I tried every top email marketing tool

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

An in-depth review of email marketing platforms, which favors lower-cost tools like MailerLite, prompts scrutiny over its narrow pricing-focused criteria and the author’s affiliate revenue incentives. Commenters argue that factors like deliverability, IP reputation, privacy features, and automation matter more than small price differences, especially for serious startups and larger senders. The conversation also highlights frustration with dark-pattern pricing from incumbents like Mailchimp and Klaviyo, while pointing to alternatives such as self-hosted or AWS SES–based solutions for better control and cost.

Scope and Audience of the Review

  • Several commenters say the article’s criteria (especially aggressive price filters and “solo-style” needs) fit freelancers/small businesses more than funded or later-stage startups.
  • Others note that many widely used “enterprise” tools (Customer.io, Iterable, Braze, Marketo, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe solutions) weren’t evaluated, so “every top tool” feels overstated.

Deliverability as a Core Concern

  • Strong disagreement over how central deliverability should be: some see it as just one factor; others argue it is the primary job of an email platform.
  • Multiple examples of deliverability failures (especially to Microsoft 365 and occasionally Gmail) are cited as business-critical issues.
  • Practical deliverability tips are shared: proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC, domain and IP warm-up, double opt-in, avoiding “dead” unengaged contacts, and suspicion of cheap platforms with poor shared IP reputation.

Pricing Models, Dark Patterns, and Subscriber Counting

  • Many complaints about tools charging for unsubscribed contacts, overage fees, and upsell-oriented UX.
  • Some providers allow archiving unsubscribes to avoid billing; sometimes only via API or manual steps.
  • Klaviyo + Shopify integration is criticized for importing and billing on marketing-opting-out customers, and for resistance to GDPR-related data removal.
  • Several users find pricing unreasonable when they send infrequent campaigns to large lists or have B2C free tiers with low engagement.

Experiences with Specific Tools

  • Mixed experiences with Mailchimp (once liked, now seen as overpriced and “shenanigan”-prone).
  • Some strong positive feedback for MailerLite and EmailOctopus (especially with AWS SES “Connect” plans).
  • Criticism of Brevo’s reliability and UX by some; others found it acceptable for simple campaigns.
  • HighLevel praised as a cheaper “HubSpot-lite,” but also called a jack-of-all-trades with middling quality per feature.
  • Postmark is appreciated for transactional and broadcast email; concern expressed about acquisition by a larger marketing platform vendor.

Affiliate Incentives and Trustworthiness

  • Major thread debating affiliate-driven reviews: concern that payout levels silently bias rankings.
  • The article discloses affiliate links, but several commenters still feel the incentives shape tool selection and framing.
  • Broader frustration that SaaS comparison content across the web has become “affiliate listicles,” blurring ads and objective reviews.

Alternatives: Open Source, Self-Hosted, and SES

  • Multiple commenters advocate using AWS SES directly plus:
    • Open source tools like Mautic or Keila.
    • Self-hosted or licensed products (Mailcoach, Mailster, etc.).
  • These are seen as far cheaper for technical teams, especially when send volume is low relative to list size.

Ethics, Tracking, and “Spam”

  • Some insist most “email marketing” is effectively spam and resent its normalization.
  • Others defend email marketing when it’s opt-in, educational, and focused on engagement rather than volume.
  • Privacy-conscious users care about disabling open/click tracking and mention tools that support this, but note the article ignored this dimension.