·15 min read

Best Email Campaign Tools in 2026: 14 Options Compared by Price and Fit

Compare 14 email campaign tools by audience, starting price, billing view and main limitation, with a cost table at 1,000 to 25,000 contacts.

Short answer: for most small and mid-sized teams that want newsletters, signup forms and basic automations in one place, MailerLite is the strongest starting point. Its Comfort plan starts at $12 a month for the 500-subscriber tier when billed monthly, or $10.80 a month when billed annually. The free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, which is enough to build a welcome flow and a weekly newsletter before you pay anything. If most of your campaign logic depends on orders, carts and product catalogs, Klaviyo is the better specialist choice, at $30 a month for 1,000 profiles on its Email plan.

This guide compares 14 email campaign tools and then looks at the three transactional senders teams often put next to them. Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page as checked on October 7, 2026. Each figure names the plan, the billing view (monthly or annual) and the list size or send volume it applies to. Where a vendor does not publish a figure for your list size, the table says pricing on request, and you should ask for a written quote before you budget. The aim is to help you narrow the field to two or three candidates, not to rank them on a single score.

How to read the prices in this guide

Email platforms price in four different ways, and comparing the headline numbers without knowing which one applies to you is the most common mistake in this category. Some charge by contacts or profiles, meaning every person in your list counts whether or not they opened your last message. Some charge by monthly send volume, so a large list you mail twice a month costs less than the same list mailed daily. A few charge by seats, and a small number bundle usage into credits or per-event fees. Usage-based senders such as Amazon SES charge per thousand emails with no contact count at all.

Before you compare any two tools, write down three numbers for your own program: current contacts, contacts you expect in twelve months, and emails you plan to send per month. Then read each pricing page and find the row that matches those numbers. Because vendors change packaging, treat this guide as a snapshot and confirm the live page before you sign. Remember that a free plan usually has a hard ceiling, a daily sending cap, a required footer or a feature gate, and that automation is the feature most often locked behind a paid tier.

The 14 campaign tools at a glance

ToolBest forStarting price (plan, billing view)Key limitation
MailerLiteSmall teams running newsletters, forms and simple automations$12/mo Comfort at 500 subscribers, monthly; $10.80/mo annualComplex event orchestration needs workarounds
MailchimpGeneral campaign teams that value a familiar editor and integrations$20/mo Standard at the 500-contact selector, monthlyPrice climbs in contact bands; advanced lifecycle logic needs a higher tier
KitCreators and publishers who run broadcasts and sequencesFree up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33/mo billed annually for automationsVisual Automations and sequences sit behind paid plans
BrevoTeams that want marketing and transactional mail under one vendorFree: 300 emails/day; Starter $9/mo monthly, from 5,000 emailsFree-plan daily cap; plan limits depend on volume
SenderBudget-conscious teams with modest send volumesFree Forever: 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails/moPaid tiers are listed for 500 subscribers, so check your count
KlaviyoEcommerce brands that segment on purchase and catalog data$20/mo Email plan at 500 profiles, monthlyCost scales with profiles; SMS priced separately
OmnisendSmall and mid-sized stores that want email and SMS journeysFree: 250 contacts; Standard $11.20/mo at 500 contacts, monthlySMS cost varies by country and volume
DripEcommerce teams that need behavior-based automation$39/mo for 1 to 2,500 people; 14-day free trialBranching logic needs ongoing maintenance
ActiveCampaignTeams that hand leads from marketing to salesStarter $15/mo at 1,000 contacts, monthly or annualContact-based cost and a steeper learning curve
HubSpot Marketing HubB2B teams already running HubSpot CRMStarter $7/mo, monthly; Professional $800/mo; Enterprise $3,600/moCost rises quickly with tier and required features
Customer.ioProduct teams that trigger messages from user eventsEssentials $100/mo, monthly; 10,000 profiles $145/moNeeds disciplined event data and ownership
LoopsSaaS teams wanting a focused product-email workflowFree up to 4,000 sends per rolling 30 days; Growing Audience $99/moFree plan shows a Loops footer and send caps
UserlistSaaS teams that message by user and account attributesBasic at $149/mo for up to 10,000 usersPriced around user counts and plan scope
Resend (marketing)Developer-led teams combining API and campaign sendingFree marketing plan: 1,000 contacts; Pro $40/mo at 5,000 contactsFree marketing plan caps segments at three

The table is a starting filter, not a verdict. A tool that looks expensive at 25,000 contacts may be the cheapest option for a store that sends a single abandoned-cart flow, and a tool that looks cheap may need a higher plan once you enable automation. Read the detailed sections before you drop a candidate.

What the list size does to the bill

The cost table below shows how the same list size maps to different plans. Each cell names the plan it applies to. Where the pricing page does not list a figure for your exact size, the cell says pricing on request rather than estimating.

Tool and plan1,000 contacts5,000 contacts10,000 contacts25,000 contacts
Klaviyo (Email plan, monthly)$30/mo$100/mo$150/mo$400/mo
Mailchimp (contact tiers, monthly)Pricing on request$100/mo (2,501 to 5,000 tier)$135/mo (5,001 to 10,000 tier)Pricing on request
Resend (marketing plan, monthly)Free (1,000 contacts)$40/mo$80/mo$180/mo
Customer.io (Essentials, monthly)Pricing on requestPricing on request$145/mo (10k profiles)Pricing on request (20k tier $235/mo; 30k tier $325/mo)
ActiveCampaign (Starter, monthly or annual)$15/mo (1,000 contacts)Pricing on requestPricing on requestPricing on request
Drip (1 to 2,500 people)$39/moPricing on requestPricing on requestPricing on request

A worked example makes the annual impact clearer. Klaviyo's Email plan at 25,000 profiles is listed at $400 a month, which is 12 × $400 = $4,800 a year, before any SMS or add-on costs. Resend's marketing plan at 25,000 contacts is $180 a month, or 12 × $180 = $2,160 a year. Those two figures sit in the same range of list size, but they buy different things, so the cheaper number is only useful if the features match your program.

The 14 tools, one by one

1. MailerLite

Best for: small teams that need newsletters, signup forms, landing pages and straightforward automations in one approachable workspace. It is a sensible first candidate when your audience is mainly a list and the marketing team wants to publish without waiting for an engineering queue. The editor and workflow model keep the number of moving parts low for a weekly campaign calendar.

Where it falls short: complex event orchestration, advanced governance and highly customized reporting can require workarounds. If your sends depend on many product events arriving in real time, look at Customer.io or Loops instead. Confirm how inactive contacts and premium features affect your bill before you commit.

Price: the free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Comfort starts at $12 a month for the 500-subscriber tier when billed monthly, or $10.80 a month billed annually, with monthly email allowance set at ten times the subscriber ceiling. Power is $25 a month ($22.50 billed annually) with unlimited monthly emails. See the MailerLite pricing page.

2. Mailchimp

Best for: general-purpose campaign teams that value a familiar editor and a broad integration ecosystem. It remains a reasonable candidate when several people publish conventional newsletters, promotions and basic automations, and when retraining a team would cost more than a higher subscription.

Where it falls short: the entry price can look misleading because contact bands, feature gates and add-ons change the total. Sophisticated lifecycle logic may need a higher tier. Model your contact count and expected monthly sends on the pricing page before you move a large list onto a paid plan.

Price: the free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a maximum of 250 a day. The Standard plan at the 500-contact selector is $20 a month, with up to 6,000 emails a month at that size. For 2,501 to 5,000 contacts the listed price is $100 a month, with up to 60,000 emails a month; for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts it is $135 a month, with up to 120,000 emails. See the Mailchimp pricing page.

3. Kit

Best for: creators, publishers and educators who organize their work around broadcasts, sequences, tags and subscriber relationships. Kit fits a content-led calendar well, especially when the conversion you want is a reply, a purchase, a registration or a download from an audience that already follows the author.

Where it falls short: the free plan supports unlimited email broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, but Visual Automations and sequences start on the paid Creator plan. Deep CRM objects, application events and commerce-grade catalog logic are outside its core model. Plan features can change, so check the next subscriber milestone before you grow.

Price: the free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator is $33 a month when billed annually, and Pro is $66 a month billed annually, adding subscriber signals, unlimited users and deliverability reporting. Paid plans include a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. See the Kit pricing page.

4. Brevo

Best for: teams that want marketing email and transactional messages under one vendor and prefer a send-volume lens for at least part of the budget. It is worth a look when your contact count is high but campaign frequency is moderate, or when email sits alongside other channels in a shared operating setup.

Where it falls short: the free plan caps sending at 300 emails a day, which matters for bursty campaigns. Automation depth, SMS and plan boundaries need explicit checking because a low starting price does not show the cost of a mature program. Plans are priced by monthly email volume, so a seasonal spike can move you up a band.

Price: the free plan allows 300 emails a day and storage for up to 100,000 contacts. Starter is $9 a month billed monthly and starts at 5,000 emails a month with no daily sending limit. Standard is $18 a month from 5,000 emails and adds automation, A/B testing and advanced reports. Professional is listed at $499 a month on the monthly view. See the Brevo pricing page.

5. Sender

Best for: budget-conscious teams with modest send volumes that still want campaigns, automation and forms. The free plan is generous for a new newsletter, and paid tiers are simple to read when your subscriber count is near the listed size.

Where it falls short: the paid tiers are listed with 500 subscribers, so a list above that size needs confirmation before you rely on the figure. Vendors in this price band often differ on advanced reporting and integrations, so verify the features you need on the live page rather than assuming parity with larger platforms.

Price: Free Forever includes 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month. Standard is $6.30 a month with 6,000 emails a month, and Professional is $10.50 a month with 12,000 emails a month. See the Sender pricing page.

6. Klaviyo

Best for: ecommerce brands whose campaign decisions depend on orders, carts, catalogs and customer value. Klaviyo is most compelling when store data is clean enough to support purchase-aware segments and when the team wants campaign results tied to commerce behavior.

Where it falls short: outside commerce, the segmentation depth is less useful, and cost grows with profiles. SMS is priced separately, so a team that sends both channels should model the combined bill. Attribution windows and refund handling need explicit setup before you trust revenue reports.

Price: the free plan covers 250 active profiles, 500 email sends a month and $5 of mobile messages. The Email plan is $20 a month for 500 profiles, $30 for 1,000, $60 for 2,500, $100 for 5,000, $150 for 10,000 and $400 for 25,000, all billed monthly. See Klaviyo's pricing page.

7. Omnisend

Best for: small and mid-sized ecommerce teams that want store journeys with email and optional SMS. It suits stores on a supported platform that want ready-made commerce flows and value speed of setup over a bespoke event model.

Where it falls short: SMS costs depend on country and volume, so a contact who receives both channels can raise the bill quickly. The Standard price shown on the pricing page is a promotional rate for the first three months, so model the regular rate before you commit. Test coupon logic and consent sync with your store before a peak season.

Price: the free plan covers 250 contacts, 500 emails and 500 web push notifications a month. Standard is $11.20 a month at 500 contacts and 6,000 emails a month, shown at a first-three-months rate that is 30% off. Pro is $41.30 a month for 2,500 contacts with unlimited emails, and SMS starts at $0.007 per message. See the Omnisend pricing page.

8. Drip

Best for: ecommerce and direct-to-consumer teams that want email automation tied to customer behavior and store data. Drip belongs on a shortlist when your program is more advanced than a newsletter but you do not need a full sales CRM as the primary system.

Where it falls short: the fit depends heavily on store integration, event quality and your team's comfort maintaining branching logic. There is no ongoing free plan; the offer is a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Pricing above 2,500 people is not listed, so ask for a quote if you are larger.

Price: from $39 a month for 1 to 2,500 people, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required. See the Drip pricing page.

9. ActiveCampaign

Best for: teams that combine CRM context, lead scoring and branching automation. ActiveCampaign works well where campaigns must hand off to sales, react to deal stages and keep one shared contact record rather than operate as a standalone newsletter tool.

Where it falls short: the learning curve is real, and the contact-based price, seats and plan boundaries need a named owner inside the company. Higher tiers add segmentation and sales features, so check which features each plan includes before assuming a lower tier will do the job.

Price: there is no free plan, but a free trial is available. Starter is $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, Plus is $49, Pro is $79 and Enterprise is $145 at the same contact count. The listed prices are the same whether you pay monthly or annually. See the ActiveCampaign pricing page.

10. HubSpot Marketing Hub

Best for: B2B teams already invested in HubSpot CRM that want shared contact, company, deal and campaign context. The fit is strongest when marketing and sales need one governed operating model and the organization accepts the discipline of a larger platform.

Where it falls short: tiers, contacts, seats and required features can raise total cost quickly. If you only need to send newsletters, the platform is more than you need. Decide whether HubSpot should be your system of record before you migrate, because moving the CRM and the email program at the same time multiplies the work.

Price: free Marketing Hub tools are available. The paid plans are listed at $7 a month for Starter, $800 a month for Professional and $3,600 a month for Enterprise on the monthly view. Confirm which seats and features each plan includes on the Marketing Hub pricing page.

11. Customer.io

Best for: product-led teams whose messages depend on events, attributes, lifecycle state and multi-step journeys. It is a strong candidate when your product can produce a dependable event stream and you want messaging to respond to activation, usage, upgrade or churn signals rather than list membership alone.

Where it falls short: implementation is real work. Identity, event naming, replay, deletion and debugging become part of campaign ownership, and a team without a data owner will struggle. Pricing moves with profile count, so model the next tier before you pass a threshold.

Price: there is no permanent free plan, but eligible early-stage companies that have raised under $10 million can receive 12 months free through the Startup Program. Essentials is $100 a month billed monthly, and profile tiers are listed at $145 a month for 10,000 profiles, $235 for 20,000, $325 for 30,000, $415 for 40,000 and $505 a month for 50,000 or more. Premium uses custom profile volume. See the Customer.io pricing page.

12. Loops

Best for: SaaS teams that want a focused product-email workflow rather than a broad CRM or commerce suite. Loops suits a small marketing function that needs campaigns and lifecycle messages with a direct mental model and does not need every enterprise orchestration feature.

Where it falls short: the focus that makes the product easy to explain can become restrictive as branching, custom objects, reporting and channel needs grow. The free plan carries a Loops footer and caps sending at 4,000 emails in any rolling 30 days to your 1,000 newest contacts, which will not suit a large list.

Price: the Early Stage plan is free, with up to 4,000 sends in any rolling 30 days, all features included and a rate of 10 emails per second. The Growing Audience plan is $99 a month and includes unlimited sends to subscribers and transactional sends to users outside your audience. See the Loops pricing page.

13. Userlist

Best for: SaaS teams that want customer-level product context in the same system that sends lifecycle messages. Userlist is a candidate when user and account attributes, feature usage and onboarding state matter more than a large newsletter catalogue.

Where it falls short: teams should test event coverage, identity rules, permissions and the reporting path before assuming the tool replaces a warehouse or a CRM. Pricing depends on user counts and plan scope, so ask how growth in tracked users affects the monthly figure.

Price: the pricing page lists Basic at $149 a month for up to 10,000 users, and Professional at $349 a month for up to 10,000 users, which adds A/B split testing, conversion goals and advanced workflow features. Enterprise is custom. See the Userlist pricing page.

14. Resend (marketing)

Best for: developer-led teams that want one provider for application mail and simple campaigns. An API-first workflow shortens the path from an application event to a rendered message when engineering owns templates and deployment, and the marketing plan lets a team send broadcasts from the same account.

Where it falls short: the marketing plan is built around developers, and the free marketing tier limits segments to three. Teams that need rich non-technical campaign building should compare it with a dedicated campaign platform before deciding.

Price: the free plan includes 3,000 emails a month and 100 a day. The marketing plan is free at 1,000 contacts with unlimited broadcast sending, 10,000 automation runs and three segments. Pro marketing is $40 a month at 5,000 contacts, $80 at 10,000, $180 at 25,000, $250 at 50,000 and $450 at 100,000 contacts. See the Resend pricing page.

Transactional senders you may need next to a campaign tool

Campaign suites and transactional senders solve different problems. Password resets, receipts, shipping updates and account alerts need to arrive reliably and quickly, and they are usually sent by the application itself. Many teams run a transactional sender beside a marketing platform so that a promotional complaint never affects a password reset. Three options are common, and each has a different operating model.

SendGrid sits in an email API with a separate Marketing Campaigns product. The free trial allows 100 emails a day for 60 days, and Marketing Campaigns has a free plan for up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month. Essentials is $19.95 a month for 50,000 to 100,000 emails in the plan selector, and Pro is $89.95 a month for 100,000 to 2,500,000 emails. Because the API and the campaign product are priced separately, model both if you need both. See the SendGrid pricing page.

Postmark is built around transactional streams, which keep account mail separate from promotional traffic. The free plan covers 100 emails a month. Basic starts at $15 a month for 10,000 emails, and at 50,000 emails the listed price is $55 a month on Basic, $60.50 on Pro and $66 on Platform. See the Postmark pricing page.

Amazon SES is usage-based, at $0.16 per 1,000 emails on the Essentials tier, $0.22 on Pro and $0.23 on Enterprise for 0 to 10 million emails a month. Eligible new AWS customers can receive up to $200 in credits, and the free plan runs for six months after account creation. The per-email price is low, but authentication, bounce handling, complaint processing and monitoring are work your team must own. See the Amazon SES pricing page.

How to choose

Start from the job, not the feature list. Most buying mistakes happen when a team picks a platform for a capability it will use once and pays for every month. The decision table below turns the common situations into a first pick and the reason behind it. Use it to form a shortlist of two or three candidates, then check the pricing page for the list size you expect in twelve months.

If you needStart withBecause
Newsletters, forms and simple automation on a low budgetMailerLite (Comfort, $12 a month at 500 subscribers, monthly)The workspace is approachable and the free plan lets you build a real workflow before you pay
A free starting point with a large audience of readersKit (free up to 10,000 subscribers)Unlimited broadcasts are included, and automation can wait until the program needs it
Segmentation on orders, carts and product catalogsKlaviyo ($30 a month at 1,000 profiles)Commerce data drives the segments, which is the core of its model
Event-triggered messages from a SaaS productCustomer.io or LoopsBoth are built around events and lifecycle state, with Loops suited to a simpler product
Campaigns that hand leads to a sales teamActiveCampaign (Starter $15 a month at 1,000 contacts)Branching, lead scoring and CRM context are central to the product
Marketing tied to a CRM your company already runsHubSpot Marketing HubShared contact and deal data reduce handoff gaps, if the company accepts the platform cost
Application email owned by developersPostmark or SendGridTransactional streams and API tooling keep product mail separate from promotions
The lowest per-email cost, with engineering to spareAmazon SESUsage pricing is low, but your team must run authentication, bounces and complaints

When two candidates pass your shortlist, decide on money at your next growth milestone and on how easily you can leave. Ask each vendor how exports work before you sign a long contract. Verify the contact definition, because some platforms count every person in your list and others count only active profiles. Finally, check the support scope in writing for the plan you will actually buy.

Setup and migration checklist

Moving an email program is slower than moving a website, because consent, suppression history and template logic all have to come across intact. The checklist below assumes you are moving a live list. Use it as a plan rather than a promise about any vendor's import tool.

StepWhat to doDone when
Export the current audiencePull contacts, tags, consent fields and unsubscribe status from the old platformA complete export file is saved and its row count matches the platform
Map consent and suppressionConfirm that unsubscribed and suppressed contacts are imported as suppressed, never as activeA sample of suppressed contacts shows the same status on the new platform
Authenticate your sending domainSet up the sending authentication the vendor requires before the first live sendA test message passes the authentication checks in the new platform
Rebuild templatesRecreate your core templates and check rendering on common mail clientsEach template has a saved preview and an approval record
Recreate the core automationsRebuild the welcome, onboarding and win-back flows, one at a timeEach flow starts once per contact and stops when its exit rule is met
Run a low-volume cutoverSend to a small internal group, then a small share of the listBounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates match the old platform's trend
Keep an exit pathSchedule a periodic export of contacts, tags and consent dataAn export runs on a fixed schedule and is stored outside the platform

Three details cause most migration problems. First, duplicate contacts can receive the same message twice if the old and new platforms both run the same automation during the cutover, so pause the old flows before you start the new ones. Second, custom fields often import as text, which breaks date logic in automations. Check every date field in a test flow. Third, unsubscribe links and preference centers must keep working on the old sends that contacts may still open, so keep the old domain or link handling live until the old sends stop.

Common mistakes when comparing campaign tools

The most common error is comparing an entry price with a mature program's price. A starting tier is usually sized for a simple list with a few automations. Once you add segments, SMS, more seats or a larger contact band, the monthly figure moves, sometimes more than you planned. Build the cost model for the program you will run in a year, not the one you run today.

The second error is ignoring where the contacts live. Some platforms charge for every contact in the list, including people who have not opened anything in months. Others charge for active profiles or for sends. Two tools with similar entry prices can produce very different bills on the same list. Ask how inactive contacts are counted before you choose.

The third error is treating a free plan as a production plan. Free tiers are useful for learning the editor, testing a template and running a small newsletter. They rarely include the automation, reporting and sending volume a growing business needs. If your launch depends on a free plan, confirm the limits in writing and set a date to move to a paid tier.

The fourth error is buying a transactional sender for marketing, or a marketing suite for product mail. Password resets and receipts need the reliability of a sending service, while campaigns need segmentation and scheduling. Many teams end up with both, and that is a reasonable design when each system has a clear owner.

Next steps

Start by writing down your current contacts, the contacts you expect in twelve months and the monthly sends you plan. Use those three numbers to read the cost table, then pick two or three candidates from the decision table. Open each candidate's pricing page on the day you decide, save a dated copy and run the migration checklist on a copy of your list before you commit. For a wider view of the market, see our tools directory and the compare hub. For implementation details that apply to any platform, read our email deliverability guide, A/B testing guide and segmentation guide. Our method for picking and checking vendors is described on the how we evaluate page, and if you spot an outdated price or a wrong limit, contact us with the vendor page you checked.

Frequently asked questions

Which email campaign tool should a small team start with?

For most small teams the best starting point is MailerLite, because its free plan lets you build a signup form, a welcome flow and a newsletter before you pay. When you move up, the Comfort plan is $12 a month at the 500-subscriber tier when billed monthly, or $10.80 a month billed annually. If your list is already larger than 2,500 subscribers, compare the monthly send limits in the table above before you commit.

Is the price on a pricing page the amount I will pay?

Usually it is the starting amount for one plan, one contact band and one billing view. Your real cost depends on your contact count, monthly sends, seats, SMS and any add-ons. Use the list size and send volume you expect in twelve months, and ask for a written quote where the page says pricing on request.

Why does Klaviyo cost more than some other tools at the same list size?

Klaviyo prices by profile and is built around ecommerce data, so its plans reflect the purchase-aware segments and commerce flows it includes. At 1,000 profiles the Email plan is $30 a month, and at 25,000 profiles it is $400 a month. Whether that premium is worth it depends on whether your segments and revenue reports use that data. If you do not sell products through a store, a general-purpose tool is usually the better choice.

Can I use a free plan indefinitely?

Some vendors allow it within strict limits, such as Mailchimp's 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, Sender's 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, and Loops' 4,000 sends in any rolling 30 days. Others offer only a trial. Read the limits on each pricing page, because a free plan that suits a newsletter may not suit an automated program.

Should I use a campaign tool or a transactional sender for product emails?

Use a transactional sender for password resets, receipts and account alerts, because those messages must arrive reliably and must not depend on campaign schedules. Use a campaign tool for promotions, newsletters and lifecycle sequences that depend on segments. Postmark, SendGrid and Amazon SES are built for the first job, and Customer.io, Loops and Userlist are built for event-driven messages.

How do I compare two tools fairly?

Use the same list size, the same monthly sends and the same automations for both. Read each vendor's pricing page on the same day, save a copy, and note the billing view, such as monthly or annual. Then run your migration checklist on a copy of your list. A fair comparison uses your numbers rather than a vendor's example.

What should I do before I cancel my current platform?

Export your contacts, tags, consent fields and suppression history, and keep the export outside the platform. Confirm that every automation has a replacement and that the new platform has imported unsubscribed contacts as suppressed. Keep the old account open until your first full send on the new platform has finished without problems, because it is the fastest way to recover a missing template or flow.

How often should I check pricing?

Check the live pricing page before each purchase decision, and again whenever your contact count crosses a plan band. Vendors change tiers, free limits and promotional rates, so a figure saved six months ago may no longer apply. Keep the date next to any figure you use in a budget.