Systeme.io and MailerLite overlap on email, but they are different kinds of tools. MailerLite is an email marketing platform with landing pages, websites and simple digital product sales, priced by subscriber count from $12 a month after a free plan of 250 subscribers. Systeme.io is an all-in-one sales platform with funnels, checkout, courses, communities and email, with a free plan of 2,000 contacts and flat paid plans from $17 a month.
The quick answer: choose MailerLite if your business is a newsletter and you want the stronger email tool. Choose Systeme.io if you sell courses, coaching or digital products and want the funnel, checkout and email in one place.
Systeme.io vs MailerLite at a Glance
| Systeme.io | MailerLite | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Sell online: funnels, checkout, courses | Email marketing and newsletters |
| Free plan | 2,000 contacts, unlimited sends | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month |
| Paid pricing | Flat: $17, $47, $97 a month | By list size: Comfort from $12, Power from $25 |
| Email sends | Unlimited on every plan | 10x subscribers on Comfort; unlimited on Power |
| Sales funnels | Yes, multi-step with upsells and order bumps | Landing pages and websites, no funnel steps |
| Checkout and payments | Built in: Stripe, PayPal and others | Digital products through Stripe |
| Online courses | Built in, every plan | Not built in |
| Community | Built in | No |
| Transaction fees | 0% | 0% MailerLite commission |
| Free trial of paid tier | Not needed; free plan has no end date | 14 days, no card |
| Best for | Course creators, coaches, info sellers | Newsletter writers, bloggers, small businesses |
In This Article
- Systeme.io vs MailerLite at a Glance
- What Is MailerLite?
- What Is Systeme.io?
- Pricing Compared
- Email Marketing Head to Head
- Funnels, Landing Pages and Websites
- Selling Products and Courses
- Ease of Use
- Support
- Integrations and Using Both
- Who Should Choose Which
- Switching Between Them
- Common Mistakes When Choosing
- Alternatives to Both
- Our Verdict
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is MailerLite?
MailerLite is an email marketing service. Its plans cover email campaigns, a visual automation builder, signup forms, landing pages, websites with a blog section, and selling digital products, bookings, paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions through Stripe.
Its pricing page says "Every paid plan gets our full feature set" and that you "only pay more for a bigger list or more sending." The free plan is now small: 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
What Is Systeme.io?
Systeme.io is an all-in-one platform for selling online. It combines sales funnels, email marketing, a website and blog builder, online courses, communities, an affiliate program manager, evergreen webinars and a booking calendar. The company says it is "Powering 500,000+ entrepreneurs," which is its own claim.
Its pricing FAQ says "Every plan includes unlimited email sends, 0% transaction fees and unlimited sub-accounts." For the full picture, see our Systeme.io review or what Systeme.io is.
Pricing Compared
Systeme.io Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Contacts | Courses | Funnels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 2,000 | 1 | 3 |
| Startup | $17 | $170 | 5,000 | 5 | 10 |
| Webinar | $47 | $470 | 10,000 | 20 | 50 |
| Unlimited | $97 | $970 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Prices do not rise with list size inside a plan. The free plan can process up to $10,000 in total sales; after that, you have 3 days to upgrade to keep taking payments. More in our Systeme.io pricing guide.
MailerLite Pricing
MailerLite prices by subscriber count. These are the US monthly prices shown on its pricing page:
| Subscribers | Comfort (monthly) | Power (monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 250 | Free plan ($0) | Free plan ($0) |
| 500 | $12 | $25 |
| 1,000 | $19 | $39 |
| 2,500 | $33 | $49 |
| 5,000 | $49 | $69 |
| 10,000 | $89 | $129 |
Yearly billing saves 10%, for example $10.80 a month on Comfort at 500 subscribers. Comfort includes email sends of up to 10 times your subscriber limit, 50 automations, 10 sites and 5 digital products. Power adds unlimited sends, automations, sites, digital products and seats, multiple automation triggers, and live chat support.
Monthly list prices from each pricing page, November 2026. Systeme.io Startup covers up to 5,000 contacts; Webinar covers 10,000.
What You Would Pay: Three Examples
These examples use monthly list prices and simple arithmetic. They are illustrations, not quotes.
| Scenario | Systeme.io | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| 1,500 subscribers, weekly newsletter | $0 (Free, up to 2,000 contacts) | $33 (Comfort, 2,500 tier) |
| 4,000 contacts, weekly email plus a course | $17 (Startup) | $49 (Comfort, 5,000 tier) plus a course host |
| 10,000 contacts, frequent sends | $47 (Webinar) | $89 (Comfort) or $129 (Power) |
The gap widens as the list grows, and MailerLite does not host courses, so a course creator would add another tool. If you only need newsletters, MailerLite's extra cost buys a more specialized email product.
Key Takeaway
Systeme.io charges by plan, not by list size within a plan. MailerLite charges by subscriber count, so every list milestone raises the bill.
Email Marketing Head to Head
Editor and Templates
MailerLite is built around email. It has a drag-and-drop editor, unlimited templates on paid plans, an AI writing assistant, email A/B testing, RSS campaigns, auto resend and the ability to edit links in sent campaigns.
Systeme.io has a classic editor and a visual editor for campaigns and newsletters. It covers the basics well, but it has fewer design and testing tools than a dedicated email platform.
Winner: MailerLite.
Automation
MailerLite's visual automation builder offers templates, ecommerce triggers and, on Power, multiple triggers per automation. The free plan allows 3 active automations; Comfort allows 50.
Systeme.io has two layers: simple "if this, then that" automation rules and visual workflows. Limits grow by plan, from 1 rule and 1 workflow on Free to 10 rules and 5 workflows on Startup, 100 and 20 on Webinar, and unlimited on Unlimited. Automations can also react to sales, course enrollments and funnel opt-ins inside the same account.
Winner: MailerLite for email-only automation; Systeme.io when automations need to react to purchases and course activity.
Sending Limits and Branding
Systeme.io allows unlimited email sends on every plan, including Free. Free accounts cannot remove the "Sent with systeme.io" footer; paid plans can.
MailerLite's free plan caps sends at 2,500 a month and keeps the MailerLite logo. Comfort caps sends at 10 times your subscriber limit, and Power is unlimited under a fair-use policy.
Winner: Systeme.io on volume per dollar.
Funnels, Landing Pages and Websites
MailerLite includes landing pages and websites with a blog section, SEO tools, custom domains, password-protected pages and landing page A/B tests on paid plans. The free plan gets 1 website and 1 landing page; Comfort gets 10.
Systeme.io builds multi-step sales funnels: opt-in page, sales page, checkout, upsell and thank-you page, with order bumps, coupons, A/B tests and evergreen webinar funnels. It also builds websites and blogs. The free plan allows 3 funnels with 15 steps.
If you need a sequence of pages that turns a visitor into a buyer, Systeme.io was built for that. MailerLite's pages are best for capturing subscribers. See our guide on what a sales funnel is.
Winner: Systeme.io.
Selling Products and Courses
Digital Products and Payments
MailerLite lets you sell digital products, bookings, paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions through Stripe. Its feature page says it takes "0% MailerLite commissions," leaving only Stripe's processing fee, and that it does not support physical product inventories. Its help center says Stripe selling is for Comfort and Power accounts.
Systeme.io has a full checkout. It supports one-time payments, subscriptions with optional trials, and payment plans, through Stripe, PayPal and several other gateways. It adds order bumps, one-click upsells, coupons and digital stores, with 0% transaction fees.
Winner: Systeme.io.
Online Courses
This is the clearest difference. Systeme.io includes a course builder on every plan, with modules, lectures, drip delays, student logins and completion certificates. Free includes 1 course and 500 students; paid plans add more courses and unlimited students.
MailerLite does not list courses as a built-in product. For video courses, it suggests linking to where the files are hosted, which means a separate course platform.
Winner: Systeme.io.
Communities and Affiliates
Systeme.io adds a community builder and its own affiliate program manager, so partners can promote your products. MailerLite has neither as a built-in feature.
Winner: Systeme.io.
Ease of Use
Both are known as beginner-friendly tools. MailerLite has a clean interface focused on one job, so a first campaign takes little setup.
Systeme.io covers more ground, so there are more menus to learn, but templates help. A beginner can usually launch a funnel, an email sequence and a course in a weekend.
Winner: MailerLite for email-only users; even for people who need the full sales stack.
Support
| Systeme.io | MailerLite | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Email support, 7 days a week | Knowledge base |
| Paid plans | Email support; help center says no live chat or phone | Comfort: email support. Power: live chat and email |
| Onboarding | 1-hour kickstart session with annual or Unlimited plans | Enterprise onboarding consultation |
Systeme.io's help center gives an average email response time of about 2 hours.
Integrations and Using Both
MailerLite lists 100+ integrations on Free and unlimited integrations on paid plans, plus full API access. Systeme.io has a public API and native integrations such as Zoom, Google Calendar, Twilio SMS and ActiveCampaign.
You can run both. A common setup is MailerLite for a weekly newsletter and Systeme.io for funnels, checkout and courses, linked through Zapier or webhooks. The cost is two bills and two lists to keep in sync.
Who Should Choose Which
| Choose Systeme.io If You | Choose MailerLite If You |
|---|---|
| Sell courses, coaching or digital products | Run a newsletter or content business |
| Need funnels with upsells and order bumps | Want the best email editor and testing tools |
| Want a free plan with 2,000 contacts | Have a small list and only need email |
| Want one tool instead of three | Already use another tool for checkout and courses |
| Send a lot of email to a growing list | Want live chat support on a paid plan |
Bloggers and Newsletter Writers
MailerLite fits best. It has RSS campaigns, paid newsletters, a website with a blog and a polished editor.
Course Creators and Coaches
Systeme.io fits best. Courses, checkout, email and a community sit in one account, and the Startup plan at $17 a month covers 5,000 contacts.
Affiliate Marketers
Systeme.io's free plan gives you opt-in funnels, unlimited sends and a blog for 2,000 contacts. MailerLite's free tier stops at 250 subscribers.
Switching Between Them
- 1Export subscribers with their groups and fields as CSV
- 2Import them into Systeme.io and map groups to tags
- 3Rebuild your welcome sequence as a campaign or workflow
- 4Recreate signup forms as opt-in funnel pages
- 5Connect Stripe or PayPal and rebuild products
- 6Verify your sender email and domain
- 7Send a test broadcast before switching links
Systeme.io advertises free migration with the Unlimited monthly plan or any annual plan. Moving the other way works the same way in reverse: export contacts with tags, import them to MailerLite as groups, and rebuild automations.
Common Mistakes When Choosing
- Comparing free plans by name only. Systeme.io's free plan allows 2,000 contacts; MailerLite's allows 250.
- Forgetting the course host. MailerLite has no built-in course area, so add that cost if you sell courses.
- Expecting newsletter-grade design in Systeme.io. Its editor covers the basics but has fewer testing and design tools.
- Ignoring list growth. MailerLite's bill rises at each subscriber tier; Systeme.io's stays flat until you hit a plan limit.
Alternatives to Both
If neither fits, compare Systeme.io vs ConvertKit, Systeme.io vs Mailchimp or Systeme.io vs ActiveCampaign for deeper automation. Our Systeme.io alternatives list covers more options.
Our Verdict
MailerLite is the better pick when email is the product: newsletters, blog updates and simple digital sales, with a stronger editor and testing tools.
Systeme.io is the better pick when email is one step in a sales process. Funnels, checkout, courses, a community and unlimited sends cost less than MailerLite alone at every list size in the tables above.
Start Free With Systeme.io
Funnels, email, courses and a blog with a free plan for up to 2,000 contacts. Paid plans start at $17 a month with 0% transaction fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Systeme.io or MailerLite Better?
MailerLite is better if email newsletters are the main job and you want a polished editor and deeper email features. Systeme.io is better if you also need sales funnels, a checkout, courses and a community in one account.
Which Free Plan Is Bigger, Systeme.io or MailerLite?
Systeme.io's free plan allows 2,000 contacts with unlimited email sends. MailerLite's free plan allows 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, plus 1 website, 1 landing page and 1 digital product or booking.
Which Is Cheaper, Systeme.io or MailerLite?
Systeme.io is usually cheaper once your list grows. Its plans are flat at $17, $47 and $97 a month by contact limit, while MailerLite prices by subscriber count, for example $33 a month on Comfort for 2,500 subscribers.
Can MailerLite Host Online Courses?
Not as a built-in course area. MailerLite sells digital products such as PDFs and ebooks through Stripe, and for video courses it suggests linking to where the files are hosted. Systeme.io includes a course builder on every plan.
Does Systeme.io Have Good Email Marketing?
It covers broadcasts, sequences, tags, automation rules and visual workflows with unlimited sends on every plan. MailerLite offers more email-specific tools, such as A/B testing, RSS campaigns and a more refined editor.
Does Either Charge Transaction Fees?
Systeme.io lists 0% transaction fees on every plan. MailerLite says it takes 0% commission on digital product sales, so you pay only Stripe's processing fee.
Can I Use Systeme.io and MailerLite Together?
Yes. Some creators keep MailerLite for newsletters and use Systeme.io for funnels, checkout and courses, connecting them through Zapier or webhooks. You then manage two contact lists and two bills.
Try Systeme.io's Free Plan First
Build an opt-in funnel, an email sequence and a checkout on the free plan, then decide whether you still need a separate email tool.
Start Free With Systeme.io
