Constant Contact: what it is, what it's for and how much it costs
What it includes, what it costs with no free plan, and when another option suits you better
Constant Contact is a US email marketing platform for small businesses and nonprofits that includes newsletters, automations, SMS, forms and event management. It has no free plan: you pay based on your number of contacts.
It’s one of the longest-standing tools in the industry and is well known in the United States and Canada. Here you’ll see what it offers, how much it costs and when an alternative suits you better.
What is Constant Contact and what is it for?
Constant Contact is email marketing software founded in 1995 by Randy Parker in Massachusetts. It was originally called Roving Software and adopted its current name in 2004.
In 2015 it was bought by Endurance International for about $1.1 billion. Since 2021 it has been an independent company again, backed by the investment firms Clearlake Capital and Siris.
It’s mainly used to:
- Send newsletters and promotions using templates.
- Manage contact lists and segment them.
- Automate welcome, birthday or anniversary emails.
- Organize events and surveys, and post on social media.
Its main audience is SMBs, local businesses and nonprofits.
What features does Constant Contact have?
| Feature | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| Email editor | Templates and drag-and-drop design |
| Automations | Welcome, birthday and email series (depending on the plan) |
| Segmentation | Groups based on contact data and activity |
| SMS | Text messages from the same account, at an extra cost |
| Forms and landing pages | Capture subscribers from your website or social media |
| Events and surveys | Registrations, tickets and questionnaires |
| Social media | Post and schedule on multiple networks |
| Integrations | Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Zapier and others |
More advanced segmentation and automations are only available on the higher plans.
How much does Constant Contact cost in 2026?
Constant Contact has three paid plans: Lite, Standard and Premium. The price goes up with your number of contacts, and each plan allows a number of sends per month proportional to your list.
| Contacts | Lite | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $12/month | $35/month | $80/month |
| 1.000 | $30/month | $55/month | $110/month |
| 2.500 | $50/month | $75/month | $150/month |
| 5.000 | $80/month | $110/month | $200/month |
| 10.000 | $120/month | $160/month | $275/month |
Prices in US dollars, billed monthly, according to SendX (June 2026). The Lite plan lets you send 10 times your number of contacts per month; Standard, 12 times; and Premium, 24 times. Extra sends are charged separately.
Does Constant Contact have a free plan?
No. It only offers a 30-day free trial, with a maximum of 100 sends in total.
It’s enough to try out the editor and features, but not to run real campaigns. When the trial ends, you have to choose a paid plan.
Looking for an alternative with a free plan?
With Mailrelay you can send up to 80,000 emails a month for free to 20,000 contacts, with no time limit.
Constant Contact pros and cons
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Easy to use, designed for SMBs | No free plan |
| Event and survey management included | High price that goes up with every contact |
| Lots of templates | Advanced automations only on expensive plans |
| Phone and chat support | Interface and pricing designed for the US |
| Discounts for nonprofits | Sends limited by plan |
It has a knowledge base in Spanish, and you can ask for a Spanish-speaking agent by phone. But the tool, billing and most resources are designed for the English-speaking market.
How is Constant Contact different from Mailrelay?
Both are designed for SMBs. The big difference is price: Constant Contact charges from the very first contact, while Mailrelay has a generous free account.
| Constant Contact | Mailrelay | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No (30-day trial and 100 sends) | Yes, with no time limit |
| Free contacts | None | 20.000 |
| Free emails per month | None | 80.000 |
| Price with 10,000 contacts | From $120/month | Free |
| How the price is calculated | By contacts | By emails sent |
| Support | Phone and chat | Chat, ticket and phone on all plans |
| Language and team | Designed for the US, with help in Spanish | Company and support in Spanish |
| Servers | In the US | In the European Union |
| Connection with ChatGPT and Claude (MCP) | No official MCP server | MCP server in beta, also on the free account |
For example: with 10,000 contacts, Constant Contact costs between $120 and $275 a month depending on the plan. With Mailrelay, that list fits in the free account.
When should you choose Constant Contact and when Mailrelay?
Choose Constant Contact if your business is in the United States or Canada, you organize lots of events and you want to manage emails, registrations and social media from the same tool.
Choose Mailrelay if you work in Spanish, want to send newsletters and automations without paying for every contact, and value personal support. It’s a good fit for SMBs, stores, associations, academies and any business that organizes events with large lists.
How to switch from Constant Contact to Mailrelay
- Export your contacts. Constant Contact lets you download your lists as CSV, with their fields.
- Import them into Mailrelay. Upload the file and map each column to a field. We explain how in import contacts.
- Recreate your templates and automations. Start with the welcome email and your regular newsletter.
- Authenticate your domain and send. Set up SPF and DKIM before your first send.
You’ll find the complete guide in our post on email marketing migration.
Other alternatives to Constant Contact
Mailchimp is its main rival in the United States, also priced per contact. Brevo charges by sends and adds SMS and WhatsApp.
MailerLite is simple and cheap for small lists. And if you have a high-volume online store, Klaviyo is designed for ecommerce.
If you want to compare them by number of contacts, see our email marketing tools comparison.
How Mailrelay helps you
If you’re looking for a Spanish-language alternative to Constant Contact that doesn’t charge you for every contact, Mailrelay makes it easy:
- Free account with up to 80,000 emails a month and 20,000 contacts, with no time limit.
- Drag-and-drop editor with templates and an AI generator.
- Welcome, birthday and click- or open-based automations.
- Landing pages, forms and SMS from the same account.
- Human support in Spanish by chat, ticket and phone on all plans.
Email marketing in Spanish, without paying for every contact
Newsletters, automations, landing pages and SMS with human support on all plans.
Frequently asked questions about Constant Contact
These are the most common questions about this platform.
What is Constant Contact and what is it for?
A US email marketing platform for SMBs and nonprofits. It’s used to send newsletters, automate emails, manage events and post on social media.
Is Constant Contact free?
No. It has a 30-day free trial with a maximum of 100 sends. After that, the cheapest plan starts at $12 a month for 500 contacts.
Is Constant Contact available in Spanish?
It has a knowledge base in Spanish and phone support with Spanish-speaking agents, but the platform is designed for the English-speaking market.
How many emails can I send with Constant Contact?
It depends on the plan: between 10 and 24 times your number of contacts per month. Extra sends are charged separately.
What’s the best alternative to Constant Contact?
If you want to work in Spanish without paying per contact, Mailrelay offers 80,000 free emails a month. If your list is small, MailerLite; and if you have a large online store, Klaviyo.