Email Marketing · alternatives
Alternatives to Shortwave
21 email marketing tools sit alongside Shortwave in this directory. Below is what separates each from Shortwave on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 21
- With a free tier
- 11
- Cheaper to start
- 8
- Shortwave starts at
- Free, then $30/month
Why people look past Shortwave
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Shortwave entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
It costs more than the category median
Shortwave starts at $30/month. Across the 8 email marketing tools listed beside it that publish a price, the median entry point is $15.5/month.
Cost climbs steeply across the tiers
Shortwave publishes 4 tiers, from Free up to $120/month. Teams that outgrow the entry plan can find the next rung a large step, the Shortwave pricing page breaks each one down.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Microsoft's email and calendar client, in the middle of a transition from the classic Windows application to a web-based replacement.
- Starts $28.01 a month cheaper, at $1.99/month.
The fastest email experience ever made
- No free tier, where Shortwave has one.
- 2 tiers to Shortwave's 4.
Email marketing tool with a genuine free tier, priced by contact count once paid
- 3 tiers to Shortwave's 4.
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager that ships as a single Go binary
- 2 tiers to Shortwave's 4.
AGPL newsletter tool from Germany, self-hostable or hosted in the EU with no free plan
- Starts $22 a month cheaper, at €8/month.
Email API for developers to send transactional and marketing email
- Starts $10 a month cheaper, at $20/month.
- 3 tiers to Shortwave's 4.
Every Shortwave alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shortwave (this page) | Free, then $30/month | - | 4 | |
| Microsoft OutlookEnterprise-grade email with Microsoft 365 integration and business focus | Free, then $1.99/month | Freemium | 4 | vs Shortwave |
| SuperhumanKeyboard-driven email client focused on speed and productivity | $30/month | - | 2 | vs Shortwave |
| Zoho Campaigns | Free | Per month by contact tier once on a paid plan | 3 | vs Shortwave |
| Listmonk | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Shortwave |
| Keila | Free, then €8/month | Per month by emails sent | 4 | vs Shortwave |
| Resend | Free, then $20/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Shortwave |
| AWeber | Free, then $15/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Shortwave |
| Brevo | Free | Freemium | - | vs Shortwave |
| EmailOctopus | Free, then $9/month | Freemium | 2 | vs Shortwave |
| Flodesk | Free | Freemium | 4 | vs Shortwave |
| Loops | Free | Freemium | 1 | vs Shortwave |
| RD Station Marketing | Free, then $16/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Shortwave |
| Amazon SES | On request | Per 1,000 emails sent, tiered by volume, no campaign features included | 3 | vs Shortwave |
| Campaign Monitor | On request | Per month by contact tier and plan level | 4 | vs Shortwave |
| SAP Emarsys | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Shortwave |
| Attentive | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Shortwave |
| Ortto | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Shortwave |
| Sailthru | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Shortwave |
| Sendy | $69/one-time | One-time purchase | 3 | vs Shortwave |
| Moosend | On request | Per month by contact count | 4 | vs Shortwave |
| Dotdigital | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Shortwave |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Shortwave badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (11)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Microsoft Outlook , Free, then $1.99/month
- Zoho Campaigns , Free
- Listmonk , Free
- Keila , Free, then €8/month
- Resend , Free, then $20/month
- AWeber , Free, then $15/month
- Brevo , Free
- EmailOctopus , Free, then $9/month
Cheaper than Shortwave (8)
Entry price under Shortwave's $30/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Microsoft Outlook , Free, then $1.99/month
- Keila , Free, then €8/month
- Resend , Free, then $20/month
- AWeber , Free, then $15/month
- EmailOctopus , Free, then $9/month
- Flodesk , Free
- Loops , Free
- RD Station Marketing , Free, then $16/month
What you would be giving up
Shortwave is most often brought in for reducing inbox overload through ai-powered organization, drafting professional emails using natural language, scheduling meetings without back-and-forth coordination, searching email archives using conversational queries, converting emails to tasks for team task tracking. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Shortwave is broadly right and the question is cost, the Shortwave pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Email Marketing category lists everything the directory holds, and best email marketing tools ranks them.
Shortwave runs on ios, android, macos, windows. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Shortwave alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Shortwave?
- 21 other email marketing tools are listed in this directory, led by Microsoft Outlook, Superhuman, Zoho Campaigns, Listmonk. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Shortwave?
- 11 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Microsoft Outlook, Zoho Campaigns, Listmonk, Keila, Resend.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Shortwave?
- Yes. 8 of the alternatives below start under Shortwave's $30/month: Microsoft Outlook at Free, then $1.99/month, Keila at Free, then €8/month, Resend at Free, then $20/month, AWeber at Free, then $15/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Shortwave?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: it costs more than the category median; cost climbs steeply across the tiers. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Shortwave?
- Shortwave is most often brought in for reducing inbox overload through ai-powered organization, drafting professional emails using natural language, scheduling meetings without back-and-forth coordination, searching email archives using conversational queries, converting emails to tasks for team task tracking. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Shortwave?
- None of the email marketing tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Shortwave alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Email Marketing, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Shortwave against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Shortwave covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every email marketing tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Email Marketing category, 21 tools beside Shortwave. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.