How MailerLite and GetResponse Count Subscribers, and What Going Over Costs

A price tier says "up to 5,000 subscribers". Whether your list is over 5,000 depends on who is counted. MailerLite and GetResponse answer that differently, and they also charge differently once you are over.

The short version

How MailerLite counts

MailerLite's pricing FAQ says billing is based on active subscribers. People who have unsubscribed or whose address bounced are not counted.

The count is cumulative inside a billing cycle. An address that was active at any point in the cycle counts toward the limit for that cycle, even if you delete it later. The count resets once a month on the billing date.

In practice: deleting subscribers lowers the count from the next cycle, not the current one. The FAQ gives its own example. If the billing date is April 5 and you delete subscribers on April 1, they still count until April 4.

When you go over

• Paid plans. The terms say the account is upgraded to the next tier automatically and the card on file is charged. MailerLite says it sends a notice before this happens.
• Free plan. Above 250 active subscribers, campaigns and automations stop sending until you upgrade or remove subscribers. Signup forms keep collecting.

The email limit on Comfort

Comfort includes a monthly email limit of 10 times the tier size. The pricing FAQ says that when you reach it, you can move to Power or wait for the next cycle. The terms say that passing the email limit can also trigger an automatic upgrade, and that overage fees may apply if automatic upgrades are turned off. The two pages describe this differently, so check your account settings.

How GetResponse counts

GetResponse's terms define the total as all contacts in the account in a given month. The definition lists contacts that were stored, added, unsubscribed, deleted, rejected, unconfirmed under double opt-in, or inactive during the month.

Two points stand out:

• Unsubscribed and deleted contacts count for the month in which they were in the account.
• A contact on several lists counts once per list. A person on two lists is two contacts.

When you go over

The terms set a "List Extension Fee" for the month. It is the monthly price of the tier that covers your contact count, minus the monthly price of the tier you are on. It is charged in the month after the one in which you went over.

Above the largest list size on the pricing page, the terms add $4 for every started block of 1,000 contacts. Above 100,000 contacts, GetResponse may block new contacts.

The same month under both rules

A list has 4,800 active subscribers on a 5,000 tier. During one billing month you import 400 new subscribers and delete 400 old ones. The list ends the month at 4,800.

Under both sets of rules the count is 5,200, because the deleted contacts were in the account during the month. The cost differs. MailerLite's next tier is $20 more per month. GetResponse's next tier is 10,000, at $79, so the fee is $79 minus $54.

The timing is what pushes the count up. If the old contacts are removed in one counting period and the new ones are added in the next, neither period holds more than 4,800. MailerLite's period is the billing cycle. GetResponse's terms say only "in a given month".

Two lists, one audience

A business keeps 3,000 customers on a "customers" list and the same 3,000 on a "newsletter" list.

Under GetResponse's terms that is 6,000 contacts. On monthly billing, Starter costs $54 at the 5,000 tier and $79 at the 10,000 tier. Keeping the same people on one list with tags or segments keeps the count at 3,000, which fits the 5,000 tier.

What to check before you pick a tier

1. Count the way the provider counts. For GetResponse, add unsubscribed and deleted contacts for the month and count each list separately.
2. Look at the size of the next tier up, not only its price. See the yearly cost calculator for the full tables.
3. Time list cleaning around the billing date.