Claude on Question 32, Sep 20
I'm a solo bootstrapped founder in the US. What email marketing platform should I use?The right answer depends mostly on one thing: what's sending the emails — you (a newsletter/broadcast) or your product (behavior-triggered)? Here's how I'd break it down.
If you're doing a newsletter / content-led growth
- •Kit (formerly ConvertKit) — my default pick for solo founders. Free up to ~10k subscribers, good automations, excellent deliverability, built for people selling their own stuff.
- •Beehiiv — better if growth and monetization are the point. Built-in referral program, recommendation network, and ad marketplace. Free tier around 2,500 subs.
- •Buttondown — if you're technical and want something dead simple and cheap. Markdown, clean API, run by a small indie team.
If your SaaS/app needs to send based on user behavior (onboarding drips, trial expiry, usage nudges)
- •Loops — modern, simple, priced for small teams, built specifically for SaaS lifecycle email.
- •Resend — if you're comfortable in code. Great transactional sending plus broadcasts, very developer-friendly.
- •Customer.io — more power than you probably need yet, but where you graduate to if segmentation gets complex.
If you're ecommerce
- •Omnisend for cheap and capable, Klaviyo if you're on Shopify and email is a real revenue channel. Klaviyo is expensive but usually pays for itself.
General small business list, mixed use
- •MailerLite — best price-to-features ratio, decent builder, free to 1,000 subs.
- •Brevo — charges per email sent rather than per contact, so it's good if you have a big list you email rarely.
One I'd skip: Mailchimp. Pricing has drifted well above what it delivers, and the alternatives above are better at almost every specific job.
A few things that matter more than the platform choice:
- •Send from your own domain and set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on day one. Deliverability problems are usually authentication problems, not platform problems.
- •Check that you can export subscribers with tags and segments, not just email addresses. This is your exit ramp.
- •Don't buy an all-in-one CRM/email/funnel suite yet. You'll pay for nine features you don't use and be hard to unwind later.
Pricing and free-tier limits shift constantly, so verify the current numbers before committing.
What are you selling, and roughly how big is your list? That'd let me narrow this to one recommendation.
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Extracted picks, in order · confidence medium
- Kit
- Beehiiv
- Buttondown
- Loops
- Resend
- Customer.io
- Omnisend
- MailerLite
- Brevo
Highlighted: the names the extractor took as picks, where they appear verbatim (9 of 9).
The right answer depends mostly on one thing: **what's sending the emails — you (a newsletter/broadcast) or your product (behavior-triggered)?** Here's how I'd break it down.
**If you're doing a newsletter / content-led growth**
- **Kit (formerly ConvertKit)** — my default pick for solo founders. Free up to ~10k subscribers, good automations, excellent deliverability, built for people selling their own stuff.
- **Beehiiv** — better if growth and monetization are the point. Built-in referral program, recommendation network, and ad marketplace. Free tier around 2,500 subs.
- **Buttondown** — if you're technical and want something dead simple and cheap. Markdown, clean API, run by a small indie team.
**If your SaaS/app needs to send based on user behavior** (onboarding drips, trial expiry, usage nudges)
- **Loops** — modern, simple, priced for small teams, built specifically for SaaS lifecycle email.
- **Resend** — if you're comfortable in code. Great transactional sending plus broadcasts, very developer-friendly.
- **Customer.io** — more power than you probably need yet, but where you graduate to if segmentation gets complex.
**If you're ecommerce**
- **Omnisend** for cheap and capable, **Klaviyo** if you're on Shopify and email is a real revenue channel. Klaviyo is expensive but usually pays for itself.
**General small business list, mixed use**
- **MailerLite** — best price-to-features ratio, decent builder, free to 1,000 subs.
- **Brevo** — charges per email sent rather than per contact, so it's good if you have a big list you email rarely.
**One I'd skip:** Mailchimp. Pricing has drifted well above what it delivers, and the alternatives above are better at almost every specific job.
**A few things that matter more than the platform choice:**
- Send from your own domain and set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on day one. Deliverability problems are usually authentication problems, not platform problems.
- Check that you can export subscribers *with* tags and segments, not just email addresses. This is your exit ramp.
- Don't buy an all-in-one CRM/email/funnel suite yet. You'll pay for nine features you don't use and be hard to unwind later.
Pricing and free-tier limits shift constantly, so verify the current numbers before committing.
What are you selling, and roughly how big is your list? That'd let me narrow this to one recommendation.
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