The standard pricing model for email platforms is per subscriber. You pay based on how many contacts are in your account, regardless of whether you email them once a month or never. This model is great for ESPs. It's terrible for you.
Here's why, with actual numbers.
How per-subscriber pricing works
Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Drip all charge based on your contact count. The number they bill on includes:
- Active subscribers who receive every email
- Unsubscribed contacts still stored in your account
- Hard bounced addresses that will never receive another email
- Contacts who haven't opened an email in 18 months
You're paying for all of them. If half your list is inactive, you're paying double for the contacts that actually receive email.
Most platforms make it your job to regularly clean your list. If you don't, you pay for dead weight. And cleaning your list means deleting contacts you might want to re-engage later — so the pricing model actively punishes you for keeping historical data.
How per-email pricing works
PushMail charges per email sent. If a contact is on your list but doesn't receive an email this month, they cost you nothing. You only pay when you actually send.
Our pricing uses volume tiers that decrease as you send more:
| Volume | Cost per email |
|---|---|
| First 10,000 | $0.003 |
| 10,001 - 100,000 | $0.002 |
| 100,001 - 1,000,000 | $0.001 |
| 1,000,001+ | $0.0005 |
No monthly minimum. No platform fee. You pay for what you send.
The comparison at three scales
Let's assume a straightforward use case: you send 4 emails per month per active subscriber. A weekly newsletter, a product update, a drip sequence email — 4 sends per contact is typical.
5,000 contacts, 20,000 emails/month
| Platform | Monthly cost | Pricing basis |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp (Standard) | $100/mo | 5,000 contacts |
| ConvertKit (Creator) | $66/mo | 5,000 subscribers |
| Drip | $89/mo | 5,000 contacts |
| PushMail | $50/mo | 20,000 emails |
PushMail cost breakdown: 10,000 emails at $0.003 ($30) + 10,000 emails at $0.002 ($20) = $50.
At this scale, PushMail is cheaper than every per-subscriber platform. But the real difference shows up as you grow.
50,000 contacts, 200,000 emails/month
| Platform | Monthly cost | Pricing basis |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp (Standard) | $450/mo | 50,000 contacts |
| ConvertKit (Creator) | $316/mo | 50,000 subscribers |
| Drip | $699/mo | 50,000 contacts |
| PushMail | $310/mo | 200,000 emails |
PushMail cost breakdown: 10,000 at $0.003 ($30) + 90,000 at $0.002 ($180) + 100,000 at $0.001 ($100) = $310.
At 50,000 contacts, Drip costs more than double PushMail. Mailchimp is 45% more expensive. And remember — those per-subscriber prices assume every contact is active. If 30% of your 50k list is inactive (a conservative estimate for most lists), you're paying $135-$210 per month for contacts that receive zero emails.
500,000 contacts, 2,000,000 emails/month
| Platform | Monthly cost | Pricing basis |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp (Premium) | $3,600/mo | 500,000 contacts |
| ConvertKit (Creator Pro) | ~$2,500/mo | 500,000 subscribers |
| Drip | Custom pricing | 500,000 contacts |
| PushMail | $1,610/mo | 2,000,000 emails |
PushMail cost breakdown: 10,000 at $0.003 ($30) + 90,000 at $0.002 ($180) + 900,000 at $0.001 ($900) + 1,000,000 at $0.0005 ($500) = $1,610.
At scale, the gap is enormous. Mailchimp at 500k contacts costs more than double PushMail, even when you're sending 2 million emails a month. And with Mailchimp, you'd pay $3,600 whether you sent 2 million emails or 200,000.
The inactive contact problem
Industry data consistently shows that 25-50% of email lists are inactive — subscribers who haven't opened or clicked in 6+ months. For older lists, it's often higher.
Here's what that means in practice:
| Scenario | Active contacts | Inactive contacts | Per-subscriber cost | Effective cost per active contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50,000 list, 30% inactive | 35,000 | 15,000 | $450/mo (Mailchimp) | $12.86/1k active contacts |
| 50,000 list, 50% inactive | 25,000 | 25,000 | $450/mo (Mailchimp) | $18.00/1k active contacts |
With PushMail, inactive contacts cost nothing. If you only send to 25,000 active contacts (100,000 emails at 4/month), your cost is $210/month — not $450.
You keep the inactive contacts in your database for free. Re-engage them later if you want. Run a win-back campaign and only pay for the emails you actually send.
What about SendGrid?
SendGrid's pricing is a hybrid. Their Marketing Campaigns product charges per contact (similar to Mailchimp). Their Email API product charges per email, starting at $19.95/month for 50,000 emails.
PushMail uses SendGrid's infrastructure for delivery but provides its own contact management, sequences, campaigns, and billing. You get SendGrid's deliverability without SendGrid's contact-based pricing for marketing features.
The math is simple
Per-subscriber pricing makes you pay for:
- Contacts who never open your emails
- Unsubscribed contacts still in your database
- Hard bounces you haven't cleaned yet
- Duplicate contacts across lists
Per-email pricing makes you pay for one thing: emails you actually send.
If you send 4 emails/month to every active contact, PushMail is cheaper than every major per-subscriber ESP at every scale. If you send less frequently, the gap gets wider. If you have a large inactive segment (and you probably do), the gap gets wider still.
Your contact list should be an asset, not a liability on your monthly bill.