A read across the ten most relevant email service providers shows a single, uniform onboarding posture: every major platform gives away custom domain authentication and uses a shared, pre-warmed default to get senders live in minutes. The monetization gate sits one layer deeper — at the dedicated IP, where prices range from $21 to $59 per month and serve as the field's clearest infrastructure upsell.
If you remember nothing else from this brief, remember these. Each one is independently verified across all ten platforms surveyed.
Read together, these four numbers tell you the whole story: onboarding is free, sending is rationed, and the dedicated IP is where every meaningful customer eventually ends up paying.
The single visualization a C-level reader needs. Bars show monthly add-on price for a dedicated sending IP, the industry's primary infrastructure upsell. Dashed markers indicate platforms where dedicated IP exists but is not self-serve.
Filter by category to see how each cohort handles the same five decisions: default domain, free volume, custom domain pricing, dedicated IP, and the primary upsell lever.
| Provider | Default domain | Free / entry volume | Custom domain | Dedicated IP | Primary upsell lever |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mailchimp Marketing-first |
● Pre-warmed Shared mc.com infra |
500/mo · 250/dayFree tier · paid scales 10–12× contacts |
● Free DNS records only |
Enterprise onlyNo published price |
Automation gated behind $20+/mo Standard. Contact-count billing — unsubscribes still count. Actual bills run 20–40% over list. |
Brevo Marketing-first |
● Pre-warmed Falls to @brevosend.com |
~9K/mo · 300/dayFree; paid removes daily cap |
● Free Required or fallback domain used |
$21/mo · Pro+ only $251/yr · free on Enterprise |
Volume-based, not contact-based — distinctive in field. Dedicated IP gated at Pro. Logo removal +$12/mo on Starter. |
Constant Contact Marketing-first |
● Pre-warmed Shared CC infra |
60-day trial onlyLite from $12/mo · 500 contacts |
● Free DNS records only |
Not offeredNo clear IP path |
No permanent free tier — forces paid from day 61. Limited deliverability tooling. No upmarket infrastructure ladder. |
Klaviyo Ecommerce-first |
● Pre-warmed Shared Klaviyo / SendGrid infra |
500/mo · 250 contactsFree; paid unlimited sends |
● Free DNS records only |
Enterprise onlyNot standard self-serve |
Profile-based billing since Feb 2025 — all contacts billed, engaged or not. Soft overages auto-upgrade plan. No annual discount. |
Omnisend Ecommerce-first |
● Pre-warmed Shared Omnisend infra |
500/mo · 250 contactsPaid from $16/mo · 6K sends |
● Free DNS records only |
Not offeredNot publicly available |
Shopify / Woo-native — ecommerce-only audience. SMS bundled. Contact + volume gates run in parallel. |
HubSpot CRM-first |
● Pre-warmed Shared HubSpot infra |
2,000/moFree, branded · Starter $20/mo |
● Free DNS records only |
BundledAfter $3–7K onboarding fee |
No workflows on Starter — forces $890+/mo Professional. Mandatory onboarding ($3–7K) — largest in industry. |
ActiveCampaign CRM-first |
● Pre-warmed Shared AC infra |
14-day trialStarter $19/mo · 1K contacts |
● Free DNS records only |
AvailableNot prominently priced |
Full automation on ALL paid tiers — explicit anti-HubSpot position. No onboarding fees · free migration. Dedicated IP not pushed at SMB. |
SendGrid Infrastructure (Twilio) |
● Pre-warmed Shared IP pools on Essentials |
100/day · 60-day trialEssentials $19.95/mo · 50K/mo |
● Free CNAME domain auth |
$30/mo · included on Pro ($89.95+) +$30 each additional IP |
Dedicated IP is the primary upsell — gated at Pro. Essentials: no IP, no sub-users. Free plan removed in 2025. |
Mailgun Infrastructure (Sinch) |
● Pre-warmed Shared pools on Basic/free |
100/day · ~3K/mo freeFoundation $35/mo · 50K |
● Free 1 domain free · 1K on Foundation+ |
$59/mo · included on Scale ($90/mo) Highest in field |
Pure infra play — no marketing tools. Pay-as-you-go doubled to $2/1K in Dec 2025. Overages $1.10–$1.80/1K. |
Amazon SES Infrastructure (AWS) |
○ None Verification required day one |
Sandbox until approved$0.10/1K after — cheapest in field |
● Free Required from day one |
Self-managedNo IP upsell · Elastic IPs via console |
Pure infrastructure — no marketing layer. Sandbox approval required before live sending. Reputation, bounces, suppression all DIY. |
Every major ESP, regardless of category, moves customers along the same path. The accent step is the primary infrastructure upsell — the gate where the most defensible recurring revenue is captured.
Pre-warmed shared domain. Immediate sending. Daily or monthly cap enforced.
DKIM / SPF setup. Universally free across every major competitor. A retention tool, not a revenue lever.
Monthly cap removal, automation, segmentation, A/B, branding removal. First real dollars.
The primary infrastructure upsell across the field. Reputation isolation. Warmup required.
Dedicated AM, SLA, custom onboarding. HubSpot's $3–7K mandatory onboarding sits here.
Read these as the operating implications for product, packaging, and pricing decisions — not as observations.
Every competitor in this field offers DKIM, SPF, and custom domain setup at zero cost. It is table-stakes onboarding. Charging for it would be a market anomaly and a conversion killer.
SendGrid ($30), Mailgun ($59), and Brevo ($21) all gate reputation isolation behind a paid IP. It is the clearest, most defensible monetization point in the stack — customers understand exactly why they need it.
Mailchimp halved limits twice in 2026. SendGrid removed its free plan entirely in 2025. Shared free infrastructure is being rationed or paywalled to accelerate upgrade pressure across the industry.
$3,000–$7,000 mandatory onboarding fees at Professional and Enterprise are unique to HubSpot in this set. No other platform charges for setup access — their primary mid-market lever alongside seat-based pricing.
Free tiers cap at 100–500 emails/day. Any campaign approaching meaningful voter or audience contact will hit these limits within days of ramp. The upgrade trigger is baked into the architecture by design.
Klaviyo and Omnisend are Shopify-native. Profile-based, engagement-driven billing is designed for e-commerce journeys — not the burst-send, event-driven cadence of political campaigns. A genuine market gap.
Built to map directly to the patterns above. Two onboarding tracks at signup, each on its own isolated IP pool so neither audience can affect the other's deliverability reputation. Same 25K/mo allowance, same 10K profile limit, same upgrade ladder.
For clients who want to start sending immediately. Pre-warmed shared pool, no DNS, no friction. Full 25K available from day one with no daily cap.
For clients sending from their own domain. DNS auth required. A daily ceiling rises across 30 days to protect domain reputation — designed so a sender who hits the ceiling each day still reaches the full 25K by end of month one.
Soft prompt rather than hard block. Both tracks converge on the same upgrade gate — and from there, on the existing pricing ladder.
Emails or profiles cap reached. Sends queue for 48 hours; sender sees two clear options side by side instead of an error wall.
+25K emails ≈ $15. +50K ≈ $31. +5K profiles ≈ $15. +15K profiles ≈ $45. Same IP pool, no infrastructure change.
Core at $500/mo unlocks 100K emails + profiles, A/B testing, App Store, and Shared Inbox. Enterprise is the path to dedicated IPs and custom reporting.
Two tracks at signup, two options at the upgrade gate, one pricing ladder. Conversion pressure at every stage — no friction for early users.