GPT changed its list for a solo founder’s request for an email platform.

Use MailerLite as the default choice for a solo bootstrapped founder.

Why:

• •Generous free/low-cost entry point
• •Easy newsletters and visual automations
• •Built-in forms and landing pages
• •Less complexity than enterprise tools
• •Suitable until your list and segmentation needs become sophisticated

Choose something else only if your business clearly fits one of these:

• •Kit — you’re a creator selling courses, memberships, or digital products
• •Loops — you run a SaaS and want product-triggered lifecycle emails
• •Brevo — you need inexpensive high-volume sending, SMS, or lightweight CRM features
• •Buttondown — you want a very simple, writing-focused newsletter
• •Klaviyo — you run an ecommerce store, especially Shopify
• •HubSpot — only if you already need its CRM and can justify the eventual cost

I’d avoid starting with Mailchimp: it’s recognizable, but pricing and feature restrictions often become frustrating as a bootstrapped business grows.

Practical setup: Start with MailerLite, create one main audience, use tags/groups rather than separate lists, and build only three automations initially:

• 1.Welcome sequence
• 2.Lead/customer onboarding
• 3.Re-engagement for inactive subscribers

Also authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and keep marketing email separate from your normal inbox domain if possible. Pricing changes frequently, so verify current plan limits before committing.