors who prefer plain text over WYSIWYG bloat.
Where Buttondown is the wrong fit
- High-volume senders pushing multiple campaigns per day.
- E-commerce teams needing deep behavioral automation and segmentation.
- Marketing teams that want a single flat tier covering every feature.
When MailerLite wins
- Solo creators and small businesses replacing Mailchimp
- Teams that want one tool for emails, landing pages, and a small website
- Nonprofits (30% discount on paid plans)
Where MailerLite is the wrong fit
- B2B teams needing deep CRM and pipeline workflows (use HubSpot or ActiveCampaign)
- Operators wanting native ad network or paid subscriptions (use beehiiv)
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend)
Common questions
- Is Buttondown cheaper than MailerLite?
- Both Buttondown and MailerLite have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does Buttondown or MailerLite have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. Buttondown: Up to 100 subscribers with markdown editor, custom-domain sending, and hosted archives.. MailerLite: Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month.
- Are Buttondown and MailerLite in the same category?
- Yes. Both are primarily email marketing tools, which is why this is a natural head-to-head comparison.
- Which has more plans, Buttondown or MailerLite?
- Both Buttondown and MailerLite ship 4 plans. Tier counts match; the differentiation is in features and pricing structure rather than tier ladder depth.
- Where can I see alternatives to Buttondown or MailerLite?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/buttondown for Buttondown and /alternatives/mailerlite for MailerLite. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Buttondown: https://buttondown.com/pricing · MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.