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Email Marketing · head to head

EmailOctopus vs Sailthru

EmailOctopus logo

EmailOctopus

Email Marketing

Affordable email marketing

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sailthru logo

Sailthru

Email Marketing

Retail and publisher email personalisation, now one product inside the Marigold portfolio

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only EmailOctopus has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: EmailOctopus free tier limited to 2,500 subscribers; Sailthru the product sits in a portfolio with several overlapping platforms under one owner, so roadmap investment is a portfolio decision rather than a product decision and is worth asking about in writing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which EmailOctopus and Sailthru actually diverge.

Attributes where EmailOctopus and Sailthru differ
AttributeEmailOctopusSailthru
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, REST API

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Email Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in EmailOctopus

Nothing recorded that Sailthru does not also cover.

Only in Sailthru

  • Interest profiles
  • Personalisation engine
  • Prediction Manager
  • Site personalisation
  • Zephyr templating
  • Lifecycle optimiser

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

EmailOctopus

  • Building email lists with unlimited landing pagesnot Sailthru
  • Team collaboration on email campaignsnot Sailthru
  • Automated subscriber onboarding flowsnot Sailthru
  • Multi-user email campaign managementnot Sailthru

Sailthru

  • A publisher sending a personalised daily newsletter assembled per reader from a content cataloguenot EmailOctopus
  • A retailer that wants email and on-site recommendations driven by the same affinity modelnot EmailOctopus
  • High-cadence sending where per-recipient content assembly matters more than journey branchingnot EmailOctopus
  • Teams that want churn and lifetime value scores available as native campaign conditions rather than imported fieldsnot EmailOctopus

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

EmailOctopus

  • Free tier limited to 2,500 subscribers
  • Free tier requires EmailOctopus branding on emails
  • Free tier reports only retained 30 days

Sailthru

  • The product sits in a portfolio with several overlapping platforms under one owner, so roadmap investment is a portfolio decision rather than a product decision and is worth asking about in writing.
  • Pricing counts stored profiles, so retained inactive readers keep costing money long after they stopped opening anything.
  • On-site personalisation requires a developer to implement the JavaScript and maintain the content feed, which puts the highest-value feature behind engineering time.
  • Zephyr is a proprietary templating language, so template maintenance skills are scarce compared with the Liquid syntax used by most competitors.
  • It is built for high-cadence content and retail sending, and B2B lifecycle programmes with long sales cycles sit poorly on the model.

Pricing, plan by plan

EmailOctopus

Free
  • StarterFree
    • Up to 2,500 subscribers
    • 10,000 monthly emails
    • 1 user account
  • Pro$9/month
    • Unlimited subscribers
    • 10,000 monthly emails
    • Unlimited user accounts

Sailthru

On request
  • Sailthru$undefined/year
    • Priced on stored profiles and send volume
    • Site personalisation and prediction features licensed by module
    • Annual contract through Marigold

Which should you pick?

Choose EmailOctopus if

  • You want to start without paying.
EmailOctopus review

Choose Sailthru if

  • You need interest profiles.
  • You work on Web, REST API.
  • You also want personalisation engine.
Sailthru review

Questions people ask

Is EmailOctopus or Sailthru better?
Neither clearly leads. EmailOctopus starts at Free and Sailthru at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, EmailOctopus or Sailthru?
EmailOctopus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for EmailOctopus and On request for Sailthru.
Does EmailOctopus or Sailthru run on more platforms?
EmailOctopus runs on Web. Sailthru runs on Web, REST API.
Can I use EmailOctopus for free?
Yes. EmailOctopus has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sailthru starts at On request.
What is EmailOctopus best used for?
EmailOctopus is most often used for building email lists with unlimited landing pages, team collaboration on email campaigns, automated subscriber onboarding flows, multi-user email campaign management. Of those, building email lists with unlimited landing pages and team collaboration on email campaigns are not what Sailthru is typically brought in for.
What can EmailOctopus do that Sailthru cannot?
Sailthru covers Interest profiles, Personalisation engine, Prediction Manager, Site personalisation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

EmailOctopus: Is there a free version of EmailOctopus?

Yes, EmailOctopus offers a free plan supporting up to 2,500 subscribers with 10,000 monthly emails. The free tier includes EmailOctopus branding on emails and reports are retained for only 30 days. The Pro plan starts at $9/month for unlimited subscribers.

Source
Sailthru: Who owns Sailthru now?

Marigold, formerly CM Group, which also owns Campaign Monitor, Emma, Selligent, Liveclicker and Cheetah Digital.

EmailOctopus: What discount does EmailOctopus offer for annual billing?

EmailOctopus offers 10% savings when you pay annually versus monthly. Nonprofits receive an additional 20% lifetime discount on all plans.

Source
Sailthru: Does that affect the roadmap?

It can. Overlapping products in one portfolio compete for investment, so ask which platform is the strategic one for your segment before signing multi-year.

EmailOctopus: Are there any long-term contracts required?

No, EmailOctopus has no long-term contracts. You can cancel your plan anytime and switch between monthly and yearly billing options.

Source
Sailthru: Is it worth it just for newsletters?

For personalised daily newsletters at publisher scale it remains one of the strongest options. For simple broadcast sending it is heavily over-specified.

EmailOctopus: How many users can access one EmailOctopus account?

The free Starter plan includes 1 user. The Pro plan includes unlimited user accounts at no additional cost.

Source
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