Campaign Monitor: what it is, 2026 pricing, reviews and alternative
Plans, pricing, user reviews and how to switch to a tool with a free account and human support on every plan
Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform born in Australia and widely used by agencies and brands in English-speaking countries.
Today it is part of Marigold, a US marketing software group.
In this post we explain what it offers, how much it costs in 2026, what its users think and how it differs from Mailrelay.
What is Campaign Monitor?
It is an online tool for designing, sending and measuring email marketing campaigns.
It stands out for its polished templates and a simple editor, designed so that anyone can put together a good-looking email.
It was founded by David Greiner and Ben Richardson in Sydney in 2004.
In 2014 it received a $250 million investment from Insight Venture Partners. At the time it had more than 100,000 paying customers in over 170 countries.
Who owns Campaign Monitor?
Campaign Monitor became part of CM Group, alongside other brands such as Emma, Sailthru and Selligent.
In 2022, the group merged with Cheetah Digital, and in January 2023 it was renamed Marigold.
In September 2025, Marigold sold its enterprise business to Zeta Global for up to $325 million.
Campaign Monitor was not part of that sale. It remains at Marigold alongside Emma and Vuture, the small business brands, under the name “Campaign Monitor by Marigold”.
What is Campaign Monitor used for?
It lets you manage your email campaigns from start to finish. These are its main features:
- drag-and-drop editor with mobile-responsive templates;
- segmentation and dynamic content based on each contact’s data;
- automated journeys with its Journey Designer;
- A/B tests and real-time reports;
- hosted signup forms;
- transactional sending from the same account;
- more than 100 integrations, such as Shopify, Salesforce, WordPress and Zapier.
It has no landing page builder. It offers a website builder as a paid add-on on the Lite and Essentials plans.
Worth knowing: according to Guía de Software, Campaign Monitor’s website, dashboard and help center are only in English. Your campaigns, however, can be in any language.
Email marketing with human support on every plan
80,000 emails per month and 20,000 contacts on the free account, with automations and landing pages included. No credit card and no time limit.
How much does Campaign Monitor cost in 2026?
It has no permanent free plan. It offers a 30-day trial with up to 500 contacts and 500 emails.
After that there are three paid plans and a custom one. The price goes up with the number of contacts:
| Plan | 500 contacts | 5,000 contacts | Emails per month | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $13 | $75 | 5 times your contacts | |
| Essentials | $31 | $117 | Unlimited | Priority email |
| Premier | $171 | $203 | Unlimited | Phone |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Account manager |
Monthly prices in US dollars, excluding taxes, according to Guía de Software (October 12, 2026) and CostBench (2026). Annual billing has a 10% discount.
Three important details. With Lite, 5,000 contacts get you 25,000 emails per month, that is, about five newsletters.
Send time optimization and advanced segmentation are Premier-only.
And no plan includes live chat.
Campaign Monitor pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Very polished templates and an easy-to-use editor | No permanent free plan, only a 30-day trial |
| Good deliverability, according to its users | Dashboard and support only in English |
| Useful for agencies that manage several clients | Big price jump from Essentials to Premier |
| Transactional sending included | More basic automations than other tools |
| Lots of integrations | No live chat or landing page builder |
Campaign Monitor reviews
On Capterra it has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 from 507 reviews. On G2, 4.1 out of 5 from 731 reviews.
Users highlight that it is easy to use, that the templates look good on mobile and that the reports are easy to understand at first glance.
The most common complaints: segmentation and automations fall short, the price rises quickly with large lists and template customization has limits.
Campaign Monitor vs. Mailrelay
Both let you send newsletters and automations, but their starting points are very different.
| Campaign Monitor | Mailrelay | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No; 30-day trial with 500 contacts | 80,000 emails per month and 20,000 contacts, with no time limit |
| Dashboard language | English only | English, Spanish, Portuguese and more |
| With 5,000 contacts | Lite: $75 per month with 25,000 emails | Free |
| First paid plan | Lite: $13 with 500 contacts and 2,500 emails | Standard: €48 with 100,000 emails and 20,000 contacts |
| Automations | On all plans | Included in the free account |
| Landing pages | No | Included in the free account |
| Support on the entry plan | By ticket, Monday to Friday from 7:00 to 22:00 |
Data from Guía de Software, CostBench and the Mailrelay website, checked in October 2026.
An example: if you have 5,000 contacts and send two newsletters a month, with Campaign Monitor you pay about $75 per month on Lite.
With Mailrelay those sends fit within the free account, with landing pages and automations included.
When to choose Campaign Monitor or Mailrelay?
Campaign Monitor may suit you if your team works in English, if your clients are in English-speaking markets or if your agency already uses its dashboard for several brands.
Mailrelay is a better fit if you want to start for free with a large list, need landing pages or want human support on every plan.
How to switch from Campaign Monitor to Mailrelay
Switching tools takes an afternoon if you do it in order:
- Export your contacts from Campaign Monitor as a CSV, with their custom fields.
- Also export unsubscribes and bounces, to load them into your suppression list.
- Import the list into Mailrelay and assign each contact to its group.
- Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, following our email authentication guide.
- Recreate your templates and automations and send a test before your first campaign.
If your list is large, ramp up your first sends gradually, following IP warming guidelines.
Other Campaign Monitor alternatives
If you are comparing options, these are other common tools:
- Mailchimp, the best known, with a very limited free plan.
- Brevo, with 300 free emails per day.
- Mailjet, with 6,000 free emails per month and 200 per day.
- Acumbamail and MDirector, two options that originated in Spain.
How Mailrelay helps you
With Mailrelay you get a free account with 80,000 emails per month and 20,000 contacts, with no time limit and no credit card.
It includes automations, A/B tests, landing pages and segmentation.
You can also send SMS with prepaid credit and transactional emails via SMTP or API from the same account.
You get human support on every plan.
We help you by ticket on the free account, by ticket and chat on Standard, and by ticket, chat and phone on Enterprise.
And your data is stored on servers in the European Union.
You can see all the plans on our pricing page or compare us with more tools in Mailchimp alternatives.
Switch from Campaign Monitor to Mailrelay hassle-free
Import your contacts, authenticate your domain and send your first campaign from a free account, with human support on every plan.
Frequently asked questions about Campaign Monitor
These are the most common questions about the tool.
Is Campaign Monitor free?
It has no permanent free plan. You can try it for 30 days with up to 500 contacts and 500 emails.
After that, the cheapest plan, Lite, costs $13 per month with 500 contacts.
What languages is Campaign Monitor available in?
Only English. According to Guía de Software, its website, dashboard and help center are not available in other languages.
You can still write and send your campaigns in any language.
Who owns Campaign Monitor?
It belongs to Marigold, the group formerly known as CM Group. In 2025, Marigold sold its enterprise business to Zeta Global, but kept Campaign Monitor.
How much does Campaign Monitor cost per month?
With 500 contacts, Lite costs $13, Essentials $31 and Premier $171. With 5,000 contacts they go up to $75, $117 and $203.
These prices exclude taxes and are billed monthly.
What is the best Campaign Monitor alternative?
It depends on what you need.
If you are looking for a tool with human support on every plan and a generous free account, Mailrelay offers 80,000 emails per month and 20,000 contacts. Other options are Mailchimp, Brevo and Mailjet.