Where the numbers come from
Every price, plan limit and feature in the tables is taken from the vendor’s own public pages: the pricing page first, then feature pages and documentation. Checking is done by the site’s editorial team, by reading each vendor’s page on the date shown. Each table carries its check date, and each guide lists its sources at the bottom.
Nothing here comes from trial accounts or measurements. Deliverability, editor speed and support quality are outside what public pages show, so the guides do not judge them.
How prices are read
Prices are the regular month-to-month ones in US dollars. Annual billing and first-year offers are lower, and they are not what the tables compare. When a list size falls between two of a vendor’s tiers, the table shows the next tier up, because that is the plan a list of that size has to buy.
Some pricing pages show local currency to visitors outside the United States, and some display only annual prices. For those vendors the monthly dollar prices come from the pricing data the official page itself loads; the guide says so next to the price. We do not convert currencies.
Tools that charge by emails sent, not by list size, are never ranked by list size. They are shown in a table of their own. For Brevo the comparisons use its Standard plan, not the cheaper Starter, because Starter has a low ceiling on monthly emails; the Brevo table shows both plans.
What the table labels mean
- Yes: the vendor’s page lists the feature on the plan shown or as part of the product.
- Add-on: listed, but sold separately or on a higher plan.
- Not listed: the vendor’s page does not mention it. That is not the same as “no”; it means we could not confirm it on an official page.
- Not confirmed: the page is unclear or we have not been able to check it yet.
- A dash: nothing of that kind is offered free.
What is fact and what is our reading
Prices, limits and the feature labels above are facts with a source and a date. The “Strong points” and “Limits” lists, the labels on tool cards and the pick are our reading of those facts, not vendor statements.
“Lowest”, “most” and similar words always mean among the tools compared on that page. The data covers 14 tools; others are not covered yet.
How tools are matched to use cases
Each guide starts from a task: a list size, a budget, a channel, a kind of business. A tool is recommended for that task when the published facts support it, such as a lower price at that list size, a channel the others lack or a free plan that covers the need. Every recommended tool is shown with its limits, and every guide says when a different tool is the better choice.
Price tables are sorted by price. On list pages the order of the tool cards is editorial, not a price ranking, and “Our pick” is the tool the published facts favor for the task in the page title.
We publish no scores, star ratings or user reviews.
How often data is checked
Prices and free plan limits are on a 90-day re-check cycle, features on a 180-day cycle. If the “Data checked” date on a page is more than 90 days old, treat its figures as out of date and confirm them on the vendor’s page.
When a number is wrong
Prices change between checks. The vendor’s own pricing page, linked under Sources on every guide, is the final word.