Most answers to this question give you one number. A tool price, or a freelancer's day rate, or a template fee. The real cost is all three layers added together, plus the hours you spend yourself. Here we lay out the full picture: what tools charge as your list grows, what freelancers and agencies commonly cost, and how to tell if it is worth it.
Email marketing usually costs between $0 and $50 a month if you do it yourself on a starter plan, $2,000 to $5,000 a month with a freelance writer, and more with an agency or done-for-you studio. Your tool bill grows with your list, from free at a few hundred subscribers to $150 to $400 at 20,000.
Who this is for: Coaches, consultants and small business owners deciding whether to run email themselves, hire a freelancer or bring in an agency.
When people ask how much email marketing costs, they usually mean the tool. But the tool is often the smallest part of the bill. There are three layers, and it helps to price each one separately.
A DIY setup is cheap on paper because you pay for the work layer with your own hours. If you spend six hours a week writing and building emails, that time has a price too, even if no invoice arrives. Keep that in mind as you read the numbers below.
The honest answer depends on who does the work. Here are the four setups we see most often, with typical monthly costs. These are commonly quoted ranges, not fixed prices, and they include the tool unless noted.
| Setup | Typical monthly cost | What is included | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY on a starter plan | $0 to $50 | The tool only. You plan, write, design and send everything yourself. | New lists under about 1,000 people, or anyone testing whether email works for them. |
| DIY with templates and an occasional freelancer | $50 to $500 (averaged over a year) | The tool, a designed template (often a one-off $100 to $1,000), and a freelancer for the odd project like a welcome sequence. | People who enjoy writing but want their emails to look polished and have a few key automations done properly. |
| Monthly freelancer | $2,000 to $5,000, plus the tool | Regular campaigns written for you, sometimes sequences and light design. Strategy and deliverability are often extra. | Businesses with a steady list and an offer that already sells. |
| Agency or done-for-you studio | Varies widely, usually several thousand a month and up | Strategy, writing, design, automations, deliverability, segmentation and reporting, run for you each week. | Owners whose email is tied to revenue and who have no time to run it. |
If you are weighing the middle two options, our guide on whether to outsource email marketing walks through what to hand over first.
Almost every email platform charges by the number of subscribers you store, not the number of emails you send. So your bill climbs as your list grows, even if you send the same amount. Here is roughly how that looks at the time of writing on popular tools.
Two things follow from this. First, people who never open your emails still cost you money every month, so cleaning your list is a direct saving. Second, the cheapest tool is not always the cheapest choice, because moving platforms later takes time. If you are still choosing, compare options in our roundup of the best email marketing software, or the best email platforms for coaches if you sell programmes or calls.
When a freelancer or agency quotes you, the price usually moves with a few things:
To judge if it is worth it, skip the industry ROI claims and do your own maths. Work out what one new client is worth to you. If a client pays $3,000 and email help costs $2,500 a month, you need roughly one extra client a month for it to pay its way. If you sell a $50 product, you need far more sales, and a cheaper setup probably makes more sense. Use your own open rates and click rates to see whether your list is engaged enough to get there.
Paying for help is not always the right move. You should probably stick with a free or starter plan and do it yourself if:
In those cases, spend your time growing the list and testing your offer. That will do more than any agency could.
There is one exception. If your emails are already landing in spam, fix that before anything else, because nothing else works until they reach the inbox. Our email deliverability service covers what that involves.
A done-for-you studio fits when you have a list, an offer that sells, and no time to run email properly. That is where Unbury works: we find where your email and follow-up are losing customers, build the fix and run it week to week. We price it on a call after looking at your setup, so you know what you would pay before committing. If that sounds like you, start with a free audit.
Most small businesses start with $0 to $50 a month on a starter plan and do the work themselves. Once email is bringing in sales, many move to a freelancer at around $2,000 to $5,000 a month. The right figure is whatever one or two extra clients a month can comfortably cover.
A freelancer is usually cheaper and works well if you mostly need writing. An agency or done-for-you studio costs more but tends to cover strategy, automations, deliverability and reporting too. Compare what is included, not just the monthly price.
Most email platforms charge by how many subscribers you store, so the bill rises as your list grows. Removing people who have not opened anything in months lowers the cost and usually improves your open rates as well.
Yes, at small sizes. Several tools offer free plans for lists up to roughly 500 to 1,000 subscribers, though they often limit automations or add their branding. The real cost then is your own time.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.